INSTITUTES

OF THE

CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

BOOK IV.

CHAPTER I.

The true Church, and the Necessity of our Union with her,
being the Mother of all the Pious.

THAT by the faith of the Gospel Christ becomes ours,
and we become partakers of the salvation procured by him,
and of eternal happiness, has been explained in the preced-
ing Book. But as our ignorance and slothfulness, and, I
may add, the vanity of our minds, require external aids,
in order to the production of faith in our hearts, and its in-
crease and progressive advance even to its completion, God
hath provided such aids in compassion to our infirmity: and
that the preaching of the Gospel might be maintained, he
hath deposited this treasure with the Church. He hath ap-
pointed pastors and teachers, that his people might be
taught by their lips; he hath invested them with authority;
in short, he hath omitted nothing that could contribute to a
holy unity of faith, and to the establishment of good order. (a)
First of all, he hath instituted Sacraments, which we know by
experience to be means of the greatest utility for the nourish-
ment and support of our faith. For as during our confine-
ment in the prison of our flesh, we have not yet attained to
the state of angels, God hath in his wonderful providence
accommodated himself to our capacity, by prescribing a way
in which we might approach him notwithstanding our im-

(a) Ephes. iv. 11 16.

mense distance from him. Wherefore the order of instruc-
tion requires us now to treat of the Church and its govern-
ment, orders, and power; secondly, of the Sacraments; and
lastly, of Civil Government: and at the same time to call off
the pious readers from the abuses of the Papacy, by which
Satan has corrupted every thing that God had appointed to
be instrumental to our salvation. I shall begin with the
Church, in whose bosom it is God's will that all his children
should be collected, not only to be nourished by her assist-
ance and ministry during their infancy and childhood, but
also to be governed by her maternal care, till they attain a
mature age, and at length reach the end of their faith. For
it is not lawful to "put asunder" those things "which God
hath joined together;" (b) that the Church is the mother of
all those who have him for their Father; and that not only
under the law, but since the coming of Christ also, according
to the testimony of the apostle, who declares the new and
heavenly Jerusalem to be "the mother of us all." (c)

II. That article of the Creed, in which we profess to believe
THE CHURCH, refers not only to the visible Church of which
we are now speaking, but likewise to all the elect of God, in-
cluding the dead as well as the living. The word BELIEVE
is used, because it is often impossible to discover any differ-
ence between the children of God and the ungodly; between
his peculiar flock and wild beasts. The particle IN, interpo-
lated by many, is not supported by any probable reason. I
confess that it is generally adopted at present, and is not desti-
tute of the suffrage of antiquity; being found in the Nicene
Creed, as it is transmitted to us in ecclesiastical history. Yet
it is evident from the writings of the Fathers, that it was an-
ciently admitted without controversy to say, "I believe the
Church," not "in the Church." For not only is this word not
used by Augustine and the ancient writer of the work "On
the Exposition of the Creed," which passes under the name
of Cyprian, but they particularly remark that there would be
an impropriety in the expression, if this preposition were in-
serted; and they confirm their opinion by no trivial reason.

For we declare that we believe in God, because our mind depends upon him as true, and our confidence rests in him. But this would not be applicable to the Church, any more than to "the remission of sins," or the "resurrection of the body." Therefore, though I am averse to contentions about words, yet I would rather adopt a proper phraseology adapted to express the subject, than affect forms of expression by which the subject would be unnecessarily involved in obscurity. The design of this clause is to teach us, that though the devil moves every engine to destroy the grace of Christ, and all the enemies of God exert the most furious violence in the same attempt, yet his grace cannot possibly be extinguished, nor can his blood be rendered barren, so as not to produce some fruit. Here we must regard both the secret election of God, and his internal vocation; because he alone "knoweth them that are his;" and keeps them enclosed under his "seal," to use the expression of Paul; (d) except that they bear his impression, by which they may be distinguished from the reprobate. But because a small and contemptible number is concealed among a vast multitude, and a few grains of wheat are covered with a heap of chaff, we must leave to God alone the knowledge of his Church, whose foundation is his eternal election. Nor is it sufficient to include in our thoughts and minds the whole multitude of the elect, unless we conceive of such an unity of the Church, into which we know ourselves to be truly engrafted. For unless we are united with all the other members under Christ our head, we can have no hope of the future inheritance. Therefore the Church is called CATHOLIC, or universal: because there could not be two or three churches, without Christ being divided, which is impossible. But all the elect of God are so connected with each other in Christ, that as they depend upon one head, so they grow up together as into one body, compacted together like members of the same body; being made truly one, as living by one faith, hope, and charity, through the same Divine Spirit, being called not only to the same inheritance of eternal life, but also to a

(d) 2 Tim. ii. 19.

participation of one God and Christ. Therefore though the melancholy desolation which surrounds us, seems to proclaim that there is nothing left of the Church, let us remember that the death of Christ is fruitful, and that God wonderfully preserves his Church as it were in hiding places; according to what he said to Elijah: "I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal." (e)

III. This article of the creed, however, relates in some measure to the external Church, that every one of us may maintain a brotherly agreement with all the children of God, may pay due deference to the authority of the Church, and in a word, may conduct himself as one of the flock. Therefore we add THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS; a clause which though generally omitted by the ancients, ought not to be neglected, because it excellently expresses the character of the Church: as though it had been said that the saints are united in the fellowship of Christ on this condition, that whatever benefits God confers upon them, they should mutually communicate to each other. This destroys not the diversity of grace, for we know that the gifts of the Spirit are variously distributed; nor does it disturb the order of civil polity, which secures to every individual the exclusive enjoyment of his property, as it is necessary for the preservation of the peace of society that men should have peculiar and distinct possessions. But the community asserted is such as Luke describes, that " the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul:"(ƒ) and Paul when he exhorts the Ephesians to be "one body, and one Spirit, even as they were called in one hope." (g) Nor is it possible, if they are truly persuaded that God is a common Father to them all, and Christ their common head, but that being united in brotherly affection, they should mutually communicate their advantages to each other. Now it highly concerns us to know what benefit we receive from this. For we believe the Church, in order to have a certain assurance

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(e) Rom. xi. 4. 1 Kings xix. 18.

(f) Acts iv. 32.

(8) Ephes. iv. 4.

that we are members of it. For thus our salvation rests on firm and solid foundations, so that it cannot fall into ruin, though the whole fabric of the world should be dissolved. First, It is founded on the election of God, and can be liable to no variation or failure, but with the subversion of his eternal Providence. In the next place, it is united with the stability of Christ, who will no more suffer his faithful peo ple to be severed from him, than his members to be torn in pieces. Besides, we are certain as long as we continue in the bosom of Church, that we shall remain in possession of the truth. Lastly, we understand these promises to belong to us; "In mount Zion shall be deliverance.” (h) "God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved." (i) Such is the effect of union with the Church, that it retains us in the fellowship of God. The very word communion likewise contains abundant consolation; for while it is certain that whatever the Lord confers upon his members and ours belong to us, our hope is confirmed by all the benefits which they en joy. But in order to embrace the unity of the Church in this manner, it is unnecessary as we have observed, to see the Church with our eyes, or feel it with our hands: on the contrary, from its being an object of faith we are taught that it is no less to be considered as existing, when it escapes our observation, than if it were evident to our eyes. Nor is our faith the worse, because it acknowledges the Church which we do not fully comprehend; for we are not commanded here to distinguish the reprobate from the elect, which is not our province, but that of God alone; we are only required to be assured in our minds, that all those who by the mercy of God the Father, through the efficacious influence of the Holy Spirit, have attained to the participation of Christ, are separated as the peculiar possession and portion of God; and that being numbered among them, we are partakers of such great grace.

IV. But as our present design is to treat of the visible Church, we may learn even from the title of mother, how useful and even necessary it is for us to know her; since

(h) Joel ii. 32. Obad. 17. VOL. III.

B

(i) Psalm xlvi. 5.