thing is alleged by us, but that a sacramental signification is
placed in those ceremonies we speak of? 2. What calls he a sacramental
signification, if a mystical resemblance and representation of some
spiritual grace which God hath promised in his word be not it? and that
such a signification as this is placed in the ceremonies, I have already
made it plain, from the testimonies of our opposites. This, sure, makes
those ceremonies so to encroach upon the confines and precincts of the
nature and quality of sacraments, that they usurp something more than any
rites which are not appointed by God himself can rightly do. And if they
be not sacraments, yet, saith Hooker,(791) they are as sacraments. But in
Augustine's dialect, they are not only as sacraments, but they themselves
are sacraments. _Signa_ (saith the father) _cum ad res divinas pertinent,
sacramenta appellantur_; which testimony doth so master Dr Burges, that he
breaketh out into this witless answer,(792) That the meaning of Augustine
was to show that the name of sacraments belongeth properly to divine
things, and not to all signs of holy things. I take he would have said,
"belongeth properly to the signs of divine things."

And here, beside that which Ames hath said against him, I add these two
things: 1. That this distinction cannot be conceived which the Doctor
maketh betwixt the signs of divine things and the signs of holy things. 2.
That his other distinction can as little be conceived, which importeth
that the name of sacraments belongeth to divine things properly, and to
all signs of holy things improperly.

Lastly, If we call to mind that which hath been evinced before, namely,
that the ceremonies are not only thought to be mystically significant for
setting forth and expressing certain spiritual graces, but also operative
and available to the begetting of those graces in us, if not by the work
wrought, at least by the work of the worker; for example, that the sign of
the cross is not only thought by our opposites to signify that at no time
we should be ashamed of the ignominy of Christ, but is also esteemed(793)
to be a means to work our preservation from shame, and a most effectual
teacher to avoid that which may deservedly procure shame; and that
bishopping is not only thought to be a sign for certifying young children
of God's favour and good-will towards them, but also an exhibitive
sign,(794) whereby they receive strength against sin and tentation