Sermons upon Deuteronomy

It sufficeth to know in a word, that when God offereth his favour unto those that obey him, it is to the end they should serve him, not through constraint, but of a free good will: knowing that it is for their own commodity, & welfare, and again that on the other side such as are of their own nature given over to their lustful desires, & take to themselves a lawless liberty of living il, must be withheld by fear sith they see that they shall not escape the hand of God, but that in the end they must come to their account. Thus ye see what we have to bear in mind in a word until we come to handle the matter more at large.

It suffiseth to knowe in a worde, yt when God offereth his fauour vnto those yt obey him, it is to the end they shoulde serue him, not through constraint, but of a free good will: knowing yt it is for their owne cōmoditie, & welfare, and againe yt on the other side such as are of their owne nature giuen ouer to their lustfull desires, & take to thēselues a lawles libertie of liuing il, must be withheld by feare sith they see yt they shall not escape ye hand of God, but yt in the end they must come to their account. Thus ye see what we haue to beare in minde in a worde vntill wee come to handle the matter more at large.

Moreover let us note well that which we have said, namely that God thinks it not enough to have spoken himself; but he will have us also to agree as it were in one melody with him. And that is to show the faith which we have in his word, which consisteth in these two points: namely, that we embrace his promises & hang wholly upon them: and secondly that we tremble, as often as he giveth us any ny sine of his wrath, so as we be not blockish, nor drowsy, nor so hardened that he must be fain to strike upon us with main blows, before we can feel his anger: but that we prevent it by endeavouring to obey him, & eschew his vengeance as much as we can. Now then blessings in this place are conditional, to wit, blessed is he which observeth the law of God, which maintaineth his service purely, which is not given to superstitions nor Idolatries, which abuseth not his holy name, which observeth the day of rest, & all the other ceremonies, which honoureth his father & mother. This blessing (I say) is matched with condition, so that if we serve God, he will show himself liberal unto us, & we shall not loose our time: but yet do all these blessings depend hereupon, that God of his free goodness had chosen this people: so that they might not rest on this point, to say, Blessed is he which serveth God. And who is that? For none dischargeth himself of this duty (as we have already declared) & shall see further in the end of this chap. Seeing then that we are all sinners, yea even the faithful, insomuch that when they endeavour to walk uprightly they make many false steps; what shall become of us then? It is certain we should be all deprived of the hope of salvation, if we had nothing else to lean unto than our own righteousness. But (as I told you) y promises which import a condition depend hereupon, that God hath received us for his people, & will have us to take him for our father. Now this thing is grounded on nothing else but upon his mercy. So then we must be throughly persuaded, that God will take pity on us, though we be wretched sinners, & deserve not to be pitied: he will receive us for righteous & accept of us, although we deserve to be rejected of him. And although we can hope for nothing but utter confusion, yet notwithstanding we shall be assured of the inheritance of salvation because we are his children. We must be throughly persuaded as touching this point.