Disputation 72: The Love, Fear, Trust, And Honor Which Are Due From Man To God

1. These general acts may be considered either in the first act or in the second. In the first, they come under the denomination of affections; in the second, they retain to themselves the appropriate name of acts. But in consequence of the close union and agreement of nature between an affection and a second act, love, fear, trust and honor, receive the same denomination of "an affection," and "an act."

2. The love of God is a dutiful act of man, by which he knowingly and willingly prefers, before all other things, the union of himself with God and obedience to the divine law, to which is subjoined a hatred of separation and of disobedience.

3. The fear of God is a dutiful act of man, by which he knowingly and willingly dreads before all things and avoids the displeasing of God, (which is placed in the transgression of his commands,) his wrath and reprehension and any [sinister] inauspicious estimation of him lest he be separated from God.

4. Trust in God is a dutiful act of man, by which he knowingly and willingly reposes on God alone, assuredly hoping for and expecting from him all things which are salutary or saving to himself; in which we also comprehend the removal of evils.

5. The honor of God is a dutiful act of man, by which he knowingly and willingly repays to God the reward due for his excellent virtues and acts.

6. The primary object of all these acts, as they are prescribed by law and are man’s duty, is God himself; because, for whatever other things these acts are to be performed, they must be performed on account of God and through his command, otherwise no one can truly call them "good."

7. The formal reason of the object, that is, why these acts may and ought to be performed to God, is, the wisdom, goodness, justice, and power of God, and the acts performed by him according to and through them. But we permit this to be made the subject of a pious discussion, Which of these, in requiring simple acts, obtain the precedence, and which of them follow?

8. The immediate cause of these acts is man, according to his understanding and inclination, and the freedom of his will, not as man is, natural, but as he is spiritual, and formed again after the life of God.

9. The principal cause is the Holy Spirit, who infuses into man, by the act of regeneration, the affections of love, fear, trust, and honor; by exciting grace, excites, moves and incites him to second acts, and by co-operating grace, concurs with man himself to produce such second acts.

10. The form of these acts is that they be done through faith, and according to the law of God. Their end is, that they be performed to the salvation of the workers themselves, to the glory of God, and to the benefit and confirmation of others.