A17649:193
The commentaries of M. John Calvin upon the first Epistle of Saint John, and…The comentaries of M. Iohn Caluin vpon the first Epistle of Sainct Ihon, and…
The commentaries of M. John Calvin upon the first Epistle of Saint John, and upon the Epistle of Jude wherein according to the truth of the words of the holy Ghost, he most excellently openeth and cleareth the point of true justification with God, and sanctification by the Spirit of Christ, by the effects that he bringeth forth in the regeneration. Translated into English by W.H.The comentaries of M. Iohn Caluin vpon the first Epistle of Sainct Ihon, and vpon the Epistle of Iude wherein accordyng to the truthe of the woordes of the holie Ghost, he most excellently openeth and cleareth the poinct of true iustification with God, and sanctification by the Spirit of Christ, by the effects that he bryngeth forthe in the regeneration. Translated into Englishe by W.H.
London: printed by John Kyngstone and T. East for John Harrison the younger, 1580London: printed by Ihon Kyngstone and T. East for Iohn Harrison the yonger, 1580
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
20 But if our heart condemn us. He• proveth by the contrary, that they have the name and show of Christians in vain, who have not the testimony of a good conscience. For if any man be guilty in his own knowledge, and is convinced in the proper feeling of his own soul, much less shall he escape the judgement of God. It followeth therefore that faith is subverted with the disquiet of an evil conscience. He calleth, God greater then our heart, in respect of judgement, that is, because he seeth much more clearly then we, and searcheth more sharp, and judgeth more straightly. In which sense Paul saith, that albeit he knew nothing by himself, yet he was not thereby justified. 1. Cor. 4.4. For he acknowledgeth, that albeit he be carefully given unto his duty, yet that he offendeth in many things, and that he doth forgive himself by unadvisedness, those sins which God doth see. This therefore is the mind of the Apostle, that it cannot be that he should escape the judgement of God, whom his own conscience doth accuse and convince. To the same end belongeth that he by and by adjoineth, that God seeth all things. For how should those things be secret, which we are driven to see, who in respect of him are blockish ⟨p. 61⟩and blind? So therefore expound it, God in that he seeth all things, is much greater then our heart. For to take the word that coupleth together in steed of a particular causal is not strange. Now the sense is plain, that is, that seeing the knowledge of God pierceth further then the sense of our own conscience, that no man can stand before him, except he whom uprightness of conscience sustaineth. But here is objected a question: It is certain that the reprobate are sometime drowned of Satan in such a Lake of feeling, that they feel not their evils at all, and without all grief or fear, as Paul saith, they run securely into their destruction. Eph. 4.19. And it is certain also that hypocrites are wont to flatter themselves, and proudly to contemn the judgement of God, because that being drunken with a false opinion of righteousness, they are not touched with their sins. The answer is easy, That hypocrites are deceived because they shun the light: and that the reprobates feel nothing, because they go away from God. Yea, there is no security to an evil conscience, but in lurking corners.