A17698:3311
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.
Now when our Lord sayeth, I command thee to do so, he taketh that as granted, which I have already touched, to wit, that because he is the Redeemer of this people, therefore they are bound unto him. You owe all things §20unto me (sayeth he): and seeing it is so, I will have you pay such a tribute in way of reknowledging of those goods and lands, which you hold of me: and I require nothing but that which is mine. Now when we have well considered hereupon, let us take the exposition hereof as Saint Paul delivereth it unto us in the fourteenth Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans: and we shall see how profitable this doctrine is for us. For, for this cause (sayeth he)§30 Jesus Christ dyed and rose again, to the intent that we should be his, both while we live and when we dye. Behold here a bond which we cannot escape, and woe be unto him which seeketh to exempt himself from it: to wit, to dedicate both our life and death unto his service, who hath so loved us and held us so dear, that he hath not spared his own life, to win us unto himself and unto God his father. Seeing then that he hath so redeemed us, that we are §40his inheritance, and that he declareth that we are wholly his, & that we belong properly unto him, it is good reason that whensoever he commandeth us any thing, we should lay our hand on our mouth, and receive without any gainsaying whatsoever he putteth unto us. For seeing he is our Redeemer and that we hold of him whatsoever we have, are we not over blockish, if we submit not our selves unto him and rest altogether on his will? And that is the §50cause also why GOD useth this preface in his law:1 I am the everliving thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Before that God setteth down any commandment to rule the life of his people by, he saith: Know ye that I have already purchased you to serve me. I grant we have not been brought out of the land of Egypt; but yet the redemption which hath been wrought for us is much more precious: for we are delivered from the bottomless §60pit of hell. For as much therefore as we of our own nature are so slow to serve God, or rather so resty, that we draw clean backward from his will: because we receive not the yoke quietly, but are as young untamed and unhandled heifers, or rather as stiffenecked bulls.