“For one or the other is unavoidable: either we examine ourselves, or God, the searcher of hearts and the just judge, will examine us.”

PETRUS VAN MASTRICHT, THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL THEOLOGY, VOLUME 2: FAITH IN THE TRIUNE GOD, 66

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“Scripture teaches that faith does not consist in the observance of the commands of Christ. It does so in more than one way, when: (1) in its definitions it distinguishes faith and works, saying that the former is receiving Christ (John 1:12) and “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1), and that the latter on the contrary is the “fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:10). (2) It distinguishes faith and obedience as cause and effect (Gal. 5:6; 1 Tim. 1:5). (3) It assigns different effects to each: it assigns to faith justification (Rom. 3–4; Gal. 2–3; Eph. 2:8), adoption (John 1:12), and union with Christ (Eph. 3:17), and takes these things away from obedience or good works (Gal. 3:2, 5). (4) It also asserts a different norm for each: for faith, the gospel (Mark 1:15); for obedience, the law (Matt. 22:37; Rom. 13:8–10). In fact, (5) at least in the matter of justification, it opposes faith and obedience or good works (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16).”

PETRUS VAN MASTRICHT, THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL THEOLOGY, VOLUME 2: FAITH IN THE TRIUNE GOD, 54.

Faith is an act of the regenerated soul, and, as we have seen (WCF 10.1, 2, & 4), the Spirit uses the revealed truth of God as his instrument in regeneration and sanctification, and sane adult men never come to the experience of the benefits of Christ’s salvation who are destitute of some knowledge of his person and work.

A. A. Hodge, Confession of Faith, 204.

The principal cause of the faith that we have delineated thus far is God, the Father of lights, from whom comes every saving good (James 1:17); and the Spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13), among whose fruits is numbered faith (Gal. 5:22). Nor can that faith come to us from any other place, because we are blind in mind (Eph. 4:18), stony in heart (Ezek. 11:19), and dead in sins (Eph. 2:1–2). Moreover, God works faith, first, in regeneration, whereby he confers the seed of faith, that by it we may be able to believe at the proper time, once all things needed are supplied. Before this regeneration, as we said, a person is dead to every spiritual good. Second, God works faith in conversion, whereby the seed of faith sends forth shoots, such that we actually believe, take hold of Christ as our one and only Mediator, and having been drawn to him, come (John 6:44), run (Song 1:4), and lean on Christ (Song 8:5). Third, God works faith in sanctification, whereby faith puts out flower and fruit, and is at work through love (Gal. 5:6).

PETRUS VAN MASTRICHT, THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL THEOLOGY, VOLUME 2: FAITH IN THE TRIUNE GOD, 48.

As often as I hear the name of Jesus, therefore, I ought to remember the promise of the gospel latent within in.

Caspar Olevianus, An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, 54.

We should use the means that God offers and the gifts of His providence not out of a lack of trust, which turns the heart away from God, or out of trust in creatures, but out of obedience.

Caspar Olevianus, An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, 47.

The nature of God is succinctly and accurately expressed in that description by Moses in Exodus 34[:6-7], “Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, etc.”

Caspar Olevianus, An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, 23.

We become impatient because we focus on the creatures that oppose us rather than on God, who does these things to us not as our adversary but as our Father.

Caspar Olevianus, An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, 48.

The doctrine of God’s providence ought to spur us on to the glorification of God and true gratitude of mind, especially in times of prosperity, when we see the bright face of God more clearly than in times of adversity. For whenever things go well and the way we would like, a godly person should give all the credit to God, whether he experience God’s beneficence through the ministry of other people or be helped by inanimate creatures. For this is what the godly person will think: Surely it is the Lord who has inclined their minds toward me, and it is He who has infused and does infuse other creatures with His power in such a way that they become instruments of His goodness toward me (Jer. 5[:24]; Acts 3[:1-16], 14[:17]).

Caspar Olevianus, An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, 48.

Before we converse, we should consider where, when, and to whom we will speak, that we may speak suitably (Prov. 25:11) and not undertake a topic that exceeds our capacity (Ps. 131:1).

PETRUS VAN MASTRICHT, THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL THEOLOGY, VOLUME 1: PROLEGOMENA, 371.