BLEST IN GOD'S HOUSE
Psalm 84:3,4
Although man is the only earthly creature created in the image of God, and therefore is a thinking-willing creature, the creatures who were created below man often put him to shame after his fall into sin. Of that the psalmist speaks in Psalm 84:3-4, in these words, "Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even Thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee. Selah."
These creatures knew their needs and sought a solution to their problems. They found protection, safety, comfort, and where they might bring forth their young and shield them. That place meant very much to them. But how lovely do we really consider God's house to be? Are there not so many other places where we would rather go? Is not the sermon too long? Do our sins really bother us, and do we know our need and want comfort? Are we not pretty callous about our guilt? Can we sincerely sing?
The sparrow has her place of rest;
The swallow through Thy kindly care,
Has found where she may build her nest,
And brood her young in safety there;
Thy altars as my rest I sing,
O Lord of Hosts, my God, my King.
Surely in God's house we obtain blessings and are moved to praise God for His mercy in Christ. In the measure that we go to His house and do listen to Him in the preaching, we will be blest and want to praise Him. In the measure Christ is preached from our pulpit, we will cry out, "How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord, of Hosts!"
There you have the psalmist expressing his enjoyment in meeting God. There, too, you hear him praising God for His mercy in Christ.
His last word, namely, Selah, is also important. It means: pause and think this over! By all means do that. Do not rush away from the preaching and brush it aside. Give the truth sincere and profound thought. Listen to what God has to say to you in His house. More precious and valuable speech you will hear nowhere else. Is then His house a lovely place in your judgment?
Read:
Hebrews 4
Psalter versification: 229:2
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 18
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Isaiah 8
;
Isaiah 9:1-21
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Psalm 55:1-23
Proverbs 23:4-5
****
Quote for Reflection:
The incarnation is the revelation of the living God! The Creator united Himself most intimately with the creature; the Lord also became servant; the Eternal One came into time, the Infinite One into space. Great is the mystery of godliness: God is manifest in the flesh. —Herman Hoeksema
OUR ASSURANCE OF HEAVENLY GLORY
Psalm 84:5, 6
When Christ returns and the tabernacle of God is with men, as we read in Revelation 21:3, man will have reached the highest point of bliss and glory that is possible for the creature to know and enjoy. It is that blessedness of which Psalm 84 speaks when it declares how amiable, that is, how lovely, God's tabernacles are.
However, those who reach that glory will never boast of having gotten there by their own strength. No, the psalmist states in verses 5, 6, "Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee: in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well: the rain also filleth the pools."
That valley of Baca is explained in our versification thus:
Blest they who in Thy house abide,
They still to Thee shall render praise;
Blest they who in Thy strength confide,
And in whose hearts are Zion's ways;
Though passing through the vale of tears,
Like springs of joy Thy grace appears.
The valley of Baca is a valley of tears. It is what David calls the valley of the shadow of death (Ps. 23:4). Significant is that statement in the Psalm that our strength is in God. Only because of that fact can we want to be in God's house, and can we walk on the way to it. We have absolutely no room to boast, not even for the desire to dwell with God. We have every reason always to thank God for every bit of our salvation and the desire for it. That the ways of those who reach that glory is in their hearts is because God put it there. Faith is God's gift to us, not our gift to Him. We were created in Christ Jesus unto good works and do not create ourselves by good works (Eph. 2:8-10).
If reaching God's house depends upon one thing we must do, it is hopeless. Ephesians 2:1 tells us that we were dead in trespasses and sin. Our assurance, all of it, rests upon the truth that our spiritual strength is in God and that He gives it to us in His grace in Christ.
Read:
Ephesians 2
Psalter versification: 229:3
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 51
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Isaiah 10
;
Isaiah 11:1-16
2 Corinthians 12:11-21
Psalm 56:1-13
Proverbs 23:6-8
****
Quote for Reflection:
Rejoice that the immortal God is born that mortal men might live in eternity. —John Hus
A VERY REVEALING PRAYER
Psalm 84:7,8
If you want something badly, you are not going where it cannot be given to you. Parents who want their out-of-state children to come and visit them are not going to leave town the day scheduled for that visit. And if we agree with the psalmist that God's tabernacles are lovely, and that to dwell with Him there is most blessed, we are going to seek it and pray for strength to walk on the way unto it.
Therefore the psalmist in Psalm 84:7, 8 wrote, "They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. O Lord God of Hosts, hear my prayer give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah." If you want to dwell with God in His house, you will pray for strength to seek it and for a strengthening of the desire for it in your heart.
Since this desire for a life of holiness — which is the only life that can be allowed in God's presence — and this strength to walk on the way unto it is ours, we will and must pray to God for the continuance of them and the strengthening of them.
Here is a measuring rod wherewith to determine how much we really do want to dwell in God's house of holiness. The question is not whether we want to get out of that valley of tears, that dry valley of Baca. Everyone, the devil and his fallen angels included, wants to escape the curse in this life and the lake of fire after death.
The question is whether you consider the place where you can live in love toward God, and serve Him with all your being, to be a truly lovely, amiable place. And our prayers reveal how intensely we want to appear in Zion. Our versification presents it in these words:
Advancing still from strength to strength,
They onward go where saints have trod,
Till every one appears at length
In Zion's courts before his God;
Jehovah, God of Hosts, give ear,
Our father's God, in mercy hear.
Read:
Psalm 138
Psalter versification: 229:4
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 365
Why not sing along??
****
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Isaiah 12
;
Isaiah 13
;
Isaiah 14:1-32
2 Corinthians 13:1-13
Psalm 57:1-11
Proverbs 23:9-11
****
Quote for Reflection:
If we are not convinced that God determines our marital status in order to make us as happy as we can possibly be, in this lifetime and in the next, we will be left without hope.
— Lydia Brownback, Fine China is for Single Women Too
TRANSCENDENT BLESSEDNESS
Psalm 84:10
If the psalmist were living today, he would no doubt, write that a day in God's house is better than a million, yea, even perhaps better than a trillion days in this world of sin. But when he did in Psalm 14:10 write, "For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness," he was speaking of what in that day was a great percentage. One day in a thousand is an overwhelming percentage. Even today, who would prefer to work for a dollar a day rather than one thousand, if he could get it? Who would want to live one more day, if he could be healed to live a thousand more days?
By his statement the psalmist underscores what he stated previously in the Psalm, namely that to him God's house is lovely, and that he would be happy, if he could be just inside the door of that house. That is what he wrote. Indeed, he is willing to serve God there as the doorkeeper: but what he wrote is better translated as "sit at the threshold." Even then he makes an awesome contrast! So rich, so full of spiritual joy, and of such transcendent blessedness is that house that, if we are just inside the door, we are overwhelmed with blessedness.
Consider how far the sun is from us, yet brings us precious light and warmth. How delightful it makes life for us even from such a distance! Much more is God's house filled with His love, mercy, grace, and covenant fellowship. Easy it is to understand our versification which says:
Upon us look, O God our shield,
The face of Thy anointed see;
A thousand other days can yield
No gladness like one day with Thee;
Though only at Thy door I wait.
No tents of sin give joy so great.
Do you agree? You want to see the sun arise again tomorrow; but do you, as the psalmist did, want to pray that God will look upon you and send down upon you the rays of His love in Christ? Transcendent blessedness awaits God's church. Do you want it?
Read:
Revelation 21
Psalter versification: 229:5
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 382
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Isaiah 15
;
Isaiah 16
;
Isaiah 17
;
Isaiah 18:1-7
Galatians 1:1-24
Psalm 58:1-11
Proverbs 23:12
****
Quote for Reflection:
How can we convince our children that God is important, if we never give Him any of our time? How can we pretend to love Him, when we scarcely spend a minute with Him alone? Our children may dutifully learn their rituals, and chant their mealtime grace, “God is great, God is good, and we thank Him for this food”. But down in the heart, where the real attitudes are formed, our prayerless lives have taught another message: “God is great but He can wait; gotta hurry or I’ll be late.” L. Christenson
A BLESSED, STEADFAST TRUST
Psalm 84:11, 12
Life has its requirements, and because sin entered into the world, it also needs protection. That is why the psalmist concludes Psalm 84 by stating in verses 11, 12, "For the Lord is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will lie withhold from them that walk up rightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee."
Now if there is one thing our earthly life needs, it is the sun. No food will there be without it. No work will man be able to perform in the total darkness. Because the curse is on the earth, we need to be shielded from very many things.
Spiritually God is that sun and shield. In Christ He supplies us with all our spiritual life needs. In Christ He protects us from falling away from the spiritual life that He gave us. His grace is upon us and will bring us to glory in Christ in the day that He returns to us.
The psalmist therefore had good reason for stating, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee." That trust manifests itself in an upright walk. And all this fits in so beautifully with the psalmist's opening statement that God's tabernacles are amiable, that is, lovely.
Longing for entrance into God's house of many mansions, the child of God walks uprightly in the sight of God with Whom he longs to live. In God he trusts in the strength that God has given him already in this valley of tears. God our Sun gives us faith and preserves us in it. Thus in this life already we receive blessings out of God's house and are sure we will reach that house; for God, our Sun and Shield, is the ever faithful, almighty God.
Enthusiastically we can sing this from our versification:
Jehovah, God our Shield and Sun,
Will grace and glory surely give;
No good will He withhold from one
Who in His sight shall rightly live;
O Lord of hosts, most blest is he
Who puts his steadfast trust in Thee.
Read:
Psalm 31
Psalter versification: 229:6
(Words and Music of
the Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 135
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Isaiah 19
;
Isaiah 20
;
Isaiah 21:1-17
Galatians 2:1-16
Psalm 59:1-17
Proverbs 23:13-14
****
Quote for Reflection:
O. Palmer Robinson: "Israel was unique among people of the world in that God himself appointed a priesthood for the nation—with accompanying laws of sacrifice and ritual—which carefully defined the right way to approach God. The laws of the Levitical priesthood, along with its festival days and sacrifices, contained touches of glamour and glory. Colorful robes, impressive ceremonies, feasts, washings, the waving of recently harvested grain, and the chanting of divine benedictions all contributed to the allurement of the priestly order of the old covenant. So it should not be surprising that throughout the centuries the Jewish people have had difficulty relinquishing these treasured ceremonies. They all contributed to making them feel right and good in the presence of God. Furthermore, when the new covenant came along with its minimal ritual, it seemed as though something significant had been lost" (The Israel of God, pp. 53-54).
OUR GUIDING LIGHT
Psalm 119: 105, 106
Not only is it foolish but also dishonest to promise that which you know you cannot do. And therefore one might wonder why the psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:106 , "1 have sworn and I will perform it, that I will keep Thy righteous judgments." How does he dare to do that?
Well, for one thing, he reveals in the preceding verse what enables him to do what he swore he would do. He stated, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." And although these words do not directly state how he would be able to do these works demanded by God in His righteous judgment, this does explain why he knows the requirements, that is, where he must walk and how he must conduct himself. God's word makes that clear. In this night of sin, wherein we all are since the fall of Adam through Satan's lie, God's word shows us what we were created to do, namely, walk in love before God and bring all of creation unto God in praise and thanksgiving. Satan deceived us into believing that we are here for our fleshly pleasures. Therefore we think, by nature, that we can decide what is good and evil for us.
The word of God, our Bible, gives us light and shows us not only exactly where to walk, but also that we can walk because of God's grace in Christ. So that now we may sing:
Thy word sheds light upon my path;
A shining light, it guides my feet;
Thy righteous judgments to observe
My solemn vow I now repeat.
Your bankbook and checkbook are not your most valuable books. Scripture is our richest book, a treasure in our hearts. By all means do not leave it closed and on the shelf. Read it every day so that you may keep this vow.
God's word reveals Christ to us as His Word became flesh. Christ makes it possible for us to keep God's righteous judgments. Meet Him in God's word. He will guide you and lighten your way, so that your feet are walking in righteousness before God.
Read:
Psalm 119:97-112
Psalter versification:
334:1
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 171
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Isaiah 22
;
Isaiah 23
;
Isaiah 24:1-23
Galatians 2:17-21
;
Galatians 3:1-9
Psalm 60:1-12
Proverbs 23:15-16
****
Quote for Reflection:
John Calvin on Hebrews 7:3: "... Melchisedec is not to be considered here, as they say, in his private capacity, but as a sacred type of Christ; nor ought we to think that it was accidentally or inadvertently omitted that no kindred is ascribed to him, and that nothing is said of his death; but on the contrary, that this was done designedly by the Spirit, in order to give us an idea of one above the common order of men. There seems therefore to be no probability in the conjecture of those who say that Melchisedec was Shem the son of Noah; for if we make him to be some known individual, we destroy this third likeness between Melchisedec and Christ ... It seems not to be worth one’s while to refute the delirious notions of those who dream that Christ himself, or the Holy Spirit, or an angel, appeared at that time ..."
AN URGENT PRAYER FOR INSTRUCTION
Psalm 119:107-108
A musical instrument played properly can produce pleasing music, and, if obtained as a gift, calls for words of thanks unto the giver. But that gift will serve no good purpose until the one who receives it is taught how to play it. Likewise God's word, which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, is a rich gift; but God must teach us what that which we read therein means and what it calls us to do.
Therefore we find the psalmist praying in Psalm 119:108 , "Accept, I beseech Thee, the freewill offering of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me Thy judgments." He had already in the preceding verse written, "I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according to Thy word."
Plainly his prayer is urgent because he was finding it difficult to keep his vow of walking in God's righteous judgments. He speaks of being greatly afflicted by unbelievers. And the temptation is always there to cease keeping God's statutes in order to escape this affliction. We need to be quickened, that is, revived to more earnest and open keeping of God's judgments. These we need to be taught more fully.
We may know and even be able to quote from memory God's law. We may even, as the psalmist did, praise and thank God for giving us His word. We may know many warnings and exhortations in the Bible. But we need to be taught in trying circumstances how to walk. We must by our deeds, not simply our mouths, say that His statutes are good.
Make this your prayer and sing these words:
In my distress I plead with Thee,
Send help according to Thy word;
Accept my sacrifice of praise
And make me know Thy judgments, Lord.
Read God's word, but study it as well. And by all means pray God that He will teach you how to walk in love to Him no matter what the circumstances in which you find yourself are. Especially when you are being ridiculed and mocked by the world, pray for grace to know how to continue walking in love to God.
Read:
Psalm 25
Psalter versification: 334:2
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 110
Why not sing along??
****
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Isaiah 25
;
Isaiah 26
;
Isaiah 27
;
Isaiah 28:1-13
Galatians 3:10-22
Psalm 61:1-8
Proverbs 23:17-18
****
Quote for Reflection:
The cross was before Him with all its horrors; the joy of returning to the Father was before Him with all its bliss; yet neither the fearful prospect of woe nor the hope of unspeakable rest and gladness shook His love for His own. He is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, therefore His love never varies. He is eternal, therefore has He loved us with an everlasting love. He is Divine, therefore is His love different from all others, passing human knowledge. (Pink)
FAITHFUL IN ADVERSITY
Psalm 119: 109, 110
From God, on Whose earth we walk, Whose plants provide us with all our food, Who gives us every heartbeat and breath of life, we cannot earn or buy the smallest part of this earthly creation. Yea, instead, every minute we become more and more indebted to Him. Much less can we warn or buy or talk Him into giving us the smallest blessing of the kingdom of heaven. Although it may look as though the psalmist is in Psalm 119:109-110 seeking to move God into blessing him for what he did, this is not so at all.
The psalmist was in a difficult position. In verse 109 he stated that his soul was continually in his hand, and in verse 110 that the enemy had laid a snare for him to fall into; and then he wrote, "Yet do I not forget Thy law," and "Yet have I not erred from Thy precepts." In this he was not trying to persuade God to bless him because he had done so well thus far. He is not boasting here, even though it may look that way.
Our versification states it this way:
In danger oft and nigh to death,
Thy law remembered is my aid;
The wicked seek my overthrow,
Yet from Thy truth I have not strayed.
Notice that he confesses that he must keep God's law. God made that known to him, and for this he owes God thanks. And his statement that he erred not underscores his sincerity when he wrote that he loved God's law and considered it to be a lamp unto his feet.
We do well to remember these words of the psalmist. God owes us nothing; but we owe Him thanks for sending His Son Who took not one step outside God's law, and died for all our missteps. In Him His people will be kept faithful even in adversity, not because they deserve it, but because of God's grace in Christ. When we pray for faithfulness, God will give it to us. Through Christ He will "make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight" (Heb.13:21).
Read:
Hebrews 13
Psalter versification: 334:3
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 158
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Isaiah 28
;
Isaiah 29
;
Isaiah 30:1-11
Galatians 3:23-29
;
Galatians 4:1-31
Psalm 62:1-12
Proverbs 23:19-21
****
Quote for Reflection:
All (the disciples, MD) are within the sphere of Jesus’ attraction. But the bosom is reserved for, it is the throne of, the Johns. They feel the throbs of the Savior’s heart. They know Him as He knows the Father. Whose is the Gospel that leads to the Holy of Holies, that opens the door into the Lord’s innermost self? I imagine that none but he who lay on Jesus’ breast had the outline of the last discourse and the last prayer complete in its links, complete in its clothing, in His remembrance. The secret of the Lord was with him—“the disciple whom Jesus loved.” (Lang)
A WONDERFUL INHERITANCE
Psalm 119:111-112
If you could choose that which you are going to inherit, what would you choose? What would make you really happy? Would you say with the psalmist, "Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform Thy statutes alway, even unto the end" ( Psalm 119:111, 112 )?
Do these testimonies of God give you so much joy that what you want to obtain is entrance into the kingdom of heaven, where all the citizens keep God's law perfectly, and where you will be able to do nothing but walk in perfect love before God?
God's testimonies and statutes are the laws according to which we were created, and which God designed for our life in the new Jerusalem. There we will have strict, exacting laws in which the citizens of that kingdom find great joy. They are the rejoicing of their hearts, and they will want to be keeping them continuously, everlastingly (verse 112).
Now, an inheritance is obtained only through the death of one who decreed to have you receive it. Here Christ is the One Who died, in order that those given Him by the Father might enter that kingdom of righteousness, and be given a life that cannot sin but rejoices in those statutes. These by His Spirit will sing:
Thy precepts are my heritage
For daily they my heart rejoice;
To keep Thy statutes faithfully
Shall ever be my willing choice.
We are surrounded by a host that does not want that kind of future. For them it is a case of seeking this world and the lust thereof. They are interested only in what they can inherit in this life and of this world's deceptive treasures.
Are you like the psalmist, or like the world that surrounds us? Desire that wonderful inheritance that is coming in the day of Christ, and you may be sure that in God's grace you will receive it. A kingdom of perfect love is coming. In it, because of the perfect love of God, there will be a perfect love of all the citizens of that kingdom for each other.
Read:
I Corinthians 13
Psalter versification: 334:4
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 240
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Isaiah 30
;
Isaiah 31
;
Isaiah 32
;
Isaiah 33:1-9
Galatians 5:1-12
Psalm 63:1-11
Proverbs 23:22
****
Quote for Reflection:
“We hold it, therefore, as indubitable, indeed it should be notorious to all tolerably versant with Scripture, that the most splendid works performed by men, who are not yet truly sanctified, are so far from being righteousness in the sight of the Lord, that he regards them as sins…The most perfect thing which proceeds from man is always polluted by some stain….For a long time the world has been taught differently. A kind of good works called moral has been found out, by which men are rendered agreeable to God before they are ingrafted into Christ; as if Scripture spoke falsely when it says, “He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” ( I John 5:12). How can they produce the materials of life if they are dead? Is there no meaning in its being said, that “whatsoever is not of faith is sin”? (Romans 14:23) –John Calvin
BLESSING THE GOD WHO BLESSES US
Psalm 103:1
What goes against our flesh, but we are often exhorted to do in Scripture, is to bless God. We like the idea that He blesses us. Even those who never worship Him on the Sabbath Day in His house will say to each other, "God bless you!" We do, however, have a calling to bless Him; and therefore in Psalm 103:1 we read, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name."
Now to bless God means something quite different from God blessing us, for God is no creature, and to bless means basically to call well or good. When we bless God we say that He is good. We praise and honor Him. Therefore our versification has it this way:
O praise and bless the Lord, my soul.
His wondrous love proclaim;
Join heart and voice and all my powers
To bless His holy name.
But when God blesses us, He calls that which is good to come upon us. We cannot add anything to God; but we can say that He is good. He calls in the sense of commanding goodness upon us.
Now we are called to speak well of Him with our lips before others: but we must also say this by our deeds, and say it unto God in our prayers. In them we must tell Him "O God, how great and good Thou art!"
Our calling is to bless His holy name, and that means that, even more than we call the judge "Your Honor," we must address God in a reverent way as one high above us and all creation. We must speak to Him as the holy One Who is exalted above all persons. He is our friend and loves us; but with God we cannot get "chummy." He must be worshiped, not brought down to the level of the creature.
This blessing of Him we must do with our whole being. It must begin in our soul, that is, in the innermost recesses of our being; but then by it through our whole being we must reveal love and respect for Him.
Surely then we must bow our heads before Him and must use the most respect-and-honor-expressing words that we can. Call Him your Father, but be sure that you address Him as your heavenly Father. Jesus taught us to begin our prayers with "Hallowed be 'l'hy name."
Read:
Psalm 103
Psalter versification: 277:1
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 121
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Isaiah 33
;
Isaiah 34
;
Isaiah 35
;
Isaiah 36:1-22
Galatians 5:13-26
Psalm 64:1-10
Proverbs 23:23
****
Quote for Reflection:
“For inasmuch as it (baptism) is given for the arousing, nourishing, and confirming of our faith, it is to be received as from the hand of the Author himself. We ought to deem it certain and proved that it is he who speaks to us through the sign; that it is he who purifies and washes away sins and wipes out the remembrance of them; that it is he who makes us sharers in his death, who deprives Satan of his rule, who weakens the power of our lust; indeed, that it is he who comes unto a unity with us so that, having put on Christ, we may be acknowledged God’s children.” ~ John Calvin, The Institutes