hiefly towards material things. Lest, therefore, it
should be too hard for man to be drawn away entirely from bodily
actions, bodily exercise was offered to him in the sacraments, by
which he might be trained to avoid superstitious practices,
consisting in the worship of demons, and all manner of harmful
action, consisting in sinful deeds.

It follows, therefore, that through the institution of the sacraments
man, consistently with his nature, is instructed through sensible
things; he is humbled, through confessing that he is subject to
corporeal things, seeing that he receives assistance through them:
and he is even preserved from bodily hurt, by the healthy exercise of
the sacraments.

Reply Obj. 1: Bodily exercise, as such, is not very profitable: but
exercise taken in the use of the sacraments is not merely bodily, but
to a certain extent spiritual, viz. in its signification and in its
causality.

Reply Obj. 2: God's grace is a sufficient cause of man's salvation.
But God gives grace to man in a way which is suitable to him. Hence
it is that man needs the sacraments that he may obtain grace.

Reply Obj. 3: Christ's Passion is a sufficient cause of man's
salvation. But it does not follow that the sacraments are not also
necessary for that purpose: because they obtain their effect through
the power of Christ's Passion; and Christ's Passion is, so to say,
applied to man through the sacraments according to the Apostle (Rom.
6:3): "All we who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His
death."
_______________________

SECOND ARTICLE [III, Q. 61, Art. 2]

Whether Before Sin Sacraments Were Necessary to Man?

Objection 1: It seems that before sin sacraments were necessary to
man. For, as stated above (A. 1, ad 2) man needs sacraments that he
may obtain grace. But man needed grace even in the state of
innocence, as we stated in the First Part (Q. 95, A. 4; cf. I-II, Q.
109, A. 2; Q. 114, A. 2). Therefore sacraments were necessary in that
state also.

Obj. 2: Further, sacraments are suitable to man by reason of the
conditions of human nature, as stated above (A. 1). But man's nature
is the same before and after sin. Therefore it seems that before sin,
man needed the sacraments.

Obj. 3: Further, matrimony is a sacrament, according to Eph. 5:32:
"This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the Church."
But matrimony was instituted before sin, as may be seen in Gen. 2.
Therefore sacraments were