The History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland

The sixteenth Article. Thou Heretic sayest, That it is vain to build to the honour of God costly Churches, seeing that God remaineth not in Churches made by mens hands, nor yet can God be in little space, as betwixt the Priests hands. The Answer. My Lords, Solomon saith, If that the heaven of heavens cannot comprehend thee, how much less this house which I have builded. And Job consented to the same sentence, saying, Seeing that he is higher then the heavens, therefore what canst thou build unto him; he is deeper then the hell, then how shalt thou know him, he is longer then the earth, and broader then the sea, so that God cannot be comprehended in one place, who is infinite. ⟨p. 66⟩These sayings notwithstanding, I said never that Churches should be destroyed: But of the contrary I affirmed ever, That Churches should be maintained and upholden,¹ that the people should be assembled in them to hear the Word of God Preached. Moreover, wheresoever is the true Preaching of the Word of God, and the lawful use of the Sacraments, undoubtedly there is God himself: So that both these sayings are true together; God cannot be comprehended in any one place: And wheresoever are two or three gathered in his Name, there is he present in the midst of them. Then said he to his accuser, If thou thinkest any otherwise; Then I say, Show forth thy reasons before this auditory. Then he without all reason was dumb, and could not answer a word. The seventeenth Article. Thou false Heretic contemnest fasting, and sayest thou shouldest not fast. The Answer. My Lords, I find that fasting is commanded in the Scripture, therefore I were a slanderer of the Gospel, if I contemned fasting. And not so only, but I have learned by experience, that Fasting is good for the health and conservation of the body. But God only knoweth who fasteth the true Fast. The eighteenth Article. Thou false Heretic hast Preached openly, saying, That the souls of men shall sleep to the latter day of judgement, and shall not obtain life immortal until the last day. The Answer. God full of mercy and goodness forgive them that say such things of me. I wot, and know surely by the Word of God, that he who hath begun to have the Faith of Jesus Christ, and to believe firmly in him;

The sixteenth Article. Thou Hereticke sayest, That it is vain to build to the honour of God costly Churches, seeing that God remaineth not in Churches made by mens hands, nor yet can God be in little space, as betwixt the Priests hands. The Answer. My Lords, Salomon saith, If that the heaven of heavens cannot comprehend thee, how much lesse this house which I have builded. And Iob consented to the same sentence, saying, Seeing that he is higher then the heavens, therefore what canst thou build unto him; he is deeper then the hell, then how shalt thou know him, he is longer then the earth, and broader then the sea, so that God cannot be comprehended in one place, who is infinite.