INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
BOOK FIRST.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE CREATOR.
CHAPTER I.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND OF OURSELVES MUTUALLY CONNECTED.—NATURE OF THE CONNECTION.
Sections.
1. The sum of true wisdom, viz., the knowledge of God and of ourselves. Effects of the latter.
2. Effects of the knowledge of God, in humbling our pride, unveiling our hypocrisy, demonstrating the absolute perfections of God, and our own utter helplessness.
3. Effects of the knowledge of God illustrated by the examples, 1. of holy patriarchs; 2. of holy angels; 3. of the sun and moon.
1. Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes, and gives birth to the other. For, in the first place, no man can survey himself without forthwith turning his thoughts towards the God in whom he lives and moves; because it is perfectly obvious, that the endowments which we possess cannot possibly be
