Part 19
All these things teach us that whenever men afflict us through their wickedness, we must not cease looking to God and holding it certain
that, although they act unrighteously toward us, nothing happens except by his righteous ordinance, so that he permits, wills, and disposes it in this manner.
Likewise, if some adversity presses upon us without human involvement, Scripture declares that barrenness of the earth, famine, every disease, and the other things we regard as accidental are God's curses, or at least chastisements which he sends us (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28).
Nevertheless, we shall not close our eyes to secondary causes. Although we regard those from whom we receive some benefit as ministers of God's kindness, we shall not despise them as though they had deserved no gratitude from us for their kindness. Rather, we shall acknowledge our obligation to them and confess it willingly, and we shall endeavor to repay them according to our ability when opportunity permits.
In short, we shall render God the honor of acknowledging him as the principal author of every good, while also honoring men as the ministers and dispensers of his benefits. We shall recognize that he intended to place us under obligation to them, since he showed himself our benefactor through their hands.
If we suffer some loss through our own negligence or carelessness, we shall indeed recognize that it occurred by God's will, yet we shall not cease to impute the fault to ourselves. If one of our relatives or friends, whose care had been entrusted to us, dies without having been properly attended, although we shall know that he had reached the limit which he could not pass, we shall not thereby diminish our
own guilt. Because we failed to perform our duty, we shall regard his death as having occurred through our fault.
Much more, therefore, if fraud or deliberate malice was involved in committing murder or theft, we ought not to excuse such crimes under the pretext of God's providence. Rather, in the same act we shall contemplate both God's righteousness and man's iniquity, as each plainly manifests itself.
As for future things, we shall take our point of departure chiefly from the secondary causes of which we have spoken. For we shall regard it as a blessing from God if he gives us human means by which we may sustain and preserve ourselves. We shall therefore deliberate, according to our ability, concerning what we ought to do, and shall not disdain to seek the assistance of those whom we see to be capable of helping us.
Rather, recognizing that it is God who places at our disposal every creature that may benefit us, we shall employ them as lawful instruments of his providence. And because we are uncertain what outcome our undertakings will have, except that we possess firm confidence that God will provide in everything for our good, we shall pursue what, so far as our understanding can discern, appears profitable to us.
Nevertheless, in forming our plans, we shall not follow our own judgment alone, but shall commend and submit ourselves to God's wisdom so that it may direct us rightly. Finally, our confidence will not be so fixed upon human assistance and means that we rest in them when they are available or lose courage when they fail us. For our understanding will remain fixed upon God's providence alone,
and consideration of present circumstances will not distract us from beholding it.
Here we may perceive the singular blessedness of believers. Human life is surrounded and almost besieged by innumerable miseries. Without looking any further, since our body is a receptacle of a thousand diseases and even nourishes their causes within itself, wherever a man goes he carries many forms of death with him. Thus his life is, as it were, wrapped in death. For what else can we say when we cannot even grow cold or perspire without danger?
Furthermore, whichever way we turn, everything around us is not merely suspect but openly threatens us, as though it intended to bring death upon us. If we board a ship, there is scarcely a foot between us and death. If we mount a horse, it need only stumble with one foot for us to break our neck. If we walk through the streets, every tile upon the roofs represents a danger hanging over us. If we hold a sword, or someone near us holds one, the slightest movement may wound us.
Every wild, untamed, or unmanageable beast we see is armed against us. If we shut ourselves within a beautiful garden filled with nothing but delight, a serpent may be concealed there. The houses in which we dwell are continually liable to burn: by day they threaten to impoverish us, and by night to collapse upon us. Whatever lands we possess, since they are exposed to hail, frost, drought, and other storms, threaten us with barrenness and consequently with famine.
I pass over poisonings, ambushes, and assaults, by which human life is threatened partly at home and partly in the open country. Amid such perplexities, must not man be more than miserable? Even while
living, he is only half alive, barely sustaining himself amid languor and distress, as though he saw a knife held to his throat at every moment.
Someone will say that these things happen rarely, or at least that they do not always happen to everyone, and that they can never all happen at once. I grant this. But because the examples of others warn us that they may happen to us, and that our life ought not to be considered exempt from any of them, we cannot avoid fearing them as though they were about to befall us.
What greater misery could be imagined than to live continually in such trembling and anguish? Furthermore, it would dishonor God to say that he had abandoned man, the noblest of his creatures, to the randomness of fortune. But my purpose here is merely to speak of the misery in which man would live if his life were governed by chance.
On the contrary, if God's providence shines within the believer's heart, he will not only be delivered from the fear and distress which previously oppressed him, but also relieved of every uncertainty. For just as we would rightly fear fortune if it governed us, so we have good reason boldly to entrust ourselves to God.
It is therefore a wonderful consolation to understand that the Lord so holds all things within his power, governs them by his will, and directs them by his wisdom that nothing occurs except as he has appointed it. Furthermore, he has received us into his safekeeping and committed us to the care of his angels, so that neither water, fire, sword, nor anything else can harm us except insofar as his good pleasure permits.
For it is written in the Psalm:
"He will deliver you from the snares of the hunter and from destructive plagues. He will shelter you beneath his wing, and you shall be safe beneath his feathers. His truth shall be your shield. You shall not fear the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in broad daylight, nor the destruction that passes through the darkness, nor the evil that strikes in the brightness of day."
—Psalm 91:3–6
From this arises the confidence with which the saints glory:
"The Lord is my helper; I will not fear anything flesh can do to me."
—Psalm 118:6
Again:
"The Lord is my protector; what should I fear? Though an army encamp against me, I will not be afraid."
—Psalm 27:1, 3
Again:
"Though I walk through the darkness of death, I will not cease to hope."
—Psalm 23:4
From where could the believer derive such an unshakable assurance unless, where the world appears to be turned upside down at random, he recognizes that God is at work directing it and confidently expects all God's works to contribute to his salvation?
If he sees himself assaulted or harassed by the Devil or by wicked men, does he not then especially need to strengthen himself by recalling God's providence, without which he could only despair?
On the contrary, when he recognizes that the Devil and the entire company of the wicked are held tightly by God's hand as by a bridle, so that they cannot conceive any evil, nor, after conceiving it, devise how to commit it, nor, after devising it, carry it out, nor even lift a little finger except insofar as God commands—he possesses abundant consolation.
For just as it belongs to God alone to arm their fury and turn and direct it wherever he pleases, so it also lies within his power to restrain them, so that they cannot act according to the full measure of their intemperance.
For this reason Rezin and the king of Israel, although they had conspired to destroy the land of Judah and appeared to be blazing torches capable of setting the whole land on fire, were nevertheless said to be nothing but smoking firebrands from which only a little smoke could arise (Isaiah 7:4).
In short, so as not to remain any longer upon this subject, I say that the greatest misery man can suffer is to be ignorant of God's providence, while rightly knowing it is a singular blessedness.
We would now have said enough concerning God's providence and predestination, insofar as is necessary for the instruction and consolation of believers—for nothing could ever satisfy the curiosity of fools, nor should we trouble ourselves to do so—were it not that certain passages of Scripture appear to signify that God's counsel is not firm and immutable, as we have said, but changes according to the disposition of secondary causes.
First, Scripture sometimes speaks of God's repentance. Thus it is said that he repented of having created man, of having raised Saul to the throne, and that he will repent of the evil he had determined to send upon his people when he sees some amendment in them (Genesis 6:6; 1 Samuel 15:11; Jeremiah 18:8).
Furthermore, we read that he annulled and revoked what he had determined. Through Jonah he had announced to the Ninevites that their city would perish after forty days, yet afterward their conversion moved him to mercy (Jonah 3:4, 10). Likewise, through the mouth of Isaiah he had announced death to Hezekiah, but moved by his tears, he deferred it (Isaiah 38:1–5).
From these passages many argue that God did not determine by an eternal decree what he would do toward men, but ordains from day to day and hour to hour what he knows to be good and reasonable, according as each person's merits require.
As for the word repentance, we must hold firmly to this conclusion: repentance can no more apply to God than ignorance, error, or weakness. For since no one knowingly and willingly places himself under the necessity of repenting, we cannot say that God repents without confessing either that he was ignorant of what would
happen, that he was unable to prevent it, or that he rashly formed his purpose without due consideration.
But this is so far from the Holy Spirit's meaning that, in the very passage which speaks of God's repentance, he denies that God can repent because he is not a man (1 Samuel 15:29). It is therefore certain that God's government of human affairs is constant, perpetual, and exempt from every change of mind.
Indeed, so that his constancy might not be doubted, even his adversaries were compelled to bear witness to it. Whether he wished to or not, Balaam could not refrain from saying:
"God is not like men, that he should lie, nor like the children of Adam, that he should change his purpose. Therefore, everything he has spoken must be fulfilled."
—Numbers 23:19
What, then, does this word repentance mean? I answer that it bears the same sense as all the other forms of speech which describe God in human terms. Because our weakness cannot reach his height, the description given of him must stoop to our capacity so that we may understand it. The way it does so is by representing him not as he is in himself, but as we perceive him.
Although he is free from every disturbance, he is said to be angry with sinners. Therefore, when we hear that God is angry, we must not imagine that some agitation exists within him. Rather, we must recognize that this expression is drawn from our own experience,
because when he exercises the severity of his judgment, he presents the appearance of one who is angry.
Likewise, under the word repentance we must understand nothing other than a change in his works, because when men change their works, they testify that those works displease them. Since every change among men is a correction of something displeasing, and correction proceeds from repentance, the change which God makes in his works is therefore signified by the word repentance.
Meanwhile, his counsel is not overturned, his will is not reversed, nor is his disposition changed. Rather, he constantly pursues without variation what he foresaw, approved, and decreed from all eternity, although in human perception there appears to be a sudden change.
Therefore, when Scripture recounts that the calamity Jonah announced to the Ninevites was remitted and that Hezekiah's life was prolonged after he had received the message of death, it does not indicate that God revoked his decrees. Those who think so misunderstand the warnings. Although expressed without qualification, such warnings nevertheless contain an implied condition, as may be understood from the purpose toward which they were directed.
For why did God send Jonah to the Ninevites to foretell the destruction of their city? Why did he announce Hezekiah's death through Isaiah? He could certainly have destroyed them without sending them any message.
He therefore had another end in view than merely giving them advance warning of their approaching ruin. He did not will them to
perish, but rather to amend their lives so that they might not perish. Thus Jonah prophesied that Nineveh would be destroyed after forty days precisely so that it might not be destroyed. Hezekiah was deprived of the hope of living any longer so that he might obtain a longer life.
Who does not now see that by such threats God intended to move those whom he threatened to repentance, so that they might escape the judgment they had deserved by their sins? If this is true, the natural order of the matter leads us to supply an implied condition, although it is not expressly stated in these warnings.
We may confirm this by similar examples. When the Lord reproved King Abimelech for taking Abraham's wife, he spoke these words:
"Behold, you shall die because of the woman whom you have taken, for she has a husband."
—Genesis 20:3
After Abimelech had defended himself, God answered:
"Therefore, restore the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, so that you may live. Otherwise, know that you shall surely die, you and all that you possess."
—Genesis 20:7
Do we not plainly see how, in the first declaration, he speaks with greater severity to terrify Abimelech's heart and thereby induce him more effectively to perform his duty, and then afterward clearly explains his intention?
Since the other passages bear the same meaning, it cannot be inferred from them that God departed in any respect from his original counsel by revoking what he had previously announced. On the contrary, he prepares the way for the fulfillment of his eternal counsel and ordinance when, by announcing the punishments that would befall them if they persisted in their sins, he brings to repentance those whom he wills to pardon.
So far is he from changing his will, or even his word. He simply does not explain his intention syllable by syllable, though it is nevertheless easy to understand. Therefore, this declaration of Isaiah must remain firmly established:
"The Lord of hosts has decreed it, and who shall overturn it? His hand is raised, and who shall turn it back?"
—Isaiah 14:27
CHAPTER NINE
Of Prayer, In Which the Prayer of Our Lord Is Explained
From what has been treated above, we clearly see how utterly destitute and deprived of every good man is, and how everything necessary for his salvation is lacking in him. Therefore, if he wishes to find anything with which to relieve his need, he must go outside himself and seek his help elsewhere.
Furthermore, it has been explained that our Lord freely presents himself to us in his Son, Jesus Christ, offering us in him every blessedness in place of our misery and every abundance in place of our poverty. In him he opens to us all his heavenly treasures and riches, so that our whole faith may look to his dearly beloved Son, our whole expectation may be directed toward him, and our whole hope may rest in him.
This is a secret, hidden, and concealed philosophy which cannot be understood by syllogisms. It is comprehended only by those whose eyes our Lord has opened, so that in his light they may see clearly.
Since faith teaches us to know that all the good which we need and which is lacking in ourselves is found in God and in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ—in whom the Lord has placed the fullness of his blessings and gifts, so that from him, as from an overflowing fountain, we may all draw—it remains for us to seek these things in him and, through prayers and supplications, ask him for what we have learned is there.
Otherwise, to know God as the Master, Author, and Distributor of every good, who invites us to seek these things from him, yet never to approach him or ask anything of him, would profit us nothing. Indeed, it would be as though someone despised a treasure that had been shown to him and allowed it to remain buried and hidden beneath the earth. We must therefore treat this point more fully now, having previously spoken of it only incidentally and in passing.
It is through the benefit of prayer that we gain access to the riches which we possess in God. For prayer is, as it were, communion between men and God. Through it, being admitted into his true
temple, which is heaven, they appeal to him directly concerning his riches, so that when necessity requires, he may demonstrate by experience that what they believed to be true upon his bare word was neither false nor vain.
Thus we never see God set before us anything to hope for from him without likewise commanding us to ask it from him in prayer. What we have said is therefore true: by prayer we seek and find the treasures which are revealed and presented to our faith in the gospel.
How necessary and how beneficial in many ways the exercise of prayer is cannot be adequately expressed in words. It is certainly not without cause that the Lord testifies that the entire assurance of our salvation consists in calling upon his name (Joel 2:32). For through prayer we obtain the presence of his providence, by which he shows himself watchful in caring for us; of his power, by which he defends us and supports our weakness and need; and of his goodness, by which he receives us into grace, despite our being burdened with sins.
In short, since by prayer we call upon him to manifest himself as entirely present with us, singular rest comes from this to our consciences. For after laying before the Lord the necessity that presses upon us, we have sufficient ground for repose, knowing that nothing of our misery is hidden from him whose goodwill toward us is certain and whose power to help us is beyond doubt.
Nevertheless, someone may object: Does he not already know, without being informed, where we are distressed and what is beneficial for us? It would therefore appear superfluous to solicit him
by prayer, since we ordinarily solicit only those who give no thought to our affairs and are asleep.
But those who argue in this manner do not perceive the purpose for which our Lord instructed his people to pray. He did not ordain prayer for his own sake, but for ours. Although he watches and keeps guard to preserve us—even when we are so dull that we do not perceive the evils surrounding us—and although he sometimes helps us before he is invoked, it is nevertheless most necessary for us to call upon him continually.
First, prayer is necessary so that our hearts may be inflamed with an earnest and ardent desire always to seek, love, and honor him, as we accustom ourselves in every necessity to take refuge in him as the only harbor of salvation.
Second, it is necessary so that no desire may arise in our hearts which we would not dare immediately to make known to him, as we do when we lay our every affection before his eyes and, so to speak, unfold our whole heart before him.
Furthermore, prayer prepares us to receive his benefits with true gratitude and thanksgiving, since through prayer we are reminded that they come to us from his hand.
Moreover, having obtained what we requested, we recognize that he has answered our desires and are thereby more ardently incited to meditate upon his kindness. We also take greater pleasure in the blessings he gives us when we understand that we have obtained them through our prayers.
Finally, prayer confirms and establishes his providence within our hearts according to our limited capacity, since we see that he not only promises never to abandon us, but also grants us access to seek and call upon him in our necessity.
For all these reasons, the Father, who is full of mercy, though he never sleeps or ceases from working, often appears to sleep and remain inactive so that we may thereby be stirred to pray to and seek him, as our laziness and forgetfulness require.
It is therefore a thoroughly perverse argument to draw us away from prayer by alleging that it is superfluous to solicit by our requests the providence of God, which watches over the preservation of all things without being solicited. On the contrary, the Lord does not testify in vain:
"The Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth."
—Psalm 145:18
It is equally foolish to allege that there is no reason to ask for things which the Lord is already freely prepared to bestow upon us, since he wills us to recognize that the benefits proceeding from his free generosity have been granted in answer to our prayers.
The first rule for properly and duly ordering prayer is that our minds and hearts must be disposed as befits those who enter into conversation with God.
With respect to our understanding, this will occur when, disentangled from all carnal cares and thoughts which might turn it
aside or hinder it from looking directly and purely toward God, it not only applies itself entirely to prayer but is also, so far as possible, raised above itself.
Nevertheless, I do not require the mind to be so free that no care troubles or presses it. On the contrary, the ardor of prayer must often be kindled within us by anguish and great distress. Thus we see God's holy servants displaying extraordinary torment and still greater anxiety when they say:
"Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord."
—Psalm 130:1
Rather, I mean that we must cast far away all foreign cares by which the understanding is carried here and there, withdrawn from heaven, and pressed downward toward the earth.
When I say that the understanding must be raised above itself, I mean that it must bring nothing before the Lord's face which our foolish and blinded reason habitually imagines. It must not remain confined within its own vanity, but must rise toward the purity of God.
In this matter men commonly sin very grievously. Not only does each person dare, without shame or reverence, to make God a witness of his follies and impudently present before his throne whatever has pleased his imagination, even in dreams, but such stupidity and madness exists in many that they dare to lay before God desires so shameful that they would blush to disclose them to men.
Likewise, the heart must strive toward the same end and follow the same course. As the understanding must be wholly directed toward God, so the affections must be entirely carried up to him.
Yet man's ability falls far short of such perfection. It remains far beneath it—or rather, collapses and fails altogether—unless the Spirit of God supports its weakness. For since we do not know how to pray rightly, he comes to our aid:
"The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be expressed."
—Romans 8:26
This does not mean that he literally prays or groans, but that he moves and awakens within us the confidence, desires, and sighs which the powers of our nature were incapable of conceiving. This is not said so that, casting the duty of prayer upon God's Spirit, we should fall asleep in negligence or carelessness.
Some are accustomed wickedly to blaspheme by saying that we must wait without concern until the Spirit first moves our understanding, while it remains occupied and distracted elsewhere. On the contrary, the knowledge of our weakness ought to move us to desire and implore his assistance, with hatred and displeasure toward our own laziness and negligence.
Let the second rule be this: we must renounce every thought of our own glory, strip ourselves of every opinion of our own worthiness, and abandon all confidence in ourselves, giving glory to God through our humility and abasement, lest, by wishing to attribute even the
least thing to ourselves, we be cast down before his face because of our foolish arrogance.
We have many examples of this humiliation among God's servants. The holier they are, the more deeply they abase and humble themselves when they must appear before the Lord. Thus Daniel, although he receives so excellent a testimony from God's own mouth, nevertheless prays:
"We do not present our prayers before you on account of our righteousness, but on account of your great mercies. Hear us, O Lord. O Lord, be gracious to us. Hear us and do what we request for your own sake, because your name is called upon over your people and your holy place."
—Daniel 9:18–19
Isaiah prays in the same manner in the person of the people:
"Behold, you are angry with us because we have sinned. Your ways are established forever. We have all been filled with defilement, and all our righteousnesses have been like a cloth full of filth and pollution. We have all withered like the leaf of a tree, and our iniquities have scattered us like the wind. There is no one who calls upon your name or awakens himself to return to you. For you have hidden your face from us and have left us to decay in bondage to our sins. Yet now, O Lord, you are our Father. We are only clay; you are our Maker, and we are the work of your hand. Do not be angry with us, O Lord, and do not remember our iniquity forever. Consider rather that we are your people."
—Isaiah 64:5–9
Here we may perceive how they rest upon no confidence except this alone: because they know themselves to belong to God, they do not despair that he will receive them into his keeping.
Jeremiah speaks no differently:
"Though our iniquities testify against us, show us mercy for your name's sake."
—Jeremiah 14:7
Therefore, what is written in the prophecy attributed to Baruch, although its author is uncertain, is expressed with great holiness:
"The soul made sorrowful and desolate by the greatness of its affliction, the bowed, feeble, and hungry soul, and the failing eyes give glory to you. O Lord, we do not present our prayers before your eyes according to the righteousness of our fathers, nor do we ask your mercy on account of it. But because you are merciful, have compassion upon us, for we have sinned before you."
—Baruch 2:18–19
It is true that the saints sometimes appear to bring forward their righteousness in support of their prayers, so that they may more easily obtain from God what they request. Thus David says:
"Preserve my soul, because I am good."
—Psalm 86:2
Likewise, Hezekiah says:
"Remember, O Lord, that I have walked before you in truth and have done what was good in your sight."
—Isaiah 38:3
Nevertheless, by speaking in this manner they mean only to testify through the fruits of regeneration that they are God's children, to whom he has promised to be gracious. Through his Prophet he teaches:
"The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their requests."
—Psalm 34:15
Likewise, through the Apostle Saint John:
"We shall obtain whatever we ask because we keep his commandments."
—1 John 3:22
By these statements he does not mean that prayers are valued according to the merit of works. Rather, in this manner he wills to establish the confidence of those who perceive their consciences to be pure, sincere, and free from hypocrisy, as ought universally to be true of all believers.
For the statement made in Saint John by the blind man whose sight had been restored is drawn from the pure truth:
"God does not hear sinners."
—John 9:31
This is so, provided that by sinners we understand those who, without any desire to do good, remain altogether asleep in their sins. For the heart can never truly devote itself to calling upon God without at the same time aspiring and striving to honor and serve him.
The declarations made by the saints in which they call their purity or innocence to remembrance therefore correspond to such promises, so that the things which all God's servants ought to expect may be granted to them.
Moreover, we shall find that they ordinarily employed this manner of prayer when comparing themselves with their enemies and asking God to deliver them from their wickedness. It is no wonder that in such a comparison they brought forward their righteousness and sincerity of heart to move God—and, because of the justice of their cause, to obtain his help and support.
We therefore do not deprive the believing soul of the blessing of enjoying a good conscience before God and thereby strengthening itself in the promises with which the Lord consoles his true servants. But we teach that all confidence of obtaining from God what we ask rests solely upon his holy mercy, without any consideration of our own merit.
The third rule must be this: whenever we ask for anything that is beneficial to us, we must sincerely feel our poverty and, sincerely recognizing our need of it, ask with a true desire to obtain what we request. For what could we imagine to be more abominable to God than such pretence and hypocrisy? As when someone asks forgiveness of his sins while thinking that he is no sinner, or without even considering his sin; for in this way God is openly mocked. Nevertheless, the world is full of such perversity, so that many people, merely as a formality, often ask God for things which they think will come to them from elsewhere, or which they imagine they already possess without God's grace. Believers, therefore, must beware of requesting anything from him unless they earnestly desire it and seek to obtain it from his hand. Even what we ask solely for God's glory must be sought with fervent zeal and desire. Thus, when we ask that his name be hallowed, we must ardently desire that hallowing.
By this rule we banish from Christian prayer all hypocrisy and cunning by which anyone would seek to lie to God. For he promises that he will be near to all who call upon him in truth, and declares that those who seek him with all their heart will find him.
The fourth rule of right prayer is that we should be moved to pray by a sure hope of obtaining our request. By this we do not mean a confidence that gives the mind complete repose by freeing it from every anxiety. Such tranquil rest belongs to those who, possessing everything they desire, are tormented by no longing. On the contrary, believers are most powerfully spurred to call upon God when they feel themselves pressed by necessity and are agitated by troubles and torments almost to the point of fainting within themselves. Yet amid
such anguish God's goodness does not cease to shine upon them. Therefore, although they are wearied by the weight of the evil they feel, and although they fear and tremble lest something worse should yet befall them, they nevertheless console and strengthen themselves through that goodness, hoping for a favourable outcome.
The prayer of a believer must therefore proceed from these two affections and embody them both: it must sigh and groan beneath the evil that oppresses him, and reveal his fear and anxiety concerning the future; yet at the same time it must seek refuge in the Lord with certainty that he will reveal himself by bringing aid and comfort to the oppressed. For it cannot be expressed how greatly God is provoked by our distrust if we ask him for a grace which we do not expect to receive. Therefore our Lord Jesus laid down this rule for our prayers:
"Whatever things you ask for, believe that you will receive them, and they shall be granted to you according to your hope."
—Mark 11:24
On the contrary, those who, not resting securely upon his promise, call upon him while doubting his truth and remaining uncertain whether or not they will be heard, gain nothing. As Saint James says, he even compares them to the waves of the sea, driven to and fro by the wind.
Moreover, since the Lord so often declares that it shall be done to each person according to his faith, he thereby indicates that without faith we obtain nothing. In short, it is faith that obtains everything
granted to our prayers. This is signified by the following saying of Saint Paul:
"How shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed?"
—Romans 10:14
From this he concludes that God cannot rightly be invoked except by those to whom his goodness and mercy have been revealed through the preaching of the gospel.
Now, when we join such assurance of faith to the acknowledgment of our misery and poverty, our stains and sins, we declare plainly enough that, though we recognize ourselves as poor and unworthy, our hope must not thereby be diminished. If we feel burdened and laden with sins, and if we see ourselves to be imperfect and destitute of everything that could make us acceptable to God, this must not so terrify or frighten us that we withdraw from him. Indeed, when we approach him, it is necessary that we acknowledge ourselves to be such. For prayer is not intended to exalt us before God or to commend anything in us, but to confess our misery and lay before God our complaint concerning everything that afflicts us, as a child would do before his father. On the contrary, this very awareness ought rather to serve as a spur and goad inciting us to prayer. We are admonished of this by the example of the prophet, who asks God to heal his soul because he has sinned against him:
"Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you."
—Psalm 41:4
Besides this goad, by which the consciousness of our misery continually pricks us, our most gracious Father has added two further things which should especially move and incite us to prayer. The first is his command that we pray.
The other is the promise he has made to us that we shall obtain whatever we ask of him. The command is given and frequently repeated when he says:
"Ask. Come to me. Seek me. Return to me. Call upon me in the day of your distress."
And there are many other such passages. This command is also contained in the third commandment of the law, where we are forbidden to take God's name in vain. For since we are forbidden to take it in vain, we are likewise commanded to use it for his glory, giving him all honour for power, goodness, aid, and comfort by asking and expecting these things from him. Therefore, if in all our necessities we do not take refuge in him, seek him, and call upon him for help, we transgress his commandment and provoke his wrath no less than if we made other gods besides him or fashioned idols for ourselves. For we equally despise his will by disregarding one of his commandments as another, since he has commanded the one no less than the other.
Indeed, no thought could be imagined that would more effectively deliver us from every doubt than this: that no obstacle ought to hinder us from obeying God's commandment by which he commands us to pray. Therefore, those who call upon him, seek him, and praise him have great consolation in knowing that by doing so they obey his command and will and perform what is pleasing in his
sight, since he declares that nothing is more acceptable to him than obedience.
But believers receive still greater consolation from his promise, upon which rests all their confidence of obtaining what they ask. For this reason the Lord invites us with many exceedingly gracious promises:
"Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you."
—Matthew 7:7
And through the prophet:
"You shall call upon me, and I will hear you. You shall seek me, and you shall find me."
—Jeremiah 29:12–13
Again:
"Call upon me in the day of your distress, and I will deliver you."
—Psalm 50:15
Again:
"He shall call upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in tribulation; I will deliver him and honour him."
—Psalm 91:15
But since there are innumerable similar sayings, it will suffice to have given a few as examples. Nevertheless, there are certain notable promises which it will be useful to hold firmly in our memory, such as these:
"The Lord is near to those who call upon him, provided they call upon him in truth."
—Psalm 145:18
Again:
"As soon as he hears the sound of your cry, he will answer you."
—Isaiah 30:19
And lest anyone should think that he is slow to hear, he afterward says:
"Before they have cried, I will answer them; while they are still speaking, I will hear them."
—Isaiah 65:24
But among all these promises, the following is the most remarkable, given in the passage where the dreadful vengeance of God that must come upon the whole world is described:
"Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
—Joel 2:32
It remains, then, that, being assured by such exhortations, we should consider ourselves sufficiently supported to obtain our requests. For it is not the merit or worthiness of prayer that causes us to obtain them; rather, all our hope rests upon these promises and depends upon them.
Therefore, we must be assured that we shall be heard no less than Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and all the other saints were—although they possessed a greater holiness of life than we do—provided that we seek God with the same firm and steadfast faith as they did. For though in other respects we are inferior to them, we are equal to them in this: we have the same commandment to pray and the same promise of being heard. Provided that God is invoked with a sincere heart, he does not value prayer according to the worthiness of the person, but solely according to the faith by which his servants obey his commandment and trust in his promise. Considering this, David said:
"Behold, Lord, you have promised your servant that you will build him a house. Therefore your servant has today taken courage and found occasion to pray to you. Now, Lord, you are God, and your promises shall prove true. You have promised to do good to your servant; begin, therefore, to fulfil your word by blessing the house of your servant."
—2 Samuel 7:27–29
The Israelites considered the same thing when they founded their requests upon the remembrance of the covenant made with Abraham. In doing so they followed the example of their fathers, and especially of Jacob, who, after confessing that he was unworthy of all
the blessings he had received from the Lord's hand, nevertheless took courage to ask for further blessings because of the promise given to him.
But because every man is unworthy to approach God and present himself before his face, our heavenly Father, to raise us from the shame which we feel—or ought to feel—in ourselves, has given us his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to be our Mediator and Advocate with him. Under his guidance we may freely approach the Father, assured that we have an Intercessor whom the Father can refuse in nothing, and that nothing we ask in his name will be denied us. Moreover, God's throne is not only a throne of majesty but also a throne of grace, before which, in the name of such a Mediator and Intercessor, we may appear with complete confidence and boldness, to obtain mercy and find grace, aid, and everything else we need.
Therefore, just as we are commanded to call upon God and those who call upon him are promised that they will be heard, so we are particularly and expressly commanded to call upon God in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We also have the promise that we shall be heard in everything we ask in his name:
"Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive. From now on you shall ask in my name; and whatever you ask, I will do, that the Father may be glorified in his Son."
—John 16:23–24; 14:13
From this it is undoubtedly evident that all who call upon God in any name other than that of Jesus Christ disobey God's commandment
and act contrary to his will. Nor do they have any promise from God that they will obtain anything whatsoever, since, as Saint Paul says:
"In Jesus Christ all the promises that come from God are Yes, and through Jesus Christ, Amen."
—2 Corinthians 1:20
That is, all God's promises are assured, firm, and certain in Jesus Christ, and in him they are fulfilled.
And since he is the only way and the sole entrance by which we have access to God, those who do not take him as their way and entrance have nothing by which they may approach God and can find nothing at his throne but wrath, terror, and judgment. Moreover, since God has uniquely sealed and appointed him to be our Head and Guide, those who turn away from him strive, as far as lies within them, to erase God's mark.
In this way Jesus Christ is appointed as the sole Mediator, through whose intercession the Father is rendered gracious and favourable toward us. Meanwhile, we still allow the saints their intercessions, by which they mutually commend one another's salvation to God, as Saint Paul mentions. Yet we require that these always depend upon the sole intercession of Jesus Christ, so far are they from diminishing it. For just as they proceed from the affection of love by which we are bound together as members, so they are directed toward the unity of our Head. Since, therefore, these prayers are made in Christ's name, do they not testify that no one can be aided or helped by the prayers of others except through Jesus Christ as Intercessor? And just as Jesus Christ, by his intercession, does not prevent us from helping
one another in the Church through prayer, so it must remain settled that all the intercessions of the Church must be directed and referred to his alone.
It is therefore nothing but sheer falsehood when the sophists of the present day babble that Christ is the Mediator of redemption, while believers are mediators of intercession—as though Christ, having completed a temporary mediation, had transferred his eternal and everlasting office to his servants. What splendid honour they render him by assigning him so small a portion of the honour that is his due! But Scripture speaks very differently, and the believer must rest in its simplicity, leaving these deceivers behind. For when Saint John says:
"If anyone has sinned, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ."
—1 John 2:1
He does not mean that Christ was once our Advocate in the past, but assigns to him the office of perpetual Intercessor. Saint Paul likewise affirms that, seated at the Father's right hand, he still intercedes for us. And when, in another passage, he calls him the sole Mediator between God and men, does he not have in view the prayers he had mentioned just before? For after declaring that supplications must be made to God for all men, he confirms this statement by adding:
"There is one God and one Mediator who gives all men access to him."
—1 Timothy 2:5
We do not, indeed, imagine that Christ kneels and makes humble supplication. Rather, with the apostle, we understand that he so appears before the face of God that the efficacy of his death serves as a perpetual intercession. Moreover, having entered the heavenly sanctuary, he alone can present the prayers of the people, who have no immediate access to God.
As for the saints who, having departed from this world, live with Christ, if we attribute any prayer to them, let us not imagine that they have any way of praying other than Christ, who alone is the way, or that their requests are accepted by God in any other name. Since Scripture, withdrawing us from all others, calls us back to Christ alone, and since the heavenly Father wills that all things be gathered together in him, it has been the height of folly—indeed, of madness— to seek access through them in such a way that we are drawn away from Christ. And who can deny that this was done formerly, and is still done today wherever the papacy prevails? To obtain God's favour, the merits of the saints are pleaded; God is invoked in their names, while Jesus Christ is left behind.
What else is this but to transfer to them the office of sole intercession which we have maintained above belongs to Christ? Moreover, what angel or devil ever revealed a single syllable to men concerning the intercession of the saints as it has been invented? For Scripture says nothing of it. What reason, then, was there to fabricate it? Certainly, when the human mind seeks such secondary aids as are not given to it by God's Word, it plainly reveals its distrust. And if we call upon the consciences of those who rest upon the intercession of the saints to testify, we shall find that this practice arises from nothing but their uncertainty, as though Christ were insufficient for them or were
too severe. By this doubt they greatly dishonour Christ and strip him of the title of sole Mediator—a title which, having been bestowed upon him by the Father as his unique prerogative, must not be transferred elsewhere.
In doing so, they obscure the glory of his birth, nullify his cross, and overthrow the praise due to everything he accomplished and suffered, since it all tends to this end: that he alone should be acknowledged as Mediator. Likewise, they reject the benevolence of God, who has declared himself to be their Father; for he will not be their Father unless they regard Jesus Christ as their brother. This they utterly deny unless they consider him to possess a brotherly affection toward them as tender and gracious as any that can be found. Therefore Scripture presents him alone to us, directs us to him, and wills that we should rest in him. Saint Ambrose says: "He is our mouth, through which we speak to the Father; our eye, through which we behold the Father; and our right hand, through which we offer ourselves to the Father. Without him as Mediator, neither we nor any of the saints have access to God."
Folly has wandered so far in this matter that we may see vividly displayed the nature of superstition: once it has cast off the bridle, it never ceases to roam without restraint. For after men began to direct their thoughts toward the saints as intercessors, they gradually assigned to each one a particular office. Thus, according to the differing nature of their affairs, they invoked now one and now another as their advocate. Moreover, each person chose his own particular saint and placed himself under that saint's guardianship as under God's protection. Thus there arose not only what the prophet reproached in the Israelites—that gods had been established
according to the number of their cities—but gods according to the number of persons, since everyone had his own.
Now, if the saints have their affections fixed upon God's will, look to it, and direct all their desires toward it, then whoever assigns to them any prayer other than longing for the coming of God's kingdom holds an altogether crude and carnal view of them and even does them injury. From this we may judge how the common fancy ought to be regarded: namely, that the saints are favourably disposed toward each person according to the honour paid to them. Finally, many have not stopped short of dreadful sacrilege, invoking them not merely as patrons or advocates, but as governors of their salvation.
This is where wretched men fall when once they stray beyond their proper bounds—that is, beyond the Word of God.
Those who attempt to show that such intercession has a foundation in Scripture labour in vain. They say that the prayers of angels are often mentioned, and not only this, but that Scripture testifies that the prayers of believers are carried by their hands into God's presence. I grant them this. But if they wish to compare the departed saints with angels, they must prove that the saints are spirits appointed to minister for our salvation, commissioned to guide us in all our ways, surrounding us, admonishing us, and continually watching over our preservation. For all these things are attributed to angels, not to the saints.
They also cite what the Lord said to Jeremiah:
"Though Moses and Samuel stood before me to make supplication, my heart would not be inclined toward this
people."
—Jeremiah 15:1
From this they frame their argument as follows: Unless God intended to signify that the dead pray for the living, why would he have spoken in this way of Moses and Samuel, who were already dead? I argue the contrary: since it is evident that Moses and Samuel were not then praying for the people of Israel, the dead offer no prayers for the living. For whom among the saints shall we suppose to have cared for the people if Moses did not, who surpassed all others in this respect? Yet it may be inferred from the prophet's words that he was then making no request for them.
Therefore, if they seek such petty subtleties to conclude that the dead pray for the living because God said, "Though Moses and Samuel were praying," I have a more plausible argument: Moses was not praying during the people's most extreme necessity, since it is said that even if he did pray, he would not be heard. From this it is probable that no other saint prays, since Moses surpassed all others in goodness and compassion. See what they gain by their cavils: they are wounded by the very sword with which they thought themselves well armed.
Nevertheless, it is absurd to force this sentence beyond its plain meaning, since our Lord signifies nothing more than that he will not pardon this people even if they had some Moses or Samuel as their advocate—men for whose prayers he had formerly done so much. This meaning can be clearly gathered from a similar passage in Ezekiel:
"Though these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in the city, they would deliver neither son nor daughter by their righteousness, but only their own souls."
—Ezekiel 14:14, 20
Without question, he meant that even if they were raised from the dead and living in the city, they could not deliver it. Let us therefore leave aside those of whom Scripture openly testifies that they have completed their course. Accordingly, Saint Paul, speaking of David, does not say that he assists his successors by his prayers, but only that he served his own generation.
But someone will ask whether I intend to deprive them of every affection of love, since throughout their lives they were so ardent in love and compassion. I answer that, just as I do not wish curiously to pry into what they are doing or thinking, neither is it probable that they are driven to and fro by various desires. Rather, it is likely that with a settled will they seek the kingdom of God, which consists no less in the overthrow of the wicked than in the salvation of believers.
Moreover, even if we were to concede that they pray for us in this manner, it would not follow that they ought therefore to be invoked. Nor can this be inferred from the fact that people living on earth commend themselves to one another's prayers. For this serves to maintain love among them as they share their needs with one another and mutually take them upon themselves. They also do this at God's command and are not without promises—the two principal foundations of prayer. All these reasons are lacking with respect to the dead, with whom the Lord has left us no communication after
removing them from our company, nor, so far as we may conjecture, have they any communication with us.
If anyone contends that they must retain the same love they possessed while living, since they are united with us in one faith, I will ask further: Who has revealed that their ears are so long that they extend to our words, or their eyes so keen that they can perceive our necessities? It is true that the sophists babble in their schools about something they call the light of God's countenance, claiming that it is so great that, by contemplating it as in a mirror, the saints can perceive what takes place below. But to affirm this—and particularly with the boldness they display—is nothing other than attempting, through our foolish dreams, to penetrate God's secret judgments without his Word and to trample Scripture underfoot. For Scripture so often declares the wisdom of our flesh to be the enemy of God's wisdom, universally condemns the vanity of our understanding, casts down all our reason, and brings us back to God's will alone.
The testimonies they produce to support their falsehoods are perversely corrupted by them. They say that Jacob, at the point of death, asked that his name and the names of his fathers Abraham and Isaac should be invoked over his descendants. First, let us consider what this form of invocation means among the Israelites. They do not call upon their fathers for help, but merely ask God to remember his servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their example therefore gives no support to those who address their words to the saints.
But because these blocks of wood, dull and senseless as they are, do not consider what it means for Jacob's name to be invoked, or for what purpose it should be invoked, it is no wonder that they err so foolishly regarding the manner of it. To understand this, we must note that the same form of speech occurs elsewhere in Scripture. Isaiah says that the name of men is invoked over women when the women acknowledge them as their husbands and place themselves under their guardianship and authority. Therefore, the invocation of Abraham's name over the Israelites consists in this: that, acknowledging him as the father of their race, they solemnly retain the memory of his name as their father.
Jacob does not do this because he is greatly concerned to preserve his own renown. Rather, because he understands that the entire blessedness of his descendants rests upon their possessing, as by succession, the covenant God had made with him, he desires for them what he knows to be their highest good: that they should be numbered among his children and acknowledged as his offspring. This is nothing other than handing down to them, from one generation to another, the succession of that covenant.
When their descendants likewise recall them in their prayers, they do not take refuge in the intercessions of the dead, but remind the Lord of his promise, in which he testified that he would be gracious and generous toward them for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How little believers rested upon the merits of their fathers is sufficiently declared by the prophet, speaking in the common name of the whole Church:
"Lord God, you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel is ignorant of us. You, Lord, are our Father and Redeemer."
—Isaiah 63:16
Nevertheless, after speaking in this way, he likewise adds:
"Lord, turn your goodness toward us for the sake of your servants."
—Isaiah 63:17
They do not imagine any intercession here; rather, they recall the blessing of the covenant. But now that we have the Lord Jesus, in whose hand the eternal covenant of mercy was not only made but also confirmed, whose name should we plead in our prayers rather than his?
Some, however, are moved by the argument that the prayers of the saints were often heard. Why were they heard? Certainly because they prayed:
"They trusted in you and were preserved; they cried out and were not put to shame."
—Psalm 22:4–5
Let us therefore pray after their example, so that we, like them, may be heard. But contrary to all sound reason, these men argue that none shall be heard except those who have already been heard. How much better is Saint James's argument:
"Elijah was a man like us, and he prayed that it might not rain; and for three years and six months no rain fell upon the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth yielded its fruit."
—James 5:17–18
What then? Does Saint James infer that Elijah possessed some special prerogative to which we ought to have recourse? No. On the contrary, he demonstrates the perpetual efficacy of pure and holy prayer in order to exhort us to pray in the same manner. For we acknowledge far too feebly God's readiness and kindness to hear his people unless, by the experience of the saints whose prayers were heard, we are strengthened in a more certain confidence in his promises. In those promises he does not say that his ears will be inclined to hear one or two, or some small number, but all who call upon his name.
Prayer, as we understand it, has two parts: petition and thanksgiving, for all the forms Saint Paul lists may be reduced to these two heads. By petition we lay open our hearts and desires before God, asking of his goodness, first, those things which tend and contribute solely to his glory, and then those things which are also useful and necessary to us. By thanksgiving we acknowledge his benefits toward us and confess them to his praise, thanking him for all things, giving him the glory for every good, and attributing them all to his goodness. David comprehends both parts in a single verse, speaking in the person of our Lord:
"Call upon me in the day of your distress; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
—Psalm 50:15
We must continually practise both. For our need and poverty are so great, and our imperfection presses and burdens us so heavily on every side, that all—even the holiest—have abundant occasion at every hour to complain and sigh to God and to call upon him in all humility. Moreover, the abundant and continual gifts of our Lord's benefits overflow upon us, and the wonders of his works, wherever we look, appear so great, excellent, and infinite that we never lack cause or occasion to praise, glorify, and exalt him and to give him thanks in all things and everywhere.
To explain this more fully: since all our hope and every good we possess rest in God, as has already been sufficiently shown, and since neither we nor anything belonging to or concerning us can prosper except through his blessing, we must continually commend to him both ourselves and everything that is ours. Moreover, whatever we purpose, say, or do must be purposed, spoken, and done under his hand and according to his will, in the hope of his aid. For our Lord curses all who, trusting in themselves or in others, devise and deliberate upon their plans, undertake anything, or seek to begin some work apart from his will and without calling upon him and imploring his aid.
From what has been said—that we must believe and acknowledge him to be the author of every good—it follows that we must receive everything as from his hand with continual thanksgiving. There is no proper way to use any of his benefits, which he continually bestows upon us, unless we are likewise constant in praising and thanking him. For when Saint Paul says:
"Every good thing from God is sanctified to us by the Word and prayer,"
—1 Timothy 4:5
he thereby also shows that without the Word and prayer these things are not sanctified to us. By the Word he means faith, which corresponds to that Word and believes it. Thus, without prayer and faith, none of God's blessings are sanctified to us.
Therefore David gives us sound instruction when, upon receiving a new benefit from God, he says that a new song has been placed in his mouth. By this he indicates that our silence is not free from ingratitude if we allow any of God's graces to pass without praise, since every time he does us good he gives us fresh occasion to bless him.
For this reason Saint Paul elsewhere commands us to pray without ceasing. He means that, as far as possible, at every time, every hour, in every place, and in all circumstances, our desires should be raised to God, both to seek every good from him and to praise him for every good, since the reminders he gives us of these duties are continual.
Although this command to pray continually principally concerns each person individually, it also applies in some measure to public prayers. These cannot be continual and should be conducted only according to the order established by the common consent of the Church, whenever it is judged fitting to assemble. Certain hours are therefore appointed which are indifferent before God but necessary for human practice, so that everyone's convenience may be considered and, as Saint Paul says:
"Everything in the Church may be done in good order and harmony."
—1 Corinthians 14:40
Nevertheless, this does not prevent every church from continually encouraging itself toward a more frequent practice of prayer, especially when it finds itself pressed by some necessity. As for perseverance, which is closely related to continual prayer, we shall have occasion to speak of it at the end.
None of this supports the superstitious prolonging and repetition of prayers which our Lord forbids. For he does not forbid us to persevere in prayer, whether at length, frequently, or with vehement affection. Rather, he teaches us not to imagine that we can compel God to grant our requests by importuning him with empty verbosity, as though he could be swayed by babbling after the manner of men.
Since the purpose of prayer, as has already been said, is that our minds should be raised and directed toward God to desire his glory and confess his praises, and to ask his help in our necessities, we may understand from this that the chief part of prayer lies in the heart and spirit. Indeed, prayer properly speaking is nothing other than this inward desire turning and directing itself toward God, who knows the secrets of the heart.
Therefore, when our Lord Jesus Christ wished to give us a sound rule for prayer, he commanded us:
"Enter your room, shut the door, and pray there in secret to your heavenly Father, so that he who sees and penetrates
every secret may hear you."
—Matthew 6:6
For after withdrawing us from the example of hypocrites, who seek the praise and favour of the people by making an ambitious display of their prayers, he then teaches what must be done: we must enter our room and pray there with the door shut. By these words, as I understand them, he instructs us to seek such a place of retreat as will help us to enter into our own hearts with our whole mind. He promises that God will be near to such inward affections of our hearts, for our bodies ought to be his true temples.
Christ did not thereby intend to deny that it is lawful or necessary to pray elsewhere. He wished only to declare that prayer is a secret matter, residing principally in the heart and spirit, and that it requires tranquillity of mind, free from all carnal affections and disturbances arising from earthly cares. It was therefore not without reason that the Lord Jesus himself, when he wished to devote himself wholly to prayer, withdrew from the noise of men. He did this to admonish us by his example not to despise such aids as enable our hearts to be raised more fervently to pray well.
Nevertheless, just as he did not cease to pray amid the multitude whenever the occasion required it, neither should we hesitate to lift our hands toward heaven in any place whenever necessity calls for it. Moreover, since God's Word commands public prayers among believers, there must be temples appointed for that purpose. Those who refuse to join with God's people in prayer there cannot excuse themselves by claiming that they enter their private rooms in obedience to God's commandment.
For he who promises to grant everything that two or three gathered in his name shall ask sufficiently testifies that he does not despise public prayers, provided that all ambition and desire for glory are excluded and that, on the contrary, there is a true and pure affection in the depths of the heart.
If this is the lawful use of temples—as it certainly is—we must beware of regarding them as God's proper dwelling places, as has been done for many years, or as places where our Lord hears us more readily. Nor must we attribute to them some secret holiness that renders our prayer more acceptable to God. For if we are the true temples of God, we must pray to him within ourselves if we wish to invoke him in his true temple. Let us leave such crude and carnal notions to the Jews or the Gentiles, since we have been commanded to invoke the Lord in spirit and truth, without distinction of place.
It is true that the temple was formerly dedicated by God's command for the offering of prayers and sacrifices, but that belonged to the time when the truth was represented beneath such shadows. Now that the truth has been vividly revealed to us, it does not permit us to rest in any material temple. Even the temple was not commended to the Jews on the condition that they should enclose God's presence within its walls, but to train them to contemplate the likeness and image of the true temple. Therefore, those who imagined in any way that God dwelt in temples constructed by human hands were severely rebuked by Saint Stephen.
It is likewise perfectly evident that speech and singing, when used in prayer, are of no value before God and profit nothing with him unless they arise from the affection and depths of the heart. On the
contrary, they irritate him and provoke his wrath against us if they proceed only from the mouth, because this is to abuse his most sacred name and hold his majesty in mockery, as he declares through his prophet:
"This people draws near to me with its mouth and glorifies me with its lips, but their heart is far from me. Their fear of me is governed by the commandments and doctrines of men. Therefore I will perform a great wonder among this people, a great and dreadful miracle: the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men and elders shall be brought to nothing."
—Isaiah 29:13–14
We do not say, however, that speech or singing is not good. Rather, we highly esteem both, provided that they follow the affection of the heart and minister to it. For in doing so they assist the attention of man, which is frail and easily distracted unless strengthened in every possible way, and keep it fixed upon the thought of God.
Moreover, since all our members ought, each in its own capacity, to glorify God, it is fitting that the tongue—which God created especially to proclaim and magnify his name—should be employed in doing so, whether by speaking or singing. It is particularly necessary in the prayers offered publicly in Christian assemblies, where we must show that, just as we honour God with one spirit and one faith, so we praise him with a common voice and, as it were, with one mouth. This is done before men so that each person may plainly hear his brother's confession of faith and be edified and incited to imitate it.
From this it is also evident that public prayers must not be offered in Greek among Latin speakers, nor in Latin among the French or English—as has formerly been the general custom—but in the common language of the country, which the whole congregation can understand. For such prayer ought to serve the edification of the entire Church, which receives no benefit from unintelligible sounds. Even those who had no regard for love or humanity ought at least to have been moved somewhat by the authority of Saint Paul, whose words are sufficiently plain:
"If you give thanks in a language that is not understood, how shall the person who occupies the place of the unlearned say 'Amen' to your thanksgiving, since he does not understand what you are saying? You indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified."
—1 Corinthians 14:16–17
Who, then, can sufficiently marvel at the unbridled audacity which the Papists have displayed and still display? Contrary to the apostle's prohibition, they chant and declaim in a foreign and unknown language, in which they themselves often do not understand a single syllable, nor do they wish others to understand. But Saint Paul shows us that we must follow a different course.