The Twenty Eighth Sermon, Which Is the Eighth upon the Fourth Chapter - Ephesians 4:17-19
that we may be made new creatures thereby, to do our sovereign King the honor that belongs to Him.
And so, let us all say, Almighty God, Heavenly Father, etc.
The Twenty Eighth Sermon, Which Is the Eighth upon the Fourth Chapter 17. This I say therefore, and adjure (you) by the Lord, that henceforth you walk not as the (rest of the) Gentiles, (who) walk in the vanity of their mind, 18. Having their understanding overcast with darkness, and being strangers to the life of God, by reason of the ignorance that is in them, and through the blindness of their heart.
19. Who, without remorse of conscience, have given themselves over to lewdness, to commit all uncleanness, even with inordinate greediness.
Considering how corrupt we are by nature, it is not enough for us to have the good shown unto us unless the vices that are rooted in us are also corrected, just as it would do little good to sow corn in ground overgrown with nettles, weeds, rushes, and thorns.
Therefore, notwithstanding that Saint Paul has heretofore shown the true rule of godly life, he adds (as needed) that it stands every man on hand to bethink himself, to change completely, and to become a
new man. Until God has cleansed us both in mind and heart and in all parts of our soul, there will never be anything but filthiness.
So then, the doctrine that we have heard heretofore would not profit us if that which we hear now had not been added. For we know that the Ephesians to whom Saint Paul speaks, before they were converted to the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, had lived a certain time in ignorance and been given to all naughtiness and lewd life, even to the uttermost. Yet, Saint Paul sets it down here in general that all those who have not been taught in God's school are blind wretches, unable to discern between good and evil, even as stark beasts, insomuch that even with the very root that comes with them from their mother's womb, every man hardens more and more until they fall into such excess that they become as monsters and no longer appear to be creatures fashioned after the image of God.
You see then that, in effect, Saint Paul's intent is that, after he has declared God's establishment of His government over us, now to the end that our walking in this world should be to go unto God and to the heavenly life to which He calls us, he shows that we shall never obey Him nor bow our neck to receive His yoke until we have changed both our disposition and mind and forsaken ourselves because we are utterly corrupted.
And so there are two parts in the instruction that is given to us. The first shows us what God calls us to, and the second, that we must fight against our own sinfulness and utterly imprison ourselves, that we may become teachable to receive the doctrine that God sets out for us. However, because this is hard to do, Saint Paul thinks it not enough to give a single warning; he also cites us and, after a sort, sets himself in the seat of justice before whom we must yield an account, intending to move and quicken those to whom he speaks.
For it is no small thing to make men renounce themselves, considering how every man soothes himself and believes he is able to work wonders. Although he is sapped in naughtiness, he still thinks he has some virtues in him. Even when we have our faults proven to our faces, we will labor to cloak them through hypocrisy and set some fair color and gloss upon them, or else we will maintain them willfully, never admitting guilt, though our shame lies open to the whole world.
To be brief, it is a very hard encounter when a man must lay down all the wisdom he believed he had in governing himself according to his own fancy and must tame his affections so that he may be subject to God, having nothing in himself that strives against Him. For our flesh is too stout in that regard, and we hear how it is said in another text that all a man's thoughts, and all that he can conceive, are enmity against God (Romans 8:7). Likewise, it is said in Genesis
(Genesis 6:5), even when the world was in the greatest soundness it ever had, that whatever comes out of the warehouse of our own brain is all stark naughtiness and rebellion against God.
So then, it was necessary that great vehemence be used in this regard. Therefore, Saint Paul uses it, saying that he not only teaches but also cites those to whom he speaks, so that they may know they are as it were in God's presence. It is not for them to fall asleep in their vain self-flatteries, but as the devil has many allurements to beguile us, so on the contrary, God's Word must enlighten us.
Although we are slow to consider our vices and would prefer to conceal them, we must understand that it is more for our profit to come to reason and to examine thoroughly what is in us.
That is why Saint Paul, intending to exhort the Ephesians to a change of life, sets down this adjuration and kind of witness-bearing, as
though he were present before God's judgment seat. If there is any covenanting between man and man, this solemnity and ceremony of swearing will move them and cause them to think carefully about what they promise, at least if they are not quite out of their wits.
However, here there is not some notary to take notice of their oaths, nor the customs among men to ratify things they agree upon among themselves, but here is Saint Paul, who stands in the behalf and person of Jesus Christ, from whom he has authority not only to require us but also to summon us to make our account if we do not endeavor to discharge our duty. He tells us that it is not for us to let slip the things he says, nor to hear them with deaf ears, because God is present to punish our recklessness in despising His Word.
Since it is so, let us learn to cease flattering ourselves, as many do, whom we see pretending deafness: and whatever countenances they make, they continue always the same as they were before. Therefore, let us mark well that God, thinking it not enough to teach us, intends to take away all excuse, and tells us that He will not suffer such contempt of His Word when we do not vouchsafe to give ear, seeing
He was so gracious as to speak unto us, to give us a guarantee of our salvation.
Now let us come to the effect of what is contained here. Saint Paul says, "Be not as the rest of the Gentiles are." I have already told you that those to whom he writes were for a time wholly given to all naughtiness and without the fear of God. For even from their cradle, they had been brought up in all manner of idolatry, and yet they thought themselves well discharged when they had done some sacrifice to their idols.
Just as today, in the Papacy, they that play the greatest mummery are counted most holy, and they think themselves out of God's debt if
they have once done a sort of petty trifles. For that reason, Saint Paul sends the Ephesians to this similitude, saying that if they look upon the rest of the Gentiles, there they may see in what plight and condition they were before God gathered them into His Church.
"Look upon yourselves there," says he, "for there you shall see your own images: before such time as God reached you His hand and drew you out of the dungeon of unbelief wherein you were plunged, you differed nothing at all from them. Now then, at least, you ought to consider the grace that has been granted to you, that it may bring forth fruit in you."
By the way, let us mark that in using this speech, "the rest of the Gentiles," Saint Paul comprehends here all mankind. For he speaks not of two or three men only, nor of any one nation, nor of some country; but he says generally that all those who have not been trained in the Gospel are blind wretches, as we see. To be short, he shows what manner of ones we are until God has prevented us with His grace, to the intent that we should not cast this exhortation away nor bear ourselves on hand that we are exempted from all the things we shall see hereafter.
Therefore, to the end that we surmise not a privilege to withdraw ourselves from the common array of men, Saint Paul has here knit all
Adam's children together as it were in one bundle. For in all mankind there is nothing to be found but lewdness and corruption.
Here, therefore, are two points that we have to mark.
The one is that here, as it were in a looking glass, we should behold what our own state is, so long as God gives us the bridle and lets us follow our own swing. Mark that for one point, and I will lay it out more at large anon.
The other is that when we see the enormities that are committed throughout the whole world, and that men are so shameless in evil doing, or rather altogether bewitched, and some so besotted that a man can by no means move them to learn to fear God; when we see
(I say) on the one side such stubbornness in men, and on the other side such gross and beastly senselessness, let us learn to see ourselves there, and to consider that God did us a singular good turn when it pleased Him to touch us to the quick, that His Word might prevail in us.
For we differ nothing at all from the worst and most disordered in the world, nor from such as are in the most horrible confusion. You see, then, what we would have been if God had not pitied us. This ought to touch us well to the quick, so that the grace which God has granted us is not darkened and quite quenched in the end, leaving us quite and clean bereft of it. After this manner, therefore, we ought to apply this text to our instruction, where Saint Paul sets other men before us, who have not yet been enlightened by the faith of the Gospel but are left alone. By comparing our state with theirs, we may consider how merciful God showed Himself unto us in drawing us out of such a dungeon, to the intent that we should be the more diligent in giving ourselves unto Him.
Hereupon he says, "Walk no more henceforth as they did in the vanity of mind." By this word "henceforth" or "hereafter," he intends to shame those who are trained in the Gospel if their life does not prove that they have not misused their labor. For to what purpose are we called to the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, but to separate ourselves from the stumbling blocks of the world? Therefore, we must not excuse ourselves by our upbringing in evil customs, nor by any examples that might allure us to lewdness, nor yet by the fact
that there is nothing but frowardness around us. For seeing that God has adopted us to be His children, He will have us live thereafter.
And therefore, let us mark that faith imports such a reforming of ourselves that our life is clearly changed. For the same cause, it is said, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2
Corinthians 5:17). For we may prate of the Gospel enough and too much, and we may be marvelously fine-headed; but that shall be worth nothing until the said change appears in us—that is to say, until we lead a new life.
Besides this, we have to mark here that after Saint Paul has spoken of the vanity of mind, he adds, "Blindness of mind," or "Darkness of understanding," and lastly he says, "Blindness or stubbornness of heart." This description of men serves well to put them quite out of conceit. For when the philosophers spoke of the excellence and worthiness that is in human nature, they always set down reason as an overruler. Next, they set down discretion between good and evil, when men debate in themselves and make a searching and a turmoil for things.
After that manner, they made as it were a court of law, to the end that man might judge between good and evil. It should seem, then, that Saint Paul here debases man too much when he says that reason has nothing in it but vanity, untruth, and deceitfulness; and again, that all that men can conceive is but a maze of vain fancies, and that they do but overthrow themselves more and more, as if a blind man should wander abroad in the dark. Yet, notwithstanding, the Holy
Ghost is the only competent judge to give sentence on the things that are in us, lest we might think ourselves to have won the goal by flattering ourselves, according as he told us before, that men have their eyes so blindfolded with the fond opinion they have conceived
of their own worthiness, that they cannot be ashamed and confess their own lewdness.
That was the cause why the philosophers always magnified the nature of man, and yet, notwithstanding, experience shows the contrary: for the vanity that is in them is apparent. But they blamed that upon men's negligence and recklessness, so that if men would apply all the senses of nature thoroughly to know what is good, they should be as little angels. They imagined so, but that was for want of probing them to the bottom. For they never knew what God is, and that made them discharge themselves so lightly towards Him, insomuch that even they who disputed most cunningly of God's majesty, and had a higher understanding than the common sort, and (to be short) were esteemed the wisest men in the world, could not, nevertheless, ever come near the truth of God. And whenever His service came in question, they were so gravelled that they turned all things upside down.
And so, the wisdom of the world will not suffer us to come to the heavenly light, for it is a special gift of God and not to be found in ourselves. You see, then, that even the greatest men of skill deceived themselves, and that is the cause that men fall asleep in this foolish opinion, to which they were too much inclined before. Yea, and we see that this foolish or rather devilish overweening has gotten place even among the Jews, insomuch that they have always been of opinion, (as men are nowadays in the popedom) that they have free will. True, it is that the Papists will grant more than the heathen folk, namely, that we are corrupted by original sin. However, their meaning is that, notwithstanding the infirmity which is in man, yet there abides some remnant of goodness in him, insomuch that we have half an understanding still, and also a will that is able to train us unto good, though it be but weak of itself.
To be short, such as will need to judge according to their natural understanding say that men are as sound and uncorrupted as angels.
The Papists, being convicted by so many records of Scripture, will grant well enough that we have fallen from our original state and that there are many vices in us. But yet, they say, that is no impediment; we are still half clean and are able to do good of our own power when we are once humbled before God. In short, they make such a partnership between God and men, saying indeed that we have need to be enlightened from above to attain faith, but yet that we have some light in ourselves, and God makes up what is lacking. Again, they will say that lust reigns in us so strongly that it is hard for us to submit ourselves to God, but yet we must labor to do it, and we are able to do it, provided God aids us and reaches us His hand.
This is the concurrence (as they term it)—that is to say, the matching or combining together of God's grace and the goodness that remains in man, though we are corrupted. But (as I said), let us rather listen to what God Himself, the only competent judge, has spoken of it by unrepealable sentence, which is that all those who follow common reason and the things that man has of himself are blind wretches.
And what then shall become of reason? For although men think that it serves to give them light and to show them the way, it is certain that it does but always tumble them into the pit, and whereas they think themselves to be well-advised, they shall be stark beasts. And the reason why this is told to us continually is to make us understand that God must be forced to reform us, not by half, but entirely throughout.
And here a man might ask a question: If men (I mean those whom God has left alone) were without understanding and discretion in that behalf, could one see examples of it or not? It is very certain that they are not like horses, nor yet like dogs; but yet, let us mark that all
the understanding and discretion which is in us, and all the judgment which it is possible for us to have, serves to no other end than to make us inexcusable.
Therefore, we must understand that although we have some discretion between good and evil, before God has taught us by His
Word and enlightened us by His Holy Spirit, yet the same serves only to bereave us of excuse, so that we might not make a shield of ignorance, as we are wont to do. For although every man has not had the written law, yet he must bear the sentence of damnation within him in his heart, as says Saint Paul in the second to the Romans
(Romans 2:15), and God must drive him to perceive it beforehand, by making him feel heart-biting, whether he will or not, so that he shall say, "I am guilty in this thing and in that." Thus remains there some understanding in men; however, not to lead them in the way of salvation, but only to make them so much the more guilty before God.
As for our affections, it might be said that there are many who live honestly and without blame, though they have never tasted of the Gospel. Yes, truly, but in the meantime, their hearts are fraught with malice and stubbornness, and no doubt, all such as have not been reformed by God's Spirit shall still feed a sea of wicked, froward, and malicious lusts within them. Therefore, let us not stay upon the outward show, but let us mark how it is not for nothing that God claims the searching of men's hearts as His peculiar office, and therefore that must be reserved unto Him.
Also, let us call to mind how Saint John in his epistle says that we do not see all the sins that are in us, but that God, who sees far more clearly, is the judge thereof (1 John 3:20). However the case stands, when men have done the best they can, yet they cannot rid their
hands of condemnation when they come before the heavenly Judge, especially seeing that the stars are not clear in His sight, nor even the angels, insomuch that if He chose to examine them with rigor, they should not be able to come to the perfection that is in Him (Job
15:15).
So then, let us note that until God has visited us, and has come unto us, and has subdued us unto Him, we shall always continue ignorant and blind wretches. There shall be nothing but vanity in all our understanding; in our hearts, there shall be nothing but pride and presumption, and our lusts shall be so far out of square that they shall strive against God, and we shall fight against His justice and against all right. And surely, we see what has followed from it when men would need to govern themselves by their own wit.
For what fashions of serving God have been brought into the world, and how wicked! Was there any lack of great cunning or any lack of great skill? No: for we see that God has poured out His gracious gifts in such wise that man's wit has shown itself to be truly excellent in all manner of sciences and knowledge, except in the chief: that is to wit, of coming unto God. In this, all have failed; they have all wandered away, and there was nothing but falsehood and deceit in their case.
And the further they endeavored to thrust themselves forward, the deeper did they plunge themselves into the mire.
Wherefore, let us note that although the light shines (as it is said in the first chapter of Saint John), yet, notwithstanding, we, being darkness, do not perceive it (John 1:5). Saint John shows that even from the beginning, God separated men from beasts, imprinting His image in them and giving them discretion to discern between good and evil. The life of man, then, serves not only to eat and drink but also to consider that we have a better life, and that is, to have some
order and common policy here beneath and to understand that there is a God who rules all.
Lo, here is the light that was before Adam's fall. And this light abides yet still, but it shines in darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend it but rather quenches it quite and clean out. So then, if we have any small insight or aim, let us consider that it is but as a little spark, which passes and vanishes away out of hand. But in the meantime, as concerning our own nature, that we should be able to have regard for goodness, or to seek it, follow it, and continue in it: it is utterly impossible. And why? Because our understanding is stark blind (Ephesians 4:18). To be short, there is nothing but vanity in us, according to this saying, that God perused the thoughts of men and saw there was nothing but vanity and leasing in them (Psalm 94:11).
Now, to express this yet better, Saint Paul says that they had their understanding darkened and were strangers to the life of God.
Herein he cuts off the occasion of all excuses that men can make. For they will reply continually against God, and though they be condemned, yet will they always have the last word, saying: "What can I do if there is nothing but vanity in me, seeing that God created me so? Why did He not make me otherwise?" But Saint Paul tells us here that we have our understanding overcast with our own darkness. And why? Because the light is quenched by the corruption that has come upon us in Adam.
To be short, Saint Paul shows us here that we must keep our mouths shut when the Scripture reveals that we are both ignorant, blind, and brutish. We must not think to further our case by alleging that God ought to have made us otherwise, for the evil proceeds from Adam's fall, because not only was he bereft of the good that he had received, but we also were all impoverished in him. Just as he who forfeits his
goods must beg, and his children too, so must we also, in our penury and poverty, consider still today the misfortune that has come upon us through the fault and offense of our first father. Thus, you see how
Saint Paul has here closed all loopholes that men are wont to set before themselves, to show themselves to be righteous and innocent before God.
For whence comes the vanity of our mind in that we are both blind and ignorant? Even from our being in darkness and by the darkening of the light that God had put into us in our first creation. And, forasmuch as this is a hard matter to accept, Saint Paul brings us to the life of God: and that is to laugh to scorn all the trifling imaginations that men have contrived to maintain their own free will, reason, and discretion. For (as I have said already), the books of the philosophers are full of such stuff.
In the Popedom, there is still bickering for free will, as though all were marred if man had not some good self-moving and ability to prepare himself to receive grace and were made a fellow with God, and could make the grace effectual which is offered him. By this reckoning, men shall not only be hale fellows with God (if they may be believed) but of better ability than He, so as He shall but add some little portion to them. But Saint Paul says that we may well be alive in our own opinion, but as in respect of God, we shall not fail to be as dead carcasses, or rather even as rotten and stinking corpses.
Then let not men take upon them, through their foolish overweening, to have reason, wisdom, and free will: but if they would know their own state, let them lift up their eyes and consider that their living must be the life of God, and not the life which every man fancies here to himself. Saint Paul, in the seventh to the Romans, confesses that he thought himself alive for a time, namely, before he had been
converted to the pure doctrine, because he was full of hypocrisy and possessed with such pride that he thought himself to be as a little angel (Romans 7:9). But when I once entered into myself (says he) and knew what it was to lust: then did God's Law wound me to death, and I perceived that the life which I had lived before was but death, and that I had made myself believe wonders, taking myself to be that which I was not, as fools do, who believe that they are kings and princes, when in the meanwhile lice eat them up, or else they starve for hunger and cold.
So then, Saint Paul confesses that before he was converted, he was alive to his own seeming, and he triumphed at it: but when Christ had once humbled him, and made him feel what God's judgment was, then he gave over that life and saw well that it was but death.
Likewise, he says now that although we are alive in the opinion of the world, so that people clap their hands at us and magnify our virtues, and we ourselves are also besotted with the same opinion, it is nothing at all, but we must go unto God. Now, we shall find that God has a special life which he reserves and keeps as laid up in secret for his children. For albeit that he makes his day-sun to shine both upon good and bad, and shows himself liberal towards all without exception, yet he does not scatter abroad the things that serve for his chosen, according to this saying of the Psalm: "Lord, how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up in store for them that fear thee? It is as a treasure that thou hast hoarded up for them" (Psalm 31:19).
So then, whereas Saint Paul speaks here of God's life, he shows that in living according to our nature, we do not have our life from him.
Whence then? Is it not God that has created us? Is it not he of whom we have our being and moving, as it is said in the seventeenth of the Acts? Then is our common life of God, inasmuch as he is our maker:
but inasmuch as he is the Savior of the chosen, and inasmuch as he is the father of his children whom he has adopted, this life which is common both to good and bad is not named God's life, but man's life: God lets it alone in its plight.
And which then is God's life? It is when, upon his choosing of us, he shows us the way of life and salvation, and renews us by his Holy
Spirit, so that Jesus Christ dwells in us by faith (as we have seen before) and utters his power in us, causing our old man to be crucified with him, yea, and even buried too, that we may be raised again, even to be separated from all uncleanness of the world, that we may not resemble the unbelievers, who are wholly prisoners under the tyranny of Satan, and are driven and haled by him, and give over themselves to all evil. That is, in effect, the cause why Saint
Paul has spoken to us here of God's life.
And now, that we may the better be awakened and receive this exhortation unfailingly, let us not deceive ourselves any more with the opinions that each of us may conceive in our own head, nor yet with the judgment of men, which often praise and commend the thing that is nothing worth. Verily, we know how our Lord Jesus
Christ says in Saint Luke: "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15).
To the intent, therefore, that we may no more be deceived by them, let us understand that until God has made us new creatures, and begotten us again by his Holy Spirit, we are blind in our understanding, we have nothing in us but vanity, and we are utterly ignorant, yea, and stark beasts. That is, in effect, the thing that we have to bear in mind. Wherefore, as often as we fall to our accustomed bias and follow our own fancy, let us learn to cite
ourselves before God and to weigh well what is meant by the life that he reserves as peculiar to himself.
Not that it serves for none other but himself, but because he bestows it upon none but his own children. For thereby it is that he shows himself to have chosen us, as we have seen in the first chapter.
Now, hereupon he sets down immediately the hardness of their heart —not a simple hardness, as we commonly understand it, for the Greek word betokens a thickening (or muddiness), as when a piece of wine that was very well fined becomes so troubled that it turns into lees and grows thick and muddy like a puddle, so that there is no more clear liquor in it. Even so, Saint Paul says that the heart is thickened when it is so blinded and hardened in this way that it cannot yield to the obedience of God, and that there is no clearness in it but all is troubled like a puddle.
This word "heart" in the Holy Scripture sometimes represents all the lusts, likings, and will of man, and sometimes also his understanding. However, since here Saint Paul has made a distinction between a man's understanding, his mind, and his heart, we may well think that he meant to include the will, together with all the scanings and debates we make in ourselves about judging good and evil, and finally the whole understanding we have and the reason that reigns in us. Saint Paul, therefore, meant to show, in effect, that man is so corrupted in all parts of him through the sin of Adam, that neither wit nor will is inclined to anything but evil and is utterly sapped in it.
Therefore, just as earlier he condemned the beastliness that is in us, so now he also shows that we are like blocks and cannot be willing to follow our God wherever he calls us, but are stubborn, with stiff necks that cannot bow, as Moses also upbraids those that rebelled
against God, telling them that they had a neck of iron or brass. Even so are we by nature. For that reason, it is said in Ezekiel, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26).
This metaphor shows well what is in us until God has worked an alteration in us. For we have nothing but hardness, which is as much as if the Holy Ghost should say that we are God's enemies and refusers of all truth until God has softened us and corrected the crookedness and stubbornness through which we cast up our rage so vehemently against God.
To be short, all our lusts are like men of war marching in battle to prevent God from reigning and exercising his power and authority, which he ought to have over us. This is what our nature is. Now, let us go and boast of our own free will and reason, as we see these wretched Papists do, who are always harping on that string. But let us learn to humble ourselves willingly, and (as I said before) let us consider that Saint Paul blames human nature, showing that all of us, from the greatest to the least, are plunged even to the bottom of hell until God pulls us back again.
Moreover, let us consider all the enormities that are done throughout the whole world, and conclude that we ourselves would do the same if God did not show us his mercy, and let this stir us up to restrain ourselves, lest we overreach ourselves at some time. Seeing it has pleased God to draw us to himself, let us not turn back again to mingle with the lewdness of the unbelievers. It is no wonder that they stumble, tumble, and reel to and fro, for they have no light to guide them. But our Lord shines upon us by his Word and gives us eyes by his Holy Spirit; therefore, let us avoid being like them, as Saint Paul exhorts us here.
Hereunto he adds the height of all mischief: which is, that men go astray after their own kind, continue in going from worse to worse, and flatter themselves, whereby they cast their consciences into such a sleep that they feel no more any remorse or grief. That is the high road to make them utterly beyond recovery.
First of all, let us learn here to prevent such vengeance from God, which ought to make us quake. When we hear that those who remain in their own nature overshoot themselves so far as to be without scruple of conscience, and become like brute beasts, void of discretion, unable to be moved either by life or death, or by any manner of feeling concerning their own soul's health, let us, in God's name, walk in fear and awe and bewail our sins every hour, early and late, that we may not be hardened after that fashion. For we see how those who become beastly in that way do gather such a hardheartedness that a man cannot bow them once they have gained such boldness in giving themselves over to evil.
As touching the first point, let us be rightly assured that God revenges Himself in a terrible manner against all who indulge in their vices and take excessive liberty to do as they please, so that in the end they become brutish, like asses and dogs.
Now for the second point, if God uses such rigor toward those who were never yet trained in the Gospel, what will He do to us, when He has shown us the way of salvation for a long time, and yet we continue still like those who have never tasted good instruction? Do we not think that the punishment will be more horrible and dreadful upon us? Just as when Saint Paul declares in the first chapter to the Romans, that God gave men over to disordered and shameful lusts, so that they were utterly past all shame, he speaks expressly of the heathen and unbelievers who had no other knowledge of God than
through the skies and the earth, and the creatures. They had no other help than that great book by which to glorify God, and yet, forasmuch as they did not do so, therefore they are condemned in that manner.
But now we can have no such excuse as those poor souls had. We cannot say we are unable to discern what is good because we were blinded by Adam's sin and there is nothing but vanity in us. For God has given us His Word, which is justly called a lamp to guide us
(Psalm 119:105). We have the Gospel, where our Lord Jesus Christ declares that He is our guide. Yet for all this, if we will provoke God willfully by disavowing the doctrine of salvation, where we should follow it (of which sort there are many even today, who seek to wallow in all lewdness and disorder, and despise God openly), what shall become of us?
Therefore, let us learn to walk in the fear of God. Let us note well that Saint Paul has not without cause set down here the height of all mischief, to show us what wages God will pay to all who do not yield to Him in due time and place, but rather take liberty in all wickedness as though they had escaped out of His hands. Let us be afraid to overshoot ourselves so far, and then, although we have wandered far before, God can skillfully enough draw us to Him.
Let us be afraid lest God should execute the said vengeance upon us, as well as upon them, according to this saying of Solomon, "When the wicked man is come to extremity, he despises all" (Proverbs
18:3). That is to say, he regards neither life nor death but flings forth like a brute beast.
Therefore, let us quake at such threatenings, for fear lest God execute them upon us when we cannot abide to be rebuked for our vices. On the contrary, let us practice the doctrine of Solomon, where he says,
"Happy is the man whose heart pricketh him and quickeneth him up night and day" (Proverbs 28:14). Let us learn, then, to be our own solicitors and to touch ourselves for our vices. When we enter into them, let us be abashed at them, cast down, and condemn ourselves until God has relieved us with His mercy.
After that manner, we must put this doctrine of St. Paul in use, to the end that when God has once knit us to Him by means of our Lord
Jesus Christ and given us life, we may take good heed that that life is not defaced and quenched in us through our own lewdness and unthankfulness. Again, being minded to continue in this doctrine, we must learn first of all to humble ourselves (for it is certain that humility will cause us to resort unto God), and secondly, that our humility be matched with wariness, so that we are not reckless to flatter ourselves, but that through the same wariness, we strain ourselves to the utmost to fight against all our vices and lusts, tarrying for our Lord's leisure until He rids us of them quite and clean.
In the meantime, let us always win somewhat over ourselves, be it never so little, so it may continually appear that our Lord Jesus
Christ works in us and makes His grace to prevail by causing us to go forward in goodness. Let us be so disposed that we may grow more and more until God has taken us out of this world.
Now let us fall down before the majesty of our good God with acknowledgment of our sins, praying Him to touch us to the quick, that it may draw us to true repentance and continue in it all the time of our life. Being utterly beaten down and made nothing in ourselves, may we learn to seek all our welfare in Him, and He, thereupon, lead us familiarly by the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ, so we may go to seek it there and go forward more and more in the profession of His