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BOOK 1:
Chapter 1 - THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND OF OURSELVES MUTUALLY CONNECTED. - NATURE OF THIS CONNECTION.
Chapter 2 - WHAT IT IS TO KNOW GOD,--TENDENCY OF THIS KNOWLEDGE.
Chapter 3 - THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD HAS BEEN 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.

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Ping!

[Penny1]

Ack! Did Chapter 5 get deleted? I must have missed some excitement or something...

[ksen]

Here is the corrected(hopefully) link to chapter 5. Sorry about that.

Chapter 5 - THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD CONSPICUOUS IN THE CREATION, AND CONTINUAL GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD.

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Not in vain, therefore, has he added the light of his Word in order that he might make himself known unto salvation, and bestowed the privilege on those whom he was pleased to bring into nearer and more familiar relation to himself.

Calvin makes a good point about God's general nature being revealed by the Creation, but His specific nature is revealed to us in the Scriptures.

I don't agree with the sentiment above that says the Bible was only given to bring SOME to salvation.

For, seeing how the minds of men were carried to and fro, and found no certain resting-place, he chose the Jews for a peculiar people, and then hedged them in that they might not, like others, go astray.

Hmm, but the Jewish people DID go astray as any cursory reading of the OT will show.

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And there can be no doubt that it was by this help, Adam, Noah, Abraham, and the other patriarchs, attained to that familiar knowledge which, in a manner, distinguished them from unbelievers. I am not now speaking of the peculiar doctrines of faith by which they were elevated to the hope of eternal blessedness. It was necessary, in passing from death unto life, that they should know God, not only as a Creator, but as a Redeemer also; and both kinds of knowledge they certainly did obtain from the Word.

Huh? I think I am misunderstanding something here. Is Calvin saying that the Patriarchs had access to God's written word? I thought Moses wrote everything down?

[ksen]

Never mind my last, I think I found the answer in the next section.....

If true religion is to beam upon us, our principle must be, that it is necessary to begin with heavenly teaching, and that it is impossible for any man to obtain even the minutest portion of right and sound doctrine without being a disciple of Scripture.

Amen! Preach it Brother John!

Hence, the first step in true knowledge is taken, when we reverently embrace the testimony which God has been pleased therein to give of himself. For not only does faith, full and perfect faith, but all correct knowledge of God, originate in obedience.

This is an interesting statement. Does obedience precede faith, or does faith precede obedience? I always thought faith preceded obedience(i.e. Abraham).

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It being thus manifest that God, foreseeing the inefficiency of his image imprinted on the fair form of the universe, has given the assistance of his Word to all whom he has ever been pleased to instruct effectually, we, too, must pursue this straight path, if we aspire in earnest to a genuine contemplation of God; - we must go, I say, to the Word, where the character of God, drawn from his works is described accurately and to the life; these works being estimated, not by our depraved judgement, but by the standard of eternal truth.

If God intended to show Himself to all Mankind through His Creation, why would He not also intend to have His Word be effectual to all Mankind when the revelation of Himself in the Creation was found to be insufficient?

[ksen]

All in all I liked this section. God's Word is needed to provide us with the information we need to properly worship God. To ignore God's Word is to eventually go astray in our approach to Him.