Sermon of Master John Calvin, on the history of Melchizedek Wherein is also handled,…Sermon of Maister Iohn Caluin, on the historie of Melchisedech Wherein is also handled,…

Now if it be so that Jesus Christ hath only merited the occasion of merit, that is to say, that we must by him come to heaven, it must needs follow, that we shall be always bound unto God as well for the punishment, as for the sin. And this is an ⟨p. 179⟩enormous abomination, when as the papists will presume thus to discharge themselves before God with their satisfactions. And besides, as one mischief draweth on another, even so thrust they themselves into a most wearisome labyrinth: for they know well enough that if we strained our selves to do an hundred times more then we are able, yet could we in no wise content & satisfy God for our sins. And why so? because we come so short in doing that we should, as is most fearful. And David saith, What man is he that knoweth his sins. ¹And therefore although we should take never so much pain to make satisfaction, yet shall the Papists be enforced to say, that we are never able to come to the end of them. Yet is there also a third error amongst them, to wit, their indulgences & pardons of full remission, for the pardoning of their sins, that will buy them. And yet they think it not enough that they have these indulgences, but must also have their purgatory to make up their mouth withal for altogether, so as they are so mashed in errors as that they cannot tell how to wind them selves out of them. For seeing they have all at once strayed from the pure simplicity of the holy scripture, the devil hath so possessed & entrapped them within such nets and snares, as that they can never get out of them. Wherefore we must so much the more diligently hearken ⟨p. 180⟩unto this doctrine which excludeth all satisfactions, & sendeth us to our lord Jesus christ, to find that in him which is wanting in us. Moreover, we are to note for the better understanding of this point, what it is to be saved by the mere grace of God, and for faith to be imputed unto us for righteousness, and that cannot be understood until we lie at the point of death: for, when as the Papists speak of their merits, satisfactions, and indulgences, they may prattle and jangle as it pleaseth them: but when hypocrites shall be so drunken and hard hearted against God, as to be made to believe marvels and wonders all their life long, the devil soon after removeth them with a witness, when as they must in good earnest come before the judge.