[Sermones de eucharistiae sacramento]

concerning which three things are done. First, against the insufficiency which is imposed upon legal sacrifices, an opposition is made; second, the contrariety is resolved; third, the cause for which the sacrifice is assigned to them [is given]. Firstly, against the insufficiency which is imposed upon legal sacrifices, namely that they did not please God and that they did not remove sins, as was proved above in the first sermon according to that [word] of Jeremias: "Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, your victims have not pleased me," and similar things. Thus one might object: Leviticus 4, "If a soul from the people of the land has sinned, let him offer an unspotted goat, and the priest shall burn it upon the altar in a sweet-smelling odor to the Lord, and it shall be forgiven him." Therefore, it seems that the ancient sacrifice pleased God, and that on account of this it was able to forgive sins. Hebrews 9: "Almost all things are cleansed by blood according to the law," that is, through the blood of sacrificed animals, the sins of the delinquents are forgiven. Therefore, as before, those sacrifices pleased God and forgave sins. Secondly, the contrariety of these can be resolved thus: in sacrificing, three things were always present: namely, the sacrifice itself, the persons of those offering, and the remission of sins. If in each of these, two things were attended to: in the sacrifice, the flesh or blood of the animal was offered, and furthermore, something much better, namely, the spiritual thing which was figured there: as in the lamb or calf, Christ; in the goat, penance; in the ox, robust and active life; in the bird, the sublime and contemplative [life], and so of the others. Also, the persons of those offering were of two kinds, because some were worthy, others unworthy. The unworthy were those who attended to those sacrifices only carnally. The worthy, however, were those who intended and understood them spiritually, and in them believed in Christ, either explicitly or implicitly, prefigured, and according to the spiritual understanding of them, ruled their life. Also, there was the remission of sins, and this regarding two things: namely, regarding the punishment, that is, regarding a certain irregularity of the law, or regarding the guilt, these that is, the stain of conscience. These things being seen, those things which seem to be said contrarily about sacrifices in the sacred scriptures are easily solved. Solution: In truth, those sacrifices according to themselves, namely the works done, that is, the flesh and blood of he-goats, did not please God, nor on account of this did he remit sins regarding the guilt, that is, the stain of conscience. But yet, among men, they were reputed to be forgiven regarding a certain punishment of the law. Whence, when in one place the Apostle says, "It is impossible for the blood of he-goats to take away sins," and in another, "Almost all things are cleansed by blood according to the law," the first is to be understood regarding the guilt of the soul, the second regarding the punishment of the flesh. Whence, Hebrews 9: "The blood of he-goats and of bulls and the ashes of a heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled to the cleansing of the flesh." Gloss: "Sanctifies," that is, cleanses from sin, that is, valid for the cleansing of the punishment of the law, not of the soul but of the flesh. Nevertheless, these sacrifices were not [acceptable] according to themselves, as was said, but because of the faith of the Savior, whom they believed would come in them and would suffer for the redemption of the world, they pleased God and granted to them the remission of sins both regarding the aforementioned punishment of the law.