Dist. 2, Art. 1, Q. 1
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/2/q/bon-sent-IV-d2-a1-q1
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### Article I. *On the time of institution and the number of the Sacraments.*
### Question I. *Whether every time was suitable for the institution of the Sacraments.*

And that every time was suitable for the institution of the Sacraments is shown:

1. And first concerning the time of nature as instituted [in its original state]; it seems that in that time others ought much more to have been instituted.

If you say that the use of marriage was fitting to that time, because it was not for a remedy but for an office, whereas the others were instituted for medicine, and therefore not before the Fall; *on the contrary:* God, at the same time as He created the angel, created punishment, that is, fire, so that there, if he should sin, he might be punished, because his sin is irremediable: therefore by parity of reasoning, when He created man, whose lot it was to sin remediably, He ought to have instituted medicine.

2. Likewise, the Master says in the preceding distinction that the use of the Sacraments is "for humiliation, exercise, and instruction"; and these things befit not only the sick man but also the healthy one: therefore etc.

1. Likewise, that the time of the law of nature after the Fall was fitting, it seems: because it belongs to a good and wise physician to defer the medicine until [there is] need, and when need is present, to offer it: therefore if the time of the law of nature was such, then without delay or anticipation He ought to have instituted the Sacraments.

2. Likewise, that the time of the written law was more suitable, it seems: because the Sacraments are not commanded because they are good, but rather they are good because they are commanded and instituted; but such commands befit most of all the written law, not the Gospel or [the law of] nature, by which are [given] the moral laws: therefore also the institution of the Sacraments.

3. But that the time of the evangelical law was fitting, it seems: because "the Sacraments are medicines"; but that time befits their institution most of all, in which the physician came; and again they are "vessels of grace": therefore they are fitting to that time, which is the time of grace.

**On the contrary:** That they were not fitting to the time of nature as instituted is shown: because he who hopes to rise more readily lets himself fall; therefore if remedies were prepared for the first man, occasion of sinning would be given him: therefore if the Sacraments ought to be a way to rising again, not to falling, they ought not then to have been instituted.

1. Likewise, that [they were fitting] not even to the time of the law of nature, it seems: because in that time the natural right [of law] alone ran its course; but the things which the natural right dictates are of themselves good, and are also immutable: therefore if the Sacraments are not such, they do not befit that time.

2. Likewise, that [they were fitting] not even to the time of the written law, it seems; because the written law was given as a burden and to convict [man] of [his] powerlessness, as Hugh says: therefore if the Sacraments are medicines restoring power [virtue], they in no way befit the written law.

3. Likewise, that [they did] not [befit] the evangelical law, it seems, because this law is the eliminator of figures and signs, since it openly preaches the truth: therefore if the Sacraments are figurative, they in no way befit the evangelical law.

4. Likewise, the law of the Gospel is the law of liberty, to the Galatians, fifth chapter: *But you, brethren, have been called unto liberty:* therefore at the least the Sacraments ought not to have been instituted under precept, but only under counsel. And this Hugh seems to say in *On the Sacraments:* "First He nourished the little ones by counsel, secondly He tested the grown by precept, thirdly He permitted the perfect to walk in the liberty of the spirit." But this cannot stand, because in John, third chapter, it is said: *Unless one be born again* etc.

### Conclusion

> The times of the law of nature, of the written law, and of the Gospel befit the institution of the Sacraments, yet according to more and less.

**I respond:** It must be said that all the Sacraments were instituted as a remedy specially and principally, except marriage, which was first instituted for an office; and because the time of the remedy began at the Fall and advanced under the Law and was consummated in the Gospel, therefore these three times befit the institution, yet according to more and less.

1. To that, then, which is objected, that the time of nature as instituted is fitting on account of marriage; it must be said that it was then instituted because it was instituted for an office. — To that which is objected about the punishment of the angels, the response is plain: because punishment, that is, fire, calls [one] back from fault, whereas medicine affords [an] occasion; therefore it ought not to be so on its part.

2. To that which is objected about [their] use, it must be said that to be humbled under creatures, to be instructed by them, and to be freed from weariness in them is not part of the nature of man as instituted, but rather the punishment of the condemned demands this; because

man, while standing [upright], was midway between creatures and God; for in himself he knew [God] more expressly than in others and delighted in Him, and had no need of the variety of things for fleeing weariness.

1. To that which is objected about the time of the law of nature, it must be said that the law of nature dictates some things as necessary, some as expedient; likewise, it dictates some things of itself, some aided by faith and inspiration. And I say that in the first way it dictates the precepts of morals; in the second way the precepts which it was dictating in general, namely that sacrifice ought to be made to God; and this faith together with inspiration was further determining [it]. And thus that [objection] is clear.

2. To that which is objected about the time of the written law, I say that the written law was observed carnally by the hard[-hearted], and its Sacraments [likewise], and in such [people] it had no efficacy; but by the spiritual it was observed spiritually, and was not chiefly a burden but a way of salvation; and for such [people] those Sacraments were for medicine.

3. To that which is objected about the Gospel, that it empties out the figures; it must be said that some figures were only for signifying, but some are for signifying and sanctifying. The first figures it empties out, but the second it institutes, because it is the law of sanctification, not only of truth.

4. To that which is objected, that the law of the Gospel is the law of liberty etc. it must be said that the precepts are unto servitude for those who fear, but are unto liberty for those who love; therefore because the evangelical law is the law of love, it is therefore called the law of liberty, not because it did not command, but because it was drawing [men] not to fear but to love.