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APPENDIX:
THE SECOND HELVETIC CONFESSION
IN ENGLISH.
APPENDIX.
ENGLISH VERSION OF
THE SECOND HELVETIC CONFESSION, A.D. 1566.
(Comp. Vol. III. pp. 233–306.)
[In view of the full summary of this important Confession in Vol. I. 396–420, a translation was omitted in the previous editions of Vol. III. But as the volumes are now sold separately, it is herewith added in the third edition. Several chapters are taken, with slight changes, from the old English translation in The Harmony of Reformed Confessions, Cambridge, 1586; 2d ed. London, 1643; and again, ibid. 1842. The division of chapters into sections is conformed to the Latin text, pp. 233–306.]
CHAPTER I.—OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE BEING THE TRUE WORD OF GOD.
We believe and confess the Canonical Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles of both Testaments to be the true Word of God, and to have sufficient authority of themselves, not of men. For God himself spake to the fathers, prophets, apostles, and still speaks to us through the Holy Scriptures.
And in this Holy Scripture, the universal Church of Christ has all things fully expounded which belong to a saving faith, and also to the framing of a life acceptable to God; and in this respect it is expressly commanded of God that nothing be either put to or taken from the same (Deut. iv. 2; Rev. xxii. 18, 19).
We judge, therefore, that from these Scriptures are to be taken true wisdom and godliness, the reformation and government of churches; as also instruction in all duties of piety; and, to be short, the confirmation of doctrines, and the confutation of all errors, with all exhortations; according to that word of the Apostle, 'All Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,' etc. (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). Again, 'These things write I unto thee,' says the Apostle to Timothy, 'that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,' etc. (1 Tim. iii. 14, 15). Again, the selfsame Apostle to the Thessalonians: 'When,' says he, 'ye received the word of us, ye received not the word of men, but as it was indeed, the Word of God,' etc. (1 Thess. ii. 13). For the Lord himself has 832said in the Gospel, 'It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of my Father speaketh in you;' therefore 'he that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me' (Matt. x. 20; Luke x. 16; John xiii. 20).
Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is preached, and received of the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be feigned, nor to be expected from heaven: and that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches; who, although he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God abides true and good.
Neither do we think that therefore the outward preaching is to be thought as fruitless because the instruction in true religion depends on the inward illumination of the Spirit, or because it is written 'No man shall teach his neighbor; for all men shall know me' (Jer. xxxi. 34), and 'He that watereth, or he that planteth, is nothing, but God that giveth the increase' (1 Cor. iii. 7). For albeit 'No man can come to Christ, unless he be drawn by the Heavenly Father' (John vi. 44), and be inwardly lightened by the Holy Spirit, yet we know undoubtedly that it is the will of God that his word should be preached even outwardly. God could indeed, by his Holy Spirit, or by the ministry of an angel, without the ministry of St. Peter, have taught Cornelius in the Acts; but, nevertheless, he refers him to Peter, of whom the angel speaking says, 'He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do' (Acts x. 6).
For he that illuminates inwardly by giving men the Holy Spirit, the self-same, by way of commandment, said unto his disciples,'Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature'(Mark xvi. 15). And so Paul preached the Word outwardly to Lydia, a purple-seller among the Philippians; but the Lord inwardly opened the woman's heart (Acts xvi. 14). And the same Paul, upon an elegant gradation fitly placed in the tenth chapter to the Romans, at last infers, 'Therefore faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God' (Rom. x. 14–17).
We know, in the mean time, that God can illuminate whom and when he will, even without the external ministry, which is a thing appertaining to his power; but we speak of the usual way of instructing 833men, delivered unto us from God, both by commandment and examples.
We therefore detest all the heresies of Artemon, the Manichæans, the Valentinians, of Cerdon, and the Marcionites, who denied that the Scriptures proceeded from the Holy Spirit; or else received not, or interpolated and corrupted, some of them.
And yet we do not deny that certain books of the Old Testament were by the ancient authors called Apocryphal, and by others Ecclesiastical; to wit, such as they would have to be read in the churches, but not alleged to avouch or confirm the authority of faith by them. As also Augustine, in his De Civitate Dei, book xviii., chapter 38, makes mention that 'in the books of the Kings, the names and books of certain prophets are reckoned;' but he adds that 'they are not in the canon,' and that 'those books which we have suffice unto godliness.'
CHAPTER II.—OF INTERPRETING THE HOLY SCRIPTURES; AND OF FATHERS, COUNCILS, AND TRADITIONS.
The Apostle Peter has said that 'the Holy Scriptures are not of any private interpretation' (2 Pet. i. 20). Therefore we do not allow all kinds of exposition. Whereupon we do not acknowledge that which they call the meaning of the Church of Rome for the true and natural interpretation of the Scriptures; which, forsooth, the defenders of the Romish Church do strive to force all men simply to receive; but we acknowledge only that interpretation of Scriptures for orthodox and genuine which, being taken from the Scriptures themselves (that is, from the spirit of that tongue in which they were written, they being also weighed according to the circumstances and expounded according to the proportion of places, either of like or of unlike, also of more and plainer), accords with the rule of faith and charity, and makes notably for God's glory and man's salvation.
Wherefore we do not despise the interpretations of the holy Greek and Latin fathers, nor reject their disputations and treatises as far as they agree with the Scriptures; but we do modestly dissent from them when they are found to set down things differing from, or altogether contrary to, the Scriptures. Neither do we think that we do them any wrong in this matter; seeing that they all, with one consent, will not 834have their writings matched with the Canonical Scriptures, but bid us allow of them so far forth as they either agree with them or disagree.
And in the same order we also place the decrees and canons of councils.
Wherefore we suffer not ourselves, in controversies about religion or matters of faith, to be pressed with the bare testimonies of fathers or decrees of councils; much less with received customs, or with the multitude of men being of one judgment, or with prescription of long time. Therefore, in controversies of religion or matters of faith, we can not admit any other judge than God himself, pronouncing by the Holy Scriptures what is true, what is false, what is to be followed, or what to be avoided. So we do not rest but in the judgment of spiritual men, drawn from the Word of God. Certainly Jeremiah and other prophets did vehemently condemn the assemblies of priests gathered against the law of God; and diligently forewarned us that we should not hear the fathers, or tread in their path who, walking in their own inventions, swerved from the law of God (Ezek. xx. 18).
We do likewise reject human traditions, which, although they be set out with goodly titles, as though they were divine and apostolical, delivered to the Church by the lively voice of the apostles, and, as it were, by the hands of apostolical men, by means of bishops succeeding in their room, yet, being compared with the Scriptures, disagree with them; and that by their disagreement bewray themselves in no wise to be apostolical. For as the apostles did not disagree among themselves in doctrine, so the apostles' scholars did not set forth things contrary to the apostles. Nay, it were blasphemous to avouch that the apostles, by lively voice, delivered things contrary to their writings. Paul affirms expressly that he taught the same things in all churches (1 Cor. iv. 17). And, again, 'We,' says he, 'write none other things unto you than what ye read or acknowledge' (2 Cor. i. 13). Also, in another place, he witnesses that he and his disciples—to wit, apostolic men—walked in the same way, and jointly by the same Spirit did all things (2 Cor. xii. 18). The Jews also, in time past, had their traditions of elders; but these traditions were severely confuted by the Lord, showing that the keeping of them hinders God's law, and that God is in vain worshiped of such (Matt. xv. 8, 9; Mark vii. 6, 7).
835CHAPTER III.—OF GOD; THE UNITY AND THE TRINITY.
We believe and teach that God is one in essence or nature, subsisting by himself, all-sufficient in himself, invisible, without a body, infinite, eternal, the Creator of all things both visible and invisible, the chief good, living, quickening and preserving all things, almighty and supremely wise, gentle or merciful, just and true.
And we detest the multitude of gods, because it is expressly written, 'The Lord thy God is one God' (Deut. vi. 4). 'I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no strange gods before my face' (Exod. xx. 2, 3). 'I am the Lord, and there is none other; beside me there is no God. Am not I the Lord, and there is none other beside me alone? a just God, and a Saviour; there is none beside me' (Isa. xlv. 5, 21). 'I the Lord, Jehovah, the merciful God, gracious and long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,' etc. (Exod. xxxiv. 6).
We nevertheless believe and teach that the same infinite, one, and indivisible God is in person inseparably and without confusion distinguished into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: so, as the Father has begotten the Son from eternity, the Son is begotten in an unspeakable manner; and the Holy Spirit proceeds from them both, and that from eternity, and is to be worshiped with them both. So that there are not three Gods, but three persons, consubstantial, coeternal, and coequal; distinct, as touching their persons; and, in order, one going before another, yet without any inequality. For, as touching their nature or essence, they are so joined together that they are but one God; and the divine essence is common to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.22372237Lest any man should slander us, as though we did make the persons all existing together, but not all of the same essence, or else did make a God of divers natures joined together in one, you must understand this joining together so as that all the persons (though distinct one from the other in properties) be yet but one and the same whole Godhead, or so that all and every of the persons have the whole and absolute Godhead.
For the Scripture has delivered unto us a manifest distinction of persons; the angel, among other things, saying thus to the Blessed Virgin, 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; and that holy thing which shall be born shall be called the Son of God' (Luke i. 35). Also, in the baptism of Christ, a voice was heard from heaven, saying, 'This is my beloved 836Son' (Matt. iii. 17). The Holy Spirit also appeared in the likeness of a dove (John i. 32). And when the Lord himself commanded to baptize, he commanded to baptize 'in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit' (Matt. xxviii. 19). In like manner, elsewhere in the Gospel he said, 'The Father will send the Holy Spirit in my name' (John xiv. 26). Again he says, 'When the Comforter shall come, whom I will send unto yon from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me,' etc. (John xv. 26). In short, we receive the Apostles' Creed, because it delivers unto us the true faith.
We therefore condemn the Jews and the Mohammedans, and all those who blaspheme that sacred and adorable Trinity. We also condemn all heresies and heretics who teach that the Son and the Holy Spirit are God only in name; also, that there is in the Trinity something created, and that serves and ministers unto another; finally, that there is in it something unequal, greater or less, corporeal or corporeally fashioned, in manners or in will diverse, either confounded or sole by itself: as if the Son and Holy Spirit were the affections and proprieties of one God the Father—as the Monarchists, the Novatians, Praxeas, the Patripassians, Sabellius, Samosatenus, Aëtius, Macedonius, the Anthropomorphites, Arius, and such like, have thought.
CHAPTER IV.—OF IDOLS; OR OF IMAGES OF GOD, OF CHRIST, AND OF SAINTS.
And because God is an invisible Spirit, and an incomprehensible Essence, he can not, therefore, by any art or image be expressed. For which cause we fear not, with the Scripture, to term the images of God mere lies.
We do therefore reject not only the idols of the Gentiles, but also the images of Christians. For although Christ took upon him man's nature, yet he did not therefore take it that he might set forth a pattern for carvers and painters. He denied that he came 'to destroy the law and the prophets' (Matt. v. 17), but images are forbidden in the law and the prophets (Deut. iv. 15; Isa. xliv. 9). He denied that his bodily presence would profit the Church, but promised that he would by his Spirit be present with us forever (John xvi. 7; 2 Cor. v. 5).
Who would, then, believe that the shadow or picture of his body doth 837any whit benefit the godly? And seeing that he abideth in us by the Spirit, 'we are therefore the temples of God' (1 Cor. iii. 16); but 'what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?' (2 Cor. vi. 16). And seeing that the blessed spirits and saints in heaven, while they lived here, abhorred all worship done unto themselves (Acts iii. 12, and xiv. 15; Rev. xix. 10, and xxii. 9), and spake against images, who can think it likely that the saints in heaven, and the angels, are delighted with their own images, whereunto men do bow their knees, uncover their heads, and give such other like honor?
But that men might be instructed in religion, and put in mind of heavenly things and of their own salvation, the Lord commanded to preach the Gospel (Mark xvi. 15)—not to paint and instruct the laity by pictures; he also instituted sacraments, but he nowhere appointed images.
Furthermore, in every place which way soever we turn our eyes, we may see the lively and true creatures of God, which if they be marked, as is meet, they do much more effectually move the beholder than all the images or vain, unmovable, rotten, and dead pictures of all men whatsoever; of which the prophet spake truly, 'They have eyes, and see not,' etc. (Psa. cxv. 5).
Therefore we approve the judgment of Lactantius, an ancient writer, who says, 'Undoubtedly there is no religion where there is a picture.' And we affirm that the blessed bishop Epiphanius did well, who, finding on the church-doors a veil, that had painted on it the picture, as it might be, of Christ or some saint or other, he cut and took it away; for that, contrary to the authority of the Scriptures, he had seen the picture of a man to hang in the Church of Christ: and therefore he charged that from henceforth no such veils, which were contrary to religion, should be hung up in the Church of Christ, but that rather such scruple should be taken away which was unworthy of the Church of Christ and all faithful people. Moreover, we approve this sentence of St. Augustine, 'Let not the worship of men's works be a religion unto us; for the workmen themselves that make such things are better, whom yet we ought not to worship' (De Vera Religione, cap. 55).
838CHAPTER V.—OF THE ADORATION, WORSHIP, AND INVOCATION OF GOD THROUGH THE ONLY MEDIATOR JESUS CHRIST.
We teach to adore and worship the true God alone. This honor we impart to none, according to the commandment of the Lord, 'Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou worship,' or 'him only shalt thou serve' (Matt. iv. 10). Surely all the prophets inveighed earnestly against the people of Israel whensoever they did adore and worship strange gods, and not the only true God.
But we teach that 'God is to be adored and worshiped,' as himself has taught us to worship him—to wit, 'in spirit and in truth' (John iv. 24); not with any superstition, but with sincerity, according to his word, lest at any time he also say unto us, 'Who hath required these things at your hands?' (Isa. i. 12; Jer. vi. 20). For Paul also says, 'God is not worshiped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing,' etc. (Acts xvii. 25).
We, in all dangers and casualties of life, call on him alone, and that by the mediation of the only Mediator, and our Intercessor, Jesus Christ. For it is expressly commanded us, 'Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me' (Psa. 1. 15). Moreover, the Lord has made a most large promise, saying, 'Whatsoever ye shall ask of my Father, he shall give it you' (John xvi. 23); and again, 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give yon rest' (Matt. xi. 28). And seeing it is written, 'How shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed?' (Rom. x. 14), and we do believe in God alone; therefore we call upon him only, and that through Christ. For 'there is one God,' says the apostle, 'and one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus' (1 Tim. ii. 5). Again, 'If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,' etc. (1 John ii. 1).
Therefore we do neither adore, worship, nor pray unto the saints in heaven, or to other gods; neither do we acknowledge them for our intercessors or mediators before the Father in heaven. For God and the mediator Christ do suffice us; neither do we impart unto others the honor due to God alone and to his Son, because he has plainly said, 'I will not give my glory to another' (Isa. xli. 8); and because Peter has said, 'There is no other name given unto men, whereby they must 839be saved, but the name of Christ' (Acts iv. 12). Those, doubtless, who rest in him by faith do not seek any thing without Christ.
Yet, for all that, we do neither despise the saints nor think basely of them; for we acknowledge them to be the lively members of Christ, the friends of God, who have gloriously overcome the flesh and the world. We therefore love them as brethren, and honor them also; yet not with any worship, but with an honorable opinion of them, and with just praises of them. We also do imitate the saints, for we desire, with the most earnest affections and prayers, to be followers of their faith and virtues; to be partakers, also, with them of everlasting salvation; to dwell together with them everlastingly with God, and to rejoice with them in Christ. And in this point we approve that saying of St. Augustine, in his book De Vera Religione, 'Let not the worship of men departed be any religion unto us; for, if they have lived holily, they are not so to be esteemed as that they seek such honors, but they will have us to worship Him by whose illumination they rejoice that we are fellow-servants as touching the reward. They are therefore to be honored for imitation, not to be worshiped for religion's sake,' etc.
And we much less believe that the relics of saints are to be adored and worshiped. Those ancient holy men seemed sufficiently to have honored their dead if they had honestly committed their bodies to the earth after the soul was gone up into heaven; and they thought that the most noble relics of their ancestors were their virtues, doctrine, and faith; which as they commended with the praise of the dead, so they did endeavor to express the same so long as they lived upon earth.
Those ancient men did not swear but by the name of the only Jehovah, as it is commanded by the law of God. Therefore, as we are forbidden to 'swear by the name of strange gods' (Exod. xxiii. 13; Josh. xxiii. 7), so we do not swear by saints, although we be requested there unto. We therefore in all these things do reject that doctrine which gives too much honor unto the saints in heaven.
CHAPTER VI.—OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.
We believe that all things, both in heaven and in earth and in all creatures, are sustained and governed by the providence of this wise, 840eternal, and omnipotent God. For David witnesses and says, 'The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord, who dwelleth on high, and yet humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth?' (Psa. cxiii. 4–6). Again, he says, 'Thou hast foreseen all my ways; for there is not a word in my tongue which thou knowest not wholly, O Lord,' etc. (Psa. cxxxix. 3, 4). Paul also witnesses and says, 'By him we live, move, and have our being' (Acts xvii. 28); and 'of him, and through him, and from him are all things' (Rom. xi. 36).
Therefore Augustine both truly and according to the Scripture said, in his book De Agone Christi, cap. 8, 'The Lord said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without the will of your Father." By speaking thus he would give us to understand whatsoever men count most vile, that also is governed by the almighty power of God. For the truth, which said that all the hairs of our head are numbered, says also that the birds of the air are fed by him, and the lilies of the field are clothed by him.'
We therefore condemn the Epicureans, who deny the providence of God, and all those who blasphemously affirm that God is occupied about the poles of heaven, and that he neither sees nor regards us or our affairs. The princely prophet David also condemned these men when he said, 'O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? They say the Lord doth not see, neither doth the God of Jacob regard it. Understand, ye unwise among the people; arid ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? and he that hath formed the eye, shall he not see?' (Psa. xciv. 3, 7–9).
Notwithstanding, we do not condemn the means whereby the providence of God works as though they were unprofitable; but we teach that we must apply ourselves unto them, so far as they are commended unto us in the Word of God. Wherefore we dislike the rash speeches of such as say that if all things are governed by the providence of God, then all our studies and endeavors are unprofitable; it shall be sufficient if we leave or permit all things to be governed by the providence of God; and we shall not need hereafter to behave or act with carefulness in any matter. For though Paul did confess that he did sail by the providence of God, who had said to him, 'Thou must testify of 841me also at Rome' (Acts xxiii. 11); who, moreover, promised and said, 'There shall not so much as one soul perish, neither shall a hair fall from your heads' (Acts xxvii. 22, 34); yet, the mariners devising how they might find a way to escape, the same Paul says to the centurion and to the soldiers, 'Unless these remain in the ship, ye can not be safe' (Acts xxvii. 31). For God, who has appointed every thing his end, he also has ordained the beginning and the means by which we must attain unto the end. The heathens ascribe things to blind fortune and uncertain chance; but St. James would not have us say, 'Today or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and there buy and sell;' but he adds, 'For that which ye should say, If the Lord will, and if we live, we will do this or that' (James iv. 13, 15). And Augustine says, 'All those things which seem to vain men to be done advisedly in the world, they do but accomplish his word because they are not done by his commandment. And, in his exposition of the 148th Psalm, 'It seemed to be done by chance that Saul, seeking his father's asses, should light on the prophet Samuel;' but the Lord had before said to the prophet, 'To-morrow I will send unto thee a man of the tribe of Benjamin,' etc. (1 Sam. ix. 16).
CHAPTER VII.—OF THE CREATION OF ALL THINGS; OF ANGELS, THE DEVIL, AND MAN.
This good and almighty God created all things, both visible and invisible, by his eternal Word, and preserves the same also by his eternal Spirit: as David witnesses, saying, 'By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth' (Psa. xxxiii. 6); and, as the Scripture says, 'All things that the Lord created were very good' (Gen. i. 31), and made for the use and profit of man.
Now, we say, that all those things do proceed from one beginning: and therefore we detest the Manichees and the Marcionites, who did wickedly imagine two substances and natures, the one of good, the other of evil; and also two beginnings and two gods, one contrary to the other—a good and an evil.
Among all the creatures, the angels and men are most excellent. Touching angels, the Holy Scripture says, 'Who maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire' (Psa. civ. 4); also, 'Are they not 842all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?' (Heb. i. 14).
And the Lord Jesus himself testifies of the devil, saying, 'He that hath been a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of lies' (John viii. 44).
We teach, therefore, that some angels persisted in obedience, and were appointed unto the faithful service of God and men; and that others fell of their own accord, and ran headlong into destruction, and so became enemies to all good, and to all the faithful, etc.
Now, touching man, the Spirit says that in the beginning he was 'created according to the image and likeness of God' (Gen. i. 27); that God placed him in paradise, and made all things subject unto him; which David doth most nobly set forth in the 8th Psalm. Moreover, God gave unto him a wife, and blessed them.
We say, also, that man doth consist of two, and those divers substances in one person; of a soul immortal (as that which being separated from his body doth neither sleep nor die), and a body mortal, which, notwithstanding, at the last judgment shall be raised again from the dead, that from henceforth the whole man may continue forever in life or in death.
We condemn all those who mock at, or by subtle disputations call into doubt, the immortality of the soul, or say that the soul sleeps, or that it is a part of God. To be short, we condemn all opinions of all men whatsoever who think, otherwise of the creation of angels, devils, and men than is delivered unto us by the Scriptures in the Apostolic Church of Christ.
CHAPTER VIII.—OF MAN'S FALL; SIN, AND THE CAUSE OF SIN.
Man was from the beginning created of God after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness, good and upright; but by the instigation of the serpent and his own fault, falling from the goodness and uprightness, he became subject to sin, death, and divers calamities; and such a one as he became by his fall, such are all his offspring, even subject to sin, death, and sundry calamities.
And we take sin to be that natural corruption of man, derived or spread from our first parents unto us all, through which we, being 843drowned in evil concupiscence, and clean turned away from God, but prone to all evil, full of all wickedness, distrust, contempt, and hatred of God, can do no good of ourselves—no, not so much as think any (Matt. xii. 34, 35).
And, what is more, even as we do grow in years, so by wicked thoughts, words, and deeds, committed against the law of God, we bring forth corrupt fruits, worthy of an evil tree: in which respect we, through our own desert, being subject to the wrath of God, are in danger of just punishment; so that we had all been cast away from God, had not Christ, the Deliverer, brought us back again.
By death, therefore, we understand not only bodily death, which is once to be suffered of us all for our sins, but also everlasting punishments due to our corruption and to our sins. For the Apostle says, 'We were dead in trespasses and sins, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others; but God, who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ' (Eph. ii. 1–5). Again, 'As by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin, death, and so death passed upon all men, forasmuch as all men have sinned,' etc. (Rom. v. 12).
We therefore acknowledge that original sin is in all men;; we acknowledge that all other sins which spring therefrom are both, called and are indeed sins, by what name soever they may be termed, whether mortal or venial, or also that which is called sin against the Holy Spirit, which is never forgiven.
We also confess that sins are not equal (John v. 16, 17), although they spring from the same fountain of corruption and unbelief, but that some are more grievous than others (Mark iii. 28, 29); even as the Lord has said, 'It shall be easier for Sodom' than for the city that despises the word of the Gospel (Matt. x. 15). We therefore condemn all those that have taught things contrary to these; but especially Pelagius, and all the Pelagians, together with the Jovinianists, who, with the Stoics, count all sins equal. We in this matter agree fully with St. Augustine, who produced and maintained his sayings out of the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, we condemn Florinus and Blastus (against whom also Irenæus wrote), and all those who make God the author of sin; seeing it expressly written, 'Thou art not a God that loveth wickedness; thou hatest all them that work iniquity, and wilt destroy all that 844speak leasing' (Psa. v. 4–6). And, again, 'When the devil speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; because he is a liar, and the father of lies' (John viii. 44). Yea, there are even in ourselves sin and corruption enough, so that there is no need that God should infuse into us either a new or greater measure of wickedness.
Therefore, when God is said in the Scripture to harden (Exod. vii. 13), to blind (John xii. 40), and to deliver us up into a reprobate sense (Rom. i. 28), it is to be understood that God does it by just judgment, as a just judge and revenger. To conclude, as often as God in the Scripture is said and seems to do some evil, it is not thereby meant that man does not commit evil, but that God does suffer it to be done, and does not hinder it; and that by his just judgment, who could hinder it if he would: or because he makes good use of the evil of men, as lie did in the sin of Joseph's brethren; or because himself rules sins, that they break not out and rage more violently than is meet. St. Augustine, in his Enchiridion, says, 'After a wonderful and unspeakable manner, that is not done beside his will which is done contrary to his will; because it could not be done if he should not suffer it to be done; and yet he doth not suffer it to be done unwillingly; neither would he, being God, suffer any evil to be done, unless, being also almighty, he could make good of evil.' Thus far Augustine.
Other questions, as whether God would have Adam fall, or whether he forced him to fall, or why he did not hinder his fall, and such like, we account among curious questions (unless perchance the frowardness of heretics, or of men otherwise importunate, do compel us to open these points also out of the Word of God, as the godly doctors of the Church have oftentimes done); knowing that the Lord did forbid that man should eat of the forbidden fruit, and punished his transgression ; and also that the things done are not evil in respect of the providence, will, and power of God, but in respect of Satan, and our will resisting the will of God.
CHAPTER IX.—OF FREE-WILL, AND SO OF MAN'S POWER AND ABILITY.
We teach in this matter, which at all times has been the cause of many conflicts in the Church, that there is a triple condition or estate of man to be considered. First, what man was before his fall—to wit, upright and free, who might both continue in goodness and decline to 845evil; but he declined to evil, and has wrapped both himself and all mankind in sin and death, as has been shown before.
Secondly, we are to consider what man was after his fall. His understanding, indeed, was not taken from him, neither was he deprived of his will, and altogether changed into a stone or stock. Nevertheless, these things are so altered in man that they are not able to do that now which they could do before his fall. For his understanding is darkened, and his will, which before was free, is now become a servile will; for it serveth sin, not nilling, but willing—for it is called a will, and not a nill. Therefore, as touching evil or sin, man does evil, not compelled either by God or the devil, but of his own accord; and in this respect he has a most free will. But whereas we see that oftentimes the most evil deeds and counsels of man are hindered by God, that they can not attain their end, this does not take from man liberty in evil, but God by his power does prevent that which man otherwise purposed freely: as Joseph's brethren did freely purpose to slay Joseph; but they were not able to do it, because it seemed otherwise good to God in his secret counsel.
But, as touching goodness and virtues, man's understanding does not of itself judge aright of heavenly things. For the evangelical and apostolical Scripture requires regeneration of every one of us that will be saved. Wherefore our first birth by Adam does nothing profit us to salvation. Paul says, 'The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit,' etc. (1 Cor. ii. 14). The same Paul elsewhere denies that we are 'sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves' (2 Cor. iii. 5).
Now, it is evident that the mind or understanding is the guide of the will; and, seeing the guide is blind, it is easy to be seen how far the will can reach. Therefore man, not as yet regenerate, has no free-will to good, no strength to perform that which is good. The Lord says in the Gospel, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin' (John viii. 34). And Paul the Apostle says, 'The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be' (Rom. viii. 7).
Furthermore, there is some understanding of earthly things remaining in man after his fall. For God has of mercy left him wit, though much differing from that which was in him before his fall. God commands 846us to garnish our wit, and therewithal he gives gifts and also the increase thereof. And it is a clear case that we can profit very little in all arts without the blessing of God. The Scripture, no doubt, refers all arts to God; yea, and the Gentiles also ascribe the beginnings of arts to the gods, as the authors thereof.
Lastly, we are to consider whether the regenerate have free-will, and how far they have it. In regeneration the understanding is illuminated by the Holy Spirit, that it may understand both the mysteries and will of God. And the will itself is not only changed by the Spirit, but it is also endued with faculties, that, of its own accord, it may both will and do good (Rom. viii. 4). Unless we grant this, we shall deny Christian liberty, and bring in the bondage of the law. Besides, the prophet brings in God speaking thus: 'I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts' (Jer. xxxi. 33; Ezek. xxxvi. 27). The Lord also says in the Gospel, 'If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed' (John viii. 36). Paul also to the Philippians, 'Unto you is given for Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake' (Phil. i. 29). And, again, 'I am persuaded that he that began this good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ' (ver. 6). Also, 'It is God that worketh in you the will and the deed' (Phil. ii. 13).
Where, nevertheless, we teach that there are two things to be observed—first, that the regenerate, in the choice and working of that which is good, do not only work passively, but actively; for they are moved of God that themselves may do that which they do. And Augustine does truly allege that saying that 'God is said to be our helper; but no man can be helped but he that does somewhat.' The Manichæans did bereave man of all action, and made him like a stone and a block.
Secondly, that in the regenerate there remains infirmity. For, seeing that sin dwells in us, and that the flesh in the regenerate strives against the Spirit, even to our lives' end, they do not readily perform in every point that which they had purposed. These things are confirmed by the apostle (Rom. vii. 13–25; Gal. v. 17).
Therefore, all free-will is weak by reason of the relics of the old Adam remaining in us so long as we live, and of the human corruption which so nearly cleaves to us. In the meanwhile, because the strength of the flesh and the relics of the old man are not of such great 847force that they can wholly quench the work of the Spirit, therefore the faithful are called free, yet so that they do acknowledge their infirmity, and glory no whit at all of their free-will. Far that which St. Augustine does repeat so often out of the apostle ought always to be kept in mind by the faithful: 'What hast thou that thou didst not receive? and if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?' (1 Cor. iv. 7). Hitherto may be added that that comes not straightway to pass which we have purposed, for the events of things are in the hand of God. For which cause Paul besought the Lord that he would prosper his journey (Rom. i. 10). Wherefore, in this respect also, free-will is very weak.
But in outward things no man denies but that both the regenerate and the unregenerate have their free-will; for man hath this constitution common with other creatures (to whom he is not inferior) to will some things and to nill other things. So he may speak or keep silence, go out of his house or abide within. Although herein also God's power is evermore to be marked, which brought to pass that Balaam could not go so far as he would (Numb. xxiv. 13), and that Zacharias, coming out of the Temple, could not speak as he would have done (Luke i. 22).
In this matter we condemn the Manichæans, who deny that the beginning of evil unto man, being good, came from his free-will. We condemn, also, the Pelagians, who affirm that an evil man has free-will sufficiently to perform a good precept. Both these are confuted by the Scripture, which says to the former, 'God made man upright' (Eccles. vii. 29); and to the latter, 'If the Son make you free, then ye shall be free indeed' (John viii. 36).
CHAPTER X.—OF THE PREDESTINATION OF GOD AND THE ELECTION OF THE SAINTS.
God has from the beginning freely, and of his mere grace, without any respect of men, predestinated or elected the saints, whom he will save in Christ, according to the saying of the apostle, 'And he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world' (Eph. i. 4); and again, 'Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given unto us, through Jesus Christ, before the world was, but is now made manifest by the appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ' (2 Tim. i. 9, 10).
848Therefore, though not for any merit of ours, yet not without a means, but in Christ, and for Christ, did God choose us; and they who are now-ingrafted into Christ by faith, the same also were elected. But such as are without Christ were rejected, according to the saying of the apostle, 'Prove yourselves, whether ye be in the faith. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?' (2 Cor. xiii. 5).
To conclude, the saints are chosen in Christ by God unto a sure end, which end the apostle declares when he says, 'He hath chosen us in him, that we should be holy and without blame before him through love; who has predestinated us to be adopted through Jesus Christ unto himself, for the praise of his glorious grace' (Eph. i. 4–6).
And although God knows who are his, and now and then mention is made of the small number of the elect, yet we must hope well of all, and not rashly judge any man to be a reprobate: for Paul says to the Philippians, 'I thank my God for you all' (now he speaks of the whole Church of the Philippians), 'that ye are come into the fellowship of the Gospel; and I am persuaded that he that hath begun this work in you will perform it as it becometh me to judge of you all' (Phil. i. 3–7).
And when the Lord was asked whether there were few that should be saved, he does not answer and tell them that few or many should be saved or damned, but rather he exhorts every man to 'strive to enter in at the strait gate' (Luke xiii. 24): as if he should say, It is not for you rashly to inquire of these matters, but rather to endeavor that you may enter into heaven by the strait way.
Wherefore we do not allow of the wicked speeches of some who say, Few are chosen, and seeing I know not whether I am in the number of these few, I will not defraud my nature of her desires. Others there are who say, If I be predestinated and chosen of God, nothing can hinder me from salvation, which is already certainly appointed for me, whatsoever I do at any time; but if I be in the number of the reprobate, no faith or repentance will help me, seeing the decree of God can not be changed: therefore all teachings and admonitions are to no purpose. Now, against these men the saying of the apostle makes much, 'The servants of God must be apt to teach, instructing those that are contrary-minded, proving if God at any time will give them 849repentance, that they may come to amendment out of the snare of the devil, which are taken of him at his pleasure' (2 Tim. ii. 24–26).
Besides, Augustine also teaches, that both the grace of free election and predestination, and also wholesome admonitions and doctrines, are to be preached {Lib. de Bono Perseverantiæ, cap. 14).
We therefore condemn those who seek otherwhere than in Christ whether they be chosen from all eternity, and what God has decreed of them before all beginning. For men must hear the Gospel preached, and believe it. If thou belie vest, and art in Christ, thou mayest undoubtedly hold that thou art elected. For the Father has revealed unto us in Christ his eternal sentence of predestination, as we even now showed out of the apostle, in 2 Tim. i. 9, 10. This is therefore above all to be taught and well weighed, what great love of the Father toward us in Christ is revealed. We must hear what the Lord does daily preach unto us in his Gospel: how he calls and says, 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you' (Matt. xi. 28); and, 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life' (John iii. 16); also, 'It is not the will of your Father in heaven that any of these little ones should perish' (Matt. xviii. 14).
Let Christ, therefore, be our looking-glass, in whom we may behold our predestination. We shall have a most evident and sure testimony that we are written in the Book of Life if we communicate with Christ, and he be ours, and we be his, by a true faith. Let this comfort us in the temptation touching predestination, than which there is none more dangerous: that the promises of God are general to the faithful; in that he says, 'Ask, and ye shall receive; every one that asketh receiveth' (Luke xi. 9, 10). And, to conclude, we pray, with the whole Church of God, 'Our Father which art in heaven' (Matt. vi. 9); and in baptism, we are ingrafted into the body of Christ, and we are fed in his Church, oftentimes, with his flesh and blood, unto everlasting life. Thereby, being strengthened, we are commanded to 'work out our salvation with fear and trembling,' according to that precept of Paul, in Phil. ii. 12.
850CHAPTER XI.—OF JESUS CHRIST, BEING TRUE GOD AND MAN, AND THE ONLY SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.
Moreover, we believe and teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was from all eternity predestinated and foreordained of the Father to be the Saviour of the world. And we believe that he was begotten, not only then, when he took flesh of the Virgin Mary, nor yet a little before the foundations of the world were laid; but before all eternity, and that of the Father after an unspeakable manner. For Isaiah says (liii. 8), 'Who can tell his generation?' And Micah says (v. 2), 'Whose egress hath been from everlasting.' And John says (i. 1), 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,' etc.
Therefore the Son is coequal and consubstantial with the Father, as touching his divinity: true God, not by name only, or by adoption, or by special favor, but in substance and nature (Phil. ii. 6). Even as the apostle says elsewhere, 'This is the true God, and life everlasting' (1 John v. 20). Paul also says, 'He hath made his Son the heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; the same is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, bearing up all things by his mighty word' (Heb. i. 2, 3). Likewise, in the Gospel, the Lord himself says, 'Father, glorify thou me with thyself, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was' (John xvii. 5). Also elsewhere it is written in the Gospel, 'The Jews sought how to kill Jesus, because he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God' (John v. 18).
We therefore do abhor the blasphemous doctrine of Arius, and all the Arians, uttered against the Son of God; and especially the blasphemies of Michael Servetus, the Spaniard, and of his complices, which Satan through them has, as it were, drawn out of hell, and most boldly and impiously spread abroad throughout the world against the Son of God.
We also teach and believe that the eternal Son of the eternal God was made the Son of man, of the seed of Abraham and David (Matt. i. 25); not by the means of any man, as Ebion affirmed, but that he was most purely conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of Mary, who was always a virgin, even as the history of the Gospel does declare. And Paul says, 'He took not on him the nature of angels, but of the 851seed of Abraham' (Heb. ii. 16). And John the apostle says, 'He that believeth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God' (1 John iv. 3). The flesh of Christ, therefore, was neither flesh in show only, nor yet flesh brought from heaven, as Valentinus and Marcion dreamed.
Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ had not a soul without sense and reason, as Apollinaris thought; nor flesh without a soul, as Eunomius did teach; but a soul with its reason, and flesh with its senses, by which senses he felt true griefs in the time of his passion, even as he himself witnessed when he said, 'My soul is heavy, even to death' (Matt. xxvi. 38); and, 'My soul is troubled,' etc. (John xii. 27).
We acknowledge, therefore, that there be in one and the same Jesus Christ our Lord two natures—the divine and the human nature; and we say that these two are so conjoined or united that they are not swallowed up, confounded, or mingled together; but rather united or joined together in one person (the properties of each nature being safe and remaining still), so that we do worship one Christ our Lord, and not two. I say one, true God and man, as touching his divine nature, of the same substance with us, and 'in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin' (Heb. iv. 15).
As, therefore, we detest the heresy of Nestorius, which makes two Christs of one and dissolves the union of the person, so do we abominate the madness of Eutyches and of the Monothelites and Monophysites, who overthrow the propriety of the human nature.
Therefore we do not teach that the divine nature in Christ did suffer, or that Christ, according to his human nature, is yet in the world, and so in every place. For we do neither think nor teach that the body of Christ ceased to be a true body after his glorifying, or that it was deified and so deified that it put off its properties, as touching body and soul, and became altogether a divine nature and began to be one substance alone; therefore we do not allow or receive the unwitty subtleties, and the intricate, obscure, and inconstant disputations of Schwenkfeldt, and such other vain janglers, about this matter; neither are we Schwenkfeldians.
Moreover, we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ did truly suffer and die for us in the flesh, as Peter says (1 Pet. iv. 1). We abhor the most impious madness of the Jacobites, and all the Turks, who execrate the passion of our Lord. Yet we deny not but that 'the Lord of glory,' 852according to the saying of Paul, was crucified for us (1 Cor. ii. 8); for we do reverently and religiously receive and use the communication of properties drawn from the Scripture, and used of all antiquity in expounding and reconciling places of Scripture which at first sight seem to disagree one from another.
We believe and teach that the same Lord Jesus Christ, in that true flesh in which he was crucified and died, rose again from the dead; and that he did not rise up another flesh, but retained a true body. Therefore, while his disciples thought that they did see the spirit of their Lord Christ, he showed them his hands and feet, which were marked with the prints of the nails and wounds, saying, 'Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have' (Luke xxiv. 39).
We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same flesh, did ascend above all the visible heavens into the very highest heaven, that is to say, the seat of God and of the blessed spirits, unto the right hand of God the Father. Although it do signify an equal participation of glory and majesty, yet it is also taken for a certain place; of which the Lord, speaking in the Gospel, says, that 'He will go and prepare a place for his' (John xiv. 2). Also the Apostle Peter says, 'The heavens must contain Christ until the time of restoring all things' (Acts iii. 21).
And out of heaven the same Christ will return unto judgment, even then when wickedness shall chiefly reign in the world, and when Antichrist, having corrupted true religion, shall fill all things with superstition and impiety, and shall most cruelly waste the Church with fire and bloodshed. Now Christ shall return to redeem his, and to abolish Antichrist by his coming, and to judge the quick and the dead (Acts xvii. 31). For the dead shall arise, and those that shall be found alive in that day (which is unknown unto all creatures) 'shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye' (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52). And all the faithful shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. iv. 17); that thenceforth they may enter with him into heaven, there to live forever (2 Tim. ii. 11); but the unbelievers, or ungodly, shall descend with the devils into hell, there to burn forever, and never to be delivered out of torments (Matt. xxv. 41).
We therefore condemn all those who deny the true resurrection of the flesh, and those who think amiss of the glorified bodies, as did 853Joannes Hierosolymitanus, against whom Jerome wrote. We also condemn those who have thought that both the devils and all the wicked shall at length be saved and have an end of their torments; for the Lord himself has absolutely set it down that 'Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched' (Mark ix. 44).
Moreover, we condemn the Jewish dreams, that before the day of judgment there shall be a golden age in the earth, and that the godly shall possess the kingdoms of the world, their wicked enemies being trodden under foot; for the evangelical truth (Matt. xxiv. and xxv., Luke xxi.), and the apostolic doctrine (in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians ii., and in the Second Epistle to Timothy iii. and iv.) are found to teach far otherwise.
Furthermore, by his passion or death, and by all those things which he did and suffered for our sakes from the time of his coming in the flesh, our Lord reconciled his heavenly Father unto all the faithful (Rom. v. 10); purged their sin (Heb. i. 3); spoiled death, broke in sunder condemnation and hell; and by his resurrection from the dead brought again and restored life and immortality (Rom. iv. 25; 1 Cor. xv. 17; 2 Tim. i. 10). For he is our righteousness, life, and resurrection (John vi. 44); and, to be short, he is the fullness and perfection, the salvation and most abundant sufficiency, of all the faithful. For the apostle says, 'So it pleaseth the Father that all fullness should dwell in him' (Col. i. 19), and 'In him ye are complete' (Col. ii. 10).
For we teach and believe that this Jesus Christ our Lord is the only and eternal Saviour of mankind, yea, and of the whole world, in whom all are saved before the law, under the law, and in the time of the Gospel, and so many as shall yet be saved to the end of the world. For the Lord himself, in the Gospel, says, 'He that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up the other way, he is a thief and a robber' (John x. 1). 'I am the door of the sheep' (ver. 7). And also in another place of the same Gospel he says, 'Abraham saw my day, and rejoiced' (John viii. 56). And the Apostle Peter says, 'Neither is there salvation in any other, but in Christ; for among men there is given no other name under heaven whereby they might be saved' (Acts iv. 12). We believe, therefore, that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as our fathers were. For Paul says, that 'All our fathers did eat the same 854spiritual meat, and drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Bock was Christ' (1 Cor. x. 3, 4). And therefore we read that John said, that 'Christ was that Lamb which was slain from the foundation of the world' (Rev. xiii. 8); and that John the Baptist witnesseth, that Christ is that 'Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world' (John i. 29).
Wherefore we do plainly and openly profess and preach, that Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer and Saviour of the world, the King and High Priest, the true and looked-for Messiah, that holy and blessed one (I say) whom all the shadows of the law, and the prophecies of the prophets, did prefigure and promise; and that God did supply and send him unto us, so that now we are not to look for any other. And now there remains nothing, but that we all should give all glory to him, believe in him, and rest in him only, contemning and rejecting all other aids of our life. For they are fallen from the grace of God, and make Christ of no value unto themselves, whosoever they be that seek salvation in any other things besides Christ alone (Gal. v. 4).
And, to speak many things in a few words, with a sincere heart we believe, and with liberty of speech we freely profess, whatsoever things are defined out of the Holy Scriptures, and comprehended in the creeds, and in the decrees of those four first and most excellent councils—held at Nicæa, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon—together with blessed Athanasius's creed and all other creeds like to these, touching the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; and we condemn all things contrary to the same.
And thus we retain the Christian, sound, and Catholic faith, whole and inviolable, knowing that nothing is contained in the aforesaid creeds which is not agreeable to the Word of God, and makes wholly for the sincere declaration of the faith.
CHAPTER XII.—OF THE LAW OF GOD.
We teach that the will of God is set down unto us in the law of God; to wit, what he would have us to do, or not to do, what is good and just, or what is evil and unjust. We therefore confess that 'The law is good and holy' (Rom. vii. 12); and that this law is, by the finger of God, either 'written in the hearts of men' (Rom. ii. 15), and so is called the law of nature, or engraven in the two tables of stone, and 855more largely expounded in the books of Moses (Exod. xx. 1–17; Deut. v. 22). For plainness' sake we divide it into the moral law, which is contained in the commandments, or the two tables expounded in the books of Moses; into the ceremonial, which does appoint ceremonies and the worship of God; and into the judicial law, which is occupied about political and domestic affairs.
We believe that the whole will of God,22382238Understand, as concerning those things which men are bound to perform to God, and also to their neighbors. and all necessary precepts, for every part of this life, are fully delivered in this law. For otherwise the Lord would not have forbidden that 'any thing should be either added to or taken away from this law' (Deut. iv. 2, and xii. 32); neither would he have commanded us to go straight forward in this, and 'not to decline out of the way, either to the right hand or to the left' (Josh. i. 7).
We teach that this law was not given to men, that we should be justified by keeping it; but that, by the knowledge thereof, we might rather acknowledge our infirmity, sin, and condemnation; and so, despairing of our strength, might turn unto Christ by faith. For the apostle says plainly, 'The law worketh wrath' (Rom. iv. 15); and 'by the law cometh the knowledge of sin' (Rom. iii. 20); and, 'If there had been a law given which would have justified and given us life, surely righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture (to wit, of the law) has concluded all under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ should be given to them which believe' (Gal. iii. 21, 22). 'Therefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith' (ver. 24). For neither could there ever, neither at this day can any flesh satisfy the law of God, and fulfill it, by reason of the weakness in our flesh,22392239That is, any man, although he be regenerate. which remains and sticks fast in us, even to our last breath. For the apostle says again, 'That which the law could not perform, inasmuch as it was weak through the flesh, that did God perform, by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh' (Rom. viii. 3). Therefore, Christ is the perfecting of the law, and our fulfilling of it; who, as he took away the curse of the law, when he was made a curse for us (Gal. iii. 13), so does he communicate unto us by faith his fulfilling thereof, and his righteousness and obedience are imputed unto us.
856The law of God,22402240To wit, the moral law, comprehended in the Ten Commandments. therefore, is thus far abrogated; that is, it does not henceforth condemn us, neither work wrath in us; 'for we are under grace, and not under the law' (Rom. vi. 14). Moreover, Christ did fulfill all the figures of the law; wherefore the shadow ceased when the body came, so that, in Christ, we have now all truth and fullness. Yet we do not therefore disdain or reject the law. We remember the words of the Lord, saying, 'I came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them' (Matt. v. 17). We know that in the law22412241To wit, in the moral law. are described unto us the kinds of virtues and vices. We know that the Scripture of the law,22422242To wit, the ceremonial law. if it be expounded by the Gospel, is very profitable to the Church, and that therefore the reading of it is not to be banished out of the Church. For although the countenance of Moses was covered with a veil, yet the apostle affirms that 'the veil is taken away and abolished by Christ'(2 Cor. iii. 14). We condemn all things which the old or new heretics have taught against the law of God.
CHAPTER XIII.—OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST: ALSO OF PROMISES; OF THE SPIRIT AND OF THE LETTER.
The Gospel, indeed, is opposed to the law: for the law works wrath, and does announce a curse; but the Gospel does preach grace and blessing. John also says, 'The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ' (John i. 17). Yet, notwithstanding, it is most certain that they who were before the law, and under the law, were not altogether destitute of the Gospel. For they had notable evangelical promises, such as these: 'The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head' (Gen. iii. 15). 'In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed' (Gen. xlix. 10). 'The Lord shall raise up a Prophet from among his own brethren,' etc. (Deut. xviii. 15; Acts iii. 22, and vii. 37).
And we do acknowledge that the fathers had two kinds of promises revealed unto them, even as we have. For some of them were of present and transitory things: such as were the promises of the land of Canaan, and of victories; and such as are nowadays concerning our daily bread. Other promises there were then, and are now, of heavenly and 857everlasting things; as of God's favor, remission of sins, and life everlasting, through faith in Jesus Christ. Now, the fathers had not only outward or earthly, but spiritual and heavenly promises in Christ. For the Apostle Peter says that 'the prophets, which prophesied of the grace that should come to us, have searched and inquired of his salvation' (1 Pet. i. 10). Whereupon the Apostle Paul also says, that 'the Gospel of God was promised before by the prophets of God in the Holy Scriptures' (Rom. i. 2). Hereby, then, it appears evidently that the fathers were not altogether destitute of all the Gospel.
And although, after this manner, our fathers had the Gospel in the writings of the prophets, by which they attained salvation in Christ through faith, yet the Gospel is properly called 'glad and happy tidings;' wherein, first by John Baptist, then by Christ the Lord himself, and afterwards by the apostles' and their successors, is preached to us in the world, that God has now performed that which he promised from the beginning of the world, and has sent, yea, and even given unto us, his only Son, and, in him, reconciliation with the Father, remission of sins, all fullness, and everlasting life. The history, therefore, set down by the four evangelists, declaring how these things were done or fulfilled in Christ, and what he taught and did, and that they who believe in him have all fullness—this, I say, is truly called the Gospel. The preaching, also, and Scripture of the apostles, in which they expound unto us how the Son was given us of the Father, and, in him, all things pertaining to life and salvation, is truly called the doctrine of the Gospel; so as even at this day it loses not that worthy name, if it be sincere.
The same preaching of the Gospel is by the apostle termed the Spirit, and 'the ministry of the Spirit' (2 Cor. iii. 8): because it lives and works through faith in the ears, yea, in the hearts, of the faithful, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. For the letter, which is opposed unto the Spirit, does indeed signify every outward thing, but more especially the doctrine of the law, which, without the Spirit and faith, works wrath, and stirs up sin in the minds of them that do not truly believe. For which cause it is called by the apostle 'the ministry of death' (2 Cor. iii. 7); for hitherto pertains that saying of the apostle, 'the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life' (ver. 6). The false apostles preached the Gospel, corrupted by mingling of the law 858therewith; as though Christ could not save without the law. Such, also, were the Ebionites said to be, who came of Ebion the heretic; and the Nazarites, who beforetime were called Mineans. All whom we do condemn, sincerely preaching the word, and teaching that believers are justified through the Spirit (or Christ) only, and not through the law. But of this matter there shall follow a fuller exposition, under the title of justification.
And although the doctrine of the Gospel, compared with the Pharisees' doctrine of the law, might seem (when it was first preached by Christ) to be a new doctrine (which thing also Jeremiah prophesied of the New Testament); yet, indeed, it not only was, and as yet is (though the papists call it new, in regard of popish doctrine, which has of long time been received), an ancient doctrine, but also the most ancient in the world. For God from all eternity foreordained to save the world by Christ, and this his predestination and eternal counsel has he opened to the world by the Gospel (2 Tim. i. 9, 10). Whereby it appears that the evangelical doctrine and religion was the most ancient of all that ever were or are; wherefore we say, that all they [the papists] err foully, and speak things unworthy the eternal counsel of God, who term the evangelical doctrine and religion a newly concocted faith, scarce thirty years old: to whom that saying of Isaiah does very well agree—'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter' (v. 20).
CHAPTER XIV.—OF REPENTANCE, AND THE CONVERSION OF MAN.
The Gospel has the doctrine of repentance joined with it; for so said the Lord in the Gospel, 'In my name must repentance and remission of sins be preached among all nations' (Luke xxiv. 47).
By repentance we understand the change of the mind in a sinful man stirred up by the preaching of the Gospel through the Holy Spirit, and received by a true faith: by which a sinful man does acknowledge his natural corruption, and all his sins, seeing them convinced by the Word of God, and is heartily grieved for them; and does not only bewail and freely confess them before God with shame, but also does loathe and abhor them with indignation, thinking seriously of present amendment, and of a continual care of innocency 859and virtue, wherein to exercise himself holily all the rest of his lif