The Thirtieth Sermon, which is the seventh upon the fourth Chapter - Galatians 4:26-31
The Thirtieth Sermon,
which is the seventh upon the fourth Chapter.
26 But the Jerusalem which is from above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, be glad thou barren which bearest Page [unnumbered] no children, break forth and cry thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she that hath a husband.
28 And we, my brethren, we are children of promise, after the manner of Isaac.
29 But like as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit: even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless, what says the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free woman.
We have seen this morning that many boast themselves to be faithful, falsely pretending to be God's children, and are so taken toward the worldward. However, they are but bastards, and God disclaims them because they have corrupted the good seed, which is the pure doctrine whereby we are begotten anew to be made partakers of the free adoption to which God calls us. Therefore, all that we have to do is not to be counted as part of the Church unless we are of the pure and sound seed, meaning we follow God's word without any corruption or mingling.
For this reason, S. Paul brings us back to the heavenly Jerusalem so we might know who our true mother is. Those who pervert the natural sense of scripture are not the children of God, and all their crying and calling upon Him as their father is nothing but stark lying and hypocrisy. However, because they are often considered to be of that degree, S. Paul distinguishes them by their mother so that we might know who are God's true and lawful children approved by Him.
The name of the Church is often pretended, and in these days, the Papists use it as a shield to protect their errors. They think having the Church on their side can cover their falsehoods, but S. Paul tells us we must be wise to discern the true Church. The Jews had enough reason to believe God abided in Jerusalem, as He had chosen it with the assurance that He would forever rest there. Yet, the same Jerusalem became a den of thieves because our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified there. Due to their unfaithfulness, the Jews were cut off from the house of God.
While Jerusalem's name had been honorable, it was then held in reproach and disdain before the Angels and all the faithful. Similarly, today, we must carefully discern which is the true Church, lest we be children of a bastard seed and be cast out of God's house for falsely claiming His name through hypocrisy before men.
God honors His Church, calling her the mother of all the faithful, which aligns with S. Paul's report elsewhere, where he describes her as the pillar upholding God's truth in this world. The truth does not need our maintenance, as we are inclined to lightness and inconstancy by nature. Yet, by His infinite goodness, God wills to have His word preached here below. He entrusts this task to those He calls, and in this regard, the Church is called the mother of us all.
As our Lord Jesus Christ tells us, we have only one Father, God, who is the spiritual father of our bodies and souls. Through His Church, God begets us into the hope of eternal life, as the Prophet Isaiah declares: "My word shall be in thy mouth, and continue with thy children from time to time, and with all those that shall come of thy race." Thus, God governs His faithful ones through His word, which serves as a pledge and invaluable treasure of salvation in His Church, where we are begotten and nourished.
Therefore, as I have touched already, we need to be even more skilled in discerning the Church. Since it is the mother of God's children, its name ought not to be dishonored, trampled underfoot, or defiled as it is seen to be nowadays. There is no more common treachery than using the name of the Church to deface and darken God's truth. Why do the Papists boast with full mouth and full throat that they are the Church? It's to silence God's voice, trample His word, and elevate their own forged doctrines. They aim to silence God's truth so that their own inventions are received without question or challenge.
We see men, who are but earthworms and rottenness, pitted against God under the guise of the Church. Saint Paul warns us to seek the Church that holds the pure doctrine through which we were adopted by God as His children. As I've mentioned before, it all lies in being ingrafted into the body of our Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledging our cursed nature. We must recognize that all our works are filthiness, the Devil holds us subject to his tyranny, and our only hope lies in God's mercy and pity.
Therefore, let us enter God's house through the gate, acknowledging that the only way for us to enter is by the sheer grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the Church breeds and bears us through the incorruptible seed. To better understand this text, we have two points to consider. Firstly, we must not be like those who think they can be faithful without reading or preaching, believing that the Holy Ghost ought to reveal Himself through dreams or other means. Such individuals despise doctrine, considering all instruction as childish.
We must not fall into this trap by the wiles of Satan. If we desire to be counted as God's children and recognized before the angels, we must allow ourselves to be taught and uphold the order of the Church with reverence and humility. Even the greatest among us must acknowledge that the greatest dignity is to be children of the Church. Those who reject this status renounce God and forfeit all hope of salvation.
Secondly, we must discern and not behave like beasts driven aimlessly. We must recognize the signs God has imprinted on the Church, signs that will never deceive us. When we hear God's word preached purely, without corruption, and are led wholly to seek our welfare in Him, we are in God's house and sanctuary. When we follow the way shown to us—our Lord Jesus Christ—and cast away all pride and arrogance, we are clothed with the righteousness offered to us. This is when we truly become children of the Church, and we can be assured that God recognizes and accepts us as His own.
This is the most sure and infallible proof, unless we willingly become beasts, shutting our eyes and ears, pretending safety solely based on the name of the Church, to hide our abuses and deceptions of Satan. Therefore, let us not be so beastly by our own wilfulness, but consider whether God sends us to be truly regenerated by the seed of His word and to be fed with it as our only food. For this reason, the text of Isaiah is cited: God speaks not randomly to some multitude that might boast themselves to be the Church, but only to the flock that should be left after the Jews had been horribly led astray and scattered. At first sight, one might have thought that God had utterly banished and abolished His Church from the world. Yet, He had gathered together a small remnant of them, called the remnant of the free election. The Prophet Isaiah says that those who are redeemed and sincerely returned to God, ruling their lives obediently according to His word, are the children of the Church.
We must note, by the way, that the Church does not triumph in this world or shine with such splendid pomp that men might be captivated by its sight alone, submitting themselves to it. Instead, it is most commonly forsaken and seemingly disfigured—a point worth marking. While the Papists boast of having the Church on their side, they must provide evidence. Yet, they only bring forth their riches, authority, and grandeur. However, these are not the things by which God will have His Church known. Our Lord Jesus Christ will reign amidst His enemies, and His disciples will be forsaken and despised by the world.
When anyone talks to us about the Church, let us remember what Saint Paul tells us here. He likens the Church to a widow, alone in her house, without aid or support. The world forsakes her, disregards her, and she is as good as half-dead and buried already. Nevertheless, God says she shall be restored and shall have more children than a married woman in good standing. This lesson must be applied nowadays when we see the poor Church trodden underfoot, and her enemies triumphing over her as though she were nothing but dust and smoke.
In such times, let us patiently wait for God to gather His chosen ones, content in the knowledge that He acknowledges us as His children, even if the world scorns and rejects us. We must not judge the Church with eyes full of vanity, seeking only pomp and outward displays. Instead, let us understand that God will afflict His Church so severely that there will be no beauty or shape visible to the world —only utter desolation, with everyone rising up against her.
However she may fare, let us be content that God gathers us to Him as His children. When we are called by the pure doctrine of the Gospel, we become fellows with all the fathers chosen by God under the Law, with the holy kings, patriarchs, prophets, martyrs, and all the faithful since Abel. Despite the boasts of the Papists regarding their multitude, the Prophet laughs them to scorn. For we must always discern who are the true children. The churches of the Papists are nothing but brothels of Satan—infected with filthiness, marred God's service, and lack soundness.
Therefore, despite their claims to be God's Church, the Papists are nothing but misbegotten bastards, tied to the brothel with their mother, that synagogue of hell.
Ye see then how the case stands, and it is not I who say it, but it is the Prophet Isaiah who speaks so, and Saint Paul, who is a faithful expounder of God's meaning, confirms the matter. Therefore, let us learn to join with the true children of God, who have the infallible record of the Holy Ghost, and not follow the greater throng. Let all these wretches go, who cast themselves willfully into Satan's snares and wander like brute beasts without any discretion.
By the way, we have to mark that those who are the children of the Church do not cease to be our fathers. Besides the common brotherhood between them and us, there is also the fact that by their means we are begotten in the word of God. Therefore, we have those for our fathers who are also our brothers, and all of us together are the children of God and His Church. Our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the only Son of God, and He is called our head so that being knitted together in Him and becoming members of His body, we might be held and taken for God's children, becoming that thing by free adoption which we are not by nature.
Saint Paul tells us that this happens to us by promise after the example of Isaac, to express that we must not have any vain confidence in our own merits or in any virtue within ourselves. We must be utterly devoid of all pride, knowing that all the worthiness we have comes from God's mere grace and free gift. The difference between us and the bastard children who falsely boast of God's name is that while they are puffed up with self-liking, delight in their hypocrisy, and always prattle about their free will, meritorious works, satisfactions, and virtues, we stick to the promise.
We believe that God, having looked upon us with mercy, has drawn us out of the dungeon of destruction wherein we were and, by His Gospel, told us and assured us that He will be our Father and that an inheritance awaits us. This inheritance is not purchased by ourselves or by any mortal creature, but by Jesus Christ, who being very God became man so that we might obtain in Him what is not to be found in all the world. Therefore, if we wish to be well grounded in the doctrine of the Gospel and sure of a good stud and anchorhold of our salvation, we must not intermingle any opinion of our own deserving with it.
We must not surmise that we are able to contribute anything of ourselves but simply receive what God offers us and allow Jesus Christ to be our Savior wholly and not in halves. This is what the word promise signifies. The promise Saint Paul speaks of abolishes all man's pride and disgraces men themselves, showing them that there is nothing in them but utter confusion and that all their welfare lies enclosed in our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, we cannot come by it or enjoy it but by means of the Gospel. The Gospel tells us that we must hold all of God and do Him homage for our salvation because He gives it to us, and it is not a wages due to us that He should be bound to us by any means. Therefore, Saint Paul says that it is so even today, as Moses declared under the figure which he set forth.
In Abraham's house, there was an elder son called Ishmael, and he persecuted Isaac, who was the lawful son. Therefore, we must be so handled and dealt with that those who have nothing but dissimulation and hypocrisy in them, who are but bastards, and who are utterly corrupt and become strangers, may nevertheless boast and set up their bristles against us, as though we were unworthy to kiss their feet.
Such manner of men then must perk up in all pride and persecute us. But let us be constant, says Saint Paul, and let not our faith be shaken down by such loftiness or by the wiles cast in our way by those hypocrites and falsifiers who have perverted God's doctrine. For in the end, the same fate will happen to them as is reported of the house of Abraham—drive out the son of the bondwoman, for he shall not be heir. All those then who boast themselves to be faithful and who must be taken to be of God's household shall be cut off as rotten members and not have any part or piece of inheritance there.
And it is moreover a right excellent lesson, which contains a very profitable admonition, even to confirm the thing which I have touched already, which is that the pomp of this world must not blind our eyes to carry us away at a gaze when we see great solemnities and gorgeous deckings. If a man should believe no further than he sees, when the Pope were in his Pontificalibus, he might be taken for a God, he has so many knickknacks glistering about him. And no marvel though many are amazed at it, as though one had knocked them on the head with a club and become as good as brute beasts. For why? Men are so given to judge fleshly that they are worse than little children in things that concern God's kingdom.
But yet for all this, behold, Saint Paul says that those who have the primacy, and are all in all, and are dreaded by every man, and finally who bear the title of first-begotten, are oftentimes but Ishmaelites, so they are but bastards, though they allege their eldership never so much. But if Saint Paul were alive at this day, that one text of his would be enough to make him to be burnt a hundred times. For let men write and speak as much as they list, and they cannot more livelily decipher or betray that the Pope and all his clergy are a heap of Ishmaelites and filthy bastards, who fight against God and all His true and right-begotten children, according also as Moses has reported it.
For what else allege the Papists for themselves, save that it is not a day or two ago or a hundred years ago that they have had possession, but that they have kept their traditions and ceremonies these eight or nine hundred years? But surely even in this behalf also they lie and are past shame. But put the case that the world had not appraised these eight hundred years; yet notwithstanding, that eldership of theirs which they allege is not better nor of greater value than was the eldership of Ishmael.
Again, unto their eldership they add also multitude, saying that we are but a handful of folk in comparison to them. They have kings and princes on their side; the whole world agrees with them; both great and small say as they say, and the largeness of their kingdom stretches out far and wide throughout all Europe well-near, and into a piece of Africa. When they have all this for themselves, very well, it is even as the eldership of Ishmael. Nay, it were more meet for them to have begun at the other end, that is to wit, at the holding fast of the pure doctrine of the Law and the Gospel, without mingling anything at all with it. For else it is a general conclusion that there is nothing in them but corruption and bastardy. But they will not enter into this discourse, that men might know whether they be basebegotten of God's word or not, for it is seen too manifestly already.
And in good faith, as I have said already, under the name of the Church, they have boldly taken upon them to disannul and falsify the whole word of God. So, there is no bringing of the Papists to the true trial or touchstone, that men might discern certainly whether they be God's children or not; but they stand proudly upon their eldership as Ishmael did; they allege that they are an infinite number, and we but sprules, as you would say, and folk despised to the worldward, which have neither estimation nor credit. Thus, you see how Ishmael speaks nowadays by the mouth of the Papists.
Now we, for our part, had need to be armed with patience, for it is a right hard temptation that they who are God's deadly foes should, after a sort, possess the highest rooms in His house, and that we should be hidden under them like corn under chaff upon a barn floor. This is a hard and irksome plight. And surely we see many that give over the Gospel through infirmity.
When the poor simple souls hear these so brave titles of Catholic Church, of Apostolic see, of Vicar of Christ, of Successor of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, of Prelates, and of Bishops; I say when all this gay gear is flashed out before the silly souls, they are amazed at it and conclude by and by, then must we needs stick to it. For they are ravished at the sight of these visors that serve to scare little children. But they that have any firmness in them and judge according to that which God shows them, are not at that point. And in good sooth, when the Papists say that they are the representing Church, they say truly; for indeed they make a godly representation [resemblance, or show]; that is to say, there is as it were a gay gazing stock; but as the Proverb says, "All is not gold that glistereth."
Therefore, they must be searched to the bottom, to see if there be truth in them or no. And so let us mark what is told us here by Saint Paul, that is to wit, that it was not once only that there was an Ishmael in God's Church to persecute Isaac: but that we see the like at this day: and that the children of God shall be borne down and trampled underfoot, by such as have no more but the bare title of Eldership, and under that shadow beguile the simple sort, cloaking all their filths and foulness under the pretense of gay colors.
But however the world go, let us prepare ourselves to battle (says Saint Paul) and let not our faith quail at the sight of the pride of the enemies of God's truth, yes, even of the household enemies of it, which are not as Turks and heathen men, but keep a garrison in the Church, and yet will needs be Prelates and more than great pillars of it. However the world go (I say), let us not be abashed for it, since we be fenced with the example of our father Isaac, to the intent we should hold out stoutly, forasmuch as we be regenerated by the pure seed which God allows, whereby we be made His lawful children, and heirs of His heavenly kingdom.
But here a man might think it strange that Saint Paul should say that Isaac was persecuted of his brother Ishmael. For Moses rehearses no more but that at the day when Isaac should be weaned, and at the feast that was made at it, Ishmael laughed him to scorn. It is not said that Ishmael laid any persecution upon Isaac, for aught that is recorded by Moses: only it is said that he being then of some age, and thinking to have a much higher degree than Isaac, because he was already come to years of discretion, did laugh at him, and mock him. Now if there were nothing more than simple mocking and laughter, it seems that Saint Paul should not term it persecution.
We must mark that the persecutions of God's children are not done only by sword, fire, racking, imprisonment, or other torments of the body: but also in that they be wounded with the scornful reproaches which the unbelievers and enemies of God's truth do spew out against them. And if we do well practice the thing that is said in the Psalm, we shall not think the manner of speech strange which Saint Paul uses here. For where it is said, that the railings which are cast forth against God's majesty, ought to rebound back upon us: it is to show that we ought to be very tender-hearted or squeamish when we hear God's name set light, or His honor diminished in any manner of wise.
If any of us be touched in our good name or honesty, we will be angry and make a quarrel of it: we see that for one cross word, choleric fellows do by and by draw their swords, and all is under color that they must maintain their honor and honesty. If a man speak evil of our Parents or kinsfolk, we will be in such heat and fumish passions, as we cannot be appeased. Then if God be misused, or His majesty dishonored in men's mouths, ought we to suffer, and not to be moved to choler and anger? Even for that cause also it is said, that the zeal of God's house ought to eat us up, so as we must not only be well-minded and sorry for the defacing of the majesty of our God, and for the corrupting of the doctrine of salvation, and for the disordering of His Church: but these things must also bite us at the heart.
According hereto it is said here that Ishmael persecuted Isaac. If a man demand, what? had he neither torture, fire, nor sword to cut his throat? No, none of all these: but he scoffed at the promise that had been made concerning Isaac. For it was said expressly, Ishmael shall live: but yet is he not therefore heir of the promise, Isaac is he in whom they shall be blessed. You see then that Jesus Christ, and consequently all hope of salvation, was closed up in the person of Isaac. When Ishmael did so disdain and scorn the sovereign welfare and happiness, that mockery of his wounded all the children of adoption, and all the faithful, yes, even with a deadly stripe.
Now then we see what Saint Paul meant, and how we ought to put this doctrine in use, which is, that we must prepare ourselves to inward battles, knowing that not only the Turks and Paynims shall be adversaries of the Gospel, but also the hypocrites, who to the uttermost of their power, do deface the doctrine of grace that is offered them in our Lord Jesus Christ, to abolish all the dignity and reverence which we ought to give unto it in magnifying the mere bounteous goodness of God, and in acknowledging that all our whole welfare lies there. Let us be ready (I say) to abide such battles at the hands of our household enemies, which boast themselves to be God's children, which are advanced even above us, and which outface us with their eldership, as who should say, that under the color of that, we ought to be utterly borne down and overwhelmed.
But there is yet more: that is to wit, that we must be touched to the quick, and sorry at the heart to see God's doctrine so corrupted. True it is that naturally we shun the harms that come against us, as bodily persecutions and such others. But yet for all that, we must not be so wedded to this world, as not to prefer the heavenly heritage before all things that we esteem most worthy to be desired.
Therefore whenever God's name is blasphemed, and when men labor to abolish the doctrine of life: let us in those cases set such grief to our heart, as we cannot bear with it, or at leastwise as if we were persecuted in our bodies. For he that should cut our throats, yes and put us to all the torments that were possible, as we see the enemies of the Gospel do, whose rage against their poor brethren, cannot nowadays be stanched with racking, burning, cutting out of their tongues, and such other like torments: all this ought not to grieve us so much, as to see God's name torn in pieces, and scorned by the wicked. For the very same is such a cutting of our throats, as not only bereaves us of this frightful and transitory life, but also bears us quite out of the kingdom of heaven. For when God's doctrine is corrupted, then is food turned into poison, life into death, and light into darkness.
So then let this text of Saint Paul's warn and exhort us, not to be so given to the earth and to the world, but that we may always have our minds and understandings lifted up to the inestimable benefit that is offered us by the Gospel, and fight more earnestly for that quarrel, than for our own life. For truly a whole million of such lives as we have here beneath, cannot be comparable to the endless life that is promised us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus you see wherein it behooves us to exercise ourselves, and we cannot exceed measure in being too angry, when we see wicked men blaspheme God after that sort, and labor by their wiles and policies to overthrow and to falsify the only doctrine whereby we live spiritually.
Furthermore, let us mark also, how Saint Paul adds in the end for a conclusion, that all they which nowadays boast themselves so highly to be the Church, and specially those that have the title of eldership, shall be driven out as bastard children. Therefore let us not be beguiled with all the pomp that are among those which fight against God's pure truth, to maintain themselves in their tyranny by force, persecutions, bragging, and such other like things: but let us tarry the end, which is, that they shall be cut off, for they are none inheritors. Well may they dwell in the house, as it is said of Antichrist that he shall sit in the Temple of God: but yet must they needs be swept out of it, as filth and uncleanness.
And although this be not so before men, but that it is hidden from us for a time: yet let us wait till God show His truth more fully, and until our Lord Jesus Christ confound His enemies with the breath of His mouth, and by the power of His word. Thus you see how we ought to be settled in invincible constancy. And although we be now despised and scorned, yet let us not cease to hold out in the holy calling of our God, knowing that we shall not be disappointed, if we be grounded upon the doctrine of the Gospel, and rest wholly thereupon till God discovers the things that are now hidden, and that we be thoroughly gathered unto Him, and find that it was not in vain that we were trained up in His pure word, giving over all the fancies of men, and not seeking life elsewhere than in the seed whereby we were begotten again, and in the food whereby we are sustained and nourished to the end.
Now let us fall down before the majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our sins, praying Him to make us feel them in such wise, as it may lead us to true repentance, that we may mourn continually before His majesty, and be so abashed in ourselves, as yet notwithstanding we may not doubt but that He accepts us for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and that we shall always obtain sure forgiveness of our sins, if we seek it in true faith without swerving to the right hand or to the left, but only following the path which He has showed us, as indeed we can never go amiss when we have the day sun of righteousness shining upon us. That it may please Him to grant this grace, not only to us, but also to all people and nations of the earth.