Van Mastricht volume 2: Faith in the Triune God now available for preorder.

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Regi Addictissimus

Completely sold out to the King
Good evening. I wanted to give everyone a quick heads up. Today we launched the preorder for Petrus Van Mastricht's Theoretical-Practical Theology, Volume 2: Faith in the Triune God. He begins with a section on "Saving Faith" and then transitions into a penetrating exposition of Theology Proper.

http://bit.ly/vanmas2
 
Last edited:
It is good to see that it comes in at 700 pages long, which means that we are getting good value for money. Will there be a pre-order option on Amazon UK?
 
It is at the printer now. Lord willing, we will release it next month.

That's good. It should say something to that effect on the pre-order page at the website, so people will know, when they pre-order, at least an approximate date when the book will be published. No indication now.
 
It is good to see that it comes in at 700 pages long, which means that we are getting good value for money. Will there be a pre-order option on Amazon UK?
Amazon is a different entity. They purchase books from us and then run preorders. It is out of our control whether or not they will do this. You will get a better price through us rather than Amazon.
 
That's good. It should say something to that effect on the pre-order page at the website, so people will know, when they pre-order, at least an approximate date when the book will be published. No indication now.
Thank you for your feedback. We have a general release date added. This could easily change as the printing process takes quite a bit of time for hardcovers.
 
We just received our pallettes of Van Mastricht volume two. Some expressed questions and concerns about the size of the books. Volume two is substantially larger than volume one. I took some photos to show the size difference. I can post the table of contents if anyone is interested.
 

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We just received our pallettes of Van Mastricht volume two. Some expressed questions and concerns about the size of the books. Volume two is substantially larger than volume one. I took some photos to show the size difference. I can post the table of contents if anyone is interested.

Table of contents please!
 
I have a limited budget so struggling to know what to buy as a priority - either Van Mastricht (which I am certain will be excellent) or Vos' Reformed Dogmatics. Any guidance? What do you think Lane? @greenbaggins [I do have Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics].
 
Stephen, Stephen, why do you do this to me? That's like asking whether you should buy flour or potatoes. Those are two of the very best ST's ever written. Vos, I suppose, has the somewhat arbitrary benefit of being complete. Other than that, you can't possibly go wrong with either one.
 
Stephen, Stephen, why do you do this to me?
The budget is tight so I have to chose between two very good alternatives :)
That's like asking whether you should buy flour or potatoes.
I am a diabetic. Flour and potatoes are both high in carbohydrates so I cannot have much of them :) You may need to change the illustration :)
Those are two of the very best ST's ever written
Yes. I was aware that Van Mastricht was highly recommended by Edwards as an outstading work. But then Vos wrote about 150 years later so I did wonder if it was theologically a little more up to date?
 
Excuse the formatting. It did not transfer well from the pdf to here. Either way, here you go:


Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxi
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxvii
Part One, Continued
PROLEGOMENA AND FAITH
Book Two: Faith in the Triune God
Chapter 1: Saving Faith
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of John 1:11–12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Dogmatic Part
III. The definition of saving faith is constructed from the text. . . . . . . . . 5
IV. The etymology of the word fides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
V. The distributions of faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
VI. Saving faith is an act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
VII. It is an act of the entire rational soul. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
VIII. The act of faith in the intellect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
IX. The act of faith in the will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
X. The act of faith in the affections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
XI. The act of faith is receiving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
XII. What it is to receive Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
XIII. The names given for this receiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
XIV. What the object of saving faith is not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
XV. What then is the object of saving faith?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
XVI. Christ is the object of faith as the Mediator, according
to his threefold office. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
XVII. Specifically, not only as our Redeemer but also as our Lord . . . . . . . 11
XVIII. The saving way of receiving is in this, that it be done with
respect to his prerogative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
vi Contents
XIX. The ends or fruits of faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
XX. The degrees of faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
XXI. The principal cause and origin of faith. The instrumental cause . . . .
The Elenctic Part
XXII. 1. Does saving faith consist only in the assent of the intellect? . . . . . 14
14
XXIII. 2. Is knowledge also included in saving faith? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
XXIV. 3. Does saving faith consist in observing the commands
of Christ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
XXV. 4. Is particular application the very essence of saving faith? . . . . . . . 20
XXVI. Nor does faith consist in trust alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
XXVII. 5. Can divine faith be based on something false? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Practical Part
XXVIII. The first practice concerns unbelief. Its nature in general. . . . . . . . . . 23
XXIX. Its nature in specific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
XXX. The degrees of unbelief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
XXXI. Nine causes of unbelief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
XXXII. The evils of unbelief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
XXXIII. The remedies for unbelief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
XXXIV. The second practice, of exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
XXXV. The things that must be distinguished concerning faith. . . . . . . . . . . 28
XXXVI. Great faith is distinguished from presumption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
XXXVII. Great faith is distinguished from temerity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
XXXVIII. Lesser faith is distinguished from lack of trust and
from common faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
XXXIX. The smallest faith is distinguished: 1. From unbelief;
2. From common faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
XL. 3. From any sort of common faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
XLI. The marks of saving faith: 1. From its parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
XLII. 2. From its object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
XLIII. 3. By its way of receiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
XLIV. The third practice, concerning zeal for faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
XLV. The supports of zeal for faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
XLVI. The fourth practice, concerning the acquiring of faith
The way of creating faith, on God’s part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
XLVII. The way of receiving faith, on our part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
XLVIII. The fifth practice, concerning the preserving of faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
XLIX. The means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
L. The sixth practice, concerning the increasing of faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
LI. Its supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
LII. The signs of increasing or decreasing faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
LIII. The seventh practice, concerning the life of faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Contents vii
LIV. Incitements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
LV. The eighth practice, concerning particular persuasion . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
LVI. The benefits of this persuasion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
LVII. The means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Chapter 2: The Existence and Knowledge of God
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Hebrews 11:6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
The Dogmatic Part
III. It is proved that God exists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
IV. By eight reasons: 1. From the subordination of causes . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
V. 2. From the creation of the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
VI. 3. From the preservation of the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
VII. 4. From the governance of the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
VIII. 5. From the heavens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
IX. 6. From man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
X. 7. From commonwealths and laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
XI. 8. From miracles and predictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
XII. By three kinds of testimony: 1. Conscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
XIII. 2. The world. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
XIV. 3. God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
XV. Several objections to the contrary are resolved. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
XVI. It is proved that the knowledge of God is necessary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
XVII. By reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
XVIII. The nature and character of the knowledge of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
XIX. The means for the knowledge of God: The more general means. . . . 56
XX. Four more specific means. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
The Elenctic Part
XXI. 1. Is it permitted to doubt the existence of God in
any way or for any cause? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
XXII. 2. Are we supplied from the idea of God solid support
for acknowledging and demonstrating the existence of God? . . . . . . 60
The Practical Part
XXIII. The first practice, concerning atheism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
XXIV. First, what atheism is and how many kinds there are . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
XXV. Second, six motives against atheism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
XXVI. Third, the remedies of atheism: Preventative remedies.
The causes of atheism: First, the more general causes. . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
XXVII. Next, four more specific causes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
viii Contents
XXVIII. Five restorative remedies of atheism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
XXIX. The second practice, concerning ignorance of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
XXX. The third practice, concerning the exploration of knowledge . . . . . . 69
XXXI. The fourth practice, concerning zeal for the knowledge
of God, in five particular things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Chapter 3: The Essence and Independence of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Exodus 3:13–14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
First Theorem—The Imperceptibility of the Divine Essence
The Dogmatic Part
III. That the essence of God is imperceptible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
IV. It is proved. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
V. An objection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
VI. The sense of the theorem is explained. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
The Elenctic Part
VII. 1. Do we have a positive concept of the divine essence? . . . . . . . . . . . 77
VIII. 2. Do we have an idea representatively equal to God? . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
IX. 3. Can God be defined? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
X. Three objections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
The Practical Part
XI. The first practice constrains fleshly curiosity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
XII. The second practice encourages modesty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Second Theorem—The Very Essence or Independence of God
The Didactic Part
XIII. God’s essence is that by which he is the absolutely first being. . . . . . 82
XIV. It is proved by the Scriptures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
XV. And by two reasons: 1. The subordination of causes argues
for a first being. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
XVI. 2. Because all the attributes of God are established in
this primacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
XVII. Further explanation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
The Elenctic Part
XVIII. 1. In reference to God, do we use the word essence
accurately enough? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
XIX. 2. Does the essence of God consist in thought alone? . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
XX. The first objection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
XXI. The second objection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Contents ix
XXII. 3. Is God from himself positively? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
XXIII. Three objections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
The Practical Part
XXIV. The first use is for comfort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
XXV. The second use is for rebuking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
XXVI. The third use is for exhortation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Chapter 4: The Names of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Exodus 3:15. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The Dogmatic Part
III. The nature of God is made known to us by his names. . . . . . . . . . . . 97
IV. Does a name properly belong to God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
V. What does a name mean with respect to God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
VI. How many kinds of names of God are there? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
VII. A specific consideration of the divine names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
VIII. What does the name Jehovah include? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
IX. The name Elohim. Where does it come from and what is it? . . . . . . . 102
X. The name God. Where does it come from and what is it? . . . . . . . . . 103
XI. Certain other names of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
The Elenctic Part
XII. 1. Can the name Jehovah be pronounced, or is it
permissible to do so? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
XIII. 2. Is the name Jehovah miraculous? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
XIV. 3. Is the name Jehovah proper to God alone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
XV. 4. Is the name Elohim a name designating only an office
and not the divine essence? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
XVI. 5. Does the name Elohim signify a plurality of persons in God? . . . . 108
The Practical Part
XVII. The first practice, concerning the knowledge of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
XVIII. The second practice, concerning the glorification of God. . . . . . . . . . 110
XIX. The third practice, concerning the profanation of the divine name. . 111
XX. The fourth practice, concerning the sanctification of the
divine name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Chapter 5: The Attributes of God in General
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Exodus 33:18–23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
x
The Dogmatic Part Contents
III. The essence of God is invisible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
IV. The essence of God is made known to us through
his attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
V. How do attributes belong to God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
VI. All the attributes in God denote one most simple act. . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
VII. Ten inferences about attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
VIII. The distribution of the divine attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
IX. The most preeminent distribution of the attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
The Elenctic Part
X. 1. Are the divine attributes something different from
his essence? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
XI. 2. Are only a few attributes necessary to know and believe?. . . . . . . . 123
XII. 3. Should the distribution of the divine attributes into
incommunicable and communicable be accepted? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
The Practical Part
XIII. The practice of the divine attributes. They assist:
1. The knowledge, glorification, and reverence of God . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
XIV. The strengthening of: 2. Other articles of faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
XV. 3. Our faith and confidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
XVI. 4. Our prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
XVII. 5. Certain other virtues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
XVIII. 6. The blessedness which is in communion with God. . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Chapter 6: The Spirituality and Simplicity of God
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of John 4:24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
First Theorem—The Spirituality of God
The Dogmatic Part
III. That God is Spirit: Proved by testimonies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
IV. And by reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
V. In what sense God is Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
VI. What spirits require . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
VII. What qualities follow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
The Elenctic Part
VIII. 1. Is God, properly speaking, a spirit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
IX. 2. Is God a body, complete with human parts? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
X. 3. Does a subtle body belong to God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Contents xi
XI. 4. Can and ought God be represented by images? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
XII. 5. Is it permitted, while praying, to put God before us
under the form of a man? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
The Practical Part
XIII. The first practice teaches us how, while praying and
otherwise, we must think about God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
XIV. The second practice rebukes hypocrites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
XV. The third practice commands us to examine our worship. . . . . . . . . 139
XVI. The fourth practice commands that we devote our spirit
to God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
XVII. The fifth practice concerns the cleansing of our spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
XVIII. The sixth practice, spiritual worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
XIX. The seventh practice, spiritual prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Second Theorem—The Simplicity of God
The Dogmatic Part
XX. Following the spirituality of God is his simplicity.
Scripture teaches it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
XXI. Reason confirms it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
XXII. The simplicity of God excludes composition of five types. . . . . . . . . 144
The Elenctic Part
XXIII. 1. Is God a most simple being? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
XXIV. 2. Is the omnimodal simplicity of God taught in the Scripture? . . . 146
The Practical Part
XXV. 1. The omnimodal simplicity of God discloses to us the
foundation of every perfection in God and of every
imperfection in the creatures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
XXVI. 2. It teaches us to lean in simple rest upon God alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
XXVII. 3. It reminds us that we should attend to divine worship
with a simple heart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
XXVIII. 4. It urges sincerity in our manner of life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
XXIX. 5. It moves us to the study of contentment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Chapter 7: The Immutability of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of James 1:17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
The Dogmatic Part
III. God alone is immutable. It is proved from the Scriptures. . . . . . . . . 155
IV. It is confirmed by reasons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
xii Contents
V. It is explained in regard to different types of change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
The Elenctic Part
VI. 1. Is God immutable in every way? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
VII. 2. If God was incarnated and the divine nature of Christ
suffered, is it not rightly inferred that God is mutable? . . . . . . . . . . . 158
VIII. 3. Is God mutable at least with respect to place? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
The Practical Part
IX. It is profitable: First, for his glorification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
X. 2. For the despising of the creatures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
XI. 3. For the detestation of sin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
XII. 4. For confidence and comfort in any circumstances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
XIII. 5. For fleeing inconstancy and fickleness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
XIV. 6. For the study of constancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Chapter 8: The Unity of God
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Deuteronomy 6:4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
The Dogmatic Part
III. The unity of God is proved: From divine and human testimonies . . 167
IV. From the testimony of nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
V. The nature of the divine unity is explained. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Elenctic Part
VI. 1. What and of what sort was the polytheism of unbelievers,
that is, of the pagans? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
VII. 2. What was the reason for the polytheism of the
ancient heretics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
VIII. 3. What then was the reason for polytheism among the
Tritheists and others? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
IX. 4. What then is the reason for polytheism among the papists? . . . . . 176
X. 5. What then is the reason for polytheism among
the Socinians? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
The Practical Part
XI. Unity makes for: 1. Tranquility of mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
XII. 2. The detesting of idolatry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
XIII. 3. The binding of our whole soul to the one God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
XIV. 4. Zeal for ecclesiastical unity and concord. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Chapter 9: The Infinity and Greatness of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Contents xiii
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Psalm 145:3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
The Dogmatic Part
III. That God alone is infinite: It is proved by testimonies. . . . . . . . . . . . 182
IV. And also by reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
V. What and how manifold is the infinity of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
The Elenctic Part
VI. 1. Is God infinite in every way? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
VII. 2. Is the world infinite, or could it be? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
VIII. 3. Does the infinity of God consist only in the idea that
he thinks all things by one act? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
IX. 4. Is the infinity of God so particular to God that it cannot
be communicated to any creature? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
The Practical Part
X. The infinity of God shapes us: 1. To be modest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
XI. 2. To glorify God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
XII. 3. It wards off all despising of him. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
XIII. 4. It stirs us up to humility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
XIV. 5. It shapes our souls to be great. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Chapter 10: The Immensity and Omnipresence of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Psalm 139:7–11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
The Dogmatic Part
III. God is immense and omnipresent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
IV. It is proved by testimonies: of Scripture, of the Fathers . . . . . . . . . . . 196
V. It is confirmed by reasons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
VI. Its nature is explained. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
VII. And its modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
VIII. And in addition, the different species of the divine presence . . . . . . . 197
The Elenctic Part
IX. 1. Is God, even with reference to his essence, omnipresent? . . . . . . . 198
X. 2. In what order ought the omnipresence of God’s essence,
virtue, and operation be conceived? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
XI. 3. Presupposing the finitude of the world, can we conceive
of the omnipresence of God without the concept of
supra-celestial spaces? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
XII. 4. Are those supra-celestial spaces, with which the divine
omnipresence coexists, true bodies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
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XIII. 5. Does omnipresence belong to the human nature
of Christ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
The Practical Part
XIV. The practice of divine immensity serves:
1. For the consolation of the godly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
XV. 2. For the fear and reverence of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
XVI. 3. Against hypocrisy and for sincerity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
XVII. 4. For zeal in walking with God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Chapter 11: The Eternity of God
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Psalm 90:1–2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
The Dogmatic Part
III. It is proven by the Scriptures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
IV. It is confirmed by reasons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
V. God alone is eternal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
VI. What the word eternity means is explained. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
VII. It is explained with help from the concept of temporal spaces. . . . . . 217
VIII. What the idea itself means is likewise explained. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
IX. God through his eternity coexists immutable with all
types of time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
The Elenctic Part
X. 1. Is eternity such a property of God that belongs to him truly,
and to him alone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
XI. 2. Does succession belong to eternity as it belongs to time? . . . . . . . 219
XII. 3. If there was not anything besides God from eternity,
at least could there have been? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
XIV. 4. Has what existed before the world existed from eternity?1 . . . . . . 223
The Practical Part
XV. The eternity of God: 1. Rouses us to the celebration of God. . . . . . . 225
XVI. 2. It shows us the vanity of all things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
XVII. 3. It offers solace in the face of all evils. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
XVIII. 4. It draws us back from sins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
XIX. 5. It invites us to a zeal for eternal blessedness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Chapter 12: The Life and Immortality of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
1. The original skips §XIII; its numbering is retained for ease of reference.
Contents xv
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of John 5:26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
First Theorem—The Life of God
The Dogmatic Part
III. God lives, and is the source of all life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
IV. Life is attributed to each divine person specifically. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
V. It is proven that life belongs to God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
VI. What is life, and how many types of it are there? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
VII. What sort of life belongs to God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
VIII. How do the life of God and the life of the creatures differ? . . . . . . . 233
IX. How does it agree with the life of the creatures and differ
from the thought of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
The Elenctic Part
X. 1. Is there a god, or ought anything to be held to be a god,
that does not live a rational life? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
XI. 2. Do not those who with religious worship venerate creatures
that are devoid of life have gods who are not living? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
XII. 3. Does the life of God not differ from his intellect and will? . . . . . . 237
XIII. 4. Does the life of God agree with the lives of his creatures in
any other way than in name only? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
The Practical Part
XIV. From the life of God, we are furnished with:
1. An argument for glorification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
XV. 2. An argument for gratitude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
XVI. 3. An argument for rebuke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
XVII. 4. An argument for consolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
XVIII. 5. An argument for living for God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Second Theorem—The Immortality of God
The Dogmatic Part
XIX. It is proved that God is immortal: By the Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
XX. And by seven reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
XXI. It is shown in what manner immortality belongs to
God alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
The Elenctic Part
XXII. The Anthropomorphites, Vorstius, and the Socinians
insult the immortality of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
The Practical Part
XXIII. The immortality of God makes: 1. For God’s glorification. . . . . . . . . 247
XXIV. 2. For our humbling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
xvi Contents
XXV. 3. For the consolation of the godly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
XXVI. 4. For zeal for blessed immortality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Chapter 13: The Intellect, Knowledge, and Wisdom of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Romans 11:33–34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
The Dogmatic Part
III. It is proved that intellect belongs to God:
1. From the Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
IV. 2. From reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
V. What is it to understand in creatures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
VI. What is it to understand in God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
VII. In what sense do ideas belong to God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
VIII. How does an idea differ in God and in the creatures? . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
IX. In God, does the idea exist as one and as manifold? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
X. And insofar as it is manifold, it takes on various names. . . . . . . . . . . 258
XI. The perfection of the divine intellect arises from
five qualities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
XII. The divine intellect considered as an act is called omniscience. . . . . . 260
XIII. The objects of divine omniscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
XIV. Various distributions and denominations of divine knowledge. . . . . 261
XV. Wisdom is the power of the divine intellect and knowledge. . . . . . . 262
XVI. What is the wisdom of God, and to what is it aimed? . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
The Elenctic Part
XVII. 1. Does the knowledge of God extend to each and every thing? . . . . 263
XVIII. 2. Does God understand by reasoning? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
XIX. 3. Concerning free and future contingencies, does God have
only conjectural foreknowledge? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
XX. 4. Besides natural and free knowledge, is there a middle
knowledge in God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
XXI. By what arguments is it toppled? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
XXII. The chief objections in favor of middle knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
XXIII. 5. Is the possibility of things not known by God except
by his decree? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
The Practical Part
XXIV. The practice of divine omniscience:
1. The glorification of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
XXV. 2. The humbling of man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
XXVI. 3. Modesty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Contents xvii
XXVII. 4. Detesting sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
XXVIII. 5. Sincerity in whatever duty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
XXIX. 6. Confidence and consolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
XXX. 7. Zeal for spiritual knowledge and wisdom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Chapter 14: The Truthfulness and Faithfulness of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Romans 3:3–4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
The Dogmatic Part
III. The universal truth and faithfulness of God is proved:
By the Scriptures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
IV. And by three reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
V. What is truth and how many kinds of it are there, in general? . . . . . 282
VI. What is the truth of God and how many kinds of it are there?. . . . . 282
VII. The things contrary to the divine truthfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
The Elenctic Part
VIII. 1. Do the Reformed, by their arguments, undermine
God’s omnimodal truthfulness and teach that God pretends? . . . . . 283
IX. 2. Can the divine faithfulness that is in God, and from that,
the divine faith that is in us, be based on something false?. . . . . . . . . 285
X. 3. Could God deceive if he wanted? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
The Practical Part
XI. Upon the divine truth rests:
1. The infallibility of the divine Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
XII. 2. The solution of faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
XIII. 3. All divine worship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
XIV. 4. Solid consolation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
XV. 5. The avoidance and hatred of sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
XVI. 6. And of false speaking, and so forth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
XVII. 7. Zeal for truthfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Chapter 15: The Will and Affections of God
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Psalm 115:3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
The Dogmatic Part
III. The will of God is affirmed by testimonies:
first of Scripture, then of nature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
IV. What is the human will? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
xviii Contents
V. What then are its acts? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
VI. The object of the will is the good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
VII. To what extent is will not applicable to God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
VIII. What is will in God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
IX. The independence of the divine will. Its four corollaries . . . . . . . . . . 298
X. The simplicity of the divine will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
XI. The immutability of the divine will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
XII. The eternity of the divine will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
XIII. The infinity of the divine will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
XIV. The freedom of the divine will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
XV. Besides indifference, for freedom of the will is
required counsel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
XVI. The efficacy of the divine will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
XVII. What is God’s negative will? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
XVIII. The object of the will is the good. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
XIX. What are the affections in God in general? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
XX. What are they in specific? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
XXI. What is virtue in God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
XXII. The distribution of the divine will: The will of the sign
and will of good pleasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
XXIII. Secret and revealed will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
XXIV. Absolute and conditioned will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
XXV. Decretive and legislative will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
XXVI. The use of this distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
The Elenctic Part
XXVII. 1. Is there such a will in God that depends upon a
condition to be supplied by creatures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
XXVIII. The objections are resolved. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
XXIX. 2. Should the distinction of the divine will into antecedent
and consequent will be sustained? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
XXX. 3. Does God will, by his decretive will, that each and every
person be saved? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
XXXI. 4. Is the will of God the sole cause of every moral good? . . . . . . . . . . 315
XXXII. 5. Do affections properly belong to God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
The Practical Part
XXXIII. The will of God: 1. Is the basis of all Christian practice. . . . . . . . . . . 319
XXXIV. 2. It shows the perfection of the divine authority. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
XXXV. 3. It checks the responses of the flesh in the business of
predestination and of particular redemption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
XXXVI. 4. It represses the will to sin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
XXXVII. 5. It urges the denial of our own will. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Contents xix
XXXVIII. 6. Zeal for fulfilling the divine will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
XXXIX. 7. It particularly shapes us in: Humility, Mercy, Equanimity . . . . . . . 322
XL. 8. Zeal for conforming our will with the divine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
XLI. 9. Consolation and patience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Chapter 16: The Goodness of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Matthew 19:17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
The Dogmatic Part
III. That God is good: It is proved by the Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
IV. It is confirmed by four reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
V. Objections against the goodness of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
VI. What the good is in its idea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
VII. What the goodness of God is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
VIII. The intrinsic or immanent goodness of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
IX. The extrinsic or transferred goodness of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
X. The different ways of communicating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
The Elenctic Part
XI. 1. Are they not raving mad who devise an evil God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
XII. 2. Do they not deny that God is God who do not acknowledge
that he is the highest good? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
XIII. 3. Do they not abuse the divine goodness who from this—
that the one God is called good—strive to deduce that
Christ is not God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
XIV. 4. Does the goodness of God require that he will each and every
person to be saved? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
XV. 5. Do the Reformed, by their doctrine concerning absolute
reprobation and so forth, erode the goodness of God? . . . . . . . . . . . 335
The Practical Part
XVI. The goodness of God stirs us up: 1. To love God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
XVII. 2. To seek every good in God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
XVIII. 3. To seek the remedy of every evil in the goodness of God. . . . . . . . 339
XIX. 4. To acknowledge the wickedness of sin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
XX. 5. To imitation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
XXI. 6. To seek blessedness in God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
XXII. 7. To glorify God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Chapter 17: The Love, Grace, Mercy, Longsuffering, and Clemency of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
xx
The Exegetical Part Contents
II. Exegesis of Exodus 34:6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
The Dogmatic Part
III. That there is in God a certain benevolent and beneficent
propensity toward his creatures. It is proved by
the Scriptures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
IV. It is proved also by reasons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
V. This propensity is declared. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
VI. Love in God: That it is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
VII. What it is. Its three ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
VIII. The objects of divine love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
IX. The threefold love of God toward his creatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
X. The properties of divine love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
XI. Hatred in God: That it is, What it is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
XII. Grace in God: It is proved that it is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
XIII. What it is, as far as the word. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
XIV. What grace is, as far as its substance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
XV. What is universal grace and what sort is it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
XVI. What is common grace and what sort is it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
XVII. What and what sort of grace is proper to the elect? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
XVIII. Things opposed to grace: 1. Nature; 2. Merits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
XIX. 3. Wrath: That it is, What it is, and What sort it is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
XX. That mercy belongs to God is proved: by the Scriptures,
And by reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
XXI. Objections against the mercy of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
XXII. What the mercy of God is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
XXIII. The properties of divine mercy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
XXIV. Opposed to divine mercy in its own way is severity in the
exercise of his judgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
XXV. It is proved that patience and longsuffering belong to God. . . . . . . . 361
XXVI. What patience and longsuffering are and what their acts
are in God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
XXVII. The causes and reasons of the divine longsuffering and patience . . . 362
XXVIII. It is proved that a desire for vengeance belongs to God, from
the Scriptures and from reasons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
XXIX. The clemency of God is proved and explained.
The hardness of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
The Elenctic Part
XXX. 1. Is the love of God alone sufficient for reconciling a sinner,
without any satisfaction of Christ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Contents xxi
XXXI. 2. From the love by which God elects us, is it solidly concluded
that election is from foreseen faith? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
XXXII. 3. Does the saving grace of God extend equally to each
and every person? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
XXXIII. 4. Is at least objective grace universal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
XXXIV. 5. Could someone still unregenerate, by the strength of his
free choice, without grace, not resist the Holy Spirit? . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
XXXV. 6. Do those who suspend election upon foreseen things not
weaken the grace of election? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
XXXVI. 7. Do those who suspend justification on good works not weaken
the grace of justification? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
XXXVII. 8. Do they not abuse the mercy of God who state that not only
all men, but even devils, will at some point be saved? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
The Practical Part
XXXVIII. The practice of this chapter is zeal: 1. For procuring for
ourselves the benevolent and beneficent propensity of God . . . . . . . 376
XXXIX. 2. Zeal for taking heed that we not turn the propensity of
God away and rouse his loathing against us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
XL. 3. Zeal for exploring the propensity of divine love, grace,
and mercy toward us. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
XLI. 4. Zeal for using the propensity of divine love, grace, and so forth . . 380
XLII. 5. Zeal for imitating God’s love, grace, and so forth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
XLIII. 6. Zeal for glorifying and giving thanks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Chapter 18: The Righteousness of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Psalm 119:137. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
The Dogmatic Part
III. That God is righteous in himself and in all his works is proved:
From the Scriptures, and from reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
IV. What righteousness is in general and in specific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
V. What and how manifold the righteousness of God is. . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
VI. The retributive justice of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
VII. Avenging justice is essential to God and its execution is
entirely necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
VIII. The properties of divine justice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
The Elenctic Part
IX. 1. Can righteousness obtain in God, and how? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
xxii Contents
X. 2. Should the government of God be called righteous in
every respect? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
XI. 3. Does all righteousness depend upon the will of God alone? . . . . . 391
XII. 4. Can God, without violation of his righteousness, obligate man
to do impossible things? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
XIII. 5. Is God by his own justice equally bound to reward obedience
and to punish disobedience? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
XIV. 6. Are those sorrowful evils that come upon justified believers
in this life sent to them by the avenging justice of God? . . . . . . . . . . 393
XV. 7. Can God without violation of his justice afflict an
innocent creature? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
XVI. 8. Can God without violation of his justice not punish sin?. . . . . . . . 397
The Practical Part
XVII. The righteousness of God supplies:
1. An argument for glorification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
XVIII. 2. An argument for terror, contrition, and humiliation. . . . . . . . . . . . 401
XIX. 3. It compels us to seek the Christ who satisfied for sin,
to take hold of him, and so forth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
XX. 4. It draws us to the fear and reverence of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
XXI. 5. It draws us back from sins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
XXII. 6. It rouses us to a zeal for righteousness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
XXIII. 7. It consoles us in all adverse circumstances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
Chapter 19: The Holiness of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Leviticus 19:2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
The Dogmatic Part
III. It is proved that God is holy: From the Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
IV. And from reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
V. What holiness is in creatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
VI. What holiness is in God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
VII. God reveals his holiness in various ways. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
VIII. How holiness belongs to God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
The Elenctic Part
IX. 1. Do the titles “Most Holy” and “His Holiness” belong
to any mortal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
X. 2. Does not papal canonization detract from God and
his holiness? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Contents xxiii
XI. 3. Do merits from condignity not detract from the most pure
holiness of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
XII. 4. Does the Reformed religion by its hypotheses erode the holiness
of God by establishing that he is the author of sin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
The Practical Part
XIII. The holiness of God rouses us that: 1. We should strive to
be sanctified by God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
XIV. 2. Having been sanctified, we should sanctify God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
XV. 3. Sanctifying God, we should abhor every profanity. . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
XVI. 4. Abhorring these things, we should pay attention to holiness. . . . . 421
XVII. 5. Let us attentively test our own holiness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
XVIII. 6. It makes for consolation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
XIX. 7. Finally, it makes for the glorification of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Chapter 20: The Authority and Power of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Ephesians 3:20–21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
The Dogmatic Part
III. The infinite power and authority of God is proved:
From the Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
IV. And from reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
V. What the authority of God is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
VI. Its foundation and titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
VII. Its objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
VIII. Its exercise and action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
IX. Its properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
X. What the power of God is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
XI. It extends to all things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
XII. What is the root of impossibility? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
XIII. Absolute and ordained power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
XIV. The properties of divine power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
The Elenctic Part
XV. 1. Is the foundation of divine authority in the eminence
of deity alone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
XVI. 2. Can God through his authority decree unequal things
for equal persons? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
XVII. 3. Can God through his authority punish the sins of parents
in their children? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
XVIII. 4. Does passive power occur in God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
xxiv Contents
XIX. 5. Is the power of God infinite in itself or only with
respect to us? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
XX. 6. Does God will to do anything through his omnipotence
that he does not bring into effect? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
XXI. 7. Can God through his absolute power do
contradictory things? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
XXII. 8. Can God through his power produce a body infinite
in mass? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
XXIII. 9. Can God deceive if he wills? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
XXIV. 10. Can the authority and power of God be communicated to
the creature? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
XXV. 11. Do those who deny that God can make a body infinite and
omnipresent deny or abridge the omnipotence of God? . . . . . . . . . . 446
The Practical Part
XXVI. The authority and power of God: 1. Urges us to acknowledge it,
in particular over ourselves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
XXVII. 2. It forms us to patience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
XXVIII. 3. It forms us to self-denial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
XXIX. It rouses us: 4. To surrender ourselves and our goods to God . . . . . . 449
XXX. 5. To submit ourselves promptly to God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
XXXI. 6. To revere him and flee from our sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
XXXII. 7. To recline upon him . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
XXXIII. 8. To glorify him for his authority and power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
Chapter 21: The All-Sufficiency or Perfection of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Genesis 17:1–2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
The Dogmatic Part
III. The all-sufficiency of God is proved: From the Scriptures. . . . . . . . . 457
IV. And from reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
V. Some objections against the perfection and all-sufficiency of God. . 458
VI. The nature of perfection and divine sufficiency is explained. . . . . . . 459
VII. His perfection and all-sufficiency results: From all his perfections. . 460
VIII. From the Trinity of persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
The Elenctic Part
IX. 1. Do the Socinians by their hypotheses not thus effectively take
away the omnimodal perfection and all-sufficiency of God? . . . . . . . 461
X. 2. Do the Pelagians and semi-Pelagians deride and undermine
the perfection and all-sufficiency of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Contents xxv
The Practical Part
XI. The perfection and all-sufficiency of God: 1. Convinces us
of the vanity of all things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
XII. 2. It comforts us in all adversities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
XIII. 3. It rebukes those who in practice neglect the all-sufficiency
of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
XIV. 4. It awakens a zeal for various virtues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
XV. 5. It draws us to walk with God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
XVI. 6. It inflames us with zeal for covenanting with God. . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
XVII. 7. It provides an example that we should imitate:
His perfection, His sufficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Chapter 22: The Majesty and Glory of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Isaiah 42:8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
The Dogmatic Part
III. The majesty and glory of God is proved: From the Scriptures . . . . . 472
IV. And from reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
V. Four ingredients of the divine glory are enumerated:
1. The infinite eminence of his essence and attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
VI. 2. The brightness of this eminence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
VII. 3. The recognition and estimation of the same. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
VIII. 4. The celebration or manifestation of the same. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
IX. The celebration of God is chiefly accomplished by
religious worship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
The Elenctic Part
X. 1. Do the Socinians not by their hypotheses weaken and
obscure the glory of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
XI. 2. Do the Pelagians, ancient and modern, by their opinions not
attack and obscure the glory of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
XII. 3. Do the Romanists, against the command of God, not give
the glory of God to another, and his praise to graven images? . . . . . 476
XIII. 4. Do the Lutherans by their hypotheses not erode the
glory of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
The Practical Part
XIV. The majesty and glory of God: 1. Shapes us for humility. . . . . . . . . . 479
XV. 2. It draws us back from any profaning of the divine glory. . . . . . . . . 479
XVI. 3. It calls us to the glorification of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
XVII. 4. It shows in what way we must strive for glory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
xxvi Contents
XVIII. 5. It stirs up our appetite for eternal glory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
XIX. 6. It offers solace in whatever disgrace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
Chapter 23: The Blessedness of God
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Psalm 16:11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
The Dogmatic Part
III. It is proved that God is blessed and the source of all blessedness:
From the Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
IV. And from reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
V. What is blessedness? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
VI. What is the blessedness of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
VII. Difficulties against the blessedness of God are removed. . . . . . . . . . 489
The Elenctic Part
VIII. 1. Did the pagans frankly acknowledge the divine blessedness? . . . . 490
IX. 2. Does he who seeks blessedness in anything besides God
acknowledge that God is blessed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
X. 3. Do the Pelagians and Pelagianizers not by their hypotheses
disturb the blessedness of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
The Practical Part
XI. The blessedness of God: 1. Supplies an argument for
divine glorification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
XII. 2. It marks the madness of sin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
XIII. 3. It rebukes the foolishness of those who seek blessedness
outside of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
XIV. 4. It draws us to seek blessedness in God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
XV. 5. It consoles us in any adversity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
Chapter 24: The Most Holy Trinity
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of 2 Corinthians 13:14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
The Dogmatic Part
III. That God is triune: It is proved from the Scriptures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
IV. It is confirmed by scriptural reasons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
V. Natural reasons are excluded. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
VI. The chief terms of this topic are explained. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
VII. The communion of the three persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
VIII. The distinction of the persons from the essence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Contents xxvii
IX. What kind of distinction is there among the divine persons? . . . . . . 504
X. In what do the three persons differ among themselves? . . . . . . . . . . . 504
XI. The economy of the three persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
XII. The economic offices of the three persons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
XIII. The economic turns in governing for the persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
XIV. The economic attributes of the persons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
XV. Economic worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
XVI. Economic sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
The Elenctic Part
XVII. 1. Is there an essence one and the same in number common
to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
XVIII. 2. Are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit distinguished as persons? . . 511
XIX. 3. Is it not a dogma of Scripture that God is one in essence and
three in persons? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
XX. 4. Is the dogma of the Trinity necessary to believe? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
XXI. 5. Can the dogma of the Trinity be obtained by the power
of reason? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
The Practical Part
XXII. The mystery of the Trinity: 1. Shows the atheism of the
anti-Trinitarians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
XXIII. 2. It supplies an argument for glorification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
XXIV. 3. It commends the excellence of man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
XXV. 4. It entices us to zeal for communion with the holy Trinity. . . . . . . 523
XXVI. 5. It urges the worship of the holy Trinity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
XXVII. 6. It dissuades from sins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
XXVIII. 7. It invites us to the communion of the saints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Chapter 25: God the Father
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Ephesians 3:14–15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
The Dogmatic Part
III. In the heavenly economy the first person is the Father. . . . . . . . . . . . 529
IV. His deity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
V. His personality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
VI. His distinction from the rest of the persons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
VII. His economic office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
VIII. Economic attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
IX. The administration of the Father before the law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
xxviii
The Elenctic Part Contents
X. 1. Does it belong to the Father alone to be God by nature,
the highest God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
XI. 2. Did the Father beget the Son from eternity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
XII. 3. Does the Father differ really from the Son and the
Holy Spirit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
The Practical Part
XIII. 1. The duties which are owed to God as Lord,
which are: Honor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
XIV. 2. Submission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
XV. 3. The duties which belong to the same as Creator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
XVI. 4. The duties which belong to the same as lawgiver, judge,
and avenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
XVII. 5. The duties which are owed to the same as Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
XVIII. 6. Filial dependence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
XIX. 7. From God the Father we are supplied an argument
for consolation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
XX. 8. It invites us to seek adoption from the Father. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
Chapter 26: God the Son
I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of Psalm 2:7–8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
The Dogmatic Part
III. In the economy of the Trinity, the second person is the Son. . . . . . . 544
IV. What is the Son? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
V. 1. The personality of the Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
VI. 2. The distinction of the Son from the Father and the
Holy Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
VII. The eternal generation of the Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
VIII. 3. The deity of the Son. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
IX. Because there belong to him: (1) Divine names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
X. (2) Divine attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
XI. (3) Divine works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
XII. (4) Divine worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
XIII. 4. The economic office of the Son. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
XIV. His economic attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
XV. The period of his economic administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
The Elenctic Part
XVI. 1. Is Christ the Son of God from eternal generation alone? . . . . . . . 551
Contents xxix
XVII. 2. Does the generation of the Son consist in the communion
of essence in his eternal coexistence with the Father, and
in his economic manifestation in the flesh? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
XVIII. 3. Is Christ God from eternity, and coessential with the Father?. . . . 559
XIX. 4. Is the Son God from himself?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
The Practical Part
XX. The person and economic office of the Son:
1. Supplies an argument for glorification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
XXI. 2. It kindles a desire to know the Son. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
XXII. 3. It commends the sufficiency of our Mediator to us. . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
XXIII. 4. It entices us that we may kiss the Son. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
XXIV. 5. It persuades toward faith in the Son. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
XXV. 6. It urges that we should make the Son of God most great. . . . . . . 565
XXVI. 7. It rouses us to place our hope of salvation in him. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
XXVII. 8. It frightens us away from economic sins against the Son. . . . . . . . 566
Chapter 27: God the Holy Spirit
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
The Exegetical Part
II. Exegesis of John 14:26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
The Dogmatic Part
III. The Holy Spirit is the third person in the heavenly economy. . . . . . 571
IV. The names of the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
V. That the Holy Spirit is a person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
VI. That he is a person distinct from the Father and the Son . . . . . . . . . 572
VII. That he is a divine person is proved: From his divine names . . . . . . . 573
VIII. From his divine attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
IX. From his divine operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
X. From the divine worship that belongs to him. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
XI. The economic office of the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
XII. The acts of the economic office: Teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
XIII. Sanctifying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
XIV. Comforting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
XV. The economic attributes of the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
XVI. The economic period of the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
The Elenctic Part
XVII. 1. Is the Holy Spirit a person? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
XVIII. 2. Is the Holy Spirit a divine person, from eternity
consubstantial with the Father? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
xxx Contents
XIX. 3. Does the worship of the Holy Spirit have any basis
in Scripture? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
XX. 4. Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father and the Son? . . . . 582
XXI. 5. Now after the canon of Scripture has been closed, does
the Holy Spirit teach in the same way and degree as he once
taught the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
The Practical Part
XXII. Practice urges that we strive: 1. To obtain the Holy Spirit2 . . . . . . . . 585
XXIII. 2. To preserve the Holy Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
XXIV. 3. To follow the leading of the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
XXV. 4. To test the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
XXVI. 5. To take heed to ourselves of sins against the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . 589
XXVII. 6. To flee whatever spirit is adverse to the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
Board of the Dutch Reformed Theological Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
Scripture Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
2. The Latin repeats the paragraph number XXI; as in the Dutch translation it is corrected
here through the end of the chapter, §§XXII–XXVII.
 
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