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,…

O, care thou not for that: for I will be merciful unto thee. Well, be it so. But where is the demonstration of that which I have looked for all this while. For I am at deaths door, and am here a stranger, & have no seed (as hath been heretofore said) and how shall I do then O Lord ? Well, take my word for it. This then is the nature of faith: To have all our senses subject unto the will of God, and believe his trueth. Our ears also must be open and attentive to receive whatsoever he speaketh unto us: and that when he ⟨p. 214⟩hath once said the word; conclude, that it shall be so. But which way can that be? O, we are not to reason that; neither is it in our disposition: But we must leave it unto the counsel and will of God, as we have already said. This then is the honour winch we must do unto GOD; even to believe his holy word. More over, we are still to observe that which hath heretofore been spoken, that is to say: That God simply gave the land of Canaan unto his servant Abraham for a pawn, to the end he should not muse to him self, nor trouble his head about it: For then had Abraham had but a cold pull, if he had had nothing else but that land. But without doubt he was led by another spirit, which is: He saw the very day of our Saviour Jesus Christ; as in the Gospel according to John it is written. And besides, he confessed himself to be but a Pilgrim here in this world: and therefore looked for his inheritance elsewhere. And where it is said: that this land was given him for to inherit; that was not the mark which he shot at: his mind was not set thereon; but had a further reach. For, by reason (as we have already said) that he forsook his native country, and left it, to live in a strange and an unknown place: it must needs be, that his mind was altogether occupied about:the heavenly inheritance. ⟨p. 215⟩So then we are here to note: that although the land of Canaan is here called his inheritance, as also Gods house and resting place: yet is it but as a pawn; or to speak more properly, but as an earnest penny: For a pawn importeth as much at the least as the full worth of the thing which we are to be assured of. But an earnest penny is, as a man would say, nothing. And to give a penny, as we call it, unto God, for a bargain worth an hundred thousand crowns and more is nothing.

O, care thou not for that: for I will be mercifull vnto thee. VVell, be it so. But where is the demonstration of that which I haue looked for all this while. For I am at deathes dore, and am here a stranger, & haue no seede (as hath beene heretofore said) and how shal I do then O Lord ? VVell, take my worde for it. This then is the nature of faith: To haue all our senses subiect vnto the will of God, and beleeue his trueth. Our eares also must be open and attentiue to receiue whatsoeuer he speaketh vnto vs: and that when he