Sermons of M. John Calvin upon the Epistle of Saint Paul to the GalatiansSermons of M. Iohn Caluine vpon the Epistle of Saincte Paule to the Galathians

And wherein was that washing? was it in the water? No: but in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the brute beasts were slain, there they beheld that they had deserved death. The beasts were guiltless, and yet they were sacrificed for mens sakes, to bear their sins. Thus ye see a mirror which showeth that all men are cursed of God. And yet in so doing men humbled themselves, calling upon God, and protesting that they were redeemed by the sacrifice: Howbeit not by those shadowing sacrifices, but by the true sacrifice which was not yet come into the world. But what did the Jews? When they were once circumcised, they thought that God was bound unto them for it. And when they had offered sacrifice, they thought there was great holiness in so doing, and made their boast thereof. But the Prophets rebuked those hypocrites double. For first they told them that when they had kept all the Ceremonies of the law, their doings were nothing,¹ all was but vanity. For behold, God saith, I will have mercy and not sacrifice: and again, I will show thee ô man how thou shalt please God: be thou humbled truly, & imagine not to bring him many sheep & Oxen,² for that is nothing: but deal thou justly ⟨image 105⟩and uprightly, and when thou hast worshipped him, live honestly and uncorruptly with thy neighbours. Also we see what our Lord saith in Jeremiah.³ Did I speak to your fathers (saith he) of offering sacrifice unto me? No, (saith he) but I willed them to obey me, and to hearken to my voice, and to serve me with a sound hart. Again in another place it is said,⁴ Lord thou lovest faithfulness. Thus we see how the prophets rebuke the Hypocrites for being held back by the Ceremonies, which are nothing of themselves, except men walk in a clear conscience towards God, and in faithfulness towards men. And after that the Prophets have spoken so: they add secondly that when men have done all that they can, yet cease they not to be still in God's debt,⁵ and that the Ceremonies serve to bring them still nearer, that is to wit, to make them acknowledge that God calleth them to him, promising them to show them mercy, and too forget and bury all their misdeeds, howbeit by mean of the Redeemer that was promised them.