sanctified according to 1
Cor. 6:11, "You are washed, you are sanctified," we must use those
things which are determined by Divine institution.

Reply Obj. 1: Though the same thing can be signified by divers signs,
yet to determine which sign must be used belongs to the signifier.
Now it is God Who signifies spiritual things to us by means of the
sensible things in the sacraments, and of similitudes in the
Scriptures. And consequently, just as the Holy Ghost decides by what
similitudes spiritual things are to be signified in certain passages
of Scripture, so also must it be determined by Divine institution
what things are to be employed for the purpose of signification in
this or that sacrament.

Reply Obj. 2: Sensible things are endowed with natural powers
conducive to the health of the body: and therefore if two of them
have the same virtue, it matters not which we use. Yet they are
ordained unto sanctification not through any power that they possess
naturally, but only in virtue of the Divine institution. And
therefore it was necessary that God should determine the sensible
things to be employed in the sacraments.

Reply Obj. 3: As Augustine says (Contra Faust. xix), diverse
sacraments suit different times; just as different times are
signified by different parts of the verb, viz. present, past, and
future. Consequently, just as under the state of the Law of nature
man was moved by inward instinct and without any outward law, to
worship God, so also the sensible things to be employed in the
worship of God were determined by inward instinct. But later on it
became necessary for a law to be given (to man) from without: both
because the Law of nature had become obscured by man's sins; and in
order to signify more expressly the grace of Christ, by which the
human race is sanctified. And hence the need for those things to be
determinate, of which men have to make use in the sacraments. Nor is
the way of salvation narrowed thereby: because the things which need
to be used in the sacraments, are either in everyone's possession or
can be had with little trouble.
_______________________

SIXTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 60, Art. 5]

Whether Words Are Required for the Signification of the Sacraments?

Objection 1: It seems that words are not required for the
signification of the sacraments. For Augustine says (Contra Faust.
xix): "What else is a corporeal sacrament but a kind of visible
word?" Wherefore to add words to the sens