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

Ye see then how the case standeth and it is not I that doth say it, ⟨image 247⟩but it is the Prophet Isaiah that speaketh so, and Saint Paul who is a faithful expounder of Gods meaning, confirmeth the matter. Wherefore let us learn too join with the true children of God, which have the infallible record of the holy Ghost, and not follow the greater throng, but let all these wretches go, which cast themselves wilfully into Satan's snares, & wander like brute beasts without any discretion. But by the way we have to mark, that such as are the children of the Church cease not to be our fathers, insomuch that besides the common brotherhood that is betwixt them and us, there is this moreover, that by their means we be begotten in the word of God,¹ according as it is said that we be Abraham's children, and the true Israel of God, as if we were descended of Jacobs race. Therefore we have those for our fathers which are our brothers too: and all of us together are the children of God and his Church. For whereas our Lord Jesus Christ is in very deed the only son of God: he is to this end called our head, that we being knit together in him, and becoming members of his body, might be held and taken for Gods children, becoming that thing by free adoption, which we be not by nature. And Saint Paul telleth us, that this befalleth us by promise after the example of Isaac, too express that we must not have any vain confidence in our own deserts, or in any virtue that is in our persons, but be utterly void of all pride, knowing that all the worthiness which we have, cometh of Gods mere grace and free gift. Thus ye see that the thing wherein we differ from the bastard children which boast themselves falsely of Gods name, is that whereas they be puffed up with selfelyking, and delight in their hypocrisy, and are always prating of their free will, of their meritorious works, of their satisfactions, and of their virtues as well cardinal as theological, as they term them, and (to be short) have nothing in them but pride:

Ye see then how the cace standeth and it is not I that doth say it, ⟨image 247⟩but it is the Prophete Esay that speaketh so, and Saint Paule who is a faythfull expounder of Gods meening, confirmeth the matter. VVherefore let vs learne too ioyne with the true children of God, which haue the infallible recorde of the holy Ghost, and not follow the greater throng, but let all these wretches go, whiche cast themselues wilfully into Satans snares, & wander like brute beasts without any discretion. But by the way wee haue to marke, that such as are the children of the Church ceasse not to bee our fathers, insomuch that besides the common brotherhood that is betwixt them and vs, there is this moreouer, that by their meanes we be begotten in the worde of God,