Thirteen sermons of Master John Calvin, entreating of the free election of God in…Thirteene sermons of Maister Iohn Caluine, entreating of the free election of God in…

that is, that when the Gospel hath been preached to a whole people, there are then many Hypocrites, the others are rebels, others become wholly brutish, in such sort that they profit but very little in this school, although God note all without exception to whom he speaketh. And beyond all these, a man shall find ⟨p. 30⟩many, who through contempt & ingratitude will shut against themselves the gate of salvation, & will reject all the graces of God: and not only this: but men shall find deadly enemies of the doctrine, although they be of the household, And in very deed the prophet Isaiah having said, that god would gather his church out of the world, & that he would have so great a people as should be wonderful, in stead of rejoicing, he afterwards addeth: Alas my bowels. Now by this he showeth, that when it shall seem that all must flourish & prosper, & that God must be glorified both of great & small, & that his banner must be displayed, to gather together the whole world, to the end that with one accord all may serve God: then he discovereth a secret mischief. For the Prophet crieth not only alas the hands, alas the legs: but he crieth out, alas my bowels, as though he would say, this mischief is so rooted in the church, that it must be as it were mingled of so sundry sorts of men, that she must nourish in her own belly her own enemies, as we have seen by the figure in Rebecca. Now what is to be done therein? Every one seeth that if we enter into such fantasies, we cannot have any resolution, & the devil will thrust in himself amongst, to the end to make us blaspheme against God, or else to put such a bitterness into our heart, that we shall seem rather to be blocks of wood, then reasonable creatures formed according to Gods image: as we do see the experience thereof in many people, who do become as it were mad & raging against god, because they cannot rid themselves from difficulties & doubts. ⟨image 36⟩It is necessary therefore to search out a remedy. Now it is true that we cannot exempt fully our selves from all passions, that at the first blush and as it were with some puff we be not moved and troubled, and that our thoughts do not wander, that we do not conceive many things at random, and that we have not many disputes, both on the one side and on the other:

that is, that when the Gospel hath beene preached to a whole people, there are then many Hypocrites, the others are rebels, others become wholly brutish, in such sort that they profite but very little in this schoole, although God note all without exception to whom he speaketh. And beyond all these, a man shall finde