Book the Third
43. We receive Christ the Redeemer hy the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, who unites us with Christ; therefore he is called the Spirit of saiictification and ado]ition, the earnest and seal of our salvation; also water, oil, a fountain, fire, the hand of God.
44. Faith is the hand of the soul, which, hy the same power of the Holy Spirit, takes hold of Clu-ist, offered by the Gospel,
45. It is the ordinary duty of faith to \'ield assent to the truth of God, how frequenth- soever, whatsoever, or in whatever manner God may speak. It is its peculiar duty to regard the will of God in Christ, his clemency, the promises of his grace, into a certainty of which things the Holy Spirit both enlightens our minds, and confirms our hearts.
46. Faith, thcrefoi"e, is a firm anil sure knowledge of God's good will towards us, which is based in God's free promise in Christ, and is laid open to our minds, and is sealed tij) in our hearts through the spirit.
47. The effects of faith are fourfold— 1. Repentance. 2. A Christian life. 3. Justification. 4. Prayer.
48. Repentance consists of two parts— 1. In the making ourselves dead [spiritually], which proceeds from the owning of sin, and from a true sense of the Divine judgment. 2. In the restoration to life, the fruits of which are piety towards God, and charity towards oin* neighbour, the hope of eternal life, holiness of living. To this genuine repentance is opposed that spurious one which partakes of contrition, confession, and satisfaction. The two former have indeed a relation to true penitence, provided that there be hearty contrition, through an acknowledgment of sin, and that it be not separated from a hope of pardon through Christ. But as to confession, let it either be private, made to God alone, or to the pastors of the Church, with freedom, and for the end of consolation, and not for the introducing an enumeration of sins, or torturing the conscience; or confession may be public, such as the confession of the Church collectively, or of one or many persons, in the presence of the whole Church. Satisfaction, originally an ecclesiastical usage, employed for the edification of the Church, by reason of recovery from sin, and its open confession, has been made by the sophists to bear a relation to God; whence arose [the doctrine of] supplies of indulgences in this world, and of the purgatorial fire, after death. But lliat contrition of the sophists, also, auricular confession (as they call it), and satisfaction of work, are o])posed to a gratuitous remission of sins.
49. Two parts are appointed to a Christian life.
1. The love of righteousness; thus, that we may be holy, because God is holy, we are conjoined with him, and are reckoned as his peo})le. 2. That a rule may be prescribed for us which will not suffer us to stray in our course of righteousness, and that we may be made conformable to Christ. But his example is proposed to us, the likeness (formam) of which it is our duty to shew forth in our lives. The blessings of God are added, to which it will be the extreme of ingratitude in us not to act suitably.
50. The main purport of the Christian life, is to deny ourselves.
51. This self-denial hath four objects: 1. That we may consecrate ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. 2. That we may not seek our own but the things of God, and our neighbour. 3. That we may patiently bear the cross, the fruits of which are an acknowledgment of our own weakness, the proving of our patience, the correction of our faults, more earnest prayer, more prompt meditation on eternal life. 4. That we may know how to use the present life, and its aids, both as respects what is necessary and delightful. Necessity requires that we should possess all things as if we possessed nothing; that we bear penury without emotion of spirit, abundance without excess; that we may know to bear satiety, hunger, want, with patience; also that wc take into our calculation the interests of our neighbour, because an account of our own stewardship) is to be rendered; that all our actions may correspond willi our calling. What is delightful ought to be to us a greater argument for praising the beneficence of God.
52. In the consideration of justification, which is the third effect of faith, the ex])huiati(in of the word itself first presents itself. He is said to be justified who, in the judgment of God, is accounted and held to be just. He is justified by works, whose life is pure and blameless before God, and no individual hath ever been such, Christ excepted. They are justified by faith, who, shut out from the justification of works, lay hold of the justification of Christ. Such are the elect of God.
53. The result of this is very firm consolation for, in the place of a severe judge we have a most clement Father. Being justified in Christ, and having peace, we turn our thoughts unto sanctity, relying upon his power.
54. Also Christian liberty doth follow, which consists in three things. I. That the consciences of the faithful may lift themselves up above the law, and may forget the entire justification of the law.
2. That the consciences of the faithful, free from the yoke of the law, may, " of their own accord," obey the will of God. 3. That they be constrained before God by no obligation of indifferent things. Here a caution must be noted against two precipices.
1. That we do not abuse the gifts of God. 2. That we avoid offence, whether given or received.
55. Prayer is the fourth effect of faith. In prayer are to be noted, its frails, its laws, its errors, its requests.
56. The fruits of prayer are five-fold. 1. Whilst we accustom ourselves to flee to God for refuge, our heart is euflamed with a gi'eater desire to seek, to love, and to worship him. 2. No evil longing enters our heart of which it may shame us to make God a witness. 3. We accept his benefits with giving of thanks. 4. Having obtained a gift, we the more ardently meditate on the beneficence of God.
5. Experience confirms to us the goodness, providence, and truth of God.
57. The rules of prayer are lour. 1. That we need not be ordered otherwise than as men who ai"e entering upon conference with God. Therefore, the raising of the hands, emotion of heart, perseverance, may be recommended. 2. We must feel our own poorness. 3. We must abdicate every thought of our own individual dignity, giving glory to God in full. -1. Piostrate in the midst of the dei)ths of woes, we should be animated with a sure ho])c of prevailing by entreaty, since we are relying upon the injunction and jtromise of God.
58. Theyaiein error who ollei- up prayers to departed saints. 1. Because Siripturo teacheth that God is to be invoked, who alone knoweth what things are necessary for us; he is willing to be present, because he hath promised; he is able also, because he is omnipotent. 2. Because it is God's will that he be invoked by faith which rests upon his word and promise. 3. Because faith is corrupted as soon as it departs from this rule. Now, in the invocation of saints there exists no word, no promise; therefore there is no faith, nor can these saints either hear or assist.
59. The substance of the prayer delivered to us by Christ the Lord, is comprehended in a preamble, and two tables.
60. In the preamble shineth forth God's goodness, inasmuch as he is said to be " our Father ;" it follows then that we are his sons. To seek, therefore, supplies from any other quarter would be to reproach God either with want (of power), or with cruelty (of nature). Sins hinder not that as suppliants we may implore mercy; an affection of brotherly love ought to intercede between us. In this preamble the power of God shineth forth, because he is in the heavens; from this we collect that God is diffused through all things, and that in seeking him it is becoming in man to be raised above corporeal and spiritual sense: for that God is exalted above every accident of corruption or of change, encircling and governing the universe by his power.
61. The first table is wholly devoted to the glorification of God, and contains three petitions. 1. That the name of God, i.e., his power, goodness, wisdom, justice, and truth, may be hallowed; that is, that men should never think upon or speak of God without the utmost veneration. 2. That God may correct, by virtue of his spirit, the depraved longings of the flesh, may form all our senses to an obedience of his authority, may protect his own sons, and break the endeavom's of the impious. The use of this petition is triple; it draws us away from the corruptions of this world; it enkindleth the desire of mortifying the flesh; it animates us to an endurance of the cross. The third petition treats not of the secret will of God, but of that which becomes known to us through the Scriptures, to which will (our) voluntary obedience responds.
G2. The second table contains three remaining petitions, which have relation to ourselves, and our neighbours. 1. It seeks all things which the body needs for its use, whilst subject to the elements -of this world; we commit ourselves to the care and providence of God, that he may feed, cherish, and preserve us. 2. We petition for those things which tend to spiritual life, namely, the remission of sins which takes away (the notion of) satisfaction; to which is appended this condition, that we ourselves having been injured by our neighbours in word or deed, do, nevertheless, pardon their offences towards us. 3. Liberation from temptation, or that we may be provided with arms, and be defended by divine succour, so that we may be competent to gain the victory. Temptations vary in their cause—God tempts; satan; the world; the flesh also; and material things, for we are tried by prosperous things, as wealth, honours, comeliness; also by adverse events,
poverty, contemj^t, afflictions. We are proved by
the result, for God tempts pious men for good: satan, the world, and the flesh, for evil.
63. Moreover, these four effects of faith lead us to a certainty of election, and of a final resurrection.
64. The causes of election are, the efficient, mere bountifulness of God, which we are bound to acknowledge with thanksgiving and humility: the material cause is Christ the beloved Son—the final cause, that we being sure as to our salvation because we art' of God, may for ever glorify him as well in the present as in a future life. Its results have respect to many individuals or to one; and that, in the electing some, and with justice reprobating others. The elect are called by the j)reaching of the word, and the illumination of the Holy Spirit; they are justified, sanctified, that at length they may be glorified.
65. There must be a final resunection. 1. Because we cannot be perfectly glorified by any other method. 2. Because Christ hath already risen in our flesh. 3. Because God is all-powerful.