Having explained the principal virtues which teach the art of living well, we shall now add a few things from the doctrine of the Sacraments, which help no less toward learning this same art of living well and happily. The Sacraments instituted by Christ the Lord are seven in number: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Holy Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction. These are, as it were, divine instruments which God uses through the ministry of His servants to confer divine grace, so that men, freed from the slavery of the Devil and raised to the dignity of sons of God, may one day attain everlasting happiness with the holy Angels. From these most holy Sacraments, therefore, it is our purpose briefly to show who makes progress in the art of living well and who fails in it, so that from this it may be understood who can aspire to a happy death, and who, on the contrary, must expect an unhappy death. Let us begin with the first Sacrament. Baptism is the first of the Sacraments, and is rightly called the gate of the Sacraments, because unless Baptism comes first, no man is fit to receive the other Sacraments. In the Sacrament of Baptism these rites are observed: First of all, he who is to be baptized must confess the Catholic faith, either by himself or through another. Secondly, he must renounce the Devil, and his pomps, and his works. Thirdly, he is baptized in Christ, in which baptism he is transferred from the slavery of the Devil to the grace of the sons of God; and with all his sins blotted out, he receives the gifts of heavenly grace, by which he is made an adopted son of God, an heir of God, and a co-heir of Christ. Fourthly, a white garment is given him, and he is commanded to keep it pure and spotless until death. Fifthly, a lighted candle is also given him, which signifies the good works he must add, as long as he lives, to the innocence of life signified by the white garment received a little before. For thus the Lord speaks in the Gospel: So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 5)
These are the principal rites which the Church uses in conferring Baptism; for I omit the others, which do not pertain to our purpose. From these each one will be able to judge whether he has lived well from the time he received Baptism up to the year he is now living. But I strongly suspect that few are to be found who have fulfilled all that they either promised to do, or at least were bound to fulfill. For many are called, but few are chosen; and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are who find it. (Matt. 7 and 22) But let us begin with the creed of faith. How many men there are — peasants, or beggars, or workmen of the lowest trades — who either do not hold the creed in memory, or have never learned it, or know indeed how to sound the words but do not grasp the sense! And yet in Baptism, through their godparents, they answered that they believed each article. But if Christ must dwell by faith in our hearts, as the Apostle Paul teaches (Eph. 3), how will He dwell in the hearts of those who can scarcely sound out the words of the creed with their tongue, and have nothing at all in their heart? And if God purifies our hearts by faith, as the Apostle Peter says (Acts 15), how sordid will be the heart of those who have not received the faith of Christ in their heart, though they have received Baptism in the flesh! I speak, however, of adults, not of infants: for infants are justified through the habitual grace of faith, hope, and charity; but when they have grown up, they must learn the creed of the faith, or rather believe the Christian faith in the heart unto justice, and are bound to confess it with the mouth unto salvation, as the Apostle teaches most plainly in his Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 10).
Let us come to the second rite. All Christians, whether in their own person or through their godparent, when asked whether they renounce the Devil, and his pomps, and his works, answer: I renounce them. But how many are there who renounce in words, yet do not renounce in deed? Or rather, how few are there who do not love and follow the pomps and works of the Devil with their whole heart! And yet God sees all things, and cannot be mocked. Therefore let him who desires to live well and longs to die well enter into the chamber of his heart, and not deceive himself, but seriously and attentively think and think again whether he delights in the pomps of this world, and whether he has given place to the works of the Devil, which are sins, in his heart and in his deeds and words. For thus either a good conscience will console him, or an evil conscience will lead him to repentance.
In the third rite there is shown to us a benefit of God so sublime, so profound, so far and wide extending, that if we were to spend all our days and all our nights in wondering at it and in giving thanks to God for it, we should render nothing worthy of so great a benefit. Good God! Who can comprehend it? Who would not be astonished? Who would not be wholly dissolved into tears of devotion, if he considered that man, justly condemned to hell, passes suddenly through the Baptism of Christ from a most wretched captivity to a right to a most blessed kingdom? But the greater this benefit is, the more detestable is the ingratitude of very many men; since there are few who do not begin, as soon as they have reached the use of reason, as it were to renounce so wonderful a benefit of God, and to deliver themselves over as slaves to the Devil. For what is it, in one's earliest youth, to follow the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, but to contract friendship and a covenant with the Devil, and to deny Christ the Lord in deed and in fact? Rare are they who, forestalled by the singular grace of God, diligently guard the grace of Baptism, and, as Jeremiah says, begin to bear the yoke of the Lord from their youth. (Lam. 3) But unless we either diligently preserve the grace of Baptism, or through true repentance once more renounce the Devil and return to the service of Christ and persevere in it even until death, we shall be able neither to live well nor to be delivered from an evil death.
The fourth rite consists in this, that the baptized person receives a white garment and is commanded to wear it until he comes into the sight of the Lord. By this rite, we have said, is signified the innocence of life acquired through the grace of Baptism and to be preserved until death. But who can tell how great are the snares of the Devil, the perpetual enemy of the human race, who strives for nothing more than to bespatter that garment with stains of every kind? And so very few are found who, if they live long, escape the filth of sins. Surely St. David (Ps. 118) pronounced blessed those who are undefiled in the way. But the greater the difficulty of walking without stain in a filthy way, the more glorious will be the palm and the crown of an innocent life. All, therefore, who desire to live well and to die blessedly must keep the garment of innocence white with all their might. But if by chance any stains have clung to it, they must wash it white again and again in the blood of the Lamb; which is done through true contrition and through the tears of repentance. Surely St. David, when he had long bewailed his sin, breathed again in hope of grace, and giving thanks to the Lord confidently said: Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. (Ps. 50)
The last rite is to receive a lighted candle and to carry it in the hands; which, as we said above, signifies nothing else than the good works that must be joined to innocence of life. And what these good works are, which must be done by men born again in Christ through Baptism, the Apostle teaches by his own example when he says: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; as to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me in that day. (2 Tim. 4) In these few words are most briefly enumerated all the good works that must be done by those born again in Christ through Baptism. For they must fight bravely against the temptations of the Devil, who as a roaring lion goeth about, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Pet. 5) They must also complete the course of good works in keeping the commandments of the Lord, according to that word of the Psalm: I have run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou didst enlarge my heart. (Ps. 118) Finally, they must keep faith with the Lord in the talents entrusted to them: whether in cultivating the vineyard, or in the stewardship committed to them, or in the charge of the household laid upon them, or in any other affairs entrusted to them by the Lord. For the most wise Lord was indeed willing to admit us, as adopted sons, to the heavenly inheritance; but that this might be done to His greater glory and our own, it pleased His divine wisdom that by good works, wrought by His grace and our own free will, we should merit the heavenly inheritance — that is, everlasting beatitude. And so that most rich and glorious inheritance will not be given to those who sleep, or are idle, or fond of play, but to those who watch, who labor, and who persevere in good work even to the very end of life.
Let each one, therefore, examine his works, and diligently inquire into his life and conduct, if he wishes to live well and to die happily. And if his conscience bears him witness that he has fought the good fight with his vices and concupiscences, and with all the temptations of the ancient serpent; and that he has happily finished his course in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame; and that he has kept faith with the Lord in all the offices or charges committed to him — let him exult in security, and say with the Apostle: "There is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just Judge, will render to me in that day" (2 Tim. 4). But if his conscience, carefully examined, testifies that in the contest with the enemy of the human race it has been not lightly wounded, and that the fiery darts have penetrated even to the soul — and this not once, but often; and that in the course of good works it has often failed, and not only has not run briskly, but from weariness has sat down in the way, or lain down; and finally, that it has not kept faith with the Lord in the business committed to it, but has carried off for itself part of the profit, whether by vainglory, or by respect of persons, or by anything else — then let him have recourse without delay to the remedy of penance, and to God Himself as his physician, and not defer this, the greatest of all affairs, to another time; for of death we know neither the day nor the hour.