Book I. On the Venerable Sacrament

...of them, both in reality and in name, it becomes a shadowy and profane supper.

4. The promise of grace attached to the Holy Eucharist.

IV. Principle. He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, remains in me, and I in him. original: "Qui manducat meam carnem, & bibit meum sanguinem in me manet, & ego in illo." John 6, verse 56. To "remain in Christ" is to be joined and mingled with Christ in a spiritual manner. Although this can happen outside of the sacrament through faith and charity—according to the scripture: God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God in him original: "Deus charitas est, & qui manet in charitate in Deo manet, & Deus in eo." (1 John 4, verse 16)—it happens in a far more true and excellent way in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, provided the true body and blood of Christ are received as is proper. This is in accordance with the words of Christ cited above, about which more will be said below. This proposition contains the promise of grace made by Christ to all those who approach this sacrament with the proper preparation and reverence. Furthermore, the first and second propositions Referring to the arguments on the preceding pages. hand down its rite and institution, and simultaneously show it to be a sensible sign; for three things are required and sufficient for a true and properly named sacrament of the New Law. The "New Law" refers to the Christian Gospel as opposed to the Old Testament "Old Law." Therefore, it follows as a

5. Three things required for the essence of a Sacrament.

Conclusion. The Holy Eucharist is a true and properly named sacrament of the New Law. This proposition is a matter of faith, and is conceded even by the non-Catholics of our time. For even Luther, in his book On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, admits only one sacrament, that being the Eucharist; and Calvin accepts two, of which one is the Eucharist. Indeed, Muhammad and the Saracens Historical terms for Muslims. in the 4th chapter of the Alcoran The Quran. confess that the sacrament of the Eucharist is worthy of veneration. Only the impious Averroës A 12th-century Islamic philosopher from Spain whose commentaries on Aristotle were famous in the Middle Ages. called Christians "impious" because, as he put it, they "devoured their own God." See Prateolus in his Catalogue of Heresies, under the entry for Muhammad. The reasoning for this proposition is clear from the scriptural principles already alleged; for whatever is required in a Sacrament of the New Law is found in the Eucharist. First, indeed, a visible sign instituted for spiritual sanctification (Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:23). Second, the institution of Christ (ibid.). Third, the promise of grace (John 6:55 and 56). Finally, it was so defined in the Council of Trent, session 7, canon 1, and session 13, chapter 1; and in the Decree for the Armenians from the Council of Florence, and many other times.

You might say: It is of the essence of a "sign" that the thing signified be absent. It is of the essence of a "Sacrament" to be a sign. Therefore, it is of the essence of a Sacrament that the thing signified be absent. But the reality which is said to be signified through the sacrament of the Eucharist is not absent, according to Catholics. Therefore, the Eucharist is not a sacrament.

I respond: I deny the first premise. For it is not in the nature of a sign that it must signify a thing as if it were absent; rather, it is sufficient that it signifies the thing as being