A17694:78
Four sermons of Master John Calvin entreating of matters very profitable for our time,…Foure sermons of Maister Iohn Caluin entreating of matters very profitable for our time,…
Four sermons of Master John Calvin entreating of matters very profitable for our time, as may be seen by the preface: with a brief exposition of the LXXXVII. Psalm. Translated out of French into English by John Field.Foure sermons of Maister Iohn Caluin entreating of matters very profitable for our time, as may bee seene by the preface: with a briefe exposition of the LXXXVII. Psalme. Translated out of Frenche into Englishe by Iohn Fielde.
London: printed by Thomas Dawson for Thomas Man, 1579
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.
& therefore that those fervent lamentations & hearty requests that he maketh concerning the temple are not so fit for us, seeing that we are compared to those, who being past our infancy are come to a more full age. To whom I answer first of all, that the necessity of being taught by sermons, of being confirmed by the Sacraments, of being exercised in public prayers & the confession of our faith, is common to us with the ancient fathers. And hereunto tend aswell the promises especially those that are in the Prophet Isaiah, where God saith that his Church shall have infinite children: & that after she hath conceived & brought them forth, she shall nourish them up. It cannot be denied that this belongeth also to the kingdom of christ & to this our time especially. Now God expressly fendeth his children into the bosom ⟨p. 38⟩and lap of his Church. And wherefore is this, but that an order and rule might be kept, which he hath appointed, to the end to gather his own together as it were by flocks? The which is notably expressed by an apt similitude, which the Prophet himself useth in the 60. Chapter,1 saying that the children of God shall be at Donet who retire themselves by flight into their Do••cetes: And what I pray you is that same Dovecote there, but every place where the word of God is preached, where the sacraments are administered, and where the name of God is called upon & praised? Indeed they which ween too be so strong that they have no further need of this same outward order and government, they il consider their own state and condition. For wherefore hath God ordained his sacraments. unless because that we being clothed with our bodies, we are too vile to lay hold upon spiritual things, unless we be aided by these visible signs? The angels indeed have that trueth of the Sacraments, & this sufficeth them but God must come down lower unto us, by reason of our rudeness and ignorance. Let these fantastical Christians strip themselves hardly of their bodies, & make themselves angels of heaven, & then they may exempt themselves from those small helps whereof they make so little account. But it behoveth all those which acknowledge themselves to be men that they pass this way, to submit themselves to the ordinary policy, that god hath commanded to all those that are his.
& therfore that those feruent lamētatiōs & hearty requestes that he maketh cōcerning the tēple are not so fitt for vs, seing that we are cōpared to those, who being past our enfancie are come to a more ful age. To whom I answere first of al, that the necessitie of being taught by sermons, of being confirmed by the Sacramēts, of being exercised in publike praiers & the cōfessiō of our faith, is cōmon to vs with the aunciēt fathers. And herevnto tēd aswel the promises especially those that are in the Prophet Esay, where God saith that his Church shal haue infinite childrē: & that after she hath cōceaued & brought them forth, she shall nurish thē vp. It cānot be denied that this belōgeth also to the kingdom of christ & to this our time especially. Now God expresly fendeth his children into the bosome