De convenientia institutorum Romanae Ecclesiae cum Evangelica libertate

1. The Lutherans claim that Christians are also oppressed by an intolerable burden because the Roman Church prescribes more sacraments than are recorded in the Gospels. Yet the institution of the sacraments belongs neither to the Roman Pontiff, nor to Councils, nor to an assembly of the faithful,¹ but it was for our supreme Head to establish those sacraments that he foresaw would be useful to us for salvation. They say that he instituted no sacraments except Baptism and the Eucharist; the rest, they say, were invented by Roman Pontiffs and Councils, by which the Christian people are held so captive that even those at the point of death are not free to choose what they wish: they must be anointed as they die, unless they want to be shut out of the heavenly dwelling.² Add that nothing in the old law corresponds either to the sacrament of Confirmation or to Extreme Unction, although there ought to be no sacrament of the new law that was not foreshadowed by some sign in the observances and ceremonies of the old law.

2. Moreover, it is not difficult to show that the Gospels mention the seven sacraments celebrated by the Church, and that these were instituted for fitting reasons. First, however, we must observe that instituting the sacraments belonged in no way to the Apostles—as some have maintained concerning Confirmation and Extreme Unction—but to Jesus Christ, the founder of the Church.³ For since the sacraments themselves are the foundations of the first Christian Church,⁴⁵ whose task is it to establish them⁶ in their proper place, if not his who is both the founder and author of the Church and the institutor of all its laws? Therefore, since all were established by him, Baptism is mentioned in many places in the Gospels:⁷ Penance, in Matthew 18;⁸ Confirmation, in John 16⁹ and in the last chapter of Luke,¹⁰ where the full sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles is recounted; the Eucharist is plainly described at length in the Gospels;¹¹ and Marriage is treated in Matthew 19,¹² where its permanence is explained—while the Apostle writes to the Ephesians¹³ that it is a great sacrament of the Church. The institution of sacred Orders¹⁴ is indicated when¹⁵ Christ appoints the Apostles¹⁶ and the seventy-two disciples¹⁷ as ministers of the Church.¹⁸ We understand Extreme Unction to be indicated by the account in Mark 6¹⁹ that, at Christ’s command, the Apostles healed the sick by anointing them with oil.

It is no objection that the Gospel does not mention the matter or form of certain sacraments.²⁰ Such sacraments had to be kept hidden from unbelievers at the very beginning of the Church, lest they be given an occasion to mock Christian practices.²¹ This very reason deterred Dionysius the Areopagite from openly setting out all the sacraments.²² As Augustine seems to hold in Book IV against the Donatists,²³ we must believe that the sacraments venerated by the Catholic Church were received through apostolic tradition.²⁴²⁵

3. A fitting reason for these sacraments can also be given. Since they were instituted for the sake of our spiritual salvation, they are defined in proportion to those things by which the health of the human body is established.²⁶²⁷ Just as we first receive life from our parents through natural generation, then grow through development to proper size and full strength, next strive to preserve the strength we have acquired by food, and, if we fall ill, call in physicians, so we are reborn to spiritual life through Baptism and renewed, according to the Apostle’s words in Titus, chapter 3:²⁸ According to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. We gain firmness of faith—that is, the courage to confess Christ—through Confirmation. We are nourished by the Eucharist, according to the saying of our Savior in John, chapter 6:²⁹ Whoever eats this bread will live forever. We obtain healing of the soul through Penance, and healing of the body through Extreme Unction, when appropriate and in accord with the soul.³⁰ Furthermore, just as we gain life through our parents’ benefit and enjoy peace and tranquillity through the care and diligence of rulers, so too there are begetters and preservers of spiritual life: those established in sacred Orders serve only spiritually, while those who beget offspring to be brought up in divine worship³¹ serve both bodily and spiritually.

4. In the old law, definite figures of some sacraments existed, but of others there were none. Circumcision foreshadowed Baptism; offerings and sacrifices, the Eucharist; the consecrations of Aaron and his sons, sacred Orders; marriage among certain prescribed persons, Matrimony; and expiation for sins, Penance. No signs of Confirmation or Extreme Unction ought to have preceded them, because in that age neither was the fullness of the Holy Spirit, which is conferred in Confirmation, imparted to human beings, nor could anyone immediately attain eternal blessedness after death, for which Extreme Unction serves as a kind of final aid in preparation.³² Yet, although the old law did not include these two sacraments among its sacred rites,³³ they were instituted by Christ the Lord, as we have said, and received by the Catholic Church through the Apostles’ tradition. For Christ had promised that he would confirm his disciples,³⁴ as is written in John, chapter 16,³⁵ he said: If I do not go, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. It is also reported that he said, in the last chapter of Luke:³⁶ Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. He also speaks of Extreme Unction when, as cited above, he commanded the Apostles to heal the sick by anointing them with oil.

5. Let this suffice, and more than suffice, concerning the plurality of the sacraments. I would add only this: not all these sacraments are so necessary for us that, if one of them is lacking, the gates of the heavenly kingdom are closed to us.³⁷ The absolute necessity of Baptism is indeed indicated,³⁸ whether it is received in fact or by inward desire, since this is the judgment of our Savior:³⁹ Unless someone is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God,⁴⁰ The sacrament of Penance, likewise, is bound to necessity if some grave sin must be expiated,⁴¹ according to the words in the last chapter of Luke:⁴² It was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and for repentance and forgiveness of sins to be preached in his name to all nations. The others, although they do not have this same necessary connection, nevertheless lead to perdition if they are held in contempt. Therefore, if someone about to breathe his last refuses Extreme Unction as a despiser of evangelical law, he brings eternal damnation upon himself;⁴³ but if someone is suddenly snatched from human sight by death, he is not thereby made liable to eternal damnation because he departed life without being anointed.