The Twentieth Sermon, which is the fifth upon the third Chapter - Ephesians 3:14-19
The Twentieth Sermon, which is the fifth upon the third Chapter.
14. For the which thing I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ:
15. (Of whom all kindred is named in heaven and in earth.) 16. That according to the riches of His glory, He grant you to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inward man.
17. And that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.
18. And that ye may be rooted and grounded in love, to the intent ye may comprehend with all the Saints, what the width, and the length, and the depth, and the height,
19. And know the lovingness of Christ, which passeth all knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God.
We have seen this morning by what entrance we must offer our prayers unto God, if we intend to be heard at His hand and to have full assurance that our prayers shall be well liked: namely, that Jesus
Christ be our guide and advocate, and make intercession for us, so that we speak not but as it were by His mouth. Now He has set it down for a rule in praying unto God, that we must call Him:
"Father." And how dare men be so bold or presumptuous as to call God their Father? Surely we can allege no right whereby to claim any such dignity. For not even the Angels have it, but by means of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Then it is impossible for us to pray to God, as He
commands us, and after the manner which He teaches us in His word, except Jesus Christ be our advocate. For on which side are the Angels akin to us? Shall the Virgin Mary be found to be our great
Aunt or Grandmother? What are the Apostles? To be short, we must resort to our Lord Jesus Christ, to have His spiritual kindred, whereby God avows us for His adopted children. And when we once have that, we must no more doubt whether God will hear our prayers or no, seeing we come not to Him upon a foolish rashness, by presuming upon our own natural reason or self-liking, but with obedience to His commandment. Again, we have His promise, which can never deceive us. On the contrary, all they that think to obtain favor at God's hand by any other means, do but run astray, and have shut themselves out of the door already. And therefore, there is now no excuse but that we must simply hold the way which the Gospel shows us to come unto God by, that is to wit, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, without adding any other creature, as we see done by the whole world. Indeed, they that pester up a throng of patrons and advocates (as they term them) hope to be well welcomed unto God.
But by what warrant? Who has promised them that God will accept their devotion and all that they offer unto Him? For it is not in us to appoint officers in heaven. In a court of justice of the world, it might well be a matter of course (as they term it), and it might lie in the power of a judge to give leave to whom he listeth to plead men's cases, to the intent there might be no confusion. But if we will make advocates at our own pleasure, and upon our own head (in heaven), it is all one as if we would rob God of His authority and sovereignty.
Yea, and we must bethink us how St. Paul saith that all our prayers and supplications shall never be aught worth, but utterly unprofitable and vain if they be not conformable to God's word, so as we take our rule from thence. For how shall we call upon a God (saith he) whom we know not, at all adventure? And how shall we know after what manner we should pray, and what style and speech we
should use? We must come to hearing, not of the things that men shall bring us of their own brain, but of the things that God commandeth us. So then, we must use this modesty and sobriety, and not speak at random when we pray unto God, but simply obey
His word. Yea, and we know that prayer is the chief sacrifice that God requireth. For whereas it is said that we must worship the only one God, it is not alone with ceremonies, as with kneeling down before Him. Indeed, that is requisite, for it is meet that we should honor our God both with our body and with our mind, because they be both His. Howbeit, in worshipping Him, we must acknowledge truly that we hold all good things of Him, and that do we in praying to Him. For we come thither as poor souls utterly destitute of all things that are meet for us, knowing that without Him we be worse than miserable. It is said in the law that in offering sacrifice to God, men must not do anything at all of their own head, but follow His ordinance, insomuch that it was forbidden them to take strange fire to use upon the altar, whereby it was meant in a figure that men should utterly forbear all their own devotions when they intend to offer anything unto God. Likewise, they were forbidden to offer sacrifice without salt, thereby to show that we ought to have a sure instruction, so as all the offerings which we offer up to God be sauced or powdered with His word, for without that, there will be neither taste nor savor in them. But seeing that we nowadays have the substance and truth of the figures of the law, whensoever we offer our prayers and supplications unto God or yield Him praise and thanks, let us do all by our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle to the Hebrews exhorteth us. This serveth to finish up the matter that was begun this morning.
And we must call to mind what St. Paul told us this morning: namely, that in praying unto God, we must not be given to our worldly affections, but seek that God may be glorified, and that the
residue may be but as an appurtenance to it. That is the cause why he spoke purposely of the inward man. For if God should give us the bridle to ask whatsoever came in our head, or if we on our side should take such liberty, what a thing were it? If He should give us all our own asking, it would turn to our ruin and confusion. For we have our lusts further out of square than little children or sick folks. And all of us generally do by experience find in ourselves that we be fast settled here below, and would fain be held continually in this world; we hang our heads groveling downward, and cannot lift them up. So much the more, therefore, doth it stand us on hand to mark well the thing that St. Paul showeth us in this sentence: namely, that we ought to pray God to renew us and to strengthen us by His Holy
Spirit and to increase His gifts in us more and more, that in passing through this world, we may always aim at that mark and be here but as wayfarers, to the end that our Lord may avow us for His children, and the heritage be kept for us, which He hath promised us and bought so dearly for us by the death and passion of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Now hereupon St. Paul inferreth that Jesus Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. Whereby he showeth that without Christ we shall never be made partakers of any one drop of God's grace. It is true that God hath the whole fullness of life, light, righteousness, and all goodness in Himself. But where is the head wellspring? It is utterly hidden, and we shall never be able to come at it of ourselves. And if we think to do any good by our own inventions, it is but a deceiving of ourselves: we shall but dig pits continually, yea, even such pits as are full of holes and have no springs of water in them. Behold, the thing that men gain by following their own inventions is that they make much trotting up and down and are never the nearer. But our
Lord Jesus Christ is a fountain wherout we may well draw our fill, yea, and we need to make no long windlasses to come unto Him,
because He offereth Himself, saying: "All you that are athirst, come unto Me and drink, for whosoever drinketh of the living water that I give him shall have enough, both for himself, and also to make it flow unto his neighbors." Now then, for as much as our Lord Jesus Christ doth so liberally and bountifully offer us the benefits which we receive of God His Father, therefore St. Paul saith that He must be fain to dwell in our hearts, that we may be reformed by God's Spirit.
And let us mark that Jesus Christ hath the full perfection of all goodness in Him, not only in respect that He is the everlasting Son of God, but also even in His human nature which He took of us, and wherein He became our brother, hath He also received all fullness, according to this saying of the Prophet Isaiah, that upon Him shall rest the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of the fear of God, the spirit of righteousness, and the spirit of strength.
And to what end? Is it for His own use? He had no need of it: but (as it is said in another text) it was to the end that He should distribute it unto all His members, and we all of us, from the most to the least, draw of His fullness, not fearing that fountain can dry up. Seeing then that our Lord Jesus Christ doth by the Gospel daily communicate and offer unto us the things that we want and are needful for our salvation, it is not for nought that St. Paul, having showed that we can do nothing further forth than we be upheld by God's grace, addeth that God must be fain to dwell in our hearts.
Now upon these words, we have to gather, first of all, that God, thinking it not enough to remedy all our defaults and misdoings, and all our wants, hath vouchsafed to give Himself to us in the person of His only Son. If it were told us that we be restored to the former state from whence our father Adam fell, that were very much, and therein we should have an excellent record of the goodness of our God: but He hath not only given us both heaven and earth, that is to say, all things that are fit for us both in respect of this flightful life and of the
everlasting salvation of our souls, but also He hath given Himself unto us. And how is that? Even by giving us our Lord Jesus Christ, as is said of Him in the ninth of the Prophet Isaiah. And all the Scripture also leadeth us thither when it showeth us how God giveth
Himself unto us, and how we possess Him, and have full fruition of Him. And thereupon we must conclude with that which St. Paul saith in the eighth to the Romans, namely, that inasmuch as God's Son, who hath all excellence and dignity in Him, is given unto us, shall anything else be withheld from us? Seeing that God hath granted
Himself so far forth unto us as to have His Son to dwell in us, should we now doubt of obtaining the things which He knoweth to be for our profit and behoof? Think we that they shall be denied us? Ye see then that the thing which we have to remember in the first place is that God hath showed Himself so bountiful towards us, that He hath not thought it enough to put us in possession of all His goods, but hath vouchsafed to become our portion and cup Himself, as the Scripture saith, which useth such similitudes to show that as a man seeketh his ordinary repast and is well pleased when he hath meat and drink, because he is refreshed by it: so must we resort unto God to have the true food, and we must hold ourselves contented with Him when He giveth Himself so unto us. And herewithal let us ever bear in mind what I have said, namely, that we need not soar in the air, nor make any far fetches for the possessing of God, because He hath knit Himself to us in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him we are made partakers both of Him and all His benefits. And St.
Paul setteth down the word "faith" to show us how dear the doctrine of the Gospel ought to be unto us. For it is not enough to have said that Jesus Christ dwelleth in us, because we will always have our replies and say, "How may that be?" For we cannot rise up so high.
He is in the glory of heaven, and we be crawling here in the world, subject to miseries without number. Seeing then that there is so long a distance between Him and us, how may He dwell in us? Now St.
Paul addeth purposely, that the Gospel is of such power as to unite us to God's Son, at leastwise so we receive it by faith: for it behoveth us to consider the contents and substance of the things that are preached unto us concerning the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not only said that it was God's will to have Him offered in sacrifice, to the intent we might be reconciled, and all our sins be wiped out, so as they might never come to account, and (to be short) that full amends might be made for all our sins by His death and passion, and that He was raised again for our justification, as St. Paul saith in the fifth to the Romans: not only those things are said of Jesus Christ, but it is also said that He is our head, as we have seen already, and that we live of His own substance, as a tree draweth his sap from his root, and that as the head of a man sheddeth forth his power through all the body, so have we a secret union, and such a one as is wonderful and far above the order of nature, because that although Jesus Christ be in heaven, yet He faileth not to dwell in us. And soothly if the sun can so cheer us up by his beams without fleeting out of his place, insomuch as we see that every morning we be as it were refreshed and comforted by his rising, yea, and even sick folks feel some cheerfulness by him though they lie along in their beds: seeing that a creature which is not only transitory and corruptible, but also senseless and unmovable of itself, hath notwithstanding such force and property given it of God to rejoice and refresh us after that fashion: what shall our Lord Jesus Christ do, who is ordained to have the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him, and to shed forth all the gracious gifts of God His Father upon us, to deal them unto every one of us according to his measure, as is said of Him in the fourteenth chapter of St. John? Then if we come to Christ with belief in Him, that is to say, if we receive the promises of the Gospel: let us assure ourselves that He will dwell in us, even by the means of faith. But hereof we shall treat more fully in the fifth chapter. Notwithstanding, this text could not have been understood unless I had noted the thing
that I have briefly touched even now: that is to wit, that Jesus Christ dwelleth in us by faith, and that our receiving of Him as He offereth
Himself with all His grace by the Gospel, is not only to look upon Him aloof, or to have it told us that He hath offered Himself in sacrifice for us once for all: but to the end He should dwell in us by the power of His Holy Spirit, and we be knit unto Him, and feel that He doth truly execute the office of a head towards us, so as we be members of His body, and live of His proper substance. That then is the cause why St. Paul added the word "faith," when he said that Jesus Christ ought to dwell in us.
Nevertheless, we must not go about to pluck Jesus Christ out of His heavenly glory, to the intent to be the nearer unto Him, as the unbelievers do, who will needs dwell ever still beneath, and transfigure God after their own liking. And we see what is done in the popedom. For there is no God among them, but a sort of puppets which they call images and remembrances. And moreover, because they see well that those are but dead stocks and stones, they have made another God, whom they have shut up in a box, and to him they resort as to a living God. Indeed, if they had the supper of our
Lord Jesus Christ according to His institution, instead of the abominable mass which they have brought in on their own head,
Jesus Christ would be present among them, howbeit not as they imagine. For in the Supper, we do truly receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be fed of Him, and of His own substance, so as He performeth the thing which He speaketh by His word, namely, that He is our spiritual bread and drink, and hath wherewith to satisfy us to the full. Yea, but yet are the bread and the wine of the Supper, as pledges that our Lord Jesus giveth Himself to us, to the end we should seek Him above after a spiritual fashion. So then,
Saint Paul showeth us, that if we will have Jesus Christ joined unto us, we must not be given to our own beastliness, but our hearts and
minds must be lifted up aloft to seek Him above, as hath been declared already. It is true, that He cometh down to us by His word, and by the power of His Holy Spirit, but that is to the end that we should mount up thither to Him.
Howbeit, there is one thing more which we ought to mark well in Saint Paul's saying, that Christ must dwell in our hearts. For many men have Him in their mouth, yea and also in their brain, as they understand Him, and they think themselves well discharged when they can babble of Him, but in the meanwhile, there is no lively root in them. Then, it is not enough for us to have some roving knowledge of Christ, or to gaze at Him in the air, as they say, and to be able to talk of Him with a full mouth, but He must have His seat in our hearts within, so as we be knit to Him unfailingly, and with a true affection. That is the means for us to be made partakers of God's
Spirit.
And to be short, we may see here, that all such as ween to obtain aught at God's hand but by the means of our Lord Jesus Christ, do but range and wander in vain, and shall always find themselves empty, insomuch that when they think themselves to be full fed, it shall be but with wind, that is to say, with vain and trifling imaginations, as I told you this morning. They, therefore, which devise patrons of their own head, and surmise that God will favor them for it, and in the meanwhile let Jesus Christ alone, must understand that they be so far off from obtaining their requests, that God doth rather abhor them, insomuch that when they once swerve from the anchorhold which is set forth for us in the Scripture, (that is to wit, from having our Lord Jesus Christ for their lodesman), the angels of heaven must needs forsake them, and the saints also, to whom they behighted themselves, must needs deny them, yea, and all of them must set themselves against them as adversary parties.
For there is no means for us to be matched with the angels, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, till we have true concord with them. And how shall we have that? By faith, that is to say, according to the pure doctrine of the Gospel. Not that it is enough for us to have our ears beaten with it, but that we must receive the things that God promiseth us there, so as we abhor all that ever Satan can set before us, and have none other guide than only our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath told us that He is the light of the world, and that whosoever walketh in Him cannot stray. But by the way, we must search and examine ourselves narrowly, that we take not a vain cloak under the name of Jesus Christ, as we see many do nowadays, which protest themselves to be Gospellers. And even among ourselves, what a number are there which will show signs great enough that they be willing to follow God's word? But they think to discharge themselves with petty trifles, and when they have once given ear to the doctrine and spoken a few good words, then, to their seeming, God is highly bound unto them. But here it is showed us, that we have no acquaintance at all with Him, until Jesus Christ dwell in our hearts.
And that is the very means whereby to be filled with His benefits, and to have His Holy Spirit dwelling and reigning in us. For unless we fear God, and walk in His obedience, so as we behave ourselves according to His will, and all our wits and desires aim thitherward, it is a token that we live after the flesh, as Saint Paul saith to the Galatians. Therefore, we must show by our outward fruits that we be truly joined to Jesus Christ, and that He hath made us partakers of His Holy Spirit.
Now, hereupon Saint Paul addeth further, that we must be rooted and grounded in charity. This word charity or love may be taken as well for the love that God beareth us as for the mutual love which we ought to bear one towards another. But the very true and native sense of Saint Paul here is that he meant to have us knit together. For
as he spake heretofore of God's free love towards us, so now he showeth how faith importeth that we should have brotherly love one towards another. And the holy Scripture bringeth us always to that point, insomuch that when there is any speaking of the full perfection of good life, faith goeth before, and then comes charity next unto it. For the end that we must begin at is the utter abasing of ourselves, to the end we may seek all our welfare at God's hand, and that our seeking of it there may be, first to acknowledge that He giveth us all things in the person of His only Son, and secondly, to call upon Him to settle our faith in Him, to flee wholly for refuge to His mercy, and after, as every man feeleth himself bound unto Him
(as all of us are exceedingly), so to acknowledge by our thanksgiving, that He is our righteousness, our holiness, our victory, our joy, our glory, and our happiness, that we may perform the thing which is said in Jeremiah, "Whosoever glorieth, let him glory in the Lord," because it is He that worketh righteousness, justice, and mercy. Ye see then that we must rest wholly upon our God, or else all the virtuousness which we seem to have before men shall be but filth and dung. Now then, have we faith? Charity must be matched with it, and we must live evenly and uprightly one with another, and every one of us acknowledge thus: I was not created for myself, nor to seek mine own private benefit and commodity, but for the benefit of my neighbors also. And therefore let us abstain from all guile, wrong, outrage, and malice, and endeavor to serve each other's turn, according to our ability. That is the perfection of good life.
Saint Paul, having spoken already of faith, adds now that we must also be grounded in charity. As if he should say, we must not have only some fit (or pang of love) as many men have, but there must be a steadfastness and even holding on in it all our life long. For a thing may give a great blaze, and yet quail anon after. Behold, a huge building may be overthrown with one blast of wind if it be not set
upon a sure foundation. Also, a man may set up a great tree, but if the root be cut asunder, what will come of it? It must needs fall down out of hand, or else, if it have some hold at the one end for a time, it must needs wither at the heat of the sun. Even so is it with us when we have a great zeal which is not well rooted in our hearts, for it will be but as a mask or a gay show before men. That is the cause why
Saint Paul exhorteth us purposely to be grounded in charity, to the intent to correct the vice of loving by starts or fits (as they say), which is too common a thing. Nevertheless, it were a fondness to conclude, therefore, that our salvation were grounded upon our good works.
For here he treateth not of the cause of our salvation, but only how we ought to rule our life. Again, we know there is but one only foundation of the Church, as Saint Paul saith in the third chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians, and as we have seen already in this selfsame Epistle, and especially as Jesus Christ himself declareth in the sixteenth chapter of Saint Matthew. And which is that foundation? It is Jesus Christ, and no man can lay any other than that which the Prophets and Apostles have laid, and we must hold ourselves to it at this day and even unto the world's end. And yet may we not cease to be rooted in love by means of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When men demand what is the cause of our salvation, by what means we are brought into his favor, and how we may come unto him and call upon him with full trust, we must answer: It is because our Lord Jesus Christ is given us, and it is he in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth. Now, we be yet far off from such perfection; however, forasmuch as we be grounded upon our Lord Jesus Christ, we have a steadiness that continueth all our life. So then, let us mark that Saint Paul exhorteth us here to true steadfastness, to the intent we should never be weary of well-doing, though we have never so many occasions to thrust us aside. For even such as are best minded
(to see to) do nevertheless take a prick at it when men show themselves unkind towards them, and when they consider that for
their well-doing men will requite them with all evil, they be sore grieved at it and become quite out of heart. And that is a cause why so few continue in the fear of God and walk as they ought to do, for it seemeth to them that they have lost their labor in doing well. Again, there followeth this inconvenience also, that the wicked take occasion to rush out so much more into all manner of harmfulness, so that if a man live in simplicity and bear the wrongs patiently that are done unto him, all men will be doing with him, and every man would eat him up as if he were a sheep among a hundred wolves.
Such as are easily entreated to give of their goods to their neighbors seem to be set out to the spoil, and every man will be catching all that ever he can from them. When men see so lewd dealings in the world, it maketh every man to take out his own share, as men say. But contrariwise, it is told us here that if we be rooted and grounded in charity, although men thrust us aside and discourage us by their unthankfulness, yet will we not cease to hold out in well-doing because we have a good and deep root.
And S. Paul, having spoken of the goodwill that we ought to bear towards our neighbors, returns to his matter of faith. And surely the chief point for us is to know that God avows us as His children, and that our sins are forgiven us so that He takes us as righteous. If we do not have that, how can we find any sweetness in serving and honoring Him? And how, or with what courage, can we pray to Him?
What praise can we offer to Him? To be short, it stands us in need to be certified of the infinite good that is done to us by our Lord Jesus
Christ, to the end that we may be ravished in love with our God, and inflamed with a right zeal to obey Him, and hold ourselves short under His awe, to honor Him with all our thoughts, with all our affections, and with all our hearts.
The reason, then, why S. Paul continues this matter is to print in the minds of the faithful where their salvation lies, and how they may be sure of it. And so much the more do we see what the wretchedness of the world is. For there is no other assurance than calling upon God on this foundation, so that a man be lifted up by faith to offer himself into His presence. But on the contrary part, we see how men have gone to work. And indeed, they have not been ashamed in the Papacy to say that we ought always to be doubtful of our salvation, and that we cannot have a sure belief in it. And it is not the ignorant sort which say so, but all the doctors of their synagogues hold it for an article of their faith that we ought to be always in a murmuring and doubtful state. And that is even as much as to cast men up at adventure unto Satan.
So much the more, therefore, it behooves us to bear well in mind the doctrine that is contained here, which is to say that when we once know the love that God bears us in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in such a way as He has witnessed it to us by His death and passion, and doth still daily warrant it by His Gospel, we have the perfect knowledge that shall give us full happiness. And that is the reason why he says, "to the end that ye may learn with all the Saints what the height, and depth, and width, and thickness is." That ye may know all this, saith he.
How now? Did St. Paul mean to make us carpenters or masons, that he speaks here as of the height of a building? Does he intend to teach us the science of masonry, that he speaks thus of width? No, but he opens his own meaning by and by, saying: It is the love that has been shown to us in Jesus Christ. Therefore, when we once know how well
God loves us, and how inestimable the mercy is, of which He hath given us so good a pledge in the person of His only Son, we have all that can be, saith he. Let us enforce all our wits both upward and
downward, let us rise above the clouds, let us pierce to the center of the earth, let us go down to the bottoms of the deeps, and let us rake over sea and land, yet shall there be nothing but vanity and lies.
When we have ended all our windlasses, surely we may peradventure discourse like folk that are very subtle and have learned the understanding of many things, but yet shall there be no substance in us.
But when we once know that God is our Father in Jesus Christ, and how that cometh to pass, and by what means we obtain so great a benefit, that is the thing, saith he, to which we must hold ourselves.
For it is the true measure of our faith, these are the bonds of it, and whosoever desires to know more doth but go astray, as though he would willfully enter into a maze from which he could never wind himself again. Wherefore let us hold ourselves contented with Jesus
Christ as He is, and as He uttereth Himself by His Gospel, and then shall we be filled full, says St. Paul. With what filling? Even with the fullness of God, says he.
As if he should say, wretched folk as we are, there is none of us but covets knowledge, and it is a natural desire which burns in all men.
Insomuch that we shall see many who consume all their goods and spare neither their bodies nor their lives. And what to do? To gain knowledge. We shall see others trot from place to place. And what to do? To gain knowledge. All men then have that desire, some more, some less, and there is not so ignorant a person who would not fain come to knowledge. Now then, seeing we are all inclined thereto by nature, let us learn which is the true knowledge. Indeed, there are sciences which are needful to pass this world withal, and it is requisite that men should have arts and trades, and also the liberal sciences, as they are termed. All these are good if they are referred to
their due ends. But yet notwithstanding, we must come to the science of sciences, for that is the one which will never fail.
For when a man shall have trotted all over the earth (about other sciences), what profit will come of it? It will be but vanity, as I said before. Wherefore let us not seek anything out of Jesus Christ, but let us rest wholly there, and not swerve any whit at all from Him.
And here we see, first of all, the thing that I have touched already heretofore: namely, that if we knew well what our Lord Jesus Christ is, we would easily give over all other things, according as it is said in the third to the Philippians, that Saint Paul counted all his former high esteemed things as loss and dung, to the end he might hold himself to Jesus Christ, and that he went forward therein all the time of his life, yea, and did as it were hold his arms stretched out to catch it, as he himself protesteth. You see then, that the thing which we have to mark here is that, when we once know Jesus Christ and the benefits that he bringeth us, namely that we may resort to God in his name with full trust, we shall no more have our minds so vexed with unquietness, but we shall stand fast and steady in pure simplicity of the Gospel.
However, for a better understanding hereof, let us see how men speak of our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, they will call him the Son of God, and they will take him for their Redeemer, but in the meantime, they will make a deal of his offices, and part them here and there as a prey. The holy Scripture calls him the only Priest, because it belongeth only to him to reconcile us to God. And how many do nowadays take that upon them? Even as many monks, friars, mass priests, and hypocrites as be in the world: for they sell their prayers, as though Jesus Christ had resigned his place unto them. And under
pretence thereof, they devour all the wealth of the world, and in the meanwhile, Jesus Christ is thrust a great way off.
Again, it is said that by the one sacrifice which he offered once for all, he has obtained for us grace and salvation, yea, even forever, so that his death and passion appease God's wrath, because thereby we have full righteousness. But yet for all this, the Mass is brought in, as though the sacrifice that Jesus Christ offered in his own person were but a bare figure, and that the thing which the Papists have invented were the only means (as they say) to purchase favor at God's hand.
For the whoremaster goes thither to pay his ransom: so does the drunkard, the wicked swearer, the loose liver, the piller and poller, the quarreler, the glutton, the eater up of his neighbor: all these resort to the Mass for their ransom, and bear themselves on hand that God is well pleased.
And in the meantime, what becomes of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?
Tush, that must be thrust underfoot. Again, it is said that Jesus Christ is our only Advocate, who makes intercession for us unto God his Father. Yet notwithstanding, in the Papacy there are whole swarms of patrons, which every man has forged of his own brain.
And they are not contented only with the Apostles and Martyrs, but they must also have their Saint Christopher and their Saint
Catherine, who are night ghosts that were never born in the world: but look, whatsoever the devil did put in their heads, it was received.
Again, it is said that Jesus Christ is our righteousness. But what for that? Yet nevertheless, every man takes upon him to make atonement with God by his own works. And thereupon sprang the groundwork of merits and of all the rest. Again, it is said that Jesus
Christ is our lodestar and the way whereby we must come to God his Father, and finally to everlasting salvation: and yet will they needs have whatever comes in their own imagination. Oh (say they), it
seems this is good, and seeing I do it with a good intent, why should not God take it in good worth? Thus they make God a pretty fellow to stoop at their appointment, and as a jack to creep under their sleeve
(at their pleasure). See how proud men are, when they once turn away from God's pure truth unto their own foolish inventions, so as there is not so pure and sound a thing which they corrupt not.
What is then the cause that all things have been turned upside down in Popery? It is that they knew not Jesus Christ for such a one as he is set forth in the Gospel, but only have made, I know not what, a dead and unavailing thing of him, and kept no more but the bare name and titles of him.
Then it is not enough for us to say we believe in Jesus Christ and that we take him for our redeemer: but we must also know to what purpose he is sent us of God his Father, and what benefits he has brought us. When we once know all this, then shall we be filled with him. We shall not need to go bibbling here and there, nor to lap or lick up mud and stinking water here or there, for want of meat and drink that is fit for us. Our Lord Jesus Christ has told us that we shall find both meat and drink in him, so as we may thoroughly satisfy ourselves both with meat and drink that is good and wholesome for the nourishment of our souls. So much the more, therefore, it behoves us to go thither: and when we read the holy Scripture, let the mark that we look at always be to know what the grace of God is which he has shown us in the person of his only Son: and when we once know it, we shall have profited very well in God's sight and may well cast away all other things as filth and poison. Indeed, some doctrines will have some savor at the first sight, for we see that they do always follow that which Saint Paul speaks of in the second to the Colossians, that is to wit, that because their dreams and dotages have some show of wisdom, therefore they give themselves unto them. But
we must understand that there is no true food but that which God gives us, and that it is his will to provide us with all things which he knows to be needful for us. Will we then be filled without him? Think we that if we seek to the Virgin Mary and call her the mother of grace
(after the manner of the papists, who commonly give her that title), we shall there find the things that we want? Surely it is all one as if we would go seek food and snatch here a bit and there a bit by morsels and gobbets. But Jesus Christ says, Come unto me, and ye shall find all that you have need of: according whereunto it is said that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are enclosed in him.
Then if we once know the love that God his Father has shown us in his person, we shall have the fullness of all wisdom, we shall no more need to trot here and there, we shall no more need to go up nor down, nor far nor wide: for we shall have wholly whatever is good and requisite for our welfare. When we hear this, must it not needs be that we are as good as bewitched, if we believe not God, to rest wholly upon his sayings, without flinging abroad after that fashion, and without making of so many windlasses to trouble and tire ourselves to no purpose? And that is what is meant in the Prophet
Isaiah, where he says, Go tread in your own ways: and when ye have compassed and gone about both heaven and earth, what shall it profit you? Then if we be so blind as to stray out here and there, and cannot keep the way that is shown us, but will needs go dig pits at our own pleasure, and forsake the spring of living water which God has set before our eyes: it is good reason that we should be both hungered and athirst, and lie broiling in our own foolish lusts, to trot to and fro like women with child, which long to eat charcoals and had rather drink the water of some puddle than the water of a fair clear spring. If we fall to gadding in that manner after Satan, and be eager of his illusions and trumpery, and cannot content ourselves with the good that our Lord sets before us: must it not needs be that we are worse than bewitched, and that the devil has made us stark beasts?
So then, let us understand first of all, that all things which men can bring us of their own behalf, are but trifles or rather illusions of Satan. And secondly, that when the Scripture sets Jesus Christ before us, it is not for naught told us that we must rest wholly upon him and hold to him when we come thither, because he has the fullness of all goodness in him, and therefore we need not to be hauled to and fro, or to take too great pain in seeking the things that are needful for us, nor finally to wander any more abroad, but to stick wholly unto him, as to our perfect and sovereign blissful.
Thirdly, we must consider in Jesus Christ the infinite grace that is brought to us and imparted to us by his means. And Saint Paul, in saying here "the love," sends us to the wellspring. For though we knew all God's secrets and were privy to the rest of his will, what were it till we were persuaded of the love that he bears us? For we see that when any man speaks of God to the unbelievers, it does so grieve them that they know not where to become, and it is but a matter of heaviness to them because they conceive nothing but rigor in him.
But when his grace and fatherly goodness is uttered to us, as he has shown it in our Lord Jesus Christ, then come we boldly to him, and we are no more afraid of his seat but have familiar access to it; and therein he does us an inestimable good turn, such a one as surmounts all that ever we can wish in this world, according as Saint
Paul sets it down here. And so you see what this saying, "the love of God," imports. And he says purposely, "in Jesus Christ," because without him we could not be beloved of God. For let Jesus Christ be
(as you would say) let alone, and let us put the case that we thought upon God, and that we did apply all our wits thereabouts, and therewithal that we bethought us of ourselves also: what were all this? We shall find such an incomprehensible majesty in God, as shall swallow us up like a deep gulf. Again, his justice is so perfect, as it will be much less possible for us to stand before it than for snow to
abide against the sun. Now when we come to ourselves, we must needs see a sea of all misery before us, that is to wit, that our senses are blind, that we are utterly unfurnished of all virtue, that we are given to all evil, that we are held down under the thralldom of sin, and that nothing in us (no, not even the excellentest things that we think ourselves to have) is not loathsome before God. Therefore, when we once know these two things, that is to wit, when we have once conceived a terror of God's majesty, and are drowned in despair at the sight of ourselves, then let us afterward go seek all the means that can be, and let us call the angels to help, and they will come never the nearer us for all that. Let us take the he-saints and shesaints, and by what title can they belong to us? Nay, rather we are separated from them. And again, will God, who is the fountain of all pureness, receive us, us (I say) who are so wretched creatures? Think we that he will intermeddle himself with our filth and uncleanness?
No, but contrariwise, he must needs abhor us. So then, it is not without cause that Saint Paul, having spoken here expressly of God's love, to the intent we might know that he does justly hate us so long as he beholds us in our own natural state, adds immediately that the same love is grounded upon the bloodshed of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the end that all our spots should be scoured away thereby, and we be so cleansed, as we might not bring anything henceforth before God which might displease him.
And by that means are we discharged and quit of all our debts, because He has yielded perfect obedience. Lo, how our stubbornness is done away, and shall never come to account, because He offered
Himself in sacrifice for us. Lo, how we are set free from all thralldom, because He has overcome both the devil and death, and sin, to our benefit. Lo, how we, at this day, enjoy His victory and make our triumph of it. And so we see briefly how God has loved us in Jesus
Christ. Again, when we know this, we must understand also that we
must not make long fetches anymore, nor trouble ourselves in vain, in striving upward by our fond speculations, or in going downward by our fantastical imaginations, and in the meantime let Jesus Christ alone, as though He were too far off from us. For He comes near us, yea, He dwells in us, He will have us knit unto Him, so as we should be His body and lively members of His own substance. Since it is so, let us learn to hold ourselves in such wise unto Him that nothing may turn us from Him. And although we may be tempted by our own fancies to shrink away from Him, yet let us cut off all such occasions and get the upper hand by faith. And when we have so done, let us understand that God will still show Himself a loving and kindhearted Father towards us, and that Jesus Christ also will do the duty of a shepherd towards us if we hearken to His voice and rest wholly upon Him, not doubting that He will preserve us, so that we shall be safe under His protection, as He Himself protests, saying that He will receive all that are given Him of God His Father, and so keep them when He has received them, that none of them shall perish, but He will raise him up again at the last day.
Now let us cast ourselves down before the majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our faults, praying Him to make us perceive them more and more, that our miseries may drive us to seek the good things that He offers us, even with true singleness of faith, and that we may not wander here and there in our own fond speculations and gazes, but abide so settled upon His word as it may be our only leaning stock, and take such root in our hearts as it may not only make us to walk in all pureness before Him and to seek His mercy in the person of His only Son, but also make us to live uprightly and indifferently one with another, and that we may so profit therein as we may abhor all the abuses of the world, assuring ourselves that seeing we have Jesus Christ for our guide, we cannot fail to come thither, as He has ascended already in our behalf, that is to wit, to the