A17698:1608
Sermons upon Deuteronomy
The sermons of M. John Calvin upon the fifth book of Moses called Deuteronomy faithfully gathered word for word as he preached them in open pulpit; together with a preface of the ministers of the Church of Geneva, and an admonishment made by the deacons there. Also there are annexed two profitable tables, the one containing the chief matters; the other the places of Scripture herein alleged. Translated out of French by Arthur Golding.The sermons of M. Iohn Caluin vpon the fifth booke of Moses called Deuteronomie faithfully gathered word for word as he preached them in open pulpet; together with a preface of the ministers of the Church of Geneua, and an admonishment made by the deacons there. Also there are annexed two profitable tables, the one containing the chiefe matters; the other the places of Scripture herein alledged. Translated out of French by Arthur Golding.
London: printed by Henry Middleton for George Bishop, 1583
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.
There is yet another thing to be noted in the breaking of these Tables: which is, that GOD intended to show by way of a figure, that his once writing of his Law was not enough for us, but that it behoved us to have it double engrossed. Trueth it is that Moseses rehearsing of it in this text, is to another end: but yet is there no inconvenience in this also. Likewise when Moses took a veil or scarf to put before his face, because the people could not abide the glory and great brightness that shone therein,1 it was to magnify the Law, according as Saint Paul declareth: and the very story it self showeth sufficiently,2 that it behoved Moses to be known thereby to be as an Angel, and not to be taken any more to be within the common state of a mortal man, insomuch that his countenance shone as bright as the sun, which the people could not abide, & that was to put them in mind of their own weakness and frailty. That was the chief cause why Moses wore a veil to hide his face withal. But yet herewithall Saint Paul sticketh not to say, that God showed even then aforehand by way of figure, that there should befall such a dimness and blindness upon the Jews, that whensoever they red the Law or heard it preached, they should have as it were a veil before their eyes, so as they should not see a whit. And Saint Paul saith that this thing was accomplished even in his time among the Jews.3 For they red Moses continually in their Synagogues: and yet they continued as stark beasts as the heathen, so as they became brutish through their own foolish fancies, and could not perceive Gods trueth at all. For Saint Paul telleth them, that all the Law is nothing without Jesus Christ: it is but as a dead thing, because Jesus Christ is as the soul and perfection thereof. So then, as touching the breaking of the Tables:4 it was the foresaid cause that moved Moses to do it: that is to wit, to show the people that God disclaimed them, as if he had said, your God giveth you over, and hath divorced himself from you. For in as much as your wickedness, hath separated you from him: it is good reason that he also should stand discharged of his promise, and ⟨p. 404⟩