Part 9
unthankfulness, as can by no means be excused. Saint Paul therefore does here make mention of those whom our Lord Jesus Christ calls to the hope of salvation by his Gospel, and yet do still welter in their own wretchedness, and become brutish, not knowing whether there be a better life or no; or else of such as are sufficiently tormented with inward heart-bitings, and yet seek no remedy nor comfort.
Yet notwithstanding, all they to whom our Lord Jesus Christ has not preached his Gospel shall not fail to perish without mercy. They cannot defend themselves by ignorance: I say that all the heathen folk and idolaters that ever were must have their mouths stopped. And what shall become of us then, which have had our ears beaten daily with the message that God sends us: which is that he requires nothing but that we should be drawn unto him, whereunto he encourages, yea and beseeches us, as we have seen in the second to the Corinthians? It is not a great shame for us, that God should so far abase himself in the person of his only son, that he should beseech us? "Let us fall to atonement," says he. And what has he done on his side? What has he offended us? Nay, contrariwise, we cease not to provoke him daily against us, and yet he comes to say unto us, "I will fall to atonement with you," whereas notwithstanding there is nothing but spitefulness in us, we be like little fiends, and to be short, we be damned and forlorn, and yet comes he to seek unto us, and desires nothing but to have the atonement made. After that manner speaks Saint Paul word for word. But now what will become of us, if we reject such grace, seeing that God offers it, us so freely? This is what is meant by that saying. And thereupon he concludes in the end, that if we seek righteousness in the Law, Jesus Christ died in vain. As if he should say, that if we intend to enjoy the grace that is contained in the Gospel, we must utterly give over the fond opinion of our own merits. For men are deceived by bearing themselves in hand, that there is ever somewhat of value in them: and to be short,
they cannot find in their hearts to come as poor beggars before God, but will always bring some present with them. And yet notwithstanding all that ever we think ourselves to have, is but abomination.
Therefore Saint Paul shows us, that there is no other means for us to receive life at our Lord Jesus Christ's hand, and to be made partakers of his death and resurrection, and so to attain to the heritage of heaven by his means, than to be utterly voided of all the foolish overweenings, which the children of this world conceive, when they imagine with themselves, "Oh as for me, I have some virtue in me, I have some towardness," and to lay it all down and cast it quite away. For until we have forgotten our own deserts, surely we shall never be able to conceive the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do we then come unto him? Let us come utterly empty. For if we make any countenance of having aught, it is nothing else but wind. Truly whenever men are puffed up with pride: they become so full that they are ready to burst, howbeit all of it is but wind. But yet howsoever we fare, that wind holds us back from receiving the benefits that are purchased and brought unto us by the Son of God, and which he communicates to us by his Gospel. Thus you see whereunto the conclusion tends which Saint Paul makes here. Now the Papists will grant well enough that we be not able to purchase salvation, except we be helped by our Lord Jesus Christ: howbeit they imagine that men may half save themselves, and that look what wants is supplied by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc. so they suppose themselves to have a good and available starting hole. But in saying so, they show themselves deadly enemies of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and upholders of the case and quarrel of the false apostles and deceivers that had corrupted, defiled, and falsified the pure truth in the Church of Galatia. For those sorts of men could well enough confess that Jesus Christ was the Savior of the world, and
they would have been ashamed to say that Jesus Christ was nothing, nay rather they professed Christianity. And what deemed they of Jesus Christ? That he came to help men's infirmities, because they were not able to discharge the law to the full, and that forasmuch as they could not have so great and large perfection as was requisite, therefore it behooved them to be helped by Jesus Christ: and even as much do the Papists say at this day. But Saint Paul concludes on the contrary part, that then Jesus Christ had died in vain. If any man reply, no not so: for there should come some fruit of his death and passion, by helping us to the forgiveness of our sins: and although we have means to satisfy God withal, yet would not the same suffice, unless Jesus Christ should work therewith.
I say if any man make such reply: let us mark that Saint Paul held this for a certain and undeceivable principle, that do the best we can, there is nothing but cursedness in us, till God have received us of his mere grace. Lo wherein the Papists beguile themselves, and not they only: for it has been a common error among the Turks and among all the Heathen men that ever were. The Turks can confess well enough that they have need of God's mercy, and that has always been an opinion throughout the whole world: but they have intermingled their own satisfactions with God's grace, as if they should say, although God be pitiful towards us, yet must we procure favor in his sight by our own deservings. After that manner were the Heathen folk wont to speak. And what say the Papists nowadays? All one thing. For after they have once granted themselves to be wretched sinners, and to have need to be succored by our Lord Jesus Christ, and that his death and passion are available to make them way unto God: they interlace their own free will, and their preparations, and thereto say that they deserve on their side, and that although Jesus Christ helps them, yet he does not do all himself. And in very deed that is the flat doctrine of the Papists word for word. For they say we
cannot deserve aught except Jesus Christ go before us and show us the way, for they say that he has purchased us the first grace, and that it lies in us to follow on and to attain to the second. And if a man asks them what is meant by that first grace they say it is the occasion of meriting or deserving: for that is their terming of it, and their manner of speech. And this occasion of meriting is nothing else with them, but that men are able of themselves to bind God to them by their own satisfactions.
But Saint Paul tells us that it is too outrageous, yea and too devilish a traitorousness to have such pride: and therefore he concludes that Jesus Christ should have died in vain, if we should seek righteousness in the law. Will we then possess our Lord Jesus Christ? It behooves us to know wherefore we come unto him: namely because that by the Law we are already condemned, cursed of God, cut off from hope of life, and full of all corruption, so as God must be fain to cleanse us by his Holy Spirit, and forasmuch as there are many infirmities in us, we must always come to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to confess that there is nothing in us but all cursedness and misery: we must needs come to this conclusion of Saint Paul's, that Christ had died in vain, if it behooved us to obtain righteousness by the law, whether it were wholly or partly. We must needs confess that, and the veriest idiots are able to perceive it, in so much that if we receive not Jesus Christ with that condition, it is certain that his coming shall profit us nothing at all. It will be but as a wind to blow us away together, so as we shall be no more able to take hold of God's mercy that is offered us in Jesus Christ. Now seeing it is so: let us learn to leave such manner of mingling, and acknowledge ourselves beholden to our Lord Jesus Christ for all things: for when we go about to interlace our own merits with the free remission of our sins, it is but a falsifying of God's truth.
Besides this, when we have learned to rest ourselves after that manner upon him: let us be taken in love with the spiritual benefits which he brings us, and let not the afflictions and adversities of this world hinder us from holding on our course, and from the overcoming of all temptations and distresses, but that we may have full joy in the midst of all our sorrows and troubles, assuring ourselves that all that ever we can suffer in this world, is nothing in comparison of that which is prepared for us in the kingdom of heaven. And that is the thing whereunto Saint Paul leads us. For first of all he exhorts us to a holy and well-ruled life, and to be lowly as becomes us, to give ourselves wholly to our Lord Jesus Christ.
And secondly he exhorts us to arm ourselves with patience, that we may overcome all the assaults and distresses that come upon us, and walk in such wise in this world, as we may always go forward to the heavenly heritage, which we see not, and which surpasses all our understanding, not ceasing for all that to assure ourselves of it, since we have so good a promise of it made unto us. And further, seeing we have the earnest penny and pledge of it given unto us in our Lord Jesus Christ: let the same serve us for a full assurance, to show us that we need not run at random, but have a perfect faith and a firm and substantial hope, forasmuch as we have already in the person of the Son of God, a full performance of all things that we can wish.
But now let us fall down before the majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our sins, praying him to make us feel them more and more, and to touch us in such wise with true repentance, as the same may provoke us more and more to seek forgiveness and mercy at God's hand, and therewithal also to beseech him to govern us so by his Holy Spirit, as we may be encouraged more and more to forsake all the lusts of our own flesh, and all that is of our old Adam, till we be come to the perfection whereunto he allures us, and from which
we be so far off as yet. That it may please him to grant this grace not only to us, but also to all people etc.
The Fifteenth Sermon,
which is the first upon the third Chapter.
1 O you unwise Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, to whom Jesus Christ has heretofore been portrayed out before your eyes, and crucified among you?
2 I would know but this one thing of you, received you the spirit by the works of the Law, or by the preaching of faith?
3 Are you so unwise, that when you have begun in the spirit, you will now end in the flesh?
We see how God goes about to win us by gentleness and fair means until our naughtiness and stubbornness force Him to deal roughly with us, because we do not allow ourselves to be handled gently by His hand. Throughout the whole doctrine of the Gospel, God stretches out His arms to bring us in unto Him and to receive us in His fatherly love, or rather (as He likens Himself by Moses) He is as a hen that spreads out her wings to gather her young chicks under them. You see then that God, of His infinite goodness, allures us to Him, but we are like wild beasts that will not suffer themselves to be guided by Him. Therefore, in respect of such our frowardness, He
needs to use roughness and to show us our unthankfulness, to the end we may learn to be ashamed of it.
That is the cause why St. Paul, having shown that all our welfare lies in Jesus Christ, and that if we will be partakers of His righteousness and of the benefits that He is willing to impart unto us, we must utterly renounce ourselves and acknowledge that there is nothing but sin and corruption in us, now sharply rebukes those who would mingle their own devotions with the grace that is offered them in our Lord Jesus Christ, for they had been faithfully instructed before. If St. Paul had begun in some place where men had never heard one word of the Gospel before, he would not have used such roughness, for he would have pitied the blind and ignorant wretches.
But forasmuch as the Galatians had been taught faithfully by him, and he had taken pains to train them to the Gospel accordingly, and they thereupon had shrunk back and suffered themselves to be turmoiled with false opinions, therefore he is so rough with them, according also as he himself shows, that the reason thereof was, for that Jesus Christ had been crucified among them, and that they having seen the treasures of God's infinite goodness laid forth after that manner before them, had no excuse to return again to their pelting trash, in hope to be justified and to purchase salvation by the ceremonies of the Law.
Thus in effect, the thing which we have to gather upon this text is that if we desire to find a pleasant taste in God's word, we on our side must be teachable and not stubborn. For we must call to mind how it is written in the eighteenth Psalm, that God will always deal mildly with such as be of a meek spirit, and that He will be rough and sharp towards such as use stubbornness and cannot abide to submit themselves unto Him. All they then which have a neck of brass and
cannot find in their hearts to stoop under the obedience of God, shall find themselves matched with too strong an adversary, and that they must needs be bruised and broken in pieces if they will not bow.
Furthermore, let us mark that when God corrects our vices, we must not chafe and storm as many do, who do nothing else but gnash their teeth when they are rebuked, saying that they will not be handled after such a fashion, and that their nature requires to be taught by gentleness. Yea verily, but that their sturdiness shows the clean contrary. For they that speak after that manner would very fain be flattered. And although they overshoes themselves into all evil, yet will they not abide to have their galled backs rubbed, but rather that men should wink at them and conceal their naughtiness. But if their faults be laid before them, by and by they rankle against the Gospel, and whereas they showed some good sign of zeal before, they utter such spitefulness afterward as a man may perceive there was nothing but venom and bitterness in their heart.
It is a sure token that such folk never wist what it is to profit in God's school, at leastwise purely, as St. Paul says in another place. God's word, says he, is good, not only to teach, to the end we may know what is for our behoof, and be able to discern between good and evil, but also to rebuke and correct us. For there are many negligent folk, which have need to be pricked forward with hard strokes of the spur: some had need to be embraced by reason of their overweening, and others grow altogether past recovery if they be not overmastered by strong hand.
Thus you see how all of us must suffer patiently when our Lord uses such roughness, acknowledging the same to be greatly to our behoof. However, let every one of us examine his life well, and there is none of us but he shall find that he provokes God to use such sharpness
towards him, as if a father be as kind-hearted as is possible to be wished, yet if he have unruly children, so as they be rude and froward, he shall be provoked after such a fashion that he shall as it were change his nature, because he knows not at what end to begin with them, and is fain after a sort to transform himself. Even so is it with us. For we have a Father which in goodness surmounts all that can be seen among men: but we on our side (as I said before), instead of yielding obediently unto Him as we ought to do, and instead of offering ourselves readily to walk as He commands so soon as He but speaks the word, do nothing but stray. We have our lusts always inordinate and boiling, we have our replies always ready coined, and although our mouth speaks not, yet it appears that there is no such calmness in our hearts as to be contented to submit ourselves to God as we ought to do.
Seeing then that we are convicted to our faces by experience that God had need to be so rough and sharp towards us, let us suffer Him to do whatsoever He knows to be for our welfare. And no doubt but the Galatians were as naive as we, and had as eager ears as we have: and yet they were forced to be rebuked so sharply because of their ingratitude. As for Saint Paul, we know he endeavored by all humility and meekness to draw all such to the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, as were committed and appointed to his Apostleship. He likens himself (and not without cause) to a nurse, which will bear with her nurseling, and not spare anything to show the love that she bears it. We shall see hereafter that he will say, "Be you as I am, for I am as you are. I seek nothing but to fashion myself unto you, and to bring to pass that we may agree in one." And yet notwithstanding, necessity has constrained him to cry out as you hear now, "You unwise, you fools, you undiscerning or witless as beasts, who has bewitched you after that sort? Must you not needs be possessed with the Devil?" Here are very hard words, and no doubt but the Galatians
were grieved at them at the first sight. Yet nevertheless it was meet for them to feel that Saint Paul used not that manner of speech and language without cause.
Therefore whenever we are rebuked, let us blame our own faults for it, and yield ourselves guilty: for we shall gain nothing by checking again. When we have disputed what we can, we may perhaps justify our case before men: but we shall always be guilty before God. Moreover, it behooves us to mark well the reason that is added here by Saint Paul, when he says, "You must needs be bewitched if you obey not the truth, seeing that our Lord Jesus Christ has been as it were painted out lively before you, yes, and even crucified among you." In speaking after that fashion, Saint Paul shows with what force and effectualness he had preached the Gospel. Therefore he likens the doctrine which he had brought, unto a picture: and thereunto enlarges it yet better, saying that the matter which he had preached among the Galatians, ought to avail as much as if they had seen the Son of God crucified among them, and his blood shed out for the spiritual washing of their souls. For so much then as they had been taught so faithfully, they could no more excuse themselves of their backsliding. But first of all we see here which is the true manner of preaching the Gospel: namely to give knowledge of God's love towards us, in that he spared not his only Son, but gave him to death for us: according as in very deed all the treasures of wisdom and understanding are laid up in our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is said in another place to the Colossians. Since it is so, if we be desirous to profit well in the Gospel, let us learn to acknowledge the grace that is purchased for us by our Lord Jesus Christ: for without that, all that we have is nothing. Many will brag that they are well learned in God's word: but the true trial to know whether it be so or not, is if we perceive how great need we have, that God should pour out his mercy upon us, to succor us by drawing us out of the gulf of Hell, and
thereupon conclude that we cannot be cleansed and washed from any of all our spots, but by the blood of God's Son nor obtain righteousness but by the obedience that he has yielded: nor have any satisfaction for us but by the sacrifice that he has offered: nor come in God's favor but by his means: nor open our mouths to call upon him but by his intercession.
Therefore when we be thoroughly persuaded of the gracious benefits that are brought us by the Son of God: then may we say we have some understanding in the Gospel: but without that, we have nothing but imagination and folly. Mark that for one point. And therewith let us mark, that it is not enough for us to know slightly that our Lord Jesus Christ has bought us so dearly: but that we must continue still in the doctrine of the Gospel, till it be thoroughly printed in our hearts, as though his blood gushed down, to apply the fruit that comes of it to our use: and that is to the end to awaken us out of our drowsiness. For we shall see many that take themselves to be very great Clerks, if they understand but three or four words of the Gospel at a glance.
And yet the same shall soon be defaced and put out of remembrance, because that whereas we ought to seek to be filled with the benefits that our Lord Jesus Christ has brought us, they hold themselves contented with a taste of them. God then punishes the unthankfulness of such folk and their despising of his goodness. And therefore it stands us so much the more on hand, to put forth and apply all our endeavor to be well settled in the aforesaid doctrine, that is to wit, of knowing whereunto the death and passion of God's Son, and the inestimable benefits which we have received, do avail us. Again on the other side we are warned, that our sins are the heinous before God, if after we have been taught his will, we turn head back again, and sin, not through ignorance, but through
contempt and willfulness. For if we shake off his yoke, it is a sure proof that we are loath to be subject to him, and play the wild beasts. True it is that even the ignorantest folk in the world are reproved by their own sinfulness, for as much as hypocrisy reigns in all men: but yet if comparison be made between those that never heard one word of the truth, and us that have our ears beaten with it, and are provoked without end or ceasing to come unto God: we are much more faulty than they.
Behold, the Turks believe that they worship the God that made heaven and earth: howbeit for as much as they refuse our Lord Jesus Christ, they have but an Idol. The Papists also are deceived in their fond devotions. And yet for all that, they are not a whit the less guilty before God. But what for that? If we that know the way of salvation, which hear God's voice ringing continually in our ears, which are enlightened with the sun of righteousness, even with our Lord Jesus Christ, If we (I say) become as good as brute beasts, and discern not between good and evil: must it not needs be that we are (as you would say) bewitched? For seeing that God is so gracious unto us, as to come to us and to teach us so familiarly: surely he has just cause to complain of us as he also does: "My people" (says he by his Prophet Micah), "what can I do more for thee than I have done?" Then if God pleads against us, and charges us with all the means which he has given us to make us wholly his, that he might enjoy us without gainsaying: and we on our side cast a stop in his way, and are loth to bow down our necks to receive his yoke, or else are fickle-minded and fleeting to forsake all again today or tomorrow, and had rather to be beguiled by the crafts and illusions of Satan, than to be guided by the truth which is certain: must it not needs be that we are as monsters, that is to say, folk, that make utter defiance to nature?
Therefore let us learn to look better upon ourselves here: for look what was once said to the Galatians, is spoken still at this day unto us. For it was not for that people's sake alone that Saint Paul wrote: but the Holy Ghost quickens us up still now, and tells us that if we have once received the doctrine of the Gospel, and afterward start away from it, so as if a man trace us he shall find no constancy nor steadiness of faith in us: we are so much the more damnable, and cannot shield ourselves with anything: for when we shall have taken all the covert in the world, we shall abide convicted of such lewdness, as in the end we must needs have our mouths stopped, and God must set us forth as an example of all unthankfulness, inasmuch that we shall become odious both to men and Angels, because we made no better account of the doctrine of salvation, which is so precious a seed as we see that the Scripture speaks of it.
You see then that the thing which we have to bear in mind, is not that the only Galatians are rebuked here by Saint Paul, but that we be taught in their persons, to walk in fear and awe when God shall have been so gracious to us, as to call us unto him, and to show us what his will is. And it is not for naught that he uses so sharp and rigorous words, as to call them fools and witless, and consequently to say, "Who has bewitched you?" But we hear how that in the fourth to the Ephesians, concerning the using of the Gospel, he says that when we have once been taught it, we must not be as little babes that are led to and fro, and made to believe that the Crow is white: but we must be so settled in it, that although the Devil stir up never so many troubles, false opinions and lies, yet we may still hold our own, and keep on our pace, assuring ourselves that God's truth is infallible. Thus you see that the end whereunto the Gospel ought to serve us, is not only to show us what is good for us, but also to arm and fence us against all encounters, and against all Satan's slights, so that if there rise up any heresies or other corruptions, we may still maintain the
battle valiantly, and get the upper hand by our faith, and not be piped any more into the fowler's snare, according to the similitude which Saint Paul uses.
Now then seeing it is so: it must needs be that we are bewitched and possessed with the Devil, if such a remedy suffice us not, after that God has manifested himself unto us, and we know (yes, even fully and assuredly) that it is he who speaks. If we are not moved by his authority, what will become of it? Again, whereas we have our Lord Jesus Christ shining upon us as it were at high noon days: must it not needs be that we are at defiance with nature as I said before, if we seek here and there for byways, when the right way is laid before our eyes?
So then it is not without cause that Saint Paul speaks so roughly to that people, which had changed the doctrine, after that God had granted them the grace to have his truth showed unto them. But we must call to mind also, how God upbraids his people of old time by his Prophet Jeremiah. "Go your ways over the sea" (says he), "and into the Isles, and into far countries, and you shall see every nation worship his own Idols without changing. And wherefore then are you so variable? As for those, they know not whereupon they be grounded. They have but a certain opinion, which carries them away and beguiles them: and yet notwithstanding they hold on still without turning aside, and stick wholly to it: and why then should you which know what God you obey, be so fleeting?"
Now therefore let us mark well, that if we be lightly turned and thrust aside from the doctrine of the Gospel: there shall need none other witness against us at the last day, than the wretched unbelievers which follow their own superstitions: for we see they be wedded to them. Look upon the Turks and Pagans, look upon the
Jews and Papists. They know not what God they worship, they have but a weaning in stead of faith: and yet notwithstanding a man cannot pluck them from their false fancies, and they are so given unto them as a man can never remove them. Then if we on our side knowing that it is the living God who calls and teaches us daily, and that the thing which is uttered by men comes of him and of his holy spirit, and having record of the law and the Gospel which cannot fail, if we (I say) having such a resting stock for our faith, be afterward unconstant, so as our ears itch to receive every new toy, and men make us to alter our mind in less than the turning of a hand, what else betokens it, but that we willfully refuse God's grace, as if we would shut the gate against him that he might not come in unto us?
Or else, if after we have once known that he offers us so inestimable a benefit in his Gospel, we cast it down and trample it under our feet: think we that God will suffer his grace to be so lightly esteemed and held scorn of? No. For we cannot despise the doctrine of the Gospel without unhallowing the blood of God's Son, which he did shed for our redemption: for the one cannot be separated from the other. Whenever and how often soever God speaks to us, and offers us forgiveness of our sins, showing himself ready to receive us to mercy: so often is the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ sprinkled upon us. All the teaching in the world cannot do us any good, except our Lord Jesus Christ be with it, to apply the shedding of his blood unto us. And if we despise the doctrine of the Gospel, it is all one as if we did spit at the holy blood of God's Son, which thing is an intolerable traitorousness. Therefore let us look narrowly to ourselves, and weigh well this text, to the intent we stand steadfast: and forasmuch as God has called us to so great a good turn, and we now know that it is not by happenstance that the Gospel has been preached, but because it was God's will to utter the infinite riches of his goodness
towards us: let us stand in it, and so stick to it, as nothing may thrust us from it, nor by any means ever shake us down.
In effect, what we have to bear away in this text. Moreover, we are warned also, which are the true pictures or paintings to lead us to God. The Papists say we must have remembrances to teach us, and that images are the books of the unlearned who are not apt to conceive higher doctrine: but has Saint Paul spoken here but to three or four folk? No: It is generally, and to all Christians without exception, as well to great as small, that he says that when the Gospel is preached, then Jesus Christ is painted out lively, and we must look upon him, not with the fleshly eyes of our bodies, but with the spiritual eyes of our faith. Then seeing it is so, let us learn that we have no need of images and puppets to teach us what is necessary for our salvation, neither need we a piece of wood, stone, or other such pelting stuff, to put us in remembrance of God (for in all those things there is nothing but vanity and leasing): but we have need to have God's word preached, and to endeavor and travail to make the same familiar to us, that we may there behold God in his lively image, that is to say in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ his only son, according also as Saint Paul says in the second to the Corinthians, where he protests that the doctrine which he brought unto them, was not hidden from any but the unbelievers, such as perish, whom the Devil possesses, and which have their eyes sealed up. And no wonder though they see not a whit in the open light. But yet in the meanwhile the doctrine is so manifest unto us, as we may easily perceive God's will. For he shows us it familiarly enough as often as the Gospel is preached, inasmuch that we need not to make much running up and down, not to fetch far windlasses: we need no more to say, who shall stie up above the Clouds? who shall go beyond sea? who shall go down into the deep? Have we God's word? at leastwise have we it preached purely? Then is Jesus Christ as it were in the
middles of us, and shows himself as it were hanging upon the Cross, witnessing what he did for us, when he suffered death to reconcile us to God his father. There he sets us down a sure and undecayable pledge or warrant, and let us content ourselves with it. For when we have pleaded never so much, it will not excuse us: our case will always go against us, if we be not well assured in our consciences, that we have wholly leaned unto God's word, which (as I said) brings us so near unto God, that it is the very union itself, which we have with him in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And in good sooth, we see how God doth as it were stoop to our rudeness and infirmity. For does he speak in so lofty and dark a style as we can understand nothing? No: but contrariwise he abases himself, and thereto thinks it not enough to have spoken, but also adds Sacraments to his word, which are the true pictures that we ought to have. Like as when we see the water of baptism, it is a picture which shows us that we be full of filth and uncleanness, till we be washed: and by whom? We must seek our washing from above. Besides this, it shows us that we must be renewed by the Holy Ghost of God. That then is a good picture. And why? Because it bears God's mark, and is matched with his word. As much is to be said of the Lord's supper. When we see the morsels of bread and the drops of wine. Very well, they be the Creatures whereof we have been wont to take nourishment and sustenance for our bodies: but the same do lead us to the life of our souls, and give us to understand, that we have no life but in our Lord Jesus Christ. And the cause why the wine is added, is to show that he has such virtue in him, as we need not to seek any part of the things that we want, any otherwhere: but that he serves us for meat and drink and all. These (I say) are the good images that God has set afore us: and now if we be still soaring in the air, and gadding after our own lusts, to say I would fain have more: it is a disdaining of the grace that is offered us. So much the more
therefore does it stand us on hand to mark well this strain, where Saint Paul by the power and in the name of God condemns, yea and with the power of the Holy Ghost thunders, against all such as have been taught the Gospel faithfully, and afterward do turn aside and slip away from it. And thereupon he adds, that he would fain have it known by what means the Holy Ghost is received. For if they had received the Holy Ghost by the works of the law: Saint Paul would have granted that there was some righteousness to be had by it. But forasmuch as they had received him by the Gospel: it must needs be concluded, that they ought to have rested upon the record that God gave them so apparently. And for the better understanding of the thing that he meant to say here: let us mark that God's spirit is given in common to all the faithful, for so much as they be regenerated and made new creatures. Besides this, there are spiritual gifts, which God distributes according to such measure and portion as he thinks good, but yet they redound all to the common welfare of the Church.
If we be Christians, we must needs have God's spirit, as we shall see hereafter. For he is called the earnest penny, and the seal of the heritage that is promised us, and which we look for. You see then that God's spirit must dwell in us, if we be his children. But besides this, there are also gracious gifts: as for example, there was in old time the gift of tongues, the gift of prophesying, the gift of healing, and such other like. And even still at this day, God shows well that he has not utterly forsaken his Church. For although visible gifts reign not now as they did then: yet notwithstanding we may see still, that God does by some means or other utter his operation among us.
Furthermore, Saint Paul speaks here to all men. And therefore (according to the common and ordinary meaning of it) we will take this word Spirit, for the renewal which God works in his children, as it is said in the third Chapter of Saint John. For inasmuch as we are
born of flesh, there is nothing in us but utter corruption, and we tend always towards the earth. No doubt but men glory in their own wisdom, and moreover think that they have a free choice and will of their own, to take the good and leave the evil, but those are but dreams. For it is certain that so long as we be let alone in our own nature, we tend evermore unto evil, and the scripture also condemns us of it, saying that there is not any thought conceived in man's mind, but the same is lewd, and all our affections are enemies and rebels against God. Therefore let us not beguile ourselves any more with vain flatteries, but acknowledge ourselves to be utterly marred in Adam, so as there is nothing but sinfulness in us.
Notwithstanding, God provides for that mischief, when he touches us to the quick by his holy spirit, and so purges our hearts as we desire to obey him, and although we be not so perfect as were requisite, yet we fight against ourselves, and go forward still to goodness. And surely when God's spirit is as a bridle to us to hold us back in his obedience, it is a sure token that God dwelleth in us, and governs us as his flock, and holds us for his children. For we cannot be counted Christians, without this record, that God warrants himself to be our father, and that his holy spirit is as a seal thereof, according as I have already alleged the record of Saint Paul, out of the first to the Ephesians.
And now he says, that the Galatians had received the spirit of God by the preaching of the Gospel. Then seeing it is so, it was to be concluded, that the works of the law could not justify them. And why? For we must always come back to this principle which we have treated of, namely that in the Gospel we be utterly stripped out of all the goodness and virtue which we thought ourselves to have, and that God does us such shame, as we be fain to come to him as quite confounded. For although God sets our cursedness before us in the
law: yet we perceive it not so well there, as in the Gospel. And we see how the hypocrites do always flatter themselves, and think to perform the things that are commanded them. But in the Gospel there are two things. For God shows that there is nothing in us but poverty, so as we must be fain to come to beg his grace, with utter acknowledgment of our baseness, how that we have done amiss, and have not one spark of virtue in us worthy of commendation.
Now then, seeing it is so, Saint Paul does not without cause tell us here, that such as receive God's spirit by the preaching of the Gospel, must be void of all trust in their own merits, and acknowledge themselves beholden all wholly to God's mere and free mercy for their whole salvation. And why so? For they be things that can no more match together than fire and water, that we should be justified by the Gospel, and also justified by the law. What then? Is the Gospel contrary to the law? No: for (as I have declared already) God is author as well of the one as of the other, and there is no contrariworking in him, but the question here concerns the case of our salvation.
God has given men his law to show them the way to live well, and thereby intended to bring them to such condemnation, as if he should prefer an indictment against them, and put a halter about their necks: For truly in the law we see nothing but Hell gaping open upon us, that God's vengeance is ready beforehand to encounter us, and that he is armed against us as our enemy. Those are the things which the law sets before us.
But now the Gospel is given us for a remedy, to the end that when we be so in despair, we should flee to the grace that is offered us in our Lord Jesus Christ, and understand that there is none other way to do
us good than the forgiveness of our sins, whereby God does so put away and wipe out our offenses, as they come no more to account before him. The thing then wherein our righteousness consists, is that he burdens us not any more with the evil that is in us. And although we see God's intent and determination to be such, both in the law and in the Gospel: yet are we sure that there is no contrariety in it.
Besides this also, if we be not justified by the Gospel, how can we attain salvation by the law? It is true that the law is a preparative to bring us to the Gospel: for so long as men be puffed up with pride, God's grace has no entrance into them. If a vessel be full of wind, let a man labor to put what liquor he will into it, and he shall not get it in, because the wind beats it back, and hinders the putting of it in. And we may perceive it even in man's body: for we must be fain to take similitudes of worldly things to lead us to higher things. If a man be hungry, and yet notwithstanding have his stomach so puffed up as it cannot abide anything: he may well be full: but what for that? All is but wind, he has never the more nourishment within for all that, but rather the wind hinders the entering in of any good sustenance to nourish and maintain him. Even so is it with the foolish presumptuousness that is in us. We bear ourselves in hand, that we be well furnished with all things that we have need of: however, that is but wind however we fare, and that wind shuts out God's grace from entering in.
But by the Gospel our Lord brings us low, and shows us our wretchedness. And therefore it behooves us to come to it with a consideration that our Lord Jesus Christ is set forth unto us there, to the end that we seeing that there is not one drop of goodness in us, should seek it in him, yea even all wholly and not by pieces. Thus then you see why Saint Paul reasons, that for as much as we have
received God's spirit by means of the Gospel, it behooves us to hold us thereunto, and not go to the ceremonies of the law, nor to any other thing one or other, but be contented with that perfection, seeing it is given us and we may enjoy it without gainsaying.
For although this matter was written to the Galatians: yet is it common to us also at this day, as well as to them. Let us mark (I say) how our Lord Jesus Christ wrought in us. And first of all let us practice that which is showed us in the second to the Corinthians: which is, that it behooves us to be wholly new fashioned again, and to have God's spirit dwelling in us. So then the true mark whereby we may discern whether we be God's children or not, is God's spirit. But bring we that spirit with us from our mother's womb? Alas no. Neither comes it any whit the more by our own deservings, as I have told you already: but because it pleases God of his gracious goodness to give us it, thereby to draw us to him.
If we have any desire or willingness to walk in the fear of our God, or if we would fain be able to call upon him with a pure conscience: it is a token that God's spirit dwelleth in us. We need not to seek any other witness, nor to make any longer scanning of the matter. But now, have we gotten and obtained this spirit by our own merits? No surely. Then must we needs conclude, that seeing we have it of gift, it was given us by means of the Gospel. For in the Gospel God utters his mighty power and working to the salvation of men, as it is said in the first to the Romans. Now if the Gospel be the instrument whereby we receive God's spirit, shall we go seek other means?
Were not that a renouncing of the power which is apparently known to us? It is all one as if we would willfully leave the way that is showed us of our God, to seek byways after our own fancy. And if the Galatians were without excuse for their turning away from the
Gospel to the law: what shall we be in these days, if we will needs be wrapped in the superstitions that men have forged in their own shops?
As for example, the Papists think to be justified, not by the ceremonies that God had commanded in old time, but by the dotages and gewgaws that they themselves have devised. For as for the thing which they do nowadays term God's service, what else is it than a certain hotchpotch, whereinto every man has cast his own piece and collop? Seeing then that the case standeth so, it is not a despising of God, and a withdrawing of ourselves from him, by rejecting of his grace, to the end he should not have any access at all unto us, when we will needs mingle men's inventions with the pureness of the Gospel?
Must we not needs be worse than mad in so doing? Then let us know at one word, that we cannot be Christians, but the Holy Ghost must hold us in such humility, as to make us confess, that all our welfare comes of God's mere grace, and so cleave to our Lord Jesus Christ, as we not only take him for a piece or portion of our trust, but be fully satisfied with him as having drawn of his fullness, assuring ourselves that he is the full perfection, not only of all wisdom, but also of all righteousness and happiness, and that in him lies and consists all our welfare, which welfare we possess when we have the Gospel and the preaching of faith, and when we be cast down in ourselves, and utterly bereft of all presumptuousness, which keeps us back from coming unto God.
Furthermore, let us be so enraptured, seeing that our Lord Jesus Christ has so bountifully given us all that was requisite for our salvation. I say let us be so enraptured with it, as all things else that
can be laid before us, may be but as smoke to us, and we utterly despise and abhor them, to show how well we have profited in the Gospel, and therewithal be so constant and steadfast in ourselves, as never to be thrust out of the way, whatsoever the devil whispers in our ear.
And moreover, for as much as we are so weak, gross, and heavy, that although God does daily provoke every of us to come unto him, we come but as it were halting and creeping: let us enforce ourselves more and more to beseech God to strengthen us with his holy spirit, and to make us profit more and more in the knowledge of his Gospel. And let us not do as those do who imagine themselves to be come to full perfection at the first day, but let us labor to go forward more and more in the hope of the heavenly life, and to gather such strength as our faith may grow from day to day, till we come to the blessed stop, whereof Saint Paul speaks in the fourth to the Ephesians: which is, that we cleave fully to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let us fall down before the majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our faults, praying him to make us so to feel them more and more, as the same may cause us both to dislike them, and also to ask forgiveness of them at his hand, that by that means he may be glorified by us, and we so confirmed by his holy spirit, as we may not doubt but that he dwelleth in us, and that as he has once adopted us for his children, so he will hold us still for the same. And so let us all say, Almighty God heavenly father. &c.
The Sixteenth Sermon,
which is the second upon the third
Chapter.
3 Are you so unwise, that when you have begun by the spirit, now you end in the flesh?
4 Have you suffered so much in vain? At leastwise if it be in vain.
5 He therefore that gives you the spirit, and works mightily in you: does he do it by the works of the law, or by the preaching of the faith?
We know that all the doctrine of the Gospel tends to draw us out of this world and to make us come unto God. But that is impossible unless we be lifted up continually more and more. Therefore, if we intend to profit in God's school, we must labor to correct the infirmities that are in our nature as if we were always at the point to be taken out of the world. True it is that God, of His goodness, stoops down unto us, but that is not to hold us here beneath. Likewise, when He sends us mortal men to be as His messengers and exhorts us to come unto Him by such means as are fittest for us, and thereto gives us His Sacraments, which are earthly and visible signs, therein we see how He vouchsafes right well (as you would say) to make Himself low, to the end we should not have any excuse to say we were not able to mount up to such a height.
But however the case stands, if we look well upon the Gospel, we shall find that the mark whereat it aims is to bereave us of ourselves and of all that belongs to our flesh, to the end we should come unto Him. But on the contrary side, men abuse the favor that God shows them in setting such visible signs before them by bearing themselves in hand that the whole perfection of their holiness is to be found
there, and that that is the thing whereto they must hold them. And the same is not a vice of two days or yesterday's breeding, but it has reigned from the beginning of the world and continues yet still, and (which is worse) men think it not enough to overthrow the thing that God had set up to draw them unto Him, but they do also forge and frame many hindrances to keep themselves aloof from Him.
This would be dark if it were not declared by example. God had in His law ordained Sacrifices, shadows, and figures for a time; yet He did it not for any pleasure that He had in those bare things but by reason of the rudeness of the people (who were as then like little children) whom He meant to train still forward to a spiritual service by means agreeable to their rawness. That is the cause why the Ceremonies of the Law are said to be as it were fleshly. For why? God intended to teach His people grossly to come thither as they ought to do. But however they fared, the pattern that was showed unto Moses in the mount was heavenly.
Then were there two things in all the Ceremonies of the Law. For when men washed themselves at their entering into the Temple, when they offered the Sacrifices, when they used lights and perfumes, and when the Priest clothed himself with his special apparel: all those things (as in respect of the outward show) might well be called fleshly and temporal: but (as in respect of their end) they were spiritual.
But what did the Jews? They gazed upon the figures without considering wherefore God had ordained them and bore themselves in hand that they had very well discharged their duty, in coming to Church and in doing the things that were commanded them outwardly. But truly they disguised God after their own fancy, as He Himself mocks them for it by His Prophets, saying that He dwelleth
not in houses made with men's hands, and that the very heaven is not able to comprehend His majesty, which is infinite.
Furthermore, the Papists at this day, thinking it not enough to abuse the things that are contained in God's law, have so put to piece after piece as there is no end at all of their folly; and yet notwithstanding they entitle them to be the service of God. But whatsoever they say, they be nothing else than jingling tricks and masking toys.
But now let us come to that which is spoken here. Saint Paul compares the spirit with the flesh. What means he by the spirit? All the doctrine which God sets forth to us in His Gospel. For there is a spiritual guiding, so as we be no more held under the old shadows as the Jews were. You see then that God in these days reveals Himself fully unto us and having beaten down and disannulled all the shadows of the Law, shows us that He will have us to come right forth unto Him and not have anything remain to hold us back here beneath anymore.
Under the law only the Priest preached near unto God, and all the people kept themselves afar off. But we have our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Priest, by whom the way is opened unto us in His blood to make us come unto God His father, as the Apostle speaks of Him in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Then if we receive the Gospel as it becomes us, God will deal with us after such sort as if we were meet to come near unto Him, and will leave all the things which He had ordained in old time for such as were more rude and gross.
Thus you see why Saint Paul upbraids the Galatians with their beginning in the spirit, that is to say, for that they had had the doctrine of the Gospel, which had showed them the things that had been hidden from the Jews or at leastwise had been showed them but aloof under dark shadows. Thereupon he upbraids them that
they intended to end in the flesh, that is to say, with these lower things. And it is all one as if he had said, God has been so gracious to you as to have taught you His will out of hand, and you will needs be held still in your Apsie and in your first principles. He has given you a high and perfect knowledge whereby you have perceived the inestimable love which He bears you in our Lord Jesus Christ: and will you now return again to your Apsie and forget the things that have been taught you? Were not that a perverting of all order and a putting away of the grace that He had offered you?
But we know that naturally when men intend to learn anything, they begin at the smallest points, and afterward in all crafts and all trades, proceed by little and little through experience. For if a man should teach a child high sciences without teaching him first his Apsie, and to write and read, and afterward his grammar to guide him forth by degrees: what a thing were it?
Again, when a child is well advanced and comes to man's age, if he should be set back again to his Apsie after he has well profited, it would be a plain mockery. Likewise, it is with handicrafts. For it is well known that he who comes newly into a shop shall not be of skill to understand as much at the first day as he shall be at the end of a year or twain: but first he must be taught his principles, and afterward grow more and more in cunning. But if he who has learned his craft do at the four years' end turn back again to that which he ought to have known the first day: in so doing, he shall show himself to be a beast and that he has lost his time.
But now let us apply this lesson to ourselves. Truly, for as much as we be heavy and earthy, we had need to have the things chewed unto us which we be not able to digest. Yet notwithstanding God is so gracious and chary to us as to teach us spiritually, that is to say, after
a higher and more excellent manner than he taught the fathers under the Law. We see that Abraham had not this privilege; and yet, nevertheless, he is the father of the faithful, and it behooves us to be fashioned like unto him, as we shall see a while after.
We see that David was an excellent King and Prophet, and yet notwithstanding he saw not the things which we see now, but only in a shadow. As much is to be said of all those whom God guided under the ancient figures. And for that cause our Lord Jesus Christ says that the eyes are happy which see the things that we see since his showing of himself to the world, and that the ears are happy which hear the doctrine of the Gospel as it is preached unto us.
Seeing then that God comes after that sort unto us and becomes so familiar with us: if we shrink back and take Ceremonies and figures instead of the good doctrine, as though we might not come at him: is it not a kicking against him as it were in spite of him? And does not that rebelliousness show us to be unwilling that God should be merciful and bountiful towards us, as he shows himself to be? Now then, we may easily understand what Saint Paul means here. For he upbraids the Galatians with their going backward like seacrabbes, in that whereas they had been trained in the spiritual doctrine of the Gospel, they turned back again to the shadows of the Law. Likewise, if we in our time, after we have once acquainted ourselves with such order as is according to the Gospel and be inured with such service of God as is ruled by his pure word, would needs afterward be mingling of fancies with it, and say, it will be good to do thus and thus yet: it were a turning back again to the flesh, that is to say, whereas God has advanced us on high, we would draw down: and that is a manifest fighting against him. Wherefore let us learn to apply this doctrine to our own profit, and for as much as God has given us his word purely preached among us, if we once know how he will be honored and
served, let us not swerve from it, neither to the right hand nor to the left, but let us so profit in the word that is preached faithfully unto us in the name of God, as it may appear that we desire to make it available.
And surely the further forward that we shall have been in it, the less excuse shall we have if we turn back afterward, as we see many do, which wax cold or else would fain row between two streams, and whereas it were to be looked for that they should have gone continually forward and have come nearer and nearer unto God, they be still musing upon a sort of silly toys. And nowadays they that would shun persecution find such shifts as these: They disguise and falsify God's word by mingling and turmoiling men's inventions with it. So much the more, therefore, does it behoove us to take heed to this doctrine, where Saint Paul tells us, that if God has once set us forward, we must no more return back to our Apsie like little babes. For it is a shame for us when we have once profited in the Gospel, or at leastwise have had leisure long enough for to profit, and yet notwithstanding it shall seem that we never heard one word of it, according as the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews upbraids the Jews, saying: You ought all of you to be teachers in respect of the time that you have been taught, and yet notwithstanding you be still like young beginners.
Thus you see the first point that we have to mark upon this text. Now he adds consequently, Have you suffered so many things in vain? If at leastwise it be in vain. Here he wakens up the Galatians by telling them that God had done them the honor to make them as witnesses of his Gospel, and yet notwithstanding that afterward they had swerved from it. And this is a thing well worth the marking. For sometimes God does us so great an honor as to serve his turn by us, so that his word is by our means maintained before men. Now if
thereupon we swerve aside and hold not out to the end in such constancy as appeared to be in us, it is a double shame, and also it is to be taken for the greater crime, because the occasion of offense is double: and moreover it is a villainous unthankfulness if we continue not in the serving of our God when he has reached us his hand after that manner. And this is so much the more to be noted because we see many men brag and boast themselves to have wrought wonders if our Lord Jesus Christ have served his turn by them in anything. What say they? Have not I done this and that? They will allege their own abilities: in so much that (if you believe them) God is greatly bound unto them. But put the case they had done a hundredfold more than they speak of: yet are they even therefore so much the more beholden to God. For it came not of their own good towardness, but of God who governed them by his holy spirit: and if they overshoot themselves afterward, their fault and offense is so much the worse. And why so? Because they ought to go forward, and they go backward. And moreover they cause many more to stumble than they should have done if they had not been set forth to the view. For when God lifted them up as it were upon the stage, it was to have them seen afar off. By means whereof they trouble an infinite multitude of people, and therefore their fault is so much the heinouser. But yet is that vice too common.
For nowadays, those who think themselves to have done anything for the Gospel will needs be exempted from all law and rule: in so much that if a man blames them for doing amiss, what (say they?) ought I not to be borne withal? For I have done this and that. To be short, men will dispense with themselves after that manner, and (which is worse) they advance themselves proudly against God when he does them the honor to employ them about his service. But let us mark how Saint Paul says here, Have you suffered so much in vain? He takes occasion to blame the Galatians so much the more sorely,
because they had already suffered for the Gospel's sake, and been persecuted, and endured many troubles both in their goods and in their persons. How now (says he)? What is to be said of all that you have suffered? Is it not a record that God had called you to the magnifying of his name? For in good faith the things that we suffer for the Gospel's sake ought to serve us for a badge, as if God did set us in some honorable office. The greatest honor that we can have is to be witnesses of God's truth, so that although we be subject to lying, yet notwithstanding he justifies his eternal truth which proceeds from himself, even by us who are wretched creatures, which are but wind, smoke, shadows, and less than nothing.
Seeing then that God appoints and ordains us to be lawful witnesses for the advancing and enlarging of his Gospel by us: has he not just cause to complain if we swerve aside from it after we have suffered for it? Therefore, let all such look narrowly to themselves, as have had any good beginning. And there is not any warning better worthy to be taken heed unto, than this. For seeing that the least of the Church have enough to bind them to Godward for his choosing of them from out of the world, and for his directing of his Gospel unto them, in so much that he has left the great ones and such as take highly upon themselves by reason of their great excellency, and preferred the lesser sort and such as are despised to the worldward, and shall surely have the harder account to make if they shrink away afterward: what shall become of those whom God vouchsafed to have to be his standard-bearers, and whom he preferred in such wise, as they ought to have been an example and looking glass to others? What excuse shall there be for them if they give the slip? And especially if they that have suffered for the name of Jesus Christ, and for the doctrine of his Gospel, so far forth as to have been kept in prison and to have been tormented, yea and to have been brought even unto death's door, do afterward start aside: is it not an
abolishing of God's grace so far forth as in them lies? So little then ought any man's suffering for the Gospel serve to excuse him or cause him to be borne withal: that such as have suffered most ought to bridle themselves shortest, knowing that the honor which God does them holds them so much the more bound unto him, and that it behooves them to be the more watchful and warier, that they give none occasion of stumbling to anybody. For when folk shall say, how comes this to pass? Such a one should have been a martyr of God, he has endured much for the maintenance of the truth, and now behold he has become a renegade: it is a putting of the Gospel to shame and reproach, and what a thing is that? By that means the name of God shall be greatly misreported. And therefore let us mark well, that if we have for a time served God, and he has made our labor fruitful, so as the Church has been profited and edified by it: we must walk in the greater carefulness, and take good heed that we play not the shrewd cow, that gives a good deal of milk, and when she has done, strikes down the pail and spills it. For if we do a hundred times more harm than we did good: what can we allege for our defense? How can we say that we have suffered for the Gospel?