Our faith is slight and feeble unless it be propped on all sides and sustained by every means. Therefore, our merciful Lord, according to his infinite kindness, so tempers himself to our capacity that, since we are creatures who do not think about or even conceive of anything spiritual, he condescends to lead us to himself even by these earthly elements, and to set before us in the flesh a mirror of spiritual blessings.1 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion.