5. Fourth Sermon
Contents
Editor's Note
1. CALVINI OPERA EDITORIAL NOTICE
2. FIRST SERMON
3. SECOND SERMON
4. THIRD SERMON
5. FOURTH SERMON
Editor's Note
e used Claude to generate a translation of John Calvin's Sermons
sur le Cantique d'Ezechias as found in volume 35 of Ioannis
Calvini Opera Quae Supersunt Omnia. These sermons were originally
published in Geneva in 1562. We have not included an original title page in
this edition since the Calvini Opera's Editorial Notice contains this
information.
CALVINI OPERA
EDITORIAL NOTICE
e know from Colladon ( Life of Calvin, Volume XI, p. 81) that
Calvin, for his regular weekly sermons, took up the prophet Isaiah,
which he had preached some years earlier in the Church (we assume, at the
Friday congregations) and had since lectured on in the school. These
sermons had been collected by stenographers, and six volumes of them
existed in the Geneva library, of which we have only been able to recover
the second (chapters 13 to 29), containing 66 sermons preached from
February 22 to July 31, 1557 (628 leaves), and the fourth (chapters 42 to
51), of 503 leaves, containing 56 sermons preached from December 31,
1557 to June 4, 1558. The third volume has been recovered at the Tronchin
library in Bresinge [Bessinge], comprising 67 sermons on chapters 30 to 42,
preached from August 4 to December 30, 1557. The series had further
included: Volume I, 66 sermons begun July 16, 1557; Volume V, 44
sermons begun June 14, 1558; and Volume VI, 43 sermons begun
September 22 of that same year — 343 sermons in total.
Of all these sermons, only four have ever been printed, on verses 9 to 22
of the thirty-eighth chapter, along with seven on chapter 53. Here we are
speaking only of the former. Of the pamphlet containing them, only two
copies remain, both in Paris — one at the Bibliothèque Nationale, the other
at the Bibliothèque Mazarine, this latter bound together with other small
volumes under the number 23607, which we have already had occasion to
mention in connection with the sermons on Psalms 115 and 124.
It is a small octavo of 98 numbered pages; the gatherings are signed a–g;
the first five and the last are regularly of 8 leaves, but the sixth (f) has only
two leaves, without any of the text being missing. The very last leaf is
blank. Here is the title:
Sermons of Jean Calvin on the Song that good King Hezekiah composed
after he had been sick and afflicted by the hand of God, as it is contained in
Isaiah, chapter 38. (The Estienne olive-tree device.) At Geneva, by
François Estienne, for Emeran le Melais. 1562.
The text is preceded by the following notice:
JACQUES ROUX: TO THE FAITHFUL READER, GREETING
Although in all the afflictions by which God tests his faithful, Satan takes
the occasion and the material to shake them and turn them from the faith —
as though such afflictions were the clearest and most evident testimony of
their reprobation — his rage nonetheless shows itself far more inflamed
when God, closely examining and summoning the conscience of his own,
presents himself for a time as their adversary and stern judge, and makes
them feel in earnest the dread of his judgments. Now such trials are very
dangerous, for it seems, even to those who have made moderate progress in
the word of God, in no way fitting that the faithful should be subject to such
a trial — seeing that in their Head, our Lord Jesus Christ, the wrath of God
has been appeased once for all, and that through him they are set free and
delivered from the tyranny of the prince of this world. For this reason,
following the counsel of the Holy Spirit, we must diligently gather from the
holy Scriptures the examples of those who, though having good testimony
of having been pleasing to God, nevertheless passed through such a furnace
— so that, being thereby strengthened in patience, we may resist every such
violent assault of Satan, and carry off the victory against his pernicious
efforts.
Now among those of whom Scripture makes mention, the example of
good King Hezekiah is excellent, as he himself sufficiently declares, in few
words, in his Song, as the prophet Isaiah recorded it in writing. This Song,
dear reader, so that you may profit from it all the better, I present to you
together with its true exposition, faithfully gathered from the sermons of
Jean Calvin, faithful minister of Jesus Christ, just as he preached it publicly,
without anything having since been added to it or taken from it. I must
confess, however, that I did not obtain his consent to have it brought to light
without great difficulty — as all those who know him privately will readily
believe, since they know well that he has wished only to serve the flock
God has entrusted to him, teaching them in a familiar way, and not to
compose Homilies at his leisure to be set before the eyes of the whole
world. But I think it would be superfluous for me to dwell on making you
understand with what skill and vehemence he has shown the true and
natural sense of this Song, nor how profitable the reading of these sermons
will be to you — being assured that the experience and certainty you will
gain from reading them will teach you more than I could ever tell you. For
my part, I know how I was carried away, hearing the living voice of this
good servant of God, led and guided by the Holy Spirit, without deceit or
any display of human eloquence, but pure and simple — and yet lively and
penetrating, as God by his grace made me feel it in earnest, with an
indescribable consolation, according to the great need I had of it, being at
that time in a like struggle of spirit, and stirred by the goad of a similar trial,
just as much as God saw fit for me.
Now although God examines his own so keenly, this is not to say that the
inestimable benefit of our Lord Jesus Christ is in any way diminished or
obscured by it, or that they should come to doubt their free adoption and the
fatherly love of God — for on the contrary, by this very means his
excellence and power are declared all the better, seeing that through it all
the afflictions they endure are but so many steps leading them to the
inheritance of heaven, which he has acquired for them at so dear a price.
This, dear reader, is what I thought good to tell you, having procured for
you so great a good as the enjoyment of these fine sermons, which would
otherwise have remained within the enclosure of the sheepfold where they
were delivered — asking you to take this good intention of mine in good
part, and to pray with me to our good God and Father that he would soon
confound Satan, and further advance and maintain the reign of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which today is so outrageously persecuted by the sons of this
age, enemies of the truth. So be it.
***
We have not been able to bring ourselves to copy out the 164 sermons that
still survive only in manuscript. Since Calvin's commentaries are practical
rather than scholarly in character, publishing the sermons alongside the
other work would have been redundant — not to mention that we know
well enough, from the two different versions of the commentary on Isaiah,
how inexact these stenographic transcriptions tend to be. We therefore
confine ourselves here, as everywhere else, to re-editing what has already
been published before, and that generally under the very eyes of the author
himself.
FIRST SERMON
Isaiah 38
9 . The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had been sick and
was healed of his sickness. 10. I said in the cutting off of my days, I
shall go to the gates of the grave: I sought the remnant of my years. 11. And
I said, I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living; I shall no more see
man, nor the inhabitants of the world. 12. My life has departed, and has
been changed like a shepherd's tent.
As the name of God is immortal, so too you must take pains that those
who come after us should call upon it, and that it be adored and glorified at
all times. Thus, it is not enough that during our life we strive to honour
God; rather, as I have already said, our concern must extend into the future,
so that we may leave some seed of religion, in such a way that God's truth is
never abolished. And above all, those whom God has appointed to some
position of leading others ought to devote themselves to this all the more.
So too we see that Saint Peter, declaring that his end was near and that he
must depart from the world, adds that as far as it is in his power, he will see
to it that the doctrine he had preached should remain always in force and in
memory, and that people should profit from it after his death. This is why
Hezekiah was not content merely to speak this declaration that we read
here, but wished to write it down, so that until the end of the world people
might know how greatly he had been afflicted in his suffering, and that this
might serve as instruction to everyone—just as today we can well profit
from it. It is particularly noted that this writing was composed after he had
returned to health. For often, when we are pressed either by sickness or by
some other rod of God, we make plenty of protestations, but we merely, as
they say, shake our ear once we have escaped, and soon forget everything
we made a show of having recognised. But here it is shown to us that King
Hezekiah, having returned to health, did not forget the chastisement he had
received from the hand of God, nor the anguish in which he had found
himself, but wished instead to make a record of it all, so that those who
came after him might be instructed by it.
Now it might seem at first sight that this writing would give no instruction
to those who read it, but rather cause scandal—for we see the excessive
passions of a man almost undone, who holds death in such horror that it
seems to him everything is lost when God withdraws him from the world.
And in this we seem to see nothing but signs of unbelief: he torments
himself and rages, so it appears, with a rebellion unworthy of a servant of
God. In short, it might seem that we can gather nothing from this Song
except that whatever faith Hezekiah had existed only in his prosperity and
his ease, and that he let go the reins of his sadness so far as to complain of
God—as we shall see him compare God to a lion. But when everything is
carefully considered, we shall find there is no better or more useful
instruction for us than this one; for when we have thoroughly examined all
that is in us, we shall recognise that this concerns us directly.
But note first of all that the good King Hezekiah has not here preached his
own virtues in order to be esteemed by the world—for he could have set
aside what he tells of his troubles, and instead spoken only of the request he
made to God and of the constancy of his faith. Yet he does not say that he
was magnanimous, or that he overcame every temptation without struggle
or resistance—none of that. Instead, we see a poor man tormented to the
very end, and so cast down that he does not know what to do. We see a man
terrified by the wrath of God, seeing nothing but his own affliction. When
Hezekiah thus exposes himself, and makes no difficulty about confessing
his weaknesses, we perceive that he was not moved by ambition or worldly
glory, to be esteemed by men or to gain reputation, but rather that he was
willing to be nearly overwhelmed with shame, so that God might be
glorified.
What, then, is his intention? On the one hand, that we should know how
he was afflicted while he believed God to be against him; and then, that in
this we should recognise all the more clearly the goodness of God, when
God received him back into mercy and did not wish to abandon him in his
need. We have here, then, to contemplate as in a mirror our own
weaknesses, so that each of us may prepare himself for when his faith is
tested as Hezekiah's was, and God gives us some sign of his wrath—so that
if we are then as if lost, we do not cease to hope that God will grant us a
way out of our anguish, as he did for this good king. And further, that we
may learn to attribute all praise for our salvation to the mercy of God,
knowing that as soon as we are deprived of it, we are undone, and more
than miserable.
Now, meanwhile, let us see how and why King Hezekiah was so
tormented: it was because he saw death drawing near to him. It might well
seem at first sight that this does not suit a faithful man. It is true that by
nature death will be dreadful to all of us, for there is no one who does not
desire to exist, as they say, and it seems that in death we perish and are as
though annihilated. Thus, by nature we shall flee it and hold it in horror.
That is why Saint Paul also says, in the fifth chapter of his second letter to
the Corinthians, verse 4, that we do not desire to be stripped of this body—
for it is impossible for man to desire to change his condition, I mean
regarding this present life. And those who do away with themselves have no
natural affection in them at all but are so carried away by the devil that they
are utterly blinded—such people must be counted as monsters, in whom the
whole order of nature has been overturned. In short, it is certain that death
will always be terrible to us, not only because we are inclined to desire to
live, but also because God has left some mark such that even pagans and
unbelievers are compelled to sense that death is a curse of God, pronounced
upon Adam and upon all his lineage.
Since, then, death came into the world through sin, and is a testimony of
God's wrath, by which we are as it were rejected by him and removed from
his kingdom—which is the kingdom of life—it follows that even if we had
no clear light of faith, nor had ever heard a single word of doctrine, it would
still be impressed upon our minds that death is our enemy. Thus, we are led
to flee death and draw back from it as much as we can: first, because we
desire to exist; second, because we apprehend in it some sign of God's
wrath. And I add further that even without any certain instruction, God
nonetheless gives us some impression of this that is hidden within our
hearts.
Yet meanwhile the faithful overcome these two fears, and prepare
themselves to die whenever it pleases God—not, as we noted earlier from
Saint Paul, simply and without further thought desiring death, for that
would belong to desperate people, but they prepare themselves because they
know that they will be reclothed after being stripped, that this body is a frail
tent, nothing but decay, and that they will be restored in the kingdom of
God. Because we contemplate this hope given to us, we thereby overcome
the terrors of death. And further, we know that our Lord Jesus Christ has
repaired this desolation and ruin that came upon us through the sin of our
father Adam. Thus, because we apprehend life in the midst of death, we are
no longer so terrified that we cannot withdraw ourselves when God calls us
to himself—for we know that death is nothing but a passage to life. On the
other hand, we know what our true being is: it is not to dwell in this world,
for this world is but a passage, and we must always remember what is said,
that God places men here to handle them and lead them through certain
turns, as they say, and then bring them back. When, then, we are taught that
our life is nothing but a race, and that the world is nothing but a passing
figure that vanishes, we then know that our true being and our permanent
state is in heaven, and not here below. Thus, we shall no longer flee death;
indeed, we shall have occasion to desire it, because on one hand we are
frail, held in bondage to sin—we see so much corruption in ourselves that it
is pitiful. Even when we desire to serve God, we drag our feet, and when
we lift one foot thinking to take a step forward, we fall back, or else we
stumble and trip.
So, then, we have good reason to regret our life—not in despair, but
because we ought to hate sin and hold it in detestation. We must also desire
that God deliver us from this miserable captivity in which we are held, as
Saint Paul shows us by his example. He confesses himself wretched,
dwelling in his body as in a prison, and asks how he shall be delivered from
it. And on the other hand, we know that death becomes more desirable to us
the nearer we come to our God. For, as it is said in the passage we cited,
while we live by faith, we are as though absent from God. Now where is
our happiness and our perfect joy, if not in adhering perfectly to our God?
Since, then, we draw nearer to him through death, this is a happy thing for
us, and one that ought to gladden us. That is why Paul says, in the first
chapter of Philippians, verse 23, that for himself it would be greater gain to
die than to live, and though his life was profitable to the Church, yet if he
considered only himself, he would wish to be taken from here. Such, then,
ought to be the disposition of the faithful.
Now let us come to King Hezekiah. It seems that he has lost all taste for
the goodness of God, that he knows nothing of the resurrection, that he does
not recognise he will be restored through the Redeemer—he apprehends
nothing but the wrath and curse of God. Where is his faith? Where is his
obedience? Where is that consolation of the Holy Spirit, and that
inestimable joy we ought to receive when God assures us of the love he
bears us? Even if he had this persuasion well rooted in him, that he is
among the children of God, does not adoption carry with it the inheritance?
Why has God chosen us as his children, if not so that we may share in the
heavenly life to which he invites us?
Now we see none of this in Hezekiah. It seems, then, that he has been
entirely alienated from sense and reason, that he has put God out of mind,
that everything good he had heard before is erased and no longer occupies
his thoughts. These things would indeed seem strange at first. It is true that
in that time there was not such heavenly revelation as we have today
through the Gospel; yet Hezekiah, and all the other holy kings and prophets,
and all the rest of the faithful, well apprehended that God had not chosen
them in vain. For although this saying had not yet been pronounced by our
Lord Jesus Christ, still it was engraved in the hearts of all the faithful, that
God is not the God of the dead. All those, then, who are counted among his
people have been assured of a permanent life that shall endure forever. And
elsewhere it is said that God calls himself the God of Abraham, of Isaac,
and of Jacob, long after their deaths. They must, then, have continued to
live. Thus the faithful have indeed had this assurance, that God did not
nourish them in this world like brute beasts, but gave them some taste of his
goodness until they should have full enjoyment of it after death.
Even Balaam, who never knew anything of the Law, nonetheless says:
"Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like theirs!"
He desires to be joined to the race of Abraham, and yet he was a wicked and
reprobate man. And what makes him speak thus? It is that he is there as
though on the rack, and God wrings this confession from him. Now if
Balaam, possessed by the devil to hire out his tongue to curse the people of
God, was compelled to speak so, what shall we think of those who had truly
profited in the Law of God? But be that as it may, the ancient fathers did not
have so clear and plain a knowledge of the heavenly life as we have today
in the Gospel. This too was reserved until the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And that was fitting, for we have a sure pledge of our life in our
Lord Jesus Christ, in that he is risen—not for himself alone, but for his
whole body. Here, then, is a full certainty that God gives in the person of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that we pass through this world in order to arrive at
everlasting life. The ancient fathers had not come to such a degree; they
were not so far advanced; but nevertheless the taste they had of the
heavenly life sufficed for them, so that they yielded themselves peaceably
to God. And indeed we do not read that they were greatly tormented in
death. When Abraham dies, for instance, there are no lamentations, regrets,
or complaints as with King Hezekiah, but Scripture says he was full of life
and satisfied. The same is true of Isaac and Jacob. "I will hope in your
salvation, my God," he says, breathing his last. Though Jesus Christ had not
yet appeared in the world, he had a firm and unshakable hope, and was as
assured of his salvation as if he held it in his hand. Thus, we see that the
holy fathers were not in doubt or in suspense, but always aspired to the
heavenly life, and it was their supreme desire to attain it.
Now let us come to King Hezekiah. We must conclude that there is some
particular reason in him why he complained so of death—which we shall
better see in the person of David. David is sometimes in such anguish that
he cries out: "Alas, my God, who shall confess you in death? And when I
am a poor rotting carcass, what profit will you have of me? When you have
reduced me to ashes, what will you have gained?" He makes his complaints
there; nevertheless, in the end he dies peacefully, for we do not see that he
was so troubled in his final passing, but he yields himself quietly into God's
hands. How, then, does he come to cry out so? It is that he apprehends the
wrath of God, whether in sickness or some other affliction—it is as if hell
itself presented itself before him. Such, then, is the feeling he conceives, not
of death simply, but of the sense that God gives him some sign of punishing
him for his sins.
Since, then, we see this same struggle in the person of David, it will be
easy for us to conclude concerning King Hezekiah that he too was greatly
troubled in the face of death—but not because it grieved him to leave this
world, nor because he was attached to it as poor unbelievers are, who do not
aspire to a better life, who are as it were plunged in their pleasures and so
lulled asleep that the heavenly life means nothing to them. We see that
Hezekiah was not so cast down; rather, he recognised that God was against
him, as we shall see more fully. And indeed it was not without cause that
the prophet Isaiah was sent to him, for he was like a herald of arms sent to
challenge him, declaring: "Here is God who is your enemy; you must bear
his utmost rigour, for you have offended him." When Hezekiah hears this,
he does not look merely at the simple death through which he must pass,
but has another concern: that he is cut off from this world as an accursed
creature, unworthy that the earth should sustain him. And when God
persecutes him, this bears witness that the land shall be laid waste, for he
knows what the condition of this people will be—that all will be scattered
after his death, unless God provides a remedy by miracle. And he thinks
thus: "My death will not merely send me to the pit of hell, but will bring a
deluge everywhere, so that in all the land there will be nothing but
desolation. Must the service of God be overthrown, and must all this fall
back upon me, because I have offended my God? Alas, what will become of
it?" Let us not find it strange, then, that Hezekiah speaks as we hear him
speak—but let us always remember that it is not death alone that has so
terrified him. What is it, then? It is the wrath of God, when he looks upon
his sins, and God takes from him all savour of his goodness, and even turns
his back on him, as though he saw God armed against him, his arm
outstretched as if to annihilate him. When Hezekiah sees this, he is so
confounded that his mouth is closed—and not without cause.
Now this is well worth noting: there are many stupid people, indeed most
people, who fear death, but not because they sense that God's curse appears
in it. It is true, as we have already said, that God always leaves this sting in
the conscience of men; but they do not have a similar consideration. Why,
then, is death feared by them? Because, as everyone will say, one desires to
exist. Indeed, when they speak so, it is as though they said: "I would wish
to be a calf, or a donkey, or a dog"—for the existence of brute beasts is
confined to this world. And where is the existence of men, if not in being
joined to their God? Now we are presently as if in prison; for whereas this
world ought to be for us like an earthly paradise, had we persevered in
obedience to God, we are instead as in a foreign land, where we are as
exiles and captives. It is true that we still see there some traces of God's
goodness, and many of them; but nevertheless, we languish here—yet there
are few who recognise this. All the more, then, must we note this doctrine I
have already touched upon: that in death, as in all other afflictions, we
ought to be more troubled and anguished by the wrath of God than by
whatever suffering we may feel. If one is afflicted by poverty, hungry and
thirsty; another cast down by sickness and suffering great torments; another
persecuted by men without any relief; and finally death presents itself
before our eyes—let us recognise that there is nothing so much to be feared
as the wrath and vengeance of God. Yet everything is done to the contrary.
And that is why I said we must all the more note this doctrine. For we
shall see that poor sick people, and those afflicted in whatever way, will cry
out, alas—one crying over his arm, another his legs, another this, another
that—and yet they never come to the true source of the trouble. This comes
from the hypocrisy that is in us, for we are as it were numbed in our senses,
so that we cannot come to recognise the judgment of God. All the more
must we learn, when we are struck with such rods, as I have said, to look to
the cause from which the evil proceeds—namely, that God wants to make
us feel our sins, that he summons us to appear as it were before our Judge,
and that we should come there not with concealment or subterfuge, but with
a free and open confession; and that this should not be merely with the lips
or as a formality, but that we should be pierced to the depths of our hearts,
feeling what it is to have transgressed the will of our God, to have provoked
him against us, and to have fought against his justice.
This, then, is what we must retain when we see that King Hezekiah was in
such extreme anguish because God was afflicting him for his sins. Indeed,
this is worth remembering all the more because, though he had earlier
declared that he had walked in integrity and uprightness, that he had striven
all his life to obey and please God, nevertheless he does not dwell upon his
virtues or his merits, nor does he enter into dispute with God—for he sees
well that none of that could profit him or bring him any relief. He does not
put forward what his life had been, but recognises that he is justly afflicted.
Let us learn, then, when it pleases God to chastise us with his rods, not to
enter into murmuring, as though he were wronging us, as though he had no
regard for our merits, or dealt with us more harshly than we deserved. Let
all such blasphemies be cast down, and let us confess that he has just cause
to punish us—not only to the point of removing us from this world, but
even of plunging us into the depths of hell.
This, then, is how we deserve to be treated, when we have considered our
whole life. And meanwhile let us not find it strange that God sends us
afflictions that seem harsh and painful to us, since we see Hezekiah going
before us to show us the way. Many are astonished when they have had
some good desire and affection to serve God, if he punishes them more than
many wicked people, and it seems to them they have wasted their effort.
This temptation is all too common, as we see David too was tormented by
it, when he says: "What is this? For I see the despisers of God prosper and
make merry and celebrate their triumphs, while I do nothing but drink the
cup of anguish from evening to morning, having no rest." It would seem,
then, that it is wasted time to serve God. So, I say, he was cast down to the
extreme, had God not sustained him by his admirable power. And since the
same thing may happen to us, let us make a shield of the example set before
us in King Hezekiah. For we have already seen how he had conformed his
whole life to the Law of God: he had a zeal rarely found in anyone, to purge
his whole country of every superstition and idolatry. Many alarms were
raised against him, and there might even have been some revolt; but this did
not turn him from restoring true and pure religion, and in his private life he
sought nothing other than that God should be glorified in all things and
through all things. And yet here is God coming to assail him, indeed in a
strange manner, for he is like a lion breaking his bones. Thus, when we see
Hezekiah treated in this way, must we not learn to bear patiently the
corrections God sends us? This, then, is what we must retain from this
passage.
Now, whatever passions Hezekiah endures, and however much he here
seems to go beyond bounds, nevertheless amid all this he declares the love
he bore toward God, and that he did not desire this present life in the
manner of those who are brutish in it, who seek only to eat and drink and do
not know why they were created, except to amuse themselves here for a
while. Hezekiah, then, shows well that he was moved by another spirit. He
says, then: "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go down to the gates
of the grave, I shall no more see the Lord"—yes, the Lord. Here he speaks
indeed of his life, that it will be cut off in the middle of its course; but
nevertheless, he shows that he does not desire to live merely to be at ease
here. He was king and could have kept a fine table; he could have had many
pleasures and delights in this world; in short, he could have drowned
himself in every luxury. He regrets none of that; but he says he shall no
more see the Lord—and not content to have said this once, he repeats it for
greater emphasis. "The Lord, yes, the Lord," he says. By this he shows that
his life was not so desirable to him, except insofar as he exercised himself
here below in knowing that God was his Father, and in confirming himself
ever more in that faith.
Let us note well, then, what our life should relate to: that we should
perceive that God already, in part, shows himself as Father to us. It is true,
as I have already said, that we are absent from him, for our salvation lies in
faith and hope. He is, then, hidden, and we do not see him with our natural
senses; but nevertheless God does not fail to send us certain rays here below
to enlighten us, so that we are led to the hope of eternal life, and perceive
that God is not so far removed from us that his hand does not extend here
below to care for us, showing us by experience that he holds us in his
keeping. For when the sun rises in the morning, do we not see the fatherly
care God has for us? And when it sets in the evening, do we not see that
God has regard for our weakness, so that we may have rest and be
somewhat relieved? God, then, in thus hiding his sun at night, does he not
show himself our Father? And further, when we see the earth producing its
fruits for our nourishment, when we see the rains and all the changes and
shifts that occur in nature, do we not perceive in all this how God stretches
out his hand to draw us continually to himself, and shows himself already
our liberal Father toward us, so that we, enjoying the temporal benefits he
grants us, may be drawn thereby to something higher—namely, to know
that he has adopted us, so that we may attain the fullness of joy and
complete happiness when we are fully united with him?
This, then, is what our whole life must relate to, if we do not want it to be
cursed—so that however many years, months, days, hours, and minutes we
shall have lived here below, all of it should not simply add up to increase
and inflame God's vengeance against us. Let us know, then, that we must
contemplate here the works of God, for that too is why we are placed in this
world. And that is why, in the fifth chapter, when the prophet wished to
rebuke the Jews for their vile brutishness, he says: "They have not
considered the works of God." He speaks of their drunkenness, their
gluttony, and their dissoluteness, but the height of their evil is that they have
not considered the works of God. Thus now the good King Hezekiah shows
us that it would be better for us all to have been stillborn, and for the earth
to have opened when we came from our mother's womb to swallow us up,
than to live here below—except insofar as we already see our God there.
Not that we have a perfect vision of him, but first he shows himself to us
through his Word (that is the true mirror), and then we have, both high and
low, so many signs of his presence and of the fatherly care he has for us,
that unless we are excessively dull and utterly devoid of intelligence and
reason, we must indeed see it. For the whole world is like a living image in
which God displays his power and his majesty; and further, that we are
governed under his hand is for us yet another and more intimate testimony
of his justice, his grace, and his mercy. Let us learn, then, to live on these
terms: to exercise ourselves in worshipping God as the one who created and
formed us, and to give him honour and reverence as our Father, and, in
tasting the good things he now bestows on us, to be confirmed in the faith
of the heavenly life. And further, that he deigns to extend his providence
even here below, to govern us in this transitory and frail life, so that we
should not doubt that when we come to him, we shall then contemplate face
to face what we now see only obscurely and in small measure.
And thus, King Hezekiah commits everything to God, as if he said: "Alas,
it is true that I am here as though to contemplate clearly the graces of God,
but meanwhile I see that all this is as though snatched from me, for it seems
God wished to strip me of what he had given me before, and that nothing
remains for me but utter despair, since he has left me and cast me off. He
has sent me his prophet with this message, that it is finished for me. Alas,
and when I no longer perceive any sign of my God's goodness, nor that he
displays his power to relieve me in my afflictions, even while I am in the
anguish of death—is it not, then, great pity that my Lord has abandoned me
there, and that I am cut off from him?"
Now from this we must gather that whether in life or in death, this grace
alone must always suffice us—namely, that God gives us a sense of his
goodness; and when he shows us that he is favourable to us, let us walk
boldly, and if we must languish in this life, let us bear it patiently. It is true
that we may well groan and sigh at being captives in this prison of sin. And
we may well also groan, on the other hand, seeing the afflictions God sends
us here; but nonetheless we shall not cease always to bless the name of
God, and to rejoice in him amid all our troubles, when we feel that he will
be our Father, and that he will also acknowledge us as his children. In death
we shall contemplate eternal life, which will make us forget all regrets, so
that we shall no longer say, "Alas, what shall I do? How shall I manage?
Where shall I go?" We shall cut off all such thoughts. Nor shall we say any
longer, "Shall I drink no more, shall I eat no more?"—that belongs to brute
beasts—but rather: "Now I see my God drawing near to me; I will go and
prostrate myself before him; I will go and give myself into his hands, and
yield myself to him as to my Father." When I say, we are thus disposed, we
shall be able to say with David: "Lord, I commend my spirit to you." David
said this during his life, but our Lord Jesus Christ shows us that we must
say it too when God takes us from this world.
And further, when we consider all the benefits of God, let us also learn to
glorify him, for these things are inseparable. According to the measure in
which God makes us partakers of his graces, and already in part shows us
that our whole happiness lies in belonging to the company of his children,
so too each of us must strive to honour him as our Father. That is why Jonah
too, once drawn out of the depths, says: "I will bless my God"—he does not
say, "I will live to eat and drink," but "I will come to the Temple, to the
sanctuary of my God, and there I will give him praise for this
redemption"—namely, that he has drawn me back from death. This, then, is
what we must do.
Now, as for what Hezekiah says about the cutting off of his days, he looks
to the natural course of human life, of which mention is made in the Song
of Moses, for he began to reign at the age of twenty-five. In the fourteenth
year the city of Jerusalem was besieged, and it was then also that he fell
into this sickness, as we see. He was thus thirty-nine years old. Now he says
his life is cut off, since he had not attained old age. It is true that Moses
there speaks of the frailty of men, saying: "What are men? After God has
led them about here for three days, then they return." Indeed, when a man
reaches sixty years, he is already broken, and if ten more are added, there is
nothing but trouble and grief; he becomes a burden and nearly useless, and
his life itself becomes wearisome to him. Moses shows us there that this
life, being so brief and frail, ought not to hold us back. But be that as it may,
King Hezekiah was, so to speak, still in the flower of his age; he had not
reached forty years. From this perspective he says that God cuts off his days
—not that we have a fixed appointed time, for do not children sometimes
die even before coming into this world? And once they have arrived, has
not death already laid siege to them? But still, he had not reached that old
age which belongs to the ordinary course of human life.
Hezekiah, then, contemplates this, and above all he keeps his eyes fixed
on the message of the prophet Isaiah—namely, that God afflicts him
because of his sins. It is as if he said to himself: "I see well that God does
not wish to leave you in this world, since there is here a violent breach. And
from where does it come? From your faults and sins," as we shall see him
add shortly. It is true that he attributes everything to God as to his judge, but
he takes the fault upon himself and confesses himself alone guilty. This,
then, is how he understands that his days have been cut off. When he says
he will come to the gates of the grave, that he will no longer see the living
—this is because he will no longer converse with men in order to exercise
himself in the service of God. Now it is not without cause that even in this
he still apprehends the wrath of God, even though he was subject to
dwelling there pell-mell with much rabble—for there were many hypocrites
in Judea, wicked and dissolute people, mockers of God and his Law; and
among the pagans there was nothing but impiety and rebellion.
Now while Hezekiah sees this, he says: "I now know that I am not worthy
to dwell on the earth, for these people remain still in the world, and God
cuts me off from it—indeed with a strong hand, as though he came armed to
make open war against me as his enemy." When, then, Hezekiah has such
apprehensions, we should not be astonished that he makes these complaints;
but whatever the case, all of it relates to his seeing that God persecutes him.
This is so heavy a burden to him that he is as though crushed beneath it. All
the more, then, must we note this doctrine, so that if God sometimes afflicts
us more harshly than we would wish, we do not cease to recognise that he
loves us, and that this persuasion of his goodness may enable us to
overcome all temptations, which would otherwise be enough to overwhelm
us. And further, if he rebukes us and makes us feel our sins, let us have
recourse to him to plead guilty—for we would gain nothing by any
subterfuge; if we wished to argue our case, he would still always have the
winning cause. When, then, we see that God is just in punishing us for our
sins, let us come with heads bowed, so as to be relieved by his mercy,
having no other trust or hope of salvation except that it may please him, in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to receive us into favour, since there is in
us nothing but utter condemnation.
Now let us prostrate ourselves before the majesty of our good God,
acknowledging our faults, praying that he may more and more make us feel
them, and so cleanse us of all our pollutions that we may be truly awakened
from our stupor, so as to groan and sigh—not only for the miseries we see
in the world because of our sins, but because we do not cease to increase
them ever more, as much as lies in us. And meanwhile, let us always have
recourse to our God, and even though it seems he persecutes us, and his
hand is harsh and dreadful toward us, let us not cease to draw near to him
and magnify his goodness, being assured that it will overcome all our faults
and offences. And even though we feel some harshness in him, let us
nevertheless recognise that it is far better for us to withdraw into his house,
and under his guidance, than to distance ourselves from him, like poor
desperate people. May it please him to grant this grace not only to us, but to
all peoples, etc.