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from 2 - The Reformatio legum ecdesiasticarum
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2018
What a sacrament is.
A sacrament (as we understand it in this context) is a sign instituted by God which may be seen, by which the grace of Christ conveyed to us by promises and merits and the forgiveness of sins ﹛promised remitted﹜, expressed to them [in words], is sealed, which has a double power in our souls. For first of all, the taking of these external [signs], and of the virtues properly attributed to them, recalls to our memory the price of the salvation which has been bought for us, and enables us to profess it openly, and secondly it sharpens and revives faith, giving added strength to it. Furthermore, it strengthens [us in] mutual love [between us], and pours out the fear of God in our minds. Finally it encourages us to live a sincere and honest life. In former times circumcision was this kind of thing. Now baptism and the eucharist have taken its place.
What must be looked for in a sacrament.
Three things must come together for a sacrament to be perfect. First there must be an obvious and appropriate sign, which can be clearly discerned. Second, there is the promise of God which is represented to us and fully confirmed by the external sign. Third, there is the command of God, by which the necessity is placed on us, both to do these things and to commemorate them. Since these three things occur with the authority of the Scriptures only in baptism and the eucharist, we accept only these two as true and proper sacraments of the New Testament.
What baptism is.
Baptism is a sacrament by which our second birth is sealed to us by the external pouring [of water], forgiveness of sins is received, and the power of the Holy Sancti virtus infunditur, quemadmodum [divini promissi] verbis compraehensum est in baptismo propositis, ut erectior in nobis et perfectior esset fides. Dum autem in aqua demergimur et rursus ex illis emergimus, Christi mors [nobis] primum et sepultura commenda[n]tur, deinde suscitatio quidem illius et redditus ad vitam; ut isti[u]s mortis et vitae monumentis recordemur, et palam testificemurpeccatum in nobis [mersum] mortuumetsepultumiacere, sed novum [77r] et salutarem Dei Spiritum reviviscere in nobis et reflorescere, tinctoque foras externis aquis corpore, nostras intus animas, abstersis peccatorum sordibus, puras et perpurgatas ad aeternas et caelestes oras se attollere.
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