The Works Of James Arminius Vol. 2.
The Private Disputations Of James
Arminius, D.D. On The Principal Articles Of
The Christian Religion. Commenced By
The Author Chiefly For The Purpose Of
Forming A System Of Divinity
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* On Theology
* How To Teach Theology
* On Blessedness, The End Of
Theology
* On Religion
* Rule Of Religion: The Word Of God
* Authority & Certainty Of The
Holy Scriptures
* The Perfection Of The Scriptures
* The Perspicuity Of The Scriptures
* The Interpretation Of The Holy
Scriptures
* The Efficacy Of The Scriptures
* On Religion In A Stricter Sense
* The Christian Religion, Its Name
And Relation
* The Christian Religion In General
* The Object Of Christianity: God
* The Nature Of God
* The Life Of God
* On The Understanding Of God
* The Will Of God
* Various Distinctions Of The Will
Of God
* God's Attributes: From The
Viewpoint Of His Will
* God's Attributes: Relating To
Moral Virtues
* On The Power Or Capability Of God
* The Perfection, Blessedness &
Glory Of God
* Creation
* Angels In General And In
Particular
* The Creation Of Man After The
Image Of God
* The Lordship Or Dominion Of God
* The
* The First Covenant Between God
& Man
* Manner Of Our 1st Parents In The
1st Covenant
* On The Effects Of The Sin Of Our
First Parents
* On The Necessity Of The Christian
Religion
* On The Restoration Of Man
* On The Person Of Our Lord Jesus
Christ
* On The Priestly Office Of
Christ
* On The Prophetical Office Of
Christ
* On The Regal Office Of
Christ
* Christ's Humiliation &
Exaltation
* God The Father & Christ's Will, &
Command
* The Predestination Of
Believers
* The Predestination Of The Means To
The End
* Relation Of Sinful Men To Christ,
& The Means Of Salvation
* True Repentance Towards God
* On Faith In God And Christ
* On The
* The Communion Of Believers With
Christ Regarding His Death
* The Communion Of Believers With
Christ Regarding His Life
* Justification
* The Sanctification Of Man
* The Church Of God And Of Christ
* The Church Of The Old
Testament
* The Church Of The New
Testament
* The Head And The Marks Of The
Church
* The Catholic Church, Her Parts And
Relations
* The Power Of The Church In
Delivering Doctrines
* The Power Of The Church In Enacting Laws
* The Power Of The Church In
Administering Justice
* On Councils
* The Ecclesiastical Ministrations
Of The New Testament
* On Sacraments In General
* The Sacraments Of The Old Testament
* The Sacraments Of The New
Testament In General
* On Baptism And Paedo-Baptism
* On The Lord's Supper
* On The Popish Mass
* On The Five False Sacraments
* On The Worship Of God In
General
* On The Precepts Of Divine Worship
In General
* On Obedience, Object Of All Divine
Precepts
* Obedience To God's Commands In
General
* The Material Object Of The
Precepts Of The Law
* Love, Fear, Trust, And Honor
Towards God
* On Particular Acts Of
Obedience
* On The First Command In The
Decalogue
* On The Second Command In The
Decalogue
* On The Third Precept Of The
Decalogue
* On The Fourth Command In The
Decalogue
* On The Fifth Command In The
Decalogue
* On The Sixth Precept
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DISPUTATION I ON THEOLOGY
As we are about again to commence our
course of theological disputations
under the auspices of our gracious
God, we will previously treat a little on
theology itself. II. By the word
"theology" we do not understand a
conception or a discourse of God
himself, of which meaning it would properly
admit; but we understand by it,
"a conception" or "a discourse about God and
things divine," according to its
common use. III. It may be defined, the
doctrine or science of the truth which
is according to godliness, and which
God has revealed to man that he may
know God and divine things, may believe
on him and may through faith perform
to him the acts of love, fear, honour,
worship and obedience, and obtain
blessedness from him through union with
him, to the divine glory. IV. The
proximate and immediate object of this
doctrine or science is, not God
himself, but the duty and act of man which
he is bound to perform to God. In
theology, therefore, God himself must be
considered as the object of this duty.
V. On this account, theology is not a
theoretical science or doctrine, but a
practical one, requiring the action
of the whole man, according to all and
each of its parts -- an action of the
most transcendent description,
answerable to the excellence of the object as
far as the human capacity will permit.
VI. From these premises, it follows
that this doctrine is not expressed
after the example of natural science, by
which God knows himself, but after the
example of that notion which God has
willingly conceived within himself
from all eternity, about the prescribing
of that duty and of all things
required for it.
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DISPUTATION II ON THE MANNER IN WHICH THEOLOGY MUST BE TAUGHT
It has long been a maxim with those
philosophers who are the masters of
method and order, that the theoretical
sciences ought to be delivered in a
synthetical order, but the practical
in an analytical order, on which
account, and because theology is a
practical science, it follows that it
must be treated according to the
analytical method. II. Our discussion of
this doctrine must therefore commence
with its end, about which we must
previously treat, with much brevity,
both on its nature or what it is, and
its qualities; we must then teach,
throughout the entire discourse, the
means for attaining the end, to which
the obtaining of the end must be
subjoined, and, at this, the whole
discussion must terminate. III. For,
according to this order, not only the
whole doctrine itself, but likewise
all its parts, will be treated from
its principal end, and each article will
obtain that place which belongs to it
according to the principal relation
which it has to its total and to the
end of the whole. IV. But though we are
easily satisfied with all treatises in
which the body of divinity is
explained, provided they agree
according to the truth, at least in the chief
and fundamental things, with the
Scripture itself; and though we willingly
give to all of them praise and
commendation; yet, if on account only of
inquiry into the order, and for the
sake of treating the subject with
greater accuracy, we may be allowed to
explain what are our views and
wishes. V. In the first place, the
order in which the theology ascribed to
God, and to the actions of God, is
treated, seems to be inconvenient.
Neither are we pleased with the
division of theology into the pathological,
and the therapeutic after a preface of
the doctrine about the principles,
the end and the efficient; nor with
that, how accommodating soever it may
be, in appearance, in which, after
premising as its principles the word of
God, and God himself, as the causes of
our salvation, and therefore the
works and effects of God, and man who is
its subject is placed as a part of
it. So neither do we receive
satisfaction from the partition of theological
science into the knowledge of God and
of man; nor from that by which
theology is said to exercise itself
about God and the church; nor that by
which it is previously determined that
we must treat about God, the motion
of a rational creature to him, and
about Christ; nor does that which
prescribes us to a discourse about
God, the creatures, and principally about
man and his fall, about his reparation
through Christ, and about the
sacraments and a future life.
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DISPUTATION III ON BLESSEDNESS, THE END OF THEOLOGY
The end of theology is the blessedness
of man; and that, not animal or
natural, but spiritual and
supernatural. II. It consists in fruition, the
object of which is a perfect, chief,
and sufficient good, which is God. III.
The foundation of this fruition is
life, endowed with understanding and with
intellectual feeling. IV. The
connective or coherent cause of fruition is
union with God, by which that life is
so greatly perfected, that they who
obtain this union are said to be
"partakers of the divine nature and of life
eternal." V. The medium of
fruition is understanding and emotion or feeling
-- understanding, not by species or
image, but by clear vision, which is
called that of face to face; and
feeling, corresponding with this vision.
VI. The cause of blessedness is God
himself, uniting himself with man; that
is, giving himself to be seen, loved,
possessed, and thus to be enjoyed by
man. VII. The antecedent or only
moving cause is the goodness and the
remunerative justice of God, which
have the wisdom of God as their
precursor. VIII. The executive cause
is the power of God, by which the soul
is enlarged after the capacity of God,
and the animal body is transformed
and transfigured into a spiritual
body. IX. The end, event, or consequence
is two-fold, (1.) a demonstration of
the glorious wisdom, goodness, justice,
power, and likewise the universal
perfection of God; and (2.) his
glorification by the beatified. X. Its
adjunct properties are, that it is
eternal, and is known to be so by him who
possesses it; and that it at once
both satisfies every desire, and is an
object of continued desire.
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DISPUTATION IV ON RELIGION
Omitting all dispute about the
question, "whether it be possible for God to
render man happy by a union with
himself without the intervening act of
man," we affirm that it has
pleased God not to bless man except by some duty
performed according to the will of
God, which God has determined to reward
with eternal blessedness. II. And this
most equitable will of God rests on
the foundation of the justice and
equity according to which it seems lawful
and proper, that the Creator should
require from his creature, endowed with
reason, an act tending to God, by
which, in return, a rational creature is
bound to tend towards God, its author
and beneficent lord and master. III.
This act must be one of the entire
man, according to each of his parts --
according to his soul, and that entirely,
and each of his faculties, and
according to his body, so far as it is
the mute instrument of the soul, yet
itself possessing a capacity for
happiness by means of the soul. This act
must likewise be the most excellent of
all those things which can proceed
from man, and like a continuous act;
so that whatever other acts those may
he which are performed by man through
some intervention of the will, they
ought to be performed according to
this act and its rule. IV. Though this
duty, according to its entire essence
and all its parts, can scarcely be
designated by one name, yet we do not
improperly denominate it when we give
it the name of Religion This word, in
its most enlarged acceptation,
embraces three things -- the act
itself, the obligation of the act, and the
obligation with regard to God, on
account of whom that act must be
performed. Thus, we are bound to
honour our parents on account of God. V.
Religion, then, is that act which our
theology places in order; and it is
for this reason justly called
"the object of theological doctrine." VI. Its
method is defined by the command of
God, and not by human choice; for the
word of God is its rule and measure.
And as in these days we have this word
in the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testament alone, we say that these
Scriptures are the canon according to
which religion is to be conformed. We
shall soon treat more fully about the
Scriptures how far it is required that
we should consider them as the canon
of religion. VII. The opposites to
religion are, impiety, that is, the
neglect and contempt of God, and
eqeloqrhskeia will-worship, or
superstition, that is, a mode of religion
invented by man. Hypocrisy is not
opposed to the whole of religion, but to
its integrity or purity; because that
in which the entire man ought to be
engaged, is performed only by his
body.
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DISPUTATION V ON THE RULE OF RELIGION, THE WORD OF GOD, AND THE SCRIPTURES
IN
PARTICULAR
As religion is the duty of man towards
God, it is necessary that it should
be so prescribed by God in his sure
word as to render it evident to man that
he is bound by this prescript as it
proceeds from God; or, at least, it may
and ought to be evident to man. II.
This word is either endiaqeton, [an
inward or mental reasoning,] or
wroforikon, [a spoken or delivered
discourse] the former of them being
engrafted in the mind of man by an
internal inscription, whether it be an
increation or a superinfusion; the
latter being openly pronounced. III.
By the engrafted word, God has
prescribed religion to man, first by
inwardly persuading him that God ought,
and that it was his will, to be
worshipped by man; then, by universally
disclosing to the mind of man the
worship that is pleasing to himself, and
that consists of the love of God and
of one's neighbour; and, lastly, by
writing or sealing a remuneration on
his heart. This inward manifestation is
the foundation of all external
revelation. IV. God has employed the outward
word, First, that he might repeat what
had been engrafted -- might recall it
to remembrance, and might urge its
exercise. Secondly, that he might
prescribe to him other things besides,
which seem to be placed in a
four-fold difference. (1.) For they
are either such things as are
homogeneous to the law of nature,
which might easily be raised up on the
things engrafted, or which man could
not with equal ease deduce from them.
(2.) Or they may appear to be such
things as these, yet such as it has
pleased God to circumscribe, lest,
from the things engrafted, conclusions
should be drawn that were universally,
or at least for that time, repugnant
to the will of God. (3.) Or they are
merely positive, having no communion
with these engrafted things, although
they rest on the general duty of
religion. (4.) Or, lastly, according,
to some state of man, they are
suitable to him, particularly for that
into which man was brought by the
fall from his primeval condition. V.
God communicates this external word to
man, either orally, or by writing.
For, neither with respect to the whole of
religion, nor with respect to its
parts, is God confined to either of these
modes of communication; but he
sometimes uses one and sometimes another, and
at other times both of them, according
to his own choice and pleasure. He
first employed oral enunciation in its
delivery, and afterwards, writing, as
a more certain means against
corruption and oblivion. He has also completed
it in writing; so that we now have the
infallible word of God in no other
place than in the Scriptures, which
are therefore appropriately denominated
"the instrument of
religion." VI. These Scriptures are contained in those
books of the Old and the New Testament
which are called "canonical:" They
consist of the five books of Moses;
the books of Joshua, Judges, and of
Ruth; the First and Second of Samuel;
the First and Second of Kings; the
First and Second of Chronicles; the
books of Ezra and of Nehemiah, and the
first ten chapters of that of Esther;
fifteen books of the prophets, that
is, the three Major and the twelve
Minor Prophets; the books of Job, the
Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the
Canticles, Daniel, and of the
Lamentations of Jeremiah: All these
books are contained in the Old
Testament. Those of the New Testament
are the following: The four
Evangelists; one book of the Acts of
the Apostles; thirteen of
Epistles; the Epistle to the Hebrews;
that of St. James; the two of St.
Peter; the three of
John. Some of these are without
hesitation accounted authentic; but about
others of them doubts have been
occasionally entertained. Yet the number is
quite sufficient of those about which
no doubts were ever indulged. VII. The
primary cause of these books is God,
in his Son, through the Holy Spirit.
The instrumental causes are holy men
of God, who, not at their own will and
pleasure, but as they were actuated
and inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote
these books, whether the words were
inspired into them, dictated to them, or
administered by them under the divine
direction. VIII. The matter or object
of the Scriptures is religion, as has
already been mentioned. The essential
and internal form is the true
intimation or signification of the will of God
respecting religion. The external is
the form or character of the word,
which is attempered to the dignity of
the speaker, and accommodated to the
nature of things and to the capacity
of men. IX. The end is the instruction
of man, to his own salvation and the
glory of God. The parts of the whole
instruction are doctrine, reproof,
institution or instruction, correction,
consolation, and threatening.
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DISPUTATION VI ON THE AUTHORITY AND CERTAINTY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
The authority of the word of God,
which is comprised in the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testament, lies both
in the veracity of the whole narration,
and of all the declarations, whether
they be those about things past, about
things present, or about those which
are to come, and in the power of the
commands and prohibitions, which are
contained in the divine word. II. Both
of these kinds of authority can depend
on no other than on God, who is the
principal author of this word, both
because he is truth without suspicion of
falsehood, and because he is of power
invincible. III. On this account, the
knowledge alone that this word is
divine, is obligatory on our belief and
obedience; and so strongly is it
binding, that this obligation can be
augmented by no external authority.
IV. In what manner or respect soever the
church may be contemplated, she can do
nothing to confirm this authority;
for she, also, is indebted to this
word for all her own authority; and she
is not a church unless she have
previously exercised faith in this word as
being divine, and have engaged to obey
it. Wherefore, in any way to suspend
the authority of the Scriptures on the
church, is to deny that God is of
sufficient veracity and supreme power,
and that the church herself is a
church. V. But it is proved by various
methods, that this word has a divine
origin, either by signs employed for
the enunciation or declaration of the
word, such as miracles, predictions
and divine appearances -- by arguments
engrafted on the word itself, such as
the matters which it contains, the
style and character of the discourse,
the agreements between all the parts
and each of them, and the efficacy of
the word itself; and by the inward
testification or witness of God
himself by his Holy Spirit. To all these, we
add a secondary proof -- the testimony
of those persons who have received
this word as divine. VI. The force and
efficacy of this last testimony is
entirely human, and is of importance
equal to the quantum of wisdom, probity
and constancy possessed by the
witnesses. And on this account the authority
of the church can make no other kind
of faith than that which is human, but
which may be preparatory to the
production of faith divine. The testimony of
the church, therefore, is not the only
thing by which the certainty of the
Scriptures is confirmed to us; indeed
it is not the principle thing; nay, it
is the weakest of all those which are
adduced in confirmation. VII. No
arguments can be invented for
establishing the divinity of any word, which
do not belong by most equitable reason
to this word; and, on the other hand,
it is impossible any arguments can be
devised which may conduce even by a
probable reason to destroy the
divinity of this word. VIII. Though it be not
absolutely necessary to salvation to
believe that this or that book is the
work of the author whose title it
bears; yet this fact may be established by
surer arguments than are those which
claim the authorship of any other work
for the writer. IX. The Scriptures are
canonical in the same way as they are
divine; because they contain the rule
of faith, charity, hope, and of all
our inward and outward actions. They
do not, therefore, require human
authority in order to their being
received into the canon, or considered as
canonical. Nay, the relation between
God and his creatures, requires that
his word should be the rule of life to
his creatures. X. We assert that, for
the establishment of the divinity of
the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testament, this disjunctive
proposition is of irrefutable validity: Either
the Scriptures are divine, or (far be
blasphemy from the expression!) they
are the most foolish of all writings,
whether they be said to have proceeded
from man, or from the evil spirit.
COROLLARIES I. To affirm "that the
authority of the Scriptures depends
upon the church, because the church is
more ancient than the
Scriptures," is a falsehood, a foolish speech, an
implication of manifold contradictions
and blasphemy. II. The authority of
the Roman pontiff to bear witness to
the divinity of the Scriptures, is less
than that of any bishop who is wiser
and better than he, and possessed of
greater constancy.
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DISPUTATION VII ON THE PERFECTION OF THE SCRIPTURES
We denominate that which comprehends
all things necessary for the church to
know, to believe, to do and to hope,
in order to salvation, "THE PERFECTION
OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES." II. As
we are about to engage in the defense of
this perfection, against inspirations,
visions, dreams and other novel
enthusiastic things, we assert, that,
since the time when Christ and his
apostles sojourned on earth, no
inspiration of any thing necessary for the
salvation of any individual man, or of
the church, has been given to any
single person or to any congregation
of men whatsoever, which thing is not
in a full and most perfect manner
comprised in the sacred Scriptures. III.
We likewise affirm, that in the latter
ages no doctrine necessary to
salvation has been deduced from these
Scriptures which was not explicitly
known and believed from the very
commencement of the Christian church. For,
from the time of Christ's ascent into
heaven, the
adult state, being capable indeed of
increasing in the knowledge and belief
of things necessary to salvation, but
not capable of receiving accessions of
new articles; that is, she was capable
of increase in that faith by which
the articles of religion are believed,
but not in that faith which is the
subject of belief. IV. Whatever
additions have since been made, they obtain
only the rank of interpretations and
proofs, which ought themselves not to
be at variance with the Scriptures,
but to be deduced from them; otherwise,
no authority is due to them, but they
should rather be considered as allied
to error; for the perfection, not only
of the propositions, but likewise of
the explanations and proofs which are
comprised in the Scriptures, is very
great. V. But the most compendious way
of forming a judgment about any
enunciation or proposition, is, to
discern whether its subject and predicate
be either expressly or with equal
force contained in them, that proposition
may be rejected at least as not
necessary to salvation, without any
detriment to one's salvation. But the
predicate may be of such a kind, that,
when ascribed to this subject, it
cannot be received without detriment to
the salvation. For instance, "The
Roman pontiff is the head of the church."
"The virgin Mary is the mediatrix
of grace."
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DISPUTATION VIII ON THE PERSPICUITY OF THE SCRIPTURES I.
The perspicuity of the Scriptures is a
quality agreeing with them as with a
sign, according. to which quality they
are adapted clearly to reveal the
conceptions, whose signs are the words
comprised in the Scriptures, to those
persons to whom the Scriptures are
administered according to the benevolent
providence of God. II. That
perspicuity is a quality which agrees with the
Scriptures, is proved from its cause
and its end. (1.) In cause, we consider
the wisdom and goodness of the author,
who, according to his wisdom knew,
and according to his goodness willed,
clearly and well to enunciate or
declare the meanings of his own mind.
(2.) In the end is the duty of those
to whom the Scriptures are directed,
and who, through the decree of God,
cannot attain to salvation without
this knowledge. III. This perspicuity
comes distinctly to be considered both
with regard to its object and its
subject. For all things [in the
Scriptures] are not equally perspicuous, nor
is every thing alike perspicuous to
all persons; but in the epistle of St.
Paul, some things occur which
"are hard to be understood;" and "the gospel
is hid, or concealed, to them who are
lost, in whom the god of this world
hath blinded the minds of them who
believe not" IV. But those senses or
meanings, the knowledge and belief of
which are simply necessary to
salvation, are revealed in the
Scriptures with such plainness, that they can
be perceived even by the most simple
of mankind, provided they be able duly
to exercise their reason. V. But they
are perspicuous to those alone who,
being illuminated by the light of the
Holy Spirit, have eyes to see, and a
mind to understand and discern. For
any colour whatever, though sufficiently
illuminated by the light, is not seen
except by the eye which is endued with
the power of seeing, as with an inward
light. VI. But even in those things
which are necessary to be known and
believed in order to salvation, the law
must be distinguished from the gospel,
especially in that part which relates
to Jesus Christ crucified and raised
up again. For even the gentiles, who
are aliens from Christ, have "the
work of the law written in their hearts,"
though this is not saving, except by
the addition of the internal
illumination and inspiration of God;
but "the doctrine of the cross, which
is foolishness and a stumbling block
to the natural man," is not perceived
without the revelation of the Spirit.
VII. In the Scriptures, some things
may be found so difficult to be
understood, that men of the quickest and
most perspicacious genius may, in
attaining to an understanding of those
things, have a subject on which to
bestow their labours during the whole
course of their lives. But God has so
finely attempered the Scripture, that
they can neither be read without
profit, nor, after having been perused and
reperused innumerable times, can they
be put aside through aversion or
disgust.
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DISPUTATION IX ON THE MEANINGS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
The legitimate and genuine sense of
the holy Scriptures is, that which the
Holy Ghost, the author of them,
intended, and which is collected from the
words themselves, whether they be
received in their proper or in their
figurative signification; that is, it
is the grammatical sense, as it is
called. II. From this sense, alone,
efficacious arguments may be sought for
the proof of doctrines. III. But, on
account of the analogical similitude of
corporeal, carnal, natural, and
earthly things, and those belonging to the
present life, to things spiritual,
heavenly, future and eternal, it happens
that a double meaning, each of them
certain and intended by the author, lies
under the very same words in the
Scriptures, of which the one is called "the
typical," the other "the
meaning prefigured in the type" or "the
allegorical." To this allegorical
meaning, we also refer the analogical, as
opposed in a similar manner to that
which is typical. IV. From these
meanings, that which is called
"the ethiological" and "the tropological" do
not differ, since the former of them
renders the cause of the grammatical
sense, and the latter contains an
accommodation of it to the circumstances
of persons, place, time, &c. V.
The interpretation of Scripture has respect
both to its words and to its sense or
meaning. VI. The interpretation of its
words is either that of single words,
or of many words combined; and both of
these methods constitute either a
translation of the words into another
language, or an explanation [or
paraphrase] through other words of the same
language. VII. Let translation be so
restricted, that, if the original word
has any ambiguity, the word into which
it is translated may retain it: or,
if that cannot be done, let it have
something equivalent by being noted in
the margin. VIII. In the explanation
[or paraphrase] which shall be made by
other words, endeavours must be used
that explanatory words be sought from
the Scriptures themselves. For this
purpose, attention to the synonymy and
phraseology will be exceedingly
useful. IX. In the interpretation of the
meanings of the words, it must be
sedulously attempted both to make the
sense agree with the rule or
"form of sound words," and to accommodate it to
the scope or intention of the author
in that passage. To this end, in
addition to a clear conception of the
words, a comparison of other passages
of Scripture, whether they be similar,
is conducive, as is likewise a
diligent search or institution into
its context. In this labour, the
occasion [of the words] and their end,
the connection of those things which
precede and which follow, and the
circumstances, also, of persons, times and
places, will be principally observed.
X. As "the Scriptures are not of
private or peculiar explanation,"
an interpreter of them will strive to
"have his senses exercised"
in them; that the interpretation of the
Scriptures, which, in those sacred
writings, comes under the denomination of
"prophecy," may proceed from
the same Spirit as that which primarily
inspired the prophecy of the
Scriptures. XI. But the authority of no one is
so great, whether it be that of an
individual or of a church, as to be able
to obtrude his own interpretation on
the people as the authentic one. From
this affirmation however, by way of
eminence, we except the prophets and the
apostles. For such interpretation is
always subjected to the judgment of him
to whom it is proposed, to this extent
-- that he is bound to receive it,
only so far as it is confirmed by
strength of arguments. XII. For this
reason, neither the agreement of the
fathers, which can, with difficulty, be
demonstrated, nor the authority of the
Roman pontiff, ought to be received
as the rule of interpretation. XIII.
We do not wish to introduce unbounded
license, by which it may be allowable
to any person, whether a public
interpreter of Scripture or a private
individual, to reject, without cause,
any interpretations whatsoever,
whether made by one prophet, or by more; but
we desire the liberty of prophesying
[or public expounding] to be preserved
entire and unimpaired in the church.
This liberty, itself, however, we
subject to the judgment of God, as
possessing the power of life and death,
and to that of the church, or of her
prelates who are endowed with the power
of binding and loosing.
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DISPUTATION X ON THE EFFICACY OF THE SCRIPTURES
When we treat on the force and
efficacy of the word of God, whether spoken
or written, we always append to it the
principal and concurrent efficacy of
the Holy Spirit. II. The object of
this efficacy is man, but he must be
considered either as the subject in
whom the efficacy operates, or as the
object about whom this efficacy
exercises itself. III. The subject of this
efficacy in whom it operates, is man
according to his understanding and his
passions, and as being endowed with a
capacity, either active or passive.
(1.) According to his understanding, by which he is able to understand
the
meanings of the word, and to apprehend
them as true and good for himself:
(2.) According to his passions, by
which he is capable of being carried by
his appetites to something true and
good which is pointed out, to embrace
it, and to repose in it. IV. This
efficacy is not only preparatory, by which
the understanding and the passions are
prepared to apprehend something else
that is yet more true and good, and
that is not comprised in the external
word; but it is likewise perfective,
by which the human understanding and
affections are so perfected, that man
cannot attain to an ulterior
perfection in the present life.
Therefore, we reject [the doctrine of] those
who affirm that the Scriptures are a
dead letter, and serve only to prepare
a man, and to render him capable of
receiving another inward word. V. This
efficacy is beautifully circumscribed
in the Scriptures by three acts, each
of which is two-fold. (1.) That of
teaching what is true, and of confuting
what is false. (2.) That of exhorting
to what is good, dissuading from what
is evil, and of reproving if any thing
has been done beyond or contrary to
one's duty. (3.) That of administering
consolation to a contrite spirit, and
of denouncing threats against a lofty
spirit. VI. The object of this
efficacy, about which it exercises
itself, is the same man, placed before
the tribunal of divine justice, that,
according to this word, he [reporter]
may bear away from it a sentence
either of justification or of condemnation.
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DISPUTATION XI ON RELIGION IN A STRICTER SENSE
We have treated on religion generally,
and on its principles as they are
comprehended in the scriptures of the
Old and New Testament. We must now
treat upon it in a stricter
signification.
of man towards God, it must
necessarily be founded in the mutual relation
which subsists between God and man. If
it happen that this relation is
varied, the mode of religion must also
be varied, the acts pertaining to the
substance of every religion always
remaining, which are knowledge, faith,
love, fear, trust, dread and
obedience. II. The first relation between God
and man is that which flows from the
creation of man in the divine image,
according to which religion was
prescribed to him by the comprehensive law
that has been impressed on the minds
of men, and that was afterwards
repeated by Moses in the ten
commandments. For the sake of proving man's
obedience, God added to this a
symbolical law, about not eating the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. III. Through the sin of man,
another relation was introduced
between him and God, according to which,
man, being liable to the condemnation
of God, needs the grace of
restoration. If God bestow this grace
on man, the religion which is to be
prescribed to man must now be also
founded on that act, in addition to
creation. Since this act [on the part
of God] requires from man an
acknowledgment of sin and thanksgiving
for deliverance, it is apparent that,
in this new relation, the mode of
religion ought likewise to be varied, as,
through the appointment of God, it has
in reality been varied. IV. It was
the pleasure of God so to administer
this variation, that it should not
immediately exhibit this grace in a
complete manner, but that it should
retain man for a season under the
sealed dominion of guilt, yet with the
addition of a promise of grace to be
exhibited in his own time. Hence,
arises the difference of the religion
which was prescribed by Moses to the
children of
-- of which the former is called
"the religion of the Old Testament and of
the promise," and the
latter," that of the New Testament and of the gospel;"
the former is also called the Jewish
religion; the latter, the Christian. V.
The use of the ceremonial law under
Moses, and its abrogation under Christ,
teach most clearly that this religion
or mode of religion differs in many
acts. But as the Christian religion
prevails at this time, and as [its
obligations are] to be performed by
us, we will treat further about it, yet
so as to intersperse, in their proper
places, some mention, both of the
primitive religion and of that of the
Jews, so Jar as they are capable, and
ought to serve to explain the
Christian religion. VI. But it is not our wish
for this difference to be extended so
far as to have the attainment of
salvation, without the intervention of
Christ, ascribed to those who served
God under the pedagogy of the Old
Testament and by faith in the promise; for
the subjoined affirmation has always
obtained from the time when the first
promise was promulgated: "There
is none other name under heaven, given among
men, than that of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by which men must be saved." VII.
It appears, from this, that the
following assertion, which was used by one
of the ancients, is false and
untheological: "Men were saved at first by the
law of nature, afterwards, by that of
Moses, and at length, by that of
grace." This, also, is further
apparent, that such a confusion of the Jewish
and Christian religions as was
introduced by it, is completely opposed to
the dispensation or economy of
God.
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DISPUTATION XII ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, ITS NAME AND RELATION
Beginning now to treat further on the
Christian religion, we will first
declare what is the meaning of this
term, and we will afterwards consider
the matter of this religion, each in
its order. II. The Christian religion,
which the Jews called "the heresy
of the Nazarenes," obtained its name from
Jesus of Nazareth, whom God hath
appointed as our only master, and hath made
him both Christ and Lord. III. But
this name agrees with him in two ways --
from the cause and from the object.
(1.) From the cause; because Jesus
Christ, as "the Teacher sent from
God," prescribed this religion, both by
his own voice, when he dwelt on earth,
and by his apostles, whom he sent
forth into all the world. (2.) From
the object; because the same Jesus
Christ, the object of this religion,
according to godliness, is now
exhibited, and fully or perfectly
manifested; whereas, he was formerly
promised and foretold by Moses and the
prophets, only as being about to
come. IV. He was, indeed, a teacher
far transcending all other teachers --
Moses, the prophets, and even the
angels themselves -- both in the mode of
his perception, and in the excellence
of his doctrine. In the mode of his
perception; because, existing in the
bosom of the Father, admitted
intimately to behold all the secrets
of the Father, and endued with the
plenitude of the Spirit, he saw and
heard those things which he speaks and
testifies. But other teachers, being
endued, according to a certain measure
with the Spirit, have perceived either
by a vision, by dreams, by conversing
"face to face," or by the
intervention of an angel, those things which it
was their duty to declare to others; and
this Spirit itself is called "the
Spirit of Christ." V. In the
excellence of his doctrine, also, Christ was
superior to all other teachers,
because he revealed to mankind, together and
at once, the fullness of the very
Godhead, and the complete and latest will
of his Father respecting the salvation
of men; so that, either as it regards
the matter or the dearness of the
exposition, no addition can be made to it,
nor is it necessary that it should.
VI. From their belief in this religion,
and their profession of it, the
professors were called Christians. (Acts xi.
26; 1 Pet. iv. 16.) That the
excellence of this name may really belong to a
person, it is not sufficient for him
to acknowledge Christ as a teacher and
prophet divinely called. But he must
likewise religiously own and worship
him as the object of this doctrine,
though the former knowledge and faith
precede this, and though from it,
alone, certain persons are sometimes said
to have believed in Christ.
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DISPUTATION XIII ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, WITH REGARD TO THE MATTER
GENERALLY
Since God is the object of all
religion, in its various modifications, he
must likewise be the object of this
religion. But Christ, in reference to
God, is also an object of it, as
having been appointed by God the Father,
King and Lord of the universe, and the
Head of his church. II. For this
reason, in a treatise on the Christian
religion, the following subjects
come, in due order, under our
consideration: (1.) The object itself, towards
which faith and religious worship
ought to tend. (2.) The cause, on account
of which, faith and worship may and
ought to be performed to the object.
(3.) The very act of faith and
worship, and the method of each, according to
the command of God and Christ. (4.)
Salvation itself, which, as being
promised and desired, has the power of
an impelling cause, which, when
obtained, is the reward of the observance
of religion, and from which arises
the everlasting glory of God in
Christ. III. But man, by whom [the duties
of] this religion must be executed, is
a sinner, yet one for whom remission
of sins and reconciliation have now
been obtained. By this mark, it is
intended to be distinguished from the
religion of the Jews, which God also
prescribed to sinners; but it was at a
time when remission of sins had not
been obtained, on which account, the
mode of religion was likewise
different, particularly with regard to
ceremonies. IV. This religion, with
regard to all those things which we
have mentioned as coming under
consideration in it, is, of all
religions, the most excellent; or, rather,
it is the most excellent mode of
religion. Because, in it, the object is
proposed in a manner the most
excellent; so that there is nothing about this
object which the human mind is capable
of perceiving, that is not exhibited
in the doctrine of the Christian
religion. For God has with it disclosed all
his own goodness, and has given it to
be viewed in Christ. V. The cause, on
account of which, religion may and
ought to be performed to this object, is,
in every way, the most efficacious; so
that nothing can be imagined, why
religion may and ought to be performed
to any other deity. that is not
comprehended in the efficacy of this
cause, in a pre-eminent manner. VI. The
very act of faith and worship is
required, and must be performed, in a
manner the most signal and particular;
and the salvation which arises from
this act, is the greatest and most
glorious, both because God will afford a
fuller and more perfect sight of
himself, than if salvation had been
obtained through another form of
religion, and because those who will become
partakers of this salvation, will have
Christ eternally as their head, who
is the brother of men, and they will
always behold him. On this account, in
the attainment and possession of
salvation, we shall hereafter become, in
some measure, superior to the angels
themselves.
_________________________________________________________________
DISPUTATION XIV ON THE OBJECT OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION: AND, FIRST, ABOUT
GOD,
ITS PRIMARY OBJECT, AND WHAT GOD IS I.
The object of the Christian religion
is that towards which the faith and
worship of a religious man ought to
tend. This object is God and his Christ
-- God principally, Christ
subordinately under God -- God per se, Christ as
God has constituted him the object of
this religion. II. In God, who is the
primary object of the Christian
religion, three things come in order under
our consideration: (1.) The nature of
God, of which the excellence and
goodness is such that religion can
honourably and usefully be performed to
it. (2.) The acts of God, on account
of which religion ought to be performed
to him. (3.) The will of God, by which
he wills religion to be performed to
himself, and that he who performs it
be rewarded; and, on the contrary, that
the neglecter of it be punished. III. To every treatise on the nature
of
God, must be prefixed this primary and
chief axiom of all religion: "There
is a God." Without this, vain is
every inquiry into the nature of God; for,
if the divine nature had no existence,
religion would be a mere phantasm of
man's conception. IV. Though the
existence of God has been intimated to
every rational creature that perceives
his voice, and though this truth is
known to every one who reflects on
such an intimation; yet, "that there is a
God," may be demonstrated by
various arguments. First, by certain
theoretical axioms; and because when
the terms in which these are expressed
have been once understood, they are
known to be true, they deserve to
receive the name of "implanted
ideas." V. The first axiom is, "Nothing is or
can be from itself? For thus it would
at one and the same time, be and not
be, it would be both prior and
posterior to itself, and would be both the
cause and effect of itself. Therefore,
some one being must necessarily be
pre-existent, from whom, as from the
primary and supreme cause, all other
things derive their origin. But this
being is God. VI. The second axiom is,
"Every efficient primary cause is
better or more excellent than its effect."
From this, it follows that, as all
created minds are in the order of
effects, some one mind is supreme and
most wise, from which the rest have
their origin. But this mind is God.
VII. The third axiom is, "No finite
force can make something out of
nothing; and the first nature has been made
out of nothing." For, if it were
otherwise, it neither could nor ought to be
changed by an efficient or a former;
and thus, nothing could be made from
it. From this, it follows, either that
all things which exist have been from
eternity and are primary being, or
that there is one primary being. But this
being is God. VIII. The same truth is
proved by the practical axiom, or the
conscience, which has its seat in all
rational creatures. It excuses and
exhilarates a man in good actions;
and, in these which are evil, it accuses
and torments -- even in those things
[of both kinds] which have not come,
and which never will come, to the
knowledge of any creature. This stands as
a manifest indication that there is
some supreme judge, who will institute a
strict inquiry, and will pass
judgment. But this judge is God. IX. The
magnitude, the perfection, the
multitude, the variety, and the agreement, of
all things that exist, supply us with
the fifth argument, which loudly
proclaims that all these things
proceed from one and the same being and not
from many beings. But this being is
God. X. The sixth argument is from the
order perceptible in things, and from
the orderly disposition and direction
of all of them to an end, even of
those things which, devoid of reason,
themselves, cannot act on account of
an end, or at least, cannot intend an
end. But all order is from one being,
and direction to an end is from a wise
and good being. But this being is God.
XI. The preservation of political,
ecclesiastical and economical society
among mankind, furnishes our seventh
argument. Amidst such great perversity
and madness of Satan and of evil men,
human society could never attain to
any stability or firmness, except it
were preserved safe and unimpaired by
One who is supremely powerful. But
this is God. XII. We take our eighth
argument from the miracles which we
believe to have been done, and which
we perceive to be done, the magnitude
of which is so great as to cause them
far to exceed the entire force and
power of the created universe.
Therefore, a cause must exist which
transcends the universe and its power
or capability. But this cause is God.
XIII. The predictions of future and
contingent things, and their accurate
and strict completion, supply the
ninth argument as being things which could
proceed from no one except from God.
XIV. In the last place, is added, the
perpetual and universal agreement of
all nations, which general consent must
be accounted as equivalent to a law,
nay to a divine oracle. COROLLARY On
account of the dissensions of very
learned men, we allow this question to be
discussed, "from the motion which
is apparent in the world, and from the
fact, that whatever is moved is moved
by another, can it be concluded that
there is a God?
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DISPUTATION XV ON THE NATURE OF GOD
Concerning God, the primary object of
theology, two things must be known,
(1.) His nature, or what God is, or
rather what qualities does he possess?
(2.) Who God is, or to whom this
nature must be attributed. These must be
known, lest any thing foolish or
unbecoming be ascribed to God, or lest
another, or a strange one, be
considered as the true God. On the first of
these we will now treat in a few
disputations. II. As we are not able to
know the nature of God, in itself, we
can, in a measure, attain to some
knowledge from the analogy of the
nature which is in created things, and
principally that which is in
ourselves, who are created after the image of
God; while we always add a mode of
eminence to this analogy, according to
which mode God is understood to
exceed, infinitely, the perfections of
things created. III. As in the whole
nature of things, and in man, who is
the compendium or abridgment of it,
only two things can be considered as
essential, whether they be disparted
in their subjects, or, in a certain
order, connected with each other and
subordinate in the same subject, which
two things are Essence and Life; we
will also contemplate the nature of God
according to these two impulses of his
nature. For the four degrees, which
are proposed by several divines -- to
be, to live, to. feel, and to
understand -- are restricted to these
two causes of motion; because the word
"to live," embraces within
itself both feeling and understanding. IV. We say
the essence of God is the first
impulse of the divine nature, by which God
is purely and simply understood to be.
V. As the whole nature of things is
distributed according to their
essence, into body and spirit, we affirm that
the divine essence is spiritual, and
from this, that God is a Spirit,
because it could not possibly come to
pass that the first and chief being
should be corporeal. From this, one
cannot do otherwise than justly admire
the transcendent force and plenitude
of God, by which he is capable of
creating even things corporeal that
have nothing analogous to himself. VI.
To the essence of God no attribute can
be added, whether distinguished from
it in reality, by relation, or by a
mere conception of the mind; but only a
mode of pre-eminence can be attributed
to it, according to which it is
understood to comprise within itself
and to exceed all the perfections of
all things. This mode may be declared
in this one expression: "The divine
essence is uncaused and without
commencement." VII. Hence, it follows that
this essence is simple and infinite;
from this, that it is eternal and
immeasurable; and, lastly, that it is
unchangeable, impassable and
incorruptible, in the manner in which
it has been proved by us in our public
theses on this subject. VIII. And
since unity and goodness reciprocate with
being, and as the affections or
passions of every being are general, we also
affirm that the essence of God is one,
and that God is one according to it,
and is, therefore, good -- nay, the
chief good, from the participation of
which all things have both their
being, and their well being. IX. As this
essence is itself pure from all
composition, so it cannot enter into the
composition of any thing. We permit it
to become a subject of discussion,
whether this be designated in the
Scriptures by the name of "holiness,"
which denotes separation or a being
separated. X. These modes of
pre-eminence are not communicable to
any thing, from the very circumstance
of their being such. And when these
modes are contemplated in the life of
God, and in the faculties of his life,
they are of infinite usefulness in
theology, and are not among the
smallest foundations of true religion.
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DISPUTATION XVI ON THE LIFE OF GOD I.
Life is that which comes under our
consideration, in the second impulse of
the divine nature; and that it belongs
to God, is not only evident from its
own nature, but is likewise known, per
se, to all those who have any
conception of God. For it is much more
incredible that God is something
senseless and dead, than that there is
no God. And the life of God is easily
proved. For, as whatever is beside God
is from him, we must also attribute
life to him, because among his
creatures are many things which have life;
and we affirm that God is a living
substance, and that life belongs to him,
not only eminently but also formally,
since life is simply perfection. II.
But, as life is taken, either in the
second act, and is called "operation,"
or in the first, principal and radical
act, and thus is the very nature and
form of a living thing, we attribute
this, of itself, primarily and
adequately to God; so that he Is the
life of himself, not having it from His
union with another thing; (for that is
the part of imperfection,) but
existing the same as it does -- he
being life itself, and living by the
first act, but bestowing life by the
second act. III. The life of God,
therefore, is most simple, so that it
is not, in reality, distinguished from
his essence; and according to the
confined capacity of our conception, by
which it is distinguished from his
essence, it may, in some degree, be
described as being "an act that
flows from the essence of God," by which is
intimated that it is active in itself;
first, by a reflex act on God
himself, and then on other objects, on
account of the most abundant
copiousness, and the most perfect
activity of life in God. IV. The life of
God is the foundation and the
proximate and adequate principle not only of
ad intra et ad extra, an inward and an
outward act, but likewise of all
fruition by which God is said to be
blessed in himself. This seems to be the
cause why God wished himself,
principally in reference to life, to be
distinguished from false gods and dead
idols, and why he wished men to swear
by his name, in a form composed thus:
"The Lord liveth." V. As the essence
of God is infinite and most simple,
eternal, impassable, unchangeable and
incorruptible, we ought likewise to
consider His life with these modes of
being and life; on which account we
attribute to him per se immortality, and
a most prompt, powerful, indefatigable
and insatiable desire, strength and
delight to act and to enjoy, and in
action and enjoyment, if it be lawful,
thus to express ourselves. VI. By two
faculties, the understanding and the
will, this life is active towards God
himself; but towards other things it
is active by three faculties, power,
or capability, being added to the two
preceding. But the faculties of the
understanding and the will are
accommodated to fruition, and this chiefly
as they tend towards God himself;
secondarily, and because it thus
pleases him of his abundant goodness, as
they tend towards the creatures.
_________________________________________________________________
DISPUTATION XVII ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF GOD I.
The understanding of God is that
faculty of his life which is first in
nature and order, and by which the
living God distinctly understands all
things and every one, which, in what
manner soever, either have, will have,
have had, can have, or might
hypothetically have, a being of any kind, by
which he also distinctly understands
the order, connection, and relation of
all and each of them between each
other, and the entities of reason, those
beings which exist, or which can
exist, in the mind, imagination, and
enunciation. II. God knows all things,
neither by intelligible
representations, nor by similitude,
but by his own and sole essence; with
the exception of evil things, which he
knows indirectly by the good things
opposed to them, as privation is known
by means of our having been
accustomed to any thing. III. The mode
by which God understands, is, not by
composition and division, not by
gradual argumentation, but by simple and
infinite intuition, according to the
succession of order and not of time.
IV. The succession of order, in the
objects of the divine knowledge, is in
this manner: First. God knows himself
entirely and adequately, and this
understanding is his own essence or
being. Secondly. He knows all possible
things, in the perfection of his own
essence, and, therefore, all things
impossible. In the understanding of
possible things, this is the order: (1.)
He knows what things can exist by his
own primary and sole act. (2.) He
knows what things, from the creatures,
whether they will come into existence
or will not, can exist by his
conservation, motion, assistance, concurrence,
and permission. (3.) He knows what
things he can do about the acts of the
creatures consistently with himself or
with these acts. Thirdly. He knows
all entities, even according to the
same order as that which we have just
shown in his knowledge of things
possible. V. The understanding of God is
certain and infallible; so that he sees
certainly and infallibly, even,
things future and contingent, whether
he sees them in their causes, or in
themselves. But this infallibility
depends on the infinity of the essence of
God, and not on his unchangeable will.
VI. The act of understanding of God
is occasioned by no external cause,
not even by its object; though if there
be not afterwards an object, neither
will there be any act of God's
understanding about it. VII. How
certain soever the acts of God's
understanding may themselves be, this
does not impose any necessity on
things, but rather establishes
contingency in them. For, as he knows the
thing itself and its mode, if the mode
of the thing be contingent, he must
know it as such, and, therefore, it
remains contingent with respect to the
divine knowledge. VIII. The knowledge
of God may be distinguished according
to its objects. And, First, into the
theoretical, by which he understands
things under the relation of entity
and truth; and into the practical, by
which he considers things under the
relation of good, and as objects of his
will and power. IX. Secondly. One
[quality of the] knowledge of God is that
of simple intelligence, by which he
understands, himself, all possible
things, and the nature and essence of
all entities; another is that of
vision, by which he beholds his own
existence and that of all other entities
or beings. X. The knowledge by which
God knows his own essence and
existence, all things possible, and
the nature and essence of all entities,
is simply necessary, as pertaining to
the perfection of his own knowledge.
But that by which he knows the
existence of other entities, is
hypothetically necessary, that is, if
they now have, have already had, or
shall afterwards have, any existence.
For when any object, whatsoever, is
laid down, it must, of necessity, fall
within the knowledge of God. The
former of these precedes every free
act of the divine will; the latter
follows every free act. The schoolmen;
therefore, denominate the first
"natural," and the second
"free knowledge." XI. The knowledge by which God
knows any thing if it be or exist, is
intermediate between the two [kinds]
described in theses 9 & 10; In
fact it precedes the free act of the will
with regard to intelligence. But it
knows something future according to
vision, only through its hypothesis.
XII. Free knowledge, or that of vision,
which is also called
"prescience," is not the cause of things; but the
knowledge which is practical and of
simple intelligence, and which is
denominated "natural," or
"necessary," is the cause of all things by the
mode of prescribing and directing to
which is added the action of the will
and of the capability. The middle or
intermediate [kind of] knowledge ought
to intervene in things which depend on
the liberty of created choice or
pleasure. XIII. From the variety and
multitude of objects, and from the
means and mode of intelligence and
vision, it is apparent that infinite
knowledge and omniscience are justly
attributed to God; and that they are so
proper or peculiar to God according to
their objects, means and mode, as not
to be capable of appertaining to any
created thing.
_________________________________________________________________
DISPUTATION XVIII ON THE WILL OF GOD
The will of God is spoken of in three
ways: First, the faculty itself of
willing. Secondly, the act of willing.
Thirdly, the object willed. The first
signification is the principal and
proper one, the two others are secondary
and figurative. II. It may be thus
described: It is the second faculty of
the life of God, flowing through the
understanding from the life that has an
ulterior tendency; by which faculty
God is borne towards a known good --
towards a good, because this is an
adequate object of every will -- towards
a known good, not only with regard to
it as a being, but likewise as a good,
whether in reality or only in the act
of the divine understanding. Both,
however, are shown by the
understanding. But the evil which is called that
of culpability, God does not simply
and absolutely will. III. The good is
two-fold. The chief good, and that
which is from the chief. The first of
these is the primary, immediate,
principal, direct, peculiar and adequate
object of the divine will; the latter
is secondary and indirect, towards
which the divine will does not tend,
except by means of the chief good. IV.
The will of God is borne towards its objects
in the following order: (1.) He
wills himself. (2.) He wills all those
things which, out of infinite things
possible to himself he has, by the
last judgment of his wisdom, determined
to be made. And first, he wills to
make them to be; then he is affected
towards them by his will, according as
they possess some likeness with his
nature, or some vestige of it. (3.)
The third object of the will of God is
those things which he judges fit and
equitable to be done by creatures who
are endowed with understanding and
with free will, in which is included a
prohibition of that which he wills not
to be done. (4.) The fourth object of
the divine will is his permission,
that chiefly by which he permits a
rational creature to do what he has
prohibited, and to omit what he has
commanded. (5.) He wills those things
which, according to his own wisdom, he
judges to be done concerning the acts
of his rational creatures. V. There is
out of God no inwardly moving cause of
his will; nor out of him is there any
end. But the creature, and its action
or passion, may be the outwardly
moving cause, without which God would
supersede or omit that volition or act
of willing. VI. But the cause of all
other things is God, by His
understanding and will, by means of
His power or capability; yet so, that
when he acts either through his
creatures, with them or in them, he does not
take away the peculiar mode of acting,
or of suffering, which he has
divinely placed within them; and that
he suffers them, according to their
peculiar mode, to produce their own
effects, and to receive in themselves
the acts of God, either necessarily,
contingently, or freely. As this
contingency and liberty do not make
the prescience of God to be uncertain,
so they are destroyed by the volition
of God, and by the certain futurition
of events with regard to the
understanding of God.
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DISPUTATION XIX ON THE VARIOUS DISTINCTIONS OF THE WILL OF GOD
Though the will of God be one and
simple, yet it may be variously
distinguished, from its objects, in
reference to the mode and order
according to which it is borne towards
its objects. Of these distinctions
the use is important in the whole of
the Scriptures, and in explaining many
passages in them. II. The will of God
is borne towards its object either
according to the mode of nature, or
that of liberty. In reference to the
former, God tends towards his own
primary, proper and adequate object, that
is, towards himself. But, according to
the mode of liberty, he tends towards
other things -- and towards all other
things by the liberty of exercise, and
towards many by the liberty of
specification; because he cannot hate things,
so far as they have some likeness of
God, that is, so far as they are good;
though he is not necessarily bound to
love them, since he might reduce them
to nothing whenever it seemed good to
himself. III. The will of God is
distinguished into that by which he
absolutely wills to do any thing or to
prevent it; and into that by which he
wills something to be done or omitted
by his rational creatures. The former
of these is called "the will of his
good pleasure," or rather
"of his pleasure;" and the latter, "that of his
open intimation." The latter is
revealed, for this is required by the use to
which it is applied. The former is
partly revealed, partly secret, or
hidden. The former employs a power
that is either irresistible, or that is
so accommodated to the object and
subject as to obtain or insure its
success, though it was possible for it
to happen otherwise. To these two
kinds of the divine will, is opposed
the remission of the will, that is, a
two-fold permission, the one opposed
to the will of open intimation, the
other to that of good pleasure. The
former is that by which God permits
something to the power of a rational
creature by not circumscribing some act
by a law; the latter is that by which
God permits something to the will and
capability of the creature, by not
placing an impediment in its way, by
which the act may in reality be
hindered. IV. Whatever things God wills to
do, he wills them (1.) either from
himself, not on account of any other
cause placed beyond him, (whether that
be without the consideration of any
act perpetrated by the creature, or
solely from the occasion of the act of
the creature,) (2.) or on account of a
preceding cause afforded by the
creature. In reference to this
distinction, some work is said to be "proper
to God," some other
"extraneous, strange and foreign." But there is a
two-fold difference in those things
which he wills to be done; for they are
pleasing and acceptable to God, either
in themselves, as in the case of
moral works; or they please
accidentally and on account of some other thing,
as in the case of things ceremonial.
V. The will of God is either
peremptory, or with a condition. (1.)
His peremptory will is that which
strictly and rigidly obtains, such as
the words of the gospel which contain
the last revelation of God: "The
wrath of God abides on him who does not
believe;" "He that believes
shall be saved;" also the words of Samuel to
Saul: "The Lord hath rejected
thee from being king over Israel." (2.) His
will, with a condition, is that which
has a condition annexed, whether it be
a tacit one, such as, "Yet forty
days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."
"Cursed is every one that
continueth not in all things which are written in
the book of the law to do them,"
that is, unless he be delivered from this
curse as it is expressed in Gal. iii.
13. See also Jer. xviii. 7-10. VI. One
will of God is absolute, another
respective. His absolute will is that by
which he wills any thing simply,
without regard to the volition or act of
the creature, such as is that about
the salvation of believers. His
respective will is that by which he
wills something with respect to the
volition or the act of the creature. It is
also either antecedent or
consequent. (1.) The antecedent is
that by which he wills something with
respect to the subsequent will or act
of the creature, as, "God wills all
men to be saved if they believe."
(2.) The consequent is that by which he
wills something with respect to the
antecedent volition or act of the
creature, as, "Woe to that man by
whom the Son of man is betrayed! Better
would it have been for that man if he
had never been born! Both depend on
the absolute will, and according to it
each of them is regulated. VII. God
wills some things, so far as they are
good, when absolutely considered
according to their nature. Thus he
wills alms-giving, and to do good to man
so far as he is his creature. He also
wills some other things, so far as,
all circumstances considered, they are
understood to be good. According to
this will, he says to the wicked man,
"What hast thou to do, that thou
shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth?"
And he speaks thus to Eli: "Be it
far from me that thy house, and the
house of thy father, should walk before
me for ever; for them that honour me I
will honour, and they that despise me
shall be lightly esteemed." This
distinction does not differ greatly from
the antecedent will of God, which has
been already mentioned. VIII. God
wills some things per se or per
accidens. Of themselves, he wills those
things which are simply relatively
good. Thus He wills salvation to that man
who is obedient. Accidentally, those
things which, in some respect are evil,
but have a good joined with them,
which God wills more than the respective
good things that are opposed to those
evil. Thus he wills the evils of
punishment, because he chooses that
the order of justice be preserved in
punishment, rather than that a sinning
creature should escape punishment,
though this impunity might be for the
good of the creature. IX. God wills
some things in their antecedent
causes, that is, he wills their causes
relatively, and places them in such
order that effects may follow from them;
and if they do follow, he wills that
they, of themselves, be pleasing to
him. God wills other things in
themselves. This distinction does not
substantially differ from that by
which the divine will is distinguished
into absolute and selective.
COROLLARIES I. Is it possible for two
affirmatively contrary volitions of
God to tend towards one object which is
the same and uniform? We answer in the
negative. II. Can one volition of
God, that is, one formally, tend
towards contrary objects? We reply, It can
tend towards objects physically
contrary, but not towards objects morally
contrary. III. Does God will, as an
end, something which is beyond himself,
and which does not proceed from his
free will? We reply in the negative.
_________________________________________________________________
DISPUTATION XX ON THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD WHICH COME TO BE CONSIDERED UNDER
HIS
WILL AND, FIRST, ON THOSE WHICH HAVE AN ANALOGY TO THE AFFECTIONS OR
PASSIONS
IN RATIONAL CREATURES
Those attributes of God ought to be
considered, which are either properly or
figuratively attributed to him in the
Scriptures, according to a certain
analogy of the affections and virtues
in rational creatures. II. Those
divine attributes which have the
analogy of affections, may be referred to
two principal kinds, so that the first
class may contain those affections
which are simply conversant about good
or evil, and which may be denominated
primitive affections; and the second
may comprehend those which are
exercised about good and evil in
reference to their absence or presence, and
which may be called affections derived
from the primitive. III. The
primitive affections are love, (the
opposite to which is hatred,) and
goodness; and with these are connected
grace, benignity and mercy. Love is
prior to goodness towards the object,
which is God himself; goodness is
prior to love towards that object
which is some other than God. IV. Love is
an affection of union in God, whose
objects are not only God himself and the
good of justice, but also the
creature, imitating or related to God either
according to likeness, or only
according to impress, and the felicity of the
creature. But this affection is borne
onwards either to enjoy and to have,
or to do good; the former is called
"the love of complacency;" the latter,
"the love of friendship,"
which falls into goodness, God loves himself with
complacency in the perfection of His
own nature, wherefore he likewise
enjoys himself. He also loves himself
with the love of complacency in his
effects produced externally; both in
acts and works, which are specimens and
evident, infallible indications of
that perfection. Wherefore he may be
said, in some degree, likewise to
enjoy these acts and works. Even the
justice or righteousness performed by
the creature, is pleasing to him;
wherefore his affection is extended to
secure it. V. Hatred is an affection
of separation in God, whose many
object is injustice or unrighteousness; and
the secondary, the misery of the
creature. The former is from "the love of
complacency;" the latter, from
"the love of friendship." But since God
properly loves himself and the good of
justice, and by the same impulse
holds iniquity in detestation; and
since he secondarily loves the creature
and his blessedness, and in that
impulse hates the misery of the creature,
that is, he wills it to be taken away
from the creature; hence, it comes to
pass, that he hates the creature who
perseveres in unrighteousness, and he
loves his misery. VI. Hatred, however,
is not collateral to love, but
necessarily flowing from it; since love
neither does nor can tend towards
all those things which become objects
to the understanding of God. It
belongs to him, therefore, in the
first act, and must be placed in him prior
to any existence of a thing worthy of
hatred, which existence being laid
down, the act of hatred arises from it
by a natural necessity, not by
liberty of the will. VII. But since
love does not perfectly fill the whole
will of God, it has goodness united
with it; which also is an affection in
God of communicating his good. Its
first object externally is nothing; and
this is so necessarily first, that,
when it is removed, no communication can
be made externally. Its act is
creation. Its second object is the creature
as a creature; and its act is called
conservation, or sustentation, as if it
was a continuance of creation. Its
third object is the creature performing
his duty according to the command of
God; and its act is the elevation to a
more worthy and felicitous condition,
that is, the communication of a
greater good than that which the
creature obtained by creation. Both these
advances of goodness may also be
appropriately denominated "benignity," or
"kindness." Its fourth
object is the creature not performing his duty, or
sinful, and on this account liable to
misery according to the just judgment
of God; and its act is a deliverance
from sin through the remission and the
mortification of sin. And this
progress of goodness is denominated mercy,
which is an affection for giving
succour to a man in misery, sin presenting
no obstacle. VIII. Grace is a certain
adjunct of goodness and love, by which
is signified that God is affected to
communicate his own good and to love
the creatures, not through merit or of
debt, not by any cause impelling from
without, nor that something may be
added to God himself, but that it may be
well with him on whom the good is
bestowed and who is beloved, which may
also receive the name of
"liberality." According to this, God is said to be
"rich in goodness, mercy,"
&c. IX. The affections which spring from these,
and which are exercised about good or
evil as each is present or absent, are
considered as having an analogy either
in those things which are in the
concupiscible part of our souls, or in
that which is irascible. X. In the
concupiscible part are, first, desire
and that which is opposed to it;
secondly, joy and grief. (1.) Desire
is an affection of obtaining the works
of righteousness from rational creatures,
and of bestowing a remunerative
reward, as well as of inflicting
punishment if they be contumacious. To this
is opposed the affection according to
which God execrates the works of
unrighteousness, and the omission of a
remuneration. (2.). Joy is an
affection from the presence of a thing
that is suitable or agreeable -- such
as the fruition of himself, the
obedience of the creature, the communication
of his own goodness, and the
destruction of His rebels and enemies. Grief,
which is opposed to it, arises from
the disobedience and the misery of the
creature, and in the occasion thus
given by his people for blaspheming the
name of God among the gentiles. To
this, repentance has some affinity; which
is nothing more than a change of the
thing willed or done, on account of the
act of a rational creature, or,
rather, a desire for such change. XI. In the
irascible part are hope and its
opposite, despair, confidence and anger,
also fear, which is affirmatively
opposed to hope. (1.) Hope is an earnest
expectation of a good, due from the
creature, and performable by the grace
of God. It cannot easily be reconciled
with the certain foreknowledge of
God. (2.) Despair arises from the
pertinacious wickedness of the creature,
opposing himself to the grace of God,
and resisting the Holy Spirit. (3.)
Confidence is that by which God with
great animation prosecutes a desired
good, and repels an evil that is
hated. (4.) Anger is an affection of
depulsion in God, through the
punishment of the creature that has
transgressed his law, by which he
inflicts on the creature the evil of
misery for his unrighteousness, and
takes the vengeance which is due to him,
as an indication of his love towards
justice, and of his hatred to sin. When
this affection is vehement, it is
called "fury." (5.) Fear is from an
impending evil to which God is averse.
XII. Of the second class of these
derivative affections, (See Thesis 11)
some belong to God per se, as they
simply contain in themselves
perfection; others, which seem to have
something of imperfection, are
attributed to him after the manner of the
feelings of men, on account of some
effects which he produces analogous to
the effects of the creatures, yet
without any passion, as he is simple and
immutable and without any disorder and
repugnance to right reason. But we
subject the use and exercise of the
first class of those affections (See
Thesis 10) to the infinite wisdom of
God, whose property it is to prefix to
each of them its object, means, end
and circumstances, and to decree to
which, in preference to the rest, is
to be conceded the province of acting.
_________________________________________________________________
DISPUTATION XXI ON THOSE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD WHICH HAVE SOME ANALOGY TO THE
MORAL
VIRTUES, AND WHICH ACT LIKE MODERATORS OF THE AFFECTIONS, CONSIDERED IN
THE
PRECEDING DISPUTATION.
But these attributes preside generally
over all the affections, or specially
relate to some of them. The general is
justice, or righteousness, which is
called "universal" or
"legal," and concerning which it was said by the
ancients, that it contains, in itself,
all the virtues. The special are,
particular justice, patience, and
those which are the moderators of anger,
and of chastisements and punishments.
II. The justice of God, considered
universally, is a virtue of God,
according to which he administers all
things correctly and in a suitable
manner, according to that which his
wisdom dictates as befitting himself.
In conjunction with wisdom, it
presides over all his acts, decrees
and deeds; and according to it, God is
said to be "just and right,"
his way "equal," and himself to be "just in all
his ways." III. The particular
justice of God is that by which he
consistently renders to every one his
own -- to God himself that which is
his, and to the creature that which
belongs to itself. We consider it both
in the words of God and in his deeds.
In this, the method of the decrees is
not different; because, whatever God
does or says, he does or says it
according to his own eternal decree.
This justice likewise contains a
moderator partly of his love for the
good of obedience, and partly of his
love for the creature, and of his goodness.
IV. Justice In deeds may be
considered in the following order:
That the first may be in the
communication of good, either
according to the first creation, or according
to regeneration. The second is in the
prescribing of duty, or in
legislation, which consists in the
requisition of a deed, and in the promise
of a reward, and the threat of a
punishment. The third is in the judging
about deeds, which is retributive,
being both communicative of a reward and
vindicative. In all these, the
magnanimity of God is to be considered. In
communication, in promise, and in
remuneration, his liberality and
magnificence are also to come under
consideration; and they may be
appropriately referred partly to
distributive, and partly to commutative
justice. V. Justice in words is also
three-fold. (1.) Truth, by which he
always enunciates or declares exactly
as the thing is, to which is opposed
falsehood. (2.) Sincerity and
simplicity, by which he always declares as he
inwardly conceives, according to the
meaning and purpose of his mind, to
which are opposed hypocrisy and
duplicity of heart. And (3.) Fidelity, by
which he is constant in keeping
promises and in communicating privileges, to
which are opposed inconstancy and
perfidy. VI. Patience is that by which he
patiently endures the absence of that
Good, that is, of the prescribed
obedience which he loves, desires, and
for which he hopes, and the presence
of that evil which he forbids, sparing
sinners, not only that he may execute
the judicial acts of His mercy and
severity through them, but that he may
also lead them to repentance, or that
he may punish the contumacious with
greater equity and severity. And this
attribute seems to attemper the love
[which God entertains] for the good of
justice. VII. Long suffering,
gentleness or lenity, clemency and
readiness to pardon, are the moderators
of anger, chastisements and
punishments. VIII. Long suffering is a virtue by
which God suspends his anger, lest it
should instantly hasten to the
depulsion of the evil, as soon as the
creature has by his sins deserved it.
IX. Gentleness or lenity is a virtue,
by which God preserves moderation
concerning anger in taking vengeance,
lest it should be too vehement -- lest
the seventy of the anger should
certainly correspond with the magnitude of
the wickedness perpetrated. X.
Clemency is a virtue by which God so
attempers the chastisements and
punishments of the creature, even at the
very time when he inflicts them, that,
by their weight and continuance, they
may not equal the magnitude of the
sins committed; indeed, that they may not
exceed the strength of the creature.
XI. Readiness to forgive is a virtue by
which God shows himself to be exorable
to his creature, and which fixes a
measure to the limits of anger, lest
it should endure for ever, agreeably to
the demerit of the sins committed.
COROLLARIES Does the justice of God
permit him to destine to death
eternal, a rational creature who has never
sinned? We reply in the negative. Does
the justice of God allow that a
creature should be saved who
perseveres in his sins? We reply in the
negative. Cannot justice and mercy, in
some accommodated sense, be
considered, as, in a certain respect,
opposed? We reply in the affirmative.
_________________________________________________________________
DISPUTATION XXII ON THE POWER OR CAPABILITY OF GOD I.
When entering on the consideration of
the power or capability of God, as we
deny the passive power which cannot
belong to God who is a pure act, so we
likewise omit that which is occupied
with internal acts through necessity of
nature; and at present we exhibit for
examination that power alone which
consists in the capacity of external
actions, and by which God not only is
capable of operating beyond himself,
but actually does operate whenever it
is his own good pleasure. II. And it
is a faculty of the divine life, by
which, (subsequently to the
understanding of God that shows and directs, and
to his will that commands,) he is
capable of operating externally what
things soever he can freely will, and
by which he does operate whatever he
freely wills. III. The measure of the
divine capability is the free will of
God, and that is truly an adequate
measure; so that the object of the
capability may be, and, indeed, ought
to be, circumscribed and limited most
appropriately from the object of the
free will of God. For, whatever cannot
fall under his will, cannot fall under
his capability; and whatever is
subject to the former, is likewise
subject to the latter. IV. But the will
of God can only will that which is not
opposed to the divine essence, (which
is the foundation both of His
understanding and of his will,) that is, it
can will nothing but that which
exists, is true and good. Hence, neither can
his capability do any other. Again,
since, under the phrase "what is not
opposed to the divine essence,"
is comprehended whatsoever is simply and
absolutely possible, and since God can
will the whole of this, it follows
that God is capable of every thing
which is possible. V. Those things are
impossible to God which involve a contradiction,
as, to make another God, to
be mutable, to sin, to lie, to cause
some thing at once to be and not to be,
to have been and not to have been,
&c., that this thing should be and not
be, that it and its contrary should
be, that an accident should be without
its subject, that a substance should
be changed into a pre-existing
substance, bread into the body of
Christ, that a body should possess
ubiquity, &c. These things partly
belong to a want of power to be capable of
doing them, and partly to a want of
will to do them. VI. But the capability
of God is infinite -- and this not
only because it can do all things
possible, which, indeed, are
innumerable, so that as many cannot be
enumerated as it is capable of doing,
[or after all that can be numbered, it
is capable of doing still more]; nor
can such great things be calculated
without its being able to produce far
greater, but likewise because nothing
can resist it. For all created things
depend upon him, as upon the efficient
principle, both in their being and in
their preservation. Hence, omnipotence
is justly ascribed to him. VII. This
can be communicated to no creature.
_________________________________________________________________
DISPUTATION XXIII ON THE PERFECTION, BLESSEDNESS AND GLORY OF GOD
Next in order, follows the perfection
of God, resulting from the simple and
infinite circuit of all those things
which we have already attributed to
God, and considered with the mode of
pre-eminence -- not that perfection by
which he has every individual thing
most perfectly, (for this is the office
of simplicity and infinity,) but that
by which he has all things simply
denoting some perfection in the most
perfect manner. And it may be
appropriately described thus: It is the
interminable, and, at the same time,
the entire and perfect possession of
essence and life. II. And this
perfection of God infinitely
transcends every created perfection, in three
several ways: (1.) Because it has all
things. (2.) It has them in a manner
the most perfect. And (3.) It does not
derive them from any other source.
But as the creatures have, through
participation, a perfection from God,
faintly shadowed forth after its
archetype, so, of consequence, they neither
have every perfection, nor in a manner
the most perfect; yet some creatures
have a greater perfection than others;
and the more of it they possess, the
nearer are they to God, and the more
like him. III. From this perfection of
God, by means of some internal act,
his blessedness has its existence; and
by means of some relation of it ad
extra, his glory exists. IV. Blessedness
is an act of God, by which he enjoys
his own perfection, that is fully known
by his understanding, and supremely
loved by his will, with a delightful
satisfaction in it. It is, therefore,
through the act of the understanding,
and of the will; of the understanding,
indeed, reaching to the essence of
the object, but the act of which would
not be an act of felicity, unless it
had this, its being an act of
felicicity[sic.], from the will which
perpetually desires to behold the
beatified object, and is delightfully
satisfied in it. V. But this
blessedness is so peculiar to God that it
cannot be communicated to any
creature. Yet he is, himself, with respect to
the object, the beatified good of
creatures endowed with understanding, and
the effector of the act which tends to
the effect, and which is delightfully
satisfied in it. Of these, consists
the blessedness of the creature. VI.
Glory is the divine excellence above
all things, which he makes manifest by
external acts, in various ways. VII.
But the modes of manifestation, which
are declared to us in the Scriptures,
are principally two -- the one, by an
effulgence of unusual light and
splendour, or by the opposite to it, a dense
darkness and obscurity; the other, by
the production of works which agree
with his perfection and excellence.
VIII. This description of the divine
nature is the first foundation of all
religion. For it is concluded, from
this perfection and blessedness of
God, that the act of religion can be
worthily and usefully exhibited to
God, to the knowledge of which matter, we
are brought, through the manifestation of the
divine glory. The candid
reader will be able, in this place, to
supply from the preceding public
disputations, the theses on the Father
and the Son, and those on the Holy
Spirit, the Holy and undivided
Trinity.
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DISPUTATION XXIV ON CREATION
We have treated on God, who is the
first object of the Christian religion.
And we would now treat on Christ, who,
next to God, is another object of the
same religion; but we must premise
some things, without which, Christ would
neither be an object of religion, nor
would the necessity of the Christian
religion be understood. Indeed, the
cause must be First explained, on
account of which God has a right to
require any religion from man; THEN the
religion, also, that is prescribed in
virtue of this cause and right, and,
LASTLY, the event ensuing, from which
has arisen the necessity of
constituting Christ our saviour, and the
Christian religion, employed by
God, through his own will, who hath
not, by the sin of man, lost His right
which he obtains over him by creation,
nor has he entirely laid aside his
affection for man, though a sinner,
and miserable. II. And since God is the
object of the Christian religion, not
only as the Creator, but likewise as
the Creator anew, (in which latter
respect, Christ, also, as constituted by
God to be the saviour, is the object
of the Christian religion,) it is
necessary for us first to treat about
the primitive creation, and those
things which are joined to it
according to nature, and, after that, about
those which resulted from the conduct
of man, before we begin to treat on
the new creation, in which the primary
consideration is that of Christ as
Mediator. III. Creation is an external
act of God, by which he produced all
things out of nothing, for himself, by
his Word and Spirit. IV. The primary
efficient cause is God the Father, by
his Word and Spirit. The impelling
cause, which we have indicated in the
definition by the particle "for," is
the goodness of God, according to
which he is inclined to communicate his
good. The ordainer is the divine
wisdom; and the executrix, or performer, is
the divine power, which the will of
God employs through an inclination of
goodness, according to the most
equitable prescript of his wisdom. V. The
matter from which God created all
things, must be considered in three forms:
(1.) The first of all is that from
which all things in general were
produced, into which, also, they may
all, on this account, relapse and be
reduced; it is nothing itself, that
our mind, by the removal of all entity,
considers as the first matter; for,
that, alone, is capable of the first
communication of God ad extra;
because, God would neither have the right to
introduce his own form into matter
coeval [with himself], nor would he be
capable of acting, as it would then be
eternal matter, and, therefore,
obnoxious to no change. (2.) The
second matter is that from which all things
corporeal are now distinguished,
according to their own separate forms; and
this is the rude chaos and undigested
mass created at the beginning. (3.)
The third consists both of these
simple and secret elements, and of certain
compound bodies, from which all the
rest have been produced, as from the
waters have proceeded creeping and
flying things, and fishes -- from the
earth, all other living things, trees,
herbs and shrubs -- from the rib of.
Adam, the woman, and from seeds, the
perpetuation of the species. VI. The
form is the production itself of all
things out of nothing, which form pre
existed ready framed, according to the
archetype in the mind of God, without
any proper entity, lest any one should
feign an ideal world. VII. From an
inspection of the matter and form, it
is evident, First, that creation is
the immediate act of God, alone, both
because a creature, who is of a finite
power is incapable of operating on
nothing, and because such a creature
cannot shape matter in substantial
forms. Secondly. The creation was freely
produced, not necessarily, because God
was neither bound to nothing, nor
destitute of forms. VIII. The end -- not
that which moved God to create, for
God is not moved by any thing
external, but that which incessantly and
immediately results from the very act
of creation, and which is, in fact,
contained in the essence of this act
-- this end is the demonstration of the
divine wisdom, goodness and power. For
those divine properties which concur
to act, shine forth and show
themselves in their own nature action --
goodness, in the very communication --
wisdom, in the mode, order and
variety -- and power, in this
circumstance, that so many and such great
things are produced out of nothing.
IX. The end, which is called "to what
purpose," is the good of the
Creatures themselves, and especially of man, to
whom are referred most other creatures,
as being useful to him, according to
the institution of the divine
creation. X. The effect of creation is this
universal world, which, in the
Scriptures, obtains the names of the heaven
and the earth, sometimes, also, of the
sea, as being the extremities within
which all things are embraced. This
world is an entire something, which is
perfect and complete, having no defect
of any form, that can bear relation
to the whole or to its parts; nor is
redundant in any form which has no
relation to the whole and its parts.
It is, also, a single, or a united
something, not by an indivisible
unity, but according to connection and
co-ordination, and the affection of
mutual relation, consisting of parts
distinguished, not only according to
place and situation, but likewise
according to nature, essence and
peculiar existence. This was necessary, not
only to adumbrate, in some measure,
the perfection of God in variety and
multitude, but also to demonstrate
that the Lord omnipotent did not create
the world by a natural necessity, but
by the freedom of his will. XI. But
this entire universe is, according to
the Scriptures, distributed in the
best manner possible into three
classes of objects, (1.) Into creatures
purely spiritual and invisible; of
this class are the angels. (2.) Into
creatures merely corporeal. And (3.)
Into natures that are, in one part of
them, corporeal and visible, and in
another part, spiritual and invisible;
men are of this last class. XII. We think
this was the order observed in
creation: Spiritual creatures, that
is, the angels, were first created.
Corporeal creatures were next created,
according to the series of six days,
not together and in a single moment.
Lastly, man was created, consisting
both of body and spirit; his body was,
indeed, first formed; and afterwards
his soul was inspired by creating, and
created by inspiring; that as God
commenced the creation in a spirit, so
he might finish it on a spirit, being
himself the immeasurable and eternal
Spirit. XIII. This creation is the
foundation of that right by which God
can require religion from man, which
is a matter that will be more
certainly and fully understood, when we come
more specially to treat on the primeval
creation of man; for he who is not
the creator of all things, and who,
therefore, has not all things under his
command, cannot be believed, neither
can any sure hope and confidence be
placed in him, nor can he alone be
feared. Yet all these are acts which
belong to religion. COROLLARIES I. The
world was neither created from all
eternity, nor could it be so created;
though God was, from eternity,
furnished with that capability by
which he could create the world, and
afterwards did create it; and though
no moment of time can be conceived by
us, in which the world could not have
been created. II. He who forms an
accurate conception, in his mind, of
creation, must, in addition to the
plenitude of divine wisdom, goodness
and power, or capability, conceive that
there was a two-fold privation or
vacuity -- the First, according to essence
or form, which will bear some
resemblance to an infinite nothing that is
capable of infinite forms; the SECOND,
according to place, which will be
like an infinite vacuum that is
capable of being the receptacle of numerous
worlds. III. Hence, this, also,
follows, that time and place are not
Separate Creatures, but are created
with things themselves, or, rather, that
they exist together at the creation of
things, not by an absolute but a
relative entity, without which no
created thing can be thought upon or
conceived. IV. This creation is the
first of all the divine external acts,
both in the intention of the Creator,
and actually or in reality; and it is
an act perfect in itself, not serving
another more primary one, as its
medium; though God has made some
creatures, which, in addition to the fact
of their having been made by the act
of creation, are fitted to be advanced
still further, and to be elevated to a
condition yet more excellent. V. If
any thing be represented as the object
of creation, it seems that nothing
can be laid down more suitably than
those things which, out of all things
possible, have, by the act of
creation, been produced from non-existence
into existence.
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DISPUTATION XXV ON ANGELS IN GENERAL AND IN PARTICULAR
Angels are substances merely
spiritual, created after the image of God, not
only that they might acknowledge, love
and worship their Creator, and might
live in a state of happiness with him,
but that they might likewise perform
certain duties concerning the rest of
the creatures according to the command
of God. II. We call them
"substances," against the Sadducees and others, who
contend that angels are nothing more
than the good or the evil motions of
spirits, or else exercises of power to
aid or to injure. But this is
completely at variance with the whole
Scripture, as the actions, (which are
those of supposititious beings,) the
appearances, and the names which they
ascribe to them, more than
sufficiently demonstrate. III. We add that they
are "merely spiritual," that
we may separate them from men, the species
opposite to them, and may intimate
their nature. And though composition out
of matter and form does not belong to
angels, yet, we affirm that they are
absolutely compound substances, and
that they are composed, (1.) Of being
and essence. (2.) Of act and power, or
capability. (3.) Lastly, of subject
and inhering accident. IV. But because
they are creatures, they are finite,
and we measure them by place, time,
and number. (1.) By PLACE, not that they
are in it corporeally, that is, not
that they occupy and fill up a certain
local space, commensurate with their
substance; but they are in it
intellectually, that is, they exist in
a place without the occupying and
repletion of any local space, which
the schoolmen denominate by way of
definition, "to be in a
place." But, as they cannot be in several places at
once, but are sometimes in one place,
and sometimes in another, so they are
not moved without time, though it is
scarcely perceptible. (2.) We measure
them by TIME, or by duration or age,
because they have a commencement of
being, and the whole age in which they
continue they have in succession, by
parts of past, present and future; but
the whole of it is not present to
them at the same moment and without any distance. (3.) Lastly. We
measure
them by NUMBER, though this number is
not defined in the pages of the sacred
volume, and, therefore, is unknown to
us, but known to God; yet it is very
great, for it is neither diminished
nor increased, because the angels are
neither begotten nor die. V. We say
that they were "created after the image
of God;" for they are denominated
"the sons of God." This image, we say,
consists partly in those things which
belong to their natures, and partly in
those things which are of supernatural
endowment. (1.) To their nature,
belong both their spiritual essence,
and the faculty of understanding, of
willing, and of powerfully acting.
(2.) To supernatural endowment, belong
the light of knowledge in the
understanding, and, following it, the
rectitude or holiness of the will.
Immortality itself, is of supernatural
endowment; but it is that which God
has determined to preserve to them, in
what manner soever they may conduct
themselves towards him. VI. The end
subjoined is two-fold -- that,
standing around the throne of God as his
apparitors or messengers, for the
glory of the divine Majesty, the angels
may perpetually laud and celebrate
[the praises of] God, and that they may,
with the utmost swiftness, execute, at
the beck of God, the offices of
ministration which he enjoins upon
them. VII. We are informed in the
Scriptures themselves, that there is a
certain order among angels; for they
mention angels and archangels,-and
attribute even to the devil his angels.
But we are willingly ignorant of that
distinction into orders and various
degrees, and what it is which
constitutes such distinction. We also think
that if [the existence of] certain
orders of angels be granted, it is more
probable that God employs angels of
different orders for the same duties,
than that he appoints distinct orders
to each separate ministry; though we
allow that those who hold other
sentiments, think so with some reason. VIII.
For the performance of the ministries
enjoined on them, angels have
frequently appeared clothed in bodies,
which bodies they have not formed and
assumed to themselves out of nothing,
but out of pre-existing matter, by a
union neither essential nor personal,
but local, (because they were not then
beyond those bodies,) and, according
to an instrumental purpose, that they
might use them for the due performance
of the acts enjoined. IX. These
bodies, therefore, have neither been
alive, nor have the angels, through
them, seen, heard, tasted, smelled,
touched, conceived phantasms or
imaginations, &c. through the
organs of these bodies, they produced only
such acts as could be performed by an
angel inhabiting them, or, rather,
existing in them, as the mover
according to place. On this account, perhaps,
it is not improperly affirmed, that
bodies, truly human, which are inhabited
by a living and directing spirit, can
be discerned, by human judgment, from
these assumed bodies. X. God likewise
prescribed a certain law to angels, by
which they might order their life
according to God, and not according to
themselves, and by the observance of
which they might be blessed, or, by
transgressing it, might be eternally
miserable, without any hope of pardon.
For it was the good pleasure of God to
act towards angels according to
strict justice, and not to display all
his goodness in bringing them to
salvation. XI. But we do not decide
whether a single act of obedience was
sufficient to obtain eternal
blessedness, as one act of disobedience was
deserving of eternal destruction. XII.
Some of the angels transgressed the
law under which they were placed; and
this they did by their own fault,
because by that grace with which they
were furnished, and by which God
assisted them, and was prepared to
assist them, they were enabled to obey
the law, and to remain in their
integrity. XIII. Hence, is the division made
of angels into the good and the evil.
The former are so denominated, because
they continued steadfast in the truth,
and preserved "their own habitation."
But the latter are called "evil
angels," because they did not continue in
the truth, and "deserted their
own habitation." XIV. But the former are
called "good angels," not
only according to an infused habit, but likewise
according to the act which they
performed, and according to their
confirmation in habitual goodness, the
cause of which we place in the
increase of grace, and in their holy
purpose, which they conceived partly
through beholding the punishment which
was inflicted on the apostate angels,
and partly through the perception of
increased grace. [If it be asked,] Did
they not also do this, through perfect
blessedness, to which nothing could
be added?, we do not deny it, on
account of the agreement of learned men,
though it seems possible to produce
reasons to the contrary. XV. The latter
(Thesis 13) are called "evil
angels," First, by actual wickedness, and then
by habitual wickedness and
pertinacious obstinacy in it; hence, they take a
delight in doing whatever they suppose
can tend to the reproach of God and
the destruction of their neighbour.
But this fixed obstinacy in evil seems
to derive its origin partly from an
intuition of the wrath of God and from
an evil conscience which springs out
of that, and partly from their own
wickedness. XVI. But, concerning the
species of sin which the angels
perpetrated, we dare not assert what
it was. Yet we say, it may with some
probability be affirmed, that it was
the crime of pride, from that argument
which solicited man to sin through the
desire of excellence. XVII. When it
is the will of God to employ the assistance
of good angels, he may be said
to employ not only those powers and
faculties which he has conferred on
them, but likewise those which are
augmented by himself. But we think it is
contradictory to truth, if God be said
to furnish the devils, whose service
he uses, with greater knowledge and
power than they have through creation
and their own experience. COROLLARIES
I. We allow this to become a subject
of discussion: Can good angels be said
sometimes to contend among
themselves, with a reservation of that
charity which they owe to God, to
each other, and to men? II. Do angels
need a mediator? and is Christ the
mediator of angels? We reply in the
negative. III. Are all angels of one
species? We think this to be more
probable than its contrary.
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DISPUTATION XXVI ON THE CREATION OF MAN AFTER THE IMAGE OF GOD
Man is a creature of God; consisting
of a body and a soul, rational, good,
and created after the divine image --
according to his body, created from
pre-existing matter, that is, earth
mixed and besprinkled with aqueous and
ethereal moisture, -- according to his
soul, created out of nothing, by the
breathing of breath into his nostrils.
II. But that body would have been
incorruptible, and, by the grace of
God, would not have been liable to
death, if men had not sinned, and had
not, by that deed, procured for
himself the necessity of dying. And
because it was to be the future
receptacle of the soul, it was
furnished by the wise Creator with various
and excellent organs. III. But the
soul is entirely of an admirable nature,
if you consider its origin, substance,
faculties, and habits. (1.) Its
origin; for it is from nothing,
created by infusion, and infused by
creation, a body being duly prepared
for its reception, that it might
fashion matter as with form, and,
being united to the body by a native bond,
might, with it, compose one
ufisamenon, production. Created, I say, by God
in time, as he still daily creates a
new soul in each body. IV. Its
substance, which is simple,
immaterial, and immortal. Simple, I say, not
with respect to God; for it consists
of act and power or capability, of
being and essence, of subject and
accidents; but it is simple with respect
to material and compound things. It is
immaterial, because it can subsist by
itself, and, when separated from the
body, can operate alone. It is
immortal, not indeed from itself, but
by the sustaining grace of God. V. Its
faculties, which are two, the
understanding and the will, as in fact the
object of the soul is two-fold. For
the understanding apprehends eternity
and truth both universal and
particular, by a natural and necessary, and
therefore by a uniform act. But the
will has an inclination to good. Yet
this is either, according to the mode
of its nature, to universal good and
to that which is the chief good; or,
according to the mode of liberty, to
all other [kinds of] good. VI. Lastly.
In its habits, which are, First,
wisdom, by which the intellect clearly
and sufficiently understood the
supernatural truth and goodness both
of felicity and of righteousness.
Secondly. Righteousness and the
holiness of truth, by which the will was
fitted and ready to follow what this
wisdom commanded to be done, and what
it showed to be desired. This
righteousness and wisdom are called
"original," both because man
had them from his very origin, and because, if
man had continued in his integrity,
they would also have been communicated
to his posterity. VII. In all these
things, the image of God most
wonderfully shone forth. We say that
this is the likeness by which man
resembled his Creator, and expressed it
according to the mode of his
capacity -- in his soul, according to
its substance, faculties and habits --
in this body, though this cannot be
properly said to have been created after
the image of God who is pure spirit,
yet it is something divine, both from
the circumstance that, if man had not
sinned, his body would never have
died, and because it is capable of
special incorruptibility and glory, of
which the apostle treats in 1
Corinthians 15, because it displays some
excellence and majesty beyond the
bodies of other living creatures, and,
lastly, because it is an instrument
well fitted for admirable actions and
operations -- in his whole person,
according to the excellence, integrity,
and the dominion over the rest of the
creatures, which were conferred upon
him. VIII. The parts of this image may
be thus distinguished: Some of them
may be called natural to man, and
others supernatural; some, essential to
him, and others accidental. It is
natural and essential to the soul to be a
spirit, and to be endowed with the
power of understanding and of willing,
both according to nature and the mode
of liberty. But the knowledge of God,
and of things pertaining to eternal
salvation, is supernatural and
accidental, as are likewise the
rectitude and holiness of the will,
according to that knowledge.
Immortality is so far essential to the soul,
that it cannot die unless it cease to
be; but it is on this account
supernatural and accidental, because
it is through grace and the aid of
preservation, which God is not bound
to bestow on the soul. IX. But the
immortality of the body is entirely
supernatural and accidental; for it can
be taken away from the body, and the
body can return to the dust, from which
it was taken. Its excellence above
other living creatures, and its peculiar
fitness to produce various effects,
are natural to it, and essential. Its
dominion over the creatures which
belongs to the whole man as consisting of
body and soul, may he partly
considered as belonging to it according to the
excellence of nature, and partly as
conferred upon it by gracious gift, of
which dominion this seems to be an
evidence, that it is never taken wholly
away from the soul, although it be
varied, and be augmented and diminished
according to degrees and parts. X.
Thus was man created, that he might know,
love and worship his Creator, and
might live with him for ever in a state of
blessedness. By this act of creation,
God most manifestly displayed the
glory of his wisdom, goodness and
power. XI. From this description of man,
it appears, that he is both fitted to
perform the act of religion to God,
since such an act is required from him
-- that he is capable of the reward
which may be properly adjudged to
those who perform [acts of] religion to
God, and of the punishment which may
be justly inflicted on those who
neglect religion; and therefore that
religion may, by a deserved right, be
required from man according to this
relation; and this is the principal
relation, according to which we must,
in sacred theology, treat about the
creation of man after the image of
God. XII. In addition to this image of
God, and this reference to
supernatural and spiritual things, comes under
our consideration the state of the
natural life, in which the first man was
created and constituted, according to
the apostle Paul, "that which is
natural was first, and afterwards,
that which is spiritual." (1 Cor. xv.
46.) This state is founded in the
natural union of body and soul, and in the
life which the soul naturally lives in
the body; from which union and life
it is that the soul procures for its
body, things which are good for it;
and, on the other hand, the body is
ready for offices which are congruous to
its nature and desires. According to
this state or condition, there is a
mutual relation between man and the
good things of this world, the effect of
which is, that man can desire them,
and, in procuring them for himself, can
bestow that labour which he deems to
be necessary and convenient.
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DISPUTATION XXVII ON THE LORDSHIP OR DOMINION OF GOD
Through creation, dominion over all
things which have been created by
himself, belongs to the Creator. It
is, therefore, primary, being dependent
on no other dominion or on that of no
other person; and it is, on this
account, chief because there is none
greater; and it is absolute, because it
is over the entire creature, according
to the whole, and according to all
and each of its parts, and to all the
relations which subsist between the
Creator and the creature. It is,
consequently, perpetual, that is, so long
as the creature itself exists. II. But
the dominion of God is the right of
the Creator, and his power over the
creatures; according to which he has
them as his own property, and can
command and use them, and do about them,
whatever the relation of creation and
the equity which rests upon it,
permit. III. For the right cannot
extend further than is allowed by that
cause from which the whole of it
arises, and on which it is dependent. For
this reason, it is not agreeable to
this right of God, either that he
delivers up his creature to another
who may domineer over such creature, at
his arbitrary pleasure, so that he be
not compelled to render to God an
account of the exercise of his
sovereignty, and be able, without any demerit
on the part of the creature, to
inflict every evil on a creature capable of
injury, or, at least, not for any good
of this creature; or that he [God]
command an act to be done by the
creature, for the performance of which he
neither has, nor can have, sufficient
and necessary powers; or that he
employ the creature to introduce sin
into the world, that he may, by
punishing or by forgiving it, promote
his own glory; or, lastly, to do
concerning the creature whatever he is
able, according to his absolute
power, to do concerning him, that is
eternally to punish or to afflict him,
without [his having committed] sin.
IV. As this is a power over rational
creatures, (in reference to whom
chiefly we treat on the dominion and power
of God,) it may be considered in two
views, either as despotic, or as
kingly, or patriarchal. The former is
that which he employs without any
intention of good which may be useful
or saving to the creature; that latter
is that which he employs when he also
intends the good of the creature
itself. And this last is used by God
through the abundance of his own
goodness and sufficiency, until he
considers the creature to be unworthy, on
account of his perverseness, to have
God presiding over him in his kingly
and paternal authority. V. Hence, it
is, that, when God is about to command
some thing to his rational creature,
he does not exact every thing which he
justly might do, and he employs
persuasions through arguments which have
regard to the utility and necessity of
those persuasions. VI. In addition to
this, God enters into a contract or
covenant with his creature; and he does
this for the purpose that the creature
may serve him, not so much "of debt,"
as from a spontaneous, free and liberal
obedience, according to the nature
of confederations which consist of
stipulations and promises. On this
account, God frequently distinguishes
his law by the title of a COVENANT.
VII. Yet this condition is always
annexed to the confederation, that if man
be unmindful of the covenant and a
contemner of its pleasant rule, he may
always be impelled or governed by that
domination which is really lordly,
strict and rigid, and into which, he
who refuses to obey the other [species
of rule], justly falls. VIII. Hence,
arises a two-fold right of God over his
rational creature. The First, which
belongs to him through creation; the
Second, through contract. The former
rests on the good which the creature
has received from his Creator; the
latter rests on the still greater benefit
which the creature will receive from
God, his preserver, promoter and
glorifier. IX. If the creature happen
to sin against this two-fold right, by
that very act, he gives to God, his
Lord, King and Father, the right of
treating him as a sinning creature,
and of inflicting on him due punishment;
and this is a THIRD right, which rests
on the wicked act of the creature
against God.
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DISPUTATION XXVIII ON THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
Not only does the very nature of God,
and of things themselves, but likewise
the Scriptures and experience do,
evidently, show that providence belongs to
God. II. But providence denotes some
property of God, not a quality, or a
capability, or a habit; but it is an
act, which is not ad intra nor
internal, but which is ad extra and
external, and which is about an object
different from God, and that is not
united to him from all eternity, in his
understanding, but as separate and
really existing. III. And it is an act of
the practical understanding, or of the
will employing the understanding, not
completed in a single moment, but
continued through the moments of the
duration of things. IV. And it may be
defined the solicitous, everywhere
powerful, and continued inspection and
oversight of God, according to which
he exercises a general care over the
whole world, and over each of the
creatures and their actions and
passions, in a manner that is befitting
himself, and suitable for his
creatures, for their benefit, especially for
that of pious men, and for a
declaration of the divine perfection. V. We
have represented the object of it to
be both the whole world as it is a
single thing consisting of many parts
which have a certain relation among
themselves, and possessing order
between each other, and each our the
creatures, with its actions and
passions. We preserve the distinction of the
goodness which is in them, (1.)
According to their nature, through creation;
(2.) According to grace, through the
communication of supernatural gifts,
and elevation to dignities; (3.)
According to the right use both of nature
and grace; yet we ascribe the last
two, also, to the act of providence. VI.
The rule of providence, according to
which it produces its acts, is the
wisdom of God, demonstrating what is
worthy of God, according to his
goodness, His severity, or his love
for justice or for the creature, but
always according to equity. VII. The
acts of providence which belong to its
execution, are -- preservation, which
appears to be occupied about essences,
qualities and quantities -- and
government, which presides over actions and
passions, and of which the principal
acts are motion, assistance,
concurrence and permission. The three
former of these acts extend themselves
to good, whether natural or moral; and
the last of them appertains to evil
alone. VIII. The power of God serves
universally, and at all times, to
execute these acts, with the exception
of permission; specially, and
sometimes, these acts are executed by
the creatures themselves. Hence, an
act of providence is called either
immediate or mediate. When it employs
[the agency of] the creatures, then it permits them to conduct their
motions
agreeably to their own nature, unless
it be his pleasure to do any thing out
of the ordinary way. IX. Then, those
acts which are performed according to
some certain course of nature or of
grace, are called ordinary; those which
are employed either beyond, above, or
also contrary to this order, are
styled extraordinary; yet they are
always concluded by the terms due fitness
and suitableness, of which we have
treated in the definition. (Thesis 4.) X.
Degrees are laid down in providence,
not according to intuition or oversight
itself, neither according to presence
or continuity, but according to
solicitude and care, which yet are
free from anxiety, but which are greater
concerning a man than concerning
bullocks, also greater concerning believers
and pious persons, than concerning
those who are impious. XI. The end of
providence and of all its acts, is the
declaration of the divine
perfections, of wisdom, goodness,
justice, severity and power, and the good
of the whole, especially of those men
who are chosen or elected. XII. But
since God does nothing, or permits it
to be done in time, which he has not
decreed from all eternity, either to do
or to permit that decree, therefore,
is placed before providence and its
acts as an internal act is before one
that is external. XIII. The effect,
or, rather, the consequence, which
belongs to God himself, is his
prescience; and it is partly called natural
and necessary, and partly free --
FREE, because it follows the act of the
divine free will, without which it
would not be the object of it -- Natural
and Necessary, so far as, (when this
object is laid down by the act of the
divine will,) it cannot be unknown by
the divine understanding. XIV.
Prediction sometimes follows this
prescience, when it pleases God to give
intimations to his creatures of the
issues of things, before they come to
pass. But neither prediction nor any
prescience induces a necessity of any
thing that is afterwards to be, since
they are [in the divine mind.]
posterior in nature and order to the
thing that is future. For a thing does
not come to pass because it has been
foreknown or foretold; but it is
foreknown and foretold because it is
yet to come to pass. XV. Neither does
the decree itself, by which the Lord
administers providence and its acts,
induce any necessity on things future;
for, since it, the decree, (§ 12) is
an internal act of God, it lays down
nothing in the thing itself. But things
come to pass and happen either
necessarily or contingently, according to the
mode of power, which it has pleased
God. to employ in the administration of
affairs.
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DISPUTATION XXIX ON THE COVENANT INTO WHICH GOD ENTERED WITH OUR FIRST
PARENTS
Though, according to His right and
power over man, whom he had created after
his own image, God could prescribe
obedience to him in all things for the
performance of which he possessed
suitable powers, or would, by the grace of
God, have them in that state; yet,
that he might elicit from man voluntary
and free obedience, which, alone, is
grateful to him, it was his will to
enter into a contract and covenant
with him, by which God required
obedience, and, on the other hand,
promised a reward, to which he added the
denunciation of a punishment, that the
transaction might not seem to be
entirely one between equals, and as if
man was not completely bound to God.
II. On this account, the law of God is
very often called a Covenant, because
it consists of those two parts, that
is, a work commanded, and a reward
promised, to which is subjoined the
denunciation of a punishment, to signify
the right which God had over man and
which he has not altogether
surrendered, and to incite man to
greater obedience. III. God prescribed
this obedience, first, by a law placed
in and imprinted on the mind of man,
in which is contained his natural duty
towards God and his neighbour, and,
therefore, towards himself also; and
it is that of love, with fear, honour
and worship towards a superior. For,
as true virtue consists in the
government or right ordering of the
affections, (of which the first, the
chief, and that on which the rest
depend, is Love,) the whole law is
contained in the right ordering of
love. And, as no obedience seems to be
yielded in the case of a man who
executes the whole of his own will without
any, even the least resistance,
therefore, to try his obedience, that thing
was to be prescribed, to which, by a
certain feeling, man had an abhorrence;
and that was to be forbidden, towards
which he was drawn by a certain
inclination. Therefore the love of ourselves was to be regulated or
rightly
ordered, which is the first and
proximate cause that man should live in
society with his species, or according
to humanity. IV. To this law, it was
the pleasure of God to add another,
which was a symbolical one. A symbolical
law is one that prescribes or forbids
some act, which, in itself, is neither
agreeable nor disagreeable to God,
that is, one that is indifferent; and it
serves for this purpose that God may try
whether man is willing to yield
obedience to him, solely on this
account, because it has been the pleasure
of God to require such obedience, and
though it were impossible to devise
any other reason why God imposed that
law. V. That symbolical law was, in
this instance, prohibitive of some
act, to which man was inclined by some
natural propensity, (that is, to eat
of the tree of the knowledge of good
and of evil,) though "it was
pleasant to the eyes and good for food." By the
commanding of an indifferent act, it
does not seem to have been possible to
try the obedience of man with equal
advantage. VI. This seems to be the
difference between each [of these
kinds of] obedience, that the first
(Thesis I) is true obedience and, in itself,
pleasing to God; and the man
who performs it is said truly to live
according to godliness; but that the
latter (Theses 4 and 5) is not so much
obedience, itself, as the external
profession of willingly yielding
obedience; and it is therefore an
acknowledgment, or the token of an
acknowledgment, by which man professes
himself to be subject to God, and
declares that he is willingly subject.
Exactly in the same manner, a vassal
yields obedience to his lord, for
having fought against his enemies,
which obedience he confesses that he
cheerfully performs to him, by
presenting him annually with a gift of small
value. VII. From this comparison, it
appears that the obedience which is
yielded to a symbolical law is far
inferior to that which is yielded to a
natural law, but that the disobedience
manifested to a symbolical law is not
the less serious, or that it is even
more grievous; because, by this very
act, man professes that he is
unwilling to submit himself, and indeed not to
yield obedience in other matters, and
those of greater importance, and of
more difficult labour. VIII. The
reward that corresponds with obedience to
this chief law, the performance of
which is, of itself, pleasing to God,
(the analogy and difference which
exist between God and man being faithfully
observed,) is life eternal, the
complete satisfying of the whole of our will
and desire. But the reward which
answers to the observance of the symbolical
law, is the free enjoyment of the
fruits of Paradise, and the power to eat
of the tree of life, by the eating of
which man was always restored to his
pristine strength. But this tree of
life was a symbol of eternal life, which
man would have enjoyed, if, by
abstaining from eating the fruit, he had
professed obedience, and had truly
performed such obedience to the moral
law. IX. We are of opinion that, if
our first parents had remained in their
integrity by obedience performed to
both these laws, God would have acted
with their posterity by the same compact, that is, by their
yielding
obedience to the moral law inscribed
on their hearts, and to some symbolical
or ceremonial law; though we dare not
specially make a similar affirmation,
respecting the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. X. So, likewise, if
they had persisted in their obedience
to both laws, we think it very
probable that, at certain periods, men
would have been translated from this
natural life, by the intermediate
change of the natural, mortal and
corruptible body, into a body
spiritual, immortal, and incorruptible, to
pass a life of immortality and bliss
in heaven. COROLLARY We allow this to
be made a subject of discussion: Did
Eve receive this symbolical command
about the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, immediately from God, or
through Adam?
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DISPUTATION XXX THE MANNER IN WHICH MAN CONDUCTED HIMSELF FOR FULFILLING
THE
FIRST COVENANT, OR ON THE SIN OF OUR FIRST PARENTS
When God had entered into this
covenant with men, it was the part of man
perpetually to form and direct his
life according to the conditions and laws
prescribed by this covenant, because
he would then have obtained the rewards
promised through the performance of
both those conditions, and would not
have incurred the punishment due and
denounced to disobedience. We are
ignorant of the length of time in
which man fulfilled his part; but the Holy
Scriptures testify that he did not
persevere in this obedience. II. But we
say the violation of this covenant was
a transgression of the symbolical law
imposed concerning his not eating the
fruit of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. III. The efficient
cause of that transgression was man,
determining his will to that forbidden
object, and applying his power or
capability to do it. But the external,
moving, per se, and principal cause
was the devil, who, having accosted
the woman, (whom he considered weaker
than the man, and who when persuaded
herself, would easily persuade him,)
employed false arguments for
persuasion. One of his arguments was deduced
from the usefulness of the good which
would ensue from this act; another was
deduced from the setting aside of Him
who had prohibited it, that is, by a
denial of the punishment which would
follow. The instrumental cause was the
serpent, whose tongue the devil abused
to propose what arguments he chose.
The accidental cause was the fruit
itself, which seemed good for food,
pleasant in its flavor, and desirable
to the eyes. The occasional cause was
the law of God, that circumscribed by
its interdict an act which was
indifferent in its nature, and for
which man possessed inclination and
powers, that it might be impossible
for this offense to be perpetrated
without sin. IV. The only moving or
antecedent cause was a two-fold
inclination in man, a superior one for
the likeness of God, and an inferior
one for the desirable fruit,
"pleasant to the sight, and good for food."
Both of them were implanted by God
through creation; but they were to be
used in a certain method, order and
time. The immediate and proximate cause
was the will of man, which applied itself
to the act, the understanding
preceding and showing the way; and
these are the causes which concurred to
effect this sin, and all of which, as,
through the image of God, he was able
to resist, so was it his duty, through
the imposing of that law, to have
resisted. Not one of these, therefore,
nor others, if such be granted in the
genus of causes, imposed any necessity
on man [to commit that sin]. It was
not an external cause, whether you
consider God, or something from God, the
devil, or man. 5.(1.) It was not God;
for since he is the chief good, he
does nothing but what is good; and,
therefore, he can be called neither the
efficient cause of sin, nor the
deficient cause, since he has employed
whatever things were sufficient and
necessary to avoid this sin. (2.)
Neither was it something in God; it
was neither His understanding nor his
will, which commands those things
which are just, performs those which are
good, and permits those which are
evil; and this permission is only a
cessation from such an act as would in
reality have hindered the act of man,
by effecting nothing beyond itself,
but by suspending some efficiency. This,
therefore, cannot be the cause. (3.)
Nor was the devil the cause; for he
only infused counsel; he did not
impel, or force by necessity. (4.) Eve was
not the cause; for she was only able
to precede by her example, and to
entice by some argument, but not to
compel. VI. It was not an internal cause
-- whether you consider the common or
general nature of man, which was
inclined only to one good, or his
particular nature, which exactly
corresponded with that which is
general; nor was it any thing in his
particular nature, for this would have
been the understanding; but it could
act by persuasion and advice, not by
necessity. Man, therefore, sinned by
his free will, his own proper motion
being allowed by God, and himself
persuaded by the devil. VII. The
matter of that sin was the eating of the
fruit of the tree -- an act
indifferent, indeed, in its nature, but
forbidden by the imposing of a law,
and withdrawn from the power of man. lie
could also have easily abstained from
it without any loss of pleasure. In
this, is apparent the admirable
goodness of God, who tries whether man be
willing to submit to the divine
command in a matter which could so easily be
avoided. VIII. The form was the
transgression of the law imposed, or the act
of eating as having been forbidden;
for as it had been forbidden, it had
gone beyond the order of lawful and
good acts, and had been taken away from
the [allowable] power of man, that it
might not be exercised without sin.
IX. There was no end for this sin; for
it always assumed the shape or habit
of good. An end, however, was proposed
by man, (but it was not obtained,
that he might satisfy both his
superior propensity towards the image of God,
and his inferior one towards the fruit
of the tree. But the end of the devil
was the aversion of man from his God,
and, through this, his further
seduction into exile, and the society
of the evil one. But the permission of
God had respect to the antecedent
condition of creation, which had made men
possessed of free will, and for [the
performance of] acts glorious to God,
which might arise from it. X. The
serious enormity of that sin is
principally manifest from the
following particulars: (1.) Because it was a
transgression of such a law as had
been imposed to try whether man was
willing to be subject to the law of
God, and it carried with it numbers of
other grievous sins. (2.) Because,
after God had loaded man with such signal
gifts, he had the audacity to
perpetrate this sin. (3.) Because, when there
was such great facility to abstain
from sin, he suffered himself to be so
easily induced, and did not satisfy
his inclination in such a copious
abundance of things. (4.) Became he
committed that sin in a sanctified place
which was a type of the heavenly
Paradise, almost under the eyes of God
himself, who convened with him in a
familiar manner.
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DISPUTATION XXXI ON THE EFFECTS OF THE SIN OF OUR FIRST PARENTS
The first and immediate effect of the
sin which Adam and Eve committed in
eating of the forbidden fruit, was the
offending of the Deity, and guilt --
Offense, which arose from the
prohibition imposed -- Guilt, from the
sanction added to it, through the
denunciation of punishment, if they
neglected the prohibition. II. From
the offending of the Deity, arose his
wrath on account of the violated
commandment. In this violation, occur three
causes of just anger: (1.) The
disparagement of his power or right. (2.) A
denial of that towards which God had
an inclination. (3.) A contempt of the
divine will intimated by the command.
III. Punishment was consequent on
guilt and the divine wrath; the equity
of this punishment is from guilt, the
infliction of it is by wrath. But it
is preceded both by the wounding of the
conscience, and by the fear of an
angry God and the dread of punishment. Of
these, man gave a token by his
subsequent flight, and by "hiding himself
from the presence of the Lord God,
when he heard him walking in the garden
in the cool of the day and calling
unto Adam." IV. The assistant cause of
this flight and hiding [of our first
parents] was a consciousness of their
own nakedness, and shame on account of
that of which they had not been
previously ashamed. This seems to have
served for racking the conscience,
and for exciting or augmenting that
fear and dread. V. The Spirit of grace,
whose abode was within man, could not
consist with a consciousness of having
offended God; and, therefore, on the
perpetration of sin and the
condemnation of their own hearts, the
Holy Spirit departed. Wherefore, the
Spirit of God likewise ceased to lead
and direct man, and to bear inward
testimony to his heart of the favour
of God. This circumstance must be
considered in the place of a heavy
punishment, when the law, with a depraved
conscience, accused, bore its
testimony [against them], convicted and
condemned them. VI. Beside this
punishment, which was instantly inflicted,
they rendered themselves liable to two
other punishments; that is, to
temporal death, which is the
separation of the soul from the body; and to
death eternal, which is the separation
of the entire man from God, his chief
good. VII. The indication of both
these punishments was the ejectment of our
first parents out of Paradise. It was
a token of death temporal; because
Paradise was a type and figure of the
celestial abode, in which consummate
and perfect bliss ever flourishes,
with the translucent splendour of the
divine Majesty. It was also a token of
death eternal, because, in that
garden was planted the tree of life,
the fruit of which, when eaten, was
suitable for continuing natural life
to man without the intervention of
death. This tree was both a symbol of
the heavenly life of which man was
bereft, and of death eternal, which
was to follow. VIII. To these may be
added the punishment peculiarly
inflicted on the man and the woman -- on the
former, that he must eat bread through
"the sweat of his face," and that
"the ground, cursed for his sake,
should bring forth to him thorns and
thistles;" on the latter, that
she should be liable to various pains in
conception and child-bearing. The
punishment inflicted on the man had regard
to his care to preserve the
individuals of the species, and that on the
woman, to the perpetuation of the
species. IX. But because the condition of
the covenant into which God entered
with our first parents was this, that,
if they continued in the favour and
grace of God by an observance of this
command and of others, the gifts
conferred on them should be transmitted to
their posterity, by the same divine
grace which they had, themselves,
received; but that, if by disobedience
they rendered themselves unworthy of
those blessings, their posterity,
likewise, should not possess them, and
should be liable to the contrary
evils. This was the reason why all men, who
were to be propagated from them in a
natural way, became obnoxious to death
temporal and death eternal, and devoid
of this gift of the Holy Spirit or
original righteousness. This
punishment usually receives the appellation of
"a privation of the image of
God," and "original sin." X. But we permit this
question to be made a subject of
discussion: Must some contrary quality,
beside the absence of original
righteousness, be constituted as another part
of original sin? though we think it
much more probable, that this absence of
original righteousness, only, is
original sin, itself, as being that which
alone is sufficient to commit and
produce any actual sins whatsoever. XI.
The discussion, whether original sin
be propagated by the soul or by the
body, appears to us to be useless; and
therefore the other, whether or not
the soul be through traduction, seems
also scarcely to be necessary to this
matter.
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DISPUTATION XXXII ON THE NECESSITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
Without religion, man can have no
union with God; and without the command
and institution of God, no religion
can subsist, which, since it appertains
to himself, either by the right of
creation, or by the additional right of
restoration, he can vary it according
to his own pleasure; so that, in
whatever manner he may appoint
religion,. he always obligates man to observe
it, and through this obligation,
imposes on him the necessity of observing
it. II. But the mode of religion is
not changed, except with a change of the
relation between God and man, who must
be united to him; and when this
relation is changed, religion is
varied, that is, on the previous
supposition that man is yet to be
united to God; for, as to its substance,
(which consists in the knowledge of
God, faith, love, &c.,) religion is
always the same, except it seem to be
referred to the substance, that Christ
enters into the Christian religion as
its object. III. The first relation,
and that which was the first foundation
of the primitive religion, was the
relation between God and man --
between God as the Creator, and man as
created after the image and in a state
of innocency; wherefore the religion
built upon that relation was that of
rigid and strict righteousness and
legal obedience. But that relation was
changed, through the sin of man, who
after this was no longer innocent and
acceptable to God, but a transgressor
and doomed to damnation. Therefore,
after [the commission of] sin, either
man could have had no hope of access
to God and to a union with him, since
he had violated and abrogated the
divine worship; or a new relation of man
to his Creator was to be founded by
God, through his gracious restoration of
man, and a new religion was to be
instituted on that relation. This is that
which God has done, to the praise of
his own glorious grace. IV. But, as God
is not the restorer of a sinner,
except in a mediator, who expiates sins,
appeases God, and sanctifies the
sinner, I repeat it, except in that "one
Mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus," it was not the will of
our most glorious and most gracious
God, alone and without this Mediator,
either that there should be any
foundation between him and the sinner
restored by him, or that there should
be an object to the religion, which,
to the honour of the restorer and to
the eternal felicity of the restored,
he would construct upon that relation.
For it pleased the Father, through
Christ, to reconcile all things to
himself, and by him to restore both those
things which are in heaven, and those
on earth. It also pleased the Father
"that all men should honour the
Son, even as they honour the Father;" so
that whosoever does not honour the Son,
does not honour the Father. V.
Wherefore, after the entrance of sin,
there has been no salvation of men by
God, except through Christ, and no
saving worship of God, except in the name
of Christ, and with regard to him who
is the Anointed One for sinners, but
the saviour of them who believe on
him; so that whosoever is without God is
without Christ; and he that is without
Christ, is without the faith, the
worship and the religion of Christ;
and without the faith and hope of this
Christ, either promised and shadowed
forth in types, or exhibited and
clearly announced, neither were the
ancient patriarchs saved, nor can we be
saved. VI. On this account, as the
transgression of the first covenant
contains the necessity of constituting
another religion, and as this would
not have occurred if that first
covenant had not been made, it appears that.
those things upon which the Scriptures
treat, concerning the first covenant,
and its transgression on the part of
the first human beings, contain the
occasion of the restoration which God
was to make through Christ, and that
they were, therefore, to be thus
treated in the Christian religion. This
conclusion is easily drawn from the
very form of the narration given by
Moses. VII. God is also the object of
the Christian religion, both as
Creator, and as Restorer in Christ,
the Son of his love; and these titles
contain the reason why God can demand
religion from man, who has been formed
by his CREATOR a creature, and by his
Restorer a new creature. In this
object, also, must be considered what
is the will of the Glorifier of man,
who leads him out from the demerit of
sin, and from misery, to eternal
felicity. These three names, Creator,
Restorer, and Glorifier, contain the
most powerful arguments by which man
is persuaded to religion. VIII. But
because it was the good pleasure of
God to make this restoration through his
Son, Jesus Christ, the Mediator,
therefore, the Son of God, as constituted
by the Father Christ and Lord, is
likewise an object of the Christian
religion subordinate to God; though he
on earth, as the Word of his Father,
both may be and ought to be considered
as existing in the Father from all
eternity.
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DISPUTATION XXXIII ON THE RESTORATION OF MAN
Since God is the object of the
Christian religion, not only as the Creator,
but also and properly as the Restorer,
of the human race, and as we have
finished our treatise on the creation,
we will now proceed to treat on the
restoration of mankind, because it is
that which contains, in itself,
another cause why God by deserved
right can require religion from a man and
a sinner. II. This restoration is the
restitution, and the new or the second
creation, of sinful man, obnoxious
through sin to death temporal and
eternal, and to the dominion of sin.
III. The antecedent or only moving
cause is the gracious mercy of God, by
which it was his pleasure to pardon
sin and to succour the misery of his
creature. IV. The matter about which
[it is exercised] is man, a sinner,
and, on account of sin, obnoxious to the
wrath of God and the servitude of sin.
This matter contains in itself the
outwardly moving cause of his gracious
mercy, but accidentally, through this
circumstance, that God delights in
mercy; for in every other respect sin is
per se and properly the external and
meritorious cause of wrath and
damnation. V. We may indeed conceive
the form, under the general notion of
restitution, reparation, or
redemption; but we do not venture to give an
explanation of it, except under two
particular acts, the first of which is
the remission of sins, or the being
received into favour; the other is the
renewal or sanctification of sinful
man after the image of God, in which is
contained his adoption into a son of
God. VI. The first end is the praise of
the glorious grace of God, which
springs from, and exists at the same time
with, the very act of restitution or
redemption; the other end is, that,
after men have been thus repaired,
they "should live soberly, righteously
and godly, in this present
world," and should attain to a blissful felicity
in the world to come. VII. But it has
pleased God not to exercise this mercy
in restoring man, without the
declaration of his justice, by which he loves
righteousness and hates sin; and he
has, therefore, appointed that the mode
of transacting this restoration should
be through a mediator intervening
between him and sinful man, and that
this restoration should be so performed
as to make it certain and evident that
God hates sin and loves
righteousness, and that it is his will
to remit nothing of his own right,
except after his justice had been
satisfied. VIII. For the fulfilling of
this mediation, God has constituted
his only begotten Son the mediator
between him and men, and indeed a
mediator through his own blood and death;
for it was not the will of God that,
without the shedding of blood and the
intervention of the death of the
Testator himself, there should be any
remission, or a confirmation of the
New Testament, which promises remission
and the inscribing of the law of God
in the hearts [of believers]. IX. This
is the reason why the second object of
the Christian religion, in
subordination to God, is Jesus Christ,
the Mediator of this restoration,
after the Father had made him Christ
[the Anointed One] and had constituted
him the Lord and the Head of the
church, so that we must, through him,
approach to God for the purpose of
performing [acts of] religion to him; and
the duty of religion must be rendered
to him, with God the Father, from
which duty we by no means exclude the
Spirit of the Father and the Son.
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DISPUTATION XXXIV ON THE PERSON OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
Because our Lord Jesus Christ is the
secondary object of the Christian
religion, we must further treat on
him, as such, in a few disputations. But
we account it necessary, in the first
place, to consider the person, of what
kind he is, in himself. II. We say
that this person is the Son of God and
the son of man, consisting of two
natures, the divine and the human,
inseparably united without mixture or
confusion, not only according to
habitude or indwelling, but likewise
by that union which the ancients have
correctly denominated hypostatical.
III. He has the same nature with the
Father, by internal and external
communication. IV. He has his human nature
from the virgin Mary through the
operation of the Holy Spirit, who came upon
her and overshadowed her by
fecundating her seed, so that from it the
promised Messiah should, in a
supernatural manner, be born. V. But,
according to his human nature, he
consists of a body truly organic, and of a
soul truly human which quickened or
animated his body. In this, he is
similar to other persons or human
beings, as well as in all the essential
and natural properties both of body
and soul. VI. From this personal union
arises a communication of forms or
properties; such communication, however,
was not real, as though some things
which are proper to the divine nature
were effused into the human nature;
but it was verbal, yet it rested on the
truth of this union, and intimated the
closest conjunction of both the
natures. COROLLARY The word autoqeov
"very God," so far as it signifies that
the Son of God has the divine essence
from himself, cannot be ascribed to
the Son of God, according to the
Scriptures and the sentiments of the Greek
and Latin churches.
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DISPUTATION XXXV ON THE PRIESTLY OFFICE OF CHRIST
Though the person of Christ is, on
account of its excellence, most worthy to
be honoured and worshipped, yet, that
he might be, according to God, the
object of the Christian religion, two
other things, through the will of God,
were necessary: (1.) That he should
undertake some offices for the sake of
men, to obtain eternal salvation for
them. (2.) That God should bestow on
him dominion or lordship over all
things, and full power to save and to
damn, with an express command,
"that all men should honour the Son even as
they honour the Father," and that
"every knee should bow to him, to the
glory of God the Father." II.
Both these things are comprehended together
under the title of saviour and
Mediator. He is a saviour, so far as that
comprises the end of both, and a
Mediator, as it denotes the method of
performing the end of both. For the
act of saving, so far as it is ascribed
to Christ, denotes the acquisition and
communication of salvation. But
Christ is the Mediator of men before
God in soliciting and obtaining
salvation, and the Mediator of God
with men in imparting it. We will now
treat on the former of these. III. The
Mediator of men before God, and their
saviour through the soliciting and the
acquisition of salvation, (which is
also called, by the orthodox,
"through the mode of merit,") has been
constituted a priest, by God, not
according to the order of Levi, but
according to that of Melchisedec, who
was "priest of the most high God," and
at the same time "king of
Salem." IV. Through the nature of a true and not
of a typical priest was at once both
priest and victim in one person, which
[duty], therefore, he could not
perform except through true and substantial
obedience towards God who imposed the
office on him. V. In the priesthood of
Christ, must be considered the
preparation for the office, and the discharge
of it. (1.) The Preparation is that of
the priest and of the victim; the
Priest was prepared by vocation or the
imposition of the office, by the
sanctification and consecration of his
person through the Holy Spirit, and
through his obedience and sufferings,
and even in some respect by his
resuscitation from the dead. The
victim was also prepared by separation, by
obedience, (for it was necessary that
the victim should likewise be holy,)
and by being slain. 6.(2.) The
Discharge of this office consists in the
offering or presentation of the
sacrifice of his body and blood, and in his
intercession before God. Benediction
or blessing, which, also, belonged to
the sacerdotal office in the Old
Testament, will, in this case, be more
appropriately referred to the very
communication of salvation, as we read in
the Old Testament that kings, also, dispensed benedictions. VII. The
results
of the fulfillment of the sacerdotal
office are, reconciliation with God,
the obtaining of eternal redemption,
the remission of sins, the Spirit of
grace, and life eternal. VIII. Indeed,
in this respect, the priesthood of
Christ was propitiatory. But, because
we, also, by his beneficence have been
constituted priests to offer
thanksgivings to God through Christ, therefore,
he is also a eucharistical priest, so
far as he offers our sacrifices to God
the Father, that, when they are
offered by his hands, the Father may receive
them with acceptance. IX. It is
evident, from those things which have been
now advanced, that Christ, in his
sacerdotal office, has neither any
successor, vicar, nor associate,
whether we consider the oblation, both of
his propitiatory sacrifice which he
offered of those things which were his
own, and of his eucharistical
sacrifice which he offered of those also,
which belonged to us, or whether we
consider his intercession. COROLLARIES
I. We deny that the comparison between
the priesthood of Christ and that of
Melchisedec, consisted either
principally or in any manner in this, that
Melchisedec offered bread and wine
when he met Abraham returning from the
slaughter of the kings. II. That the
propitiatory sacrifice of Christ is
bloodless, implies a contradiction,
according to the Scriptures. III. The
living Christ is presented to the
Father in no other place than in heaven.
Therefore, he is not offered in the
mass.
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DISPUTATION XXXVI ON THE PROPHETICAL OFFICE OF CHRIST
The prophetical office of Christ comes
under consideration in two views --
either as he executed it in his own
person while he was a sojourner on
earth, or as he administered it when
seated in heaven, at the right hand of
the Father. In the present
disputation, we shall treat upon it according to
the former of these relations. II. The
proper object of the prophetical
office of Christ was not the law,
though [he explained or] fulfilled that,
and freed it from depraved
corruptions; neither was it epaggelia the
promise, though he confirmed that
which had been made to the fathers; but it
was the gospel and the New Testament
itself, or "the kingdom of heaven and
its righteousness. III. In this
prophetical office of Christ are to be
considered both the imposition of the
office, and the discharge of it. 1.
The imposition has sanctification,
instruction or furnishing, inauguration,
and the promise of assistance. IV.
Sanctification is that by which the
Father sanctified him to his office,
from the very moment of his conception
by the Holy Spirit, (whence, he says,
"To this end was I born, and for this
cause came I into the world, that I
should bear witness unto the truth,")
and, indeed, in a manner far more
excellent than that by which Jeremiah and
John are said to have been sanctified.
V. Instruction, or furnishing, is a
conferring of those gifts which are
necessary for discharging the duties of
the prophetical office; and it
consists in a most copious effusion of the
Holy Spirit upon him, and in its
abiding in him -- "the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding, of counsel and might,
of knowledge and of the fear of the
Lord;" by which Spirit it came to
pass that it was his will to teach
according to godliness all those
things which were to be taught, and that he
had the courage to teach them -- his
mind and affections, both concupiscible
and irascible, having been
sufficiently and abundantly instructed or
furnished against all impediments. VI.
But the instruction in things
necessary to be known is said, in the
Scriptures, to be imparted by vision
and hearing, by a familiar knowledge
of the secrets of the Father, which is
intimated in the phrase in which he is
said to be in the bosom of the
Father, and in heaven. VII. His
inauguration was made by the baptism which
John conferred on him, when a voice
came from the Father in heaven, and the
Spirit, "in a bodily shape, like
a dove, descended upon him." These were
like credential letters, by which the
power of teaching was asserted and
claimed for him as the ambassador of
the Father. VIII. To this, must be
subjoined the promised perpetual
assistance of the Holy Spirit, resting and
remaining upon him in this very token
of a dove, that he might administer
with spirit an office so arduous. IX.
In the Discharge of this office, are
to be considered the propounding of
the doctrine, its confirmation and the
result. X. The propounding of the
doctrine was made in a manner suitable,
both to the things themselves, and to
persons -- to his own person, and to
the persons of those whom he taught
with grace and authority, by accepting
the person of no man, of whatsoever
state or condition he might be. XI. The
confirmation was given both by the
holiness which exactly answers to the
doctrine, and by miracles, predictions
of future things, the revealing of
the thoughts of men and of other
secrets, and by his most bitter and
contumelious death. XII. The result
was two-fold: The First was one that
agreed with the nature of the doctrine
itself -- the conversion of a few men
to him, but without such a knowledge
of him as the doctrine required; for
their thoughts were engaged with the
notion of restoring the external
kingdom. The Second, which arose from
the depraved wickedness of his
auditors, was the rejection of the
doctrine, and of him who taught it, his
crucifixion and murder. Wherefore, he
complains concerning himself, in Isa.
xlix. 4 "I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength for nought."
XIII. As God foreknew that this would
happen, it is certain that he willed
this prophetical office to serve, for
the consecration of Christ, through
sufferings, to undertake and
administer the sacerdotal and regal office. And
thus the prophetical office of Christ,
so far as it was administered by him
through his apostles and others of his
servants, was the means by which his
church was brought to the faith, and
was saved. COROLLARY We allow this
question to become a subject of
discussion: Did the soul of Christ receive
any knowledge immediately from the
Logos operating on it, without the
intervention of the Holy Spirit, which
is called the knowledge of union?
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DISPUTATION XXXVII ON THE REGAL OFFICE OF CHRIST
As Christ, when consecrated by his
sufferings, was made the author of
salvation to all who obey him; and as
for this end, not only the
solicitation and the obtaining of
blessings were required, (to which the
sacerdotal office was devoted,) but
also the communication of them, it was
necessary for him to be invested with
the regal dignity, and to be
constituted Lord over. all things,
with full power to bestow salvation, and
whatever things are necessary for that
purpose. II. The kingly office of
Christ is a mediatorial function, by
which, the Father having constituted
him Lord over all things which are in
heaven and in earth, and peculiarly
the King and the head of his church,
he governs all things and the church,
to her salvation and the glory of God.
We will view this office in
accommodation to the church, because
we are principally concerned in this
consideration. III. The functions
belonging to this office seem to be the
following: Vocation to a participation
in the kingdom of Christ,
legislation, the conferring of the
blessings in this life necessary to
salvation, the averting of the evils
opposed to them, and the last judgment
and the circumstances connected with
it. IV. Vocation is the first function
of the regal office of Christ, by
which he calls sinful men to repent and
believe the gospel -- a reward being
proposed concerning a participation of
the kingdom, and a threatening added
of eternal destruction from the
presence of the Lord. V. Legislation
is the second function of the regal
office of Christ, by which he
prescribes to believers their duty, that, as
his subjects, they are bound to
perform to him, as their Head and Prince --
a sanction being added through rewards
and punishments, which properly agree
with the state of this spiritual
kingdom. VI. Among the blessings which the
third function of the regal office of
Christ serves to communicate, we
number not only the remission of sins
and the Spirit of grace inwardly
witnessing with our hearts that we are
the children of God, but likewise all
those blessings which are necessary
for the discharge of the office; as
illumination, the inspiring of good
thoughts and desires, strength against
temptations, and, in brief, the
inscribing of the law of God in our hearts,
In addition to these, as many of the
blessings of this natural life, as
Christ knows will contribute to the
salvation of those who believe in him.
But the evils over the averting of
which this function presides, must be
understood as being contrary to these
blessings. VII. Judgment is the last
act of the regal office of Christ, by
which, justly, and without respect of
persons, he pronounces sentence concerning
all the thoughts, words, deeds
and omissions of all men, who have
been previously summoned and placed
before his tribunal; and by which he
irresistibly executes that sentence
through a just and gracious rendering
of rewards, and through the due
retribution of punishments, which
consist in the bestowing of life eternal,
and in the infliction of death
eternal. VIII. The results or consequences
which correspond with these functions,
are, (1.) The collection or gathering
together of the church, or the
building of the temple of Jehovah; this
gathering together consists of the
calling of the gentiles, and the bringing
back or the restoration of the Jews,
through the faith which answers to the
divine vocation. (2.) Obedience performed
to the commands of Christ by those
who have believed in the Lord, and who
have, through faith, been made
citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
(3.) The obtaining of the remission of
sins, and of the Holy Spirit, and of
other blessings which conduce to
salvation, as well as a deliverance
from the evils which molest [believers]
in the present life. (4.) Lastly. The
resurrection from the dead, and a
participation of life eternal. IX. The
means by which Christ administers his
kingdom, and which principally come
under our observation in considering the
church, are the word, and the Holy
Spirit, which ought never to be separated
from each other. For this Spirit
ordinarily employs the word, or the meaning
of the word, in its external
preaching; and the word alone, without the
illumination and the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, is insufficient. But
Christ never separates these two
things, except through the fault of those
who reject the word and resist the
Holy Spirit. X. The opposite results to
these consequences are, the casting
away of the yoke [of Christ], the
imputation of sin, the denial or the
withdrawing of the Holy Spirit, and the
delivering over to the power of Satan
to a reprobate mind, and to hardness
of heart, with other temporal evils, and,
lastly, death eternal. XI. From
these things, it appears that the
prophetical office, by which a church is
collected through the word, ought to
be a reserve or accessory to the regal
office; and, therefore, that the
administrators of it are rightly
denominated "the apostles and the
servants of Christ," as of him who sends
them forth into the whole world, over
which he has the power, and who puts
words into their mouths, whose
continued assistance is likewise necessary,
that the word may produce such fruit
as agrees with its nature. XII. This
regal office is so peculiar to Christ,
under God the Father, that he admits
no man, even subordinately, into a
participation of it, as if he would
employ such an one for a ministerial
head. For this reason, we say, that the
Roman pontiff, who calls himself the
head and spouse, though under Christ,
is Antichrist.
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DISPUTATION XXXVIII ON THE STATES OF CHRIST'S HUMILIATION AND EXALTATION
Respecting the imposition and the
execution of the offices which belong to
Christ, two states of his usually come
under consideration, both of them
being required for this purpose - - that
he may be able to bear the name of
saviour according to the will of God,
and, in reality, to perform the thing
signified under this name. One of
these states is that of his humiliation,
and is, according to the flesh,
natural; the other is that of glory,
according to the Spirit, and is
spiritual. II. To the first state, that of
his humiliation, belong the following
articles of our belief: "He suffered
under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
dead and buried; he descended into
hell." To the latter state, that
of his exaltation, belong these articles:
"He arose again from the dead; he
ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the
right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge
the quick and the dead." III. The
sufferings of Christ contain every kind of
reproaches and torments, both of soul
and body, which were inflicted on him
partly by the fury of his enemies, and
partly by the immediate chastisement
of his Father. We say that these last
are not contrary to the good of the
natural life, but to that of the
spiritual life. But we deduce the
commencement of these sufferings from
the time when he was taken into
custody; for we consider those things
which previously befell him, rather to
have been forerunners of his
sufferings, by which it might be put to the
test, whether, with the prescience of
those things which were to be endured,
and, indeed, through an experimental
knowledge, he would still be ready by
voluntary obedience to endure other
sufferings. IV. The crucifixion has the
mode of murder, by which mode we are
taught, that Christ was made a curse
for us, that we, through his cross,
might be delivered from the curse of the
law; for this seems to have been the
entire reason why God pronounced him
accursed who hung on a tree or cross,
that we might understand that Christ,
having been crucified rather by divine
appointment, than by human means, was
reckoned accursed for our sake, by God
himself. V. The death of Christ was a
true separation of his soul from the
body, both according to its effects and
according to place. It would indeed
have ensued from crucifixion, and
especially from the breaking of his
legs; on which account, he is justly
said to have been killed by the Jews;
but death was anticipated, or
previously undertaken, by Christ
himself, that he might declare himself to
have received power from God the
Father to lay down his soul and life, and
that he died a voluntary death. The
former of these seems to relate to the
confirmation of the truth which had
been announced by him as a prophet, and
the latter, to the circumstances of
his priestly office. VI. The burial of
Christ has relation to his certain
death; and his remaining in the grave
signifies, that he was under the
dominion of death till the hour of his
resurrection. This state, we think,
was denoted by the existence of Christ
among the dead, of which his descent
into hell [or hades] was the
commencement, as his interment was
that of his remaining in the tomb. This
interpretation is confirmed, both by
the second chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles, and by the consent of the
ancient church, who, in the symbol of
her belief, had only the one or the
other of these expressions, either "He
descended into hell," or "He
was buried." Yet if any man thinks the meaning
of this article -- "He descended
into hell" -- to be different from that
which we have given, we will not
contradict his opinion, provided it be
agreeable to the Scriptures and to the
analogy of faith. VII. This state [of
humiliation] was necessary, both that
he might yield obedience to his
Father, and that, having been tempted
in all things without sin, he might be
able to sympathize with those who are
tempted, and, lastly, that he might,
by suffering, be consecrated as priest
and king, and might enter into his
own glory. VIII. But this state of
glory and exhaltation contains three
degrees -- his resurrection, ascension
into heaven, and sitting at the right
hand of the Father. IX. The
commencement of his glory was his deliverance
from the bonds of the grave, and his
rising again from the dead, by which
his body, that was dead and had been
laid in the sepulcher, after the
effects of death had been destroyed in
it, was reunited to his soul, and
brought back again to life, not to
this natural, but to a spiritual life;
though, from the overflowing force of
natural life, he was able to perform
its functions as long as it was
necessary for him to remain with his
disciples in the present life, after
having "arisen again from the dead," to
impart credibility to his
resurrection. We ascribe this resurrection, not
only to the Father through the Holy
Spirit, but likewise to Christ himself,
who had the power of taking up his
life again. X. The assumption of Christ
into heaven contains the progress of
his exaltation. For, as he had
finished, on earth, the office
enjoined, and had received a body -- not a
natural, earthly, corruptible, fleshly
and ignominious body, but one
spiritual, heavenly, incorruptible and
glorious, and as other duties,
necessary for procuring the salvation
of men, were to be performed in and
concerning heaven, it was right and
proper that he should rise and be
exalted to heaven, and should remain
there until he comes to judgment. From
these premises, the dogma of the
papists concerning transubstantiation, and
that of the Ubiguitarians concerning
consubstantiation, or the bodily
presence of Christ in, with and, under
the bread, are refuted. XI. The
exaltation of Christ to the right hand
of the Father is the supreme degree
of his exaltation; for it contains the
consummate glory and power which have
been communicated to Christ himself by
the Father -- glory, in his being
seated with the Father in the throne
of majesty, both because the regal
office has been conferred on him, with
full command, and on earth above all
and over all created things, and
because the dignity was conferred on him of
further discharging [the duties of]
the sacerdotal office, in that action
which was to be performed in heaven by
a more sublime High Priest
constituted in heaven itself. XII. In
relation to the priesthood, the state
of humiliation was necessary; because
it was the part of Christ to appear in
heaven before the face of his Father,
sprinkled with his own blood, and to
intercede for believers. It was also
necessary, in relation to his regal
office; because, (and in this behold
the administration of the prophetical
office placed in subordination to the
regal!) because it was his duty to
send the word and the Spirit from
heaven, and to administer from the throne
of his majesty all things in the name
of his Father, and especially his
church, by conferring on those who
obey him, the blessings promised in his
word and sealed by his Spirit, and by
inflicting evils on the disobedient
after they have abused the patience of
God as long as his justice could bear
it. Of this administration, the last
act will be the universal judgment, for
which we are now waiting. "Come,
Lord Jesus!"
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DISPUTATION XXXIX ON THE WILL, AND COMMAND OF GOD THE FATHER AND OF CHRIST,
BY
WHICH THEY WILL AND COMMAND THAT RELIGION BE PERFORMED TO THEM BY SINFUL
MAN
In addition to the things that God has
done in Christ, and Christ has done
through the command of the Father, for
the redemption of mankind, who were
lost through sin, by which both of
them have merited that religious homage
should be performed to them by sinful
man -- and in addition to the fact
that the Father has constituted Christ
the saviour and Head, with full power
and capability of saving through the
administration of his priestly and
regal offices, on account of which
power, Christ is worthy to be worshipped
with religious honours, and able to
reward his worshipers, that he may not
be worshipped in vain, it was
requisite that the will of God the Father and
of Christ should be subjoined, by
which they willed and commanded that
religious worship should be offered to
them, lest the performance of
religion should be
"will-worship," or superstition. II. It was the will of
God that this command should be
proposed through the mode of a covenant,
that is, through the mutual
stipulation and promise of the contracting
parties -- of a covenant, indeed,
which is never to be disannulled or to
perish, which is, therefore,
denominated "the new covenant," and is ratified
by the blood of Jesus Christ as
Mediator. III. On this account, and because
Christ has been constituted by the
Father, a prince and Lord, with the full
possession of all the blessings
necessary to salvation, it is also called "a
Testament" or "Will;"
therefore, he, also, as the Testator, is dead, and by
his death, has confirmed the
testamentary promise which had previously been
made, concerning the obtaining of the
eternal inheritance by the remission
of sins. IV. The stipulation on the
part of God and Christ is, that God
shall be God and Father in Christ [to
a believer] if in the name, and by the
command of God, he acknowledges Christ
as his Lord and saviour, that is, if
he believe in God through Christ, and
in Christ, and if he yield to both of
them love, worship, honour, fear, and
complete obedience as prescribed. V.
The promise, on the part of God the
Father, and of Christ, is, that God will
be the God and Father, and that Christ will be
the saviour, (through the
administration of his sacerdotal and
regal offices,) of those who have faith
in God the Father, and in Christ, and
who, through faith, yield obedience to
them; that is, God the Father, and
Christ, will account the performance of
religious duty to be grateful, and
will crown it with a reward. VI. On the
other hand, the promise of sinful man
is that he will believe in God and in
Christ, and through faith will yield
compliance or render obedience. But the
stipulation is that God be willing to
be mindful of his compact and holy
declaration. VII. Christ intervenes
between the two parties; on the part of
God, he proposes the stipulation, and
confirms the promise with his blood;
he likewise works a persuasion in the
hearts of believers, and affixes to it
his attesting seal, that the promise
will be ratified. But, on the part of
sinful man, he promises [to the
Father] that, by the efficacy of his Spirit
he will cause man to perform the
things which he has promised to his God;
and, on the other hand, he requires of
the Father, that, mindful of his own
promise, he will deign to bestow on
those who answer this description, or
believers, the forgiveness of all
their sins, and life eternal. He likewise
intervenes, by presenting to God the
service performed by man, and by
rendering it grateful and acceptable
to God through the odour of his own
fragrance. VIII. External seals or
tokens are also employed to which the
ancient Latin fathers have given the
appellation of "Sacraments," and which,
on the part of God, seal the promise
that has been made by himself; but, on
the part of men, they are "the
hand-writing," or bond of that obligation by
which they had bound themselves that
nothing may in any respect be wanting
which seems to be at all capable of
contributing to the nature and relation
of the covenant and compact into which
the parties have mutually entered.
IX. From all these things, are
apparent the most sufficient perfection of
the Christian religion and its
unparalleled excellence above all other
religions, though they also be
supposed to be true. Its sufficiency consists
in this -- both that it demonstrates
the necessity of that duty which is to
be performed by sinful man, to be
completely absolute, and on no account to
be remissible, by which the way is
closed against carnal security -- and
that it most strongly fortifies
against despair, not only sinners, that they
may be led to repentance, but also
those who perform the duty, that they
may, through the certain hope of
future blessings, persevere in the course
of faith and of good works upon which
they have entered. These two [despair
and carnal security] are the greatest
evils which are to be avoided in the
whole of religion. X. This is the
excellence of the Christian religion above
every other, that all these things are
transacted by the intervention of
Christ our mediator, priest and king,
in which, numerous arguments are
proposed to us, both for the
establishment of the necessity of its
performance, and for the confirmation
of hope, and for the removal of
despair, that cannot be shown in any
other religion. On this account,
therefore, it is not wonderful that
Christ is said to be the wisdom of God
and the power of God, manifested in
the gospel for the salvation of
believers. COROLLARY No prayers and no
duty, performed by a sinner, are
grateful to God, except with reference
to Christ; and yet, people have acted
properly in desiring and in beseeching
God, that he would be pleased to
bless King Messiah and the progress of
his kingdom.
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DISPUTATION XL ON THE PREDESTINATION OF BELIEVERS
As we have hitherto treated on the
object of the Christian religion, that
is, on Christ and God, and on the
formal reasons why religion may be
usefully performed to them, and ought
to be, among which reasons, the last
is the will of God and his command
that prescribes religion by the
conditions of a covenant; and as it
will be necessary now to subjoin to this
a discourse on the vocation of men to
a participation in that covenant, it
will not be improper for us, in this
place, to insert one on the
Predestination, by which God
determined to treat with men according to that
prescript, and by which he decreed to
administer that vocation, and the
means to it. First, concerning the
former of these. II. That predestination
is the decree of the good pleasure of
God, in Christ, by which he
determined, within himself, from all
eternity, to justify believers, to
adopt them, and to endow them with
eternal life, "to the praise of the glory
of his grace," and even for the
declaration of his justice. III. This
predestination is evangelical, and,
therefore, per- emptory and irrevocable;
and, as the gospel is purely gracious,
this predestination is also gracious,
according to the benevolent
inclination of God in Christ. But that grace
excludes every cause which can
possibly be imagined to be capable of having
proceeded from man, and by which God
may be moved to make this decree. IV.
But we place Christ as the foundation
of this predestination, and as the
meritorious cause of those blessings
which have been destined to believers
by that decree. For the love with
which God loves men absolutely to
salvation, and according to which he
absolutely intends to bestow on them
eternal life, this love has no
existence except in Jesus Christ, the Son of
his love, who, both by his efficacious
communication, and by his most worthy
merits, is the cause of salvation, and
not only the dispenser of recovered
salvation, but likewise the solicitor,
obtainer, and restorer of that
salvation which was lost. Therefore,
sufficient is not attributed to Christ,
when he is called executor of the
decree which had been previously made, and
without the consideration of him as [the
person] on whom that decree is
founded. V. We lay down a two-fold
matter for this predestination -- divine
things, and the persons to whom the
communication of them has been
predestinated. (1.) Those divine
things are the spiritual blessings which
usually receive the appellations of
grace and glory. (2.) The persons are
the faithful, or believers; that is,
they believe in God who justifies the
ungodly, and in Christ raised from the
dead. But faith, that is, the faith
which is on Christ, the mediator
between God and men, presupposes sin, and
likewise the knowledge or
acknowledgment of it. VI. We place the form of
this predestination in the internal
act itself of God, who foreordains to
believers this union with Christ their
Head, and a participation in his
benefits. But we place the end in
"the praise of the glory of the grace of
God;" and as this grace is the
cause of that decree, it is equitable that it
should be celebrated by glory, though
God, by using it, has rendered it
illustrious and glorious. In this
place, too, occurs the mention of justice
itself, as that by the intervention of
which Christ was given as mediator,
and faith in him was required;
because, without this mediator, God has
neither willed to shew mercy, nor to
save men without faith in him. VII.
But, as this decree of predestination
is according to election, which
necessarily includes reprobation, we
must likewise advert to it. As opposed
to election, therefore, we define
reprobation to be the decree of God's
anger or of his severe will, by which,
from all eternity, he determined to
condemn to eternal death all
unbelievers and impenitent persons, for the
declaration of his power and anger;
yet so, that unbelievers are visited
with this punishment, not only on
account of unbelief, but likewise on
account of other sins from which they
might have been delivered through
faith in Christ. VIII. To both these
is severally subjoined the execution of
each; the acts of which are performed
in that order in which they have been
ordained by God in the decree itself;
and the objects, both of the decree
and of its execution, are completely
the same and uniform, or they are
invested with the same formal reason,
though they are considered in the
decree, as in the mind of God, through
the understanding, but, in the
execution of it, as such, actually in
existence. IX. This predestination is
the foundation of Christianity, of
salvation, and of the certainty of
salvation; and St. Paul treats upon it
in his epistle to the Romans, (viii,
28-30) in the ninth and following
chapters of the same epistle, and in the
first chapter of that to the
Ephesians.
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DISPUTATION XLI ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE MEANS TO THE END
After we have finished our discussion
on the predestination by which God has
determined the necessity of faith in
himself and in Christ, for the
obtaining of salvation, according to
which faith is prescribed to be
performed as the bounden duty of man
to God and Christ; it follows, that we
treat on the predestination by which
God determines to administer the means
to faith. II. For, as that act of
faith is not in the power of a natural,
carnal, sensual, and sinful man, and
as no one can perform this act except
through the grace of God, but as all
the grace of God is administered
according to the will of God -- that
will which he has had within himself
from all eternity -- for it is an
internal act, therefore, some certain
predestination must be preconceived in
the mind and will of God, according
to which he dispenses that grace, or
the means to it. III. But we can define
this predestination, that it is the
eternal decree of God, by which he has
wisely and justly resolved, within
himself, to administer those means which
are necessary and sufficient to
produce faith in [the hearts of] sinful men,
in such a manner as he knows to be
comportable with his mercy and with his
severity, to the glory of his name and
to the salvation of believers. IV.
The object of this predestination is,
both the means of producing this
faith, and the sinful men to whom he
has creed either to give or not to give
this faith, as the object of the
predestination discussed in the preceding
disputation was faith itself, existing
in the preconception of the mind of
God. V. The antecedent, or only moving
cause, impelling to make the decree,
is not only the mercy of God, but also
his severity. But his wisdom
prescribes the mode which his justice
administers, that what is justly due
to mercy may be attributed to it, and
that, in the mean time, regard may be
had to severity, according to which
God threatens that he will send a famine
of the word on the earth. VI. The
matter is the conceded or the denied
dispensation of the means. The form is
the ordained dispensation itself,
according to which it is granted to
some men and denied to others, or it is
granted or denied on this and not on
that condition. VII. The end for the
sake of which, and the end which, are
conjoined to the administration itself
at the very same moment, and are the
declaration of the mercy of God, and of
his severity, wisdom and justice. The
end for which it was intended, and
which follows from the administration,
is the salvation of believers. The
results are, the condemnation of
unbelievers, and the still more grievous
condemnation of some men. VIII. But
the proper and peculiar means destined,
are the word and Spirit; to which,
also, may be joined the good and the evil
things of this natural life, which God
employs for the same end, and of the
nature and efficacy of which we shall
treat in the disputation on Vocation,
where they are used. IX. To these
means, we attribute two epithets,
"necessity" and
"sufficiency," (§ 3,) which belong to them according to the
will and nature of God, and which we
also join together. (1.) Necessity is
in them; because, without them, a
sinner cannot conceive faith. (2.)
Sufficiency also is in them; because
they are employed in vain, if they be
not sufficient; yet we do not account
it necessary to place this sufficiency
in the first moment in which they
begin to be used, but in the entire
progress and completion. X. God
destines these means to no persons on
account of, or according to, their own
merits, but through mere grace alone;
and he denies them to no one, except
justly, on account of previous
transgressions.
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DISPUTATION XLII ON THE VOCATION OF SINFUL MEN TO CHRIST, AND TO A
PARTICIPATION OF SALVATION IN HIM
The vocation or calling to the
communion of Christ and its benefits, is the
gracious act of God, by which, through
the word and His Spirit, he calls
forth sinful men, subject to
condemnation and placed under the dominion of
sin, from the condition of natural
life, and out of the defilements and
corruptions of this world, to obtain a
supernatural life in Christ through
repentance and faith, that they may be
united in him, as their head destined
and ordained by God, and may enjoy the
participation of his benefits, to the
glory of God and to their own
salvation. II. The efficient cause of this
vocation is God and the Father in the
Son; the Son, also, himself, as
constituted Mediator and King by God
the Father, calls men by the Holy
Spirit, as he is the Spirit of God
given to the mediator, and the Spirit of
Christ, the King and the Head of His
church, by whom the Father and the Son
both "work hitherto." But
this vocation is so administered by the Spirit,
that he also, is properly denominated
the author of it. For he appoints
bishops in the church, he sends
teachers, he furnishes them with gifts, he
grants them divine aid, and imparts
force and authority to the word. III.
The antecedent or only moving cause is
the grace, mercy and philanthropy of
God, by which he is inclined to
succour the misery of sinful men, and to
bestow blessedness upon him. But the
disposing cause is, the wisdom and the
justice of God, by which he knows the
method by which it is proper for this
vocation to be administered, and by which
he wills to dispense it as it is
proper and fight. From this, arises
the decree of his will concerning its
administration and mode. IV. The
instrumental cause of vocation is the word
of God administered by the aid of man,
either by preaching or by writing;
and this is the ordinary instrument;
or it is the divine word immediately
proposed by God, inwardly to the mind
and will, without human aid or
endeavour; and this is extraordinary.
The word employed, in both these
cases, is that both of the law and of
the gospel, subordinate to each other
in their separate services. V. The
matter of vocation is men constituted in
their sensual life, as worldly,
natural, sensual, and sinful. VI. The
boundary from which they are called,
is, both the state of sensual or
natural life, and that of sin and of
misery on account of sin; that is, from
condemnation and guilt, and afterwards
from the bondage and dominion of sin.
VII. The boundary to which they are
called, is, the communication of grace,
or of supernatural good, and of every
spiritual blessing, the plenitude of
which resides in Christ -- also their
power and force, as well as the
inclination to communicate them. VIII.
The proximate end of vocation is,
that men may love, fear, honour and
worship God and Christ -- may in
righteousness and true holiness,
according to the command of the word of
God, render obedience to God who calls
them, and may, by this means, make
their calling and election sure. IX.
The remote end is the salvation of
those who are called, and the glory of
God and of Christ who calls; both of
which are placed in the union of God
and man. For as God unites himself to
man, and declares himself to be
prepared to unite himself to him, he makes
his own glory illustrious; and, as man
is united to God, he obtains
salvation. X. This vocation is both
external and internal. The external
vocation is by the ministry of men
propounding the word. The internal
vocation is through the operation of
the Holy Spirit illuminating and
affecting the heart, that attention
may be paid to those things which are
spoken, and that credence may be given
to the word. From the concurrence of
both these, arises the efficacy of
vocation. XI. But that distribution is
not of a genus into its species, but
of a whole into its parts; that is, the
distribution of the whole vocation
into partial acts concurring together to
one result, which is obedience yielded
to the vocation. Hence, the company
of those who are called and who answer
to the call, is denominated "a
Church." XII. The accidental
issue of vocation is, the rejection of the
doctrine of grace, contempt of the
divine counsel, and resistance manifested
against the Holy Spirit, of which the
proper and per se cause is, the
wickedness and hardness of the human
heart; and to this not unfrequently is
added the just judgment of God,
avenging the contempt shown to his word,
from which arise blindness of mind,
hardening of the heart, and a delivering
up to a reprobate mind, and to the
power of Satan.
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DISPUTATION XLIII ON THE REPENTANCE BY WHICH MEN ANSWER TO THE DIVINE
VOCATION
As, in the matter of salvation, it has
pleased God to treat with man by the
method of a covenant, that is, by a
stipulation, or a demand and a promise,
and as even vocation has regard to a
participation in the covenant; it is
instituted on both sides and
separately, that man may perform the
requisition or command of God, by
which he may obtain [the fulfillment of]
his promise. But this is the mutual
relation between these two -- the
promise is tantamount to an argument,
which God employs, that he may obtain
from man that which he demands; and
the compliance with the demand, on the
other hand, is the condition, without
which man cannot obtain what has been
promised by God, and through [the
performance of] which he most assuredly
obtains the promise. II. Hence, it is
apparent that the first of all which
accepts this vocation is the faith, by
which a man believes that, if he
complies with the requisition, he will
enjoy the promise, but that if he
does not comply with it, he will not
be put in possession of the things
promised, nay, that the contrary evils
will be inflicted on him, according
to the nature of the divine covenant,
in which there is no promise without a
punishment opposed to it. This faith
is the foundation on which rests the
obedience that is to be yielded to
God; and it is, therefore, the foundation
of religion. III. But divines
generally place three parts in this obedience.
The first is repentance, for it is the
calling of sinners to righteousness.
The second is faith in Christ, and in
God through Christ; for vocation is
made through the gospel, which is the
word of faith. The third is the
observance of God's commands, in which
consists holiness of life, to which
believers are called, and without
which no man shall see God. IV. Repentance
is grief or sorrow on account of sins
known and acknowledged, the debt of
death contracted by sin, and on
account of the slavery of sin, with a desire
to be delivered. Hence, it is evident,
that three things concur in penitence
- - the first as an antecedent, the
second as a consequence, and the third
as properly and most fully comprising
its nature. V. That which is
tantamount to an antecedent is the
knowledge or acknowledgment of sin. This
consists of a two-fold knowledge: (1.)
A general knowledge by which is known
what is sin universally and according
to the prescript of the law. (2.) A
particular knowledge, by which it is
acknowledged that sin had been
committed, both from a recollection of
the bad deeds perpetrated and of the
good omitted, and from the examination
of them according to the law. This
acknowledgment, has, united with it, a
consciousness of a two-fold demerit,
of damnation or death, and of the
slavery of sin; "for the wages of sin is
death;" and "he who sins is
the slave of sin." This acknowledgment is either
internal, and made in the mind, or it
is external, and receives the
appellation of "confession."
VI. That which intimately comprises the nature
of repentance is, sorrow on account of
sin committed, and of its demerit,
which is so much the deeper, as the
acknowledgment of sin is clearer, and
more copious. It is also produced from
this acknowledgment by means of a
two-fold fear of punishment: (1.) A
fear not only of bodily and temporal
punishment, but likewise of that which
is spiritual and eternal. (2.) The
fear of God, by which men are afraid
of the judgment of such a good and just
being, whom they have offended by
their sins. This fear may be correctly
called "initial;" and we
believe that it has some hope annexed to it. VII.
That which follows as a consequence,
is the desire of deliverance from sin,
that is, from the condemnation of sin
and from its dominion, which desire is
so much the more intense, by how much
the greater is the acknowledgment of
misery and sorrow on account of sin.
VIII. The cause of this repentance is,
God by his word and Spirit in Christ.
For it is a repentance tending not to
despair, but to salvation; but such it
cannot be, except with respect to
Christ, in whom, alone, the sinner can
obtain deliverance from the
condemnation and dominion of sin. But
the word which he uses at the
beginning is the word of the law, yet
not under the legal condition peculiar
to the law, but under that which is
annexed to the preaching of the gospel,
of which the first word is, that
deliverance is declared to penitents. The
Spirit of God may, not improperly, be
denominated "the Spirit of Christ," as
he is Mediator; and it first urges a
man by the word of the law, and then
shows him the grace of the gospel. The
connection of the word of the law and
that of the gospel, which is thus
skillfully made, removes all
self-security, and forbids despair,
which are the two pests of religion and
of souls. IX. We do not acknowledge
satisfaction, which the papists make to
be the third part of repentance,
though we do not deny that the man who is a
real penitent will endeavour to make
satisfaction to his neighbour against
whom he owns that he has sinned, and
to the church that he has injured by
the offense. But satisfaction can by
no means be rendered to God, on the
part of man, by repentance, sorrow,
contrition, almsgiving, or by the
voluntary susception and infliction of punishments. If such a course
were
prescribed by God, the consciences of
men must necessarily be tormented with
the continual anguish of a threatening
hell, not less than if no promise of
grace had been made to sinners. But
God considers this repentance, which we
have described, if it be true, to be
worthy of a gracious deliverance from
sin and misery; and it has faith as a
consequence, on which we will treat in
the subsequent disputation. COROLLARY
Repentance is not a sacrament, either
with regard to itself, or with regard
to its external tokens.
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DISPUTATION XLIV ON FAITH IN GOD AND CHRIST
In the preceding disputation, we have
treated on the first part of that
obedience which is yielded to the
vocation of God. The second part now
follows, which is called "the
obedience of faith." II. Faith, generally, is
the assent given to truth; and divine
faith is that which is given to truth
divinely revealed. The foundation on
which divine faith rests is two- fold
-- the one external and out of or
beyond the mind -- the other internal and
in the mind. (1.) The external
foundation of faith is the very veracity of
God who makes the declaration, and who
can declare nothing that is false.
(2.) The internal foundation of faith
is two-fold -- both the general idea
by which we know that God is true --
and the knowledge by which we know that
it is the word of God. Faith is also
two-fold, according to the mode of
revelation, being both legal and
evangelical, of which the latter comes
under our present consideration, and
tends to God and Christ. III.
Evangelical faith is an assent of the
mind, produced by the Holy Spirit,
through the gospel, in sinners, who,
through the law, know and acknowledge
their sins, and are penitent on
account of them, by which they are not only
fully persuaded within themselves that
Jesus Christ has been constituted by
God the author of salvation to those
who obey him, and that he is their own
saviour if they have believed in him,
and by which they also believe in him
as such, and through him on God as the
benevolent Father in him, to the
salvation of believers and to the
glory of Christ and God. IV. The object of
faith is not only the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but likewise
Christ himself who is here constituted
by God the author of salvation to
those that obey him. V. The form is
the assent that is given to an object of
this description; which assent is not
acquired by a course of reasoning from
principles known by nature; but it is
an assent infused above the order of
nature, which, yet, is confirmed and
increased by the daily exercises of
prayers and mortification of the
flesh, and by the practice of good works.
Knowledge is antecedent to faith; for
the Son of God is beheld before a
sinner believes on him. But trust or
confidence is consequent to it; for,
through faith, confidence is placed in
Christ, and through him in God. VI.
The author of faith is the Holy
Spirit, whom the Son sends from the Father,
as his advocate and substitute, who
may manage his cause in the world and
against it. The instrument is the gospel,
or the word of faith, containing
the meaning concerning God and Christ
which the Spirit proposes to the
understanding, and of which he there
works a persuasion. VII. The subject in
which it resides, is the mind, not
only as it acknowledges this object to be
true, but likewise to be good, which
the word of the gospel declares.
Wherefore, it belongs not only to the
theoretical understanding, but
likewise to that of the affections,
which is practical. VIII. The subject to
which [it is directed], or the object
about which [it is occupied], is
sinful man, acknowledging his sins,
and penitent on account of them. For
this faith is necessary for salvation
to him who believes; but it is
unnecessary to one who is not a
sinner; and, therefore, no one except a
sinner, can know or acknowledge Christ
for his saviour, for he is the
saviour of sinners. The end, which we
intend for our own benefit, is
salvation in its nature. But the chief
end is the glory of God through Jesus
Christ. COROLLARY "Was the faith
of the patriarchs under the covenants of
promise, the same as ours under the
New Testament, with regard to its
substance?" We answer in the
affirmative.
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DISPUTATION XLV ON THE UNION OF BELIEVERS WITH CHRIST
As Christ is constituted by the Father
the saviour of those that believe,
who, being exalted. in heaven to the
right hand of the Father, communicates
to believers all those blessings which
he has solicited from the Father, and
which he has obtained by his obedience
and pleading, but as the
participation of blessings cannot be
through communication, unless where
there has previously been an orderly
and suitable union between him who
communicates and those to whom such
communications are made, it is,
therefore, necessary for us to treat,
in the first place, upon the union of
Christ with us, on account of its
being the primary and immediate effect of
that faith by which men believe in him
as the only saviour. II. The truth of
this thing, and the necessity of this
union, are intimated by the names with
which Christ is signally distinguished
in a certain relation to believers.
Such are the appellations of head,
spouse, foundation, vine, and others of a
similar kind; from which, on the other
hand, believers are called members in
his body, which is the entire church
of believers, the spouse of Christ,
lively stones built on him, and young
shoots or branches. By these epithets,
is signified the closest and most
intimate union between Christ and
believers. III. We may define or
describe it to be that spiritual and most
strict and therefore mystically
essential conjunction, by which believers,
being immediately connected, by God
the Father and Jesus Christ through the
Spirit of Christ and of God, with
Christ himself, and through Christ with
God, become one with him and with the
Father, and are made partakers of all
his blessings, to their own salvation
and the glory of Christ and of God.
IV. The author of this union is not
only God the Father, who has constituted
his Son the head of the church, endued
him with the Spirit without measure,
and unites believers to his Son; but
also Christ, who communicates to
believers that Spirit whom he obtained
from the Father, that, cleaving to
him by faith, they may be one Spirit.
The administrators are prophets,
apostles and other dispensers of the
mysteries of God, who lay Christ as the
foundation, and bring his spouse to
him. V. The parties to be united are,
(1.) Christ, whom God the Father has
constituted the head, the spouse, the
foundation, the vine, etc, and to whom
he has given all perfection, with a
plenary power and command to
communicate it; (2.) And sinful man, and
therefore destitute of the glory of
God, yet a believer, and owning Christ
for his saviour. VI. The bond of union
must be considered both on the part
of believers, and on the part of God
and Christ. (1.) On the part of
believers, it is faith in Christ and
God, by which Christ is given to dwell
in our hearts. (2.) On the part of God
and Christ, it is the Spirit of both,
who flows from Christ as the
constituted head, into believers, that he may
unite them to him as members. VII. The form of union is a compacting
and
joining together, which is orderly,
harmonious, and in every part agreeing
with itself by joints fitly supplied,
according to the measure of the gifts
of Christ. This conjunction receives
various appellations, according to the
various similitudes which we have
already adduced. With respect to a
foundation and a house built upon it,
it is a being built up into [a
spiritual house]. With respect to a
husband and wife, it is a participation
of flesh and bones; or, it is flesh of
the flesh of Christ, and bone of his
bones. With respect to a vine and its
branches, or to an olive tree and its
boughs, it is an engrafting and
implanting. VIII. The proximate and
immediate end is the communion of the
parts united among themselves; this,
also, is an effect consequent upon
that union, but actively understood, as
it flows from Christ, and positively,
as it flows into believers, and is
received by them. The cause of this
is, that the relation is that of
disquiparency, where the foundation is
Christ, who possesses all things, and
stands in need of nothing; the term,
or boundary, is the believer in want of
all things. The remote end is the
external salvation of believers, and the
glory of God and Christ. IX. But not
only does Christ communicate his
blessings to the believers, who are
united to him, but he likewise
considers, on account of this most
intimate and close union, that the good
things bestowed, and the evils
inflicted on believers, are also done to
himself. Hence, arise commiseration
for his children, and certain succour,
but anger against those who afflict,
which abides upon them unless they
repent, and beneficence towards those
who have given even a draught of cold
water, in the name of Christ, to one
of his followers.
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DISPUTATION XLVI ON THE COMMUNION OF BELIEVERS WITH CHRIST, AND
PARTICULARLY
WITH HIS DEATH
The union of believers with Christ
tends to communion with him, which
contains, in itself, every end and
fruit of union, and flows immediately
from the union itself. II. Communion
with Christ is that by which believers,
when united to him, have, in common
with himself all those things which
belong to him; yet the distinction is
preserved, which exists between the
head and the members, between him who
communicates, and them who are made
partakers, between him who
sanctifieth, and those who are sanctified. III.
This communion must, according to the
Scriptures, be considered in two
views, for it is either a communion of
his death, or of his life; because
Christ must be thus considered in two
relations, either according to the
state in the body of his flesh, which
was crucified, dead, and buried, or,
according to his glorious state and
the new life to which he was raised up
again. IV. The communion of his death
is that by which, being planted
together in the likeness of his death,
we participate of his power, and of
all the benefits which flow from his
death. V. This planting together is the
crucifixion, the death and the burial
of "our old man," or of "the body of
sin," in and with the body of the
flesh of Christ. These are the degrees by
which the body of the flesh of Christ
is abolished; that may also in its own
measure, be called "the body of
sin," so far as God has made Christ to be
sin for us, and has given him to bear
our sins, in his own body, on the
tree. VI. The strength and efficacy of
the death of Christ consist in the
abolishing of sin and death, and of
the law, which is "the hand-writing that
is against us;" and the strength
or force of sin is that by which sin kills
us. VII. The efficacious benefits of
the death of Christ which believers
enjoy through communion with it, are
principally the following: The First is
the removal of the curse, which we had
deserved through sin. This includes,
or has connected with it, our
reconciliation with God, perpetual redemption,
remission of sins, and justification.
VIII. The SECOND. is deliverance from
the dominion and slavery of sin, that
sin may no longer exercise its power
in our crucified, dead and buried body
of sin, to obtain its desires by the
obedience which we have usually
yielded to it in our body of sin, according
to the old man. IX. The THIRD is
deliverance from the law, both as it is
"the hand-writing which was
against us," consisting of ceremonial
institutions, and as it is the rigid exactor
of what is due from us, and
useless and inefficacious as it is on
account of our flesh, and the body of
sin, according to which we were
carnal, though it was spiritual, and as sin,
by its wickedness and perversity,
abused the law itself to seduce and kill
us.
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DISPUTATION XLVII THE COMMUNION OF BELIEVERS WITH CHRIST IN REGARD TO HIS
LIFE
Communion with the life of Christ is
that by which, being engrafted into him
by a conformity to his life, we become
partakers of the whole power of his
life, and of all the benefits which
flow from it. II. Our conformity to the
life of Christ, is either that of the
present life, or of that which is
future. (1.) That of the present life
is the raising of us up into a new
life, and our being seated, with
regard to the Spirit, "in heavenly places"
in Christ our head. (2.) That of the
life to come is our resurrection into a
new life according to the body, and
our being elevated to heavenly places
with regard to the entire man. III.
Hence, our conformity to Christ is
according to the same two-fold
relation: in this life, it is our
resurrection to newness of spiritual
life, and our conversation in heaven
according to the Spirit; after the
present life, it is the resurrection of
our, bodies, their conformity to the
glorious body of Christ, and the
fruition of celestial blessedness. IV.
The blessings which flow from the
life of Christ, fall partly within the
limits of this life, and partly
within the continued duration of the
life to come. V. Those which fall
within the limits of the present life
are, adoption into sons of God, and
the communication of the Holy Spirit.
This communication composes within
itself three particular benefits:
First. Our regeneration, through the
illumination of the mind and the
renewal of the heart. Secondly. The
perpetual aid of the Holy Spirit to
excite and co-operate. Thirdly. The
testimony of the same Spirit with our
hearts, that we are the children of
God, on which account he is called
"the Spirit of adoption." VI. Those which
fall within the boundless duration of
the life to come, are our preservation
from future wrath, and the bestowing
of life eternal;' though this
preservation from wrath may seem to be
a continued act, begun and carried on
in this world, but consummated at the
period of the last judgment. VII.
Under the preservation from wrath,
also, is not unsuitably comprehended
continued justification from sins
through the intercession of Christ, who,
in his own blood, is the propitiation
for our sins, and our advocate before
God.
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DISPUTATION XLVIII ON JUSTIFICATION
The spiritual benefits which believers
enjoy in the present life, from their
union with Christ through communion
with his death and life, may be properly
referred to that of justification and
sanctification, as in those two is
comprehended the whole promise of the
new covenant, in which God promises
that he will pardon sins, and will
write his laws in the hearts of
believers, who have entered into
covenant with him. II. Justification is a
just and gracious act of God as a
judge, by which, from the throne of his
grace and mercy, he absolves from his
sins, man, a sinner, but who is a
believer, on account of Christ, and
the obedience and righteousness of
Christ, and considers him righteous,
to the salvation of the justified
person, and to the glory of divine
righteousness and grace. III. We say that
"it is the act of God as a
judge," who though as the supreme legislator he
could have issued regulations
concerning his law, and actually did issue
them, yet has not administered this
direction through the absolute plenitude
of infinite power, but contained
himself within the bounds of justice which
he demonstrated by two methods, First,
because God would not justify, except
as justification was preceded by
reconciliation and satisfaction made
through Christ in his blood; Secondly,
because he would not justify any
except those who acknowledged their
sins and believed in Christ. IV. We say
that "it is a gracious and
merciful act; "not with respect to Christ, as if
the Father, through grace as
distinguished from strict and rigid justice,
had accepted the obedience of Christ
for righteousness, but with respect to
us, both because God, through his gracious
mercy towards us, has made Christ
to be sin for us, and righteousness to
us, that we might be the
righteousness of God in him, and
because he has placed communion with Christ
in the faith of the gospel, and has
set forth Christ as a propitiation
through faith. V. The meritorious
cause of justification is Christ through
his obedience and righteousness, who
may, therefore, be justly called the
principal or outwardly moving cause.
In his obedience and righteousness,
Christ is also the material cause of
our justification, so far as God
bestows Christ on us for
righteousness, and imputes his righteousness and
obedience to us. In regard to this
two-fold cause, that is, the meritorious
and the material, we are said to be
constituted righteous through the
obedience of Christ. VI. The object of
justification is man, a sinner,
acknowledging himself, with sorrow, to
be such an one, and a believer, that
is, believing in God who justifies the
ungodly, and in Christ as having been
delivered for our offenses, and raised
again for our justification. As a
sinner, man needs justification
through grace, and, as a believer, he
obtains justification through grace.
VII. Faith is the instrumental cause,
or act, by which we apprehend Christ
proposed to us by God for a
propitiation and for righteousness,
according to the command and promise of
the gospel, in which it is said,
"He who believes shall be justified and
saved, and he who believeth not shall
be damned." VIII. The form is the
gracious reckoning of God, by which he
imputes to us the righteousness of
Christ, and imputes faith to us for
righteousness; that is, he remits our
sins to us who are believers, on
account of Christ apprehended by faith, and
accounts us righteous in him. This
estimation or reckoning, has, joined with
it, adoption into sons, and the
conferring of a right to the inheritance of
life eternal. IX. The end, for the
sake of which is the salvation of the
justified person; for that act is
performed for the good of the man himself
who is justified. The end which flows
from justification without any
advantage to God who justifies, is the
glorious demonstration of divine
justice and grace. X. The most
excellent effects of this justification are
peace with God and tranquillity of
conscience, rejoicing under afflictions
in hope of the glory of God and in God
himself, and an assured expectation
of life eternal. XI. The external seal
of justification is baptism; the
internal seal is the Holy Spirit,
testifying together with our spirits that
we are the children of God, and crying
in our hearts, Abba, Father! XII. But
we have yet to consider justification,
both about the beginning of
conversion, when all preceding sins
are for, given, and through the whole
life, because God has promised
remission of sins to believers, those who
have entered into covenant with him,
as often as they repent and flee by
true faith to Christ their propitiator
and expiator. But the end and
completion of justification will be at
the close of life, when God will
grant to those who end their days in
the faith of Christ, to find his mercy,
absolving them from all the sins which
had been perpetrated through the
whole of their lives. The declaration
and manifestation of justification
will be in the future general
judgment. XIII. The opposite to justification
is condemnation, and this by an
immediate contrariety, so that between these
two no medium can be imagined.
COROLLARIES I. That faith and works concur
together to justification, is a thing
impossible. II. Faith is not correctly
denominated the formal cause of
justification; and when it receives that
appellation from some divines of our
profession, it is then improperly so
called. III. Christ has not obtained
by his merits that we should be
justified by the worthiness and merit
of faith, and much less that we should
be justified by the merit of works:
But the merit of Christ is opposed to
justification by works; and, in the
Scriptures, faith and merit are placed
in opposition to each other.
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DISPUTATION XLIX ON THE SANCTIFICATION OF MAN
The word "sanctification"
denotes an act, by which any thing is separated
from common use, and is consecrated to
divine use. II. Common use, about the
sanctification of which [to divine
purposes] we are now treating, is either
according to nature itself, by which
man lives a natural life; or it is
according to the corruption of sin, by
which he lives to sin and obeys it in
its lusts or desires. Divine use is
when a man lives according to godliness,
in a conformity to the holiness and
righteousness in which he was created.
III. Therefore, this sanctification,
with respect to the boundary from which
it proceeds, is either from the
natural use, or from the use of sin; the
boundary to which it tends, is the
supernatural and divine use. IV. But when
we treat about man, as a sinner, then
sanctification is thus defined: It is
a gracious act of God, by which he
purifies man who is a sinner, and yet a
believer, from the darkness of
ignorance, from indwelling sin and from its
lusts or desires, and imbues him with
the Spirit of knowledge, righteousness
and holiness, that, being separated
from the life of the world and made
conformable to God, man may live the
life of God, to the praise of the
righteousness and of the glorious
grace of God, and to his own salvation. V.
Therefore, this sanctification
consists in these two things: In the death
of: the old man" who is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts," and in
the quickening or enlivening of
"the new man, who, after God, is created in
righteousness and the holiness of
truth." VI. The author of sanctification
is God, the Holy Father himself, in
his Son who is the Holy of holies,
through the Spirit of holiness. The
external instrument is the word of God;
the internal one is faith yielded to
the word preached. For the word does
not sanctify, only as it is preached,
unless the faith be added by which the
hearts of men are purified. VII. the
object of sanctification is man, a
sinner, and yet a believer -- a
sinner, because, being contaminated through
sin and addicted to a life of sin, he
is unfit to serve the living God -- a
believer, because he is united to
Christ through faith in him, on whom our
holiness is founded; and he is planted
together with Christ and joined to
him in a conformity with his death and
resurrection. Hence, he dies to sin,
and is excited or raised up to a new
life. VIII. The subject is, properly,
the soul of man. And, first, the mind,
which is illuminated, the dark clouds
of ignorance being driven away. Next,
the inclination or the will, by which
it is delivered from the dominion of
indwelling sin, and is filled with the
spirit of holiness. The body is not
changed, either as to its essence or its
inward qualifies; but as it is a part
of the man, who is consecrated to God,
and is an instrument united to the
soul, having been removed by the
sanctified soul which inhabits it from
the purposes of sin, it is admitted
to and employed in the service of God,
"that our whole spirit and soul and
body may be preserved blameless unto
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." IX.
The form lies in the purification from
sin, and in a conformity with God in
the body of Christ through his Spirit.
X. The end is, that a believing man,
being consecrated to God as a priest
and king, should serve him in newness
of life, to the glory of his divine
name, and to the salvation of man. XI.
As, under the Old Testament, the
priests, when approaching to render worship
to God, were accustomed to be
sprinkled with blood, so, likewise, the blood
of Jesus Christ, which is the blood of
the New Testament, serves for this
purpose-to sprinkle us, who are
constituted by him as priests, to serve the
living God. In this respect, the
sprinkling of the blood of Christ, which
principally serves for the expiation
of sins, and which is the cause of
justification, belongs also to
sanctification; for in justification, this
sprinkling serves to wash away sins
that have been committed; but in
sanctification, it serves to sanctify
men who have obtained remission of
their sins, that they may further be
enabled to offer worship and sacrifices
to God, through Christ. XII. This
sanctification is not completed in a
single moment; but sin, from whose
dominion we have been delivered through
the cross and the death of Christ, is
weakened more and more by daily
losses, and the inner man is day by
day renewed more and more, while we
carry about with us in our bodies, the
death of Christ, and the outward man
is perishing. COROLLARY We permit this
question to be made the subject of
discussion: Does the death of the body
bring the perfection and completion
of sanctification -- and how is this
effect produced?
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DISPUTATION L ON THE CHURCH OF GOD AND OF CHRIST: OR ON THE CHURCH IN
GENERAL
AFTER THE FALL
As, through faith, which is the first
part of our duty towards God and
Christ, we have obtained the blessings
of justification and sanctification
from our union and communion with
Christ, by which benefits we are, from
children of wrath and the slaves of
sin, not only constituted the children
of God and the servants of
righteousness, (on which account it is fit that
we should render obedience and worship
to our Parent and our Lord,) and as
we have likewise obtained power and
confidence for the performance of such
obedience and worship, it would follow
that we should now treat on obedience
and worship as on another part of our duty.
II. But as there are multitudes
of those who have, through these
benefits, been made the sons and the
servants of God, and who have been
united, among themselves, by the same
faith and the Spirit of Christ, as
members in one body, which is called the
church, and of which the Scriptures
make frequent mention, it appears to be
the most proper course to treat,
First, upon this church, because, as she
derives her origin from this faith,
she comprehends within her embraces all
those to whom the performance of
worship to God and Christ is to be
prescribed. III. And as it has pleased
God to institute certain signs by
which may be sealed or testified, both
the communion of believers with
Christ and among themselves, and a
participation of these benefits, and, on
the other hand, their service of
gratitude towards God and Christ, we shall
deem it proper, NEXT, to treat upon
these signs or tokens, before we proceed
to the worship, itself, which is due
to God and Christ. First, then, let us
consider the church. IV. This word, in
its general acceptation, denotes a
company or congregation of men who are
called out, and not only the act and
the command of him who calls them out,
but likewise the obedient compliance
of those who answer the call; so that
the result or effect of that act is
included in the word "church.
" V. But it is thus defined: A company of
persons called out from a state of
natural life and of sin, by God and
Christ, through the Spirit of both, to
a supernatural life to be spent
according to God and Christ in the
knowledge and worship of both, that by a
participation with both, they may be
eternally blessed, to the glory of God
through Christ, and of Christ in God.
VI. The efficient cause of this
evocation, or calling out, is God the
Father, in his Son Jesus Christ, and
Christ himself, through the Spirit,
both of the Father and of the Son as he
is Mediator and the Head of the
church, sanctifying and regenerating her to
a new life. The impulsive cause is the
gracious good pleasure of God the
Father, in Christ, and the love of
Christ towards those whom he has acquired
for himself by his own blood. VII. The
executive cause of this gracious good
pleasure of God in Christ, which may
also, in this respect, according to its
distribution, be called "the
administrative cause," is the Spirit of God and
of Christ by the word of both; by
which he requires outwardly a life
according to God and Christ, with the
addition of the promise of a reward
and the threatening of a punishment;
and he inwardly illuminates the mind to
a knowledge of this life, imparts to
us the feelings of love and desire for
this life, and bestows on the whole
man strength and power to live such a
life. VIII. The matter about which [it
is occupied], or the object of the
vocations, are natural and sinful men,
who, indeed, according to nature, are
capable of receiving instruction from
the Spirit through the word, but who
are, according to the life of the
present world and the state of sin,
darkened in their minds and alienated
from the life of God. This state
requires that the beginning of
preaching be made from preaching the law as
it reproves sin and convinces of sin,
and thus that progress be made to the
preaching of the gospel of grace. IX.
The form of the church resides in the
mutual relation of God and Christ who
calls, and of the church who obeys
that call, according to which, God in
Christ, by the Spirit of both, infuses
into her supernatural life, feeling or
sensation, and motion; and she, on
the other hand, being quickened and
under the influence of feeling and
motion, begins to live and to walk
according to godliness, and in
expectation of the blessings promised.
X. The end of this evocation, which
also contains the chief good of the
church, is blessedness perfected and
consummated through a union with God
in Christ. From this, results the glory
of God, who unites the church to
himself and beatifies her, which glory is
declared in the very act of union and
beatification -- also the glory of the
same blessed God, when the church in
her triumphant songs ascribes to him
praise, honour and glory forever and
ever. XI. From the act of this
evocation and from the form of the
church arising out of it, it appears that
a distinction must be made among the
men or congregation, as they are men,
and as they are called out and obey
the call; and they must be so
distinguished that the company to whom
the name of "the church" at any time
belonged, may so decline from that
obedience as to lose the name of "the
church," God "removing their
candlestick out of its place," and sending a
bill of divorce to his disobedient and
adulterous wife. Hence it is evident
that the glorying of the papists is
vain on this point -- that the church of
Rome cannot err and fall away
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DISPUTATION LI ON THE CHURCH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, OR UNDER THE PROMISE
As Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
to-day, and ever -- as he is the
chief or deepest corner-stone, upon
which the superstructure of the church
is raised, being built up both by
prophets and apostles, and as he is the
head of all those who will be partaken
of salvation, the whole church,
therefore, may, in this sense, be
called "Christian," though under this
appellation, peculiarly, comes the
church as she began to be collected
together after the actual ascent of
Christ into heaven. II. But though the
church be one with respect to its
foundation, and of those things which
concern the substance itself yet,
because it has pleased God to govern it
according to different methods, in
reference to this the church may, in the
most suitable manner, be distinguished
into the church which existed in the
times of the Old Testament before
Christ, and into that which flourished in
the times of the New Testament and
after Christ appeared on earth. III. "The
church, prior to the advent of Christ,
under the dispensation of the Old
Testament," is that which was
called out, (by the word of promise concerning
the seed of the woman and the seed of
Abraham, and concerning the Messiah
who was subsequently to come,) from
the state of sin and misery, to a
participation of the righteousness of
faith and salvation, and to the faith
placed in that promise -- and by the
word of the law, to render worship to
God in confidence of obtaining mercy in this
blessed Seed and the promised
Messiah, in a manner suitable to the
infantile age of the church herself.
IV. The word of promise was
propounded, in the beginning, in a very general
manner and with much obscurity, but in
succeeding ages, more specially and
with greater distinctness, and still
more so, as the times of the advent of
the Messiah in the flesh drew nearer.
V. The law which contributed to this
calling, was both the moral and the
ceremonial; (for, in this place, the
forensic does not come under
consideration;) and both of them as delivered
orally, and as comprised and proposed
in writing by Moses, in which last
respect, the law is principally
treated upon in the Scriptures of the Old
and the New Testament. VI. The moral
law serves this office in a two-fold
manner: First, by demonstrating the
necessity of the gracious promise, which
it does by convincing [men] of sins
against the law, and of the weakness [of
man] to perform the law. To this
purpose it has been rigidly and strictly
propounded; and it is considered as so
proposed, according to these
passages: "The man that doeth
them shall live in them," and "Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things which
are written in the book of the
law to do them." Secondly, by
ewieikwv moderately, or with clemency,
requiring the observance of it from
those who were parties to the covenant
of promise. VII. Though the observance
of the ceremonial law be not, of
itself, and on account of itself,
pleasing to God, yet the observance of it
was prescribed for two purposes: (1.)
That it might convince of the guilt of
sins and of the curse, and might thus
declare the necessity of the gracious
promise. (2.) And that it might
sustain believers by the hope of the
promise, which hope was confirmed by
the typical presignification of future
things. In the former of these two
respects, the ceremonial law was the seal
of sins; but in the latter, it was the
seal of grace and remission. VIII.
The church of those times must,
therefore, be considered, both as it is
called the heir, and as called the
infant, either according to its
substance, or according to the
dispensation and economy suitable to those
times. According to the former of
these respects, the church was under the
promise or the covenant of promise;
and according to the latter respect, she
was under the law and under the Old
Testament, in regard to which, that
people is called servile, or in
bondage, and the infant heir "differing in
nothing from a servant," as, in
regard to the promise, the same people are
denominated free, born of a free
woman, and according to Isaac "counted for
the seed" to whom the promise was
made. IX. According to the promise, the
church was a willing people --
according to the Old Testament, a carnal
people; according to the former
relation, the heir of spiritual and heavenly
blessings; according to the latter,
the heir of spiritual and earthly
blessings, especially of the land of
Canaan and of its benefits. According
to the former relation, the church was
endowed with the Spirit of adoption;
according to the latter, she had this
Spirit intermixed with that of bondage
as long as the promise continued. X.
The open consideration of these
relations, and a suitable comparison
and opposition between the covenant of
promise, and the law or the Old
Testament, contributes much to the [correct]
interpretation of several passages of
Scripture, which, otherwise, can
scarcely be at all explained, or at
least with great difficulty COROLLARIES
I. Because the Old Testament was
forced to be abrogated, therefore it was to
be confirmed, not by the blood of a
testator or mediator, but of brute
animals. II. "The Old
Testament" is never used in the Scriptures for the
covenant of grace. III. The
confounding of the promise and of the Old
Testament is productive of much
obscurity in Christian theology, and is the
cause of more than a single
error.
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DISPUTATION LII ON THE CHURCH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, OR UNDER THE GOSPEL
The Church of the New Testament is
that which, from the time when that
Testament was confirmed by the blood
of Christ the mediator of the New
Testament, or from the period of his
ascension into heaven, began to be
called out from a state of sin which
was plainly manifested by the word of
the gospel, and by the Spirit that was
suited to the heirs who had attained
to the age of adults -- to a
participation of the righteousness of faith and
of salvation, through faith placed in
the gospel, and to render worship to
God and Christ in the unity of the
same Spirit; and this church will
continue to be called out in the same
manner to the end of the world, to the
praise of the glory of the grace of
God and of Christ. II. The efficient
cause is the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has now most
plainly manifested himself to be
Jehovah and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ; and it is Christ himself,
elevated to the right hand of the Father,
invested with full power in heaven and
on earth, and endowed with the word
of the gospel and with the Spirit
beyond measure. The antecedent or only
moving cause is the grace and mercy of
God the Father and of Christ, and
even the justice of God, to which,
through the good pleasure of the Father,
the fullest satisfaction has now been
made in Jesus Christ, and which is
clearly manifested in the gospel. III.
The Spirit of Christ is the
administering cause, according to the
economy, as he is the substitute of
Christ and receives of that which is
Christ's, to glorify Christ by this
calling forth in his church, with only
a full power to administer all things
according to his own pleasure. The
Spirit uses the word of the gospel placed
in the mouth of his servants, which
immediately executes this vocation, and
the word of the law, whether written
or implanted in the mind; the gospel
serves both antecedently that a place
may be made for this vocation, and
consequently when it has been received
by faith. IV. The object of this
evocation is, not only Jews, but also
gentiles, the middle wall of partition
which formerly separated the gentiles
from the Jews being taken away by the
flesh and blood of Christ; that is,
the object is all men generally and
promiscuously without any difference,
but it is all men actually sinners,
whether they be those who acknowledge
themselves as such and to whom the
preaching of the gospel is constantly
exhibited, or those who are yet to be
brought to the acknowledgment of their
sins. V. Because this church is of
adult age, and because she no longer
requires a tutor and governor, she is
free from the economical bondage of
the law, and is governed by the spirit
of full liberty, which is, by no
means, intermixed with the spirit of
bondage; and, therefore, she is free
from the use of the ceremonial law, so
far as it served for testifying of
sins, and as it was "the hand-writing
which was against us." VI. This
church, also, with unveiled or open face,
beholds the glory of the Lord as in a
glass, and has the very express image
of heavenly things, and Christ, the image of the invisible God, the
express
image of the Father's person, and the
brightness of his glory, and the very
body of things to come which is of
Christ. She, therefore, does not need the
law, which has the shadow of good
things to come; on which account, she is
free from the same ceremonial law, by
which it typically prefigured Christ
and good things to come. VII. The
church of the New Testament has not
experienced, does not now experience,
and will not, to the end of the world,
experience, in the whole of its
course, any change whatever with regard to
the word itself or the spirit; For, in
these last times, God has spoken to
us in his Son, and by those who have
heard him. VIII. This same church is
called "catholic," in a
peculiar and distinct sense in opposition to the
church which was under the Old
Testament, so far as she has been diffused
through the whole world, and has
embraced within her boundary all nations,
tribes, people and tongues. This
universality is not hinder, by the
rejection of the greater part of the
Jews, as they will also be added to the
church, some time hence, in a great
multitude, and like an army formed into
columns. IX. We may denominate, not unaptly
or inappropriately, the state of
the church, as she existed from the
time of John until the assent of Christ
into heaven, "a temporary or
intermediate one" between the state of the
promise and of the gospel, or that of
the Old Testament and of the New. X.
On which account, we place the
ministry of John between the ministry of the
prophets and that of the apostles, and
plainly, and in every respect,
conformable to neither of them. Hence,
also, John is called "a greater
prophet," and is said to be
"less than the least in the kingdom of heaven.
COROLLARY The baptism of John was so
far the same with that of Christ, that
there was afterwards no need for it to
be restored.
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DISPUTATION LIII ON THE HEAD AND THE MARKS OF THE CHURCH
Though the head and the body be of one
nature, and though, according to
nature, they properly constitute one
subsistence, yet he who, according to
nature, is the head of the church,
cannot have communion of nature with her,
for she is his creature. II. But it
has been the good pleasure of God, who
is both the head of the church
according to nature, and her creator, to
bestow on his church his Son Jesus
Christ, made man, as her head, by whom,
likewise, it has been his will to
create his church -- that is, a new
creature, that the union between the
church and her head might be closer,
and the communication more free and
confiding. III. But a three-fold
relation exists between the church and
her head: (1.) That the head contains
in himself, in a manner the most
perfect, all things which are necessary and
sufficient for salvation. (2.) That he
is fitly united to the church, his
body, by "the joints and bands"
of the Spirit and of faith. (3.) That the
head can infuse the virtue of his own
perfection into her, and she can
receive it from him according to the
order of preordination and
subordination fitly corresponding with
it according to the difference of
both. IV. But these three things
belong to Christ alone; nay, not one of the
three agrees with any person or thing
except with Christ. Wherefore, he,
only, is the head of the church, to
whom she immediately coheres according
to her internal and real essence. V.
But no one can, according to this
relation, be vicar or substitute to
him; neither the apostle Peter, nor any
Roman pontiff; nay, Christ can have no
one among men as his vicar, according
to the external administration of the
church; and, what is still more, he
cannot have a universal minister,
which term is less than that of vicar. VI.
Yet we do not deny that those persons
who are constituted by this head as
his ministers, perform such functions
as belong to the head; because it has
been his pleasure to gather his church
to himself, and to govern it by human
means. VII. But, according to her
internal essence, this church is known to
no one except to her head. She is
likewise made known to others by signs and
indications which have their origin
from her true internal essence itself,
if they be real, and not counterfeit
and deceptive in their appearance.
VIII. These signs are, the profession
of the true faith, and the institution
or conducting of the life according to
the direction and the instigation of
the Spirit -- a matter that belongs to
external acts, about which, alone, a
judgment can be formed by mankind. IX.
We say that these are the marks of a
church which outwardly conducts herself
with propriety. But it may come to
pass, that a mere profession of faith
may obtain in this church through the
public preaching and hearing of the
word, through the administration and use
of the sacraments, and through prayers
and Thanksgivings; and yet in her
whole life she may degenerate from the
profession; and, lastly, she may in
her deeds deny Christ, whom she
professes to know in word, in which case,
she does not cease to be a church as
long as it is the pleasure of God and
Christ to bear with her ill manners,
and not to send her a bill of
divorcement. X. But it has happened
that in her profession itself, she
begins to intermix falsehoods with
truth, and to worship, at the same time,
Jehovah and Baal. Then, indeed, her
condition is very bad, and "nigh to
destruction," and all those who
adhere to her are commanded to desert her,
so far, at least, as not to become
partakers of her abominations, and to
contaminate themselves with the
pollutions of her idolatry; nay, they are
commanded to accuse their mother of
being a harlot, and of having violated
the marriage compact with her husband.
XI. In such a defection as this,
those who desert her are not the cause
of the dissension, but she who is
justly deserted, because she first
declined from God and Christ, to whom all
believers, and each of them in
particular, must adhere by an inseparable
connection. XII. The Roman pontiff is
not the head of the church; and
because he boasts himself of being that
head, the name of "Antichrist" on
this account most deservedly belongs
to him. XIII. The marks of the church
of which the papists boast --
antiquity, universality, duration, amplitude,
the uninterrupted succession of
teachers, and agreement in doctrine-have
been invented beyond those which we
have laid down, because they are
accommodated to the present state of
the church of Rome.
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DISPUTATION LIV ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, HER PARTS AND RELATIONS
The catholic church is the company of
all believers, called out from every
language, tribe, people, nation and
calling, who have been, are now, and
will be, called by the saving vocation
of God from a state of corruption to
the dignity of the children of God,
through the word of the covenant of
grace, and engrafted into Christ, as
living members to their head through
true faith, to the praise of the glory
of the grace of God. From this, it
appears that the catholic church
differs from particular churches in nothing
which appertains to the substance of a
church, but solely in her amplitude.
II. But as she is called "the
catholic church" in reference to her matter,
which embraces all those who have ever
been, are now, and will yet be, made
partakers of this vocation, and
received into the family of God, so,
likewise, is she denominated "the
one and holy church," from her form, which
consists in the mutual relation of the
church, who by faith, embraces Christ
as her head and spouse, and of Christ,
who so closely unites the church to
himself, as his body and spouse, by
his Spirit, that the church lives by the
life of Christ himself, and is made a
partaker of him and of all his
benefits. III. The Catholic Church is
"ONE," because, under one God and
Father, who is above all persons, and
through all things, and in all of us,
she has been united as one body to one
head, Christ the Lord, through one
Spirit, and through one faith placed
in the same word, through a similar
hope of the same inheritance, and
through mutual charity, she has been
"fitly framed and built for a
holy temple, and a habitation of God through
the Spirit." Wherefore, the whole
of this unity is spiritual, though those
who have been thus united together
consist partly of body, and partly of
spirit. IV. She is "HOLY;"
because, by the blessing of the Holy of holies,
she has been separated from the
unclean world, washed from her sins by His
blood, beautified with the presence
and gracious indwelling of God, and
adorned with true holiness by the
sanctification of the Holy Spirit. V. But
though this church is one, yet she is
distinguished according to the acts of
God towards her, so far as she has
become the recipient of either of all of
those acts, or of some of them. The
church that has received only the act of
her creation and preservation, is said
to be in the way, and is called "the
church militant," as being she
that must yet contend with sin, the flesh,
the world, and Satan. The church that,
in addition to this, is made partaker
of the consummation, is said to be in
her native land, and is called "the
church triumphant;" for, after
having conquered all her enemies, she rests
from her labours, and reigns with
Christ in heaven. To that part which is
still militant on earth, the title of
"catholic" is likewise ascribed, so
far as she embraces within her
boundaries all particular militant churches.
VI. But the catholic church is
distributed, according to her parts, into
many particular churches, since she
consists of many congregations far
distant from each other, with respect
to place, and quite distinct. But as
these particular churches have
severally the name of "a church," so they
have likewise the thing signified by
the name and the entire definition like
similar parts which participate in the
name and definition of the whole; and
the catholic church differs from each
particular one solely in her
universality, and in no other thing
whatever which belongs to the essence of
a church. Hence, is easily learned in
what manner it may be understood that,
as single, particular churches may
err, yet the church universal cannot err;
that is, in this sense, that there
never will be a future time in which some
believers will not exist who do not
err in the foundation of religion. But
from this interpretation, it is
apparent that it cannot be concluded from
the circumstance of the catholic
church, being said to be in this sense,
free from error, that any
congregation, however numerous soever it may be,
is exempt from error, unless there be
in it one person, or more, who are so
guided into all truth as to be
incapable of erring. VII. Hence, since the
evocation of the church is made
inwardly by the Spirit, and outwardly by the
word preached, and since they who are
called, answer inwardly by faith, and
outwardly by the profession of faith,
as they who are called have the inward
and the outward man, therefore, the
church, in reference to these called
persons, is distinguished into the
visible and the invisible church, from
the subjoined external accident --
invisible, as she "believes with the
heart unto righteousness," and
visible, as "confession is made with her
mouth unto salvation." And this
visibility or invisibility belongs neither
more nor less to the whole catholic
church, than to each church in
particular. VIII. Then, since the
church is collected out of this world,
"which lieth in the wicked
one," and often by ministers who, beside the word
of God, preach another word, and since
this church consists of men liable to
be deceived and to fall, nay, of men
who have been deceived and are fallen,
therefore, the church is distinguished
with respect to the doctrine of
faith, into an orthodox and heretical
church -- with respect to divine
worship, into an idolatrous church,
and into one that is a right worshiper
of God and Christ, and with respect to
the morals prescribed in the second
table of the law, into a purer church
or a more impure one. In all these,
are also to be observed the degrees
according to which one church is more
heretical, idolatrous and impure than
another; about all these things a
correct judgment must be formed
according to the Scriptures. Thus, likewise,
the word "catholic" is used
concerning those churches that neither labour
under any destructive heresy, nor are
idolatrous.
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DISPUTATION LV ON THE POWER OF THE CHURCH IN DELIVERING DOCTRINES
The power of the church may be
variously considered, according to various
objects; for it is occupied either
about the delivery of doctrines, the
enactment of laws, the convening of
assemblies, the appointment of
ministers, or, lastly, about
jurisdiction. II. In the institution of
doctrines, or in the first delivery of
them, the power of the church is a
mere nullity, whether she be
considered generally, or according to her
parts; for she is the spouse of
Christ, and, therefore, is bound to hear the
voice of her husband. She cannot
prescribe to herself the rule of willing,
believing, doing and hoping. III. But
the whole of her power, concerning
doctrines, lies in the dispensation
and administration of those which have
been delivered by God and Christ --
necessarily previous to which is the
humble and pious acceptance of the
divine doctrines, the consequence of
which is, that she justly preserve the name
that has once been received. IV.
As the acceptance and the preservation
of doctrines may be considered either
according to the words, or according
to the right sense, so, likewise the
delivery of the doctrines received and
preserved must be distinguished
either with respect to the words, or
with respect to their correct meaning.
V. The delivery or tradition of
doctrines according to the words, is when
the church declares or publishes the
very words which she has received,
(after they have been delivered to her
by God, either in writing or orally,)
without any addition, diminution,
change or transposition, whether from the
repositories in which she has
concealed the divine writings, or from her own
memory, in which she had carefully and
faithfully preserved those things
which had been orally delivered. At
the same time, she solemnly testifies
that those very things which she has
received from above are [when
transmitted through her] pure and
unadulterated, (and is prepared even by
death itself to confirm this her
testimony,) as far as the variations of
copies in the original languages
permit a translator into other languages
[thus to testify]; yet they do not
concern the foundation so much as to be
able to produce doubts concerning it
on account of these variations. VI. The
delivery or tradition according to the
meaning, is the more ample
explanation and application of the
doctrines propounded and comprehended in
the divine words, in which
explanation, the church ought to contain herself
within the terms of the very word
which has been delivered, publishing no
particular interpretation of a
doctrine or of a passage, which does not rest
on the entire foundation, and which
cannot be fully proved from other
passages. This she will most
sedulously avoid if she adhere as much as
possible to the expressions of the
word delivered, and if she abstain, as
far as she is capable, from the use of
foreign words or phrases. VII. To
this power, is annexed the right of
examining and forming a judgment upon
doctrines, as to the kind of spirit by
which they have been proposed; in
this, also she will employ the rule of
the word which bears assured
evidences that it is divine, and has
been received as such; and indeed, they
will employ the rule of this word
alone, if she be desirous to institute a
proper examination, and to form a
correct judgment. But if she employ any
human writings whatsoever, for a rule
or guide, the morning light will not
shine on her, and, therefore, she will
grope about in darkness. VIII. But
the church ought to be guarded against
three things: (1.) To hide from no
one the words which have been divinely
delivered to her, or to interdict any
man from reading them or meditating
upon them. (2.) When, for certain
reasons, she declares divine doctrines
with her own words, not to compel any
one to receive or to approve them,
except on this condition, so far as they
are. consentaneous with the meaning
comprehended in the divine words. (3.)
And not to prohibit any man who is
desirous of examining, in a legitimate
manner, the doctrines proposed in the
words of the church. Whichsoever of
these things she does, she cannot, in
that case, evade the criminal charge
of having arrogated a power to
herself, and of abusing it beyond all law,
right and equity. COROLLARY It is one
of the fabulous stories of the papists
that the Holy Spirit assists the church
in such a manner, in forming her
judgment on the authentic Scriptures,
and in the right interpretation of the
divine meanings, that she cannot
err.
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DISPUTATION LVI ON THE POWER OF THE CHURCH IN ENACTING LAWS
The laws which may be prescribed to
the church, or which may be considered
as having been prescribed, are of two
kinds, distinguished from each other
by a remarkable difference and by a
notable doctrine -- according to the
matter, that is, the acts which are
prescribed -- according to the end for
the sake of which they are prescribed,
and, lastly, according to the force
and necessity of obligation. 2. (1.)
For some laws concern the very essence
of ordering the life according to
godliness and Christianity, and the
necessary acts of faith, hope and
charity; and these may be called the
necessary and primary or principal
laws, and are as the fundamental laws of
the kingdom of God itself. (2.) But others
of them have respect to certain
secondary and substituted acts, and
the circumstances of the principal acts,
all of which conduce to the more
commodious and easy observance of those
first acts. On this account they
deserve to be called positive and attendant
laws. III. 1. The church neither has a
right, nor is she bound by any
necessity, to enact necessary laws,
and those which essentially concern the
acts of faith itself, of hope and of
charity. For this belongs most properly
to God and Christ; and it has been so
fully exercised by Christ, that
nothing can essentially belong to the
acts of faith, hope and charity, which
has not been prescribed by him in a
manner the most copious. IV. The entire
power, therefore, of the church is
placed in enacting laws of the second
kind; about the making and observing
of which we must now make some
observations. V. In prescribing laws
of this kind, the church ought to turn
her eyes, and to keep them fixed, on
the following particulars: First. That
the acts which she will command or
forbid be of a middle or an indifferent
kind, and in their own nature neither
good nor evil; and yet that they may
be useful, for the commodious
observance of the acts [divinely] prescribed,
according to the circumstance of
persons, times and places. VI. Secondly.
That laws of this description be not
adverse to the word of God, but that
they rather be conformable to it,
whether they be deduced from those things
which are, in a general manner,
prescribed in the word of God, according to
the circumstances already enumerated,
or whether they be considered as
suitable means for executing those
things which have been prescribed in the
word of God. VII. Thirdly. That these
laws be principally referred to the
good order and the decorous
administration of the external polity of the
church. For God is not the author of
confusion; but he is both the author
and the lover of order; and regard is
in every place to be paid to decorum,
but chiefly in the church, which is
"the house of God," and in which it is
exceedingly unbecoming to have any
thing, or to do any thing, that is either
indecorous or out of order. VIII.
Fourthly. That she do not assume to
herself the authority of binding, by
her laws, the consciences of men to
acts prescribed by herself; for she
will thus invade the right of Christ, in
prescribing things necessary, and will
infringe Christian liberty, which
ought to be free from snares of this
description. IX. Fifthly. That, by any
deed of her own, by a simple promise
or by an oath, either orally or by the
subscription of the hand, she do not
take away from herself the power of
abrogating, enlarging, diminishing or
of changing the laws themselves. It
would not be a useless labour if the
church were to enter her protest, at
the end of the laws, about the
perpetual duration of this her power, in a
subjoined clause, such as the civil
magistrate is accustomed to employ in
political positive laws. X. But with
regard to the observance of these laws;
as they are already enacted, all and
every one of those who are in the
church are bound by them so far, that
it is not lawful to transgress them
through contempt, and to the scandal of
others; and the church herself will
not estimate the observance of them at
so low a value as to permit them to
be violated through contempt and to
the scandal of others; but she will
mark, admonish, reprove and blame such
transgressors, as behaving themselves
in a disorderly and indecorous manner,
and she will endeavour to bring them
back to a better mind. COROLLARY Is it
not useful, for the purpose of
bearing testimony to the power and the
liberty of the church, occasionally
to make some change in the laws
ecclesiastical, lest the observance of them
becoming perpetual, and without any
change, should produce an opinion of the
[absolute] necessity of their being
observed?
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DISPUTATION LVII ON THE POWER OF THE CHURCH IN ADMINISTERING JUSTICE, OR
ON
ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE
As no society, however rightly
constituted and furnished with good laws, can
long keep together unless they who
belong to it be restrained within their
duty by a certain method of
jurisdiction or discipline, or be compelled to
the performance of their duty, so, in
the church, which is the house, the
city and the kingdom of God,
discipline of the same kind must flourish and
be exercised. II. But it is proper
that this discipline be accommodated to
the spiritual life, and not to that
which is natural; and that it should be
serviceable for edifying, confirming,
amplifying and adorning the church as
such, and for directing consciences,
without [employing] any force hurtful
in any part to the body or to the
substance, and to the condition of the
animal life; unless, perhaps, it be
the pleasure of the magistrate, in
virtue of the power granted to him by
God, to force an offender to
repentance by some other method. Such
a proceeding, however, we do not
prejudge. III. But ecclesiastical
discipline is an act of the church, by
which, according to the power
instituted by God and Christ, and bestowed on
her, and to be employed through a
consciousness of the office imposed, she
reprehends all and every one of those
who belong to the church, if they have
fallen into open sin, and admonishes
them to repent; or, if they
pertinaciously persevere in their sins,
she excommunicates them, to the
benefit of the whole church, the
salvation of the sinner himself, to the
profit of those who are without, and
to the glory of God himself and Christ.
IV. The object of this discipline is
all and each of those who, having been
engrafted into the church by baptism,
are capable of this discipline for the
correction of themselves. The cause or
formal condition why discipline must
be exercised on them is, the offenses
committed by them, whether they
concern the doctrine of faith, and are
pernicious and destructive heresies,
or whether they have respect to morals
and to the rest of the acts of the
Christian life. V. But it is
requisite, that these sins be external and
manifest, that is, known, and correctly
known, to those by whom the
discipline shall be administered; and
that it be evident, that they are sins
according to the laws imposed by
Christ on the church, and that they have
actually been committed. For God,
alone, judges concerning inward sins. VI.
Let the form of administering the laws
be with all kindness and discretion,
also with zeal, and occasionally with
severity and some degree of rigor, if
occasion require it to be employed.
But the intention is, the salvation of
him who has sinned, and that of the
whole body of the church, to the glory
of God and of Christ. VII. The
execution of this discipline lies both in
admonition and in castigation or
punishment, or in censure, which is
conveyed only in words, through
reprehension, exhortation and communication,
or which is given by the privation of
some of those things which outwardly
belong to the communion of saints, and
to the saving edification or building
up of every believer in the body of
Christ. VIII. Admonitions are
accommodated, First, to the persons
who have sinned, in which must be
observed the difference of age, sex
and condition, with all prudence and
discretion. Secondly. They are
accommodated to those sins which have been
committed; for some are more grievous
than others. Thirdly. To the mode in
which sins have been perpetrated,
which mode comes now under our special
consideration. IX. For some sins are
clandestine, others are public, whether
they are offenses only against God, or
whether they have, in union with such
offense, injury to a man's neighbour.
According to this latter respect, it
is called "a private sin,"
that is, an offense committed by one private
individual against another-such as is
intimated by the word of Christ, in
Matt. xviii. 7-18, in which passage is
likewise prescribed the mode of
reproving an offense. X. A clandestine
sin is that which is secretly
perpetrated, and with the commission
of which very few persons are
acquainted; to this belongs a secret
reprehension, to be inflicted by those
who are acquainted with it. One of the
principal ministers of the church,
however, will be able to impart
authority to the reprehension; yet he can,
by no means, refer it to his
colleagues; but it will be his duty to deliver
this reproof in secret. XI. A public
sin is that which is committed when
several people are acquainted with it.
We allow it to be made a subject of
discussion, whether a sin ought to
receive the appellation of a public one,
when it has been secretly committed
but has become known to many persons
either through the fault of him who
perpetrated it, or through the
officiousness of those who divulged it
without necessity. XII. But there is
still some difference in public sins;
for they are known either to some part
of the church, or to the whole, or
nearly to the whole of it; according to
this difference, the admonition to be
given ought to be varied. If the sin
be known to part of the church, it is
sufficient that the sinner be
admonished and reproved before the
consistory, or in the presence of more
persons to whom it had been known. If
it be known to the whole church, the
sinner must be reprehended before all
the members; for this practice
conduces both to the shame of him who
has sinned, and to deter others from
sinning after his example. Some
consideration, however, may be had to the
shame of any offender, and a degree of
moderation be shown; that is, if he
is not deeply versed in sinful
practices, but if a sin has taken him by
surprise, or "he is overtaken in
a fault." XIII. As this reproof has the
tendency to induce the offender to
desist from sinning, if this end is not
obtained by the first admonition, it
is necessary to repeat it occasionally,
until the sinner stands corrected, or
makes an open declaration of his
contumacy. But some difference of
opinion exists on this point among
divines: "Is it useful to bring
an offender to punishment, when, after
having afforded hopes of amendment, he does
not fulfill those hopes
according to the judgment and the
wishes of the church?" But it does not
seem possible to determine this so
much by settled rules, as by leaving the
matter to the discretion of the
governors of the church. XIV. But if the
offender despise all admonitions, and
contumaciously perseveres in his sins,
after the church has exercised the
necessary patience towards him, she must
proceed to punishment; which is
excommunication, that is, the exclusion of
the contumacious person from the holy
communion and even from the church
herself. This public exclusion will be
accompanied by the avoidance of all
intercourse and familiarity with the
person excommunicated, to [the
observance of] which, each member of
the church must pay attention as far as
is permitted by the necessary relative
duties which either all the members
owe to him according to their general
vocation, or some of them owe
according to their particular obligation.
[For a subject is not freed from
his obligation toward his prince, on
account of the excommunication of the
prince; neither, in such
circumstances, is a wife freed from the duty which
she is bound to perform to her
husband; nor are children freed from their
duty to parents; and thus in other
similar instances.] XV. Some persons
suppose, that this excommunication is
solely from the privilege of
celebrating the Lord's supper. Others
suppose it to be of two kinds, the
less and the greater -- the less being
a partial exclusion from attendance
on some of the sacred offices of the
church -- the greater, an exclusion
from all of them together, and totally
from the communion of believers. But
others, rejecting the minor excommunication,
acknowledge no other than the
major; because it appears to them,
that there is no cause why a contumacious
sinner ought to be rejected from this
communion more than from that, since
he has rendered himself unworthy to
obtain any place in the church and the
assembly of saints. We do not
interpose our opinion; but we leave this
matter to be discussed by the judgment
of learned and pious men, that by
common consent it may be concluded
from the Scriptures what is most
agreeable to them, and best suited to
the edification of the church.
COROLLARIES Excommunication must be
avoided, where a manifest fear of a
schism exists. "Should not this
also be done, where a fear exists of
persecution being likely to ensue on
account of excommunication?" We think,
that, in this case, likewise,
excommunication should be avoided.
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DISPUTATION LVIII ON COUNCILS
An ecclesiastical council is an
assembly of men gathered together in the
name of God, consulting and defining
or settling, according to the word of
God, about those things which pertain
to religion and the good of the
church, for the glory of God and the
salvation of the church. II. The power
of appointing an assembly of this kind
resides in the church herself. If she
is under the sway of a Christian
magistrate, who makes an open profession of
religion, or who publicly tolerates
it, then we transfer this power to such
a magistrate, without whose
convocation, those persons that protested to the
church concerning the nullity of the
Council of Trent have maintained that a
council is illegitimate. But if the
magistrate is neither a believer, nor
publicly tolerates religion, but is an
enemy and a persecutor, then those
who preside in the church will
discharge that office. III. An occasion will
be afforded for convening an assembly
of this kind, either by some evil men
who are an annoyance to the church,
whether they be in the church or out of
it, or even the perpetual constitution
of the church so long as she
continues on earth. For as she is
liable to error, corruption, and defection
from the truth of doctrine, from the
purity of divine worship, from moral
probity and from Christian concord, to
heresies, idolatry, corruption of
manners, and schisms, it is useful for
assemblies of this kind to be
instituted. Yet may they be
instituted, not only to correct any corruption
if it manifestly appears that it has entered,
but likewise to inquire
whether something of the kind has not
entered; because the enemy sows tares
while the men sleep, to whom is
entrusted the safe custody of the Lord's
field. IV. We say that this is an
assembly of men; for, "Let a woman. keep
silence in the church, unless she has
an extraordinary and divine call; and
we say, these men ought to be
distinguished by the following marks: First.
That they be powerful in the
Scriptures, and have their senses exercised in
them. Secondly. That they be pious,
grave, prudent, moderate, and-lovers of
divine truth and of the peace of the
church. Thirdly. That they be free, and
bound down to no person, church, or
confession written by men, but only to
God and Christ, and to his word. V.
They are men, whether of the
ecclesiastical or of the political
class -- in the first place, the supreme
magistrate himself, and those persons
who discharge any public office in the
church and the republic. Then, also,
private individuals, even those persons
not being excluded who maintain some
other [doctrine] than that which is the
current opinion, provided they be
furnished with the endowments which I have
described. (Thesis 4.) And we are of
opinion that such persons may deliver
not only a deliberative but likewise a
decisive sentence. VI. The object
about which the council will be
engaged is, the things appertaining to
religion and to the good of the church
as such. These are comprised under
two chief heads-the primary,
comprehending the doctrine, itself, of faith,
hope, and charity, and the secondary,
the order and polity of the church.
VII. The rule, according to which
deliberation must be instituted, and
decision must be formed, is that
single and sole one -- the word of God, who
holds absolute dominion in the church.
But in things which belong to the
good order and eutaxian the discipline
of the church, it is allowable for
the members attentively to consider
the present state of the commonwealth
and of the church, and to exercise
deliberation and form decisions according
to the circumstances of places, times
and persons, provided one thing be
guarded against-to determine nothing
contrary to the word of God. VIII. But,
because all things in assemblies of
this kind ought to be done in order, it
is requisite that some one preside
over the whole council. If the chief
magistrate be present, this office
belongs to him; but he can devolve this
charge on some other person, whether
an ecclesiastic or layman; nay, he may
commit this matter to the council
itself, provided he take care that all and
each of the members be restrained
within the bounds of their duty, lest
their judgments be concluded in a
tumultuous manner. But it is useful that
some bishop be appointed, who may
perform the offices of prayer and
thanksgiving, may propose the business
to be transacted, and may inquire and
collect the opinions and votes;
indeed, so far, he, as an ecclesiastic, is
the more suitable for fulfilling these
duties. IX. A place must be appointed
for assemblies of this kind, that they
may be most commodious to all those
who shall come to the synod, unless it
be the pleasure of the chief
magistrate to choose that place which will
be the most convenient to
himself. It ought to be a place secure
from ambuscade or hostile surprise;
and a safe conduct is necessary for
all persons, that they may arrive and
depart again, without personal
detriment, as far as is allowable by the law
of God itself, against which the
authority of no council, however great, is
of the least avail. X. The authority
of councils is not absolute, but
dependent on the authority of God; for
this reason, no one is simply bound
to assent to those things which have
been decreed in a council, unless those
persons be present, as members, who
cannot err, and who have the undoubted
marks and testimonies of the Holy
Spirit to this fact. But every one may,
nay, he is bound, to examine, by the
word of God, those things which have
been concluded in the council; and if
he finds them to be agreeable to the
divine word, then he may approve of
them; but if they are not, then he may
express his disapprobation. Yet he
must be cautious not easily to reject
that which has been determined by the
unanimous consent of so many pious and
learned men; but he ought diligently
to consider, whether it has the
Scriptures pronouncing in favour of it
with sufficient clearness; and when
this is the case, he may yield his
assent, in the Lord, to their unanimous
agreement. XI. The necessity of
councils is not absolute, because the church
can be instructed respecting necessary
things without them. Yet their
utility is very great, if, being instituted
in the name of the Lord, they
examine all things according to his
word, and appoint that which, by common
consent, according to that rule, the
members have thought proper to
pronounce as their decision. For, as
many eyes see more than one eye, and as
the Lord is accustomed to listen to
the prayers of a number who agree
together among themselves on earth, it
is more probable that the truth will
be discovered and confirmed from the
Scriptures by some council consisting
of many learned and pious men, than by
the exertions of a single individual
transacting the same business
privately by himself. From these premises, we
also say that the authority of any
council is greater than that of any man
who is present at such council, even
that of the Roman pontiff, to whom we
ascribe no other right in any council,
than that which we give to any
bishop, even at the time when he
performed with fidelity the duties of a
true bishop. So far, are we
disinclined to believe, that no council can be
convened and held without his command,
presidency and direction. XIII. No
council can prescribe to its
successors, that they may not again deliberate
about that which has been transacted
and determined in preceding councils;
because the matter of religion does
not come under the denomination of a
thing that is prejudged; neither can
any council bind itself, by an oath, to
the observance of any other word than
that of God; much less can it make
positive laws, to which it may bind
either itself, or any man, by an oath.
XIV. It is also allowable for a later
ecumenical or general council to call
in doubt that which had been decreed
by a preceding general council, because
it is possible even for general
councils to err; nor yet does it follow from
these premises that the catholic
church errs; that is, that all the faithful
universally err.
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DISPUTATION LIX ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL MINISTRATIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND
ON
THE VOCATION TO THEM
By The word "ministry," we
designate a public auxiliary office or duty,
subservient to a superior, who, in
this instance, is God and Christ as he is
the Lord and Head of the church. It
receives the appellation of
"ecclesiastical" from its
object, which is the church; and we distinguish it
from a political ministry, which
exercises itself in the civil affairs of
the commonwealth. II. But it is the
public duty which God has committed to
certain men, to collect a church, to
attend to it when collected, and to
bring it to Christ, its Head, and
through him to God, that [the members of]
it may attain a life of happiness, to
the glory of God and Christ. III. But
as a church consists of men who live a
natural life, and are called to live
while in the body, a spiritual life,
which is superior and ought to be as
the end of the other, there is a
two-fold office to be performed in the
church according to the exigencies
both of the natural and of the spiritual
life: The First is that which is
properly, per se, and immediately occupied
about the spiritual life, its
commencement, progress and confirmation; the
Second is that by which the natural
life is sustained, and, therefore, it
belongs, only by accident and
mediately, to the church. The First is always
necessary per se. The Second is not
necessary [in the church] except by
hypothesis; because there are those
who need a maintenance from others, and
they do not obtain this through some
order established in the community, in
which case, it ought always to endure;
but where any such order is
established, it is unnecessary. On the
former of these we are now treating;
about the latter we have no further
remarks to make. IV. The office
accommodated to the spiritual life,
consists of these three acts: The First
is the teaching of the truth which is
according to godliness; the Second is
intercession before God; the Third is
regimen or government accommodated to
this institution or teaching. V.
Institution or teaching consists in the
proposing, explanation and
confirmation of the truth, which contains the
things that are to be believed, hoped
for, and performed, in the refutation
of falsehood, in exhortation,
reprehension, consolation, and threatening,
all of which is accomplished by the
word both of the law and the gospel. To
this function, we add the
administration of the sacraments, which serve for
the same purpose. VI. Intercession consists
in prayers and Thanksgivings
offered to God for the church and each
of its members, through Christ our
only advocate and intercessor. VII.
The government of the church is used for
this end, that, in the whole church,
all things may be done decently, in
order, and to edification; and that
each of its members may be kept in their
duty, the loiterers may be incited,
the weak confirmed, those who have
wandered out of the way brought back,
the contumacious punished, and the
penitents received. VIII. These
offices are not always imposed in the same
mode, nor administered by the same
methods. For, at the commencement of the
rising Christian church, they were
imposed on some men immediately by God
and Christ, and they were administered
by those on whom they had been
imposed, without binding them to
certain churches; hence, also, the apostles
were called "ministers," as
being the ambassadors of Christ to every
creature throughout the world. To
these were added the evangelists, as
fellow-labourers. Afterwards [the same
offices were imposed] immediately on
those who were called pastors and
teachers, bishops and priests, and who
were placed over certain churches. The
former of these [the apostles and
evangelists] continued only for a
season, and had no successors. The latter
[pastors, &c.] will remain in
perpetual succession to the end of the world,
though we do not deny that, when a
church is first to be collected for any
one, a man may traverse the whole
earth in teaching. IX. These offices are
so ordered, that one person can
discharge all of them at the same time;
though, if the utility of the church
and the diversity of gifts so require,
they can be variously distributed
among different men. X. The vocation to
such ecclesiastical offices is either
immediate or mediate. Immediate
vocation we will not now discuss. But
that which is mediate is a divine act,
administered by God and Christ through
the church, by which he consecrates
to himself a man separated from the
occupations of the natural life and from
those which are common, and removes
him to the duties of the pastoral
office, for the salvation of men and
his own glory. In this vocation, we
ought to consider the vocation itself,
its efficient and its object. XI. The
act of vocation consists of previous
examination, election, and
confirmation. (1.) Examination is a
diligent inquiry and trial, whether the
person about whom it is occupied be
well suited for fulfilling the duties of
the office. This fitness consists in
the knowledge and approval of things
true and necessary, in probity of
life, and a facility of communicating to
others those things which he knows
himself, (which facility contains
language and freedom in speaking,) in
prudence, moderation of mind, patient
endurance of labours, infirmities,
injuries, &c. XII. Election, or choice,
is the ordination of a person who is
legitimately examined and found good
and proper, by which is imposed on him
the office to be discharged. To this,
it is not unusual to add some public
inauguration, by prayers and the laying
on of hands, and also by previous
fasting and is like an admission to the
administration of the office itself,
which is commonly denominated
"confirmation." XIII. The
primary efficient is God and Christ, and the
Spirit of both as conducting the cause
of Christ in the church, on which
cause the whole authority of the
vocation depends. The administrator is the
church itself, in which we number the
Christian magistrate, teachers, with
the rest of the presbyters, and the
people themselves. But in those places
in which no magistrate resides who is
willing to attend to this matter,
there, bishops or presbyters, with the
people, can and ought to perform this
business. XIV. The object is the
person to be called, in whom is required,
for the sake of the church, that
aptitude or suitableness about which we
have already spoken, and on account of
it, the testimony of a good
conscience, by which he modestly
approves the judgment of the church, and is
conscious to himself that he enters on
this office in the sincere fear of
God, and with an intense desire only
to edify the church. XV. The essential
form of the vocation is that all
things may be done according to the rule
prescribed in the word of God. The
accidental is, that they may all be done
decently and suitably, according to
the particular relations of persons,
places, times, and other circumstances.
XVI. Wheresoever all these
conditions are observed, the call is
legitimate, and on every part approved;
but if some one be deficient, the act
of vocation is then imperfect; yet the
call is to be considered as ratified
and firm, while the vocation of God is
united by some outward testimony of
it, which, because it is various, we
cannot define COROLLARY The vocations
or calls in the papal church have not
been null, though contaminated and
imperfect; and the first reformers had an
ordinary and mediate call.
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DISPUTATION LX ON SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL
We have thus far treated on the
church, her power, and the ministry of the
word; it follows that we now discuss
those signs or marks which God appends
to his word, and by which He seals and
confirms the faith which has been
produced in the minds of his covenant
people. For these signs are commonly
called "sacraments" -- a
term, indeed, which is not employed in the
Scriptures, but which, account of the
agreement about it in the church, must
not be rejected. I. But this word,
"sacrament," is transferred from military
usage to that of sacred things; for,
as soldiers were devoted to their
general by an oath, as by a solemn
attestation, so, likewise, those in
covenant are bound to Christ by their
reception of these signs, as by a
public oath. But because the same word
is either taken in a relative
acceptation, (and this either properly
for a sign, or by metonymy for the
thing signified,) or in an absolute
acceptation, (and this by synecdoche for
both,) we will treat about its proper
signification. II. A sacrament,
therefore, is a sacred and visible
sign or token and seal instituted by God,
by which he ratifies to his covenant
people the gracious promise proposed in
his word, and binds them, on the other
hand, to the performance of their
duty. Therefore, no other promises are
proposed to us by these signs than
those which are manifested in the
word. III. We call it "a sign or token,
and a seal, both from the usage of
Scripture in Gen. xvii. 11, and Rom. iv.
11, and from the nature of the thing
itself, because these tokens, beside
the external appearance which they
present to our senses, cause something
else to occur to the thoughts. Neither
are they only naked significant
tokens, but seals and pledges, which
affect not only the mind, but likewise
the heart itself. IV. We call it
"sacred" in a two-fold respect: (1.)
Because it has been given by God; and
(2.) Because it is given to a sacred
use. We call it "visible,"
because it is of the nature of a sign that it be
perceptible to the senses; for that
which is not such, cannot be called a
sign. V. The author of these signs is
God, who alone, is the lord and
lawgiver of the church, and whose
province it is to prescribe laws, to make
promises, and to seal them with those
tokens which have seemed good to
himself; yet they are so accommodated
to the grace to be sealed, as, by a
certain analogy, to be significant of
it. Therefore, they are not natural
signs, which, from their own nature,
signify all that of which they are
significant; but they are voluntary
signs, the whole signification of which
depends on the will or option of him
who institutes them. VI. The matter is
the external element itself created by
God, and, therefore, subject to his
power, and made suitable to seal that
which, according to his wisdom, God
wills to be sealed by it. VII. As the
internal form of the sacrament is ek
twn prov ti of things to their
relation, it consists in relation, and is
that suitable analogy and similitude
between the sign and the thing
signified which has regard both to the
representation, and to the sealing or
witnessing, and the exhibition of the
thing signified through the authority
and the will of him who institutes it.
From this most close analogy of the
sign with the thing signified, various
figurative expressions are employed
in the Scriptures and in the
sacraments: as, when the name of the thing
signified is ascribed to the sign,
thus, "And my covenant shall be in your
flesh;" (Gen. xvii. 13; ) and, on
the contrary, in 1 Corinthians v. 7,
"Christ, our passover, is
sacrificed for us." Or, when the property of the
thing is ascribed to the sign, as
"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him, shall never
thirst." (John iv. 14. ) And, on the contrary,
"Take, eat: this is my
body." (Matt. xxvi. 26.) VIII. The end of sacraments
is two-fold, proximate and remote. The
proximate end is the sealing of the
promise made in the covenant. The
remote end is, (1.) the confirmation of
the faith of those who are in the
covenant, and by consequence the salvation
of the church that consists of those
covenanted members; and (2.) the glory
of God. IX. Those for whom the
sacraments have been instituted by God, and
by whom they are to be used, are those
with whom God has entered into
covenant, all of them, and they only.
To them the use of the sacraments is
to be conceded, as long as they are
reckoned by God in the number of those
who are in covenant; though by their
sins they have deserved to be cast off
and divorced. X. But these sacraments
are to be considered according to the
varied conditions of men; for they
have either been instituted before the
fall, and are of the covenant of
works; or, after the fall, and are of the
covenant of grace. There was only a
single sacrament of the covenant of
works, and that the tree of life.
Those of the covenant of grace are either
so far as they have regard to the
promised covenant, and belong to the
church while yet in her infancy and
placed under pedagogy [the law being her
schoolmaster] as were those of
circumcision and of the passover; or so far
as now they have regard to the
covenant confirmed, and belong to the
Christian church that is of adult age,
as are those of baptism and the
Lord's supper. The points of agreement
and difference between each of these
will be the more conveniently
perceived in the discussion of each. COROLLARY
Though in some things, sacrifices and
sacraments agree together, yet they
are by no means to be confounded;
because in many respects the latter differ
from the former.
_________________________________________________________________
DISPUTATION LXI ON THE SACRAMENTS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE TREE OF LIFE,
CIRCUMCISION, AND THE PASCHAL LAMB
The tree of life was created and
instituted by God for this end -- that man,
as long as he remained obedient to the
divine law, might eat of its fruit,
both for the preservation and
continuance of this natural life against every
defect which could happen to it through
old age, or any other cause, and to
designate or point out the promise of
a better and more blissful life. It
answered the former purpose, as an
element created by God; and the latter,
as a sacrament instituted by God. It
was adapted to accomplish the former
purpose by the natural force and
capability which was imparted to it; it was
fitted for the latter, on account of
the similitude and analogy which
subsist between natural and spiritual
life. II. Circumcision is the sign of
the covenant into which God entered
with Abraham to seal or witness the
promise about the blessed seed that
should be born of him, about all nations
which were to be blessed in him, and
about constituting him the father of
many nations, and the heir of the
world through the righteousness of faith;
and that God was willing to be his God
and the God of his seed after him.
This sign was to be administered in
that member which is the ordained
instrument of generation in the male
sex, by a suitable analogy between the
sign and the thing signified. III. By
that sign all the male descendants
from Abraham, were, at the express
command of God, to be marked, on the
eighth day after their nativity; and a
threatening was added, that it should
come to pass that the soul of him who
was not circumcised on that day should
be cut off from his people. IV. But
though females were not circumcised in
their bodies, yet they were in the
mean time partakers of the same covenant
and obligation, because they were
reckoned among the men, and were
considered by God as circumcised. It,
therefore, was not necessary that God
should institute any other remedy for
taking away from females the native
corruption of sin, as the papists have
the audacity to affirm, beyond and
contrary to the Scriptures. V. And
this is the first relation of
circumcision belonging to the promise.
The other is, that the persons
circumcised were bound to the
observance of the whole law, delivered by God,
and especially of the ceremonial law.
For it was in the power of God to
prescribe, to those who were in
covenant with him, a law at his pleasure,
and to seal the obligation of its
observance by such a sign of the covenant
as had been previously instituted and
employed; and in this respect
circumcision belongs to the Old
Testament. VI. The paschal lamb was a
sacrament, instituted by God to point
out the deliverance from Egypt, and to
renew the remembrance of it at a
stated time in each year. VII. Beside this
use, it served typically to adumbrate
Christ, the true Lamb, who was to
endure and bear away the sins of the
world; on which account, also, its use
was abrogated by the sufferings and
[the sacrifice of Christ on the cross,
as it relates to the right; but it was
afterwards, in fact and reality,
abrogated with the destruction of the
city and the temple. VIII. The
sacrament of the tree of life was a
bloodless one; in the other two, there
was shedding of blood -- both suitable
to the diversity of the state of
those who were in covenant with God.
For the former was instituted before
the entrance of sin into the world;
but the two latter, after sin had
entered, which, according to the
decree of God, is not expiated except by
blood; because the wages of sin is
death, and natural life, according to the
Scriptures, has its seat in the blood.
IX. The passage under the cloud and
through the sea, manna, and the water
which gushed from the rock, were
sacramental signs; but they were
extraordinary, and as a sort of prelude to
the sacraments of the New Testament,
although of a signification and
testification the most obscure, since
the things signified and witnessed by
them were not declared in express
words. COROLLARIES I. It is probable that
the church, from the primitive promise
and reparation after the fall, until
the times of Abraham, had her
sacraments, though no express mention is made
of them in the Scriptures. II. It
would be an act of too great boldness to
affirm what those sacraments were; yet
if any one should say, that the first
of them was the offering of the infant
recently born before the Lord, on the
very day on which the mother was
purified from childbearing, and that
another was, the eating of sacrifices
and the sprinkling of the blood of the
victims; his assertion would not be
utterly devoid of probability.
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DISPUTATION LXII ON THE SACRAMENTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IN GENERAL
The sacraments of the New Testament
are those which have been instituted for
giving testimony to the covenant, or
the New Testament confirmed by the
death and blood of its mediator and
testator. II. Wherefore, it was
necessary that they should be such as
were adapted to give significance and
testimony to the confirmation already
made; that is, that they should
declare and testify that the blood had
been shed, and that the death of the
mediator had intervened. III. There
ought, therefore, to be no shedding of
blood in the sacraments of the New
Testament; neither ought they to consist
of any such thing as is or has been
partaker of the life which is in the
blood; for as sin has now been
expiated, and remission fully obtained
through the blood and death of the
mediator, no further shedding of blood
was necessary. IV. But they were to be
instituted before the confirmation of
the new covenant was made by the blood
of the mediator and the death of the
testator himself; both because the
institution and the sealing o! the
testament ought to precede even the
death of the testator; and because the
mediator himself ought to be a
partaker of these sacraments, to consecrate
them in his own person, and more
strongly to seal the covenant which is
between us and him. V. But as the
communion of a sacrifice unto death,
offered for sins, is signified and
testified by nothing more appropriately
than by the sprinkling of the blood
and the eating of the sacrifice itself
and the drinking of the blood, (if
indeed it were allowable to drink blood,)
hence, likewise, no signs were more
appropriate than water, bread and wine,
since the sprinkling of his very blood
and the eating of his body could not
be done, and, besides, the drinking of
his blood ought not to be done. VI.
The virtue and efficacy of the
sacraments of the New Testament do not go
beyond the act of signifying and
testifying. There can neither actually be,
nor be imagined, any exhibition of the
thing signified through them, except
such as is completed by these
intermediate acts themselves. VII. And,
therefore, the sacraments of the New
Testament do not differ from those used
in the Old Testament; because the
former exhibit grace, but the latter
typify or prefigure it. VIII. The
sacraments of the New Testament have not
the ratio of sacraments beyond that
very use for the sake of which they were
instituted, nor do they profit those
who use them without faith and
repentance; that is, those persons who
are of adult age, and of whom faith
and repentance are required.
Respecting infants, the judgment is different,
to whom it is sufficient that they are
the offspring of believing parents,
that they may be reckoned in the
covenant. IX. The sacraments of the New
Testament have been instituted, that
they may endure to the end of time; and
they will endure till the end of all
things. COROLLARY The diversity of
sects in the Christian religion does
not excuse the omission of the use of
the sacraments, though the vehemence
of the leaders of any sect may afford a
legitimate and sufficient cause to the
people to abstain justly and without
sin from the use of the sacraments of
which such men have to become
partakers with them.
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DISPUTATION LXIII ON BAPTISM AND PAEDO-BAPTISM
Baptism is the initial sacrament of
the New Testament, by which the covenant
people of God are sprinkled with
water, by a minister of the church, in the
name of the Father, of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost -- to signify and to
testify the spiritual ablution which
is effected by the blood and Spirit of
Christ. By this sacrament, those who
are baptized to God the Father, and are
consecrated to his Son by the Holy
Spirit as a peculiar treasure, may have
communion with both of them, and serve
God all the days of their life. II.
The author of the institution is God
the Father, in his Son, the mediator of
the New Testament, by the eternal
Spirit of both. The first administrator of
it was John; but Christ was the
confirmer, both by receiving it from John,
and by afterwards administering it
through his disciples. III. But as
baptism is two-fold with respect to
the sign and the thing signified -- one
being of water, the other of blood and
of the Spirit -- the first external,
the second internal; so the matter and
form ought also to be two-fold -- the
external and earthy of the external
baptism, the internal and heavenly of
that which is internal. IV. The matter
of external baptism is elementary
water, suitable, according to nature,
to purify that which is unclean.
Hence, it is also suitable for the
service of God to typify and witness the
blood and the Spirit of Christ; and
this blood and the Spirit of Christ is
the thing signified in outward
baptism, and the matter of that which is
inward. But the application both of
the blood and the Spirit of Christ, and
the effect of both, are the thing
signified by the application of this
water, and the effect of the
application. V. The form of external baptism is
that ordained administration,
according to the institution of God, which
consists of these two things: (1.)
That he who is baptized, be sprinkled
with this water. (2.) That this
sprinkling be made in the name of the
Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost. Analogous to this, is the inward
sprinkling and communication both of
the blood and the Spirit of Christ,
which is done by Christ alone, and
which may be called "the internal form of
inward baptism." VI. The primary
end of baptism is, that it may be a
confirmation and sealing of the
communication of grace in Christ, according
to the new covenant, into which God
the Father has entered with us in and on
account of Christ. The secondary end
is, that it may be the symbol of our
initiation into the visible church,
and an express mark of the obligation by
which we have been bound to God the
Father, and to Christ our Lord. VII. The
object of this baptism is not real,
but only personal; that is, all the
covenanted people of God, whether they
be adults or infants, provided the
infants be born of parents who are
themselves in the covenant, or if one of
their parents be among the covenanted
people of God, both because ablution
in the blood of Christ has been
promised to them; and because by the Spirit
of Christ they are engrafted into the
body of Christ. VIII. Because this
baptism is an initiatory sacrament, it
must be frequently repeated; because
it is a sacrament of the New
Testament, it must not be changed, but will
continue to the end of the world; and
because it is a sign confirming the
promise, and sealing it, it is
unwisely asserted that, through it, grace is
conferred; that is, by some other act
of conferring than that which is done
through typifying and sealing: For
grace cannot be immediately conferred by
water.
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DISPUTATION LXIV ON THE LORD'S SUPPER
As in the preceding disputation, we
have treated on baptism, the sacrament
of initiation, it follows that we now
discuss the Lord's supper, which is
the sacrament of confirmation. II. We
define it thus: The Lord's supper is a
sacrament of the New Testament
immediately instituted by Christ for the use
of the church to the end of time, in
which, by the legitimate external
distribution, taking, and enjoyment of
bread and wine, the Lord's death is
announced, and the inward receiving
and enjoyment of the body and blood of
Christ are signified; and that most
intimate and close union or fellowship,
by which we are joined to Christ our
Head, is sealed and confirmed on
account of the institution of Christ,
and the analogical relation of the
sign to the thing signified. But by
this, believers profess their gratitude
and obligation to God, communion among
themselves, and a marked difference
from all other persons. III. We
constitute Christ the author of this
sacrament; for he alone is
constituted, by the Father, the Lord and Head of
the church, possessing the right of
instituting sacraments, and of
efficaciously performing this very
thing which is signified and sealed by
the sacraments. IV. The matter is,
bread and wine; which, with regard to
their essence, are not changed, but
remain what they previously were;
neither are they, with regard to
place, joined together with the body or
blood, so that the body is either in,
under, or with the bread, &c.; nor in
the use of the Lord's Supper can the
bread and wine be separated, that, when
the bread is held out to the laity,
the cup be not denied to them. V. We lay
down the form in the relation and the
most strict union, which exist between
the signs and the thing signified, and
the reference of both to those
believers who communicate, and by
which they are made by analogy and
similitude something united. From this
conjunction of relation, arises a
two-fold use of signs in this
sacrament of the Lord's supper -- the first,
that these signs are representative --
the second, that, while representing,
they seal Christ to us with his
benefits. VI. The end is two-fold: The first
is, that our faith should be more and
more strengthened towards the promise
of grace which has been given by God,
and concerning the truth and certainty
of our being engrafted into Christ.
The second is, (1.) that believers may,
by the remembrance of the death of
Christ, testify their gratitude and
obligation to God; (2.) that they may
cultivate charity among themselves;
and (3.) that by this mark they may be
distinguished from unbelievers.
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DISPUTATION LXV ON THE POPISH MASS
Omitting the various significations of
the word "Mass" which may be adduced,
we consider, on this occasion, that
which the papists declare to be the
external and properly called
"expiatory sacrifice," in which the sacrificers
offer Christ to his Father in behalf
of the living and the dead, and which
they affirm to have been celebrated
and instituted by Christ himself when he
celebrated and instituted his last
supper. II. First. We say, this sacrifice
is falsely ascribed to the institution
of the Lord's supper; for Christ did
not institute a sacrifice, but a
sacrament, which is apparent from the
institution itself, in which we are
not commanded to offer any thing to God,
at least nothing external. Yet we
grant, that in the Lord's supper, as in
all acts, is commanded, or ought to
exist, that internal sacrifice by which
believers offer to God prayers,
praises and thanksgiving. In this view, the
Lord's supper is called "the
eucharist." III. Secondly. To this sacrifice
are opposed the nature, truth and
excellence of the sacrifice of Christ.
For, as the sacrifice of Christ is
single, expiatory, perfect, and of
infinite value; and as Christ was once
offered, and "hath by that one
oblation perfected for ever them who
were once sanctified," as the
Scriptures testify, undoubtedly no
place has been left either for any other
sacrifice, or for a repetition of this
sacrifice of Christ. IV. Thirdly.
Besides, it is wrong to suppose that Christ can be or ought to be
offered by
men, or by any other person than by
himself; for he, alone, is both the
victim and the priest, as being the
only one who is truly "holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from
sinners." V. From all these particulars it is
sufficiently apparent, that it is not
necessary, nay, that it is impious,
for any expiatory sacrifice now to be
offered by men for the living and the
dead. Besides, it is a piece of
foolish ignorance, to suppose either that
the dead require some oblation; or
that they can by it obtain remission of
sins, who have not obtained pardon
before death. VI. In addition to these
three enormous errors committed in the
mass, with respect to the sacrifice,
to the priest, and to those for whom
the sacrifice is offered, there is a
fourth, which is one of the greatest
turpitude of all, and is committed in
conjunction with idolatry -- that this
very sacrifice is adored by him who
offers it, and by those for whom it is
offered, and is carried about in
solemn pomp. COROLLARY In these words,
"the mass is an expiatory,
representative and commemorative
sacrifice," there is an opposition in the
apposition and a manifest
contradiction,
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DISPUTATION LXVI ON THE FIVE FALSE SACRAMENTS
As three things are necessarily
required to constitute the essence of a
sacrament -- that is, divine
institution, an outward and visible sign, and a
promise of the invisible grace which
belongs to eternal salvation -- it
follows that the thing which is
deficient in one of these requisites, or in
which one of them is wanting, cannot
come under the denomination of a
sacrament. II. Therefore popish
confirmation is not a sacrament, though the
external signing of the cross in the
forehead of the Christian, and the
unction of the chrism, are employed;
for these signs have not been
instituted by Christ; neither have
they been sanctified to typify or to seal
any thing of saving grace; nor is
promised grace annexed to the use or to
the reception of these signs. III.
Penitence, indeed, is an act prescribed,
by the Lord, to all who have fallen
into sin, and has the promise of
remission of sins. But because there
does not exist in it, through the
divine command, any external sign, by
which grace is intimated and sealed,
it cannot, on this account, receive
the appellation of "a sacrament." For
the act of a priest, absolving a
penitent, belongs to the announcement of
the gospel; as does likewise the
injunction of those works which are
inaccurately styled by the papists
satisfactory, that is, fasting, prayers,
alms, afflicting the soul, &c. IV.
That is called extreme unction, by the
papists, which is bestowed on none
except on those who are in their last
moments; but it has then not the least
power or virtue; nor was it ever
instituted by Christ to signify the
premise of spiritual grace. It cannot,
therefore, obtain the appellation of
"a sacrament." V. Neither can the order
or institution, confirmation or
inauguration of any person to the official
discharge of some ecclesiastical
duties, come under the denomination of a
sacrament -- both because it belongs
to the particular and public vocation
of some persons in the church, and not
to the general vocation of all; and
because, though it may have been
instituted by Christ, yet, whatever
external signs may be employed in it,
they do not belong to the sealing of
that grace which makes a man agreeable
[to God] or which is saving, but only
to that which is freely given, as they
say by way of distinction. VI. Though
matrimony between a husband and wife
agree by a certain similitude with the
spiritual espousals subsisting between
Christ and the church; yet it was
neither instituted by the Lord for
signifying this, nor has it any promise
of spiritual grace annexed to
it.
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DISPUTATION LXVII ON THE WORSHIP OF GOD IN GENERAL
The first part of our duty to God and
Christ was, the true meaning
concerning God and Christ, or true
faith in God and Christ; the second part
is, the right worship to be rendered
to both of them. II. This part receives
various appellations. Among the
Hebrews, it is called h r w k [ and µ y h w
l a t a d y the honour or worship, and
the fear of God. Among the Greek, it
is called Eusebeia piety; Qesebeia
godliness, or a worshipping of God;
Qrhskeia religion; Latreia service
rendered to God; Douleia religious
homage; Qerapeia divine worship; Timh
honour; Fobov fear; Agaph tou Qeou the
love of God. Among the Romans it is
called, pietas, cultus or cultur