This section of the Institutes discusses the depravity of the hearts of mankind. It is titled, Everything Proceeding from the Corrupt Nature of Man Damnable.
The content of this chapter is about man’s intellect and will; also, grace and merit…. What Calvin says about these topics might enable you to better understand yourself when you are self-observing; and meditating on your own conduct and on the Bible; furthermore, you may derive new topics for prayer.
The first video opens by a reading of the 5 divisions of the chapter and the 14 small sections; afterwards, the body of the text is read. I say this so that none mistake the reading of the outline for the body of the text. This is possible if one has not read Calvin.
The reader seems to be an Asian female, who is a bit more difficult to understand that other readers of Calvin in this blog, but if you are interested in the content, then, by listening carefully, you should be able to understand.
This chapter requires two videos approximately 30 minutes each.
All the chapters on Calvin’s Institutes in this blog have different readers because they come from Libravox.com where people volunteer to read important books. These were downloaded from the YouTube site Sermon Library; they offer many works by Puritans.
STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS:
I recommend the purchasing a copy of The Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin, translated by Henry Beveridge. (The book is approximately $25 on Amazon; as is the book on Audible, which is read by one person, not like at Librivox.)
The book is divided into short readings such that it could be a wonderful devotional that would take a few years to read through if one section a day was read. Each of the 4 books in the work has 18 to 25 chapters which are divided into sections, 8 – 20 or so.
This work is valuable because it explains Bible doctrines; also in that these are interpreted by Calvin; wherein, his expertise in scripture might enable listeners to better understand their Bibles. He also frequently refers to the writings of St. Augustine, who was the most significant teacher in the church after the apostles for the initial 1000 years of the church.