The Eighth Section
Q. 1. And what is a Sacrament?
A. It is a thing which God setteth before mens eyes in his church,
to signify vnto vs for our saluation, an other thing which men see not.
Q. 2. And wherfore hath God ordeined these signes to his promises?
A. For to make vs so much the more assured of the certainty of
them.
Q. 3. How many such signes are there in the christian Church?
A. Two, that is to say, Baptisme, and the holy Supper.
Q. 4. What see you in Baptisme?
A. Water.
Q. 5. What dothe thys water signifye vnto you?
A. The bloud of Iesus Christ.
Q 6. To what end?
A. To make cleane my sins, as the water being occupyed, maketh
cleane the filthines of the body.
Q 7. Doth this water make cleane and purge sinnes?
A. No, but it signifyeth vnto me
that which washeth my sinnes, to wit, the bloud of Iesus Christ.
Q 8. Meane you that this matter or
substance of the bloud of Iesus Christe washeth our soules?
A. No, for our soules can not be clensed with any matter as our
bodyes. But thys bloude maketh me cleane, because the Iesus Christe hath shed
it for satisfaction and full recompence of my sinnes.
Q. 9. Is there then anye difference betweene the water of
Baptisme, and common water?
A. No, as concerning the matter
and substance (for it is alwayes water) but there is very great difference, as
concerning the vse: for the common water serueth to wash and make cleane our
bodilye filthinesses, and the water vsed in Baptisme, is a sacra¦ment, of the
washing of our soules.
The Ninth Section
Q. 1. What see you in the supper?
A. The bread and the wine, which is there giuen and receiued
according to the ordinaunce and institution of God.
Q. 2. What doth this breade and this wine signifie vnto you?
A. The bread signifieth to me, the bodye crucified for mee, and
the wine signifyeth vnto mee, the bloudde shedde out for me.
Q. 3. To what end?
A. To testifie vnto me, & to assure me, that euen as this
bread & this wine, are ordeined for the maintenance and nourishment of this
life, so our Lorde Iesus Christe hath giuen his body & his bloud for me,
and giueth himselfe to mee, to the ende that from him, as from a fountaine
there may flowe vnto me eternal life.
Q. 4. Are this bread and wine our spirituall nourishment?
A. No, but they signifie vnto vs that from whence verye eternall
lyfe it selfe proceedeth, that is to saye, from hym which hath suffered his
death and passion to take away the cause of our death, that is to say sins, and
to renue vs vnto eternall life, thorow a spiritual liuelines, which resteth and
remaineih in him.
Q. 5. Is there anye difference betweene the bread and wine vsed in
this sacrament, and common bread and wine?
A. No, as touching the matter and
substaunce (for it is alwayes bread and wine) but there is very great
difference, as concerning the vse: for ordinary and common meates are appointed
for the vse of thys present life, but this sacrament is ordeyned to signify and
seale vnto vs our spirituall and euerlasting nourishment.
The Tenth Section
Q. 1. Wherefore hath the Lorde ordeined & instituted two
signes in his holy supper seeing that in Baptisme there is but one only?
A. To assure vs that he doth not feede vs to the halues, but
wholly, being not onelye our meate but also our drinke.
Q. 2. Where is Iesus Christ nowe according to his humane nature?
A. In heauen, from whence he shall come to iudge the liuing and
the dead.
Q. 3. By what meanes can you then whiche are on the earth receiue
him?
A. As I receiue with my hande and my mouth the sacrament, that is
to saye, that bread and that wine, for the nourishment of thys bodye, euen so
by the vertue, and power of the holye Ghoste, I doe inwardly and in my soule
receiue and imbrace thorowe faythe our Lorde Iesus Christ, verye God and verye
man, that by him I may liue eternally.
Q. 4. Doe they which haue no fayth receiue Iesus Christ in the supper?
A. No, for Iesus Christe is not receaued but by fayth, yet doe
they in deede receiue the sacrament, but to theyr condemnation.
Q 5. How so?
A. Because that they make no difference betwene common bread and
cōmon wine, and that which is the sacrament of the body and bloud of Iesus
Christe, whom they reiect and throw from them thorowe theyr vnbeliefe.
Q 6. Howe must a man prepare himselfe to come worthily to the
supper?
A. If he haue true repentance of the life that is passed,
confessing their sins before God, and amending them towards God and his
brethren, so much as in him lyeth, with a ful deliberation & purpose to be
better in time to come, and embracing Iesus Christ by as true fayth in his promises
and sacraments for the alone and only sauior,
Q. 7. But hath Iesus Christe left it vnto our liberty and choyse,
whether we will go to the supper, or not goe to it?
A. In forbidding men to resort thether vnworthily, he commandeth
all them whiche haue iudgement and discretion, to prepare themselues that they
may repaire worthily to it.
God giue vs all grace to go to it
to his honor and glory, and to our saluation. So be it. (Theodore Beza, The
Chief Points of Christian Religion On Predestination and A Brief Catechism [Reformed
Retrieval, 2022], 38-40, spelling retained from original)