Part 7
punishment of God. We know that one sin is punished by another, according as it is spoken in diverse Texts of scripture: and as we see it specially avowed in the first Chapter to the Romans, "That they which served not God in giving themselves wholly to cleanness of life, shall be shaken off and given over to all manner of shameful lusts, and have no more understanding to discern between evil and good, than brute beasts, but shall run into all manner of infamy."
Hereby Saint Paul does very well declare that when GOD gives us head to be plunged in the depth of our iniquities, it is for that we should be the more guilty before him. They therefore which worship
Idols, notwithstanding that they are compelled thereto, and do sigh and would fain be at liberty: yet cease they not to offend God: and thereby they should understand the better, how heinous their sins be, seeing that they must receive such correction for them. As how?
Whereas I should glorify my God, I must offend him, he is fain to cast me off, because I am not worthy to serve him, and he must deprive me of the liberty and mean to dedicate myself wholly to his obedience. Let all them therefore that be in the captivity of Popery and mingled amongst the superstitious, understand that the vengeance of GOD lies upon them, and that they shall be more and more guilty for their serving of Idols. It is a poor reply for them to say, we do it not willingly, we wish that it might please God that the right and pure Religion were over all: but for all this, our Lord does not exempt them from condemnation. And he is the competent
Judge. Let us therefore rest upon his word: and seek no more starting holes, but let them that endure such a state, understand that it is now time or never, to turn to God, forasmuch as they be as good as drowned therein, and have a token of his wrath against them, in that he is gone far away from them. Therefore let them think thereupon, and be moved therewith to the quick: according as the meaning of GOD is in this Text, and as we have touched it heretofore.
Now Moses says: That this people shall be a gazing stock, and an example, and a byword, and a scoffing stock unto the nations, among whom they shall be dispersed. Here our Lord shows that as his goodness should be known in the people of Israel, and every man should rejoice in the seed of Abraham, so should the very same people be abhorred and detested. The promise was thus: "All Nations shall be blessed in thy seed." The truth is that we must resort to our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the very bond of the seed of Abraham; or else this blessing has no place, nor ground to stand upon. Yet notwithstanding, they which were descended of the race of Abraham, should have been blessed of God, so as they might have been an example, that every one desiring grace might have said, O God take pity upon me, as upon the children of Abraham, whom he has chosen and adopted. Such was the promise. See here the threatening that was laid against it, that seeing God did smite so rigorously upon the people whom he had chosen, men might be astonished at it and think thus with themselves: Is it possible that they whom God has chosen, should now be cast off, and be persecuted and thrown underfoot with all manner of reproach? And hereupon men may say: O God keep me that I fall not to such case as this people is in, or else when they intend to curse, they might say, GOD do unto thee as he has done to these vile Jews. This much is to be understood of this place.
Now let us mark that whereas the holy ghost spoke thus by the mouth of Moses, it was not his meaning that this doctrine should serve only for two thousand years or thereabouts, which time the law lasted until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: but that we at this day must apply the same to our own use: that insomuch as God is come nigh us, we must walk in his fear in despite of Satan, so as his goodness may shine in us, and be perceived to remain upon us: and contrariwise that when we be unthankful, and our God is as it were mocked of us, it behooves us then to think thus: Well may we shrink back, but we shall gain nothing by all our shifts: for in the end we shall not fail to come to shame. Verily we see how it is said that the name of God shall be blasphemed among the misbelievers, because that they which were counted faithful before, be so cast down, as GOD may seem to have falsified his promise and to have deluded them, so far forth must the vengeance of GOD extend. Now seeing it is so, let us learn to submit ourselves to our Lord while he allures us unto him with gentleness, and so to hold us under his obedience, as we may not become a byword and a jesting stock to all the wicked, which seek nothing but to blaspheme GOD and to make a mock of us. Let us (I say) look well to that.
Moreover, where Moses says, That GOD will thus disperse his people: it serves still to confirm his matter, to the end that the Jews, should not think that they were carried away by a storm, as it were by haphazard; but that they should understand that it is the hand of GOD that is upon them: and that for as much as this threatening prevailed not with them, therefore the thing that is happened unto them should stand us in some stead. For look what vengeance we hear GOD speak of in this place; the same we see executed before our eyes. Is it not a horrible thing that the Jews be abhorred at this day throughout the whole world? Yet were they the people whom GOD had sanctified for himself, they were his heritage, they were the royal priesthood, according as they be termed in Exodus, and they were the blessed Generation, and yet for all this, they be rejected of all men, insomuch that men do as it were shudder to behold them as though they ought to be cut off from mankind. If it be said, O this may very well happen to the faithful, and the like befell even to the holy Patriarchs; it did so indeed, howbeit after another sort. For the faithful may well be put in fear, according as it is said in the prophet
Isaiah, that folk shall point at them with the finger, and shun them afar off: and that is because GOD is not known, and his grace is despised. But whereas we speak of the Jews at this day, it is very well seen that God is against them: for they be as rotten members, and their body is torn in pieces, and there remains not any token of this blessing which God had bestowed on them. Therefore when we behold such a looking glass, let us learn to make our commodity thereof, and let the example of them serve to seal this doctrine and to ratify it, that we tempt not GOD, and that we continue not hardhearted so long till he be fain to wrap us up in reproach with all the rest of the nations of the world. After this, Moses returns to that which he had touched afore: which is, That the people having tilled their grounds and their possessions, shall not drink of the wine of their grapes, nor eat of the corn of their harvest, nor enjoy the fruits of their trees. This has been spoken afore: but there is here a certain difference to be noted. For therefore God had showed, that when the Jews had labored for corn and wine, the enemies should come and take all away, and that all the same should be made a prey: but now he says, that without any force of man, and without any troubles of war, they should nevertheless not fail to be famished, and to be destitute of all things that might do them good. Why so? Because that worms, beasts, Caterpillars, locusts, and all other things shall eat up the fruit of the earth. Lo what armies God stirs up against the wretched. Again, on the other side, there shall come blasting and singeing, so that all must needs perish: albeit that men touch not the Jews, but let them alone in rest, yet shall they understand that GOD has other means to punish them, and that he is always armed infinite ways. That is the thing which GOD meant to declare. And therefore let us take warning by this Text, that when we have escaped one plague, GOD will find out another for us: and if we step aside to the left hand, & he nevertheless is armed against us, and before we have gone three paces, he stops us of our way. Lo how men prevail, when they seek lurking holes; according as we see how the Prophet Isaiah mocks them that think by their subtlety to escape the hand of God.
Dream on, dream on your fill (saith he) yet shall the curse always overtake you. And in like case, although we have no enemies to trouble us, & to rise up against us to spoil our substance: yet let us understand that God has other means, which we know not, for to bereave us of that which he has put into our hands, and that we shall be abashed, to think how we have wherewith to satisfy us, and yet that the bread shall be plucked out of our mouths: and that when we think to drink, we shall be dry. And whereof comes that? Even of this, that it is our Lord which gives increase to the corn when it is sown in the ground: It is he that sends the Grapes; It is he also that causes all things to prosper for our nourishment. We be taught by this text, first of all, that when we till the fields, sow them & reap them, we must make prayers always unto God to bless the earth, that we may be fed through his grace; and we must hold it for a certainty, that it is his peculiar office to feed us like as a father does his little children. Thus much concerning that point. Whereof because I have treated more at large heretofore, it suffices as now to touch it in one word.
Now furthermore let us mark, that whereas God speaks here of Locusts, worms, Caterpillars, & other beasts, & whereas he speaks of blasting & of burning which comes thereof, he shows that he has men of war of a strange sort, when he vouchsafes not to do men good: & this also serves to pull down the pride of men. For if we be spoiled by the enemies: very well (will men say) this was done by violence and plain force. As for example when war is, the whole country is spoiled, the richest folk become beggars: and all this is wited upon the war, man is not blamed for it. But when it comes to pass by other accidents, so as men wot not by what mean their substance is wasted, though they see it melt away before their eyes, one year by hail, another year by frost, and one while one way & another while another, so as all things consume between their hands; God by this means makes it more manifest unto men, that he means to confound them utterly. And indeed if we mark the course that he kept with the Egyptians, we shall perceive it much better. For we discern God's judgments better in other men than in ourselves. If God had stirred up a great army against the Egyptians, in stead of the lice and vermin: they would still have continued in their pride and presumption: and albeit that they had been a hundred times discomfited, yet would they not have failed to have been stiff-necked still. When they were persecuted with lice, and that there were such
Soldiers in Egypt; they should have been ashamed. Therefore let us well note, that God by sending men such chastisements as be set down here does warn them to think on their frailty. If Herod had been slain with a thunderbolt from heaven; it had not been so fit a punishment for the blasphemy which he committed in suffering himself to be called a God, and not a man, as when God caused him to be eaten and consumed with vermin, till he was as rotten as could be, insomuch as he was compelled by that disease to say (as he that lived at the time and was his familiar bears witness:*) Oh see here a goodly God, which is so rotten that he is enforced to feel that the hand of God does persecute him for his pride. Let us therefore mark well, that God, after he had threatened the Jews to send them enemies, which by violence and force of arms should spoil the country of all manner of food: now he adds moreover that although they were not vexed nor troubled at all by man's hand, nor anything were attempted by man against their possessions and lands; yet notwithstanding they should not boot themselves by their labors, nor by the well tilling of their grounds. And why? Because the vermin shall waste all. And he says again expressly, Thou shalt sow much and gather nothing, whereby he shows that when men make never so good provision beforehand, thinking undoubtedly that all shall go as they would wish, yet shall they be never the better for it. And it serves to this end that we should not fall asleep when we see fair likelihoods, according as we be commonly wont to despise God: as who should say, that if there be a good seedtime, we are past danger, and God had no more to deal with the things that be upon the earth, or if we have reaped and laid up the Corn in our barns, it should make us to be the more proud, because we see no likelihood of any more danger. But in stead of this, we should evermore have an eye to Godward, saying, Lord, behold, the earth waits for rain as though it were a thirst, and when thou givest it, it is to make it to bring forth sustenance for our nourishment. Again, such storms might fall from heaven as would wash away all from us, and one war would be enough to bereave us of all that we have. Thus is all in thy hand O
Lord, and we must depend upon thy mercy, and be all our life long in thy custody; or else we must perish, and all the provisions that we have shall profit us nothing. Thus then must we call upon God with diligence, and walk in his fear, seeing he is so gracious as to be our foster-father, and vouchsafes to stoop so low unto us. Therefore has Moses very well declared in this text, that we must not be beguiled by the goodly likelihoods & fair provisions which we are able to have. As for example, when we see the corn to be fair upon the ground, we must not be too lusty as though all were won, no not even when the corn is gathered in. For God will be then called upon, according as we are bound to make our daily suit unto him, saying, Give us our daily bread O Lord, that day by day he may feed us. For albeit we have never so much to day, yet tomorrow we may starve. For when it pleases God, he is able not only to destroy the corn and wine in the fields; but also he can make them to be worth nothing, even when we have them in our garners and Cellers. Nay, we hear the threatenings that he makes, saying, You shall carry corn to the mill by measure, and the bread to the oven by weight, and yet for all that, you shall be still empty and hungry, when you have eaten never so much, there shall be no virtue at all in the meat, neither shall you be sufficed therewith. Seeing our Lord tells us that he has so many ways to famish us, let us not be hard-hearted: but let it rather waken us, that we may altogether depend upon him, and walk in his fear, and be his children, if we intend that he shall still continue to do the office of a father toward us. That is the effect of the things which we have to remember. Here again Moses repeats these threatenings, whereof he had spoken afore, saying: That the Jews and their lineage shall be carried away into captivity. Now certainly there can nothing more bitter happen unto men, than to see their children taken away by force, eaten, and devoured by the enemies, and cruelly dealt withal: they had rather to have buried them a hundred times. Now then let us mark in few words that God meant to declare in this text, that although he have been never so bountiful towards us, and filled us with his blessings, so as we be fenced in on all sides: yet he can very well bereave us of them all again, and that plague shall be much more grievous unto us, than if we had never known, what his goodness means. Wherefore the larger that God bestows his blessings upon us, yea even those blessings that concern this transitory life, let us look that we be always so much the more provoked to honor him and to serve him. For he for his part, will not cease to do us good, so we turn not tail, & give him over. But seeing he allures us so gently, if we be willing to come unto him; let us assure ourselves that his hand shall evermore be stretched forth to augment the gifts and blessings that we have received of him.
In the end, he returneth to the matter which we saw heretofore. All these curses shall come upon thee, they shall seize upon thee, & thou shalt be caught and besieged by them on all sides, until that God hath quite consumed thee: even because thou hast not hearkened to his voice, to obey his statutes and commandments, which he hath given thee. I have told you heretofore how that Moses hath oftentimes showed to the Jews, that no evil or adversity came upon them but by the hand of God. But it behooves us also to know the cause. True it is that sometime God doth visit us, and we cannot perceive the cause thereof: for he doeth it not for our sins, not for that he might not do it, but for that he spareth us. Yet is this always to be looked unto, that when we sustain any afflictions, we must think on our sins, & enter into examination of them to condemn ourselves before God: yea & we must not tarry so long: but we must benefit ourselves by all manner of calamities which we see throughout the world, knowing that God punishes men's sins by such means: and thereupon bridling ourselves from the like. The matter then whereunto Moses doth now return, is, that having showed us how it is the Lord that withdraws all manner of blessings from us, it is he that curses our possessions, and the fruits of the earth, it is he that sends vermin, storms and tempests, to destroy all: it is he that gives power to our enemies: he shows wherefore all this is done: to wit, because we have rebelled against him, because we have despised his law. That is the very cause why these plagues of vengeance do so pursue us. Now then, let us bear in mind the doctrine which has been sufficiently set forth above: which is, that when God doth afflict us, we must shut our mouths from replying or entering into plea: for we shall win nothing by standing in contention with him. Nay rather we must condemn ourselves, confessing that he deals justly. Although it be his will to prove our patience, and to try us to the uttermost; yet notwithstanding we must yield ourselves as guilty before him, & understand that our sins deserve to be thus roughly handled at his hands. Here is wherewith to cause all the blasphemies, murmurings and complaints to cease which are daily heard in the world. When there happens any adversity or any other affliction, it is to the end we should think on the sins that we have committed. Mark that for one point. And whereas mention is made of the commandments and statutes which God has ordained, the same expressly and purposely concerns us. For albeit that the Papists have the law, yet is it buried in them: the Jews (as says Saint Paul) have a veil before their eyes, so as they understand nothing. The Turks walk in their own ignorance, so do all the rest of the heathen. Now our Lord does enlighten us, and show us the way. There is therefore a more villainous rebellion in us, when we do not according as we be taught, and also we deserve that God should use greater rigor toward us, and pour upon us the plagues of vengeance which are here contained. Therefore let us benefit ourselves by the things that are said here, concerning the commandments & statutes that God has ordained. And seeing it is so that he speaks daily unto us, declaring unto us his will so familiarly: let every of us submit himself obediently thereto. And whereas Moses says further, That these curses shall catch hold upon us, and that we shall be hemmed in round about by them, until they have consumed us: it is a warning to us that we should not be self-willed against God: for well may we seek starting holes: but it shall nothing boot us, (as has been said heretofore) for the end shall be ever unhappy for us.
And therefore let us remember the complaint that God makes by his Prophet Isaiah.* He says in that text (as we heard yesterday) that from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, God must needs smite hard upon all them that have rebelled. And having spoken so by his Prophet Isaiah, he says: What may I do more? I have not ceased to chastise my children: insomuch that from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, I have so beaten them, that there is no whole nor sound place, and yet they continue hard-hearted still. Alas, what shall I do? I must crush them and break them all to pieces.
Then let us be afraid to stand so wilful froward against our God, and let us prevent the condemnation here pronounced. And so soon as God begins to correct us, let us bestir us to return unto him, yea and let us not tarry so long neither, but being admonished by his word, let us fall to bewail our sins, and to be sorry for them, and moreover let us ask forgiveness of them in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let us fall down before the majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our sins: beseeching him not to suffer us to be so blinded in this mortal life, as not to know that all the miseries & wretchedness which we suffer, be warnings given unto us, to make us to think upon ourselves & upon our lives: & also to move us to repentance. And therefore that if we be afflicted at his hand, it may not make us to blaspheme his holy name, nor move us to impatience: but rather tame us, so as we may fare the better by all his corrections, and turn again unto him. And that forasmuch as we see the wretched world at this day to be so full of wretchedness and miseries, as is horrible, and also do behold the wrath of God for the sins that reign therein: it may be a mean to hold us in awe, praying God not to use any such rigor toward us: but rather that we fleeing for refuge to his mercy in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, may be touched with true repentance: & increase and prosper more and more therein, until that, being delivered from all our imperfections and sins, our God do clothe us with his righteousness unto the which we be daily called. That it may please him to grant this grace, not only to us but also to all people and nations of the earth, &c.
On Wednesday the 25th of March, 1556.
The 160th Sermon which is the eighth upon the twenty-eighth Chapter.
46 And these things shall be for tokens and wonders to thee and to thy seed for ever, 47 Because thou hast not served the Lord thy God with joy, and with a good heart, for the abundance of all manner of things.
48 And thou shalt serve thine Enemy, whom the Lord thy God will send against thee: I say thou shalt serve him in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in all manner of want. And he will lay a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have rooted thee out.
49 The Lord will bring a people upon thee from afar, and from the end of the earth, which shall fly as the Eagle: a people whose language thou shalt not understand.
50 A people of a shameless countenance, which will not reverence the person of the aged, nor take pity upon the young.
Because things are so greatly confused in this world, that it is hard to discern who they are whom God means to punish for their sins or to whom he means to show his love: Moses says expressly, that God will send such apparent tokens upon them that are stubborn against him, as shall be wonderful to them: Insomuch as they shall be compelled to understand, that the same comes to pass neither by fortune, nor by common means; but that they are extraordinary things, and that God shows forth his power therein. It is true (as we have said heretofore) that at the first sight it cannot be well discerned, who they be whom God loves, and who they be whom he mislikes: because that (as Solomon says) both the good and the evil is common unto all. He that serves God does sometimes prosper;* and oftentimes he is afflicted: And so is a despiser of God also. This is the cause says he that men become hardhearted, for it seems unto them that they win nothing by serving of God: or rather that it is but lost labor. Moreover it is often seen that the children of God are sometimes more hardly handled than the most wicked in the world, and therefore it is to be gathered after carnal capacity, that it is much better to despise God.* David confessed, that he staggered as upon the Ice, when he beheld the course of things to be such as that the good, and they that endeavored to walk in all manner of integrity, must be constrained to drink the water of troubles, to eat the bread of heaviness, and to moisten themselves with tears: and in the meanwhile the wicked, which cease not to do evil, to live at their ease and in pleasure: whereby it should seem that God loves them. And what a dealing were that? But our Lord declares in this place, that in the end he will make it apparent to them that are corrected at his hand, that their sins are the cause why they suffer smart, howbeit that it be not so quickly perceived. We have seen heretofore among other curses which Moses denounced,* that they who cast off the word of God are constrained to borrow, and to be ever in need: and that the others who should borrow of them, have wherewith to help themselves. But we see how all the children of God fall into necessity, and find not any that will comfort them: they make many turns before they meet with a man that will use gentleness toward them: and this seems clean contrary to the other. But yet does God exercise his people after that manner: and in that respect it is that I said, that when we are afflicted, whether it be with poverty, or with sickness, or any other way, we must not fail to enter into account with God, that is, to examine our life, and to see whether we have not committed many faults or no: and then shall every one of us find himself faulty.
Again on the other side, if we perceive not the cause why that God is moved to use rigor towards us: let us content ourselves, that he knows the same to be profitable for us: and that if we had not already offended him, yet were we in way to do it: and he has prevented it: and that all these corrections are to bring us low, to the end that we should walk under him in fear, and that our flesh should not be over lusty, as it is thereunto inclined: for God does sometimes foresee the pride of a man, and then he takes away the occasions and the objects.
Besides this, he knows that a man will be too jolly in his pomps and delights; and therefore he cuts off the occasion beforehand, whereby the party is let, so as he cannot do as he would. Seeing that our Lord provides beforehand for our welfare after such manner, let us think on the faults which we have first committed. Moreover if there were no further meaning in it, than to exhort us to repentance; even that were much: but we have always to consider, how God cannot too much provoke us to come unto him: for every straw is enough to stay us in this world, and in the meanwhile we have no mind of the heavenly life; or if we think thereon, it is so coldly, that our travelling towards it is not with so earnest affection as it ought to be; and therefore God is fain to deal with us by many afflictions. After this manner ought every of us to behave himself toward him. As touching others, we may not at the first dash condemn them whom God does punish: but we must remember that which is said in the Psalm; Blessed is the man that deems wisely of the afflicted in the day of his trouble.* But we be wonderfully hasty in that point. As soon as we see a poor man in misery and wretchedness, O say we, God plagues him, and he has deserved it: we be in that case very rash Judges. If God smite us; after that he has bestowed many stripes upon us, we will hardly remember that we have sinned: but as concerning others, our tongues be very quick to condemn them. But we should much rather incline to gentleness: as for example, when we see the faithful to suffer, we should think thus: Behold how God deals with his children, instructing us thereby, that there is no rest in this world, and that our happiness is in heaven, and it is thither that we ought to lift up our hearts.* And again, if this happen to the green trees, what shall become of the dry wood? If God spares not them which have endeavored to follow his word,* as appears unto us, what shall become of the scorners thereof, as says the Prophet? If judgment begin at the house of God: miserable then shall they be which have hardened themselves against him. Saint Peter also does admonish us to put the same in use.* And so you see how we ought to deal in this matter. Moreover, if we have patience, and meekness and be apt to be taught, it is certain that we shall evermore feel a taste of the goodness of God in the midst of the afflictions which he sends us.
True it is that oftentimes we shall be put in fear by them. There will be a kind of unquietness in us which will so vex us that we shall think ourselves utterly forlorn unless GOD withdraw his hand very quickly.
If he prolong our afflictions; then we be altogether blank, our courage fails us: so that if we be not held in with the fear of God, and with patience, to be altogether quiet under his hand: we be evermore wandering. But if we hold us still there, then shall we understand that he chastises us in his mercy and goodness: according as it is said in the Prophet Habakkuk,* That the faithful after they have been in heaviness, do indeed understand, that God does nevertheless uphold them, and forgets them not but does always temper & mitigate their afflictions, so as they feel his fatherly goodness towards them, and therewithal do comfort themselves, and can well say with David, Lord if thou wilt be angry, it is but for a little while:* but thy goodness endures all our life long. Behold (I say) here we may always have matter wherewith to cheer ourselves, and to rejoice in the midst of our afflictions: so as we may perceive indeed that our Lord will not fail to be merciful unto us, notwithstanding that he uses some rigor toward us, to try our patience, and to quicken us up to come unto him, and to labor to the celestial life. But we must evermore have an eye to the end, according as David says. And therefore in the psalm
he exhorts us not to be grieved at the prosperity of the wicked: for he knows that our eyes be as it were dazzled. When we see a wicked body to be at ease and to have all wishes, we straightway conclude that God has regard to deal with men according as they be worthy: by means whereof we stagger and are in such perplexity as we wot not what shall become of us. Now David says, that in thinking so, he played the beast, and was out of his wits, and he confesses that he was in that point, berest of reason and judgment, affirming that he did wrong to all the generation of God's children,* until he had looked into the Sanctuary. It is true, that in the thirty and seventh
Psalm which I alleged here before, he says, I passed by and saw the wicked flourish and grow high like a Cedar tree of Lebanon: and after that I had turned me about, he was cut down as a tree that had no more left but the dry stock upon the earth: so as there remained no sign of him at all. Such changes do we see in this world; but put the case we saw none: yet must we enter into the Sanctuary of God,* as it is said in the threescore and thirteenth Psalm. And there we must wait patiently till God make it apparent unto us that all afflictions be profitable for his children: and that he sends them as medicines for their health: and contrariwise, that the prosperity which he permits to the contemners of his law and justice, shall be converted to their great confusion. We must therefore learn to hold our wits and senses in awe, that we wander not in the afflictions which God does send us.
But to return to the purpose of Moses: let us note well how he says that the punishments which God sends upon them that have rebelled against him to the utmost, and would not be corrected: shall be as tokens and wonders to them and to their posterity: that is to say, he will punish them after a strange fashion, and as has not been wonted amongst men: so as they shall be compelled in spite of their teeth to say: This is the very hand of God. And indeed can there be a more beastly contempt of God found, than that which was in Pharaoh? He was a man not only drunken with pride, but altogether senseless: he was a man that despised the majesty of God, and a man so rebellious, as was not in any wise to be dealt withal. When he heard Moses and Aaron speak, he laughed them to scorn: his feeling of the first strokes could not make him to yield. And in the end he needed not a Prophet to admonish him: for he himself could say,* Surely this is the finger of God. We see therefore how God does oftentimes express his power in such wise, that even the most fierce are constrained to perceive and to think that there is some majesty in heaven, which afore that time they had not accounted of, and thereupon to enter into consideration of their sins and to confess them, and to be the more lively touched therewith. That is it which Moses means here concerning signs and wonders.
This matter is worthy to be marked. For (as I have said) if God begin to punish men, it is evermore said to be fortune, this is agreeable to our state, (say they:) we know that man's life is subject to much wretchedness, and in the meanwhile the hand of God is not regarded.
And though he double it, yet do men continue dull, & seem as though they could evermore hide them, & escape away, because they enter not into their consciences to search out the sins that be there, but are loath to know them, as if a man should go hide himself in a dark corner of set purpose to shun the brightness of the sun at noon days.
Even so do we in all the chastisements which God doth send us to warn us of our sins and to draw us to repentance. But in the end God doth augment his punishments in such sort, as they become miracles: that is to say, they exceed the common measure, order and course of nature, so as we might be ravished with astonishment, and thereby perceive that God doth then show himself, as though his hand appeared unto us from heaven. And that is the thing which he declares more fully in the xxvi. Chapter of Levi. For after he hath pronounced the sentence upon them that reject the doctrine of salvation, he saith, I will send upon you seven times as much,* if I perceive that nothing do prevail with you: If my punishing of you amend you not, I will add there to seven times as much. And he repeats this sentence again in the end; & saith, If you will walk at all adventure against men, I will walk also at all adventure against you.
Now this word, Adventure, hath relation to the blockishness that is in us, which we have touched here before. For we see very well the adversities that do befall us in this world, & wading yet further we confess that it is God that punishes us: but to think thereon in good earnest; and to judge every man himself by calling our sins to remembrance so often as God gives any inckling of them; it is the furthest part of our thought. Let every man look to himself: How many afflictions have we in the year which should be testimonies unto us of the wrath of God, & as it were summons of appearance before him, warning us to sue to him for pardon, and to have pity upon us? Scarcely does any one day pass, but that a man is warned five or six times as if God should say unto him; Wretched creature, why hast thou no mind of thy soul? Why hast thou no care to beseech me to receive thee to mercy? But scarcely once in a month will a man enter into examination of his life to condemn himself; and if we do it, it is but coldly. But we ought to be so ashamed and so vexed at the feeling of God's wrath as though we saw hell lie open before eyes. But we see that very few do think thereon: for every of us forgets himself.
That is the thing which God means by this word of walking at all adventures against us. Yet do we follow on our course still, as though no harm had touched us, we swallow up our afflictions. They do indeed trouble us, when they pinch us, and yet do we nothing but shake our ears (as they say) and follow still our own way. Then go we at all adventures, yea even with excessive overweening, when we acknowledge not the hand of God, nor perceive that he is a judge, to the end that we might mislike of our sins, and every man labor and endeavor to withdraw himself therefrom. Our Lord therefore says, I will come against you at all adventures, as if he should say, I will cross you and thwart you, & think not to gain anything either by your hardening of your hearts, and by your kicking against me, or by your dulness in that you perceive not how it is my hand that must bring you again: No no, (says he) I will be as stout and headstrong as you, yea and more stout and headstrong too. For I will come at all adventures, I will let my plagues run out at random, so as I will break your necks, and beat you both back and belly, and that without pity.
Now we see how much this word ought to weigh with us, where Moses says: That the plagues shall be for tokens and wonders, to all scorners: insomuch that when they have bleared out their tongues at the threatenings of God, and have nodded their head against the first corrections which he sends them, & have bitten on the bridle: he proceeds on still & ceases not to wring them, but drives them in the end to come to a reckoning do the worst they can, & to say openly, It is the hand of God that presses us; these are the miracles, they be no ordinary things nor according to the course of nature.
Now therefore, let us learn not to provoke God's wrath so far against us; but let us suffer ourselves to be tamed by him; and let us yield ourselves conformable & gentle so soon as he has summoned us, let us yield ourselves guilty without using any starting holes: for we shall win nothing thereby. There is nothing better than to enter into pure and free confession, saying, "Lord what wilt thou do to these frail & wretched creatures? It is true that we have a hundredfold deserved to be sunken: but yet for all that, we flee unto thy mercy: wherefore have pity upon us." When we have thus condemned ourselves, it is a means to pacify the anger of God, which thing will not be done by hardening of our hearts. For then he will ever more proceed farther, until he have brought us to these signs and wonders, that be here mentioned. Again God must needs do the like also in respect of men's slothfulness & negligence, or rather utter senselessness. If we could be subdued at the first blow: God would take no pleasure in laying plague upon plague. But when he sees that there is such a kind of stoutness, and such a presumption in us, that we will not stoop nor bow our necks: he must needs hold on until he makes us to feel in very deed & after a strange manner, that it is he before whom we must yield our account. Let us therefore mark well how the obstinate malice of the world is the cause why God sends such strange corrections to put us in fear. And if we considered well the state of the world at this day, it would make the hairs of our head to stand upright. Certainly they do all sigh at the feeling of the stripes, and they complain, howbeit not to any amendment, but rather they bite on the bridle: Insomuch that when those who be not altogether blockish do make comparison of the present state, with that which we have seen before the wrath of God was on this wise provoked; they see it as it were a sea gulf: & that ought to make us afraid. And so let us come back again to that which Moses declares, to wit, that God must needs have found the world very rebellious & hard-hearted when he augments his punishments in such sort: for it should never come to that pass, were it not that men were otherwise unreformable. Let us not accuse God of cruelty, when we see his rigor to exceed in punishing us: but let us acknowledge that our stubbornness is so great, that our Lord must needs handle us after that fashion: for otherwise he should never overmaster us.
That is the thing which we have to bear in mind. However, that is not all: for we must always fear that which is to come. And since we saw that God has thus increased his punishments not upon one man only, but upon the whole world: let us bethink us to call ourselves home again before he fall to striking of us with main blows to our confusion and utter undoing, without giving us any more respite to come to the acknowledgment of our sins. For it is the sorest point of God's wrath, when sinners be taken after such a sort out of this world, that they cannot have remembrance of their sins, nor take breath to resort unto God, or to ask him forgiveness. Let us beware lest God's vengeance proceed so far. And forasmuch as we see that the adversities of these days be very great, let us acknowledge that we have provoked God very much, and that it is not for us to abuse his patience any longer. Thus ye see in effect what we have to bear away: specially when we see that sin doth overflow, so as all the world is infected with corruption. Although a man do good, yet nevertheless forasmuch as it is evermore mixed with sin, he shall be chastised, however, not at the first dash: for as I have said before, God does spare the wicked and tarry for them, and in the meanwhile punishes the good that seek to walk aright: but yet in the end he always plagues the despisers of his law & majesty. And as touching the good, he will make them to feel his grace to their joy, so that although he exercise them with many chastisements & adversities: yet notwithstanding, they shall not fail to know him to be their God & father still, & to rest upon him. As for the wicked they be not disposed to taste or to feel the love & goodness of God: but are rather wroth against him. But when iniquity is become as a main sea, & all men are corrupted: then the vengeance of God must also overflow, so as none may be free from it. We have seen already the threatening that was made here before, namely that the people should be led into captivity with their king. When this came to pass, were none carried away into captivity but the wicked, and such as strove against the Prophets, and such as despised the good doctrine, and such also as were headstrong against God like wild beasts?
Yes, there was Jeremiah himself who had called upon the people fifty years together and never ceased to cry: "What do ye, ye wretched people?" Yet notwithstanding we see that while others sported, he wept and wailed: and not contented with that, said; "Who can turn my head into tears,* so as my brain may be as a fountain gushing out continually, that I may bewail the sins and calamities of my people?"
See how the holy Prophet, (after that he had labored in the service of God, and fought against all the wicked, and made war against all manner of iniquity and stubbornness:) is fain to be led away captive as well as the rest, and to be put to reproach, not of being carried to Babylon, for that had been the best that could have been wished at that time: but God gave him not the favor to be brought thither, but he was fain to be harried into Egypt:* yet had he said, "Cursed be they that go into Egypt: go ye into Babylon [20] and serve the king of Babylon; be quiet and obedient there," and bear patiently this punishment of God, and in the end he will take pity on you. The holy
Prophet had not the same liberty. So then we see, that when calamities come for the general corruption of all men, the good are wrapped up amongst the evil. And why is that? Because it is almost not possible to walk amongst such infections, and not to be somewhat spotted therewith. Albeit that Jeremiah resisted the evil as much as he could: yet savored he of the public corruptions of the people, and therefore behooved him to be punished with the rest; however, God did not execute such vengeance upon him, as he did upon the despisers of his law, no not by a great deal. For Jeremiah had always a good testimony, that God did guide him; and when he was in Egypt, he was by a special privilege free from the curse that he had pronounced upon all them that would go into Egypt: for they drew him thither by force. Ye see therefore how God wraps up his people amongst the rebels, but yet he saves them after a marvelous manner, which gives them continual cause of comfort in him. As much is to be said of Daniel. Daniel is set forth unto us as a mirror of integrity. Ezekiel speaking of him, puts him for the third of the most holy that could be chosen;* yet was he carried to Babylon; and was it for the sins of others? He was no hypocrite and had lied unto God, if it had not been for his own sins. For he says expressly in the ninth chapter,* "I have made confession as well of mine own sins as of the sins of my people." He says even at the first, "Lord we have offended thee, & been disobedient, we have rebelled against thee, both we and our fathers, our Kings and Rulers," which words of his are spoken generally: It may be said, that he put himself in the number with the others. But, to the end that nothing should be replied thereunto, he goes further and says,* "I have confessed my sins and the sins of my people." Whereby we see that Daniel, whatever integrity and perfection was in him, was nevertheless stained with the common vices, and therefore deserved to feel his part and portion of the punishments that God sent upon all the people. Hereby we are also the better warned, to stand in fear and to walk in the more wariness when we see the world so corrupted; assuring ourselves, that in the end we must feel by experience, that God has spoken in good earnest, where he says, that he will come stubbornly against us, if we continue in going stubbornly against him. This is in effect all that we have to remember in this Text, where Moses speaks of Signs and miracles. Wherefore let us open our eyes in this case, and let us not linger until GOD compels us to come to him by force, and stretch out his mighty arm against us: but let us receive his word, and let it serve us for Spectacles to behold his judgments afar off, and let us not tarry the executing of his extreme rigor.
Now he addeth therewith, Because thou hast not served thy God with a good will, and cheerfully when thou haddest abundance of all manner of things. Here does he reprove the Jews, for that they could not abide that God should entreat them gently. And it is not all only to them that he speaks, but also unto us. We have therefore a general doctrine to be gathered of this speech; namely, that God of his own nature, is inclined to allure us unto him by gentle and loving means, like as a father goes about to win his children, by being merry with them, and by giving them all that they desire. If a father could always laugh with his children, and fulfill their desires, all his delight should surely be in them: such a one does God show himself to be toward us.
Indeed he is not passionate as men are: we may not think that God is like unto us; but inasmuch as we comprehend not his majesty, because it is too high, he is fain to humble himself, and to use a kind of speech fit for our rudeness and for the weakness of our wits.
Nevertheless it is certain that the property of God is to win us gently, as a father endeavors to win his children. What is it that God requires? That we should serve him with a frank and free heart, yea and even with gladness. In what manner? Verily that because he deals gently with us, and gives us all things that we need, we therefore ought to be quiet and well contented, if we be not unthankful. And so let us conclude, that all the calamities, troubles, wretchedness and miseries, which happen in this world, be the fruits of our sins, and that we drive God to handle us with such rigor. He is fain (as you would say) to transform himself, and to forsake his nature to overmaster us, because he sees that sin is exceeding great in us, and that we can no skill to turn the good to our benefit, which he is ready to do us. However (as I have said before) God does not always tarry till we have offended him: we must needs grant that he prevents our sins: he sees that we are in danger to fall, and he does remedy it in due time. Yet notwithstanding, all the corrections which we endure in this world, proceed of our sins: and the filthiness that is in us, is the cause why God sends us not abundance of good things according to our desire. And if there were nothing else, but this, that men fall asleep, and sap themselves in these earthly pleasures, so as they be not able to look to the place which David does call them to;* namely, to satisfy ourselves with the sight of God, and to rejoice in his presence. Seeing that men cannot attain thereunto, but are ever wedded to these base things: do not we deserve that God should withdraw the plenty that he was ready to give us, for that he perceives that it would burst us: and instead of sustaining us it would so overload us that it would bear us down to the ground. This is the cause why our Lord uses not such liberality toward us as we desire.
For he for his part is not drained dry, neither does he fear to be impoverished, by sending us plenty of all manner of good things. We know he is a fountain that can never be drawn dry: but when he sees that we waste and devour his benefits, and be worse than drunken, and that besides the riotousness which we use, we be also unthankful as not only to fall into forgetfulness, but also to spurn against his majesty, and to turn our backs upon him: insomuch that if we have wherewith to maintain ourselves well, we fall to Gluttony, pompousness, whoredom, and other looseness, and to be short, the abuses which we commit in the using of God's blessings, are as an immeasurable sea-gulf: therefore when he sees such things, he withdraws his hand and shows not himself so liberal toward us. This is the Sum of that we have to bear in mind. And therefore, seeing that God for his part is always ready to multiply us, and to give us plenty of all good things, were it not that we are not able to brook it: we must understand that we are as sick folk, which must have a small pittance allowed unto them, and be constrained to a diet. And why?
Because they are not able to brook their food. Whereupon we ought well to understand that which Moses speaks to our reproach. For what a shame is it, that we cannot abide that God should use us gently and after a fatherly sort? Behold, God offers himself, not only in words, but also in deeds: and he offers to give us all that we desire.
But what? He sees us not disposed to receive him, we despise him, and thrust away his grace; must there not be then a horrible frowardness in men? Let every one of us excuse himself as much as he will: yet must this saying needs be verified, and when we have kicked and spurned never so much, yet shall we at the last be convicted of this maliciousness, that we could not find in our hearts to suffer GOD to deal gently with us, nor have served him joyfully and with a merry heart. Therefore let us not wonder though he does handle us as we deserve, when we are so rebellious against him. For when he sees that we kick against him, he must needs break us, and deal with us after such a fashion as we may understand that he is our master: not that they which are punished, do serve GOD: but for that they understand that he has the mastery over them, when the punishments come so far that they are become signs and wonders.
When GOD appears unto them as it were in a visible manner from heaven; then do they perceive, Alas I cannot flee nor escape the hand of GOD. Then do they understand that he has the Lordship over them, not that they willingly yield themselves thereunto, but that they lie languishing and astonished therein, as men locked up in prison. The thing then which we have to remember, is that since we could not be contented, that God should handle us gently by bowing under his hand, that he might guide us, turn us and return us which way he listed: we must be forced by trouble and sorrow, to understand that he has full sovereignty over us, and that his utter breaking and overthrowing of us, is because we could not abide to be governed by his hand, when he was ready to guide us. This is the matter that we have to note in the second place.
We see the very same in all mankind, not only touching the afflictions of this present life; but also we have this reproach laid upon us, that we are still as it were, famished for want of spiritual blessings. For our father Adam was created in such state, that the world was an earthly Paradise: The whole earth yielded him all good things to his wish: he endured neither heat nor cold, nor any grievous want. Thus was our father Adam appointed Lord and Master over all the world,* all the Elements and all the beasts of the earth served him quietly, and all fruits served his taste and savor.
What was he in his person? He bore the Image of God, and was of so great nobleness and worthiness that he was as the Angels of heaven: and he had dwelled in this world, with all his lineage, as in a place where he should have had no trouble: but he could not abide to be so gently entreated. When God had thus enriched him with his benefits, he must needs mistake himself, he could not serve God with a good heart nor with joy. What could have grieved him? For God showed him a sweet and a gracious countenance, and poured out the treasures of his fatherly love towards him; but Adam could not abide that, but through his unthankfulness he alienated himself from God.
And in what case are we now? We must serve God in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and reproach, for the earth is cursed unto us.
When we have tilled it,* it must bring us forth thistles and thorns.
We see the seasons contrary; when we wait for a good year, we see hail or frost, drought or rain, which serve to pluck the bread out of our mouths, and to disappoint us of our food. We see the air troubled, and infections which oftentimes engender diseases. Great is the toil of men. For when they have gotten food with great distress; yet want they wherewith to clothe themselves. See there (I say) in what taking we be. And wherefore? Because we would not serve our God cheerfully and with a good heart, when he gave us abundance of all manner of blessings. But this is not the chief matter, (as I have said heretofore:) for we are destitute of the righteousness of God.
Our very true ornament, was that we could have fashioned ourselves to all manner of right; and now we be spoiled thereof. As then we had reason and understanding: but now we be become beastly, for the brightness that should shine in us, is but darkness. Again, we be covered with reproach: and whereas the Image of God should shine in us, now we have the marks of sin; so that even our very bare bodies must give us to understand of the same: insomuch that if a man be naked, he is ashamed of himself. And why? God does by this mean show unto us what infection there is in our souls, in that we be fain to hide ourselves, as not being worthy to be numbered amongst his creatures. Finally we be like dry earth. Truth it is that we be over fruitful in evil,* but of goodness, what is found in us? Seeing we be thus unfurnished of all graces, it is good reason that we should languish in this frail life, because we could not serve our God with joy and a good heart, at such time as he had poured out all his riches most perfectly upon us.
Now since we behold the evil that is in all mankind, let us also apply the same particularly to ourselves. Therefore when our Lord visits us, and makes us to feel afflictions that are strange unto us; let us cast down our heads, and enter into such examination of ourselves as this: Go to, whereas God has given us wherewith to serve him, how do we discharge ourselves thereof? If there come an ill year that brings dearth of Corn or wine, so that famine does threaten us; let us look how we honored God in the time that he gave us plenty. If we see there is abundance of wine, then drunkenness has its full scope, so that men cannot be restrained from breaking out into all manner of disorder, and (which worse is,) they stick not to blaspheme the name of God, and to rush out into all disorder, and to take leave to surfeiting and glutting of themselves out of all measure. In abundance of Corn we see the like; men are so proud thereof that they cannot abide either warning or discipline, but they kick against
God, and their pride is moreover matched with cruelty, so as every man rakes to himself; he that has the most, will if he can play the Tyrant over his neighbors, in taking no pity upon them that are in want. At this point are we in the time of plenty. Therefore is our Lord fain to change his Copie, and to manifest his Majesty unto us, and to compel us to understand what sovereignty and dominion he has over us, seeing we cannot find in our hearts to serve him with a cheerful heart and with a good will, nor to give over ourselves unto him. Are we in rest? All our endeavor is how to pluck out one another's eyes, and to torment ourselves like Cats and Dogs. And if we war not with men, we fight against God, which is far worse. And if we hold on, let us not be grieved that we be confounded altogether, seeing we set up ourselves against the Majesty of him, under whom we ought to bow.
Nay, we see that most commonly men make war against God, when he gives them rest: we shall see both generally and particularly that they who are at leisure to do evil, do persecute the Church, and torment the poor faithful ones. As soon as God gives them any respite, they seek nothing but occasion to do hurt and to exercise their cruelty. And this is to be seen, not only in the enemies of the Church, but also in all others: insomuch that both great and small, when God has left us in rest, and we have made an end of warring one against another, we fall to despising of God one way or other. Let us not wonder therefore, if when a war is finished; it begin again immediately. For it is needful that God should deal with us in such manner: otherwise he cannot rule us.
And let us mark well how it is said here moreover, That God will raise up a barbarous people against such as would not be obedient unto him. Such is God's reigning over us, that he desires to be as a father unto us, rather than to be a dreadful King or Prince over us. It is true that we must do him homage as to our sovereign Lord, and that we must behave ourselves as his people in all subjection and humility, submitting ourselves under his obedience: but yet therewithal he does the office of a father towards us, and will be known to be a father. For he speaks after an amiable manner, insomuch that although his commandments be hard unto us, because of our malice and rebellion as concerning the flesh: yet notwithstanding after he has declared his will unto us, he exhorts us, he warns us, he rebukes us: and all these things he does with such mildness, as we must needs show ourselves to want both wit and reason, if we be not benefited by the goodness he uses. But will we not hearken to our God when he speaks unto us in so gentle and gracious a manner? Then will he talk with us with main strokes of halberds, pikes, and harquebuses. We shall there understand nothing, the language of them will be very strange unto us. And wherefore? Because we had no ears to hear when God spoke graciously unto us, yea and when he stooped so low, as to teach us like little children, that are taught their A, B, C. Go too then, let us understand that when we be so deaf against God: he must talk with us in another language, and he must stir up some barbarous and brazen-faced people, that have neither reverence, reason, nor equity, to whom when you shall pray for pity and compassion: it shall be but in vain, they will give no ear unto you, you shall go that way in spite of your beards. And what is the remedy of all these evils? Let us enter, let us enter into our consciences, let us not grind our teeth at men, as we are wont to do, let us not strive with them. For our combat is not there. But let us understand that God means to chastise us by men, because we have been stubborn toward him, and would not be edified by his word, according as his meaning was. And therefore let us benefit ourselves by all these warnings, and corrections which God does send us. And let us not abide till we feel the knocks; but whenever God does us the favor to teach us at other men's cost, let us receive profit thereby: and when he spares us, let us not abuse his patience. And for as much as the means to reconcile us unto him, is to accept the promise that he offers us in the Gospel; let us embrace our Lord Jesus Christ, which is our peace,* to the end that we may be treated after a fatherly sort, at the hands of our God.
Now let us fall down before the Majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our misdeeds, beseeching him to make us to perceive them yet better; and therewithal to bear with us in such sort, and that his chastisements and corrections may be so fatherly and measurable toward us, as we may be reduced to the obedience of his righteousness, and that he will evermore so comfort us, as we may have whereof to rejoice in him, and to glorify him, for his procuring of our salvation by all means. And so let us all say,
Almighty God heavenly father, &c.
On Thursday the 26th of March, 1556.
The 161st Sermon which is the ninth upon the twenty-eighth Chapter.
50 The Lord will stir up, &c.
51 The same shall eat the fruit of thy Cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be rooted out, and he shall leave thee neither Corn, wine, nor Oil, nor any fruit of thy Cattle, nor of the flocks of thy sheep, until he have brought thee to nought.
52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy Towns, until he have cast down thy high and strong walls, wherein thou didst put thy trust throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy
Towns throughout all the land that the Lord thy God hath given thee.
53 Thou shalt eat the fruit of thy womb even the flesh of thy sons and daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege and distress wherewith thine enemy shall straiten thee.
54 In so much that the man which is tender and exceeding