Sermon 43: 1 Samuel 12:19-22

19. And all the people said to Samuel: Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die: for we have added evil to all our sins, that we asked a king for ourselves. 20. But Samuel said to the people: Do not fear, you have done all this evil; nevertheless do not depart from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21. And do not turn aside after vain things, which shall not profit you, nor deliver you, because they are vain. 22. And the Lord shall not forsake His people, for His great name's sake: because the Lord has sworn to make you a people for Himself.

If we have done injury to anyone, that it ought to be compensated, with reason demanding this, is certain: much... ...more so when we have despised God's graces, and by that contempt have also brought disgrace on the author, that contempt must be compensated, and the injury committed must be wiped out to the best of our powers. But since we are not of our own motion prone to this compensation, we are compelled to it by the Lord Himself. For just as stubborn and contumacious men, when they have willingly inflicted injury on someone, do not at once come to the acknowledgment of fault, but must be summoned and compelled to their duty, that even unwillingly they may make compensation for the injuries inflicted: so God deals with men, whom when He sees touched with no serious penance for their sins, He terrifies by His judgment, until their contumacy and stubbornness is crushed. And so He casts them down and humbles them, beaten with His blows, that confessing their sins they may beg pardon. Of this matter a remarkable example is here proposed to us. For the people had rejected Samuel: which injury touched not only a mortal man, but God Himself, the living. And so Samuel, as if he had power over the elements, by his prayers obtained thunders and rains. By which the people, terrified, acknowledge, and indeed brought by greater force, that they had risen up against God. Therefore they flee to Samuel, having confessed their sins, that he should be their intercessor. This therefore is a public confession of sins, which God extorts from this contumacious people, who had abused God's mercy and gentleness, and who, puffed up with pride, could never have been amended unless tamed by terror and fear. From which we easily gather a useful doctrine: that God affects us with a singular benefit, and procures our salvation with paternal solicitude, when He does not allow us any longer contumaciously to despise His majesty, His word, and His works. And when He compels us to the acknowledgment of our sins, and to return to Himself, He brings it about that we render the honor due Him, that we acknowledge Him to have had mercy on us; that we confess our sins, although that confession seems joined with disgrace: that with all shame poured over us we are led by penance, that we abstain from all murmuring and from all complaints: and that we have been so foolish and insane as to have so pertinaciously made of no account God's graces and benefits, and held them in contempt.

Now let us proceed to the words of the people, who say: Pray for your servants. There is here a singular form of speaking, since they say 'your God,' although elsewhere in Scripture this manner of speaking often occurs, where God by name is called the God of his people. But the people here calls God Samuel's by a certain peculiar reason, namely because it confesses itself unworthy that it should any longer be held a people dedicated and consecrated to God: as if to say: God is so angry with us that we dare not even open our mouth to invoke Him, nor lift up our eyes to Him, since our contumacy has shut off our access to Him: meanwhile we acknowledge and confess you to be His prophet, and a faithful and accepted servant: and therefore we do not doubt that your prayers are grateful to Him and heard. You therefore pray God for us. But here it is to be noted, that although we are the greatest sinners, and the most guilty before God's judgment, yet we ought never to despair of God's grace, but always to flee to Him: for then we most need His help and presence. Nevertheless, those about to pray God should think three or four times seriously of His majesty, when especially they are pressed by the bites of conscience, and pressed by the multitude of sins, lest they invoke Him rashly and boldly: but rather feeling within themselves that they have deserved to be sent far from Him, indeed even utterly rejected, they should be overwhelmed with confusion, that, despairing of themselves, our Lord Jesus Christ as mediator and intercessor may intervene, who may plead for them before the Father, and reconcile them to Him. For by His power we know that we are joined to His other members, and since we are members of one body of the church, we should be certainly persuaded that the prayers which throughout the whole world are made by the faithful pertain to us and yield to our salvation: let us therefore first learn that it is not fitting for sinners to approach God confidently, when, having diligently examined their conscience, they feel they have grievously offended Him, nor to pray Him boldly: but rather, conscious of their own unworthiness, they should flee to our Lord Jesus Christ, that from the fraternal conjunction which they know themselves to have in Him, they may have present courage: and since they know that Jesus Christ will never suffer rejection from the Father, but will obtain grace, then with confidence let them set themselves before God, knowing they shall be heard: then let them not doubt but that their prayers also will accompany those of the faithful scattered through the whole world, since the faithful have nothing separated from their brethren. Therefore the faithful must mutually communicate their gifts to one another, and commend their neighbors to God in prayer no less solicitously than themselves, and invoke them in certitude of faith. And these things are to be observed in those words of the people to Samuel: 'Pray the Lord your God for us.' Nor does this place help the papists at all: but rather it convicts them of supreme infidelity, when they seek for themselves dead saints as patrons and advocates. For to Samuel's... ...prayers the people fled, because they knew it was the office of prophets to intercede for the people before God: as the apostle Peter also teaches us in Acts. And indeed as often as in the Scriptures mention is made of false prophets and impostors, by name the Holy Spirit reproaches them with negligence in praying, that with doctrine prayer and intercession do not accompany. And as for Moses, we know that as long as he lived on earth he faithfully fulfilled this part of his office. Samuel's office, succeeding long after, was therefore not only to teach the people, but also to pray, and to intercede for the people whenever anything adverse happened to them. Therefore the people did not flee to Samuel rashly: but they had well known that he had been chosen by God and placed in this rank, and adorned with the spirit of prophecy, that with doctrine and instruction he might also pour out prayers for the people before God. But when the papists invoke the dead, they rest on no foundation of Scripture. For although we are commanded to pray God for one another, yet that this precept is to be understood only of those who live with us on earth is certain: because as long as we are here, we ought to exercise mutual charity. But God forbids the dead, nor does He allow our curiosity to go so far as to inquire about them what they are doing. So we see that the papists have no doctrine or teaching from the Scriptures, when they interrupt the dead with prayers and supplications, and hope to be heard by them: nor can they bring forward any command of God on this matter. Therefore let us learn and hold for certain that we, fleeing to God's servants and desiring to be helped by the intercession of their prayers before God, do this, that they have it in command, and are obligated by God to it, by their office requiring it, to intercede for the people before God: and therefore, provided we do not transgress the limits, this is not only granted to us by God, but also prescribed. But yet another vice, far more grave, holds these wretches: that they flee to the saints, not only that they may have them as intercessors before God: but that they may trust and rest in them, as if they would hear their prayers. And indeed God is committed to oblivion by them, when each flees to a patron whom he chooses for himself, or whom he is accustomed to invoke. Therefore they mutter many prayers before the idol which they have fashioned for themselves: some indeed invoking the Virgin Mary, others Saint Christopher, others another from the multitude of saints: and so they persuade themselves that they do not need God. I omit at present that the memory of that sacrifice once offered for us by our Lord Jesus Christ is obliterated, and the rule which was given to Him by the Father is by these same abolished. For who among the papists calls Him to his help? Who flees to Him as his intercessor and advocate? Indeed in the crowd He is invoked by them, but they do not know that He alone has received this in Himself, to offer the prayers of the faithful fleeing to Him to God the Father, and to make them acceptable, and to obtain that they be heard. The papacy either utterly ignores or abolishes this office of Christ. We therefore, better taught, let us implore the prayers of those on whom God has imposed that burden, lest we transgress the established limits. And let us not for that reason be more remiss in praying, as if it sufficed for others to pray for us, with us ceasing: but rather let us know that our prayers are to be joined with the prayers of all faithful servants of God scattered throughout the whole world: and that we are reckoned in their number, that we may become members of Jesus Christ: and that there may be fulfilled in us what the Prophet asks in the Psalm: 'Lord, remember me.' For we shall never be able to find favor with God, nor obtain anything from Him, unless we are reckoned in His church, and held in the number of the elect: and that gratuitous love by which He embraces His sons may be poured out on us also as joined with them. Finally, that humility ought not to be separated from true faith and charity toward neighbor is certain. But what, I ask, is the humility of the papists? To recede far from God, and wander through many circuits, and feign innumerable patrons for themselves: and yet in this stupor to be much vexed, and to play empty work. Therefore there is nothing but vanity in those who, although tormenting themselves long and much, yet promote nothing: nor are they made more certain about God's will toward them. Indeed I confess that we ought above all to cultivate humility and modesty. But not therefore can we approach God by our own merits: and yet, with merits ceasing, we do not cease to come to Him, and hope, although unworthy, to be received by God, and to be reckoned as sons, when we are joined to the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and acknowledge Him as our head.

And so far on this. There follow next the words of the people, by which it confesses this new sin which it had added to the previous ones, in asking a king, by which it had drawn upon itself great condemnation. He says therefore that it was a great offense, that not content with the previous state in which God had willed them to be, by seeking that a king be given them, they had provoked God's wrath upon themselves in this way. Nevertheless they ask Samuel to intercede for them before God, that he might pray for them not to die. In the first place it is to be observed that the people asks Samuel to placate God's wrath, lest the people of Israel be destroyed by the Lord and utterly perish. But why did it fear this for itself? Namely, it had felt God offended with it. From which it must be observed: as often as God exhibits some sign of His wrath, death must be feared by us as if present. For whoever is under the rule of some Prince... ...vehemently fears to offend him. And if it should happen that he is offended, no one fails to fear greatly and to dread the wrath of the Prince. But if the offense of a mortal man brings such horror of death upon us, what will it be when we recall to memory the power of God? And besides, who does not acknowledge himself to have deserved death a hundred thousand times if God should deal with us according to the strictest right? Therefore when God admonishes us, and casts in the sense of sins, we must take the greatest care lest we be torpid in them, but rather effort must be made that we awake at once, and whatever evil has happened, willingly confess and acknowledge that we have deserved not only far heavier evil but also eternal death. Therefore the greater is our stupor in this part, the more diligently we ought to meditate and use this doctrine. For it most often happens, that if God has struck us with some disease or other calamity, no one thinks of himself, that acknowledging himself a sinner he should be converted to God with sincere and pure mind, and flee to His mercy. But intent only on the evil by which we are pressed, we are stupefied as to the memory of God, and are like blocks of wood. Although when God strikes, no one fails to feel the blow, and to confess that he has offended God: but he does not seriously apprehend the magnitude of his sins. For we must go further, namely, confess that we are guilty of eternal death. Therefore we ought to be roused at the smallest blows, and fear lest a harder hand of His rise against us: and at these light blows of ours, think as if a day were appointed against us before God, whose dreadful vengeance we feel armed against us, which, although we are harder than iron and steel, yet, as if struck from heaven by lightning, reduces us to nothing, and makes us melt, as snows are wont to be dissolved by the heat of the sun: as the prophet says in Psalm 97, that one spark of God's wrath suffices to absorb men entirely. Therefore let us know that the chastisements sent us by God, whether diseases, or poverty, or any other calamity, are to be received in such a way that we should think further than about the present evil: but we should know that we have deserved eternal death: and therefore should fear God's hand armed against us, unless we flee to Him and beg pardon. And this doctrine is to be gathered from those words: 'You shall pray for us that we may not perish.' From which words we perceive that this people had been turned to God, and had a sense of sins and of imminent misery. For they ask Samuel to intercede for them before God, terrified by the punishment of death, which they confess they have deserved a hundred thousand times. And therefore we have heard above that the people feared God and Samuel. Which is also not lightly to be passed over, since often in the Scriptures such a phrase occurs: and especially when it makes mention of Moses, to whom God had attributed such great authority. For we see that Moses in that admirable work of God, the liberation of the people, was joined to God, not indeed as a partner, but as an organ of His Spirit for interpreting God's will to the people. And therefore that people of Israel is said to have feared God and Moses. But shall we say, I ask, that Moses obtained supreme authority from God, placed in the same rank with Him? By no means. But it is thus signified that the people did not believe God, except through the doctrine which Moses, God's interpreter and intermediary, proposed. For although God speaking on Mount Sinai was heard, yet He willed His will to be expounded to the people through the ordinary ministry of His servant. The same must be said of Samuel. For we have seen at the beginning that he had been set as overseer of the people by God, whom He would govern and rule through his ministry. Therefore the people could not fear God unless they were subjected to Samuel, and revered him as an excellent prophet raised up by God. Therefore it is to be observed that we cannot fear God unless we are ruled by His word, and do not despise His ministers, but hold them in honor. For by a mutual nay rather an indivisible bond there cohere the fear and reverence of God with the honor with which we follow those whom God sends as interpreters of His will to us, and the subjection by which we subject ourselves not indeed to their persons, but to the doctrine which has been entrusted to their faith. Meanwhile we are here taught that men are not to be feared, as hypocrites are wont: but that God's authority must be reserved for Him, that He may obtain the supreme rank: but men are to be honored and held in price only in so far as God uses them as instruments to perfect His work. Indeed you may see today most men abstaining from injuries, contumelies, and blasphemous voices against God, and feigning the highest wisdom and modesty, so that at first sight they appear to be angels and to have arrived at the highest perfection. But if anywhere they are in a private place, in which they fear no reproof, they live diabolically, and luxuriously and intemperately do all things and lustfully: and rend God's name with blasphemous voices, and in short there is found in them what was said: They feign to be Curii among honest men, and privately live bacchanals. Indeed such men, if Samuel were present, would indeed fear him, since they fear us, far inferior to Samuel: but they would not therefore withdraw from evil, but rather, full of wickedness, they would live lustfully and intemperately, if without witnesses by whom they might not be convicted. Therefore there is in them nothing but supreme hypocrisy: whom Scripture also rightly calls sons of Belial.

Let us proceed to the following words of Samuel, by which he reproaches the people both with that deed and with all the preceding ones, as we heard them themselves... ...have confessed, that to all their previous sins they had also added this most grievous one. Therefore Samuel from this accusation of sin takes occasion to recall to their memory their past sins. And we ought to imitate this example. For although we have done penance for many sins, and begged forgiveness from God, and we ought to be persuaded that they have been so blotted out and buried by God that He no longer holds account of them: yet if we relapse into them again, or commit something more serious, it is not enough to confess the present sin, and to be turned to God, from whom as wretched sinners we may obtain grace and mercy, but the confession must be carried further, and the previous sins, which had been blotted out before, must be recalled to memory, that we may seriously think about them: since it does not stand by us, but that God brings new suit and judgment, and bringing forth the old articles, examines our cause anew, and judges as contumacious and refractory, if He should deal with us according to the strictest right. For if anyone has committed some delict among men, the punishment of which he has escaped, and has afterwards led his life without reproof, that sin will be blotted out, nor will he fear its punishment any more in the future: but if he relapses into the same sin or another similar, and is convicted as contumacious: then he will be compelled not only to give an account of the latest deed: but he will be condemned for contumacy and stubbornness, and accordingly his crimes will be gathered into articles as if into a bundle, and dealt with according to the strictest right, and punishments will be exacted which shall be a horror to the whole people. So also it must be observed that, when we have provoked God's wrath by our sins, we do not satisfy His judgment if we are affected only with the sense of the recent delict, but the whole previous life must be reconsidered and examined, since by our malice we have relapsed into sins; and we must think that we are not now only beginning to sin: but that God has so often pardoned us with so great tolerance, that we ought to be filled with the greater shame, that we are so various and inconstant, and so fragile, that we again and again provoke His wrath against us. Thus we see David not only recall to memory his past sins, with God showing him the fruit of his present sins, but going back over his life, ascending to that stain which he brought from his mother's womb, and finally bursting forth into these voices: 'Lord, pardon me the sins which I have committed against you up to now.' But why so? Did David only after three or four years remember to beg pardon of God for the sins committed, and to flee to His mercy? Not at all. But because he was then experiencing God's judgment against himself, and was as it were bound by guilt of many sins, therefore lest God should deal rightly with him, he poured forth into these prayers: 'Lord God, even if I know that the previous sins have been pardoned me by you, yet because before your judgment I am guilty of so many sins, and by my iniquity my wounds have as it were grown sore again, and from the very womb of my mother I am guilty of eternal death, I desire, Lord, that your grace and mercy be again confirmed to me, of which I confess I am unworthy and have deserved to be deprived.' So we see that he is not satisfied with himself, but is so affected with the sense of the most grievous sins of the slaying of Uriah, and the adultery with Bathsheba, that he weighs and explores his whole life, and detesting and abominating himself exclaims: 'Ah Lord, have mercy on me, although before you I am nothing but corruption, and indeed from infancy, in which although before men I was pure from crime yet before you I was guilty and unclean.' And indeed by nature we are all such: for the infant emerging from the mother's womb is then already a son of wrath and perdition, until it is received in grace by God's free mercy, and as a member of the church is united to its head our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore when we see David recalling us to this examination, let us learn ingenuously to confess sins, and to acknowledge that we have not only today and by the latest sin deserved eternal death, but, what is far worse, that we have not ceased by sinning to provoke God, and that the origin of our sins flowed from the first parent Adam himself. Therefore not without merit does David call himself guilty of death from the very womb of his mother, that he may teach us that we are by nature sons of wrath and curse, and indeed enemies of God, unless by His grace and mercy we are received into the number of His sons. And so far on this.

Thereafter follows after the reproach of offenses a consolation against the punishments which they had merited. For Samuel commands them to have present courage, and to place their hope in God, provided they persevere in His worship, with these words: 'Nevertheless do not depart from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart: and the Lord shall not forsake His people.' Of which words let us at present gather the sense, which we shall afterwards examine in detail. Therefore when he commands them to be secure, and not fear, it is as if he taught them to fear God, and yet to be persuaded of His mercy, that He would not punish them as they had deserved, and bring final destruction. Now we have already taught that the Israelites had seemed to reject the Lord Himself when they had asked that a king be given them: but yet he promises that God would never abandon them, because He had chosen them for His people, provided however they persevered in His worship. But first we are taught in this place that we shall never be turned to God affected with the sense of sins, but that we hope and are persuaded that He will be propitious and familiar: and always ready to receive us fleeing to Him in truth and without disguise. And indeed of God's... ...goodness, distrusting we are driven into that rebellion and contumacy that we make no end of provoking God to wrath. Although it is certain that scandalous and reprobate men are affected by terror of divine judgment, with God pursuing them, and they shudder wholly before Him as criminals before a magistrate and their judge. But what else is that horror but the murmuring of the indignant, foaming out their rage, and belching out blasphemous voices against God, with whom, if they could, they would contend in lawsuit? And so the wicked are wont to do, who have no care or solicitude to be turned to God: but who rather are ready to break all the bonds by which they fear they are held back, that they may recede further from Him. For just as a slave fearing the wrath of his master whom he has provoked thinks of flight, lest, compelled to give an account of his deed before his master, he should pay the penalty, or as a wicked and contumacious son wishes either his father's death or his absence, by whom he fears to be corrected and punished for his sins: so wicked men, despairing of God's mercy, rise up against Him with such audacity and contumacy, that at last as if driven by frenzy they rush into any crimes whatever. In short, distrust draws with itself a certain phrenesis by which the conscience of the unbelieving and contumacious is incessantly gnawed. Therefore not amiss does the prophet in Psalm 130 say that God is propitious and naturally beneficent in receiving sinners into grace, that He may be feared. By which words David shows that no one will ever fear God with that fear which He requires, namely that we willingly subject ourselves to Him, and compose ourselves to His obedience, unless first, having tasted His goodness, and certain confidence of obtaining from Him remission of sins, although we are unworthy, has cleaved to our minds. That fear therefore of wicked men, which is rather a horror of madmen, than the fear of God. But on the contrary the fear of God's children is true with reverence and love joined: because we are persuaded that He will have mercy on us. Therefore if we have sinned, let us know that the remedy is ready, if confessing our sins, we most humbly beg pardon through our Lord Jesus Christ: and let us not doubt that they are pardoned us and blotted out by the sacrifice once offered by Him on the cross for our redemption. Therefore Samuel admonishes the people in express words, not to forsake God, or recede from Him, with the promise added that the Lord in turn will not abandon His people. And surely it is certain that without this promise the people could never have been converted to penance. For it is known to anyone what is the custom of the reprobate, namely, pertinaciously sticking in their contumacy, they gnash with their teeth: and although they seem to confess their sins, yet they murmur against God. Experience makes that sufficiently manifest. For Judas took his own life with a noose: and Cain complains that punishment heavier than his crimes is inflicted on him. And this surely happens to all despisers of God, whose contumacy generates in them distrust of God's mercy. Therefore when we have sinned in many things, let us flee to God's mercy as it is set before us in the Gospel: and let us be certainly persuaded that we, fleeing to Him neither feignedly nor pretendedly, shall never be rejected: provided we compose ourselves to His obedience, and from the heart dedicate ourselves to His worship and veneration.

Now let us weigh the foundation of that promise made by Samuel to the people: 'because the Lord has sworn to make you a people for Himself.' The free favor of God is laid as the foundation of this promise, that the people may rest on it. And indeed when the certainty of our salvation is treated of, we must take the greatest care lest we imagine other causes besides God's mercy alone, by which alone moved He has compassion on us. For if we seek any merits or some dignity in ourselves, it is certain that we shall be building a building without lime upon sand, soon to fall. And indeed otherwise we should have been endowed with angelic perfection by nature, by which we might approach more closely to God. And for this cause Paul says that, as long as we look at the law, all God's promises must be abolished. Then if the worship which we exhibit to God He should look at more closely, so far is it from standing before Him, that on the contrary it would rather flow away like water, and collapse without foundation. Therefore it is to be observed that Samuel, in order to bring to the people sure confidence of salvation which is not momentary but firm and immovable, rises up to God's mercy as its fountain and origin, as if to say: It is not to be inquired whether you are worthy of God's mercy, but let this suffice you, that it pleases God of His liberality to receive you into grace. And therefore he adds, 'because the Lord has sworn to make you a people for Himself.' By which words he shows that the sons of Abraham are not by nature better than others: and that God calling them had no regard for any dignity or preparation by which they were disposed to receive that grace. But on the contrary that God had made them His people, who before with the rest of the human race were cursed. And if this is said of those natural branches who are sprung from the holy stock, what shall happen to us grafted in, as Paul calls us? For we are not chosen as Jews born from Abraham, to whom the promise of eternal salvation was made, but we were as a wild olive tree: but God has grafted us into the holy stock of the patriarchs and ancient fathers, that He may make us partakers of that promised inheritance. Since these things are so, let us learn that, although we are unworthy who should approach God, and present ourselves to Him, on account of the infinite filth and imperfections to which we are subject, yet we ought not to despond in mind...

...but rather from this doctrine let us imbue our minds with this: that it pleases God to make us His people. But truly many profane sons are born from faithful fathers, that we may always recall to memory our origin, namely that the faithful are born from the corrupt and cursed seed of Abraham: and that there is in them by nature nothing but abomination, and therefore they would have been in the number of those who shall perish, unless it had seemed good to God to receive them in grace. And so we ought to be a new work of God, that we may be His sons and inheritance, as the prophet says in the Psalm: 'We are His work, and He created us with His hand: because we are sheep of His pasture.' These words could indeed be referred to the condition of all men in general, whom God is said to have created and formed. For all men in general are formed by God: but specifically the faithful are said to be sheep of His pasture, that we may be taught that those things are not to be understood of that general creation according to the flesh, but of the new creation, by which formed He pastures us: and as sheep of His flock He protects and watches over us. And this doctrine is to be drawn from the previous words, and turned to our use, when we hear that it pleases God to make us His people, and to reckon us in the blessed seed of Abraham. Meanwhile however Samuel vehemently exhorts the people not to depart from God, but to persevere in His worship, and to hope for grace, as long as they have not abused such a great privilege. For we know that God was not bound to the seed of Abraham: and that all those who descended from him according to the flesh were not His church, since many were cut off and rejected, as Paul teaches: and Sacred Scripture also teaches the same about Ishmael and Esau. And if those two were rejected, what shall we think must be said of the rest of the multitude, when there were many rotten and rejected members? Well therefore Samuel admonishes the people not to persuade themselves that it is enough to obtain God's grace to be reckoned in His people, and to have the sign of circumcision, which to them was then what to us today is baptism: but rather that they should follow the Lord. For this cause the prophet in Psalms 15 and 24 asks God Himself: Who shall dwell on Mount Zion, that is, the church, and there have a perpetual place: and adds that they shall be those who are pure of heart, and who have innocent hands, that is, those who in God's church shall walk in integrity and sincerity. Indeed many frequented God's temple, who yet were far from God, as we often see Isaiah reproaching them, and especially when he so addresses the people: 'Am I bound to you? You wear out my pavement, and demand a reward. I do not want these things: nor can I bear that you profane my worship.' Therefore the hypocrites indeed frequented the sanctuary, openly testifying about benefits received from God they were about to give thanks: but nothing was sincere; nothing was whole in them; all things were feigned, content to keep a good reputation among men, but little careful to be such as they wished to be held, which has been the corruption of all ages. But God testifies that such feigned worship under the appearance of devotion displeases Him: and therefore admonishes the people that no man will be grateful to God unless he is innocent in hands and pure in heart, that is, whose interior affections are pure and exterior works good. Therefore when conversing with neighbors we ought to help one another, when especially they are to be brought to God, before whom integrity and sincerity is most especially required. For this cause therefore we see this condition added by Samuel: although however the grace of God by no means depends on our will or works. Nor does Samuel in this place teach the people to place the hope of salvation in itself or in its merits: but he strives to rouse them to embrace God's grace, and to shake off the torpor in which most profane men, absorbed, make themselves delights, and feign to place hope in God, that they may give themselves looser reins to every crime, and indulge more freely lust and intemperance. Add the often blasphemous voices of such men, utterly diabolical, that God is most good, God is easy, kind: that even one sigh suffices to escape the punishments of eternal death, that by the single saying 'I have sinned' eternal death may be fled. Since therefore men so easily impose on themselves, and the devil intoxicates them with such flatteries, by name the prophet commands them to give diligent effort lest they despise the grace of God, but cautiously walk in their calling, lest they forsake God, and abuse His grace to evil. So also the apostle Peter admonishes the faithful, that each possess his vessel in all purity, and confirm his election by that testimony.

Now then, etc.

v. 21. 22. See above.

19. All the people said to Samuel: 'Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil of asking for ourselves a king.' 20. Samuel said to the people: 'Do not be afraid. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21. And do not turn aside after empty things which cannot profit or deliver you, for they are empty. 22. The Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.'

When we have wronged someone, reason demands that we make it right. All the more so when we have despised God's grace — and by that contempt have also dishonored the One who gave it. That contempt must be made right, and the injury committed must be repaired to the best of our ability. But since we are not naturally inclined to make such amends on our own, the Lord Himself compels us to it. Just as stubborn and defiant people who have willingly wronged someone do not immediately come to acknowledge their fault — they must be summoned and pressured before they will make any compensation even against their will — so God deals with people. When He sees them unaffected by any genuine sorrow for their sins, He terrifies them with His judgment until their stubbornness and defiance is broken. He casts them down and humbles them under His blows, so that, confessing their sins, they beg for pardon. A remarkable example of this is set before us here. The people had rejected Samuel — and that injury touched not only a mortal man, but God Himself, the living God. So Samuel, as if commanding the elements themselves, obtained by his prayers thunder and rain. Terrified by this, the people acknowledged — brought by irresistible force — that they had risen up against God. They therefore fled to Samuel with their sins confessed, asking him to be their intercessor. This is a public confession of sins that God wrested from this stubborn people — a people that had abused God's patience and mercy, and that, puffed up with pride, could never have been corrected except by being tamed through terror and fear. From this we easily draw a useful lesson: God shows us remarkable kindness, and provides for our salvation with the care of a Father, when He refuses to allow us to go on contemptibly despising His majesty, His Word, and His works. When He compels us to acknowledge our sins and return to Himself, He brings it about that we render Him the honor He deserves — that we confess He has had mercy on us, that we acknowledge our sins even though that confession is humiliating, that covered in shame we are led by repentance to put aside all complaining, and that we confess how foolish and irrational we have been in so stubbornly treating God's grace and blessings with contempt.

Now let us look at the people's words: 'Pray to the Lord your God for us.' There is a striking form of expression here — they say 'your God,' though Scripture elsewhere frequently speaks of God as the God of His people. The people here calls God Samuel's by a specific reason: they are confessing themselves unworthy to be any longer counted as a people dedicated and consecrated to God. It is as if they were saying: 'God is so angry with us that we dare not even open our mouths to call on Him or lift our eyes to Him — our stubbornness has closed off our access to Him. But we acknowledge and confess that you are His prophet and a faithful, accepted servant. We therefore have no doubt that your prayers are welcome to Him and heard. Pray to God for us.' But here it must be noted: though we are the greatest sinners and most guilty before God's judgment, we must never despair of God's grace but always flee to Him — for that is when we need His help and presence most. Nevertheless, those about to approach God in prayer should think carefully and soberly of His majesty — especially when their conscience is biting them and the weight of their sins presses on them. They must not approach Him rashly or boldly. Rather, feeling within themselves that they have deserved to be banished from His presence and utterly rejected, they should be overwhelmed with shame — so that, despairing of themselves, they look to our Lord Jesus Christ as their mediator and intercessor, who pleads for them before the Father and reconciles them to Him. Through Him we are joined to the other members of His body, and since we are members of one body — the church — we can be fully confident that the prayers offered by the faithful throughout the whole world belong to us and work toward our salvation. Let us therefore learn, first, that it is not appropriate for sinners to approach God boldly when they have carefully examined their consciences and feel that they have seriously offended Him. Rather, conscious of their unworthiness, they should flee to our Lord Jesus Christ — and from the union they know they have with Him, draw the courage to come forward. And since they know that Jesus Christ will never be rejected by the Father but will obtain grace, let them then set themselves before God with confidence, knowing they will be heard. Let them also not doubt that their prayers join the prayers of the faithful scattered throughout the whole world — for the faithful share all things in common with their brothers and sisters. The faithful must therefore share their gifts with one another, and commend their neighbors to God in prayer with no less care than they bring to their own prayers, calling on God with the certainty of faith. These things must be observed in the people's words to Samuel: 'Pray to the Lord your God for us.' This passage gives no support to the papists whatsoever — in fact it convicts them of the gravest unfaithfulness, since they seek dead saints as their patrons and advocates. The people fled to Samuel's prayers because they knew it was the office of prophets to intercede for the people before God — as the apostle Peter also teaches in Acts. Indeed, throughout Scripture, when false prophets and impostors are condemned, the Holy Spirit specifically rebukes their failure to pray — to accompany their teaching with prayer and intercession for the people. Moses, as we know, faithfully fulfilled this part of his office as long as he lived. Samuel, who came long after Moses, was likewise called not only to teach the people but also to pray and to intercede for them in every adversity. The people therefore did not flee to Samuel rashly — they knew well that he had been chosen by God and placed in his position, equipped with the spirit of prophecy, so that alongside teaching and instruction he might also pour out prayers to God on behalf of the people. When the papists invoke the dead, however, they rest on no foundation of Scripture. Although we are commanded to pray for one another, that command applies only to those who are living with us here on earth — as long as we are here, we must practice mutual love. But God does not permit the dead to be called upon, nor does He allow our curiosity to reach so far as to inquire what the dead are doing. We see then that the papists have no instruction or warrant from Scripture when they interrupt the dead with prayers and supplications and hope to be heard by them — they cannot produce any command of God for it. Let us therefore understand clearly that when we ask God's servants to help us through their intercession before God, this is grounded in the fact that they have been commanded and are obligated by their office to intercede for the people before God. Within those limits, this practice is not only permitted by God but required. But a far graver error holds these wretched people: they flee to the saints not merely to have them as intercessors before God, but to trust and rest in them as if the saints themselves could hear and answer prayers. God is effectively forgotten — each person flees to whatever patron he has chosen or is accustomed to invoking. And so they mutter many prayers before the idol they have fashioned for themselves — some invoking the Virgin Mary, others Saint Christopher, others one of the multitude of saints — persuading themselves that they have no need of God. I will not even address at this point how this obliterates the memory of the one sacrifice offered for us by our Lord Jesus Christ, and how it abolishes the authority given to Him by the Father. For who among the papists calls on Him for help? Who flees to Him as mediator and advocate? He may be named in the crowd of invocations, but they do not understand that He alone has been given this: to take the prayers of those who flee to Him and present them to God the Father, making them acceptable and obtaining that they be heard. The papacy either entirely ignores or completely abolishes this office of Christ. We, who have been better taught, let us ask the prayers of those on whom God has placed this burden — and let us stay within the proper limits. And let us not be more negligent in our own praying because of this — as if it were enough for others to pray while we cease. Rather, let us know that our prayers are to be joined with the prayers of all faithful servants of God throughout the whole world — and that we are to be counted in their number, so that we may truly be members of Jesus Christ. May what the prophet asks in the Psalm be fulfilled in us: 'Lord, remember me.' For we will never find favor with God or obtain anything from Him unless we are counted as part of His church and held among His elect — and unless that freely given love by which He embraces His sons is poured out on us as well, as those joined to them. Finally, it is certain that true humility must never be separated from genuine faith and love for our neighbor. But what is the humility of the papists? It amounts to fleeing far from God, wandering through endless roundabout paths, fashioning for themselves countless patrons — and all in a stupor, expending great effort and accomplishing nothing. There is nothing but emptiness in those who, though they torment themselves long and hard, make no progress and gain no real certainty about God's will toward them. I grant that we must above all cultivate humility and modesty. But we cannot approach God by our own merits — and yet, setting aside all merit, we do not cease to come to Him, and we hope, though unworthy, to be received by God and to be counted as sons — because we are joined to the body of our Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledge Him as our head.

So much for that. The people's words follow, in which they confess the new sin they added to the old ones by asking for a king — a sin that brought great condemnation on themselves. They acknowledge that it was a serious offense: not content with the condition in which God had placed them, they sought a king and thereby provoked God's wrath against themselves. They then ask Samuel to intercede for them before God — to pray that they not perish. First, we must observe that the people asks Samuel to appease God's wrath so that Israel would not be destroyed. Why did they fear this? Because they had felt that God was offended with them. From this we must draw the lesson: whenever God displays some sign of His wrath, we must regard death as standing at our door. Consider: when someone living under a ruler greatly fears to offend him, and if they do offend him, no one fails to fear greatly the ruler's wrath — what then, when we are reminded of the power of God Himself? And who does not acknowledge that he has deserved death a hundred thousand times over, if God were to deal with us according to the strictest justice? Therefore when God admonishes us and drives home the weight of our sins, we must take the greatest care not to remain numb, but must make every effort to awaken immediately — and whatever evil has come upon us, willingly confess and acknowledge that we have deserved not only far worse, but eternal death. The greater our stupor in this area, the more carefully we must meditate on and apply this teaching. For it very commonly happens that when God strikes us with disease or some other calamity, no one truly turns his thoughts to himself — to acknowledge his sin, turn to God with a sincere heart, and flee to His mercy. Instead, we are entirely occupied with the external misfortune pressing on us, and we are as stupefied and wooden when it comes to remembering God. When God strikes, everyone feels the blow and acknowledges they have offended God — but they do not seriously grasp the true weight of their sins. We must go further: we must confess that we are guilty of eternal death. We must therefore be roused even by the lightest blows and fear that a heavier hand will rise against us. At these gentle strikes, we must think as if God had set a day for us before His tribunal, and we are facing His dreadful vengeance armed against us — a vengeance that, though we were harder than iron and steel, would reduce us to nothing and melt us away, as snow dissolves in the sun's heat. As the prophet says in Psalm 97, one spark of God's wrath is enough to consume people entirely. Let us therefore know that when God sends us chastisements — whether disease, poverty, or any other calamity — we must receive them in such a way that we think beyond the present trouble: we must know that we have deserved eternal death, and therefore fear the hand of God armed against us, unless we flee to Him and beg for pardon. This teaching is to be drawn from the words: 'Pray for us that we may not perish.' From these words we see that the people had turned to God and had a genuine sense of their sins and of their impending ruin. They asked Samuel to intercede for them before God, terrified by the punishment of death, which they confessed they had deserved a hundred thousand times. And so we heard above that the people feared the Lord and Samuel. This phrase also deserves attention, since it recurs frequently in Scripture — especially in connection with Moses, to whom God had attributed such great authority. We see that Moses, in that extraordinary work of God — the liberation of the people — was joined to God, not as a partner equal to Him, but as an instrument of His Spirit for explaining God's will to the people. And so the people of Israel is said to have feared God and Moses. But would we say that Moses thereby obtained supreme authority from God, as if placed on the same level with Him? By no means. What it means is that the people did not believe God except through the teaching that Moses, as God's interpreter and intermediary, set before them. For although God spoke from Mount Sinai and was heard, He nonetheless willed His will to be explained to the people through the ordinary ministry of His servant. The same must be said of Samuel. We have seen from the beginning that God had set Samuel as overseer of the people, governing and directing them through his ministry. The people therefore could not fear God without being subject to Samuel and honoring him as an outstanding prophet raised up by God. We must therefore observe that we cannot fear God unless we are governed by His Word, and unless we do not despise His ministers but hold them in honor. For by an inseparable bond, the fear and reverence of God are tied to the honor we show those whom He sends as interpreters of His will — and to the submission we render, not to their persons, but to the teaching entrusted to their care. We are also taught here that men are not to be feared as hypocrites are accustomed to fearing — but that God's authority must be reserved for Him, that He holds the supreme rank. Men are to be honored only insofar as God uses them as instruments to complete His work. You may see today many people refraining from injuries, insults, and blasphemous words against God — and pretending such wisdom and modesty that at first sight they appear nearly perfect. But put them in a private place where no one is watching — they live diabolically, indulging every lust freely, tearing God's name apart with blasphemous voices. In short, what was said of them applies: in the presence of decent people they pose as Catos of virtue, but in private they live like libertines. Such people, if Samuel were present, would certainly fear him — since they even fear us, who are far below Samuel in authority. But they would not on that account stop doing evil. Full of wickedness, they would live however they pleased the moment no witnesses could convict them. There is therefore nothing in them but the most profound hypocrisy — and Scripture rightly calls such men sons of Belial.

Let us proceed to Samuel's following words, in which he charges the people with this sin and with all the previous ones — as we heard them themselves confess, that on top of all their former sins they had added this most grievous one. Samuel seizes on this confession of sin as an occasion to call back to their memory all their past sins as well. We ought to imitate this example. Although we may have repented of many sins, begged forgiveness from God, and be persuaded that those sins have been so buried by God that He no longer counts them against us — yet if we relapse into sin or commit something more serious, it is not enough to confess only the present sin and turn to God for fresh grace and mercy. The confession must reach further: the previous sins — even those that had already been forgiven — must be recalled to memory and seriously considered. For it is not beyond God to bring a new lawsuit and render a new judgment, producing the old offenses as evidence and re-examining our case, pronouncing us stubborn and incorrigible if He were to deal with us according to the strictest justice. Consider what happens among people: if someone has committed a crime for which he escaped punishment, and then lived blamelessly afterward, that former sin is forgotten — he need fear its punishment no more. But if he relapses into the same or a similar sin and is convicted as a repeat offender, he will be called to account not only for the latest deed but will be condemned for persistent stubbornness. All his offenses will be gathered into one bundle and judged by the strictest standard, with punishments extracted that will be a warning to everyone. So also it must be observed that when we have provoked God's wrath through our sins, we do not satisfy His justice by being affected only with the sense of our most recent offense. The whole previous life must be reconsidered and examined — for by our malice we have relapsed into sin. We must understand that we are not only beginning to sin now, but that God has so often pardoned us with such great patience that we ought to be filled with all the more shame — that we are so changeable and fragile, and that we again and again provoke His wrath against us. We see David doing exactly this: when God showed him the consequences of his present sin, David did not only call to mind that sin — he traced his entire life back to the stain he brought with him from his mother's womb, and finally burst forth with these words: 'Lord, pardon me the sins I have committed against You throughout my life.' But why? Was David only now, after three or four years, first asking God to forgive sins already committed? Not at all. He was at that moment experiencing God's judgment against him, and was as it were bound by the guilt of many sins. Lest God deal with him in the full strictness of justice, he poured out this prayer: 'Lord God, even though I know that my previous sins have been forgiven by You — yet before Your judgment I am guilty of so many sins, and my wounds have reopened through my own iniquity, and from my mother's womb I have been guilty of eternal death. I therefore ask, Lord, that Your grace and mercy be confirmed to me again — of which I confess I am unworthy and have deserved to be deprived.' In this we see that David was not at peace with himself. He was so deeply convicted by the gravity of his sins — the murder of Uriah, the adultery with Bathsheba — that he weighed and examined his entire life, and detesting and abominating himself cried out: 'Ah Lord, have mercy on me, for before You I am nothing but corruption — indeed from infancy, in which although I appeared clean before people, I was guilty and unclean before You.' And indeed, by nature we are all this way: the infant that comes forth from the womb is already a son of wrath and ruin, until it is received into grace by God's free mercy and united as a member of the church to its head, our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore when we see David calling us to this kind of self-examination, let us learn to confess our sins honestly — acknowledging that we have not only today, through our latest sin, deserved eternal death, but that, far worse, we have not stopped sinning and provoking God, and that the origin of our sin flows back to the first parent Adam himself. David therefore rightly calls himself guilty of death from his very mother's womb — to teach us that we are by nature sons of wrath and curse, enemies of God indeed, unless by His grace and mercy we are received into the number of His sons. So much for this.

After the charge of their offenses, consolation against the punishment they deserved follows. Samuel commands them to take courage and place their hope in God, provided they persevere in His worship, saying: 'Nevertheless do not depart from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And the Lord will not forsake His people.' Let us first grasp the overall sense of these words, before examining them in detail. When he tells them to take courage and not fear, he is in effect teaching them to fear God and yet to be persuaded of His mercy — that He will not punish them as they have deserved and bring final destruction. We have already noted that the Israelites seemed to reject the Lord Himself by demanding a king — and yet Samuel promises that God will never abandon them, because He had chosen them for His people, provided they persevere in His worship. First, we are taught in this passage that we will never turn to God with a genuine sense of our sins unless we hope and are persuaded that He will be merciful and approachable — always ready to receive those who flee to Him honestly and without disguise. When we distrust God's goodness, we are driven into precisely that rebellion and stubbornness — making no end of provoking His wrath. It is certainly true that shameless and reprobate people are struck with terror by God's judgment when He pursues them, and they shudder before Him like criminals before their judge. But what is that horror but the growling of resentful people, foaming out their rage and belching blasphemous words against God — people who, if they could, would sue God in court? This is how the wicked typically behave: they have no desire or intention to turn to God, but are ready to break whatever bonds might restrain them in order to move further away from Him. A slave who fears the wrath of his master thinks about fleeing rather than giving an account of his wrong. A wicked and defiant son wishes his father were dead or absent — to escape being corrected and punished for his sins. So also wicked people, despairing of God's mercy, rise up against Him with such audacity that they finally rush into every kind of crime, as if driven by madness. In short, distrust carries with it a kind of frenzy that gnaws incessantly at the conscience of the unbelieving and defiant. The prophet therefore says rightly in Psalm 130 that God is forgiving and naturally good in receiving sinners into grace — and that it is this that makes Him to be feared. David's point is that no one will ever fear God with the fear He requires — that we willingly submit to Him and shape ourselves to His obedience — unless first, having tasted His goodness, a genuine confidence of obtaining forgiveness from Him has taken hold in our minds, unworthy though we are. The fear of wicked people, then, is not truly the fear of God — it is more like the horror of a madman. The fear of God's children, by contrast, is genuine: full of reverence and love, because we are persuaded that He will show us mercy. Therefore if we have sinned, let us know that the remedy is ready: confessing our sins, we humbly beg pardon through our Lord Jesus Christ — and let us not doubt that our sins are pardoned and wiped out by the sacrifice once offered by Him on the cross for our redemption. Samuel therefore expressly admonishes the people not to abandon God or draw back from Him, adding the promise that the Lord in turn will not abandon His people. And without this promise the people could never have been brought to repentance. We know what the reprobate do: stubbornly clinging to their defiance, they gnash their teeth. Even when they appear to confess their sins, they murmur against God. Experience makes this plain enough. Judas took his own life by hanging. Cain complained that the punishment laid on him was greater than he could bear. This is what happens to all who despise God: their stubbornness generates distrust of His mercy. Therefore when we have sinned in many things, let us flee to God's mercy as it is set before us in the Gospel. And let us be fully persuaded that those who flee to Him genuinely — without pretense or disguise — will never be rejected: provided we shape ourselves to His obedience and from the heart dedicate ourselves to His worship and honor.

Now let us examine the foundation of the promise Samuel made to the people: 'because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.' The free grace of God is laid as the foundation of this promise, so that the people may rest on it. When the certainty of our salvation is in view, we must take the greatest care not to imagine any cause for it besides God's mercy alone — by which alone He is moved to show us compassion. If we seek any merits or any dignity in ourselves, we are certainly building without mortar on sand, and the building will soon fall. For us to stand before God on any such basis, we would need to have been endowed by nature with angelic perfection. This is why Paul says that as long as we look to the law, all God's promises must be abolished. For if God were to examine closely the worship we render to Him, it would not stand before Him — it would flow away like water and collapse for lack of foundation. Samuel therefore, in order to bring the people a firm and lasting confidence in their salvation — not momentary but solid and immovable — rises up to God's mercy as its fountain and source. It is as if he were saying: Do not inquire whether you are worthy of God's mercy. Let it be enough that it pleases God, out of His own generosity, to receive you into grace. And so he adds: 'because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.' By these words he shows that the sons of Abraham are not by nature better than others — and that when God called them, He had no regard for any dignity or preparation by which they were disposed to receive that grace. On the contrary, God made these people His own — people who before were cursed along with the rest of the human race. And if this is said of those natural branches who sprang from the holy stock, what does that mean for us who have been grafted in, as Paul calls us? We are not chosen as Jews born from Abraham, to whom the promise of eternal salvation was made. We were like a wild olive tree. But God has grafted us into the holy stock of the patriarchs and ancient fathers, that we might become partakers of the promised inheritance. Since this is so, let us learn that although we are unworthy to approach God and present ourselves before Him — on account of the infinite filth and imperfections that cling to us — yet we must not despair...

...but let us fill our minds with this: that it pleases God to make us His people. It is certainly true that many faithless children are born from faithful fathers — which should always call to mind our origin: that the faithful are born from the corrupt and cursed seed of Adam, that by nature there is nothing in them but corruption, and they would have been numbered among those who perish, had it not pleased God to receive them into grace. We must therefore be a new work of God, that we may be His sons and His inheritance, as the prophet says in the Psalm: 'We are His work, and He made us with His hand, for we are the sheep of His pasture.' These words could be referred in general to the condition of all people, whom God is said to have created and formed. All people in general are formed by God — but specifically the faithful are called the sheep of His pasture, teaching us that these words are not to be understood of the general creation according to the flesh, but of the new creation by which He forms us and pastures us — protecting and watching over us as sheep of His flock. This is the doctrine to draw from the foregoing words and apply to our own use: that it pleases God to make us His people and to count us among the blessed seed of Abraham. Meanwhile, however, Samuel urgently exhorts the people not to depart from God, but to persevere in His worship and hope for grace — as long as they have not abused so great a privilege. For God was not bound to the seed of Abraham, and not all who descended from him according to the flesh were His church — many were cut off and rejected, as Paul teaches, and Scripture says the same of Ishmael and Esau. If those two were rejected, what shall we say about the rest, when there were so many corrupt and rejected members? Samuel therefore rightly warns the people not to imagine that it is enough to be counted among God's people and bear the sign of circumcision — which was to them what baptism is to us today — as if that were sufficient to secure God's grace. Rather, they must follow the Lord. For this reason the prophet in Psalms 15 and 24 asks God who will dwell on Mount Zion — that is, in the church — and have a lasting place there. The answer is those who are pure in heart and have innocent hands: those who walk in integrity and sincerity within God's church. Many frequented God's temple who were far from God, as Isaiah repeatedly rebukes them — especially when he says: 'Am I obligated to you? You wear out my pavement and demand a reward. I do not want these things. I cannot bear that you profane my worship.' Hypocrites thronged the sanctuary, publicly offering thanks for God's benefits — but there was nothing sincere in them, nothing wholesome. Everything was feigned, content to maintain a good reputation among people while caring little about actually being what they wished to be seen as. This corruption has characterized every age. God testifies that this kind of counterfeit worship, under the outward appearance of devotion, displeases Him. He therefore admonishes the people that no one is acceptable to God unless they are innocent in their hands and pure in heart — that is, unless their inner affections are pure and their outward works are good. When we live among our neighbors, we ought to help each other — especially in things that bring us closer to God, before whom integrity and sincerity are above all required. This is therefore why Samuel adds this condition — though God's grace in no way depends on our will or our works. Samuel is not here teaching the people to place their hope of salvation in themselves or in their merits. He is rather working to rouse them to embrace God's grace and shake off the spiritual stupor in which most irreligious people are absorbed — people who make themselves comfortable, pretend to place hope in God, and use that pretense to give themselves freer rein to every crime and indulge more freely in lust and excess. Add to this the often blasphemous words of such people — utterly diabolical — claiming that God is so good and so easy that even one sigh is enough to escape the punishment of eternal death, and that simply saying 'I have sinned' is sufficient to escape eternal death. Since people so readily deceive themselves, and the devil intoxicates them with such flatteries, the prophet specifically commands the people to make diligent effort not to despise God's grace, but to walk carefully in their calling, lest they forsake God and abuse His grace to evil ends. So also the apostle Peter admonishes the faithful that each person should keep his vessel in all purity, and confirm his election by that testimony.

Now then, etc.

Verses 21-22: see above.