 Section 8 of Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Laura Wright. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1 by John Calvin. Translated by Henry Beverage. Chapter 2. What it is to know God. Section 1. The knowledge of God the Creator defined. The substance of this knowledge and the use to be made of it. 2. Further illustration of the use, together with the necessary reproof of vain curiosity and refutation of the Epicureans. The character of God as it appears to the pious mind contrasted with the absurd views of the Epicureans. Religion defined. 1. By the knowledge of God, I understand that by which we not only conceive that there is some God, but also apprehend what it is for our interest and conducive to His glory, what in short it is befitting to know concerning Him. For, properly speaking, we cannot say that God is known, whether is no religion or piety. I am not now referring to that species of knowledge by which men in themselves lost and under curse apprehend God as a redeemer in Christ the mediator. I speak only of that simple and primitive knowledge to which the mere course of nature would have conducted us had Adam stood upright. For although no man will now, in the present ruin of the human race, perceive God to be either a father or the author of salvation or propitious in any respect until Christ interpose to make our peace. Still, it is one thing to perceive that God our maker supports us by His power, rules us by His providence, fosters us by His goodness and visits us with all kinds of blessings and another thing to embrace the grace of reconciliation offered to us in Christ. Since then, the Lord first appears, as well in the creation of the world as in the general doctrine of Scripture, simply as Creator and afterwards as a Redeemer in Christ. A two-fold knowledge of Him hence arises. Of these, the former is now to be considered. The latter will afterwards follow in its order. But although our mind cannot conceive of God without rendering some worship to Him it will not however be sufficient simply to hold that He is the only being whom all ought to worship and adore unless we are also persuaded that He is the fountain of all goodness and that we must seek everything in Him and in none but Him. My meaning is, we must be persuaded not only that as He once formed the world so He sustains it by His boundless power, governs it by His wisdom, preserves it by His goodness, in particular rules the human race with justice and judgment, bears with them in mercy, shields them by His protection, but also that not a particle of light or wisdom or justice or power or rectitude or genuine truth will anywhere be found which does not flow from Him and of which He is not the cause. In this way we must learn to expect and ask all things from Him and thankfully ascribe to Him whatever we receive. For this sense of the divine perfections is the proper master to teach us piety out of which religion springs. By piety I mean that union of reverence and love to God which the knowledge of His benefits inspires. For until men feel that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by His paternal care and that He is the author of all their blessings so that not is to be looked for away from Him. They will never submit to Him in voluntary obedience, nay, unless they place their entire happiness in Him, they will never yield up their whole selves to Him in truth and sincerity. Two, those therefore who in considering this question propose to inquire what the essence of God is only delude us with frigid speculations. It is being much more our interest to know what kind of being God is and what things are agreeable to His nature for of what use is it to join epicures in acknowledging some God who is cast off the care of the world and only delights Himself in ease. What avails it in short to know a God with whom we have nothing to do? The effect of our knowledge rather ought to be first to teach us reverence and fear and secondly to induce us under its guidance and teaching to ask every good thing from Him and when it is received ascribe it to Him. For how can the idea of God enter your mind without instantly giving rise to the thought that since you are His workmanship you are bound by the very law of creation to submit to His authority that your life is due to Him whatever you do ought to have reference to Him. If so, it undoubtedly follows that your life is sadly corrupted if it is not framed in obedience to Him since His will ought to be the law of our lives. On the other hand, your idea of His nature is not clear unless you acknowledge Him to be the origin and fountain of all goodness. Hence would arise both confidence in Him and a desire of cleaving to Him did not the depravity of the human mind lead it away from the proper course of investigation. For, first of all, the pious mind does not devise for itself any kind of God but looks alone to the one true God nor does it fain for Him any character it pleases but is contented to have Him in the character in which He manifests Himself always guarding with the utmost diligence always against transgressing His will and wandering with daring presumptions from the right path. He by whom God is thus known perceiving how He governs all things confides in Him as His guardian and protector and casts Himself entirely upon His faithfulness perceiving Him to be the source of every blessing. If He is in any straight or feels any want He instantly recurs to His protection and trusts to His aid persuaded that He is good and merciful He reclines upon Him with sure confidence and doubts not that in the Divine clemency a remedy will be provided for His every time of need acknowledging Him as His Father and His Lords He considers Himself bound to have respect to His authority in all things reverence His Majesty, aim at the advancement of His glory and obey His commands regarding Him as a just judge armed with severity to punish crimes He keeps the judgment seat always in His view standing in awe of it He curbs Himself and fears to provoke His anger Nevertheless, He is not so terrified by an apprehension of judgment as to wish He could withdraw Himself even if the means of escape lay before Him Nay, He embraces Him not less as the Avenger of wickedness than as the Rewarder of the Righteous because He perceives that it equally apportains to His glory to store up punishment for the one and eternal life for the other Besides, it is not the mere fear of punishment that restrains Him from sin loving and revering God as His Father honoring and obeying Him as His Master Although there were no hell He would revolt at the very idea of offending Him Such is pure and genuine religion namely confidence in God coupled with serious fear fear which both includes in it willing reverence and brings along with it such legitimate worship as is prescribed by the law and it ought to be more carefully considered that all men promiscuously do homage to God but very few truly reverence Him On all hands there is abundance of ostentatious ceremonies but sincerity of heart is rare End of Section 8 Section 9 of Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by herehis.com Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 1 by John Calvin translated by Henry Beverage Chapter 3 The Knowledge of God Naturally Implanted in the Human Mind Sections 1. The knowledge of God being manifested to all makes the reprobate without excuse universal belief and acknowledgement of the existence of God 2. Objection that religion and the belief of a deity are the inventions of crafty politicians refutation of the objection this universal belief confirmed by the examples of wicked men and atheists 3. Confirmed also by the vain endeavors of the wicked to banish all fear of God from their minds conclusion that the knowledge of God is naturally implanted in the human mind 1. That there exist in the human minds and indeed by natural instinct some sense of deity we hold to be beyond dispute since God Himself to prevent any man pretending ignorance has endued all men with some idea of His Godhead the memory of which He constantly renews and occasionally enlarges that all to a man being aware that there is a God and that He is their maker may be condemned by their own conscience when they neither worship Him nor consecrate their lives to His service certainly if there is any quarter where it may be supposed that God is unknown the most likely for such an instance to exist is among the dullest tribes farthest removed from civilization but as a heathen tells us there is no nation so barbarous no race so brutish as not to be imbued with the conviction that there is a God even those who in other respects seem to differ least from the lower animals constantly retain some sense of religion so thoroughly has this common conviction possess the mind so firmly is it stamped on the breast of all men since then there never has been from the very first any quarter of the globe any city any household even without religion this amounts to a tacit confession that a sense of deity is inscribed on every heart nay even idolatry is ample evidence of this fact for we know how reluctant man is to lower himself in order to set other creatures above him therefore when he chooses to worship wood and stone rather than be thought to have no God it is evident how very strong this impression of a deity must be since it is more difficult to obliterate it from the mind of man than to break down the feelings of his nature these certainly being broken down when in opposition to his natural haughtiness he spontaneously humbles himself before the meanest object as an act of reverence to God 2. it is most absurd therefore to maintain as some do that religion was devised by the cunning and craft of a few individuals as a means of keeping the body of the people in due subjection while there was nothing which those very individuals while teaching others to worship God less believed than the existence of a God I readily acknowledge that designing men have introduced a vast number of fictions into religion with the view of inspiring the populace with reverence or striking them with terror and thereby rendering them more obsequious but they never could have succeeded in this had the minds of men not previously imbued with that uniform belief in God from which as from its seed the religious propensity springs and it is altogether incredible that those who in the matter of religion cunningly imposed on their rooter neighbors were altogether devoid of a knowledge of God for though in old times there were some and in the present day not a few are found who deny the being of a God yet whether they will or not they occasionally feel the truth which they are desirous not to know we do not read of any man who broke out into more unbridled and audacious contempt of the deity than see Caligula and yet none showed greater dread when any indication of divine wrath was manifested thus however unwilling he shook with terror before the God whom he professedly studied to condemn you may every day see the same thing happening to his modern imitators the most audacious despiser of God is most easily disturbed trembling at the sound of a falling leaf how so unless in vindication of the divine majesty which smites their consciences the more strongly the more they endeavor to flee from it they all indeed look out for hiding places where they may conceal themselves from the presence of the Lord and again efface it from their mind but after all their efforts they remain caught within the net though the conviction may occasionally seem to vanish for a moment it immediately returns and rushes in with new impetuosity so that any interval of relief from the nine of conscience is not unlike the slumber of the intoxicated or the insane who have no quiet rest in sleep but are continually haunted with dire horrific dreams even the wicked themselves therefore are an example of the fact that some idea of God always exists in every human mind 3 all men of sound judgment will therefore hold that a sense of deity is indelibly engraven on the human heart and that this belief is naturally engendered in all and thoroughly fixed as it were in our very bones is strikingly attested by the contumacy of the wicked who though they struggle furiously are unable to extricate themselves from the fear of God though Diagoras and others of like stamps make themselves merry with whatever has been believed in all ages concerning religion and Dionysus scoffs at the judgment of heaven it is but a sardonian grin for the worm of conscience keener than burning steel is nying them within I do not say with Cicero that errors wear out by age and that religion increases and grows better day by day for the world, as will be shortly seen labors as much as it can to shake off all knowledge of God and corrupts his worship in innumerable ways I only say that when the stupid hardness of heart which the wicked eagerly count as a means of despising God becomes enfeebled, the sense of deity which of all things they wished most to be extinguished is still in vigor and now and then breaks forth whence we infer that this is not a doctrine which is first learned at school but one as to which every man is from the womb his own master one which nature herself allows no individual to forget though many with all their might strive to do so moreover if all are born and live for the express purpose of learning to know God and if the knowledge of God in so far as it fails to produce this effect is fleeting and vain it is clear that all those who do not direct the whole thoughts and actions of their lives to this end fail to fulfill the law of their being this did not escape the observation even of philosophers for it is the very thing which Plato meant when he taught as he often does that the chief good of the soul consists in resemblance to God that is, when by means of knowing him, she is wholly transformed into him thus, gearless also in Plutarch reasons most skillfully when he affirms that if once religion is banished from the lives of men they not only in no respect excel but are in many respects much more wretched than the brutes since being exposed to so many forms of evil they continually drag on a troubled and restless existence that the only thing therefore which makes them superior is the worship of God through which alone they aspire to immortality End of Section 9 Recording by herehis.com For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org This recording is by Kenneth Lane Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 1 by John Calvin Translated by Henry Beverage Chapter 4 The Knowledge of God Stifled or Corrupted Ignorantly or Maliciously Sections 1 The knowledge of God suppressed by ignorance many falling away into superstition Such persons however inexcusable because their error is accompanied with pride and stubbornness 2. Stubbornness The Companion of Impiety 3. No pretext can justify superstition This proved first from reason and secondly from Scripture 4. The wicked never willingly come into the presence of God Hence their hypocrisy Hence too their sense of deity leads to no good result But though experience testifies that a seed of religion is divinely sown in all Scarcely one in a hundred is found who cherishes it in his heart And not one in whom it grows to maturity so far is it from yielding fruit in its season Moreover while some lose themselves in superstitious observances And others have set purpose wickedly revolt from God The result is that in regard to the true knowledge of him All are so degenerate that in no part of the world can genuine godliness be found In saying that some fall away into superstition I mean not to insinuate that their excessive absurdity frees them from guilt For the blindness under which they labor is almost invariably accompanied With vain pride and stubbornness Mangled vanity and pride appear in this That when miserable men do seek after God Instead of ascending higher than themselves as they ought to do They measure him by their own carnal stupidity And neglecting solid inquiry Fly off to indulge their curiosity in vain speculation Since they do not conceive of him in the character in which he is manifested But imagine him to be whatever their own rashness has devised This abyss standing open, they cannot move one footstep Without rushing headlong to destruction With such an idea of God, nothing which they may attempt to offer In the way of worship or obedience can have any value in his sight Because it is not him they worship But instead of him the dream and figment of their own heart This corrupt procedure is admirably described by Paul When he says that thinking to be wise, they became fools Romans 122 He had previously said that they became vain in their imaginations But lest any should suppose them blameless He afterwards adds that they were deservedly blinded Because not contented with sober inquiry Because arrogating to themselves more than they have any title to do They of their own accord court darkness Nay bewitched themselves with perverse empty show Hence it is that their folly, the result not only of vain curiosity But of licentious desire and overweening confidence In the pursuit of forbidden knowledge, cannot be excused The expression of David, Psalm 14-1 and 53-1 The fool hath said in his heart there is no God Is primarily applied to those who, as will shortly farther appear Stifled the light of nature and intentionally stupefy themselves We see many after they have become hardened in a daring course of sin Madly banishing all remembrance of God Though spontaneously suggested to them from within by natural sense To show how detestable this madness is The psalmist introduces them as distinctly denying that there is a God Because although they do not disown his essence They rob him of his justice and providence And represent him as sitting idly in heaven Nothing being less accordant with the nature of God Than to cast off the government of the world leaving it to chance And so to wink at the crimes of men That they may wanton with impunity in evil courses It follows that every man who indulges in security After extinguishing all fear of divine judgment Virtually denies that there is a God As a just punishment of the wicked After they have closed their own eyes God makes their hearts dull and heavy And hence, seeing they see not David indeed is the best interpreter of his own meaning When he says elsewhere, the wicked has no fear of God But before his eyes, Psalm 36-1 And again, he has said in his heart God has forgotten, he hideeth his face He will never see it Thus, although they are forced to acknowledge that there is some God They however rob him of his glory by denying his power For as Paul declares, if we believe not He abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself So those who fain to themselves a dead and dumb idol Are truly said to deny God It is moreover to be observed That though they struggle with their own convictions And would fain not only banish God from their minds But from heaven also Their stubefaction is never so complete As to secure them from being occasionally dragged Before the divine tribunal Still, as no fear restrains them From rushing violently in the face of God So long as they are hurried on by that blind impulse It cannot be denied that their prevailing state of mind In regard to him is brutish oblivion In this way, the vain pretext which many employ To clothe their superstition is overthrown They deem it enough that they have some kind Of zeal for religion, how preposterous Soever it may be Not observing that true religion Is conformable to the will of God As its unerring standard That he can never deny himself And is no spectra or phantom To be metamorphosed at each individual's caprice It is easy to see how superstition With its false glosses mocks God While it tries to please him Usually fastening merely on things On which he has declared he sets no value It either contemptuously overlooks Or even undisguisedly rejects The things which he expressly enjoins Or in which we are assured that he takes pleasure Those therefore who set up a fictitious worship Merely worship and adore their own delirious fancies Indeed, they would never dare so to trifle with God Had they not previously fashioned him After their own childish conceits Hence that vague and wandering opinion of deity Is declared by an apostle to be ignorance of God How be it then, when ye knew not God Ye did service unto them which, by nature, are no gods And he elsewhere declares that the Ephesians were Without God Ephesians 2.12 At the time when they wandered without any correct knowledge of him It makes little difference, at least in this respect Whether you hold the existence of God Or a plurality of gods Since in both cases alike By departing from the true God You have nothing left but an excruble idol It remains therefore to conclude with lactaneus No religion is genuine that is not in accordance with truth To this fault they add a second These that when they do think of God It is against their will Never approaching him without being dragged into his presence And when there, instead of the voluntary fear Flowing from reverence of the divine majesty Feeling only that forced and servile fear Which divine judgment exhorts judgment Which, from the impossibility of escape They are compelled to dread But which while they dread They at the same time also hate To impiety and to it alone The saying of Statius properly applies Fear first brought gods into the world Those whose inclinations are at variance With the justice of God Knowing that his tribunal has been erected For the punishment of transgression Earnestly wish that that tribunal were overthrown Under the influence of this feeling They are actually warring against God Justice being one of his essential attributes Perceiving that they are always within Reach of his power That resistance and evasion Are alike impossible They fear and tremble Accordingly, to avoid the appearance Of condemning a majesty by which all are overawed They have recourse to some species Of religious observance Never ceasing meanwhile to defy themselves With every kind of vice And add crime to crime Until they have broken the holy law of the Lord In every one of its requirements And set his whole righteousness at naught At all events, they are not so restrained By their semblance of fear As not to luxuriate and take pleasure in iniquity Choosing rather to indulge their carnal propensities Than to curb them with the bridle of the Holy Spirit But since the shadow of religion It scarcely even deserves to be called a shadow Is false and vain It is easy to infer how much this confused Knowledge of God differs from that piety Which is instilled into the breasts of believers And from which alone true religion springs And yet hypocrites would feign by means Of torturous windings Make a show of being near to God At the very time they are fleeing from him For while the whole life ought to be One perpetual course of obedience They rebel without fear in almost all their actions And seek to appease him With a few paltry sacrifices While they ought to serve him with integrity Of heart and holiness of life They endeavor to procure his favor By means of frivolous devices And punctilios of no value Nay, they take greater license In their groveling indulgences Because they imagine that they can fulfill Their duty to him by preposterous expiations In short, while their confidence ought To have been fixed upon him They put him aside and rest in themselves Or the creatures At length they bewilder themselves In such a maze of error That the darkness of ignorance obscures And ultimately extinguishes Those sparks which were designed To show them the glory of God Still, however, the conviction That there is some deity continues to exist Like a plant which can never be completely eradicated Though so corrupt that it is only capable Of producing the worst of fruit Nay, we have still stronger evidence Of the proposition for which I now contend These, that a sense of deity Is naturally engraven on the human heart In the fact that the very reprobate Are forced to acknowledge it When at their ease they can just about God And talk pertly and loquaciously In disparagement of his power But should despair from any cause overtake him It will stimulate them to seek him And dictate ejaculatory prayers Proving that they were not entirely ignorant of God But had perversely suppressed feelings Which ought to have been earlier manifested Recording by Kenneth Lane Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 1 by John Calvin Translated by Henry Beverage Chapter 5 The Knowledge of God conspicuous In the creation and continual government Of the world This chapter consists of two parts One, the former, which occupies The first ten sections, divides all The works of God into two great classes And delucidates the knowledge of God As displayed in each class The one class is treated of in the first six The other in the four following sections Two, the latter part of the chapter shows That in consequence of the extreme Stupidity of men, those manifestations Of God, however perspicuous, lead To no useful result This latter part, which commences At the eleventh section, is continued To the end of the chapter Sections One, the invisible and Incomprehensible essence of God To a certain extent made visible In his works Two, this declared by the first class Of works, these The admirable motions of the heavens And the earth, the symmetry of the human body And the connection of its parts In short, the various objects Which are presented to every eye Three, this more especially manifested In the structure of the human body Four, the shameful ingratitude Of disregarding God, who in such a Variety of ways is manifested within us The still more shameful ingratitude Of contemplating the endowments of the soul Without ascending to him who gave them No objection can be founded on any Supposed organism in the soul Five, the powers and actions of the soul A proof of its separate existence from the body Proofs of the soul's immortality Objection that the whole world is quickened By one soul, reply to the objection Its impiety Six, conclusion from what has been said Vs that the omnipotence, eternity And goodness of God may be learned From the first class of works i.e. those which are in accordance With the ordinary course of nature Seven, the second class of works Vs those above the ordinary course of nature Afforded clear evidence of the Perfections of God, especially his Goodness, justice and mercy Eight, also his providence Power and wisdom Nine, proofs and illustrations Of the divine majesty The use of them vs the acquisition Of divine knowledge in combination With true piety Ten, the tendency of the knowledge of God To inspire the righteous with the hope Of future life and remind the wicked Of the punishments reserved for them Its tendency, moreover, to keep alive In the hearts of the righteous a sense Of the divine goodness Eleven, the second part of the chapter Which describes the stupidity Both of learned and unlearned In ascribing the whole order of things In the admirable arrangements Of divine providence to fortune Twelve, hence polytheism With all its abominations In the endless and irreconcilable Opinions of the philosophers Concerning God Thirteen, all guilty of revolt Of God corrupting pure religion Either by following general custom Or the impious consent of antiquity Fourteen, though irradiated by The wondrous glories of creation We cease not to follow our own ways Fifteen, our conduct altogether inexcusable The dullness of perception Being attributable to ourselves While we are fully reminded of the true path Both by the structure and government of the world Since the perfection of blessedness Consists in the knowledge of God He has been pleased in order that none Might be excluded from the means Of obtaining felicity Not only to deposit in our minds That seed of religion of which We have already spoken But so to manifest his perfections In the whole structure of the universe And daily place himself in our view That we cannot open our eyes And be compelled to behold him His essence indeed is incomprehensible Utterly transcending all human thought But on each of his works His glory is engraven in characters So bright, so distinct, and so illustrious That none, however dull and illiterate Can plead ignorance as their excuse Hence with perfect truth The psalmist exclaims He covered himself with light With a garment. Psalm 104 verse 2 As if he had said That God for the first time Was a raid in visible attire When, in the creation of the world He displayed those glorious banners On which, to whatever side we turn We behold his perfections Visibly portrayed. In the same place The psalmist aptly compares The expanded heavens to his royal tent And says, he layeth the beams Of his chambers in the waters Makeeth the clouds his chariot And walketh upon the wings of the wind Sending forth the winds and lightnings As his swift messengers And because the glory of his power And wisdom is more refulgent in the firmament It is frequently designated as his palace And first, wherever you turn your eyes There is no portion of the world However minute that does not exhibit At least some sparks of beauty While it is impossible to contemplate The vast and beautiful fabric As it extends around Without being overwhelmed By the immense weight of glory Hence the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews Elegantly describes the visible worlds As images of the invisible Hebrews 11-3 The elegant structure of the world Serving us as a kind of mirror In which we may behold God Though otherwise invisible For the same reason The psalmist attributes language To celestial objects A language which all nations understand Psalm 19-1 The manifestation of the Godhead being too clear To escape the notice of any people However obtuse The Apostle Paul stating this Still more clearly says That which may be known of God Is manifest in them For God has showed it unto them For the invisible things of him From the creation of the world Are clearly seen being understood By the things that are made Even his eternal power and Godhead Romans 1-20 In attestation of his wondrous wisdom Both the heavens and the earth Present us with innumerable proofs Not only those more recondite proofs Which astronomy, medicine, and all the natural sciences Are designed to illustrate But proofs which force themselves On the notice of the most illiterate peasant Who cannot open his eyes Without beholding them It is true indeed That those who are more or less Intimately acquainted with those liberal studies Are thereby assisted and enabled To obtain a deeper insight Into the secret workings of divine wisdom No man, however, though he be ignorant Of these, is incapacitated For discerning such proofs of creative wisdom As may well cause him to break forth In admiration of the Creator To investigate the motions of the heavenly bodies To determine their positions Measure their distances And ascertain their properties Demands skill and a more careful examination And where these are so employed As the providence of God Is thereby more fully unfolded So it is reasonable to suppose That the mind takes a loftier flight And obtains brighter views of his glory Still, none who have the use of their eyes Can be ignorant of the divine skill Manifested so conspicuously In the endless variety Yet distinct and well-ordered array Of the heavenly host And therefore it is plain That the Lord has furnished every man With abundant proofs of his wisdom The same is true in regard to The structure of the human frame To determine the connection of its parts Its symmetry and beauty With the skill of a Galen Requires singular acuteness And yet all men acknowledge That the human body bears on its face Such proofs of ingenious contrivance As are sufficient to proclaim The admirable wisdom of its maker Hence, certain of the philosophers Have not improperly called man A microcosm, miniature world As being a rare specimen of divine power Wisdom and goodness And containing within himself Wonders sufficient to occupy our minds If we are willing so to employ them Paul, accordingly, after reminding the Athenians That they might feel after God and find him Immediately adds that he is not far From every one of us Acts 1727 Every man having within himself Undoubted evidence of the heavenly grace By which he lives and moves and has his being But if in order to apprehend God It is unnecessary to go farther than ourselves What excuse can there be for the sloth of any man Who will not take the trouble of descending into himself That he may find him? For the same reason too, David, after briefly celebrating The wonderful name and glory of God As everywhere displayed, immediately exclaims What is man that thou art mindful of him? And again, out of the mouths of babes And sucklings thou hast ordained strength Psalm 8, 2, and 4 Thus he declares not only that the human race Are a bright mirror of the Creator's works But that infants hanging on their mother's breasts Have tongues eloquent enough to proclaim his glory Without the aid of other orators Accordingly, he hesitates not to bring them forward As fully instructed to refute the madness Of those who, from devilish pride, would feign Extinguish the name of God Psalm 6, 2, the passage which Paul quotes from Aratus We are his offspring, Acts 1728 The excellent gifts with which he has endued us Attesting that he is our Father In the same way also, from natural instinct And as it were, at the dictation of experience He then poets called him the Father of men No one indeed will voluntarily and willingly Devote himself to the service of God He has previously tasted his paternal love And has been thereby allured to love and reverence him But herein appears the shameful ingratitude of men Though they have in their own persons a factory Where innumerable operations of God are carried on And a magazine stored with treasures of an estimable value Instead of bursting forth in his praise As they are bound to do, they on the contrary Are more inflated and swelled with pride They feel how wonderfully God is working in them And their own experience tells them of the vast Variety of gifts which they owe to his liberality Whether they will or not, they cannot but know That these are proofs of his Godhead And yet they inwardly suppress them They have no occasion to go farther than themselves Provided they do not by appropriating as their own That which has been given them from heaven Put out the light intended to exhibit God clearly to their minds At this day, however, the earth sustains on her bosom Many monster minds, minds which are not afraid To employ the seed of deity deposited in human nature As a means of suppressing the name of God Can anything be more detestable than this madness in man Who, finding God a hundred times both in his body and his soul Makes his excellence, in this respect, a pretext For denying that there is a God He will not say that chance has made him differ From the brutes that perish, but substituting nature As the architect of the universe, he suppresses the name of God The swift motions of the soul, its noble faculties And rare endowments bespeak the agency of God In a manner which would make the suppression of it impossible Did not the Epicurians, like so many Cyclops Use it as a vantage ground from which to wage More audacious war with God Are so many treasures of heavenly wisdom Employed in the guidance of such a worm as man And shall the whole universe be denied the same privilege To hold that there are organs in the soul Corresponding to each of its faculties Is so far from obscuring the glory of God That it rather illustrates it Let Epicurus tell what concourse of atoms Cooking meat and drink Can form one portion into refuse And another portion into blood And make all the members separately perform their office As carefully as if they were so many souls Acting with common consent In the superintendence of one body But my business at present is not with that sty I wish rather to deal with those who Led away by absurd subtleties Are inclined by giving an indirect turn To that frigid doctrine of Aristotle To employ it for the purpose Both of disproving the immortality of the soul And robbing God of his rights Under the pretext that the faculties of the soul Are organized, they chain it to the body As if it were incapable of a separate existence While they endeavor as much as in them lies By pronouncing eulogiums on nature To suppress the name of God But there is no ground for maintaining That the powers of the soul are confined To the performance of bodily functions What is the body to do with your measuring the heavens Counting the number of the stars Assertaining their magnitudes, their relative distances The rate at which they move And the orbits which they describe I deny not that astronomy has its use All I mean to show is that these lofty investigations Are not conducted by organized symmetry But by the faculties of the soul itself Apart altogether from the body The single example I have given Will suggest many others to the reader The swift and versatile movements of the soul In glancing from heaven to earth Connecting the future with the past Retaining the remembrance of former years Nay, forming creations of its own Its skill moreover in making astonishing discoveries And inventing so many wonderful arts Are sure indications of the agency of God in man What shall we say of its activity When the body is asleep? Its many revolving thoughts Its many useful suggestions Its many solid arguments Nay, its presentiment of things yet to come What shall we say but that man Bears about him the stamp of immortality Which can never be effaced? But how is it possible for man to be divine And yet not acknowledge his Creator? Shall we by means of a power of judging Implanted in our breast distinguish Between justice and injustice? And yet there be no judge in heaven? Shall some remains of intelligence Continue with us in asleep? And yet no God keep watch in heaven? Shall we be deemed the inventors of so many arts And useful properties that God may be defrauded Of his praise, though experience tells us Plainly enough that whatever we possess Is dispensed to us in unequal measures By another hand? The talk of certain persons concerning A secret inspiration quickening the whole world Is not only silly, but altogether profane Such persons are delighted with the following Celebrated passage of Virgil Know first that heaven and earth's compacted frame And flowing waters and the starry flame And both the radiant lights, one common soul Inspires and feeds and animates the whole This active mind infused through all the space Unites and mingles with the mighty mass Hence men and beasts the breath of life obtain And birds of air and monsters of the main The ethereal vigor is in all the same And every soul is filled with equal flame The meaning of all this is that the world Which was made to display the glory of God Is its own creator, for the same poet Has in another place adopted a view Common to both Greeks and Latins Hence to the be some sages have assigned A portion of the God and heavenly mind For God goes forth and spreads throughout the whole Heaven, earth, and sea, the universal soul Each at its birth, from him all beings share Both man and brute, the breath of vital air To him return and loosed from earthly chain Fly whence they sprung and rest in God again Spurn at the grave and fearless of decay Dwell in high heaven, art star the ethereal way Here we see how far that Jejuin speculation Of a universal mind animating and invigorating the world Is fitted to beget and foster piety in our minds We have a still clearer proof of this In the profane verses which the licentious Lucretius Has written as a deduction from the same principle The plain object is to form an unsubstantial deity And thereby banish the true God Whom we ought to fear and worship I admit indeed that the expression Nature is God may be piously used If dictated by a pious mind But it is inaccurate and harsh Nature being more properly the order Which has been established by God In matters which are so very important And in regard to which special reverences do It does harm to confound the deity With the inferior operations of his hands Let each of us therefore In contemplating his own nature Remember that there is one God Who governs all natures and in governing Wishes us to have respect to himself To make him the object of our faith Worship and adoration Nothing indeed can be more preposterous Than to enjoy those noble endowments Which bespeak the divine presence within us And to neglect him who, of his own good pleasure Bestows them upon us In regard to his power How glorious the manifestations By which he urges us to the contemplation of himself Unless indeed we pretend not to know Whose energy it is that by a word Sustains the boundless fabric of the universe At one time making heaven reverberate with thunder Sending forth the scorching lightning And setting the whole atmosphere in a blaze At another causing the raging tempest to blow And forthwith in one moment When it so pleases him Making a perfect calm Keeping the sea which seems constantly threatening The earth with devastation Suspended as it were in air At one time lashing it into fury By the impetuosity of the winds At another appeasing its rage And stilling all its waves Here we might refer to those glowing descriptions Of divine power as illustrated by natural events Which occur throughout Scripture But more especially in the Book of Job And the prophecies of Isaiah These, however, I purposely omit Because a better opportunity of introducing them Will be found when I come to treat The Scriptural account of the creation I only wish to observe here That this method of investigating The perfections by tracing the liniments Of his countenance as shadowed forth In the firmament and on the earth Is common both to those within And to those without the pale of the church From the power of God we are naturally led To consider his eternity Since that from which all other things Derive their origin must necessarily Be self-existent and eternal Moreover, if it be asked what cause Induced him to create all things at first And now inclines him to preserve them We shall find that there could be no other cause Than his own goodness. But if this is the only cause Nothing more should be required To draw forth our love towards him Every creature, as the psalmist reminds us Participating in his mercy His tender mercies are over all his works Psalm 145, verse 9 In the second class of God's works, Namely those which are above The ordinary course of nature, The evidence of his perfections Are in every respect equally clear. For in conducting the affairs of men He so arranges the course of his providence As daily to declare by the clearest manifestations That though all are in innumerable ways The partakers of his bounty, The righteous are the special objects Of his favor, the wicked and profane The special objects of his severity. It is impossible to doubt his punishment Of crimes, while at the same time He in no unequivocal manner Declars that he is the protector And even the avenger of innocence By shedding blessings on the good Helping their necessities Soothing and solacing their griefs Relieving their sufferings And in all ways providing for their safety And though he often permits the guilty To exult for a time with impunity And the innocent to be driven To and fro in adversity Nay, even to be wickedly And iniquitously oppressed This ought not to produce any uncertainty As to the uniform justice Of all his procedure. Nay, an opposite inference should be drawn When any one crime calls forth Visible manifestations of his anger It must be because he hates all crimes And, on the other hand, His leaving many crimes unpunished Only proves that there is a judgment in reserve When the punishment now delayed Shall be inflicted. In like manner, how richly does he supply us With the means of contemplating his mercy When, as frequently happens, He continues to visit miserable sinners With unwearyed kindness Until he subdues their depravity And woos them back With more than a parent's fondness. To this purpose, the Psalmist, Psalm 107 Mentioning how God in a wondrous manner Often brings sudden and unexpected succor To the miserable when almost on the brink of despair Whether in protecting them When they stray in deserts And at length leading them back into the right path Or supplying them with food when famishing for want Or delivering them when captive From iron fetters and foul dungeons Or conducting them safe into harbor after shipwreck Or bringing them back from the gates of death By curing their diseases Or after burning up the fields with heat and drought Fertilizing them with the river of his grace Or exalting the meanest of the people And casting down the mighty from their lofty seats The Psalmist, after bringing forward examples of this description Infers that those things which men call fortuitous events Are so many proofs of divine providence And more especially of paternal clemency Furnishing grounds of joy to the righteous And at the same time, stopping the mouths of the ungodly But as the greater part of mankind, enslaved by error Walk blindfold in this glorious theater He exclaims that it is a rare and singular wisdom To meditate carefully on these works of God Which many who seem most sharpsided in other respects Behold without profit It is indeed true that the brightest manifestation of divine glory Finds not one genuine spectator among a hundred Still, neither his power nor his wisdom is shrouded in darkness His power is strikingly displayed when the rage of the wicked To all appearance irresistible, is crushed in a single moment Their arrogance subdued Their strongest bulwarks overthrown Their armor dashed to pieces Their strength broken Their schemes defeated without an effort And audacity which set itself above the heavens Is precipitated to the lowest depths of the earth On the other hand, the poor are raised up out of the dust And the needy lifted out of the dung hill Psalm 113.7 The oppressed and afflicted are rescued in extremity The despairing animated with hope The unarmed defeat the armed The few, the many The weak, the strong The excellence of the divine wisdom is manifested In distributing everything in due season Confounding the wisdom of the world And taking the wise in their own craftiness 1 Corinthians 319 In short, conducting all things In perfect accordance with reason We see there is no need of a long and laborious train of argument In order to obtain proofs which illustrate and assert the divine majesty The few which we have merely touched Show them to be so immediately within our reach in every quarter That we can trace them with the eye Or point to them with the finger And here we must observe again That the knowledge of God which we are invited to cultivate Is not that which, resting satisfied with empty speculation Only flutters in the brain But a knowledge which will prove substantial and fruitful Wherever it is duly perceived and rooted in the heart The Lord is manifested by His perfections When we feel their power within us And are conscious of their benefits The knowledge must impress us much more vividly Than if we merely imagined a God whose presence we never felt Hence it is obvious that in seeking God The most direct path and the fittest method Is not to attempt with presumptuous curiosity To pry into His essence Which is rather to be adored than minutely discussed But to contemplate Him in His works By which He draws near Becomes familiar and in a manner Communicates Himself to us To this the apostle referred when he said That we need not go far in search of Him Acts 1727 Because by the continual working of His power He dwells in every one of us Accordingly, David, Psalm 145 After acknowledging that His greatness is unsearchable Proceeds to enumerate His works Declaring that His greatness will thereby be unfolded It therefore becomes us also Diligently to prosecute that investigation of God Which so enraptures the soul with admiration As at the same time To make an efficacious impression on it And as Augustine expresses it in Psalm 144 Since we are unable to comprehend Him And are, as it were, overpowered by His greatness Our proper course is to contemplate His works And so refresh ourselves with His goodness By the knowledge thus acquired We ought not only to be stimulated to worship God But also aroused and elevated to the hope of future life For observing that the manifestations Which the Lord gives both of His mercy and severity Are only begun and incomplete We ought to infer that these are doubtless Only a prelude to higher manifestations Of which the full display is reserved for another state Conversely, when we see the righteous brought into affliction By the ungodly, assailed with injuries Overwhelmed with calamities And lacerated by insult and contumally While on the contrary, the wicked flourish Prosper, acquire ease and honor And all these with impunity We ought forthwith to infer That there will be a future life In which iniquity shall receive its punishment And righteousness its reward Moreover, when we observe that the Lord often lays His chastening rod on the righteous We may then more surely conclude that far less Will the unrighteous ultimately escape The scourges of His anger Were all in sin now visited with open punishment It might be thought that nothing was reserved For the final judgment And on the other hand were no sin Now openly punished It might be supposed there was no divine providence It must be acknowledged therefore That in each of the works of God And more especially in the whole of them taken together The divine perfections are delineated as in a picture And the whole human race thereby invited and allured To acquire the knowledge of God And in consequence of this knowledge True and complete felicity Moreover, while His perfections are thus Most vividly displayed The only means of ascertaining their practical operation And tendency is to descend into ourselves And consider how it is that the Lord there manifests His wisdom, power, and energy How He there displays His justice, goodness, and mercy For although David, Psalm 92-6 Justly complains of the extreme infatuation Of the ungodly in not pondering the deep councils Of God as exhibited in the government of the human race What He elsewhere says, Psalm 40, is most true That the wonders of the divine wisdom in this respect Are more in number than the hairs of our head But I leave this topic at present As it will be more fully considered afterwards In its own place Bright, however, as is the manifestation Which God gives both of Himself And His immortal kingdom in the mirror of His works So great is our stupidity So dull are we in regard to these bright manifestations That we derive no benefit from them For in regard to the fabric and admirable arrangement of the universe How few of us are there who, in lifting our eyes to the heavens Or looking abroad on the various regions of the earth Ever think of the Creator Do we not rather overlook Him And sluggishly content ourselves with a view of His works And then in regard to supernatural events Though these are occurring every day How few are there who ascribe them to the ruling providence of God How many who imagine that they are casual results Produced by the blind evolutions of the wheel of chance Even when under the guidance and direction of these events We are in a manner forced to the contemplation of God A circumstance which all must occasionally experience And are thus led to form some impressions of deity We immediately fly off to carnal dreams and depraved fictions And so by our vanity corrupt heavenly truth This far indeed we differ from each other In that everyone appropriates to himself some peculiar error But we are all alike in this That we substitute monstrous fiction For the one living and true God A disease not confined to obtuse and vulgar minds But affecting the noblest And those who in other respects are singularly acute How lavishly in this respect Have the whole body of philosophers Betrayed their stupidity and want of sense To say nothing of the others Whose absurdities are of a still grosser description How completely does Plato The soberest and most religious of them all Lose himself in his round globe What must be the case with the rest When the leaders who ought to have set them an example Commit such blunders and labor under such hallucinations In like manner while the government of the world Places the doctrine of providence beyond dispute The practical result is the same as if it were believed That all things were carried hither and thither At the caprice of chance And prone are we to vanity and error I'm still referring to the most distinguished of the philosophers And not to the common herd Whose madness in profaning the truth of God Exceeds all bounds Hence that immense flood of error With which the whole world is overflowed Every individual mind being a kind of labyrinth It is not wonderful Not only that each nation has adopted a variety of fictions But that almost every man has had his own God To the darkness of ignorance Have been added presumption and wantonness And hence there is scarcely an individual to be found Without some idol or phantom As a substitute for deity Like water gushing forth from a large and copious spring Immense crowds of gods have issued from the human mind Every man giving himself full license And devising some peculiar form of divinity To meet his own views It is unnecessary here to attempt a catalogue of the superstitions With which the world was overspread The thing were endless And the corruptions themselves Though not a word should be said Furnish abundant evidence of the blindness of the human mind I say nothing of the rude and illiterate vulgar But among the philosophers Who attempted by reason and learning To pierce the heavens what shameful disagreement The higher anyone was endued with genius And the more he was polished by science and art The more specious was the coloring which he gave to his opinions All these, however, if examined more closely Will be found to be vain show The Stoics plumed themselves on their acuteness When they said that the various names of God Might be extracted from all the parts of nature And yet that his unity was not thereby divided As if we were not already too prone to vanity And had no need of being presented With an endless multiplicity of gods To lead us further and more grossly into error The mystic theology of the Egyptians Shows how sedulously they labored to be Thought rational on this subject And perhaps at the first glance Some show of probability might deceive the simple and unwary But never did any mortal devise a scheme By which religion was not foully corrupted This endless variety and confusion Emboldened the Epicureans And other gross despisers of piety To cut off all sense of God For when they saw that the wisest contradicted each other They hesitated not to infer from their dissensions And from the frivolous and absurd doctrines of each That men foolishly, and to no purpose Brought torment upon themselves by searching for a God There being none, and they thought this inference safe Because it was better at once to deny God altogether Than to feign uncertain gods And thereafter engage in quarrels without end They indeed argue absurdly, or rather Weave a cloak for their impiety out of human ignorance Although ignorance surely cannot derogate From the prerogatives of God But since all confess that there is no topic On which such difference exists Both among learned and unlearned The proper inference is that the human mind Which thus errs in inquiring after God Is dull and blind in heavenly mysteries Some praise the answer of Simonides Who being asked by King Hiro what God was Asked a day to consider When the King next day repeated the question He asked two days, and after repeatedly doubling The number of days at length replied The longer I consider, the darker the subject appears He no doubt wisely suspended his opinion When he did not see clearly Still his answer shows that if men are only naturally taught Instead of having any distinct, solid, or certain knowledge They fasten only on contradictory principles And in consequence worship an unknown God Hence we must hold that whosoever adulterates pure religion And this must be the case with all who cling to their own views Make a departure from the one God No doubt, they will allege that they have a different intention But it is of little consequence what they intend Or persuade themselves to believe Since the Holy Spirit pronounces all to be apostates Who in the blindness of their minds Substitute demons in the place of God For this reason, Paul declares That the Ephesians were without God Ephesians 2.12 Until they had learned from the Gospel What it is to worship the true God Nor must this be restricted to one people only Since in another place he declares in general That all men became vain in their imaginations After the majesty of the Creator was manifested to them In the structure of the world Accordingly, in order to make way for the only true God He condemns all the gods celebrated among the Gentiles As lying and false, leaving no deity anywhere But in Mount Zion, where the special knowledge of God was professed Habakkuk 2.18 and 20 Among the Gentiles, in the time of Christ The Samaritans undoubtedly made the nearest approach to true piety Yet we hear from his own mouth That they worshipped they knew not what John 4.22 Whence it follows that they were deluded by vain errors In short, though all did not give way to gross vice Or rush headlong into open idolatry There was no pure and authentic religion Founded merely on common belief A few individuals may not have gone all insane lengths With the vulgar Still Paul's declaration remains true That the wisdom of God was not apprehended By the princes of this world 1 Corinthians 2.8 But if the most distinguished wandered in darkness What shall we say of the refuse? No wonder, therefore, that all worship of man's device Is repudiated by the Holy Spirit as degenerate Any opinion which man can form in heavenly mysteries Though it may not beget a long train of errors Is still the parent of error And though nothing worse should happen Even this is no light sin To worship an unknown God at random Of this sin, however We hear from our Savior's own mouth John 4.22 That all are guilty Who have not been taught out of the law Who the God is whom they ought to worship Nay, even Socrates in Xenophon memorabilia Laws the response of Apollo In joining every man to worship the gods According to the rites of his country And the particular practice of his own city But what right have mortals thus to decide Of their own authority in a matter Which is far above the world? Or who can so acquiesce in the will of his forefathers Or the decrees of the people As unhesitatingly to receive a God at their hands? Everyone will adhere to his own judgment Sooner than submit to the dictation of others Since, therefore, in regulating the worship of God The custom of a city, or the consent of antiquity Is a too feeble and fragile bond of piety It remains that God himself Must bear witness to himself from heaven In vain for us, therefore, Does creation exhibit so many bright lamps Lighted up to show forth the glory of its author Though they beam upon us from every quarter They are altogether insufficient of themselves To lead us into the right path Some sparks undoubtedly they do throw out But these are quenched before they can give forth A brighter effulgence Wherefore, the apostle, in the very place where he says That the worlds are images of invisible things Adds that it is by faith we understand That they were framed by the Word of God Hebrews 11-3 Thereby intimating that the invisible Godhead Is indeed represented by such displays But that we have no eyes to perceive it Until they are enlightened through faith By internal revelation from God When Paul says that that which may be known of God Is manifested by the creation of the world He does not mean such a manifestation As may be comprehended by the wit of man Romans 119 On the contrary, he shows that it has no further effect Than to render us inexcusable Acts 1727 And though he says elsewhere That we have not far to seek for God Inasmuch as he dwells within us He shows in another passage To what extent this nearness to God is availing God says he, in times past Suffered all nations to walk in their own ways Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness In that he did good and gave us rain from heaven And fruitful seasons Filling our hearts with food and gladness Acts 14, 16, and 17 But though God is not left without a witness While with numberless varied acts of kindness He woos men to the knowledge of himself Yet they cease not to follow their own way In other words, deadly errors But though we are deficient in natural powers Which might enable us to rise to a pure And clear knowledge of God Still, as the dullness which prevents us is within There is no room for excuse We cannot plead ignorance Without being at the same time Convicted by our own consciences Both of sloth and ingratitude It were indeed a strange defense For man to pretend that he has no ears To hear the truth while dumb creatures Have voices loud enough to declare it To allege that he is unable to see That which creatures without eyes demonstrate To excuse himself on the ground of weakness of mind While all creatures without reason are able to teach Wherefore, when we wander and go astray We are justly shut out from every species of excuse Because all things point to the right path But while man must bear the guilt Of corrupting the seed of divine knowledge So wondrously deposited in his mind And preventing it from bearing good and genuine fruit It is still most true That we are not sufficiently instructed By that bare and simple but magnificent testimony Which the creatures bear to the glory of their Creator For no sooner do we, from a survey of the world Obtain some slight knowledge of deity Than we pass by the true God And set up in his stead the dream and phantom Of our own brain Drawing away the praise of justice, wisdom and goodness From the fountain head And transferring it to some other quarter Moreover, by the erroneous estimate we form We either so obscure or pervert his daily works As at once to rob them of their glory And the author of them of his just praise End of Section 11 Section 12 of the Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Kenneth Lane Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 1 by John Calvin Translated by Henry Beverage Chapter 6 The need of Scripture as a guide and teacher In coming to God as a creator Sections 1 God gives his elect a better help to the knowledge of himself These the Holy Scriptures This he did from the very first 2 First by oracles and visions And the ministry of the patriarchs Secondly, by the promulgation of the law And the preaching of the prophets Why the doctrines of religion are committed to writing 3 This view confirmed 1 By the depravity of our nature Making it necessary in everyone Who would know God to have recourse to the Word 2 From those passages of the Psalms In which God is introduced as reigning 4 Another confirmation From certain direct statements in the Psalms Lastly, from the words of our Savior 1 Therefore, though the effulgence which is presented to every eye Both in the heavens and on the earth Leaves the ingratitude of man without excuse Since God, in order to bring the whole human race Under the same condemnation Holds forth to all, without exception A mirror of his deity in his works Another and better help must be given To guide us properly to God as a Creator Not in vain, therefore, has he added the light of his word In order that he might make himself known unto salvation And bestowed the privilege on those whom he was pleased to bring Into nearer and more familiar relation to himself 4 Seeing how the minds of men were carried to and fro And found no certain resting place He chose the Jews for a peculiar people And then hedged them in that they might not, like others, go astray And not in vain does he, by the same means, retain us in his knowledge Since but for this, even those who, in comparison of others Seem to stand strong, would quickly fall away For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective When any books, however fair, is set before them Though they perceive that there is something written Are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words But, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly So scripture, gathering together the impressions of deity Which, till then, lay confused in our minds Disciples the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly God, therefore, bestows a gift of singular value When, for the instruction of the church He employs not dumb teachers merely But opens his own sacred mouth When he not only proclaims that some God must be worshipped But at the same time declares that he is the God To whom worship is due When he not only teaches his elect to have respect to God But manifests himself as the God To whom this respect should be paid The course which God followed towards his church At first, was to supplement these common proofs By the addition of his word as a sureer And more direct means of discovering himself And there can be no doubt that it was by this help Adam, Noah, Abraham, and the other patriarchs Attained to that familiar knowledge which, in a manner Distinguished them from unbelievers I am not now speaking of the peculiar doctrines of faith By which they were elevated to the hope of eternal blessedness It was necessary in passing from death unto life That they should know God, not only as a creator But as a redeemer also And both kinds of knowledge they certainly did obtain From the word In point of order, however, the knowledge first given Was that which made them acquainted with the God By whom the world was made and is governed To this first knowledge was afterwards added The more intimate knowledge which alone quickens dead souls And by which God is known not only as the creator of the worlds And the sole author and disposer of all events But also as a redeemer in the person of the mediator But as the fall and the corruption of nature Have not yet been considered I now postpone the consideration of the remedy Let the reader then remember That I am not now treating of the covenant by which God Adopted the children of Abraham Or of that branch of doctrine by which as founded in Christ Believers have, properly speaking, been in all ages Separated from the profane heathen I am only showing that it is necessary to apply to Scripture In order to learn the sure marks which distinguished God As the creator of the world From the whole herd of fictitious gods We shall afterward in due course Consider the work of redemption In the meantime though we shall adduce many passages From the New Testament and some also from the law and the prophets In which express mention is made of Christ The only object will be to show that God The maker of the world is manifested to us in Scripture And his true character expounded So as to save us from wandering up and down As in a labyrinth in search of some doubtful deity Two, whether God revealed himself to the fathers By oracles and visions or by the instrumentality And ministry of men suggested what they were to hand down To posterity, there cannot be a doubt That the certainty of what he taught them Was firmly engraved on their hearts So that they felt assured and knew that the things That they learnt came forth from God Who invariably accompanied his word with a sure testimony Infinitely superior to mere opinion At length in order that while doctrine was continually enlarged Its truth might subsist in the world during all ages It was his pleasure that the same oracles Which he had deposited with the fathers Should be consigned as it were to public records In his view the law was promulgated And prophets were afterwards added to be its interpreters For though the uses of the law were manifold And the special office assigned to Moses And all the prophets was to teach the method Of reconciliation between God and man Whence Paul calls Christ the end of the law Romans 10.4 Still I repeat that in addition to the proper doctrine Of the presence in which Christ is set forth as a mediator The scriptures employ certain marks and tokens To distinguish the only wise and true God Considered as the creator and governor of the world And thereby guard against his being confounded With the herd of false deities Therefore while it becomes man seriously to employ His eyes in considering the works of God Since a place has been assigned him In this most glorious theater That he may be a spectator of them His special duty is to give ear to the word That he may the better profit Hence it is not strange that those who are born in darkness Become more and more hardened in their stupidity Because the vast majority Instead of confining themselves within due bounds By listening with docility to the word Exalt in their own vanity If true religion is to beam upon us Our principle must be that it is necessary To begin with heavenly teaching And that it is impossible for any man to obtain Even the minutest portion of right and sound doctrine Without being a disciple of scripture Hence the first step in true knowledge is taken When we reverently embrace the testimony Which God has been pleased therein to give of himself For not only does faith Full and perfect faith But all correct knowledge of God originate in obedience And surely in this respect God has with singular providence Provided for mankind in all ages Three For if we reflect how prone the human mind is To lapse into forgetfulness of God How readily inclined to every kind of error How bent every now and then On devising new and fictitious religions It will be easy to understand how necessary it was To make such a depository of doctrine as would secure it From either perishing by the neglect Vanishing away amid the errors Or being corrupted by the presumptuous audacity of men It being thus manifest that God For seeing the inefficiency of his image Imprinted on the fair form of the universe Has given the assistance of his word To all whom he has ever been pleased to instruct effectually We too must pursue this straight path If we aspire in earnest to a genuine Contemplation of God We must go, I say, to the word Where the character of God drawn from his works Is described accurately and to the life These works being estimated Not by our depraved judgment But by the standard of eternal truth If, as I lately said, we turn aside from it How great so ever the speed with which we move We shall never reach the goal Because we are off the course We should consider that the brightness Of the divine countenance Which even an apostle declares to be inaccessible First Timothy 616 Is a kind of labyrinth A labyrinth to us inextricable If the word do not serve us As a thread to guide our path And that it is better to limp in the way Than run with the greatest swiftness out of it Hence the psalmist after repeatedly declaring Psalm 93, 96, 97, 99, etc That superstition should be banished from the world In order that pure religion may flourish Introduces God as reigning Meaning by the term Not the power which he possesses And which he exerts in the government Of universal nature But the doctrine by which he maintains His due supremacy Because error can never be eradicated From the heart of man until the true Knowledge of God has been implanted in it 4 Accordingly, the same prophet After mentioning that the heavens Declare the glory of God That the firmament showeth forth The works of his hands That the regular succession of day And night proclaim his majesty Proceeds to make mention of the word The law of the Lord says he is perfect Converting the soul The testimony of the Lord is sure Making wise the simple The statutes of the Lord are right Rejoicing the heart The commandment of the Lord is pure Enlightening the eyes Psalm 19, 1 through 9 For though the law has other uses besides The general meaning is That it is the proper school For training the children of God The invitation given to all nations To behold him in the heavens and earth Proving of no avail The same view is taken in the 29th Psalm Where the Psalmist, after discoursing On the dreadful voice of God Which in thunder, wind, rain, whirlwind And tempest shakes the earth Makes the mountains tremble And breaks the cedars Concludes by saying That in his temple does everyone Speak of his glory Unbelievers being deaf to all God's words When they echo in the air In like manner, another Psalm After describing the raging billows of the sea Thus concludes, Thy testimonies are very sure Holiness, the cometh thine house forever Psalm 93, 5 To the same effect are the words of our Saviour to the Samaritan woman When he told her that her nation And all other nations worshipped They knew not what. And that the Jews alone Gave worship to the true God John 422 Since the human mind, through its weakness Was altogether unable to come to God If not aided and upheld by his sacred word It necessarily followed That all mankind, the Jews accepted Inasmuch as they sought God without the word Were laboring under vanity and error End of section 12 For as the aged Section 13 of Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Kenneth Lane Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 1 by John Calvin Translated by Henry Beverage Chapter 7 The testimony of the Spirit Necessary to give full authority to Scripture The impiety of pretending that the credibility Of Scripture depends on the judgment of the Church Section 1 The authority of Scripture derived Not from men, but from the Spirit of God Objection that Scripture depends On the decision of the Church Refutation 1 The truth of God would thus be subjected To the will of man 2. It is insulting to the Holy Spirit 3. It establishes a tyranny in the Church 4. It forms a mass of errors 5. It subverts conscience 6. It exposes our faith To the scoffs of the profane 2. Another reply to the objection Drawn from the words of the Apostle Paul Solution of the difficulties Started by opponents 2. A second objection refuted 3. A third objection Founded on a sentiment of Augustine considered 4. Conclusion That the authority of Scripture Is founded on its being spoken by God This confirmed by the conscience of the godly And the consent of all men Of the least candor A fourth objection common in the mouths Of the profane Refutation 5. Last and necessary conclusion That the authority of Scripture Is sealed on the hearts of believers By the testimony of the Holy Spirit The certainty of this testimony Confirmation of it from a passage of Isaiah And the experience of believers Also from another passage of Isaiah 1. Before proceeding farther It seems proper to make some observations On the authority of Scripture In order that our minds may not only be Prepared to receive it with reverence But be divested of all doubt When that which professes to be The word of God is acknowledged to be so No person, unless devoid of common sense And the feelings of a man Will have the desperate heartyhood To refuse credit to the speaker But since no daily responses Are given from heaven And the Scriptures are the only records In which God has been pleased to consign His truth to perpetual remembrance The full authority which they ought to possess With the faithful is not recognized Unless they are believed to have come from heaven As directly as if God had been heard Giving utterance to them The subject well deserves to be treated More at large and pondered more accurately But my readers will pardon me For having more regard to what my plan admits Than to what the extent of this topic requires A most pernicious error has very generally prevailed Vs that Scripture is of importance Only insofar as conceded to it By the suffrage of the church As if the eternal and inviolable truth of God Could depend on the will of men With great insult to the Holy Spirit It is asked who can assure us That the Scriptures proceed from God Who guarantee that they have come down safe And unimpaired to our times Who persuade us that this book Is to be received with reverence And that one expunged from the list Did not the church regulate all these things Of uncertainty? On the determination of the church, therefore, It is said, depend both the reverence Which is due to Scripture And the books which are to be admitted Into the canon, thus profane men Seeking under the pretext of the church To introduce unbridled tyranny Care not in what absurdities They entangle themselves and others Provided they extort from the simple This one acknowledgement, these, That there is nothing which the church cannot do But what is to become of miserable consciences In quest of some solid assurance of eternal life If all the promises with regard to it Have no better support than man's judgment? On being told so, will they cease to doubt And tremble? On the other hand, to what jeers Of the wicked is our faith subjected Into how great suspicion is it brought with all If believed to have only a precarious authority Lent to it by the goodwill of men? Two, these ravings are admirably refuted By a single expression of an apostle Paul testifies that the church is built On the foundation of the apostles and prophets Ephesians 2.20 If the doctrine of the apostles and prophets Is the foundation of the church The former must have had its certainty Before the latter began to exist Nor is there any room for the cavalry That though the church derives her first beginning From thence, it still remains doubtful What writings are to be attributed To the apostles and prophets Until her judgment is interposed For if the Christian church was founded At first on the writings of the prophets And the preaching of the apostles That doctrine, wheresoever it may be found Was certainly ascertained and sanctioned Antecedently to the church Since, but for this, the church herself Never could have existed Nothing's therefore can be more absurd Than the fiction that the power Of judging scripture is in the church And that on her nod its certainty depends When the church receives it And gives it the stamp of her authority She does not make that authentic Which was otherwise doubtful or controverted But acknowledging it as the truth of God She, as in duty bounds, shows her reverence By an unhesitating assent As to the question, how shall we be persuaded That it came from God without recurring To a degree of the church It is just the same as if it were asked How shall we learn to distinguish Light from darkness, white from black, Sweet from bitter Scripture bears upon the face of it As clear evidence of its truth As white and black do of their color Sweet and bitter of their taste 3. I am aware it is usual to quote A sentence of Augustine in which he says That he would not believe the gospel Were he not moved by the authority of the church But it is easy to discover from the context How inaccurate and unfair it is To give it such a meaning He was reasoning against the Manichees Who insisted on being implicitly believed Alleging that they had the truth Though they did not show they had But as they pretended to appeal to the gospel In support of man is He asks what they would do if they fell in With a man who did not even believe the gospel What kind of argument they would use To bring him over to their opinion He afterwards adds But I would not believe the gospel, etc Meaning that were he a stranger to the faith The only thing which could induce him To embrace the gospel would be The authority of the church And is it anything wonderful That one who does not know Christ Should pay respect to men Augustine therefore does not here say That the faith of the godly is founded On the authority of the church Nor does he mean that the certainty Of the gospel depends upon it He merely says that unbelievers Would have no certainty of the gospel So as thereby to win Christ Were they not influenced by the consent Of the church And he clearly shows this to be his meaning By thus expressing himself a little before Quote When I have praised my own creed And ridiculed yours Who do you suppose is to judge between us Or what more is to be done Than to quit those who Inviting us to certainty Afterwards command us to believe uncertainty And follow those who invite us In the first instance To believe what we are not yet able To comprehend That waxing stronger through faith itself We may become able to understand What we believe No longer men, but god himself Internally strengthening and illuminating Our minds These unquestionably are the words Of Augustine The only inference from them Is that this holy man had no intention To suspend our faith in scripture On the nod or decision of the church But only to intimate What we too admit to be true That those who are not yet enlightened By the spirit of god become teachable By reverence for the church And thus submit to learn The faith of Christ from the gospel In this way Though the authority of the church leads us on And prepares us to believe in the gospel It is plain that Augustine would have The certainty of the godly To rest on a very different foundation At the same time, I deny not That he often presses the manachese With the consent of the whole church While arguing in support of the scriptures Which they rejected Hence he upbraids Faustus For not submitting to evangelical truth Truth so well founded So firmly established So gloriously renowned And handed down by sure succession From the days of the apostles But he nowhere insinuates that The authority which we give to the scriptures Depends on the definitions Or devices of men He only brings forward the universal Judgment of the church As a point most pertinent to the cause And one more over in which He had the advantage of his opponents Anyone who desires to see this More fully proved may read His short treatises The advantages of believing Where it will be found That the only facility of believing Which he recommends Is that which affords an introduction And forms a fit commencement To inquiry While he declares that we ought Not to be satisfied with opinion But to strive after substantial truth Four It is necessary to attend To what I lately said That our faith in doctrine is not established Until we have a perfect conviction That God is its author Hence the highest proof of scripture Is uniformly taken from the character Of him whose word it is The prophets and apostles boast Not their own acuteness Or any qualities which win credit To speakers, nor do they dwell On reasons, but they appeal To the sacred name of God In order that the whole world May be compelled to submission The next thing to be considered is How it appears not probable merely But certain that the name of God Is neither rashly nor cunningly pretended If then we would consult most effectually For our consciences and save them From being driven about in a world Of uncertainty, from wavering And even stumbling at the smallest obstacle Our conviction of the truth of scripture Must be derived from a higher source In human conjectures, judgments, or reasons Namely, the secret testimony of the spirit It is true indeed that if we choose to proceed In the way of arguments, it is easy to establish By evidence of various kinds That if there is a God in heaven The law, the prophecies, and the gospel Proceeded from him. Nay, although learned men and men Of the greatest talent should take the opposite side Summoning and ostentatiously displaying All the powers of their genius in the discussion If they are not possessed of shameless effrontery They will be compelled to confess That the scripture exhibits clear evidence Of its being spoken by God, and consequently Of its containing his heavenly doctrine We shall see a little farther on That the volume of sacred scripture Very far surpasses all other writings Nay, if we look at it with clear eyes And unblessed judgment, it will forthwith Present itself with a divine majesty Which will subdue our presumptuous opposition And force us to do it homage Still, however, it is preposterous to attempt By discussion to rear up a full faith in scripture True were I called to contend With the craftiest despisers of God I trust, though I am not possessed Of the highest ability or eloquence I should not find it difficult to stop Their obstreperous mouths I could, without much ado Put down the boastings which they mutter In corners, were anything to be gained By refuting their cavals But although we may maintain The sacred word of God against gainsayers It does not follow that we shall forthwith Implant the certainty which faith Requires in their hearts Profane men think that religion Rests only on opinion And therefore, that they may not believe Foolishly or on slight grounds Desire and insist to have it proved By reason that Moses and the prophets Were divinely inspired But I answer that the testimony of the Spirit is superior to reason For as God alone can properly bear Witness to his own words So these words will not obtain Full credit in the hearts of men Until they are sealed by the inward Testimony of the Spirit The same Spirit therefore Who spoke by the mouth of the prophets Must penetrate our hearts In order to convince us That they faithfully delivered the Message with which they were Divinely entrusted This connection is most aptly expressed By Isaiah in these words My Spirit that is upon thee And my words which I have put In thy mouth shall not depart Out of thy mouth nor out of The mouth of thy seed Nor out of the mouth of thy seed's Seed, saith the Lord From henceforth and forever Isaiah 59-21 Some worthy persons feel disconcerted Because while the wicked murmur With impunity at the word of God They have not a clear proof At hand to silence them Forgetting that the Spirit is Called an earnest and seal To confirm the faith of the godly For this very reason That until he lightens their minds They are tossed to and fro In a sea of doubts 5. Let it therefore be held as fixed That those who are inwardly taught By the Holy Spirit acquiesce Implicitly in Scripture That Scripture carrying its own Evidence along with it Dains not to submit to proofs And arguments, but owes the full Conviction with which we ought To receive it to the testimony Of the Spirit Enlightened by him, we no longer Believe, either on our own judgment Or that of others, that the Scriptures are from God But in a way superior to human Judgment feel perfectly assured As much so as if we beheld The divine image visibly Impressed on it, that it came To us by the instrumentality Of men from the very mouth Of God. We ask not for proofs Or probabilities on which to Rest our judgment, but we subject Our intellect and judgment to it As too transcendent for us to Estimate. This, however, we do Not in the manner in which some Are want to fasten on an unknown Object, which as soon as known Displeases. But because we have A thorough conviction that in Holding it, we hold unassailable Truth, not like miserable men Whose minds are enslaved by Superstition. But because we feel A divine energy living and Breathing in it, an energy by Which we are drawn and animated To obey it, willingly indeed And knowingly, but more vividly And effectually than could be Done by human will or knowledge. Hence, God most justly exclaims By the mouth of Isaiah. Ye are my witnesses, sayeth The Lord, and my witness, sayeth The Lord, and my witness, sayeth The Lord, and my witness, sayeth The Lord, and my servant, whom I Have chosen, that ye may know And believe me and understand That I am he. Isaiah 43.10 Such, then, is a conviction Which asks not for reasons, such A knowledge which accords with The highest reason, namely Knowledge in which the mind Rests more firmly and securely Than in any reasons. Such, in fine, the conviction Which revelation from heaven Alone can produce. I say nothing more than every Believer experiences in himself, Though my words fall far Short of the reality. I do not dwell on this subject At present, because we will Return to it again. Only let us now understand That the only true faith is That which the Spirit of God Seals on our hearts. Nay, the modest and teachable Reader will find a sufficient Reason in the promise Contained in Isaiah That all the children of the Renovated church shall be taught Of the Lord. Isaiah 54.13 This singular privilege God Bestows on his elect only Whom he separates from the rest Of mankind. For what is the Beginning of true doctrine, But prompt alacrity to hear The word of God, and God by The mouth of Moses thus Be heard. It is not in heavens That thou should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven And bring it unto us That we may hear and do it, But the word is very nigh Unto thee, in thy mouth And in thy heart. Deuteronomy 30, 12, and 14. God, having been Pleased to reserve the treasure Of intelligence for his children, No wonder that so much ignorance And stupidity is seen in the Generality of mankind. In the generality I Include even those specially Chosen until they are ingrafted Into the body of the church. Isaiah, moreover, While reminding us that the Prophetical doctrine would prove Incredible not only to strangers But also to the Jews, who were Desirous to be thought Of the household of God, Subjoins the reason when he Was born. To whom has the arm of the Lord Been revealed? Isaiah 53, 1. If at any time, then, We are troubled at the small Number of those who believe. Let us, on the other hand, call To mind that none comprehend The mysteries of God, save Those to whom it is given. End of section 13.