Religion
‹ 6 · Outline · 8 ›
7.The sacraments
7a.Baptism
See also: Education 3b · Sin 3a
Paul, The First Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45
- p. 512Baptism for the dead and faith in Christ presented as pointless without resurrection.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 361–362Baptism of repentance, Jesus' baptism, the Spirit descending as a dove and the voice from heaven.read · scan
- p. 371–372People and publicans accept John's baptism while Pharisees and lawyers reject God's counsel.read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44
- p. 439–440Samaritans believe and are baptized; apostles lay on hands to give the Holy Spirit and preach the gospel.read · scan
- p. 445–446The Holy Spirit falls on Gentile hearers, who speak with tongues and are baptized in Jesus's name.read · scan
- p. 463–464Apollos and Paul teach and baptize; the Holy Spirit comes on disciples who speak with tongues.read · scan
- p. 472–473Ananias tells Paul to be baptized, wash away sins, and witness to the Gentiles.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 14As a sick boy he sought baptism; deferral of baptism and sacraments debated; the Church as mother.read · scan
- p. 48–49Friend's baptism while unconscious; he rebukes Augustine's jesting about it; Augustine sees God as preserving him.read · scan
- p. 139–140Verecundus, not yet Christian, is baptised on his sickbed and dies; God's mercy and the resurrection of the just.read · scan
- p. 145Baptism at Milan, and tears at the hymns and canticles of the Church, bring devotion and relief from anxiety.read · scan
The Song of RolandVol. 49
- p. 194–195The captive Spanish queen is baptized a Christian by the bishops at Aix, with noble ladies as sponsors.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 16–17Baptism and the faith that vanquishes error; those before the Gospel did not serve God aright.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20
- p. 350–352Baptism as Christian at birth; martyrdom bringing him to heavenly peaceread · scan
- p. 419Circumcision and baptism as the means saving innocent children before and after Christ.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 182Labor is the man of greatest faith in Christendom; Hurlame is newly christened.read · scan
Amerigo Vespucci, Amerigo Vespucci's Account of His First VoyageVol. 43
- p. 28Baptismal fonts are set up and many natives baptised.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 424Don Fernando offers that his brother be godfather at Zoraida's baptism.read · scan
- p. 428–429Zoraida's spiritual birth and baptism are anticipated as a joy.read · scan
- p. 429Zoraida's baptism and marriage are planned.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of GuianaVol. 33
- p. 334The Spaniards christen Morequito's nephew as Don Juan to establish him in the province.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 296Baptism as spiritual birth; dying daily to sin and the world; Christian memento of the four last things.read · scan
Pierre Corneille, PolyeucteVol. 26
- p. 77Nearchus urges Polyeucte to seek baptism at once; Polyeucte yearns to be cleansed and Christian.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 342Disciples are to teach all nations and baptize as sign of washing from sin.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise RegainedVol. 4
- p. 359John's baptism and the call to repentance because heaven's kingdom is near.read · scan
- p. 359Baptism by John, the Spirit as Dove, and the Baptist's testimony.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 169–170Faith from baptism is the source of Christian life; all faith consists in Christ and Adam, all morality in lust and grace.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, LettersVol. 48
- p. 334–335Entry into the Church by baptism devotes life to God; will absorbed in God's.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 374Laments that entry into the Church, once after long labor and examination, is now easy and unexamined.read · scan
- p. 375Laments decline of Christian piety: baptized Christians now carry the world's vices into the Church, while the Church's baptismal discipline aimed at holiness.read · scan
- p. 376Christians should show the zeal, devotion and renunciation of the world that catechumens showed before baptism; penitence and mortification required.read · scan
- p. 377Compares early Christians' gratitude for the Church's favor with modern ingratitude and repeated lapses after infant baptism.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 210–211Bathing and sealing of the pilgrims symbolise sanctification and marking as God's people, tied to the Passover.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 65Quaker rejects water baptism and circumcision as Jewish ceremonies, holding Christ's baptism to be of the Spirit.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 107Concern that the sickly child be baptized before dying.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 155–156Baptism and church altars are hollow without reverence for the natural altars of mountains.read · scan
7b.The Eucharist and Holy Communion
See also: Theology 5c · Desire 11b · Miracles 7b · Love 9b
Paul, The First Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45
- p. 501–503Flee idolatry; the cup and bread are communion in Christ's blood and body, making many one body.read · scan
- p. 505Institution of the Lord's supper: bread and cup as remembrance and proclamation of Christ's death, to be received worthily.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 410Passover preparation and institution of the Eucharist: bread as his body, cup as the new covenant.read · scan
- p. 417–418Recognition in the breaking of bread; repentance and remission of sins to be preached to all nations.read · scan
The Song of RolandVol. 49
- p. 191–193The champions confess, hear Mass and receive the Host before combat.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 335–336Communion: the disciple is invited to receive Christ's body and blood, yet feels unworthy before so great a mystery.read · scan
- p. 336–337Compares the Old Testament devotion of Noah, Moses and Solomon in preparing the ark and temple with the disciple's meager preparation for Communion.read · scan
- p. 337–338David's devotion and the sacrament of the altar: reverence, faith, hope and charity receive grace, unlike curious pilgrimage to shrines.read · scan
- p. 338–339Laments lukewarmness and carelessness toward Holy Communion, whose wide celebration shows God's grace; thanks to Jesus for the invitation.read · scan
- p. 339–340Communion: the sinful disciple approaches Christ in humility and thanks, seeing only condescension and mercy, not merit.read · scan
- p. 340–341Wonder and thanksgiving at Christ giving himself in bread and wine in the sacrament, celebrating redemption anew at each communion.read · scan
- p. 341The disciple longs to receive Christ in Communion, seeking healing and refreshment, renewed by frequent prayer and penitence.read · scan
- p. 342–343Holy Communion as divine medicine and chief consolation of the faithful soul, drawing it back from evil and strengthening it for good.read · scan
- p. 343Prayer to approach the Sacrament worthily, with faith, hope and charity; its effects on soul and body.read · scan
- p. 343–344Devout Communion brings the elect consolation, renewed grace and fervor, likened to a fountain and a fire.read · scan
- p. 344–345The dignity of the Sacrament and of the priest's office, requiring reverence and holiness.read · scan
- p. 345–346The priest takes Christ's place in prayer and oblation for the people and must prepare devoutly for the Sacrament.read · scan
- p. 347Self-offering and the Communion sacrifice of praise as the greatest satisfaction for sin.read · scan
- p. 349–350Prayer and offering at Communion, committing oneself to God's mercy.read · scan
- p. 350–351Communion should not be omitted despite the devil's hindrances.read · scan
- p. 352–353Spiritual communion is possible daily; habitual readiness, reverence for received custom, and devotion to Christ's Passion.read · scan
- p. 353Faith sustained by the veiled Sacrament until the vision of glory, with saints' examples and holy books as comfort.read · scan
- p. 354–355Thanks for the Sacrament and the table of holy doctrine; the priest's sacred office of consecrating and administering Communion demands purity.read · scan
- p. 355Priestly purity and preparation for Communion; cleansing the heart's habitation to receive Christ.read · scan
- p. 356–357Devout preparation for and thanksgiving after Communion; prayer, reverence and watchfulness afterward.read · scan
- p. 357Longing for union with God through Holy Communion and withdrawal of the heart from created things.read · scan
- p. 358Devotion at Holy Communion; the speaker is ashamed of his cold approach compared with fervent devout persons.read · scan
- p. 358–359Seeking the grace of devotion in Communion with humble patience, faith, hope and charity.read · scan
- p. 360Divine union in the Eucharist and devotion seeking God's glory above one's own comfort.read · scan
- p. 361Prayer for grace and mystical union with Christ, longing to receive Him in Communion like the saints.read · scan
- p. 362Offering oneself, prayers and praise to God in Communion, imitating Mary and John the Baptist.read · scan
- p. 363–364Universal praise of God and the Sacrament; intercession by the devout for a sinner.read · scan
- p. 364Approach the Sacrament with simple, undoubting faith and reverence; God reveals Himself to the humble.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 122–123Melias receives the Sacrament; Galahad prays in a chapel and hears a voice directing him.read · scan
- p. 157–159The dying knight begs to be led to an abbey to receive his Creator.read · scan
- p. 190The priest bears the sacrament, and the knights kneel.read · scan
- p. 192The dying earl asks to die in Galahad's arms; the knights hear mass in a hermitage and witness a sacramental vision.read · scan
- p. 192–194Christian allegory of Christ's resurrection, and the knights hear mass and commend the hermit to God.read · scan
- p. 195She receives her Saviour before dying; knights commend themselves to God and call on him in need.read · scan
- p. 206–208The Sangreal appears with a mass, a bishop, angels and Christ's own body, a eucharistic vision for the faithful.read · scan
- p. 208Knights receive their Saviour; Christ names the holy dish of the Last Supper and sends the Grail away.read · scan
- p. 211The Grail sustains the imprisoned knights; Galahad kneels at mass and receives Christ's body with joy.read · scan
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36
- p. 314–315Endowed masses are wrongly treated as sacrifices and good works; they are sacraments profiting only the recipient, and have become mercenary.read · scan
- p. 320Differences on the Sacrament should be tolerated; it is an article of faith that Christ's body is in the bread and wine.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 70–72Soldiers fill his mouth with earth imagining it a sacrament, more like excommunicating him.read · scan
John Calvin, Dedication of the Institutes of the Christian ReligionVol. 39
- p. 50Summarizes Calvin's plan: the Church, word and sacraments, baptism and the Lord's supper as Christ's means of spiritual reign.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of GuianaVol. 33
- p. 320Dying Martinez receives the sacrament and gives his gold beads to the church to be prayed for.read · scan
Francis Pretty, Sir Francis Drake's Famous Voyage Round the WorldVol. 33
- p. 205Doughty takes communion before execution and Drake has all the company receive it as Christian brethren.read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34
- p. 358Transubstantiation's accidents leaving the wafer are mocked as absurd.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 180Communion given at the Last Supper, Emmaus and to the Church; unite ourselves only to His sufferings.read · scan
- p. 273–274Christ's truth stays hidden among common opinions like the Eucharist among ordinary bread; the falsely just are ashamed of him.read · scan
- p. 301–302Sacrament as sacrifice and commemoration.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, LettersVol. 48
- p. 348Faith is engaged by God's hiddenness; Catholics alone recognize him in the Eucharist; solitude recommendedread · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 233–234Purge made of Christ's flesh and blood with promises and tears of repentance allegorizes faith's healing of the soul.read · scan
- p. 234–235Prudence interprets fire, sun, clouds, rainbow as emblems of grace, the Word, ministers and the covenant in Christ.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 436–438Townsfolk kneel to the Host carried by the priest, which the guard takes as reverence to the Host, not the cap.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 330–331At confirmation and sacrament Karen thinks only of her red shoes, forgetting her psalm and prayer.read · scan
Ernest Renan, The Poetry of the Celtic RacesVol. 32
- p. 163–164In the French Parceval the Grail and lance become Christian relics, requiring a state of grace, confounded with the eucharist; the hero ends as a priest.read · scan
7c.Confession, penance and absolution
See also: Sin 8e · Chivalry 6b · Sign and Symbol 6b
The Song of RolandVol. 49
- p. 130–131Turpin preaches, hears confession and absolves the Franks, promising martyrs' crowns, and blesses the host before battle.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 112The pope claims the power of the keys to absolve; Saint Francis comes for Guido but is refused by the devil.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 179–181Penitential ritual: humble prayer, prostration and beating the breast, asking the gatekeeper to unbar the gate.read · scan
- p. 182Gate of Purgatory opened with Peter's keys; penitent must implore; Te Deum sung within.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 265Prayer, holy reading, confession, Communion and contemplation of the Saints guard the soul against temptation.read · scan
- p. 351–352Urges not delaying confession and Holy Communion; scruple and anxiety hinder devotion and grace.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 120–122The wounded Melias begs to be borne to an abbey to be confessed and to receive the rites.read · scan
- p. 126–128Confession to a hermit and the demand for penance; Gawaine commits himself to God.read · scan
- p. 131–132Shriving, counsel and a promise to avoid the queen.read · scan
- p. 132–134Penance and absolution are given; the hermit invokes Christ cursing the fig tree.read · scan
- p. 148The hermit is preserved by God from sword and fire while at mass; Launcelot is told to confess and seek the Grail.read · scan
- p. 159Knights seek confession from a hermit, who expounds the vision's allegory of humility and patience as the foundation of the Round Table.read · scan
- p. 159–160Confession, repentance and hair shirt as devotion; the Grail is the secret of Christ.read · scan
- p. 163Bors confesses, fasts on bread and water and wears penitential garment as preparation for the Grail quest.read · scan
- p. 171–172Knights are told to be defenders of Holy Church; Bors hears mass and keeps a penitential fast of bread and water.read · scan
Martin Luther, The Ninety-Five ThesesVol. 36
- p. 251–252Concerns penance, confession, priests, papal authority and purgatory in the church's practice.read · scan
William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas MoreVol. 36
- p. 114He prepares by confession, mass and communion before any weighty matter, and his love of God overcame his carnal affections.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 73–75Papal blessing with the sign of the cross grants absolution for killings done in service of the Apostolic Church.read · scan
- p. 88–89Confession, communion and papal absolution on Maundy Thursday restore Cellini to the grace of God.read · scan
- p. 89–90Confession and communion after papal absolution; a religious ornament for the priestly cope.read · scan
- p. 101–102Dying Cecchino regrets missing confession and asks to receive the sacrament by sight, praying for mercy and forgiveness.read · scan
- p. 230–231He asks for a priest, observes the Church's ordinances, pardons the Church and thanks God for the sign of grace in an unjust death.read · scan
Ambroise Paré, Journeys in Diverse PlacesVol. 38
- p. 15–16A priest attends the dying man to settle his soul and promises masses.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 226–228He makes beads and prays, lacking a hermit to hear confession.read · scan
- p. 422Freed captives give thanks in church; Zoraida is taught the meaning of images; the renegade seeks reconciliation with the Church through the Inquisition.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 814She invokes the church's sacrament and fasting; Bosola reminds her she is Christian.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 43Catholic confession to one man bound to secrecy is praised as charitable, sole occasion to undeceive ourselves.read · scan
- p. 43–44Man's corruption finds confession harsh, a main reason much of Europe rebelled against the Church.read · scan
- p. 179Dialogue of the soul with Christ: repentance, giving all to Him, confessor's guidance, and glory to Him alone.read · scan
- p. 303–304God will not absolve without the Church; the Church absolving without God is a rebellious assembly.read · scan
- p. 311God regards the inward and the Church the outward; absolution and penance, and the Church tolerating well-disguised hypocrites.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19
- p. 407–408The clergyman blesses the betrothal with rings, a ritual of marriage.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 228–230Satirises the church session's discipline and Mess John's demand to cut off the sinful member.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 486Penance, pilgrimage to Rome, and submitting to whatever the Pope does as from God.read · scan
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient MarinerVol. 41
- p. 696–698He prays with sobs; the good Hermit singing hymns in the wood is his hope of absolution.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 38–39Lucia confided in Father Cristoforo in confession and invokes the Virgin.read · scan
Lord Byron, ManfredVol. 18
- p. 437Abbot promises the church's teaching and absolution; Manfred rejects holy men and prayer.read · scan
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1301Church bell, missal, rosary and confession bring God's benediction upon the maiden.read · scan
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