Part 7
his calling will bear, and what God commands, without casting of our eye aside to purchase favor in the world. Let us shut our eyes against all that is about us, and look only at this mark, that we must in all cases and all respects fashion ourselves to the will of God. And when we shall have looked right forth to God's ordinances, and asked counsel at his mouth, and prayed him to guide and govern us by his holy spirit, and finally well considered the bounds of our vocation, so as we attempt not anything otherwise than becometh us: then shall we be able to eschew the slightes and allurements of Satan and the world, so as we shall not pass to pleasure creatures overmuch. But without that, we shall be beguiled at every turn as it happened unto Peter. For if we compare ourselves with him: it is certain that he was much better able to keep himself than we be. Nevertheless, he was cast down afterward, to the end that his doing might serve for our learning, and we be rid of all pride, so as we might not thrust forth our own opinions to be overwise in our own brain and fancy, but that all our wisdom might be to rule ourselves according to God's pure word.
But now let us come to that which St. Paul addeth. He enters further into the matter and says, "We be Jews by nature and not sinners (that is to say, damnable men, defiled, and miserable wretches) of the Gentiles. And yet notwithstanding forasmuch as we know that we cannot be justified by the deeds of the law, and that there is none other means to make us acceptable to God than by coming to him with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: we have renounced the righteousness of the law and assured ourselves that God's accepting of us must be of his own free goodness for his son's sake. Seeing then that we Jews have renounced our own worthiness, what shall the Gentiles now do? Must not all be reconciled to God through his own mere goodness without bringing anything of their own, and without
pretending to have any manner of desert or worthiness of themselves?"
Here (as I have touched before) St. Paul enters into the principal point of his disputation against such as mingled the Ceremonies of the law with the Gospel. However, St. Peter was none of that number. For it is certain that he knew well enough that there was none other means to come unto God than by his mercy as it is showed us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Paul had communed sufficiently with him afore of that matter, as we have seen. He agreed fully with Saint Paul as touching doctrine. Then was not Saint Peter wrapped in that error: for it had been a superstition that had utterly defaced the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore Saint Peter would have abhorred that. But the dissimulation that I treated of this morning was an occasion to harden the Jews in the fond dotage which they had conceived of their own meritorious works. Not that he intended it: neither is it a sufficient excuse for us though we protest a hundred times that we mean not to maintain evil: but if we make any countenance at all of it, surely we are always worthy to be condemned both before God and the world. Saint Peter then agreed very well with Saint Paul as concerning doctrine, namely that there is none other means to come before God to obtain grace than by renouncing all creatures, and by confessing that there is nothing but cursedness in us, and that God must receive us of his own mere mercy for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake. St. Peter knew this, and taught it without any gainsaying. And moreover, he wist well it was lawful for him to give over the use of Ceremonies. For he would not have granted to any such liberty, unless he had known that the same had been purchased for us by the death and passion of the Son of God. Nevertheless, he swerved a little too much to the intent to keep still his own Countrymen, because he knew that the Jews were somewhat too willful and wayward, and therefore he meant no more
but to bear with their nature. But St. Paul respects not the person of his fellow St. Peter, neither reasons he with him as if he should say, "You are an abuser of men, you know not what the Gospel means," but he says unto him, "Bethink thee well what is likely to befall of thy doing, and what inconvenience it will draw with it. For what aim are they that would have men to keep the Ceremonies of the Law? Even to get some holiness by them, or to bind men so to them that they should use them upon necessity of salvation, and to deserve favor by them at God's hand, and finally to obtain forgiveness of sins by keeping of circumcision and all other such things. But in so doing, they be held down in this error, that they renounce the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and yet notwithstanding thou intendest to feed them in that fondness, and what a thing were that?"
Therefore, let us mark well how St. Paul passes not what Peter's opinion is in this behalf, but deals with the matter itself, to the end that all cloaking might be taken away from such as did shut the Gospel out of doors, besides that they did also rend the Church asunder as we saw this morning. However, forasmuch as it is a matter that cannot be fully discussed in a day or twain, no nor in four, we must take the things in order as they lie, to the end we may know why St. Paul strove so sharply for the abolishing of Ceremonies. For the case concerns the salvation of our Souls, and it is the chief point that we must learn in God's school, next after the glorifying of him.
For if we fall to comparisons, it is certain that the serving of God always goes in order and degree before the salvation of our souls. True it is that they are things inseparable: for God shows his infinite love which he bears us, in this that never anything serves to his glory, but that the same is immediately fit and profitable for our salvation. However, forasmuch as God has loved us so greatly and continues
still his favor towards us: we on our side are bound unto him, both to forget ourselves and to give selves wholly unto him. But however we fare, we see here the two grounds of all our Religion: namely to know how God ought to be honored and served, and also how we may so offer ourselves before him, as he may accept us and avow us for his children, and we hold him for our father, and by that means be fully assured of our salvation. And these two points are contained in the discourse that St. Paul handles here. For the case is, after what manner God will be served: according as the chief sacrifice that he demands is the confession of humility: I say humility: not by making demure countenances, but by being touched with such remorse, as we suffer ourselves to be utterly condemned before God, and all the trust of our own works and merits be thrust under foot. Mark that for one point.
And moreover, when God commanded the Ceremonies, it was not for that he passed upon these outward things: but for that he aimed at another end: which was, that on the one side the Jews should be inured to patience, by continual perceiving of their own wants and miseries, and thereupon rid themselves from all corruptions of the flesh: and on the other side be led to our Lord Jesus Christ, to repose their trust in him, and to rest wholly there. So then, as touching those that would have the ceremonies of the Law kept, as if it were of necessity that men should be precisely bound to them upon pain of mortal sin as they term it: it is certain that their meaning was to set up a service of God contrary to his will and meaning, and that they were as good as Cousiners: for why, they perverted the natural meaning of the Law. Mark that for one school point.
Another is, that they taught men to set up their bristles, and to glory in themselves, and that was an abolishing of God's glory: for we cannot challenge aught (be it never so little) to ourselves, but we rob
and rend away that which belongs unto him. You see then how it is a devilish traitorousness when men presume upon their own power, as though they had any spark of righteousness in themselves. And besides that, it is an entering into the gulf of hell, when we wean to get salvation by our own works. For we renounce the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, where we should seek all our righteousness. Again, the Devil makes us to believe wonders, howbeit, it is but to make us to fall into destruction. Wherefore let us mark well, that St. Paul treats here of the manner of justification before God, that is to say, of the means whereby we be brought into his favor, because it is the principal point which we ought to learn, and without that, all the religion or devotion that can be named, is but smoke and leazings.
And it is not for naught that Saint Paul enters into that question. For many men make this allegation: How now? The case concerned the Ceremonies of the law: and why then does Saint Paul (as you would say) fling himself overthwart the fields? Why speaks he of righteousness, of man's salvation, of the forgiveness of sins, and finally of all the whole law? Now on the one part, it behooved him to deal with all those things. For example, when we in these days teach, that men must not keep the superstitions of the Papists, nor any of the things that have been so devised by the wit of man: we shall not only debate whether flesh may be eaten upon Fridays, or whether such a wake, vigil, or Saints' even be to be kept, or whether this thing or that thing be to be done: but we shall treat generally whether it be lawful for a mortal man to make laws to bring men's consciences into tyrannical bondage. For God has reserved to himself alone the authority and prerogative to be called the lawmaker, to the intent that no man should usurp any such preeminence in the Church.
Then seeing that the spiritual government of our souls ought to be taken out of God's pure word: we may conclude that neither Pope nor any other man of what calling soever he be, has power to burden us with any laws, or ought to attempt anything that is against the doctrine which we have of God. Then may we well enter into that general discourse: and that is because the reason of them is alike in all points. If we should dispute only about the eating of fish or flesh, it would be but a fond disputation.
For every man must eat according as is for his health, or as he can get: and therefore such disputation should not concern the health of men's souls, or the matter that were requisite for them to rest their conscience upon. But when we take in hand to show that it is not for any living creature to advance himself so high, as to lay laws upon men's necks: the other disputation is fully resolved and dispatched.
Again, when as men say, that in babbling paternosters to buy out their sins, and in gadding on pilgrimage to get there the things which in popery are termed the works of supererogation (that is to say, works of overplus that men do more than God commands them) they ransom themselves and make him some recompense for the faults that they have committed: If we speak simply of pilgrimages, and go not to the ground and wellspring of the matter: it will be a cold and slender discourse. But if we declare how all our satisfaction is in the things that are purchased for us by the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therewithal that God utterly dislikes all that is of our own invention, and that he will be served with obedience: then do we lay forth the case as it ought to be, and may bring it to a sure and certain conclusion.
After that manner did Saint Paul. For he regarded not only what the Jews said, how it behooved them to forbear the eating of swine's
flesh, and to keep such a feast or such a feast, and all the residue of the Ceremonies: but he marked to what end they said it: namely how they went about to show that the keeping of the law was of necessity of salvation and that was a yoke of bondage upon men's consciences, that could not be borne. Again he saw how the liberty that was purchased us by our Lord Jesus Christ was taken away, and that was another point that compelled him to enter into that discourse.
But the chief point that he treats of here, is that such as would have had men to keep the Ceremonies, had a secret meaning that the same was an acceptable service unto God, and of such importance as men should purchase righteousness and soul health by it, and (to be short) that it was a meritorious thing. But Saint Paul shows, that it is impossible for men to purchase righteousness before God by their works. Now therefore we see for what cause Saint Paul treated generally of our justification, when as notwithstanding his adversaries pretended no more, but the keeping of the Ceremonial law, and the continuing thereof still as before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, so as men should still offer sacrifice, and do the rest of the shadows and ancient figures.
And hereby we see also what a folly it is for the Papists to think themselves escaped, in saying that Saint Paul speaks here but of the works of the law, and not of the moral works. True it is that they are not the first founders of that dotage. For the Devil has always had his ministers to cousin the people. But we must not rest upon the authority of men, especially of such as have neither religion nor fear of God in them. Although that many of the Monks have been reported to be men of great skill: yet notwithstanding they have been but fantastical fellows, and never had any taste of the fear of God. Even those that were called the ancient doctors, have perverted the kindly sense of the holy scripture, and were as utterly bewitched by
Satan, and yet the wretched world has been so blind, that it could not perceive it.
These kind of men have expounded this saying, that we be not justified by the deeds of the law, to import that we be not justified by circumcision, or by abstaining from any certain kinds of meats, or by keeping such a holiday or such a feast, whereas notwithstanding Saint Paul treats of none of all those things. He matches God's grace against all our works, and finally shows that we cannot bring aught unto God, but that we must be fain to be admitted freely of him. That is Saint Paul's drift. And if we should not set the same mark before our eyes, surely all the doctrine that is contained in this Epistle, would be but fond matter.
Furthermore let us mark, that Saint Paul does oftentimes say simply and without addition, that we be justified without works: like as in the third Chapter to the Romans, he says we have a clear and sure proof of our righteousness, namely that we be righteous before God through the remission of our sins, and not by our works. He says not there, by the works of the law, but he sets it down single without addition, to the end that all mouths should be stopped, and all starting holes be taken away.
Yet is it not without cause that he speaks of the works of the law, to bring to nothing all the services that men can allege to bind God withal, as though they were able to become righteous of themselves. For as we shall see hereafter, although we were as perfect as angels, yet could not that bind God at all, if it were not for that he of his own good will hath made this promise in his law, "he that does these things shall live in them." Then if we go about to get favor at God's hand for our own work's sake, we must not dispute philosopher-like, that God owes us any wages or recompense for the service that we
have done him: for we be his, and we cannot bind him by aught that we can do. How then may our works be recompensed as though they were available before God? Even because he has promised so to do. It is the covenant which he has made with us in saying, "he that does these things shall live in them." So then, if we could perform the law to the full, surely we should be righteous before God, and deserve salvation; albeit not for any worthiness that should be in ourselves, but by reason of the covenant that God has made with us. For we see that all the desert which can be alleged on man's behalf, depends wholly upon the said promise. And that is the cause why Saint Paul says always, "the works of the law, the works of the law." For there are no other works that deserve to be accepted of God and to have any recompense. Therefore let that serve for one point.
And we shall see hereafter, how we be utterly excluded from that righteousness, because we come short of it: and that God's telling of us that we shall be saved by keeping of the law, is all one as if he had said, that we be all of us damned. And why? For there is not any man that discharges himself of it, but all of us are transgressors. You see then that the law can bring us nothing but death, by reason of our infirmity. But this shall be laid forth more at length in its order. It is enough for this time that we know how Saint Paul's setting down of this doctrine, is against the Jews which boasted themselves and were puffed up with pride, as though God had been bound unto them for their observing of the Ceremonies of the law. No, no, (says he) it is nothing worth: and we shall see the reason of it afterward.
Furthermore, Saint Paul's debating of the case of Ceremonies, is because these hypocrites which took upon them to match themselves with God, and to have the praise of their salvation themselves, did always busy their heads about small trifles, and came not to the chief point, which is to enter into their own consciences. Like as at this day
in the Papedom, they that do so much preach their own merits, and say that we must purchase Paradise by our own works, and that although we be sinners, yet we have a way to discharge ourselves Godward by satisfactions: what allege they? When those great Rabines go about to set men after that manner upon the stage to be honored as idols, and when they have made their great prefaces of free will, of their own virtues, of their satisfactions, and of their merits or deservings: what bring they? Exhort they men to live chastely, without doing other men wrong, or without any covetous desire, so as every of us should content himself with that he has, be patient in adversity, bear wrongs and reproaches, and in all things show ourselves to be the Disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ by forsaking ourselves? There is not one word with them of these things. But the good works which they set before us are, that we must go devoutly to Mass, take holy water before we enter into the Church, be cross ourselves, kneel down before a stock, worship a puppet, gad on pilgrimages, keep such a feastful day, found a Trentall, deal doles for the dead, and do this and that. So then, all these hypocrites which will needs become righteous by their own works, have nothing but gewgaws and dotages: and yet for all that, they think themselves so holy and perfect, that nothing is amiss in them. They think that God ought to content himself with the great number of mummery and countenances which they make. But that is not the coin wherewith he must be paid: for his law is spiritual. He looks not upon the outward gesture, nor upon the things that carry a fair gloss before men, inasmuch that if men set their minds too much upon his own Ceremonies, he rejects it utterly. And that is a thing well worthy the marking. For men seek still some starting hole, that they might not yield themselves to the obeying of God: and they bear themselves in hand, that when they have once dispatched their fond devotions, then they be well discharged, and all the rest of their sins must be forgotten, because they ransom them by that means. The thing
therefore which we have to mark here, is that Saint Paul strove here against such men, as never wist what it was to serve God in good earnest, nor never entered into their own consciences.
And even such are these Monks in the Papacy, and those miscreants that have their full scope there: I mean not only the Cardinals and these corrupt Bishops, (for men know that they are the filthiness which infects the whole world) but I speak also of those that are called doctors, the upholders of their Catholic faith. It is certain that they are but mockers of God, they never entered into their consciences to examine themselves earnestly, neither had they ever any remorse of conscience. Surely all their study has been to hold folk as it were upon the rack, and to put many heart-gripes into them, to the intent they might seem to be sharp-witted. But as for themselves, they never felt anything. And that is the cause why they prate so much at their ease concerning merits, and yet in the meantime have no regard of them themselves. Only they do some small trifles, like rattles that men give to little children, wherewith they bear themselves in hand that they can appease God.
Now for this cause Saint Paul disputes of the Ceremonies of the law, as they were put unto him: and yet does he nevertheless cut home to the bottom, that is to wit, he proves that men are stripped stark naked from all righteousness, and cannot bring anything unto God, but must beg at his hand, confessing that there is nothing in them but utter beggary and penury.
Furthermore, let us mark also, that the Jews did always pervert the nature and use of the Sacraments, in that they made meritorious works of them, and that was clean contrary to the use that they should have put them to. For God ordained not the Sacraments to the end that by endeavoring to observe them, men should purchase
any virtue that might be imputed to them for righteousness; but rather to teach them that it stood them in hand to seek all at God's hand. As for example, when the Jews were circumcised, thereby God showed to the eye, that all that ever comes of man is but corruption, and that it stands us in hand to have it cut away. So, the thing which the Jews had to consider in that visible Sacrament, was that man's nature was cursed before God, and that we may well seek but never find so much as one drop of cleanness in it. And on the other side, they had a token and record, that God nevertheless would succor them by means of the Redeemer, which should come of the race of men: for he was born of the lineage of David. God therefore showed that thing visibly. And so the Jews were cast down in themselves, and ought to have considered that there was nothing but cursedness in them, and thereupon should have come to seek the thing in our Lord Jesus Christ which wanted in themselves. As much is to be thought of their washings. As often as the Jews washed themselves, it was a putting of them in mind, that there was nothing but uncleanness in them. And wherein was that washing? was it in the water? No: but in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the brute beasts were slain, there they beheld that they had deserved death. The beasts were guiltless, and yet they were sacrificed for men's sakes, to bear their sins. Thus you see a mirror which shows that all men are cursed of God. And yet in so doing men humbled themselves, calling upon God, and protesting that they were redeemed by the sacrifice: However, not by those shadowing sacrifices, but by the true sacrifice which was not yet come into the world.
But what did the Jews? When they were once circumcised, they thought that God was bound unto them for it. And when they had offered sacrifice, they thought there was great holiness in so doing, and made their boast thereof. But the Prophets rebuked those hypocrites double. For first they told them that when they had kept
all the Ceremonies of the law, their doings were nothing, all was but vanity. For behold, God says, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice:" and again, "I will show thee, O man, how thou shalt please God: be thou humbled truly, and imagine not to bring him many sheep and Oxen, for that is nothing: but deal thou justly and uprightly, and when thou hast worshipped him, live honestly and uncorruptly with thy neighbors." Also we see what our Lord says in Jeremiah. "Did I speak to your fathers (says he) of offering sacrifice unto me? No," (says he) "but I willed them to obey me, and to hearken to my voice, and to serve me with a sound heart." Again in another place it is said, "Lord thou lovest faithfulness." Thus we see how the prophets rebuke the Hypocrites for being held back by the Ceremonies, which are nothing of themselves, except men walk in a clear conscience towards God, and in faithfulness towards men.
And after that the Prophets have spoken so: they add secondly that when men have done all that they can, yet cease they not to be still in God's debt, and that the Ceremonies serve to bring them still nearer, that is to wit, to make them acknowledge that God calls them to him, promising them to show them mercy, and to forget and bury all their misdeeds, howbeit by means of the Redeemer that was promised them. But now Saint Paul leaves the first point, namely that the Ceremonies are nothing without the principal, which is that we walk without doing any man wrong, and without doing any hurt or harm to other men, that we live chaste and pure, and that we have a clean and upright conscience. Saint Paul lets that discourse alone: and why? For it would not serve the purpose. And therefore he shows that the shadows of the law were neither profitable nor needful, because they were nothing if a man looked upon them in their own nature, but that the end of them was to be considered, which was that forasmuch as they were a witness of the grace that is given us now finally in our Lord Jesus Christ: it behooved them to rest wholly
thereupon. And the same ought to be well printed at this day both in our heart and in our remembrance. For we shall have profited greatly, if we once know how to apply to our use the Sacraments that are ordained by our Lord Jesus Christ, especially forasmuch as we have to receive the Lord's supper the next Sunday. For although we ought to have been exhorted this day to put ourselves in readiness for it, yet was it not touched this morning. But let us bear well in mind, that if we think to be made righteous by baptism, we defile the thing which God has appointed to our salvation. And why? Baptism does but teach us that there is nothing but filth and uncleanness in us. For wherefore do we wash our hands, faces, and bodies, but to make them clean from the spots that are in them? Now it is said that Baptism is a washing of us: and therefore it follows that when we come to Baptism, or when any of us brings his children [to be baptized] we declare that the children are already damned and forlorn even from their mother's womb, and that they are a cursed seed, so as they must be fain to break cleanness, not by their own purchase, but by receiving it, for as much as it is offered them in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now if children are already full of infections at their coming into the world: what are we who never cease to offend our God, and do drink wickedness as a fish drinks water, as it is said in the book of Job?
Again, when we come to the Lord's supper, what come we to do? Come we to get anything of God by our own desert? No: but to confess that we are like wretched dead men, which come to seek our life out of ourselves, and therefore must be fain to have the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ for our meat, and his blood for our drink, and all things in him which we want in ourselves. You see then that the Sacraments serve not to puff us up with any presumption, but to make us walk in humbleness, to the end that being void of all selftrust, our whole seeking may be to be succored by God's infinite
goodness, and by his pouring out of the treasures of his grace upon us according to our need. And our coming to them is, that God should warn us of our sins, to be touched with them in good earnest. And we must not acknowledge ourselves sinners with the mouth only, or slightly and by way of ceremonies: but we must have our hearts wounded inwardly with grief that we have offended, and feel how dreadful God's wrath is, to the end we may be sorry in ourselves, and not have any rest till he have showed us where we shall find it, that is to wit in our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we come to this holy table, let everyone of us look well that he be so grounded in our Lord Jesus Christ, as that he having forsaken all the fond illusions of Satan, and all the deceits that he sets before us to turn us away from the grace of God, and may embrace our Lord Jesus Christ with the merits of his death and passion, assuring ourselves that it is he in whom we have the full performance of righteousness and salvation.
Moreover, forasmuch as our Lord Jesus Christ has called us to be members of his body, let us knit ourselves together, endeavoring to glorify God as it were with one heart and one mouth, and therewithal to live in true unity with our neighbors, like as the hand serves both the foot and the eye. So then let us have the said brotherliness in such estimation, as we may show that we intend not to separate ourselves asunder, as it were to tear Jesus Christ in pieces: but that our desire is that he should so knit us together, that not only he may live in us, and we in him: but also that he may so rule us by his holy spirit, as every of us may endeavor to serve and honor him first of all, and afterward to employ himself in the serving of his neighbors, according to the ability which he shall have.
And now let us fall down before the majesty of our good God with acknowledgment of our faults, praying him to make us feel them more and more, that the same may always stir us up to better
repentance, and cause us to continue therein to the end, and also make us to grow in faith to our Lord Jesus Christ, so as we may give ourselves wholly unto him, and in his name call upon God his father, to the end that he may hear us, and continue his gracious goodness towards us, till he have drawn us wholly to himself, to make us feel perfectly the benefit which is purchased for us by his death and passion. That it may please him to grant this grace not only to us, but also to all people. &c.
The Twelfth Sermon
which is the sixth upon the second
Chapter.
15 We be Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles.
16 And yet for as much as we know that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by belief in Jesus Christ, we also have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Jesus Christ, and not by the works of the law: for no flesh shall be justified by the works of the law.
WE have seen already and declared heretofore why Saint Paul, having to treat of the Ceremonies and shadows that were before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, concluded generally that men could not attain righteousness before God to stand in his favor, but by keeping the whole law.
Now, a man might deem at the first sight that these were diverse matters. Howbeit (as I have said afore), it behooved Paul to come to the pure use [of ceremonies] to show that men do but beguile themselves when they think to obtain favor at God's hand by their own merits.
Secondly, also I declared why Saint Paul does expressly add the word Law. For although it has always been a common opinion in the world that by living well men might bind God to be good unto them, yet did they foully deceive themselves therein. For do what we can, God shall not be any whit at all beholden unto us because we owe unto him whatsoever we be able to do.
Then there is not any desert (if there might be any deserving at all) but by the covenant which God has made, in saying that he who fulfills the law shall obtain life and salvation. For as much as God has spoken that word, no doubt but he accepts the obedience that is yielded unto him, as if it deserved salvation. But yet is not that as much to say as that we can deserve aught.
For there is none of us all that discharges his duty, as we shall see hereafter. That promise would be to no purpose, or at least wise it would be unavailing, so as it should never take effect, unless God gave us another remedy, that is to wit, unless he forgave our offenses and accepted us for righteous, although we be not so.
But however the case stands, when Saint Paul says that we are not justified by the works of the Law, his meaning is that if we intend to claim favor and salvation because God has promised that such as keep his law shall be righteous and so taken to be, that will not serve our turn. Because none of us fulfills the Law, but we are all of us guilty before God and must receive sentence of damnation upon our heads.
For the better expressing hereof, he makes a comparison between the Jews and the Gentiles. Although, says he, that we be Jews by nature, and not Heathen men, yet do we know that we shall not otherwise obtain God's favor than by believing in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now it may perhaps seem that although men, being corrupted in Adam, cannot deserve aught, yet notwithstanding the Jews had a special privilege because God had adopted them as it were for his own children and accounted them to be as his household.
And that was the thing wherein the Jews deceived themselves. For when the Scripture speaks of uncircumcision, it means the uncleanness wherewith we are compassed about in Adam, in so much as there is not any man who is not damned already from his mother's womb. But the Jews thought that God had set them free from that common curse, and they made their boast thereof.
Surely God's choosing of them after that sort for his own people and heritage was a great dignity, and worthy to be esteemed above all worldly goods. But yet nevertheless it became them to have acknowledged with all humbleness that there was not any excellence at all in their own persons.
For according to our wonted manner of drawing God's gracious gifts too much to vain overweening, the Jews did commonly overshoot themselves by bearing themselves in hand that they were above all the rest of the world. Verily as who should say that God had found anything in them why he should prefer them before those whom he had forsaken.
Therefore that doing of theirs was a great pride, which carried with it a shameful thanklessness, in that they imputed not to God's mere goodness the things which they had of his free gift but were puffed
up with overweening, as though God had known them to be better or worthier of everlasting salvation than the Gentiles.
But now Saint Paul to dispatch all overweening says, "Go to, we be Jews by nature." As if he had said, It is true that we have some favor above the Gentiles whom God has not vouchsafed to receive into his Church.
When he speaks in such a fashion, it is not to give the Jews occasion to wax proud, but to lay before them the things which they had received freely of God, wherein they had no cause at all to brag of themselves. According to what we see in the Epistle to the Romans, he utters two sayings which at first blush might seem contrary.
For on the one side, "Have we then," says he, "no privilege above the Gentiles? Yes, verily, for God has chosen us for his people, he has given us the seal of Circumcision to show that he avows us for his children, he has allied himself unto us, he has promised us the Redeemer of the world, and (to be short) he has sanctified us in such wise that if we consider the favor which he has uttered towards us, there has been well wherewith to advance and exalt us above the residue of the whole world."
Thus, on the one side, Paul there magnifies the goodness of God, and afterwards, he falls to questioning again and asks, "What advantage have we then? None at all," says he, "for all men are shut up under God's curse. If the Gentiles are to be condemned, we are to be condemned double, for there may be yet some likelihood that ignorance shall serve to excuse them. But yet can they make no defense of that before God, but shall perish although they never had any instruction or teaching."
Needs then must we be condemned by the law, says he, seeing that God has taught us, and yet for all that, we cease not to sin still, and to transgress his commandments, in so much that we be plunged in greater and deeper cursedness than the Heathen folk and unbelievers. Now then he says that the Jews are indeed separated after a sort from the Gentiles, not that the Jews are of more worthiness, or that they have any righteousness in themselves, but because God of his own mere goodness vouchsafed to choose them, like as at this day the children that are born of believing parents are not better than the children that are born of Pagans and Turks if a man consider them both in their own nature.
For we are all of a corrupted and cursed lump and God has so condemned us, as no man can justly set up his bristles to think himself of more value than his fellows. But yet nevertheless, Saint Paul shows that they be sanctified, and that they are not unclean, as those are which are born of unbelievers or Heathen folk.
Here should seem to be some contrariety; nevertheless, all agrees very well together. For there is nothing but uncleanness and filthiness in us all without exception, and that comes of nature. However, there is a supernatural gift, that is to say, a remedy that God gives, which is that the children of the faithful are dedicated unto him, and he acknowledges and avows them for his.
Then like as nowadays the children that are born of the Church are reckoned to be of the number of God's people and of the company of the chosen, even so under the law, the Jews were separated from the rest of the world. And that is the cause why Saint Paul says, "We be Jews, and not sinners of the Gentiles."
Whereas he speaks of Sinners, he means such as continue in their filthiness and are not cleansed by the grace of God. For Circumcision
was a token and witness that God accepted Abraham's issue and offspring for his own household and peculiar people.
The thing then wherein the Jews differed in old time from the unbelievers was that although they were all of one suit, for as much as they were all indifferently the children of Adam, yet notwithstanding God had chosen the one sort and left the other sort still strangers from his house.
If a man asks why he did so, there was none other cause than his own mere grace, and yet were not the Jews in the meanwhile the more excellent. But now let us follow the matter that Saint Paul handles here. "We know," says he, "that we cannot be justified by the deeds of the Law, but by belief in Jesus Christ." In saying this, he shows that the Jews themselves (whatever grace they had received) could not ground themselves upon other men, nor upon themselves, as though they had deserved aught at God's hand, but must be fain to flee to his free goodness, acknowledging that there is no salvation but in Jesus Christ, who has come to find out the thing that was already lost.
And herein is fulfilled that which he says in another place, how that as well they who were near hand, as they who were far off, were all gathered together into one. Jesus Christ is the peacemaker to cause God to love us and to receive us to mercy: not only those who were erstwhile far off, as the Gentiles, but also the children of Abraham, whatever nobleness or dignity was in them, for that came not of their own nature.
And let us mark, that when Saint Paul says, that the Jews who were converted to the Christian faith knew they could not be justified by the works of the Law, but by belief in Jesus Christ, he makes a comparison between faith and the Law, to show that we cannot be
justified by grace, except we forsake all our own merits; and that is a thing well worthy to be marked.
For the Papists will well enough confess that we be justified by faith, however, they add that it is but partly. But that gloss mars all. For here it is proved that we cannot be found righteous before God but by the means of our Lord Jesus Christ and by resting upon the salvation which he has purchased for us. The Papists see this well enough: and therefore for fashion's sake, they say we are justified by faith, but not by faith only; they will none of that. That is the thing that they fight against: and it is the chief point that is in controversy between them and us.
But Saint Paul betrays their beastliness here when he says, "but by belief." For that word signifies that all that ever men presume to bring unto God to win his favor with is quite cut off. You see then that the door is shut against all deserving, when Saint Paul avouches, that there is no other means than by faith. We shall see more plainly hereafter why faith is so compared with the Law as a thing full but against it.
For the Law presupposes that if we have once fulfilled God's commandments, we shall be taken for good servants, and that he will pay us the wages which he has promised; and faith presupposes us to be wretched, damned, and forlorn folk, and that we must be fain to seek the things that we want in Jesus Christ.
As for example, there are two men that desire to be boarded and lodged: whereof the one brings money with him and looks to be well entertained for his well-paying; and both of them require meat and drink howsoever the case stands, but the second man is poor, and has neither penny nor penny's worth, and he desires alms.
Thus do both twain of them match just in one point, for they desire food as the thing whereof they have both need. But the first has money to content his host, and like as he shall have fared well and been well and courteously entertained, so shall his host receive money of him, and hold himself contented with it, and not think his guest beholden or bound unto him. For why, he is recompensed, yea and he has gained by him.
But as for the poor man that craves alms, he thinks himself beholden for his life to him that fed him and lodged him: for he brings him nothing but a charge. So then, if we will be justified before God by the Law, we must deserve it, so as he may receive of us, and we of him, and there may be as it were an interchange between us. And is that possible? No: as we shall see more at large hereafter. Therefore we must conclude that we be excluded from the righteousness of the Law, and that if we think to bring anything to bind God withal, we do but provoke his wrath.
Then is there none other shift but to go to him like poor beggars, and so to be justified by faith: not as by a virtue that is of ourselves, but because we confess with all lowliness that we cannot obtain salvation but by his free gift. Thus you see how the Law is set here full but against faith, as if Saint Paul should tell us that all they who go about to win God's favor by their own merits forsake the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, as shall be declared more at length hereafter.
But now if any man say that the Law was given of God, so as it cannot have any contrariety against faith, whereof God is the author also: the answer thereto is easy. For God made both day and night, fire and water, cold and heat.
Now it is certain that the day is not contrary to the night: but we see the wonderful order of God's goodness and wisdom, in that men have
the light of the sun to do their work by day, and [the darkness] as it were a cover to rest in by night. So then although the day differs from the night, yet there is no contrariety between them, neither is there any between fire and water, so each creature be put to its own proper use: but we see that God has very well agreed the fire and the water, and yet notwithstanding if we behold them fighting together, then is there great contrariety. Even so is it between the Law and the Gospel. And if anybody will have a man to be justified both by the Law and by the Gospel too, he does but turmoil and mingle things together, and it is all one as if he should set heaven and earth together by the ears.
To be short, it were much easier to mingle fire and water together than to say that we can purchase any grace at God's hand by our own deservings, and therewithal also have need to be succored by our Lord Jesus Christ. But if a man considers what the law is and to what purpose it was given, he shall find that it is not at all repugnant to the Gospel, nor consequently unto faith, but that they agree very well. Thus you see how this difficulty is dispatched: so that if it be alleged that faith comes of God as well as the Law, it is true. Nevertheless it is to be considered (as we shall say hereafter) to what end God gave as well the one as the other.
But let us return to that which Saint Paul says. He says that we are not justified but by the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. When he speaks of being justified, let us mark that it is all one with being reckoned or taken for righteous before God. And that word had need to be well understood: for the case stands upon knowing after what manner we be saved. But are we not wretched caitiffs, if after we have lived long in the world, a man asks us which is the means to be saved, and we cannot tell him? We shall see many beastly wretches,
which have devoured God's bread, and yet notwithstanding cannot tell how they should offer themselves before him.
And therefore it behooves us to take so much the better heed to the things which are taught us here by Saint Paul. He says that we are justified: and how? Is it that we be righteous, and that there is nothing amiss in us? No: but it is for that God accepts us. Then is the word Righteousness put for the favor which God shows us, in that he vouchsafes to be our father and to take us for his children.
If a man demands why the Scripture uses the word Justify, since it seems to make nothing to the purpose: for it might well be said, God loves us, God pities us, God vouchsafes to become our father and Savior: [and therefore] why should not men rather use that manner of speech, than say that he vouchsafes to justify us? [I answer,] it is not without cause that the scripture speaks so. For if we take the word Salvation rawly, & say [no more but] that we be saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: we shall not well perceive what our own state is, nor how wretched it is, nor also the remedy which we must apply to it. For to the intent we may put our trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, we must understand that we be utterly forlorn as well by reason of the sin of Adam, as by reason of the infinite number of iniquities wherein we be saped: yea and we must fully believe it. But we should never perceive that our sins condemn us & curse us before God, except we knew that we have need of righteousness.
And on the other side we should not know God's righteousness, if we should singly say that we be saved by faith and by grace. For God cannot once renounce himself, because he is the sovereign righteousness, and there is nothing in him but pureness and perfection, by reason whereof he must needs hate evil. Now it is so that we are full of corruption, there is nothing but evil in us: and
therefore God must needs hate us. And if he hates us, woe worth us: for then are we damned. Then it stands us on hand to be made righteous before we can be in God's favor. That is to say, it behooves us to be purged of our faults and misdeeds, for else (as I said) we shall never be able to conceive that God intends to show us mercy.
But in acknowledging ourselves to be sinners, we perceive by and by that God must needs hate sin, and that although he hates sin, yet notwithstanding he finds means to save us, which is by forgetting our offenses, and by cleansing and purging them with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our spiritual washing. God then purges us in that wise, to the end we should be received of him, and being made partakers of his love, be assured of our salvation. Thus you see why the Scripture uses the word Justify: But the Papists descant upon it like blind buzzards. What, say they? should we be justified by faith? Faith is no such virtue as makes men perfect: and how then shall it make us righteous? They consider not that this righteousness whereof the Scripture speaks, is God's covering of our sins (as I declared afore) and his taking of them quite and clean away for the sake and by the means of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the virtue of the Sacrifice of his death and Passion.
However the case stands, it is said that we are counted righteous before God, because he releases and forgives our sins. And after the same manner does Saint Paul speak of it in the fourth to the Romans, where he says that David has well declared in effect, how we are justified by faith, when he says, "Blessed is the man whose iniquities God has forgotten, and whose sins he has covered." And in another place he says, that our Lord Jesus Christ who knew no sin, nor had any spot in him, was made sin for us: that is to say, received all the condemnation of our faults, to the end that we should become God's righteousness in him, that is to say, to the end that, being grafted
into his person, and made one body with him, we might be taken for righteous, because there was such perfection in his obedience, that our sins were buried and rid quite and clean away. Thus much concerning the word Justify.
Now as touching the word Faith [or belief], Saint Paul adds for a declaration, that they had believed in Jesus Christ. If a man asks an unlearned person what Faith is: he will perhaps answer that it is to believe: but he shall not be able to tell what is meant or imported by any of them both. Will we then have the understanding of them according to the raw capacity of the unskillfullest sort? We must always mark, that our Lord Jesus Christ is set to be the butt of our faith and belief. Do we obtain salvation by faith? It is as much to say, as we believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. But let us now consider why our Lord Jesus Christ is set before our eyes for our faith to aim at, and to rest wholly upon. It is because we shall find in him whatever belongs to the making of us righteous.
I have told you already, that we are taken for righteous before God when he forgives our sins, and calls them not to account anymore. And how shall we obtain that, but by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed to wash us with? For inasmuch as he has made full amends for us by his death and passion: therefore God is appeased towards us, conditionally that we seek not to pay him with any other thing, than with the sacrifice that was offered up to him by his only son our Lord Jesus Christ, who is called God's well-beloved son, to the end that we should be beloved in him: and the righteous, to the end we should be made partakers of his righteousness: and the holy, to the end we should be made holy in him.
Thus then you see why we must have an eye to our Lord Jesus Christ when we intend to know what the word Faith imports. But the
Papists stand willfully in their own conceit, because they never tasted what it is to believe: and that do they show well enough by their allegations. How is it possible (say they) that a man should be justified by believing, seeing that the very Devils do believe? It is true, and Saint James uses the same reason. Howbeit in that place he mocks at such as pretend a vain and fond cloak of Christianity and faith, and in the meantime show no fruits at all of it.
But the Papists beguile themselves yet much more grossly, in saying that Faith is to believe in God, and that God is the mark that faith aims at, so as it seems to them, that to make up belief, there needs no more but to imagine that there is some one certain God that made the world, and which governs all things. And so they fall fast asleep in their ignorance, and yet cease not to take themselves for good Christians and Catholics (as they themselves babble) although they be altogether dulled indeed. But it is no wonder that they fight so against the doctrine of the holy Scripture, and with such unamendable willfulness deny that a man can be saved by faith, seeing they have neither discretion nor understanding: for they wot not what the matter means.
So much the more therefore does it stand us upon, to mark well what Saint Paul tells us here: that is to wit, that if we look not unto Jesus Christ, we know not what faith is. And the reason thereof is, for that we know not what it is to have forgiveness of sins, to come unto God, to be able to put our trust in him, and to call upon him: neither do we know any more what it is to have our consciences quiet, and to hope for the everlasting life. All these things we want till Jesus Christ be set before us, and till we have cast our look upon him, so as all our senses be settled upon him, and as it were shut up there.
You see then that the faith whereby we obtain grace, is that after we once know ourselves to be wretched creatures, and that there is nothing but loathsomeness in us, we seek the remedy of it in our Lord Jesus Christ, and understand that he was offered up for us to redeem us from the curse wherein we were plunged, that he has made us clean by his blood, that by his obedience he has put away all our offenses, and that for the same we are assured that God accepts and receives us for his children. Thus you see how this text is to be understood.
And whereas Saint Paul says, that he himself and all the Jews that were converted unto Christianity, did look to be saved by the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ: he adds also the reason why: namely, because no flesh shall be justified by the works of the Law. He had well used that word, if he had applied it but to his own countrymen: but here he speaks of all men in general. And whereas he says no flesh at all: first he betokens that the Jews differ nothing at all from the Gentiles in the means of obtaining salvation.
Wherefore although the Jews, being circumcised, were taken as it were for God's heritage, and sanctified unto him: yet notwithstanding they could not have any hope of salvation, but by his mere grace. Lo how they be matched with the Gentiles and ranged in like degree with them. Again, Saint Paul meant here to deface utterly all the overweening that men conceive of their own virtues. There are many who know they have overshot themselves so far, that they cannot challenge any glory to them as though they had deserved aught at God's hand.
Wretched drunkards, unthrifts, and such as have given themselves over to all naughtiness, will be ashamed to advance themselves, and to brag that they can bind God by their deserts and well-doings, for
even before men they be fain to hide themselves because of their lewdness. But as for those that have some cloak of hypocrisy, and show some sign of holiness before men: they by and by become drunken with it, and so harden themselves, that they believe they deserve Paradise, and that God is greatly bound unto them. Of which sort are these Pope-holy ones, who although they be full of all filthiness, so as there is nothing in them but ambition, covetousness, cruelty, and such other like things: yet howsoever the world go, forasmuch as they have good store of their Church stuff and other counterfeitings, they bear themselves in hand that God sees not a whit into their lewdness, but persuade themselves that God ought to accept them for their own merits' sakes. Also, such as hear Mass devoutly, such as run from the Tavern [or from the Alehouse] to the Chapel, specially such as buy pardons and such other like stuff, and such as keep fasting-days and holydays, will be puffed up with such an overweening, as to think they have bound God unto them.
But Saint Paul, in naming all flesh, shows that men must not set themselves asunder, as though one were righteous, though another were not so: but must all stoop and humble themselves and pass condemnation, assuring themselves that all their virtues, (yea even of the most excellent men of all) are but filthiness before God. For although a man be perfectly righteous to our opinion, so as he does no man harm, but has steadfastness in himself to withstand all vices, and is chaste and sober, and (to be short) is taken and esteemed to be as an Angel: yet notwithstanding he has nothing in him but corruption. And how can that be? Because we may not rest upon the outward appearance, for (as the Proverb says) all is not gold that glisters.
It is not for us to judge what is vice, and what is virtue, except we could enter into a man. For if a man yield not unto God that which
belongs unto him, what is to be said of it? He robs not men, but he robs God of his honor. Again though men give him never so great praise and clap their hands at him: yet shall he but burst for vainglory and pride, and nothing shall be able to frame him to humility, save the knowing of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, they who make a goodly outward show in their life, shall nevertheless be still condemned before God.
This is the thing whereby Saint Paul intended to forestall all the vain trust that men can conceive or nourish concerning their own deservings. But there is yet more. For he speaks not only of such men as were after a sort forsaken of God, and were not renewed by his holy spirit: but when he says All flesh, he comprehends the faithful also. For although God's holy spirit dwell in us after he has drawn us to the knowledge of his Gospel and grafted us into the body of our Lord Jesus Christ: although (say I) that God's spirit dwell in us: yet are we all comprehended under the word Flesh, in respect of that which we have of our own.
Saint Paul then gives sentence here, that no flesh shall be justified, because the faithless are condemned in Adam, and abide in their condemnation, and the faithful are always imperfect, so as they have many vices and blemishes: by means whereof they be condemned as well as the others, and so this condemnation is general, That he who will be justified by the works of the law, shall always be found guilty, yea even the holiest men that ever were.
Let us take Abraham who was a mirror of all perfection: let us take David who excelled in all virtue: let us take Noah, Job, and Daniel who are reckoned up for three righteous men by the Prophet Ezekiel: and let us take such other like: and yet nevertheless, even they also
are ranged in the same array, that is to wit, that they could not obtain righteousness before God, but by Grace.
Now then I pray you what shall we do? Must not the Devil needs drive them headlong into terrible pride, which at this day do stay still, that they may be justified by their own deserts or meritorious works as they term them? For who is he that can match either David, Noah, Abraham, or Daniel? Had not men need to have profited well in God's school, and to be inflamed with a true zeal of giving themselves wholly unto him, that they may be utterly convicted, that they be yet very far off from being come to the point which we see David, Noah, and Daniel to have been at? For as much then as we know this: let us mark, that here the Holy Ghost beats down such as mount up too high, to the end we should be the more ashamed that we have not one drop of desert of glory: and seek all that pertains to our salvation, in the mere grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus you see that this saying where Saint Paul avows that no flesh shall be justified, ought to be understood as though he had said: If men look upon themselves in their own nature, they shall find nothing but evil, notwithstanding all the fair shows that they can have. They may well be highly praised and esteemed in the world, and they may well beguile themselves by vain self-soothings: but until such time as God have wrought in them to change them, it is certain that there shall be nothing in them but filthiness, and all the virtues that men make account of, shall be stark vice, to lead them to destruction and to plunge them in Hell.
For although those who are renewed by God's grace and have already profited in his obedience, have some virtues which he loves and esteems: yet they are not able to bring anything that may pass account before him: for they shall always find themselves in arrears.
And that goodness which is in them, they have it of him, and yet is that goodness also corrupted with their sins and infirmities: by reason whereof they are utterly bereft of all trust in their own righteousness: and so if we now seek our righteousness in the law, we are beguiled, we shall not find it there, we are all of us condemned from the greatest to the least.
But here we see much better that which I touched before: namely that when we perceive and find by experience, that we want all that ever pertains to the life of our souls: we must resort to Jesus Christ as to our refuge, so that the true preparative to make us believe in Jesus Christ, is to be touched with a lively conceit and feeling of our own sins. And for the same cause also he says, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will refresh you, and you shall find rest to your souls." Again it is said expressly, that he is sent to preach the message of gladness to the poor, to set free such as are in prison, and to comfort such as are utterly oppressed and as it were overwhelmed.
Those then who take pleasure in their sins, will never come to our Lord Jesus Christ. True it is that they will boast enough of faith, according as many scorners of God do unhallow that word as holy as it is. Every man will be counted a Christian, and they that be furthest out of square in all wickedness, will say they believe as much as any other man. But when a man speaks after that manner, it is a token that he has not one drop of faith. For the faithful will surely say, "I believe, howbeit with so great weakness, that I see well if my God should not pity me, that little which I have would soon vanish away utterly."
Therefore they that vaunt with full mouth that they have a perfect faith, are but dogs and swine which never tasted what the fear of God
or what religion is. But however the world go, the name of faith shall be shamefully defiled by those dogs, which do nothing else but mock God. For they have no skill to discern between good and evil. They are so blockish, that they do as it were welter in their filthiness: insomuch that a gross drunkard that is past all shame, and therewithal has overglutted himself also, would fain continue still in his disorderliness.
Besides this, the whoremongers, the perjurers, the blasphemers, and such other like will protest well enough that they have faith: but yet for all that, it is certain that they were never in any towardness to come to our Lord Jesus Christ. And why so? For they have not considered that they cannot be justified but by grace. However let us mark, that to be thoroughly persuaded, that we cannot be justified by the law, we must set God before us in his judgment seat, and every of us summon ourselves before him, and morning and evening bethink us that we must yield up an account of our whole life.
Thereupon let us understand, that we should be overwhelmed a hundred thousand times, if God should not pity us, and bear with us of his infinite mercy. That is the way for us to know that we cannot be justified by the law: for we are as good as damned, so oft as we appear before God. It is meet for us to be put in such fear, as we may have neither release nor rest, till our Lord Jesus Christ have succored us. You see then how it behooves us to be laden and overtraveled, that is to say, to dislike of our sins, and to be grieved with such anguish, as we may be pinched with the sorrows of death, to the end we may seek all our ease in God, assuring ourselves that we cannot otherwise obtain salvation, neither whole nor in part, but must be fain to have it given us.