In the following passage,
John Calvin penned an absolutely beautiful piece of prose in his Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Closing out his exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, he answers his own question,
“[Is] Christ alone in all the clauses of the creed?” His answer is majestic,
thorough, convicting, and instructive. Wisdom for the Church throughout the
ages is found here. We would do well to linger long in meditation on it.
We see that our whole
salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ [Acts 4:12]. We should
therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else.
If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is “of
him” [I Cor. 1:30]. If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be
found in his anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity,
in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he
was made like us in all respects [Heb. 2:17] that he might learn to feel our
pain [cf. Heb. 5:2]. If we seek redemption, I lies in his passion; if
acquittal, in his condemnation; if remission of the curse, in his cross [Gal.
3:13]; if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; if purification, in his blood; if
reconciliation, in his descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in his
tomb; if newness of life, in his resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if
inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; if
protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in His Kingdom;
if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to him to judge. In
short, since rich store of every kind of goods abounds in him, let us drink our
fill from this fountain, and from no other. Some men, not content with him
alone, are bourne hither and thither from one hope to another; even if they
concern themselves chiefly with him, they nevertheless stray from the right way
in turning some part of their thinking in another direction. Yet such distrust
cannot creep in where men have once for all truly known the abundance of his
blessings. John
Calvin
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