pardon of our sins, heavenly grace, the communication of the Holy Spirit, instituted certain signs visible to our eyes and senses, by which we might have him bound, as it were, by so many pledges, and might thus never be enabled to doubt his fidelity to his promises. A third reason was that, as St. Ambrose says, the sacraments may be at hand as remedies, and as the healing medicines of the Samaritan in the Gospel, to recover or preserve the health of the soul;p for, through the sacraments as through