Jacob Moore’s Reviews > Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volumes 1-2 > Status Update

Augustine says: "I want you to grasp ... that our Lord Christ has laid upon us a gentle yoke & a light burden. Accordingly, he has bound together the society of the new people by sacraments very few in number, very easy to observe, very excellent in meaning. Such are baptism, ... communion of the Lord's body & blood, & any other that is approved in the canonical Scriptures. (4.19.3)

After Christ's sacrifice was accomplished, the Lord instituted another method for us, that is, to transmit to the believing folk the benefit of the sacrifice offered to himself by his Son. He has therefore given us a Table at which to feast, not an altar upon which to offer a victim; he has not consecrated priests to offer sacrifice, but ministers to distribute the sacred banquet. (4.18.12)

It usually happens that where these perverse lawgivers have once taken authority, they never cease to command & forbid, until they come to the limit of overscrupulousness. (4.10.13)

The word "consubstantial," I admit, does not exist in Scripture. But when it is so often asserted in Scripture that there is one God, and further, when Christ is so often called the true and eternal God, one with the Father-- what else are the Nicene fathers doing when they declare them of one essence but simply expounding the real meaning of Scripture. (4.8.16)

Jerome adds immediately that the glory of the bishop is to provide for the poor; the disgrace of all priests, to seek after their own riches. (4.5.19)

Monsieur Bienvenue turns out to be a good Calvinist. :)

When we categorically deny to the papists the title of *the* church, we do not for this reason impugn the existence of churches among them. Rather, we are only contending about the true & lawful constitution of the church, required in the communion not only of the sacraments but also especially of doctrine. (4.3.12)

Abraham would not have taken such meticulous care about his wife's tomb if religion, & a value higher than this world, had not been set before his eyes; that is to say, that by adorning his wife's dead body with the signs of the resurrection, he might strengthen his own faith & that of his household. (3.25.8)

As soon as Chrisitian freedom is mentioned, either passions boil or wild tumults rise unless these wanton spirits are opposed in time, who otherwise most wickedly corrupt the best things. Some, on the pretext of this freedom, shake off all obedience to God & break out into unbridled license. (3.19.1).

Done with volume 1, on to volume 2!

Because God examines our works according to his tenderness, not his supreme right, he therefore accepts them as if they were perfectly pure; and for that reason, although unmerited, they are rewarded with infinite benefits, both of the present life & also the life to come. (3.15.4)

Keeness of sight, so long as it confines itself to examining nearby objects is convinced of its discernment. But directed towards the sun, stricken & numbed by excessive brightness, our vision feels as weak as it did strong gazing at objects below... Though we consider ourselves either equal or superior to other men, that is nothing to God, to whose judgment the decision of the matter must be brought. (3.12.2).