The Fourteenth Sermon, the Sixth on the Second Chapter - Ephesians 2:16-19
he has taken us out of the world and thoroughly fashioned us like his own image, according to the groundwork which he has begun in us.
And so let us all say, Almighty God, heavenly Father, etc.
The Fourteenth Sermon,
which is the Sixth upon the Second Chapter 16 Jesus Christ has reconciled us both in one body, to the end, to knit both the one and the other unto God by his cross, killing the enmity thereby.
17 And being come, he preached peace to you that were far off, and to them that were near at hand.
18 For by him both of us have access to the Father in one Spirit.
19 Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and household folk of God.
We have seen this morning how St. Paul has told those who were once without hope of salvation that they are so much the more bound to God for his calling them to be among the number of his children, seeing it was not a common and ordinary thing, nor a thing that was expected. On the other side, he also beat down all pride, to the intent that the Jews might not think to themselves that the privilege of adoption was of their own purchasing, nor vaunt themselves though
God had preferred them before all the rest of the world.
And now, going forward still with the same matter, he says that we were reconciled, as well on one side as the other, by the death of Jesus Christ, and that in so doing he has knit us together into one body, putting all enmity to death by his cross. This serves to express better the thing that we have seen already. He had said that we must come unto God by means of our Lord Jesus Christ: for without him we are all far off, as well Jews as Gentiles, because we are all sinners,
and God is an enemy to us until his wrath is appeased towards us.
Now St. Paul shows that this is done by his bearing of our sins upon his cross. For it is by his obedience that all our iniquities are put away, and it is by his sacrifice that our sins are washed away.
To be short, were it not for the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, we would still be bound in the handwriting that is spoken of in the second to the Colossians. For if we should come to reckoning, who would dare open his mouth to excuse himself before God, or look to escape the damnation that all of us have deserved? For if we should go about to allege but one point, there would be a thousand to stop our mouths, so that we would be driven to stand still all confounded, until we came to the remedy, that is to say, that Jesus
Christ has by his death made so full satisfaction for all our debts that we are acquitted and released.
That then is the thing which St. Paul handles now, to the end we might know what manner of access it is that he speaks of. For to press into God's presence, in the case as we are of ourselves, would be too great a boldness. But when it is told us that God will not lay our sins and misdeeds to our charge, because Jesus Christ has put them all away by his death, then it is no rashness at all for us to go unto God with our heads held upright, but we have a good foundation, and a boldness that God likes well.
Therefore, as often as we have occasion to pray, or to fight against any temptations, let us learn to know that we have need to be encouraged to patience, and to be assured of everlasting life, and to repair all wholly for refuge to the death and passion of the Son of God, knowing that until such time as we are dipped in his blood, and washed by the working of his holy spirit, we shall evermore be
loathsome, and God will justly shake us off, and be always a judge to us instead of being our father.
And it is not enough to know that Jesus Christ has made amends for us, and that all things requisite to our salvation were fully accomplished and performed by his death and passion: but we must also receive the benefit thereof in such manner as it is ministered unto us. For what shall it avail the Jews, Turks, and others like them, that God's Son undertook the condemnation that belonged to us?
They shall rather be held doubly guilty, because by their unthankfulness they bereave themselves of the benefit whereof they might have been partakers if they had received the promises of the Gospel by faith. But the Jews on the one side blaspheme our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Turks on the other side laugh him to scorn, and count him but as a night ghost. And the Papists labour with tooth and nail to deface his power and to rob him of the greatest part of his graces. These, therefore, shall find that the death which the Son of God has suffered serves to increase their cursedness and to kindle
God's wrath so much the more against them. Yea, and even those who never heard of the Gospel are utterly excluded from this treasure.
And for that cause St. Paul adds that Jesus Christ has preached peace to those who were near, and to those who were far off. By this, he shows that when the Gospel is preached, we are daily put in possession of the salvation which was purchased for us by our Lord
Jesus Christ, at least if we lay hold on him by true faith that has taken a lively root in our hearts to bring forth good fruit. Therefore, there are two things required. The one is that we know how the matter and substance of our salvation is in Jesus Christ, and the other is that the same is declared to us by the Gospel.
To the intent we may be the surer of this doctrine, St. Paul says, not that Christ has sent his Apostles, or set up a great number to bring us such a message, but that Christ himself has come to bring tidings of peace to all men. Now, it is certain that our Lord Jesus Christ has not executed the office of preaching since his Resurrection, save only among his Disciples, that they might be furnished beforehand to preach everywhere the doctrine that was committed to them. But St.
Paul says that he preached to those who had once been far from God.
He did not do this in his own person. Then it is certain that St. Paul speaks of that preaching of the Gospel which was done by the Ministers that were appointed by God, and by our Lord Jesus Christ.
And yet notwithstanding he says that it was Christ himself that preached, namely to the end that we should yield greater reverence to the Gospel, and hold it as the truth authorized by God, and every one of us submit himself to it without any gainsaying or replying. For if we have any doubt of it, let us not think that Jesus Christ shall benefit us at all. Therefore, we must assure ourselves of it, and as we have seen in the first Chapter, God's promises must be sealed in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who for the same cause is called the earnest penny of the life that we hope for, and the very sign, manual, or seal that God prints in us, to the end that our faith should be in full certainty. We see then what St. Paul aimed at in this text, in saying that Jesus Christ, being raised from the dead, and having performed the charge that was enjoined him by God his father, was our Redeemer, and also the bringer of the same message to us, not for once and away, but by continual preaching of it, insomuch that he will have his mouth still open even to the end, to witness to us that in him we shall assuredly find all that we can wish to bring us to the heavenly life.
Now then must we not be very blocks, if we are not touched to the quick at the hearing of these words? It is true that the Son of God does not flit from place to place, nor is he conversant here beneath among us in visible fashion, neither were that requisite. But yet for all that, the doctrine which we preach in his name ought to have the same authority as if he spoke to us himself, mouth to mouth. And for the same cause also does he say, "He that hears you, hears me, and he that receives you, receives me," and likewise, "He that rejects you, rejects me." And again, by this means is God my father honored, even by your believing of the Gospel. And contrariwise, he has great wrong and reproach done unto him when the things are doubted of that are so well certified there. The Pope and all the rabble of his clergy allege this for the maintenance of their tyranny. But our Lord
Jesus Christ's meaning was to warrant us the message that concerns the forgiveness of our sins, wherewith our ears are beaten continually.
For we shall always hang in a mummering and doubt if we are not thoroughly persuaded and resolved that all things contained in the Gospel are held of Jesus Christ, who is the infallible truth itself. For if we have an eye to men, we shall be ever wavering and doubtful. And for proof thereof, what can they bring us of their own growing, but utter vanity and lies? So then, although our Lord Jesus Christ abides still in his heavenly glory, and we are absent from him in body, yea, and that it be a strange thing to us to say that he dwells in us, and that wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, he is in the midst of them, yet notwithstanding we must be fully assured of this point: that when the pure doctrine of the Gospel is preached, it is all one as if he himself spoke to us, and were familiarly conversant here among us.
Then to be short, our faith must aim at him, as at the very mark or butt of it, and we must rest upon him. And seeing that God his father has sent him to be a faithful witness, look whatsoever is told us truly in his name, we must receive it without any gainsaying.
Furthermore, as we have here wherewith to strengthen us in true constancy of faith, and to arm us against all the assaults and alarms that Satan can give us, so it is a great shame for us when we are deaf to the hearing of the Gospel, or let it alone as a thing hanging in the air, taking it to be but a fable or a thing of no value. And yet for all that, most men nowadays either despise the Gospel or else are so besotted that they discuss it as a trifle, or else make a mockery of it.
Some, having heard sermons, or having been taught at some lecture, or by some other means, will perhaps say, "It is possible that this may be true, and as for me, I will not say no to it; but forasmuch as I am no clerk nor divine, it is all one to me, I will let it alone still in its ordinary course."
Some others will say, "Tush, I will hold to the faith of my forefathers, for it is too dangerous a matter to change." Some again say thus,
"How so? It is a new doctrine that we never heard of before." And others, not contented with such scornfulness, add outrageous cruelty, and fight openly against it, insomuch that they could find it in their hearts to pluck God out of his seat, whereupon they fall to shedding innocent blood, endeavouring to the utmost of their power to wipe away the remembrance of the Gospel.
But in the meantime, let us understand that whenever the message of our salvation is set forth unto us, if we despise it, we shall be guilty not only of rejecting a benefit that was brought to us by a mortal creature, but also of shutting the gate against God's son when he came to seek us for our salvation. And therefore to quicken up our
slothfulness, and to correct the cursed stubbornness that might hinder our full and obedient yielding to the Gospel, let us mark that the preaching thereof is not a thing done by haphazard, nor do men come of their own selves, as says St. Paul also to the Romans: but God himself visits us, and comes unto us, and our Lord Jesus Christ performs still the duty of a shepherd, and calls us to him with his own voice, because he sees us to be as sheep that go astray. And although we be peaked aside here and there, yet his mind is to gather us together again to be of his flock. Were this well printed in our hearts, surely we should be better disposed not only to receive the doctrine of the Gospel with all humility but also to be inflamed with such a zeal and earnestness that the whole world should be nothing in comparison with us. To be short, God's word would be as sweet as honey to us, and more precious than all gold and silver, considering that the son of God being in the glory of God his father, does nevertheless make us hear his voice, and that not as one that speaks afar off, or with a sound that vanishes away in the air, or in such wise as we have no certain record of the things that he speaks: but as one that comes and preaches to us himself. For look what is done by his authority, and according to the commission that he gave and committed to his Apostles: it becomes us to receive it for his sake, as I have declared before.
Moreover, St. Paul's intent here is to provoke us to receive the Gospel with all obedience, not only for the worthiness of the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ, but also for the things that are contained in the Gospel itself: for it is the message of peace, says he. Let us consider what it is to have war with him that made us and fashioned us. If we have an enemy in this world, although he be but a frail man, and have no very great credit, yet we will be afraid lest he should practice some policy or spite against us, or revenge himself by force. To be short, we would ever be unquiet, so long as we had any enemies in
this world. Must we not then needs be too brutish, seeing we fall asleep when God shows himself to be against us, and that he is armed to take vengeance upon us?
If we considered well what it is to have war with God (as indeed our sins cease not to provoke him to displeasure) we should find on the contrary part, what a benefit it is to have peace and atonement with him. Now seeing that this is brought to us by the Gospel, whereby we enter possession of the atonement that was made by Jesus Christ, when he offered himself in sacrifice by his death: it is a thing that ought to inflame us in such wise, as to make us embrace the Gospel with earnest zeal, and to give over our whole mind thereto.
So then considering the coldness and laziness that is in us, let us so much the more think upon this saying, and apply the same to our use, namely, first to know that the son of God refuses not to teach us, and to be our schoolmaster, so we be contented to be his scholars: and secondly that we shall have a doctrine which is more to be desired than all the pleasures, honour, and goods of the world: that is to wit, that we be at peace with God, and that being sure of his favour towards us, we may have recourse and access unto him, and be received as his children at his hand. Well ought we to note that: for St. Paul meant to show which is the true peace, because many men think themselves well at ease, which notwithstanding have no peace with God.
For some are puffed up with devilish self-weening, as the Monks and Friars in the Papacy, who persuade themselves that they have deserved so well at God's hand, as there can no fault be found in them. They then which ground themselves after that manner upon their own virtues and good deeds, think that God is bound to them, and they may well be lulled asleep, because Satan besots them with
the foolish self-trust which they have conceived: and that is because they aim not at God, but have forged an idol in their own head. And in good faith, what are the things that they would content God withal, but gewgaws and baggagely trifles, as if they would still babes with them? The Papists must take a sprinkling of holy water, they must all to cross themselves, they must fast this week, and that week, they must gad on pilgrimage, they must forbear eating of flesh upon such a day, they must babble thus many Paternosters, they must set up a candle to such a saint, they must hear thus many masses, they must say thus many mea culpas.
To be short, when a man has raked them all on a heap, it is certain that they be but the scrapings and offals of all filthiness. And yet to their seeming, God is well paid with them, as who should say, he were an idol, or a little babe, as I said before. We see then that none of all those hypocrites that are so puffed up with presumption, can have any peace with God. But forasmuch as they fetch such windlasses and look not at God, but askew, and though they make countenance of approaching unto God, yet their offering themselves unto him is not with singleness and substantial soundness of heart: they do but beguile themselves with their fond flatterings.
Also there are a sort of these scoffers, which do but nod their heads when men speak to them of their salvation, saying, it is enough, if we may give but one good sigh, but let us not cease in the meanwhile to make frolic cheer, for what a thing were it to pass all the time of our life in such dumpishness? That would do us no good, and therefore let us play the good fellows. Hereupon they fall to unthriftiness, some after one fashion, and some after another. They have a thousand ways to destruction, and all confederate themselves against God as much as is possible. Therefore because there have always been so many, yea and too many, that bring their own consciences asleep: St.
Paul in this place (like as also in the fifth to the Romans) sets down the true peace: which is, that when we come unto God, and must present ourselves before his Majesty, we be sure that he will pity us, and not lay our sins to our charge, but receive us as his own children.
Then if we intend to enjoy this spiritual peace, which passes all the goods of the world: let us learn to have war with ourselves. And how is that? It is first to know that we are damned and forlorn, and that there is no hope of remedy for us, whereby to get out of the pit of destruction again, except we be recovered by means of our Lord
Jesus Christ. When we be so bereft of all untoward self-trust in our own deserts, and know that we be empty and stark naked: let us repair as poor beggars unto God: that is the thing that is requisite for the attainment of true peace.
And by the way also let us not think to gain anything by being blockish; so we should fall asleep in this world: but let us understand, that forasmuch as we have no certain time appointed us, it is our duty to summon ourselves evening and morning before God, and to examine our sins thoroughly, and to be both sorry and ashamed of them. When we have once learned to make war thus against our own vices, and to ply it thoroughly without hypocrisy and counterfeiting: then are we in the high way to the peace which our
Lord Jesus Christ does publish and preach unto us every day by the Gospel.
And that is the very cause why St. Paul says expressly, that by him we have entrance unto the father. As if he should say, that no unbelievers, no heathenish worldlings, no mockers of God, no dullards which think not of their everlasting salvation, can by any means taste of what value the peace is, which we obtain by the Gospel, or conceive how precious and amiable it is. And why? For
they put too many scarves before their faces, to keep them from being abashed at God's justice, and from being stricken with terror of their sins. To be short, they make themselves wilfully drunken, that they might have a senseless conscience, and they bereave themselves of all understanding, as though they were brute beasts.
But when we consider that all our welfare consists in being able to have all our recourse unto God, and that our coming to him is certain also, yea, and that the way is open for us to go thither familiarly: surely then will we forget all other things, and long to be made partakers of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to be united into his body, to the end that God may receive us, and we call upon him with full trust in our necessity, and settle ourselves upon the love that he bears us, not doubting but that whatsoever is offered us in the Gospel, is all one as if God uttered his heart among us.
Now St. Paul, having spoken of the preaching of the Gospel, adds purposely, "In one Spirit." He had said before that we are all knit together in the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, namely because he took our nature upon him, and by that means abolished and took away the curse that was in Adam. Nevertheless, the doing thereof in the person of the son of God would not be enough if the Gospel were not a means to him. Therefore, for a third point, St. Paul adds that we must communicate all of one spirit.
For although the Gospel is preached, yet there are many stubborn persons, and others so entangled in this world that they think no more of the heavenly life than dogs and swine do. Others again are so sapped in their hypocrisy that although God calls us all and allures us sweetly to him in the person of his son, the number of those that come unto God is very small. For this cause, St. Paul says that we must have God's spirit. For it is certain that by nature we are
variable, and not only will each one of us have his opinion by himself, but also we change every minute of an hour. By means of this, we are so far from being all of one accord that none of us abides settled in his opinion from morning to night, except he is governed by God.
It stands us then in hand, when we hear the Gospel preached, to have God's spirit to guide and govern us, so we may thoroughly embrace our Lord Jesus Christ, and by him have access to the Father. Now, therefore, we must bear in mind first that when our Lord Jesus
Christ exhorts us by his ministers (according also as St. Paul says in the second to the Corinthians), we ought to be well disposed to come unto him, yea, and to run unto him, even with enforcing ourselves above all power of man. For when we have done what we can, yet we shall have no access unto him, but all our endeavour shall rather be a retreating back than a going forward unless his spirit guides us. So much the more then does it stand us in hand to pray to God to touch us with his holy spirit, and to cause him to make us way unto him, as is said in the eighth to the Romans, and as we have seen also likewise to the Galatians.
For there St. Paul puts a difference between God's children and the reprobates. "We," says he, "have the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." We should not know him of ourselves, says he, because there is nothing in us but infirmity, and it would be too great a rashness in us to call God our Father. But when God has once sealed the truth of his Gospel in us by his holy spirit, and enlightened us inwardly, so we know it is he that speaks, and thereto has assured us of his goodness and mercy, then may we freely and with open mouth cry out that he is our Father. And so you see in effect what we have to bear in mind, to the intent that none of us trusts to his own brain when the Gospel is preached unto him, but that in consideration of the rudeness and weakness that is in us, we suffer
ourselves to be governed by God's spirit, which is the chief key whereby the gate of paradise is opened unto us.
And for that cause also it is said that we must be sprinkled with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, as St. Peter terms it in his first
Epistle. For the same cause also the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews says that Jesus Christ was offered up in spirit, meaning that his sacrifice whereby he purchased us righteousness would still be a vain thing to us if the Holy Ghost worked not in it by his power. And St. Paul, going forward with the matter that has been declared heretofore, adds also that as well those who were far off as those who were near hand had heard the said message, and that the same is set before us also at this day, to the end we might be confirmed in it more and more. And as I have said already, by those who were near, he means the Jews who had had some familiarity with God theretofore because he had acquainted himself with them by giving them his Law, telling them that he received their lineage to be the protector thereof.
However, that was not to knit them thoroughly unto him until he had pardoned their sins, which was done by the means of Jesus Christ.
For the Law could yield them nothing but terror and anguish of mind, and curse them throughout, and sink them down to the bottom of hell, as St. Paul says in the third to the Romans, and especially in the third chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians. Therefore, it was requisite that the Gospel should be added thereto. Now it is certain that David and the other holy prophets, and likewise all the kings and the faithful that lived under the old Testament, had not the Gospel so manifestly as we have, but yet in very substance God declared unto them that he of his own free goodness received them to mercy, for the redeemer's sake in whom they trusted. If the Law be separated from the Gospel, it not only
profits them not at all who rest upon it but also serves to beat them down, and to thunder upon them, and to show them how dreadful
God's majesty is.
It is in the Gospel then that we have peace, and therefore it stood the Jews in hand to be made partakers of that doctrine. And as for us that come of the Gentiles, we ought (as I said this morning) to acknowledge so much the better the double recognition wherein we stand bound unto God, for that he has vouchsafed to make us fellows with his peculiar people, us (I say) that were as things born out of time, and to put us in the company of those whom he had chosen and adopted before, in such wise as the records of the Prophets are now fulfilled, wherein it is said, "You Gentiles and Nations, glorify you
God with his own people," whereby the Holy Ghost foreshowed that there should be such a melody, that all men should sing God's praises, even as well the Gentiles as the Jews, when they were once knit together, and gathered from out of the scattering wherein all of us are, as is said already, and as we have seen before.
We see then what St. Paul aimed at, in saying that the Gospel was preached to all men, both to those who were far off and to those who were near. And that is what he treats of in the tenth chapter to the Romans. For there he shows that we should ever be scanning and never resolved in our faith if we did not know that the preaching of the Gospel proceeded from God's authority and his unchangeable ordinance. "It is not for men," says he, "to put forth themselves, except God sends them." And God has begun to teach the world at all times heretofore, though not by preaching or writing, yet by the only sight of the world itself. No marvel therefore, says he, though God has vouchsafed at this time to extend his grace to all nations, by making them know that he would be their Father.
Now then, like as on the one side, it stood the Jews in hand to know how great a need they had to be reconciled to God by Jesus Christ, and not to be deceived by trusting to their birthright, or to their circumcision, or to any of all these shadows of the Law, but that it behoved them to flee to the only means that I have treated of, namely, that God received them to mercy, for the eternal sacrifice which Jesus Christ offered: so let us on our side learn to magnify
God's goodness, seeing he has vouchsafed to cast us to be of his household and Church, notwithstanding that we were cut off and banished from it before. And therefore let us look to ourselves, that we let not this benefit vanish away, nor be deprived of it through our own unthankfulness.
For what excuse will there be for us, if when God calls us to heaven in the person of his only son, so as Jesus Christ tells us, that it is he himself who comes to seek us, as often as it is told us that God will be merciful to us for his sake: we do not run apace unto him, both hot in zeal, and earnest in carefulness, to show how we know that all our welfare, joy, happiness, and glory, consist in being joined to our
God? which cannot be but through his free goodness. Again, when we refuse to receive this peace, let us be afraid that Jesus Christ will change his voice: for it is certain that the Gospel always promises damnation to such as do not conform themselves to God's will.
And it is not for nought that the scripture speaks of binding, as well as of loosing; for our Lord Jesus Christ meant to show us that it is the very nature and duty of the Gospel, to pluck us out of the bondage and prison wherein we are held, until he has set us free: and so is it his own office also, as he himself says in the eighth chapter of St.
John, where he declares the same thing. However, he adds, that there are bonds also prepared for those who do not take him for their redeemer, nor suffer themselves to be set free by him. And that is
what he means in St. John, when he says, "Whose sins you release, they are released unto them, and whose sins you withhold, they are withheld." Then he shows that when we preach the Gospel, we must first of all declare the message of reconciliation, which is spoken of in the first to the Corinthians, in the place by me before alleged.
Thus you see that the thing which we have to do continually, is to show that God has been so kind unto us, as to be at one with us in the person of his son, yea and to receive us to himself, that we might be washed and scoured from all our filthiness, and be accepted as righteous before him. Lo how wretched souls are unbound, lo how poor captives are let out of prison, lo how those that once were plunged in the darkness of death are brought out again to the light of life.
But on the other side, we have also the commission to withhold sins, by threatening the despisers of God's word with God's horrible wrath, and by telling them that when they have shaken their ears, and think themselves to have escaped, the doctrine that they have heard must be as ropes and fetters to bind them withal. According to this, St. Paul says expressly in another place, that we have vengeance ready for all such as set themselves against our doctrine. Yea, though they be the highest in the world, yet if they set up their bristles against God, and despise him, they shall not escape the damnation that is threatened them, at leastwise when the faithful have once performed their obedience.
And indeed when an enemy summons a people, there is trembling for fear, lest they shall find no mercy, if reasonable conditions should be refused: and what then shall be done, when God comes, not only to will us to yield ourselves unto him, but also to offer himself to us, and will have us to possess him and all his goods in the person of
Jesus Christ? What shall become of us, if we refuse such grace, when he uses such kindness towards us? Must not horrible damnation light upon such villainous pride and scornfulness, when men do not vouchsafe to receive him, even him who not only procures their salvation, but also created them, and by whom they are maintained?
Then let us learn to mark well this doctrine wherein peace is spoken of, to the end we provoke not God any more, nor turn our bread into bane, and our meat into mortal poison: but that we may be truly quickened by the grace which God offers us daily.
And for that cause, Saint Paul concludes that those who are so touched with God's spirit, to obey the Gospel simply and substantially, are no more strangers, but rather fellow citizens with the Saints, and God's household folk. This tends still to the end that I have noted before: that is to wit, that God's name should be glorified as it deserves, and that we should not step lightly to him as we are wont to do. For we think to discharge ourselves with one word, by saying that Jesus Christ is our redeemer. But let us always call to remembrance what we have been, and in what state we were, until
Jesus Christ drew us out of the dungeons of death.
For the word "strangers" implies that which we have seen heretofore: namely, that before the Gospel was preached, the Gentiles were without hope of salvation, cut off from God's favour, without promises, without God in the world. Although they lived here, although they were fed and sustained by the good things that God gave them, although they enjoyed the light of the sun, yet nevertheless they were without God. And in the same state are all unbelievers.
So then, Saint Paul, rehearsing what our redemption was when Jesus Christ came to find us and reached us his hand to guide us to God his
Father, is to the end that we should learn to yield him the whole praise of our salvation. Hereupon he says that we are citizens of heaven, companions with the Angels of Paradise, and fellows with the holy kings and Prophets. When there is any talk of the Prophets and Apostles, or of any of the Saints and Martyrs, we have them in admiration, and rightly so: but in the meanwhile, we do not regard why the Holy Ghost sets them before us. The Papists make idols of them, and (to their seeming) they have honoured Saint Paul and Saint Peter well when they have decked them with God's feathers.
But on the contrary, it is said here that when God sets forth the grace that he gave to them, it is to the end that we should consider the benefit that he bestows upon us, in that he musters us in their band.
Accordingly, the Apostle in the twelfth chapter to the Hebrews says that they might be unto us as a great and thick cloud of witnesses, that we might follow their example the more cheerfully, and walk on in the way that they show us. Again, when God has made us perceive the inestimable good which he does us, in matching us with the Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, and all the faithful, let us go yet further and consider that he has made us fellow citizens with the Angels of heaven.
A man would take great labour for a citizenship, freedenizenship, or burgesship of this world, and yet notwithstanding they are but incomes of this life. And what is this life of ours? A fleeting shadow which passes away out of hand. Behold, God calls us, not only to sojourn in his Church as strangers, but also to assure us that he admits and accepts us for his children, so that we may with true trust, and as it were with one mouth, boldly call upon him as our father, and keep one tune and melody with all the Saints.
That therefore is the thing which we have to remember upon this strain: which order the Apostle uses also in the end of the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying that we are no more under the law, which could do nothing but frighten us, because there was nothing to be heard there but thunderings and lightnings, which were terrible signs of God's anger. But we, says he, are come to Mount Zion, where we hear the sweet voice of God our Father, who matches us with his holy spirits, with his Angels, and with the souls of his faithful ones, so that we are now of their company, and may speak unto God as it were all with one mouth, because we have one common head.
This is, in effect, the thing that we must bear in mind. And although we do not yet enjoy it, yet notwithstanding we are sure that by means of faith we may walk through this present life as strangers to the world, and that God will not fail to avow us for his children and heirs.
Although we are still wrapped here in many vices and imperfections, yet notwithstanding, all the Saints of Paradise do acknowledge us for their brethren, and embrace us for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake.
Now let us cast ourselves down before the Majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our faults, praying him to make us so to feel them, as we may dislike them more and more, and on the other side set our whole mind to the considering of the infinite grace which he extends towards us, in calling us unto him, to the intent we may not be so spiteful, nor yet so witless and blind, as not to hearken when he speaks, but rather that we may obediently through faith yield unto the doctrine which he sets forth unto us, wherein lies all our welfare and salvation. May the same doctrine pluck us back from all the lewd lusts of the world, and from all the froward affections that thrust us aside and turn us away from him, so that we may grow more and more in his fear and love, to be fashioned like his image, until we come to his heavenly glory, whereto he calls us.