PART IV.

OF THE MEANS OF GRACE.

§ 50. Preliminary Statement.

THE Holy Ghost employs external and visible means, by which He produces in men the effects above described, [1] and appropriates to them salvation in Christ, and we can only then consider an effect as certainly produced by the Holy Spirit when it has been brought to pass through these external means. [2] These means of grace, as they are called, are the Word of God and the Sacraments. All those, then, who through these means have become partakers of the salvation in Christ, constitute an association which we call the Church.

Part IV, hence, treats, (1) Of the Word of God; (2) Of the Sacraments as the means of grace; (3) Of the Church. [3]