Section 18 of Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 2, by John Calvin Translated by Henry Beverage, Chapter 8, Part 5 Ninth Commandment Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Forty-seven The purport of the commandment is, since God who is truth abhors falsehood, we must cultivate and fend truth towards each other. The sum, therefore, will be that we must not by calamities and false accusations injure our neighbor's name or by falsehood impair his fortunes in fine that we must not injure anyone from petulance or a love of evil speaking. To this prohibition corresponds to command that we must faithfully assist everyone, as far as in us lies, in asserting the truth for the maintenance of his good name in his estate. The Lord seems to have intended to explain the commandment in these words. Thou shalt not raise a false report, put not thine hand with a wicked to be an unrighteous witness, keep thee far from a false matter. Exodus, Chapter 23, Verses 1 & 7 In another passage, he not only prohibits that species of falsehood which consists in acting the part of tailbearers among the people, but says, neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor. Leviticus, Chapter 19, Verse 16 Both transgressions are distinctly prohibited. Indeed, there can be no doubt that as in the previous commandment, he prohibited cruelty and chastity and avarice, so here he prohibits falsehood which consists of the two parts to which we have adverted. By malignant or vicious detraction, we sin against our neighbor's good name, by lying, sometimes even by casting a solar upon him who injure him in his estate. It makes no difference whether you suppose that formal and judicial testimony is here intended or the ordinary testimony which is given in private conversation. For we must always record at the consideration that for each kind of transgression, one species is set forth by way of example, that to it the others may be referred and that the species chiefly selected is that in which the terpitude of the transgression is most apparent. It seems proper, however, to extend it more generally to calamny and sinister insinuations by which our neighbors aren't justly aggrieved. For falsehood in a court of justice is always accompanied with perjury, but against perjury insofar as it profanes and violates the name of God, there's a sufficient provision in the third commandment. Hence the legitimate observance of this precept consists in employing the tongue in the maintenance of truth so as to promote both the good name and the prosperity of our neighbor. The equity of this is perfectly clear. For if a good name is more precious than riches, a man in being robbed of his good name is no less injured than if he were robbed of his goods. While in the latter case, false testimony is sometimes not less injurious than rapine committed by the hand. 48. And yet it is strange with what supine security men everywhere seen in this respect. Indeed, for if you are found who do not notoriously labor under this disease, such is the envenomed delight we take both in prying into and exposing our neighbor's faults. Let us not imagine it is a sufficient excuse to say that on many occasions, our statements are not false. He who forbids us to defame our neighbor's reputation by falsehood desires us to keep it untarnished insofar as truth would permit. Though the commandment is only directed against falsehood, it intimates that the preservation of our neighbor's good name is recommended. It ought to be a sufficient inducement to us to guard our neighbor's good name that God takes an interest in it. Wherefore, evil speaking in general is undoubtedly condemned. Moreover, by evil speaking, we understand not the rebuke which is administered with a view of correcting, not accusation or judicial decision by which evil is sought to be remedied, not public censure which tends to strike terror into other offenders, not a disclosure made to those whose safety depends on being for one, lest and aware as they should be brought into danger, but the odious discrimination which springs from a malicious and petulant love of slander. Nay, the commandment extends so far as to include that scurrilous, affected urbanity, instinct with invective by which the failings of others under an appearance of sportiveness are bitterly assailed, as some are wont to do, though it should call forth a blush or inflict a bitter pang. By petulance of this description, a breath-renner sometimes grievously wounded, but if we turn our eye to the law-giver whose just authority extends over the ears and the mind as well as the tongue, we cannot fail to perceive that eagerness to listen to slander and an unbecoming proness to send so-used judgments are here forbidden. It were absurd to suppose that God hates the disease and yet is approved of its malignity in the mind. Therefore, if the true fear and love of God dwell in us, we must endeavor as far as is lawful and expedient and as far as charity admits neither to listen nor give utterance to bitter and acrimonious charges, nor rashly entertain sinister suspicions.  49. The purport is since the Lord would have the whole soul prevaded with love, any feeling of an adverse nature must be banished from our minds. And from therefore will be that no thought be permitted to insinuate itself into our minds and inhale them with a noxious concupiscence tending to our neighbor's loss. To this corresponds the contrary precept that everything which be conceived, deliberate, will, or design be conjoint with a good and advantage of our neighbor. But here it seems we are met with a great and perplexing difficulty, for if it was correctly said above Last and an intention to injure and deceive are prohibited, it may seem superfluous afterwards to employ a separate commandment to prohibit a covetous desire of our neighbor's goods. The difficulty will easily be removed by distinguishing between design and covetousness. Design, such as we have spoken of in the previous commandments, is a deliberate consent of the will after passion has taken possession of the mind. And righteousness may exist without such deliberation and assent when the mind is only stimulated and tickled by vain and perverse objects. As, therefore, the Lord previously ordered that charity should regulate our wishes, studies, and actions, so He now orders us to regulate the thoughts of the mind in the same way that none of them may be depraved and distorted so as to give the mind a contrary bent. Having forbidden us to turn and incline our mind to wrath, adultery, theft, and falsehood, He now forbids us to give our thoughts the same direction. Fifty Nor is such rectitude demanded without reason. For who can deny the propriety of occupying all the powers of the mind with charity? If it ceases to have charity for its aim, who can question that it is deceased? How comes if that so many desires of a nature hurtful to your brother enter your mind, but just because is regarding him, you think only of yourself? For your mind wholly imbued with charity, no portion of it would remain for the entrance of such thoughts. In so far, therefore, as the mind is devoid of charity, it must be under the influence of concupiscence. Someone will object at those fancies which casually rise up in the mind and forthwith vanish away, cannot properly be condemned as concupiscences which have their seat in the heart. I answer that the question here relates to a description of fancies which while they present themselves to our thoughts at the same time impress and stimulate the mind with cupidity, since the mind never thinks of making some choice, but the heart is excited and tends towards it. God therefore commands a strong and ardent affection an affection not to be impeded by any portion, however minute of concupiscence. Here requires a mind so admirably arranged as not to be prompted in the slightest degree contrary to the law of love. Lest you should imagine that this view is not supported by any grave authority, I may mention that it was first suggested to me by Augustine. But although it was the intention of God to prohibit every kind of perverse desire, he, by way of example, sets before us those objects which are generally regarded as most attractive, thus leaving no room for cupidity of any kind by the interdiction of those things in which it especially delights and loves to revel. Such then is the second table of the law in which we are sufficiently instructed in the duties which we ought to man for the sake of God on a consideration of whose nature the whole system of love is founded. It were vain, therefore, to inculcate the various duties without placing your instructions on the fear and reverence to God as their proper foundation. I need not tell the considerate reader that those who make two precepts out of the prohibition of covetousness perversely split one thing into two. There is nothing in the repetition of the words thou shalt not covet. The house being first put down, its different parts are afterwards enumerated beginning with the wife as it is clear that the whole ought to be read consecutively as is properly done by the Jews. The sum of the whole commandment therefore is that whatever each individual possesses remain entire and secure not only from injury or the wish to injure but also from the slightest feeling of covetousness which can spring up in the mind. 51. It will not now be difficult to ascertain the general end by the whole law namely the fulfillment of righteousness that man may form his life on the model of the divine purity. For therein God has so delineated his own character that anyone exhibiting in action what is commanded would in some measure exhibit a living image of God. Wherefore Moses when he wished to fix a summary of the whole in the memory of the Israelites thus addressed them what does the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I command thee this day for thy good. Jutronomy chapter 10 verses 12 and 13 and he sees not to reiterate the same thing Today's the doctrine of the law pays so much regard that it connects man by holiness of life with his God and as Moses elsewhere expresses it Jutronomy chapter 6 verse 5 and chapter 11 verse 13 and makes him cleave to him.  First our mind must be completely filled with love to God and then this love must forthwith flow out toward our neighbor. This the apostle shows when he says the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and of faith and faint. First Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 You see that conscience and faith and faint are placed at the head in other words through piety and that from this charity is derived. It is a mistake then to suppose that merely the rudiments and first principles of righteousness are delivered in the law to form as it were a kind of introduction to good works and not to guide to the perfect performance of them. For complete perfection nothing more can be required than is expressed in these passages of Moses and Paul. How far pray would he wish to go who is not satisfied with the instruction which directs man to the fear of God to spiritual worship practical obedience in fine purity of conscience faith and faint and charity. This confirms that interpretation of the law which searches out and finds in its precepts all the duties of piety and charity. Those who merely search for dry and meager elements as if it taught the will of God only by halves by no means understand its end the apostle being witness. 52 As in giving a summary of the law Christ and the apostles sometimes omit the first table very many fall into the mistake of supposing that their words apply to both tables. In Matthew Christ calls judgment mercy and faith at great ear matters of the law. I think it clear that by faith is herement veracity towards men but in order to extend the words to the whole law some take it for piety towards God. This is surely to no purpose. For Christ is speaking of those works by which a man ought to approve himself as just. If we attend to this we will cease to wonder why a young man what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life he simply answers that he must keep the commandments thou shalt do no murder thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness honor thy father and thy mother and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Matthew chapter 19 verse 16 and 18 For the obedience of the first table is said almost entirely either in the internal affection of the heart or in ceremonies. The affection of the heart was not visible and hypocrites were diligent in the observance of ceremonies but the works of charity were of such a nature as to be a solid attestation of righteousness. The same thing occurs frequently in the prophets that it must be familiar to everyone who has any tolerable acquaintance with them. For almost on every occasion when resort men to repentance omitting the first table they insist on faith, judgment, mercy, and equity. Nor do they in this way omit the fear of God. They only require a serious proof of it from its signs. It is well known indeed that when they treat of the law they generally insist on the second table because therein the cultivation of righteousness and integrity is best manifested. There is no occasion to quote passages everyone can easily for himself perceive the truth of my observation. 53. Is it then true you will ask that it is a more complete summary of righteousness to live innocently with men and piously towards God? By no means. But because no man, as a matter of course observes charity in all respects unless he seriously fear God such observance is a proof of piety also. To this we may add that the Lord well knowing that none of our good deeds can reach him as the Psalmist declares Psalm chapter 16 verse 2 does not demand from us duties towards himself but exercises us in good works towards our neighbor. Hence the apostle, not without cause, makes the whole perfection of the saints to consist in charity. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 19 and Colossians chapter 3 verse 14 and in another passage he not improperly calls it the fulfilling of the law adding that he that love with another has fulfilled the law Romans chapter 13 verse 8 and again all the law is fulfilled in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself Galatians chapter 5 verse 14 for this is the very thing which Christ himself teaches when he says all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you do you even so to them for this is the law and the prophets Matthew chapter 7 verse 12 it is certain that in the law and the prophets faith in whatever pertains to the do worship of God holds the first place and that this charity is made subordinate but our Lord means that in the law the observance of men is prescribed as the means which we are to employ in testifying a pious fear of God if we truly possess it 54 let us therefore hold that our life will be framed in best accordance with the will of God and the requirements of his law when it is in every respect most advantageous to our brethren but in the whole law there is not one syllable which lays down a rule as to what man is to do for the advantage of his own carnal nature and indeed since men are naturally prone to excessive self-love which they always retain how great so-ever their departure from the truth may be there was no need of a law to inflame a love already existing in excess hence it is perfectly plain that the observance of the commandments consists not in the love of ourselves but in the love of God in our neighbors it's the best and holiest life who as little as may be studies and lives for himself and that none lives worse and more unrighteously than he who studies and lives only for himself and seeks and thinks only of his own nay the better to express how strongly we should be inclined to love our neighbor the Lord has made self-love as it were the standard there being no feeling in our nature of greater strength and vehemence the force of the expression ought to be carefully weighed for he does not as some sophists have stupidly dreamed assign the first place to self-love and the second to charity he rather transfers to others the love which we naturally feel for ourselves hence the apostle declares that charity seeketh not her own first Corinthians chapter 13 first five noise the argument worth a straw that the thing regulated must always be inferior to the rule the Lord did not make self-love the rule as if love towards others was subordinate to it but whereas through natural poverty the feeling of love usually rests on ourselves he shows that it ought to diffuse itself in another direction that we should be prepared to do good to our neighbor with no less alacrity, ardor and solicitude than to ourselves 55 our savior having shown in the parable of the Samaritan Luke chapter 10 verse 36 that the term neighbor comprehends the most remote stranger there is no reason for limiting the precept of love to our own connections I deny not that the closer the relation the more frequent our offices of kindness should be for the condition of humanity requires that there be more duties in common between those who are more newly connected by the ties of relationship or friendship or neighborhood and this is done without any offense to God by whose providence we are in a manner impelled to do it but I say that the whole human race without exception are to be embraced with one feeling of charity that here there is no distinction of Greek or barbarian worthy or unworthy friend or foe since all are to be viewed not in themselves but in God if we turn aside from this view there is no wonder that we entangle ourselves in error wherefore if we would hold the true course in love our first step must be to turn our eyes not to man the sight of whom might afterner produce hatred and love but to God who requires that the love which we bear to him be diffused among all mankind so that our fundamental principle must ever be that a man be what he may still to be loved because God is loved 56 wherefore nothing could be more pestilential than the ignorance o wickedness of the school men in converting the precepts respecting revenge and the love of enemies precepts which had formerly been delivered to all the Jews and were then delivered universally to all Christians into councils which it was free to obey or disobey the ordinary observance of them to the monks who were made more righteous than ordinary Christians by the simple circumstance of voluntarily binding themselves to obey councils the reason they assigned for not receiving them as loss is that they seem too heavy and burdensome especially to Christians who are under the law of grace have they indeed the hardyhood to remodel their eternal law of God concerning the love of our neighbor is there a page of the law in which any such distinction exists or rather do we not meet in every page with commands which in the strictest terms require us to love our enemies what is meant by commanding us to feed our enemy if he is hungry to bring back his ox or his ass if we meet it going astray or help it up if we see it lying under its burden Proverbs chapter 25 verse 21 and Exodus chapter 23 verse 4 shall we show kindness to cattle for man's sake and have no feeling of goodwill to himself what is not the word of the Lord eternally true vengeance is mine, I will repay jitoronomy chapter 32 verse 35 this is elsewhere more explicitly stated thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18 and what pray is meant by the following passage which they have dared to insult with this absurd gloss love your enemies, bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven who does not here concur in the reasoning of Chrysostom that the nature of the motive makes it plain that these are not exhortations but precepts for what is left to us if we are excluded from the number of the children of God and coming to the school men monks alone will be the children of our father in heaven monks alone will there to invoke God as their father and in the meantime how will it fare with the church by the same rule she will be confined to heathens and publicans for our savior says if you love them which love you what reward have you do not even the publicans the same it will truly be well with us Christians while we are deprived of the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven nor is the argument of Augustin less forcible when the lord forbids adultery he forbids it in regard to the wife of a foe not less than the wife of a friend when he forbids theft he does not allow stealing of any description whether from a friend or an enemy now these two commandments thou shalt not steal thou shalt not commit adultery paul brings under the rule of love nay, he says that they are briefly comprehended in this saying thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself romance chapter 13 verse 9 therefore paul must either be a false interpreter of the law or we must necessarily conclude that under this precept we are bound to love our enemies just as our friends those then show themselves to be the children of satan who thus licentiously shake off a yoke common to the children of god it may be doubted whether in promulgating this dogma they have displayed greater stupidity or impudence there is no ancient writer who does not hold it ascertain that these are pure precepts it was not even doubted in the age of Gregory at his plane from his decided assertion for he holds it to be incontrovertible that they are precepts and how stupidly they argue the burden say they were too difficult for Christians to hear as if anything could be imagined more difficult than to love the lord with all the heart and soul and strength compared with this law there is none which may not seem easy whether it be to love our enemy or to banish every feeling of revenge from our minds to our weakness indeed everything even to the minuteest detail of the law is arduous and difficult in the lord we have strength it is his to give what he orders and to order what he wills that Christians are under the law of grace means not that they are to wonder unrestrained without law but that they are engrafted into Christ by whose grace they are freed from the curse of the law and by whose spirit they have the law written in their hearts this grace Paul has termed but not in the proper sense of the term a law alluding to the law of God with which he was contrasting it the school men laying hold of the term law make it the groundwork of their vain speculations 58 the same must be said of their application of the term venial seam both to the hidden impiety which violates the first table and the direct transgression of the last commandment of the second table they defined venial seam to be desire unaccompanied with deliberate ascent and not remaining long in the heart but I maintain that it cannot even enter the heart unless through a want of those things which are required in the law we are forbidden to have strange gods when the mind under the influence of distrust looks elsewhere or is seized with some sudden desire to transfer its blessedness to some other quarter these are these movements however evanescent but just because there is some empty corner in the soul to receive such temptations and not to lengthen out the discussion there is a precept to love God with a whole heart and mind and soul and therefore if all the powers of the soul are not directed to the love of God there is a departure from the obedience of the law because those internal enemies which rise up against the dominion of God and counterman his edicts prove that his throne is not well established in our consciences it has been shown that the last commandment goes to this extent has some undo longing sprung up in our mind then we are chargeable with covetousness and stand convicted as transgressors of the law for the law forbids us not only to meditate and plan our neighbors laws but to be stimulated and inflamed with covetousness but every transgression of the law lays us under the curse and therefore even the slightest desires cannot be exempted from the fatal sentence in weighing our sins says Augustine that does not use a deceitful balance weighing at our own discretion what we will and how we will calling this heavy and that light but let us use the divine balance of the holy scriptures as taken from the treasury of the Lord and by it weigh every offense nay, not weigh but rather recognize what has been already weighed by the Lord and what set the scripture certainly when Paul says that the wages of sin is death Romans chapter 6 verse 23 he shows that he knew nothing of this vile distinction as we are but too prone to hypocrisy there was very little occasion for this up to soothe corporate consciences 59 I wish they would consider what our savior meant when he said whosoever shall break one of this list commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven Matthew chapter 5 verse 19 are they not of this number when they presumed to extenuate the transgression of the law as if it were unworthy of death the proper being to consider not simply what is commanded but who it is that commands because every list transgression of his law derogates from his authority today counted a small matter to insult the majesty of God in any one respect again since God has explained his will in the law everything contrary to the law is displeasing to him will they feign that the wrath of God is so disarmed that the punishment of death follow upon it he has declared plainly if they could be induced to listen to his voice instead of darkening his clear truth by their insipid subtleties the soul that seen it it shall die Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 20 again in the passage lately quoted the wages of sin is death what this men acknowledge to be seen because they are unable to deny it they contend is not mortal having already indulged this madness too long let them learn to repent or if they persist in their infatuation taking no further notice of them let the children of God remember that all sin is mortal because it is rebellion against the will of God and necessarily provokes his anger and because it is a violation of the law against every violation of which without exception the judgment of God has been pronounced the faults of the saints are indeed vinyal not however in their own nature but because through the mercy of God they obtain pardon end of section 18 recording by shenna ser fresno california section 19 of institutes of the christian religion book 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org institutes of the christian religion book 2 by john calvin translated by henry beverage chapter 9 christ though known to the jews under the law yet only manifested under the gospel there are three principal heads in this chapter one preparatory to a consideration of the knowledge of christ and the benefits procured by him the first and second sections are occupied with the dispensation of this knowledge which after the manifestation of christ in the flesh was more clearly revealed than under the law 2 a refutation of the profane dream of servetus that the promises are entirely abrogated section 3 likewise a refutation of those who do not properly compare the law with the gospel section 4 3 a necessary and brief exposition of the ministry of john baptist which occupies an intermediate place between the law and the gospel sections 1 the holy fathers under the law saw the day of christ though obscurely he is more fully revealed to us under the gospel a reason for this confirmed by the testimony of christ and his apostles 2 3 the notion of servetus that the promises are entirely abolished refuted why we must still trust to the promises of god another reason solution of a difficulty 4 refutation of those who do not properly compare the law to the promises of god another reason solution of a difficulty refutation of those who do not properly compare the law and the gospel answer to certain questions here occurring the law and the gospel briefly compared 5 third part of the chapter of the ministry of john the baptist 1 since god was pleased and not in vain to testify in ancient times by means of expiations and sacrifices that he was a father and to set apart for himself a chosen people he was doubtless known even then in the same character in which he is now fully revealed to us accordingly malakai having enjoined the jews to attend to the law of moses because after his death there was to be an interruption of the prophetical office immediately after declares that the son of righteousness should arise malakai 4 2 that though the law had the effect of keeping the pious in expectation of the coming messiah there was ground to hope for much greater light on his advent for this reason peter speaking of the ancient prophets says quote unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the holy ghost sent down from heaven verse peter 1 12 not that the prophetical doctrine was useless to the ancient people or unavailing to the prophets themselves but that they did not obtain possession of the treasure which God has transmitted to us by their hands the grace of which they testified is now set familiarly before our eyes they had only a slight foretaste to us is given a fuller fruition our savior accordingly while he declares that moses testified to him extols the superior measure of grace bestowed upon us john 5 46 addressing his disciples he says quote blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear for verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them 16 luke 10 23 it is no small commendation of the gospel revelation that God has preferred us to holy men of old so much distinguished for piety there is nothing in this view inconsistent with another passage in which our savior says quote your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he sighed and was glad john 8 56 for though the event being remote his view of it was obscure he had full assurance that it would one day be accomplished and hence the joy which the holy patriarch experienced even to his death nor does john baptist when he says no man has seen God at any time the only begotten son which is in the bosom of the father he has declared him john 118 exclude the pious who had previously died from a participation in the knowledge and light which are manifested in the person of Christ but comparing their condition with ours he intimates that the mysteries which they only be held dimly under shadows are made clear to us as is well explained by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews in these words quote God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets has in these past days spoken unto us by his son Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2 hence although this only begotten son who is now to us the brightness of his fathers glory and the express image of his person was formerly made known to the Jews as we have elsewhere shown from Paul that he was the deliverer under the old dispensation it is nevertheless true as Paul himself elsewhere declares that quote God commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Corinthians 4-6 because when he appeared in this his image he in a manner made himself visible his previous appearance having been shadowy and obscure more shameful and more detestable therefore is the ingratitude of those who walk blindfold in this meridian light accordingly Paul says that quote the God of this world has blinded their minds lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them 2 Corinthians 4-4 2 by the gospel I understand the clear manifestation of the mystery of Christ I confess indeed that in as much as the term gospel is applied by Paul to the doctrine of faith 2 Timothy 4-10 it includes all the promises by which God reconciles men to himself and which occur throughout the law for Paul there opposes faith to those terrors which vex and torment the conscience when salvation is sought by means of works hence it follows that gospel taken in a large sense comprehends the evidences of mercy and paternal favor which God bestowed on the patriarchs still by way of excellence is applied to the promulgation of the grace manifested in Christ this is not only founded on general use but has the sanction of our savior and his apostles hence it is described as one of his peculiar characteristics that he preached the gospel of the kingdom Matthew 4-23 935 Mark 1-14 Mark in his preface to the gospel calls it quote the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ end quote there is no use of collecting passages to prove what is already perfectly known Christ at his advent quote brought life and immortality to light through the gospel 2 Timothy 1-10 Paul does not mean by these words that the fathers were plunged in the darkness of death before the son of God became incarnate but he claims for the gospel the honorable distinction of being a new and extraordinary end of embassy by which God fulfilled what he had promised these promises being realized in the person of the son for though believers have at all times experience the truth of Paul's declaration that quote all the promises of God in him are yay and amen end quote in as much as these promises were sealed upon their hearts yet because he has in his flesh completed all the parts of our salvation this vivid manifestation of realities was justly entitled to this new and special distinction accordingly Christ says quote hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man end quote for though he seems to allude to the latter which the patriarch Jacob saw in vision he commends the excellence of his advent in this that it opened the gate of heaven and gave us your access to it three here we must guard against the diabolical imagination of servetus who from a wish or at least the pretence of a wish to extol the greatness of Christ abolishes the promises entirely as if they had come to an end at the same time with the law he pretends that by the faith of the gospel all the promises have been fulfilled as if there was no distinction between Christ I lately observed that Christ had not left any part of our salvation incomplete but from this it is erroneously inferred that we are now put in possession of all the blessings purchased by him thereby implying that Paul was incorrect in saying quote we are saved by hope Romans 3 24 I admit indeed that by believing in Christ we pass from death unto life at the same time remember the words of John that though we know we are the sons of God quote it does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1st John 3 2 therefore although Christ offers us in the gospel a present fullness of spiritual blessings fruition remains in the keeping of hope until we are divested and transformed into the glory of him who has gone before us meanwhile in leaning on the promises we obey the command of the Holy Spirit whose authority ought to have weight enough with us to silence all the barkings of that impure dog we have it on the testimony of Paul that quote godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1st Timothy 8 for which reason he glories in being quote an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus 2 Timothy 1 1 and he elsewhere reminds us that we have the same promises which were given to the saints in ancient time 2 Corinthians 7 1 in fine he makes the sum of our felicity consist in being sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise 3 we have no enjoyment of Christ unless by embracing him as clothed with his own promises hence it is that he indeed dwells in our hearts and yet we are as pilgrims in regard to him because quote we walk by faith not by sight 2 Corinthians 5 6 and 7 there is no inconsistency in the two things that is that in Christ we possess everything pertaining to the perfection of life and yet that faith is only a vision quote of things not seen Hebrews 11 verse 1 only there is this difference to be observed in the nature or quality of the promises that the gospel points with the finger to what the law shadowed under types 4 hence also we see the error of those who in comparing the law with the gospel represented merely as a comparison between the merit of works and the gratuitous imputation of righteousness the contrast thus made is by no means to be rejected because by the term law Paul frequently understands that rule of holy living in which God exacts what is his do giving no hope of life unless we obey in every respect and on the other hand denouncing a curse for the slightest failure really accepted of God and accounted righteous by being pardoned because that obedience of the law to which the reward is promised is nowhere to be found hence he appropriately represents the righteousness of the law and the gospel as opposed to each other but the gospel has not succeeded the whole law in such a sense as to introduce a different method of salvation it rather confirms the law and proves that everything promised is fulfilled what was shadow it has made substance when Christ says that the law and the prophets were until John he does not consign the fathers to the curse which as the slaves of the law they could not escape he intimates that they were only imbued with the rudiments and remained far beneath the height of the gospel doctrine accordingly Paul after calling the gospel quote the power that unto salvation of everyone that believe it end quote shortly after ads that it was quote witnessed by the law and the prophets Romans 116.321 and in the end of the same epistle though he describes quote the preaching of Jesus Christ end quote as quote the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began end quote he modifies the expression by adding that it is quote now made manifest by the scriptures of the prophets Romans 16 25 and 26 hence we infer that when the whole law is spoken of the gospel differs from it only in respect of clearness of manifestation still on account of the inestimable riches of grace set before us in Christ there is good reason for saying that by his advent the kingdom of heaven was erected on the earth Matthew 12 verse 28 5 John stands between the law and the gospel holding an intermediate office allied to both for though he gave a summary of the gospel when he pronounced Christ to be quote the Lamb of God who take it away the sin of the world end quote yet in as much as he did not unfold the incomparable power and glory which shown forth in his resurrection Christ says that he was not equal to the apostles for this is the meaning of the words quote among them that are born of woman there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist not withstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he Matthew 11 verse 28 he is not there commending the persons of men but after preferring John to all the prophets he gives the first place to the preaching of the gospel which is elsewhere designated by the kingdom of heaven when John himself in answer to the Jews says that he is only quote a voice John 1 verse 23 as if he were inferior to the prophets it is not inpretended humility but he means to teach that the proper embassy was not entrusted to him that he only performed the office of a messenger as had been foretold by Malachi quote behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord Malachi 4 5 and indeed during the whole course of his ministry he did nothing more than prepare disciples for Christ he even proves from Isaiah that this was the office to which he was divinely appointed in this sense he is said by Christ to have been quote a burning and a shining light 35 because full day had not yet appeared and yet this does not prevent us from classing him among the preachers of the gospel since he used the same baptism which was afterwards committed to the apostles still however he only began that which had freer course under the apostles after Christ was taken up into the heavenly glory end of section 19 section 20 of institutes of the Christian religion book 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org institutes of the Christian religion book 2 by John Calvin translated by Henry beverage chapter 10 part 1 the resemblance between the old testament and the new chapter consists of 4 parts 1 the sum, utility and necessity of this discussion section 1 2 a proof that generally speaking the old and new dispensations are in reality one although differently administered 3 points in which the two dispensations entirely agree sections 2 through 4 3 the old testament as well as the new had regard to the hope of immortality and a future life whence two other resemblances or points of agreement follow that is, that both were established by the free mercy of God and confirmed by the intercession of Christ this proved by many arguments passages of scripture and examples sections 5 through 23 4 conclusion of the whole chapter certain passages of scripture are produced refutation of the cavals of the sagices and other Jews sections 1 introduction showing the necessity of proving the similarity of both dispensations in opposition to servetus and the anabaptists 2 this similarity in general both covenants truly one though differently administered 3 things in which they entirely agree 3 first general similarity or agreement that is, that the old testament equally with the new extended its promises beyond the present life and held out a sure hope of immortality reason for this resemblance objection answered 4 the other two points of resemblance that is, that both covenants were established in the mercy of God and confirmed by the mediation of Christ 5 the first of these points of resemblance being the foundation of the other two a lengthened proof is given of it the first argument taken from a passage in which Paul showing that the sacraments of both dispensations had the same meaning proves that the condition of the ancient church was similar to ours 6 an objection from John 6 verse 49 that is, that the Israelites ate manna in the wilderness and are dead whereas Christians eat the flesh of Christ and die not answer reconciling this passage of the evangelist with that of the apostle 7 another proof from the law and the prophets that is, the power of the divine word in quickening souls before Christ was manifested hence the believing Jews were raised to the hope of eternal life 8 third proof from the form of the covenant which shows that it was in reality one both before and after the manifestation of Christ in the flesh 9 confirmation of the former proof from the clear terms in which the form is expressed another confirmation derived from the former and from the nature of God 10 fourth proof from examples Adam, Abel and Noah when tried with various temptations neglecting the present aspired with living faith and invincible hope to a better life they therefore had the same aim as believers under the gospel 11 continuation of the fourth proof from the example of Abraham whose call and whole course of life shows that he ardently aspired to eternal felicity objection disposed up 12 continuation of the fourth proof from the examples of Isaac and Jacob 13 conclusion of the fourth proof Adam, Abel, Noah Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others under the law looked for the fulfillment of the divine promises not on the earth but in heaven hence they termed this life an earthly pilgrimage and desired to be buried in the land of Canaan which was a figure of eternal happiness 14 a fifth proof from Jacob's earnestness to obtain the birthright this shows a prevailing desire of future life this perceived in some degree by Balaam 15 a sixth proof from David who expects such great things from the Lord and yet declares the present life to be mere vanity 16 a seventh proof also from David his descriptions of the happiness of believers could only be realized in a future state 17 an eighth proof of the common feeling and confession of all the pious who sought by faith and hope to obtain in heaven what they did not see in the present shadowy life 18 a continuation and confirmation of the former proof from the exaltation of the righteous even amid the destruction of the world 19 a ninth proof from Job who spoke most distinctly of this hope 20 a tenth proof from the later prophets who taught that the happiness of the righteous was placed beyond the limits of the present life 21 this clearly established by Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones and a passage in Isaiah 22 a tenth proof from certain passages in the prophets which clearly show the future immortality of the righteous in the kingdom of heaven 23 conclusion of the whole discussion concerning the similarity of both dispensations for fuller confirmation four passages of scripture produced refutation of the error of the sagices and other Jews who denied eternal salvation and the sure hope of the church 1 from what has been said above it must now be clear that all whom from the beginning of the world got adopted as his peculiar people were taken into covenant with him on the same conditions and under the same bond of doctrine as ourselves but as it is of no small importance to establish this point I will hear at it by way of appendix and show since the fathers were partakers with us in the same inheritance and hoped for a common salvation through the grace of the same mediator how far their condition in this respect was different from our own for although the passages which we have collected from the law and the prophets for the purpose of proof make it plain that there was never any other rule of piety and religion among the people of God yet as many things are written on the subject of the difference between the Old and New Testaments it will be proper here to devote a special place to the better and more exact discussion of this subject this discussion which would have been most useful at any rate has been rendered necessary by that monstrous miscreant Servetus and some mad men of the sect of the Anabaptists who think of the people Israel just as they would do of some herd of swine absurdly imagining that the Lord gorged them and gave them no hope of a blessed immortality let us guard pious minds against this pestilental error while we at the same time remove all the difficulties which are want to start up when mention is made of the difference between the Old and New Testaments by the way also let us consider what resemblance and what difference there is between the covenant which the Lord made with the Israelites which he has made with us now that Christ is manifested two it is possible indeed to explain both in one word the covenant made with all the fathers is so far from differing from ours in reality and substance that it is all together one in the same still the administration differs but because this brief summary is insufficient to give anyone a full understanding of the subject or explanation to be useful must extend to greater length it were superfluous however in showing the similarity or rather identity of the two dispensations again to treat of the particulars which have already been discussed as it were unseasonable to introduce those which are still to be considered elsewhere what we propose to insist upon here may be reduced to three heads first that temporal opulence and felicity was not the goal to which the Jews were invited to aspire but that they were admitted to the hope of immortality and that assurance of this adoption was given by immediate communications by the law and the prophets secondly that the covenant by which they were reconciled to the Lord was founded on no merits of their own but solely on the mercy of God who called them and thirdly had and knew Christ the mediator by whom they were united to God and made capable of receiving His promises the second of these as it is not yet perhaps sufficiently understood will be fully considered in its own place for we will prove by many clear passages in the prophets that all which the Lord has ever given or promised to His people is of mere goodness and indulgence the third also has in various places been not obscurely demonstrated even the first has not been left unnoticed three as the first is the most pertinent to the present subject and is most controverted we shall enter more fully into the consideration of it taking care at the same time where any of the others requires explanations to supply it by the way or afterwards added in its proper place the apostle indeed removes all doubt when he says that the gospel which God gave concerning his son Jesus Christ he had promised a foretime by the prophets in the holy scriptures Romans 1,2 and again that the righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets Romans 3,21 for the gospel does not confine the hearts of men to the enjoyment present life but raises them to the hope of immortality does not fix them down to earthly delights but announcing that there is a treasure laid up in heaven carries the heart thither also for in another place he thus explains after that ye believed the gospel ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession Ephesians 1 verses 13 and 14 again since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have to all the saints for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel Colossians 1 verse 4 again where unto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 14 once also it is called the word of salvation and the power of God with salvation to everyone that believes and the kingdom of heaven but if the doctrine of the gospel is spiritual and gives access to the possession of incorruptible life let us not suppose that those to whom it was promised and declared altogether neglected the care of the soul and lived stupidly like cattle in the enjoyment of bodily pleasures let no one hear quibble that the promises concerning the gospel which are contained in the law and the prophets were designed for a new people for Paul shortly after making that statement concerning the gospel promised in the law adds that whatsoever things the law sayeth, it sayeth to those that are under the law I admit indeed he is here treating of a different subject but when he said that everything contained in the law was directed to the Jews he was not so oblivious as not to remember that he had said a few verses before of the gospel promised in the law most clearly therefore does the apostle demonstrate that the Old Testament had special reference to a future life when he says that the promises of the gospel were comprehended under it for in the same way we infer that the Old Testament was both established by the free mercy of God and confirmed by the intercession of Christ for the preaching of the gospel declares nothing more than that sinners without any merit of their own are justified by the paternal indulgence of God it is wholly summed up in Christ who then will presume to represent the Jews as destitute of Christ when we know that they were parties to the gospel covenant which has its only foundation in Christ we will presume to make them aliens to the benefit of gratuitous salvation when we know that they were instructed in the doctrine of justification by faith and not to dwell on a point which is clear we have the remarkable saying of our Lord your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he sighed and was glad John 8 verse 56 what Christ here declares of Abraham an apostle shows to be applicable to all believers when he says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever Hebrews 13 verse 8 for he is not there speaking merely of the eternal divinity of Christ but of his power of which believers had always full proof hence both the blessed virgin and Zechariah in their hymns say that the salvation revealed in Christ was a fulfillment of the mercy promised quote to our fathers to Abraham and to his seed forever end quote Luke 1 verses 55 and 72 if by manifesting Christ the Lord fulfilled his ancient oath it cannot be denied that the subject of that oath must ever have been Christ and eternal life 5 nay the apostle makes the Israelites our equals not only in the grace of the covenant but also in the signification of the sacraments for employing the example of those punishments which the scripture states to have been of old inflicted on the Jews in order to deter the Corinthians from falling into similar wickedness he begins with premising that they have no ground to claim for themselves any privilege which can exempt them from the divine vengeance which overtook the Jews since the Lord not only visited them with the same mercies but also distinguished his grace to them by the same symbols as if he had said if you think you are out of danger because the baptism which you received and the suffer which you daily partake have excellent promises and if in the meantime despising the goodness of God you indulge in licentiousness know that the Jews on whom the Lord inflicted his severest judgments possessed similar symbols they were baptized and passing through the sea which protected them from the burning heat of the sun it is said that this passage was a carnal baptism corresponding in some degree to our spiritual baptism but if so there would be a want of conclusiveness in the argument of the apostle whose object is to prevent Christians from imagining that they excelled the Jews in the matter of baptism besides the cavalry cannot apply to what immediately follows we did quote I'll eat the same spiritual meat and did I'll drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ 1 Corinthians 10, 3 and 4 6. to take off the force of this passage of Paul and objection is founded on the words of our savior your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead at this bread he shall live forever John 6 verses 49 and 51 there is no difficulty in reconciling the two passages the Lord as he was addressing hearers who only desired to be filled with earthly food while they cared not for the true food of the soul in some degree adapts his speech to their capacity and in particular to meet their carnal view draws a comparison between manna and body they called upon him to prove his authority by performing some miracle such as Moses performed in the wilderness when he obtained manna from heaven in this manna they saw nothing but a relief of the bodily hunger from which the people were then suffering they did not penetrate to the sublimar mystery to which Paul refers Christ therefore to demonstrate that the blessing which they ought to expect from him than the lauded one which Moses had bestowed upon their fathers draws this comparison if in your opinion it was a great and memorable miracle when the Lord by Moses supplied his people with heavenly food that they might be supported for a season and not perish in the wilderness from famine from this infer how much more excellent is the food which bestows immortality we see why our Lord omitted to mention what was of principle virtue in the manna and mentioned only its meanest use since the Jews had as it were by way of upgrading cast up Moses to him as one who had relieved the necessity of the people by means of manna he answers that he was the minister of a much larger grace one compared with which the bodily nourishment of the people on which they set so high a value ought to be held worthless Paul again knowing that the Lord when he rained manna from heaven had not merely supplied their bodies with food but had also dispensed it as containing a spiritual mystery to typify the spiritual quickening which is obtained in Christ does not overlook that quality which was most deserving of consideration wherefore it is surely and clearly proved that the same promises of celestial and eternal life which the Lord now gives to us were not only communicated to the Jews but also sealed by truly spiritual sacraments this subject is copiously discussed by Augustine in his work against Faustus the Manachee seven but if my readers would rather have passages quoted from the law and the prophets from which they may see as we have already done from Christ in the apostles that the spiritual covenant was common also to the fathers and the more willingly because opponents will thus be more surely convinced that henceforth there will be no room for evasion and I will begin with a proof which though I know it will seem futile and almost ridiculous to supercilious anabaptists will have very great weight with the docile and sober-minded I take it for granted that the word of God has such an inherent efficacy that it quickens the souls of all who are pleased to favor with the communication of it Peter's statement has ever been true that it is an incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth forever 1 Peter 1 verse 23 as he infers from the words of Isaiah Isaiah 40 verse 6 now when God in ancient times found the Jews to him by the sacred bond there cannot be a doubt that he separated them unto the hope of eternal life when I say that they embraced the word which brought them nearer to God I refer not to that general method of communication which is diffused through heaven and earth and all creatures of the world and which though it quickens all things each according to its nature rescues none from the bondage of corruption I refer to that special mode of communication by which the minds of the pious are both enlightened in the knowledge of God and in a manner linked to him Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham and the other patriarchs having been united to God by this illumination of the word I say there cannot be the least doubt that entrance was given them into the immortal kingdom of God they had that solid participation in God which cannot exist without the blessing of everlasting life 8 if the point still seems somewhat involved let us pass to the form of the covenant which will not only satisfy calm thinkers but sufficiently establish the ignorance of gainsayers the covenant which God always made with his servants was this I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall be my people Leviticus 26 verse 12 these words even as the prophets are want to expound them comprehend life and salvation and the whole sum of blessedness for David repeatedly declares and with good reason happy is that people whose God is the Lord blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance Psalm 144 verse 15 and 33 verse 12 and this not merely in respect of earthly happiness but because he rescues from death constantly preserves and with eternal mercy visits those whom he has adopted for his people as is said in other prophets art not thou from everlasting O Lord my God, mine holy one we shall not die the Lord is our judge the Lord is our law giver the Lord is our king, he will save us happy art thou, O Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord Habakkik 1 verse 12 Isaiah 33 verse 22 Deuteronomy 33 verse 29 but not to labor superfluously the prophets are constantly reminding us that no good thing and consequently no assurance of salvation is wanting provided the Lord is our God and justly for if his face the moment it hath shown upon us is a perfect pledge of salvation how can he manifest himself to anyone as his God without opening to him the treasures of salvation the terms on which God makes himself ours is to dwell in the midst of us as he declared by Moses Leviticus 26 verse 11 but such presence cannot be enjoyed without life being at the same time possessed along with it and though nothing more had been expressed they had a sufficiently clear promise of spiritual life in these words I am your God Exodus 6 verse 7 for he declared that he would be a God not to their bodies only but specially to their souls souls however if not united to God by righteousness remain estranged from him in death on the other hand that union wherever it exists will bring perpetual salvation with it 9 to this we may add that he not only declared he was but also promised that he would be their God this their hope was extended beyond present good and stretched forward into eternity moreover that this observance of the future had the effect appears from the many passages in which the faithful console themselves not only in their present evils but also for the future by calling to mind that God was never to desert them moreover in regard to the second part of the promise that is the blessing of God extending beyond the limits of the present life was still more clearly confirmed by the words I will be the God of your seed after you Genesis 17 verse 7 if he was to manifest his favor to the dead by doing good to their posterity much less would he deny his favor to themselves God is not like men who transfer their love to the children of their friends because the opportunity of bestowing kind offices as they wished upon themselves is interrupted by death but God whose kindness is not impeded by death does not deprive the dead of the benefit of his mercy which on their account he continues to a thousand generations God therefore was pleased to give a striking proof of the abundance and greatness of his goodness which they were to enjoy after death when he described it as overflowing to all their posterity verse 6 the truth of this promise was sealed and in a manner completed when long after the death of Abraham Isaac and Jacob he called himself their God Exodus 20 verse 6 and why? was not the name absurd if they had perished it would have been just the same as if he had said I am the God of men who exist not accordingly the evangelists relate that by this very argument our savior refuted the Sadducees Matthew 22 verse 23 and Luke 20 verse 32 who were therefore unable to deny that the resurrection of the dead was attested by Moses in as much as he had taught them that all the saints are in his hand Deuteronomy 33 verse 3 once it is easy to infer that death is not the extinction of those who are taken under the tutelage of friendship and protection of him who is the disposer of life and death 10 let us now see and on this the controversy principally turns whether or not believers themselves were so instructed by the Lord as to feel that they had elsewhere a better life and to aspire to it while disregarding the present first the mode of life which heaven had imposed upon them made it a constant exercise which they were reminded that if in this world only they had hope they were of all men the most miserable Adam most unhappy even in the mere remembrance of his last felicity with difficulty supplies his wants by anxious labors and that the divine curse might not be restricted to bodily labor his only remaining solace becomes a source of the deepest grief of two sons the one is torn from him by a suicidal hand of his brother while the other who survives causes detestation and horror by his very look Abel cruelly murdered in the very flower of his days is an example of the calamity which had come upon man while the whole world are securely living in luxury Noah with much fatigue spends a great part of his life in building an ark he escapes death but by greater death's could have given besides his ten months residence in the ark as in a kind of sepulcher nothing could have been more unpleasant than to have remained so long pent up among the filth of beasts after escaping these difficulties he falls into a new cause of sorrow he sees himself mocked by his own son and is forced with his own mouth to curse one whom by the great kindness of God he had received safe from the deluge 11 Abraham alone ought to be to us equal to tens of thousands if we consider his faith which is set before us as the best model of believing to whose race also we must be held to belong in order that we may be the children of God what could be more absurd than that Abraham should be the father of all the faithful and not even occupy the meanest corner among them cannot be denied a place in the list nay, he cannot be denied one of the most honorable places in it without the destruction of the whole church now as regards his experience in life the moment he is called by the command of God he is torn away from friends parents and country objects in which the chief happiness of life is deemed to consist as if it had been the fixed purpose of the lord to deprive him of all the sources no sooner does he enter the land in which he was ordered to dwell when he is driven from it by famine in the country to which he retires to obtain relief he is obliged for his personal safety to expose his wife to prostitution this must have been more bitter than many deaths after returning to the land of his habitation he is again expelled by famine what is the happiness of inhabiting a land where you must so often suffer from hunger nay, perish from famine unless you flee from it then again with abimalak he is reduced to the same necessity of saving his head by the loss of his wife Genesis 12 verse 12 while he wanders up and down uncertain for many years he is compelled by the constant quarreling of servants to part with his nephew who was to him as a son this departure must doubtless have cost him a paying something like the cutting off of a limb shortly after he learns that his nephew was carried off captive by the enemy wherever he goes he meets with savage hearted neighbors who will not even allow him to drink of the wells which he has dug with great labor for he would not have purchased the use from the king of Garar if he had not been previously prohibited at the verge of life he sees himself childless the bitterest and most unpleasant feeling to old age until beyond expectation Ishmael is born and yet he pays dearly for his birth in the reproaches of Sarah as if he was the cause of domestic disturbance by encouraging the contumacy of a female slave at length Isaac is born but in return the first born Ishmael is displaced hostilely driven forth and abandoned Isaac remains alone and the good man now worn out with age has his heart upon him when shortly after he is ordered to offer him up in sacrifice what can the human mind conceive more dreadful than for the father to be the murderer of his son had he been carried off by disease who would not have thought the old man much to be pitied in having a son given to him in mockery and in having his grief for being childless doubled to him had he been slain by some stranger this would indeed have been much worse than natural death but all these calamities are little compared with the murder of him by his father's hand thus in fine during the whole course of his life he was harassed and tossed in such a way that any one desirous to give a picture of a calamitous life could not find one more appropriate let it not be said that he was not so very distressed because he at length escaped from all these tempests he is not said to enjoy a happy life who after infinite difficulties during a long period at last laboriously works out his escape but he who calmly enjoys present blessings without any alloy of suffering end of section 20 section 21 of institutes of the Christian religion book 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org institutes of the Christian religion book 2 by John Calvin translated by Henry Beverage chapter 10 part 2 12 Isaac is less afflicted but he enjoys very few of the sweet of life he also meets with those vexations which do not permit a man to be happy on the earth famine drives him from the land of Canaan his wife is torn from his bosom his neighbors are ever and a non annoying in vexing him in all kinds of ways so that he is even obliged to fight for water at home he suffers great annoyance from his daughters in law he is stung by the dissension of his sons no other cure for this great evil than to send the son whom he had blessed into exile Genesis 26 verse 27 Jacob again is nothing but a striking example of the greatest wretchedness his boyhood is passed most uncomfortably at home amidst the threats and alarms of his elder brother and to these he is at length forced to give way Genesis 27 verse 28 a fugitive from his parents and his native soil in addition to the hardships of exile the treatment he receives from his uncle Laban is in no respect milder and more humane Genesis 29 as if it had been little to spend seven years of hard and rigorous servitude he is cheated in the matter of a wife for the sake of another wife he must undergo a new servitude during which as he himself complains the heat of the sun scorches him by day while in frost and cold he spends the sleepless night Genesis 31 verses 40 and 41 for twenty years he spends this bitter life and daily suffers new injuries from his father-in-law nor is he quiet at home which he sees disturbed and almost broken up by the hatreds, quarrels and jealousies of his wives when he is ordered to return to his native land to take his departure in a manner resembling an ignominious flight even then he is unable to escape the injustice of his father-in-law but in the midst of his journey is assailed by him with contumely and reproach Genesis 31 verse 20 by and by a much greater difficulty befalls him Genesis 32 and 33 for as he approaches his brother he has as many forms of death in prospect hence while waiting for his arrival he is distracted and excruciated by direful terrors and when he comes into his sight he falls at his feet like one half dead until he perceives him to be more placable than he had ventured to hope moreover when he first enters the land he is bereaved of Rachel his only beloved wife afterwards he hears that the son whom she has borne him and whom he loved more than all his other children is devoured by a wild beast Genesis 37 verse 33 how deep the sorrow caused by his death he himself evences when after long tears he obstinately refuses to be comforted declaring that he will go down to the grave to his son morning in the meantime what vexation anxiety and grief must he have received ating off and dishonor of his daughter and the cruel revenge of his sons which not only brought him into bad odor with all the inhabitants of the country but exposed him to the greatest danger of extermination Genesis 34 then follows the horrid wickedness of Rubin his first born wickedness than which none could be committed more grievous Genesis 36 verse 22 the dishonor of a wife or the greatest of calamities what must be said when the atrocity is perpetrated by a son sometime after the family is again polluted with incest Genesis 38 verse 18 all these disgraces might have crushed a mind otherwise the most firm and unbroken by misfortune towards the end of his life when he seeks relief for himself and his family from famine he is struck by the announcement of a new misfortune that one of his sons is detained in prison and that to recover him he must entrust to others his dearly beloved Benjamin Genesis 42 and 43 who can think that in such a series of misfortunes one moment was given him in which he could breathe secure accordingly his own best witness he declares to Pharaoh quote few and evil have the days of the years of my life bin end quote verse 47 verse 9 in declaring that he had spent his life in constant wretchedness he denies that he had experienced the prosperity which had been promised him by the Lord Jacob therefore either formed a malignant and ungrateful estimate of the Lord's favor or he truly declared that he had lived miserable on the earth if so it follows that his hope could not have been fixed on earthly objects 13 if these holy patriarchs expected a happy life from the hand of God and it is indubitable that they did they viewed and contemplated a different happiness from that of a terrestrial life this is admirably shown by an apostle quote by faith he Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac the heirs with him of the same promise for he looked for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God end quote these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country if they had been mindful of that country from once they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned but now they desire a better country that is and heavenly where for God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city end quote Hebrews 11 verses 9 10 at 13 through 16 they had been duller than blocks in so pertinaciously pursuing promises of which appeared upon the earth if they had not expected their completion elsewhere the thing which the apostle specially urges and not without reason is that they called this world a pilgrimage as Moses also relates Genesis 47 verse 9 if they were pilgrims and strangers in the land of Canaan where is the promise of the Lord which appointed them heirs of it it is clear therefore that the promise of possession that they had received looked farther hence they did not require a foot-breadth in the land of Canaan except for suppulture thus testifying that they hoped not to receive the benefit of the promise until after death and this is the reason why Jacob set so much value on being buried there that he took Joseph found by oath to see it done and why Joseph wished that his bones should some ages later folded into dust be carried thither Genesis 47 verse 29 and 30 and chapter 50 verse 25 14 in short it is manifest that in the whole course of their lives they had an eye to future blessedness why should Jacob have aspired so earnestly to primogeniture and intrigued for it at so much risk if it was to bring him only exile and destitution and no good at all unless he looked to some higher blessing and that this was his feeling he declared in one of the last sentences he uttered I have waited for thy salvation oh God Genesis 49 verse 18 what salvation could he have waited for when he felt himself breathing his last if he did not see in death the beginning of a new life and why talk of saints and the children of God in one who otherwise strove to resist the truth was not devoid of some similar impression for what did Balaam mean when he said let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his numbers 23 verse 10 unless he felt convinced of what David afterward declares precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints Psalm 116 verse 15 and chapter 34 verse 12 if death were the goal and the ultimate limit no distinction could be observed between the righteous and the wicked the true distinction is the different lot which awaits them after death 15 we have not yet come farther down than the books of Moses whose only office according to our opponents was to induce the people to worship God by setting before them the fertility of the land and its general abundance and yet to everyone who does not voluntarily shun the light there is clear evidence of a spiritual covenant but if we come down to the prophets the kingdom of Christ and eternal life are there exhibited in the fullest splendor first David as earlier in time in accordance with the order of the divine procedure spoke of heavenly mysteries more obscurely than they and yet with what clearness and certainty does he point to it in all he says the value he put upon his earthly habitation is attested by these words quote I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my fathers were verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity surely every man walketh in a vain show and now Lord what wait I for my hope is in thee Psalm 39 verse 12 5 6 and 7 he who confesses that there is nothing solid or stable on the earth and yet firmly retains his hope in God undoubtedly contemplates a happiness reserved for him elsewhere to this contemplation he is want to invite believers whenever he would have them to be truly comforted or in another passages after speaking of human life as a fleeting and evanescent show he adds quote the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him Psalm 103 verse 17 to this there is a corresponding passage in another Psalm quote of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure, yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end the children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee end quote Psalm 102 verses 25 to 28 if not withstanding of the destruction of the heavens and the earth the godly cease not to be established before God it follows that their salvation is connected with his eternity but this hope could have no existence if it did not lean upon the promise as expounded by Isaiah quote the heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the earth shall wax old like a garment and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner but my salvation shall be forever and my righteousness shall not be abolished end quote Isaiah 51 verse 6 perpetuity is here attributed to righteousness and salvation but as they are experienced by men 16 nor can those things which are everywhere said as to the prosperous success of believers be understood in any other sense than as referring to the manifestation of celestial glory of this nature are the following passages quote he preserve at the souls of his saints he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked light is for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart end quote his righteousness endureth forever his horn shall be exalted with honor the desire of the wicked shall perish end quote surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name the upright shall dwell in thy presence end quote the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance end quote the Lord redeemeth soul of his servants end quote but the Lord often leaves his servants not only to be annoyed by the violence of the wicked but to be lacerated and destroyed allows the good to languish in obscurity and squalid poverty while the ungodly shine forth as it were among the stars and even by withdrawing the light of his countenance does not leave them lasting joy wherefore David by no means in fact that if believers fix their eyes on the present condition of the world they will be grievously tempted to believe that with God integrity has neither favor nor reward so much does impiety prosper and flourish while the godly are oppressed with ignominy, poverty, contempt and every kind of cross the psalmist says quote I saw the prosperity of the wicked end quote at length after a statement of the case he concludes quote when I thought to know this it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I their end end quote Psalm 73 verses 2 3 16 and 17 17 therefore even from this confession of David let us learn holy fathers under the Old Testament were not ignorant that in this world God seldom or never gives his servants the fulfillment of what has promised them and therefore has directed their minds to his sanctuary where the blessings not exhibited in the present shadowy life are treasured up for them this sanctuary was the final judgment of God which as they could not at all discerned by the eye they were contented to apprehend by faith inspired with this confidence they doubted not that whatever might happen in the world a time would at length arrive when the divine promises would be fulfilled this is attested by such expressions as these quote as for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness end quote Psalm 17 verse 15 quote I am like a green olive tree in the house of God end quote Psalm 52 verse 8 again quote the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God they shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing end quote Psalm 92 verses 12 to 14 he had exclaimed a little before quote oh Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep end quote when the wicked spring as the grass and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroyed forever end quote where was this splendor and beauty of the righteous unless when the appearance of this world was changed by the manifestation of the heavenly kingdom lifting their eyes to the eternal world they despised the momentary hardships and calamities of the present life and confidently broke out into these exclamations quote he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved but thou, oh God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days end quote Psalm 55 verses 22 and 23 where in this world is there a pit of eternal destruction to swallow up the wicked of whose happiness it is elsewhere said quote they spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave end quote where on the other hand is the great stability of the saints who as David complains were not only disturbed but everywhere utterly bruised and depressed it is here he set before his eyes not merely the unstable vicissitudes of the world, tossed like a troubled sea but what the Lord is to do when he shall one day sit to fix the eternal constitution of heaven and earth as he in another place elegantly describes quote they that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him end quote for he sees that wise men die likewise the fool perish, person perish and leave their wealth to others their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever and their dwelling places to all generations they call their lands after their own names nevertheless man being in honor abideth not he is like the beasts that perish this their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings like sheep they are laid in the grave shall feed on them and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling end quote Psalm 49 verses 6 7 10 to 14 by this derision of the foolish for resting satisfied with the slippery and fickle pleasures of the world he shows that the wise must seek for a very different felicity but he more clearly unfolds when he sets up a kingdom to the righteous after the wicked are cast down and destroyed for what pray are we to understand by the morning unless it be the revelation of a new life commencing when the present comes to an end 18 hence the consideration which believers employed as a solace for their sufferings and a remedy for their patience quote his anger endureth but a moment at his life Psalm 30 verse 5 how did their afflictions which continued almost throughout the whole course of life terminate in a moment where did they see the long duration of the divine benignity of which they had only the slightest taste had they clung to earth they could have found nothing of the kind but looking to heaven they saw that the period during which the Lord afflicted his saints was but a moment that the mercies with which he gathers them are everlasting on the other hand they foresaw that for the wicked who only dreamed of happiness for a day there was reserved an eternal and never ending destruction hence those expressions the memory of the just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot Proverbs 10 verse 7 precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints Psalm 116 verse 15 when in Samuel the Lord will keep the feet of his saints and the wicked shall be silent in darkness first Samuel 2 verse 9 showing they know well that however much the righteous might be tossed about their latter end was life and peace that how pleasant so ever the delights of the wicked they gradually lead down to the chambers of death they accordingly designated the death of such persons as the death quote of the that is persons cut off from the hope of resurrection Ezekiel 28 verse 10 and chapter 31 verse 18 hence David could not imagine a greater curse than this quote let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous end quote Psalm 69 verse 28 19 the most remarkable passage of all is that of Job quote I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall be hold and not another end quote Job 19 verses 25 to 27 those who would make a display of their acuteness pretend that these words are to be understood not of the last resurrection but of the day when Job expected that God would deal more gently with him granting that this is partially meant we shall however compel them whether they will or not to admit that Job never could have attained to such fullness of hope if his thoughts had risen no higher than the earth it must therefore be confessed that he who saw that the redeemer would be present with him when lying in the grave must have raised eyes to a future immortality to those who think only of the present life death is the extremity of despair but it could not destroy the hope of Job though he slay me said he yet will I trust in him Job 13 verse 15 let no trifler here burst in with the objection that these are the sayings of a few and do not by any means prove that there was such a doctrine among the Jews to this my instant answer is that these few did not in such passages give utterance to some hidden wisdom to which only distinguished individuals were admitted privately and apart from others but that having been appointed by the Holy Spirit to be teachers of the people they openly promulgated the mysteries of God which all in common behaved to learn as the principles of public religion when therefore we hear that those passages in which the Holy Spirit spoke so distinctly and clearly of the spiritual life were public oracles in the Jewish church it were intolerably perverse to confine them entirely to a carnal covenant relating merely to the earth and earthly riches 20 when we descend to the latter prophets we have it in our power to expatiate freely as in our own field if when David, Job and Samuel the victory was not difficult much easier is it here for the method and economy which God observed in administering the covenant of His mercy was that the nearer the period of its full exhibition approached the greater additions which were daily made to the light of revelation accordingly at the beginning when the first promise of salvation was given to Adam Genesis 3 verse 15 only a few slender sparks beamed forth additions being afterwards made a greater degree of light began to be displayed and continued gradually to increase and shine with greater brightness until at length all the clouds being dispersed Christ the Son of Righteousness arose and with full refulgence illumined all the earth Malachi chapter 4 in appealing to the prophets therefore we can have no fear of any deficiency of proof but as I see an immense mass of materials which would occupy us much longer than compatible with the nature of our present work the subject indeed would require a large volume and as I trust that by what has already been said I have paved the way so that every reader of the very least discernment may proceed without stumbling I will avoid a prolixity for which at present there is little necessity only reminding my readers to facilitate the entrance by means of the key which was formerly put into their hands namely that whenever the prophets make mention of the happiness of believers a happiness of which scarcely any vestiges are discernible in the present life they must have recourse to this distinction that the better to commend the divine goodness to the people they used temporal blessings as a kind of linements to shadow it forth and yet gave such a portrait lift their minds above the earth the elements of this world and all that will perish and compel them to think of the blessedness of a future and spiritual life 21 One example will suffice when the Israelites were carried away to Babylon their dispersion seemed to be the next thing to death and they could scarcely be dissuaded from thinking that Ezekiel's prophecy of their restoration Ezekiel 37 verse 4 was a mere fable because it seemed to them the same thing as if he had prophesied that putrid carcasses could be raised to life the Lord in order to show that even in that case there was nothing to prevent him from making room for his kindness set before the prophet in vision a field covered with dry bones to which by the mere power of his word he in one moment restored life and strength the vision served indeed but it also reminded them how much farther the power of the Lord extended than to the bringing back of the people since by a single nod it could so easily give life to dry scattered bones wherefore the passage may be fitly compared with one in Isaiah quote thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead come my people enter thou into my chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpassed for behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain end quote Isaiah 26 verses 19 to 21 22 it were absurd however to interpret all the passages on a similar principle for there are several which point without any veil to the future immortality which awaits believers in the kingdom of heaven some of them we have already quoted and there are many others but especially the following two the one is in Isaiah quote as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me say at the Lord so shall your seed and your name remain and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me say at the Lord and they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me for their worms shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched and they shall be in abhorring unto all flesh end quote Isaiah 66 verses 22 to 24 the other passage is in Daniel quote at that time shall Michael stand up the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as there never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered everyone shall be found written in the book and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt end quote Daniel chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 23 improving the two remaining points that is that the patriarchs had Christ as the pledge of their covenant and placed all their hope of blessing in him as they are clearer and not so much controverted I will be less particular Let us then lay it down confidently as a truth which no engines of the devil can destroy that the Old Testament or covenant which the Lord made with the people of Israel was not confined to earthly objects but contained a promise of spiritual and eternal life the expectation of which behaved to be impressed on the minds of all who truly consented to the covenant Let us put far from us the senseless and pernicious notion that the Lord proposed nothing to the Jews or that they sought nothing but full supplies of food carnal delights, abundance of wealth, external influence a numerous offspring and all those things which our animal nature deems valuable for even now the only kingdom of heaven which our Lord Jesus Christ promises to His followers is one in which they may sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Matthew 8 verse 11 and Peter declared of the Jews of his day that they were heirs of the gospel grace because they were the sons of the prophets and comprehended in the covenant which the Lord of old made with his people Acts 3 verse 25 and that this might not be attested by words merely our Lord also approved it by act Matthew 27 verse 52 at the moment when he rose again to make many of the saints partakers of his resurrection and allowed them to be seen in the city thus giving a sure earnest that everything which he did and suffered in the purchase of eternal salvation belonged to believers under the Old Testament just as much as to us Indeed as Peter testifies they were endued with the same spirit of faith by which we are regenerated to life Acts 15 verse 8 when we hear that that spirit which is as it were a kind of spark of immortality in us whence it is called the earnest of our inheritance Ephesians 1 verse 14 dwelt in like manner in them how can we presume to deny them the inheritance hence it is the more wonderful how the Sadducees of old fell into such a degree of sadishness as to deny both the resurrection and the substantive existence of spirits both of which were attested to them by so many striking passages of scripture nor would the stupidity of the whole nation in the present day in expecting an earthly reign of the Messiah be less wonderful had not the scriptures foretold this long before as the punishment which they were to suffer for rejecting the gospel God by a just judgment blinding minds which voluntarily invite darkness by rejecting the offered light of heaven they read and are constantly turning over the pages of Moses but a veil prevents them from seeing the light which beams forth in his countenance 2 Corinthians 3 verse 14 and thus to them he will remain covered and veiled until they are converted to Christ between whom and Moses they now study as much as in them lies to maintain a separation End of section 21