Truth and beauty

When reading the confessions that make up the Three Forms of Unity, I'm often struck by the beauty of the language and expression. This is worth noting since I'm reading an English translation of what was originally written in German, French or Latin. In fact, I enjoy reading these more than the Westminster Standards written in the good olde King's English. Some credit must go to the translators, yes, but more must go to the original writers. Here are the first two articles of the Belgic Confession.

Article 1: The Only God
We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being, whom we call God — eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty; completely wise, just, and good, and the overflowing source of all good.

Article 2: The Means by Which We Know God
We know him by two means: First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: his eternal power and his divinity, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. All these things are enough to convict men and to leave them without excuse. Second, he makes himself known to us more openly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for his glory and for the salvation of his own.

I love that! The phrases "single and simple spiritual being" and "that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God" speak to my head and my heart (or whatever part of my being it is that takes pleasure in language and expression). I'm already convinced of the truth of the Reformed confessions -- or as I publicly affirmed a few Sundays ago "I do sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to believe and do..." -- coming to appreciate their aesthetic beauty is icing on the cake, so to speak.