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truth_n	church_n	faith_n	pillar_n	4,667	5	10.3750	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17717	Sermons of M. Iohn Caluine, vpon the.X.Commandementes of the Lawe, geuen of God by Moses, otherwise called the Decalogue. Gathered word for word, presently at his sermons, when he preached on Deuteronomie, without adding vnto, or diminishing from them any thing afterward. Translated out of Frenche into English, by I.H.; Sermons sur les Dix commandemens. English	Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564.; Harmar, John, 1555?-1613.	1579 (1579)	STC 4452; ESTC S118603	228,662	264

the lawe to haue it well knowne and vnderstoode let vs make our request that it will please him by the vertue and power of his holie spirite to write it at this day in vs that wee may holde it within vs and that howe soeuer the diuell labour herein hee may neuer wipe it out of our remembraunce Nowe withall Moses concludeth that the lawe was deliuered vnto him to conserue and to keepe it and to bee also the minister and dispenser of it to the people that he might bee acknowledged of them for a Prophet for otherwise he could not haue executed his office he could not haue edified the Church of GOD except men had knowne that this charge was committed vnto him As at this time if wee were not persuaded that GOD would that his Gospell should be preached by the mouth of men that there should be pastours in the Church to carrie abrode his word which of vs would daine or vouchsafe to heare a minister I am not nor ante creature beside of such dignitie as that I might persuade the worlde to receiue what I say But when I speake here in the name of God that men hearken to his doctrine to rule and order them selues thereto and to doe him homage beholde this is of more force than all the lawes than all the statutes than all the edictes of Kings and Emperours Hath a mortall man done this No. But when we knowe that God would that this policie and rule of order should be in his Church and that men should inuiolablie obserue it that is that there be Pastours which may beare his word abrode which may be expounders of it which may be as his messengers to announce and declare the remission of sinnes in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ which may reprehend which may reproue which may comfort and exhort when I say we vnderstand that God would such a regiment should be in his Church then are we ashamed to resist and withstand him which hath formed and created vs Loe why Moses in this place saith that God deliuered him the lawe It is true that God deliuered it to all the people in generall as we haue said Why then is Moses now the onelie possessor of it It seemeth that God would depriue the whole world of it and that Moses onely were priuileged therein as if the lawe were written for him and all other as it were excluded and shut out from it But this is nothing so And yet albeit the lawe was giuen for the whole people Moses is appointed the garder and protectour of it And this which God hath pronounced of him we must extend further as we see the Prophetes were appointed in the selfe same charge namely that they were as stewardes and dispensers of the treasure of saluation of this couenaunt of God and that this office was giuen vnto them alwayes to declare the will of GOD and to preach it vnto vs in his name And this is the generall rule which Saint Paule hath deliuered That men ought to esteeme vs as the ministers of God and dispensers of the secretes which hee hath sent the world Now when Saint Paule saith That we are disposers of the secretes of GOD he sheweth hereby that it is not ynough that we haue the holie Scripture that euerie one reade it in his house but it is further required that it be preached vnto vs that we reteine among vs this order to be taught by the mouth of men that there be pastours and teachers whose ministerie God vseth to the end that when we shall heare them we may profite more and more in the doctrine of saluation And this is the cause why Saint Paule in an other place saith That the Church is the piller of truth and as it were the safegard and towre thereof The Papists alledge this verie foolishly to yeeld vnto themselues a licentious libertie of making new articles of faith and of establishing lawes after their owne fansie for Saint Paule hath vnderstood the cleane contrarie He saith therfore That the Church is the piller and sure prop of the truth of God because that when GOD published his trueth vnto men by the lawe by the Prophetes and the Apostles hee would that this ministerie shoulde indure and bee perpetuall that is that there shoulde bee some deputed and appointed to this office and charge to expounde his worde to edifie the Churche in this sort Let vs therefore knowe that it is by meanes of the Churche that the trueth remaineth in his perfect and entire estate For when GOD raiseth vp men which are indued with his spirite to confirme vs in the faith to enlighten vs and to shewe vs the right way Loe how the truth of God remaineth vnto the worlde how it is not extinguished howe it perisheth not Let vs then note that Moses meant not here to make himselfe the onelie possessour of the lawe to exclude the people from it and to shut them out of doores but hee speaketh as thus vnto them Welbeloued it is verie true that the lawe is common vnto vs all wee are all the children of God I challenge nothing vnto my selfe aboue you yet for all this if I will discharge my dutie in the office wherein God hath appointed mee I must be a faithfull expositor of the lawe to you I must be the keeper of it that you tread it not vnder foote I must put you in mind of it euerie day that you neuer forget it Seeing then it is so let all them which are here appointed ministers of the worde of God take heede they be prest and readie to serue and minister vnto the ignorant and let all consider that it is not ynough to read the holie Scripture but we must be diligent to profite therein and to come with all humilitie to heare them which are ordeined ministers of the worde to deliuer vnto vs the meaning and vnderstanding thereof Thus ye see whereto this text is to be referred Nowe let vs cast our selues downe before the maiestie of our good God with acknowledgement of our faultes praying him to make vs feele them better than we haue done and to lead vs to such a repentance that we desire onely to serue and please him without seeking after anie thing of our owne And because we are so giuen to the things of this world pray we him the sooner to drawe vs hence and in the meane while to giue vs his grace to order our life to his will and to conforme it to his iustice And for the doing hereof pray we him that his word may beare such rule ouer vs that we be gouerned by it and conforme our whole life thereto vntill that being despoiled of all our carnall affections wee be clothed with his heauenlie glorie when we shall haue neede neither of scripture nor of preaching That it will please him to graunt this grace not onelie to vs but vnto all people and nations of the earth

¶ SERMONS of M. Iohn Caluine vpon the ▪ X. Commandementes of the Lawe geuen of God by Moses otherwise called the Decalogue Gathered word for word presently at his Sermons when he preached on Deuteronomie without adding vnto or diminishing from them any thing afterward Translated out of Frenche into English by I. H. ¶ Imprinted at London for Iohn Harison 1579. ¶ To the Right excellent and Honourable Lorde the Lorde Robert Dudley Earle of Leycester Baron of Denbigh Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter Maister of the Queenes Maiesties horses and one of her Graces most Honourable priuie Councell Iohn Harmar wisheth all godlie felicitie continuance of health increase of Honour and Graces eternall OCcasioned Right Honourable to consider certeine of M. Caluins Sermons in the Frenche tongue vpon the lawe of God and his hestes and finding them though gathered and set forth by others yet aunswerable to their makers labour to bee godlie learned and profitable I was the bolder to aduenture the deliuerance of them into our mother language and most bolde to present your Honour therewith the beginning of small abilitie such as they bee yet due to your Lordshippe vnto whom I owe all thankfulnesse and humble duetie Your Honours good procurement of her Maiesties gratious fauour whereby I first became a Scholer in Winchester Colledge afterward to bee remoued to the New Colledge of Oxford whereof at this present I am a poore member I could neuer since forget or burie so good a benefite in such great obliuion Some signification therefore of a gratefull minde is herein sought together with the profit of many the simpler sorte which the rather may be atteined to by your Lordshippes honourable name fauourable countenance and protection which being vouchsafed will be sufficientlieable to counteruaile the contrarie endeuours of such euill disposed persons as seeke euen vnder the colour of greatest truth to pull out the eyes of knowledge and to bring a palpable darkenesse vpon the face of the earth a darkenesse to be brought in by the grosse mist of deuout ignoraunce as more perillous so more lamentable than the temporarie darkenesse of Aegypt For that is the pretence which they vse when as they seeke no other thing than to entrap men by diuelish Sophistrie What need the lawe say they We haue the Gospel What neede we written expositors We haue the liuelie voices of Preachers sounding in great plentie euerie where Of which two speaches the former is vaine the latter parciall and both of them are wicked Truth it is that the strength and sting of the lawes dominion to condemnation concerning the faithfull is weakened and cleane plucked out that the fire is extinguished wherewith the mountaine smoked that the stonie tables are softened that the heauie yoke is lightened that grace hath superabounded and an horne of strong saluation is erected and declared through the administration of the spirite What then Shall we therefore welter in sinne and wallow in the lustes thereof because of these things God forbid Nay rather as the lawe schooleth vs to seeke for grace at the bodie of Christ so the gratious Christian is taught to repaire againe to the booke of the lawe to liue therafter in deede now without seruile feare being deliuered from bondage to serue in freedome of an vpright holie and sincere conscience But as the Bee that hath in her honie hath also a sting so the best men indued with the grace of GOD a thing incomparablie better than honie haue notwithstanding certeine remnantes of the staine of Adam as a sting of corruption to their mortall bodies Whereof to put vs in mind that we may plucke out this sting and as it were weed the garden of our consciences who as the purest ground yet bring forth some weedes of imperfection the lawe of God is most behoouefull and necessarie and M. Caluins trauelles thereon most fruitefull and profitable who striketh euer at the originall and roote of sinne and bringeth the commandement to his olde first and true meaning from the corrupt and common vnderstanding For hee groundeth the exposition of the law vpon the nature of the Lawgiuer who because he is a spirit will be serued in spirit and truth And because he searcheth the reines soundeth the depth of the heart will be serued with euerie affection and motion thereof in all holinesse and sinceritie so that no man can safelie feede or flatter himselfe in the smallest of his owne faultes or follics And now what need there is of this knowledge in England all men see and others can better saie than my selfe declare how thinlie scant here and there such excellent vnderstanding groweth Which thing in more wordes to lament were an ouerlong deteining of your Lordship from your greater affaires The Lord of Lordes and God almightie garde you euer and guide you with his holie spirit to the benefite and commoditie of our countrie and to the profite of his Church with increase of honour to his honour alwayes Your humble to commaund ▪ Iohn Harmar The first Sermon of M. Iohn Caluine vppon the Commaundementes of the Lawe Deut. Chap. 4. 44 This is the Lawe whiche Moses set before the children of Israel 45 These are the witnesses and the ordinances and the Lawes whiche Moses declared to the children of Israel after they came out of Aegypt 46 On this side Iordan in the vallie ouer against Beth-peor in the land of Sihon King of the Amorites which dwelt at Heshbon FOrasmuch as the world is hardly kept and reteined in subiection vnder God let vs see how he for his part after he had chosen to himselfe one peculiar people vouchsafeth to rule them not for one time onely but so long and so often vntill the people should bee well accustomed to the yoke whiche order he vseth yet daily in his Church It ought to suffice vs that we had vnderstood of the truth of our God in one simple woord but because we are not so readie to beleeue as were requisite and when we haue begonne we decline and fall away in the end insomuch that we vtterly forget that which was taught vs see I say howe he is not contented to haue declared vnto vs for one day that whiche apperteineth to our saluation but calleth the same to our mindes continually and imprinteth it in our heartes as much as is possible Let vs consider to this purpose how Moses reciteth in this place that he not onely deliuered the Lawe in Horeb but also that after that he had made his circuite in the wildernesse by the space of fortie yeares or there about he hath againe instructed the people yea that of all the time he was with them he neuer ceased to set before them that which God had commaunded him to publish as we haue alreadie aboue touched And the diligence we here see in Moses is not superfluous but to good purpose when he saith that being come almost to Iordan and hauing discomfited Sehon King

of the Amorites and Og the King of Bashan his neighbour that he yet putteth them in minde of the statutes and ordinaunces of God to the end the people should rest on them and put them in practise and that if heretofore they haue not bene sufficientlie instructed they should at the lest then knowe the truth of the Lorde wherein they should wholie abide Thus yee see what Moses ment by this place and here he purposely placeth together these wordes the Lawe the Witnesses the Statutes the Ordinaunces to the end he might more fullie expresse declare as we haue before shewed that God hath not instructed his people by halfes or deliuered vnto them some obscure or short and vnperfect doctrine but that he hath comprised in the Lawe whatsoeuer was good and profitable so that if in it the people would stay them selues they should not neede to be busied in seeking for any thing beside as being fullie and wholie guided and directed by it Let vs marke this for in this sense the Lawe is a doctrine as indeed the worde whereby it is called is hence taken and deriued It foloweth The witnesses which unporteth as much as if God should declare that he maketh some contract or bargaine with men that he setteth downe articles to this end that he neither omitteth or forgetteth any thing whiche should serue to knit vp this mutuall agreement and aliance when it pleaseth him to choose and adopt vs for his people and for his Church to bring vs to himselfe For to speake in fewe woordes all that whiche concerneth this spirituall couenaunt betweene him and vs is comprehended vnder this word Witnesses because these are as the articles and pointes of the couenaunt as when bondes are geuen when men contract and bargaine together all is put in which may serue for the one and the other partie Wee see then how God hath protested that the Lawe conteineth a sufficient doctrine if so be men would keepe them selues vnder it to the declaration whereof the two other woordes followe the Statutes the Ordinaunces Nowe when God bestoweth such paine to teach and instruct vs and declareth that he hath omitted nothing whiche might perteine herevnto who will not meruell that our mindes for all this are so fleeing and wandering that we alwayes desire I knowe not what something better than that whiche wee finde in the woorde of God This diuelish curiositie both from all times reigned in the world and at this day a man may see that whatsoeuer one doeth he can not represse and stay this wicked and cursed desire but that men will bee alwayes wiser than God would haue them to bee And why We can not denie when his woord is preached but that he hath declared all thinges which were good and for our profite but yet we for all this time are verie ticklish we flote in out fantasies and we will alwayes haue one thing or other more than that which God hath shewed vs Seeing then that such a vice bewrayeth it selfe in vs it doth stand vs in hand to beare in mind the warning which is here conteined namely that if we will suffer God to be our maister we shall finde in his schoole all perfection of wisedome For his lawe is sufficient of it selfe to make vs wise againe It conteineth as we haue saide the articles whiche serue to ioyne vs to our God in whome all our glorie and felicitie consisteth Moreouer it sheweth vs the rule of well doing in such sort that we neede not searche further to vnderstand what God liketh and alloweth for we haue both his statues ordinaunces So then we may know and be throughlie persuaded that our life shal be acceptable vnto God if we passe not the boundes whiche he hath set and assigned vs but if wee adde any thing of our owne whatsoeuer it bee let vs not thinke that God approueth it as right and good for he hath forgotten nothing of that whiche belongeth to our profite and necessitie These two pointes are well worth the noting for they serue to make vs to haue in greater price and reuerence the doctrine whiche is euerie day proposed vnto vs in the name of god For when wee see that in it is perfect wisedome ought not we is applie all our senses to it and to hold our selues thereto When we see that God ceaseth not but continueth daily to teach vs ought not we for our part to be diligent and attentiue to the end we might profite vnder him And if at the first we be not so geuen vnto it as were requisite we should be all the time of our life ought wee not to traine our selues to knowe alwayes better and better the will of God euen vntill we bee wholie ridde of all ignoraunce which shal be when we are taken foorth of this world and not before Nowe it is certeine that whiche Moses hath done ought at this day to serue vs for a rule and example for it is not done at randon and beside good purpose Againe God appointed him as a spectacle and mirrour to all Prophetes and to all those which haue the charge of teaching in his church Let vs then vnderstand that God will not that we receiue his truth for one day onely as if one lesson were inough for vs but that wee shoulde repeate againe that which before we vnderstood to the end it might tarrie by vs and take such deepe roote in vs that we might haue no excuse nor make any allegation to say O I haue not bene yet throughly instructed God then on his part is alwayes readie to teach vs to the end we might not erre except we our selues woulde wittingly decline and of wilfull malice And here is expresse mention made of the temple of Peor to shewe that although the people had in that place an obiect or sight to turne them to superstition yet they had also a remedie in that God daily stirred them vp by his worde to the end they shoulde not meddle with the idolatries of the Painims True it is that it was an hard and greeuous chastisement that the people of God were feigne to haue euer before their eyes the temple of an idol it was all one as if God to spite and anger them shoulde say I did call you to possesse a land which shoulde be dedicated to my seruice where you shoulde haue seene nothing which might in any point haue offended you for my sanctuarie shoulde haue bene set vp in the middest of you I woulde haue bene purely worshipped according to my lawe the lande should not haue bene vnhalowed defiled with her old superstitions all idolatrie should haue bene so raced out that a man should heare nothing but my praises sounded but now ye see ye are here in the corner of the countrie where you see a temple of idols where you see many villanous abhominations This is then as a vengeance which you feele for your sinnes for as much as