Sermons of John Calvin, upon the song that Hezekiah made after he had been…Sermons of Iohn Caluin, vpon the songe that Ezechias made after he had bene…

Now further he sayeth: That all the time of his life he will walk in fear, & go on easily or softly as a man whose pride is abated, & draweth his legs after him. Yea in the bitterness of his soul.

Nowe further he saieth: That all the tyme of his lyfe he wyll walke in feare, & go on easily or softly as a man whose pride is abated, & draweth his legges after him. Yea in the bitternes of his soule.

Here Hezekiah declareth that God hath so engraved in him the feeling of this correction, and hath so printed it in his heart, that the remembrance thereof shall never be blotted out. It may many times come to pass (and we find it in proof oftener ⟨p. 50⟩than we need) that when God presseth us, we be altogether astonished, & then we groan, & if we be to confess our faults with humility, it is marvel to here us. Briefly we be not niggardly in words, ether to show the greatness of our grief, or to declare our faults, or to bless the name of god. But we do nothing but shake our ears by & by after▪ & by the next morrow after god hath given us release or rest, we think no more of it. Lo in what sort men be, & how they seek God (as it is said unto the Prophet) while he doth draw them unto him by force, then they call upon him, and confess the debt as we have said, but so soon as God spareth them, they are as they were before, they lift up their heads like stags, they do nothing but rejoice, where before they were so stricken down as nothing cold be more, their face was all amazed with fear, shortly, there was even now nothing but sorrow, and forthwith they make great cheer, they return to their delights, and (that more is) they fare as if they meant to despise God openly. We see then this inconstancy, this change, this lightness in manner in all men. On the contrary side Hezekiah saith here that it is not only for the time present that he knoweth that God hath chastised him, but for so long as he shall live in this world he shall alway have mind of the correction that he hath received, and he shall go as with a trembling pace, for the word which he useth, doeth some time signify to go softly, and sometime to remove. Now in effect, he meaneth to say that he shall never have steadfast pace, but he shall be so much enfeebled, that he shall be as a man drawn out of the ditch, or as he that hath a long time ben sick he doeth with great pain draw his legs