The Institutes of the Christian Religion

John Calvin (Beveridge, 1845)

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Prefatory Material

Introduction

Chapter 1

The Printers to the Readers.

Chapter 2

The Original Translator’s Preface.

Chapter 3

Prefatory Address

Chapter 4

The Epistle to the Reader

Chapter 5

Subject of the Present Work

Chapter 6

Epistle to the Reader.

Chapter 7

Method and Arrangement, or Subject of the Whole Work.

Book First Of the Knowledge of God the Creator

Argument.

Chapter 1

The Knowledge of God and of Ourselves Mutually Connected. —Nature of the Connection.

Chapter 2

What It Is to Know God,—tendency of This Knowledge.

Chapter 3

The Knowledge of God Naturally Implanted in the Human Mind.

Chapter 4

The Knowledge of God Stifled or Corrupted, Ignorantly or Maliciously.

Chapter 5

The Knowledge of God Conspicuous in the Creation, and Continual Government of the World.

Chapter 6

The Need of Scripture, as a Guide and Teacher, in Coming to God as a Creator

Chapter 7

The Testimony of the Spirit Necessary to Give Full Authority to Scripture. The Impiety of Pretending That the Credibility of Scripture Depends on the Judgment of the Church.

Chapter 8

The Credibility of Scripture Sufficiently Proved in So Far as Natural Reason Admits.

Chapter 9

All the Principles of Piety Subverted by Fanatics, Who Substitute Revelations for Scripture.

Chapter 10

In Scripture, the True God Opposed, Exclusively, to All the Gods of the Heathen.

Chapter 11

Impiety of Attributing a Visible Form to God.—the Setting Up of Idols a Defection From the True God.

Chapter 12

God Distinguished From Idols, That He May Be the Exclusive Object of Worship.

Chapter 13

The Unity of the Divine Essence in Three Persons Taught, in Scripture, From the Foundation of the World.

Chapter 14

In the Creation of the World, and All Things in It, the True God Distinguished by Certain Marks From Fictitious Gods.

Chapter 15

State in Which Man Was Created. The Faculties of the Soul—the Image of God—free Will—original Righteousness

Chapter 16

The World, Created by God, Still Cherished and Protected by Him. Each and All of Its Parts Governed by His Providence.

Chapter 17

Use to Be Made of the Doctrine of Providence.

Chapter 18

The Instrumentality of the Wicked Employed by God, While He Continues Free From Every Taint

Book Second Of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel

Argument.

Chapter 1

Through the Fall and Revolt of Adam, the Whole Human Race Made Accursed and Degenerate. Of Original Sin.

Chapter 2

Man Now Deprived of Freedom of Will, and Miserably Enslaved.

Chapter 3

Every Thing Proceeding From the Corrupt Nature of Man Damnable.

Chapter 4

How God Works in the Hearts of Men.

Chapter 5

The Arguments Usually Alleged in Support of Free Will Refuted.

Chapter 6

Redemption for Man Lost to Be Sought in Christ.

Chapter 7

The Law Given, Not to Retain a People for Itself, but to Keep Alive the Hope of Salvation in Christ Until His Advent.

Chapter 8

Exposition of the Moral Law.

Chapter 9

Christ, Though Known to the Jews Under the Law, Yet Only Manifested Under the Gospel.

Chapter 10

The Resemblance Between the Old Testament and the New.

Chapter 11

The Difference Between the Two Testaments.

Chapter 12

Christ, to Perform the Office of Mediator, Behoved to Become Man.

Chapter 13

Christ Clothed With the True Substance of Human Nature.

Chapter 14

How Two Natures Constitute the Person of the Mediator.

Chapter 15

Three Things Briefly to Be Regarded in Christ—viz. His Offices of Prophet, King, and Priest.

Chapter 16

How Christ Performed the Office of Redeemer in Procuring Our Salvation. The Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ.

Chapter 17

Christ Rightly and Properly Said to Have Merited Grace and Salvation for Us.

Book Third The Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ The Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting From It

Argument.

Chapter 1

The Benefits of Christ Made Available to Us by the Secret Operation of the Spirit.

Chapter 2

Of Faith. The Definition of It. Its Peculiar Properties.

Chapter 3

Regeneration by Faith. Of Repentance.

Chapter 4

Penitence, as Explained in the Sophistical Jargon of the Schoolmen, Widely Different From the Purity Required by the Gospel. Of Confession and Satisfaction.

Chapter 5

Of the Modes of Supplementing Satisfaction—viz. Indulgences and Purgatory.

Chapter 6

The Life of a Christian Man. Scriptural Arguments Exhorting to It.

Chapter 7

A Summary of the Christian Life. Of Self-Denial.

Chapter 8

Of Bearing the Cross—one Branch of Self-Denial.

Chapter 9

Of Meditating on the Future Life.

Chapter 10

How to Use the Present Life, and the Comforts of It.

Chapter 11

Of Justification by Faith. Both the Name and the Reality Defined.

Chapter 12

Necessity of Contemplating the Judgment-Seat of God, in Order to Be Seriously Convinced of the Doctrine of Gratuitous Justification.

Chapter 13

Two Things to Be Observed in Gratuitous Justification.

Chapter 14

The Beginning of Justification. In What Sense Progressive.

Chapter 15

The Boasted Merit of Works Subversive Both of the Glory of God, in Bestowing Righteousness, and of the Certainty of Salvation.

Chapter 16

Refutation of the Calumnies by Which It Is Attempted to Throw Odium on This Doctrine.

Chapter 17

The Promises of the Law and the Gospel Reconciled.

Chapter 18

The Righteousness of Works Improperly Inferred From Rewards.

Chapter 19

Of Christian Liberty.

Chapter 20

Of Prayer—a Perpetual Exercise of Faith. The Daily Benefits Derived From It.

Chapter 21

Of the Eternal Election, by Which God Has Predestinated Some to Salvation, and Others to Destruction.

Chapter 22

This Doctrine Confirmed by Proofs From Scripture.

Chapter 23

Refutation of the Calumnies by Which This Doctrine Is Always Unjustly Assailed.

Chapter 24

Election Confirmed by the Calling of God. The Reprobate Bring Upon Themselves the Righteous Destruction to Which They Are Doomed.

Chapter 25

Of the Last Resurrection.

Book Fourth Of the Holy Catholic Church

Argument.

Chapter 1

Of the True Church. Duty of Cultivating Unity With Her, as the Mother of All the Godly.

Chapter 2

Comparison Between the False Church and the True.

Chapter 3

Of the Teachers and Ministers of the Church. Their Election and Office.

Chapter 4

Of the State of the Primitive Church, and the Mode of Government in Use Before the Papacy.

Chapter 5

The Ancient Form of Government Utterly Corrupted by the Tyranny of the Papacy.

Chapter 6

Of the Primacy of the Romish See.

Chapter 7

Of the Beginning and Rise of the Romish Papacy, Till It Attained a Height by Which the Liberty of the Church Was Destroyed, and All True Rule Overthrown.

Chapter 8

Of the Power of the Church in Articles of Faith. The Unbridled Licence of the Papal Church in Destroying Purity of Doctrine.

Chapter 9

Of Councils and Their Authority

Chapter 10

Of the Power of Making Laws. The Cruelty of the Pope and His Adherents, in This Respect, in Tyrannically Oppressing and Destroying Souls.

Chapter 11

Of the Jurisdiction of the Church, and the Abuses of It, as Exemplified in the Papacy.

Chapter 12

Of the Discipline of the Church, and Its Principal Use in Censures and Excommunication.

Chapter 13

Of Vows. The Miserable Entanglements Caused by Vowing Rashly.

Chapter 14

Of the Sacraments.

Chapter 15

Of Baptism.

Chapter 16

Pædobaptism. Its Accordance With the Institution of Christ, and the Nature of the Sign.

Chapter 17

Of the Lord’s Supper, and the Benefits Conferred by It

Chapter 18

Of the Popish Mass. How It Not Only Profanes, but Annihilates the Lord’s Supper.

Chapter 19

Of the Five Sacraments, Falsely So Called. Their Spuriousness Proved, and Their True Character Explained.

Chapter 20

Of Civil Government.

One Hundred Aphorisms

Intro

Chapter 1

Book 1

Chapter 2

Book 2

Chapter 3

Book 3

Chapter 4

Book 4