Sermon 4: Upon Ephesians Chapter 1

God has accepted us in his well-beloved. By whose blood we have redemption, namely, forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Of which he has shed out abundance upon us in all wisdom and understanding, By making us to know the secret of his will, (according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself. To the intent to deal it forth when the time was fully come,) namely, to gather all things together by Christ, as well the things in heaven, as the things on earth, in the selfsame.

I have declared already that we cannot be beloved of God, but by the means of his only son. For if the angels of heaven are not worthy to be taken for God's children, but by the means of a head and mediator: what shall become of us that cease not to provoke God's wrath daily by our wicked doings, as people that do indeed fight against him? God then must be content to look upon us in the person of his only son, or else he must needs hate us and abhor us. To be short, our sins do set God and us so far at odds, that we cannot so soon come toward him, but by and by we feel his majesty utterly against us, and as it were armed to put us to utter confusion. But now it remains to see, how God receives us into his favor by means of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the thing which Saint Paul means in adding, that in him we have redemption through his blood, namely, forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of God's grace. Here we are first of all made to understand, that the enmity which God bears us, is not in respect of our nature, but in respect of our corruption. I say, it is not in respect of nature: for as in respect that God has created us, it is certain that he cannot hate us. But inasmuch as mankind is utterly marred and given over to all naughtiness, God must needs be as a mortal enemy to us, and as an adversary against us, till the remembrance of our sins is buried out of his sight. For we are subject to everlasting death, till we are restored again: by reason of which, God being the fountain of all justice and righteousness, does utterly hate and abhor the evil that he sees in us. Therefore until such time as our sins are blotted out, it is impossible for us to hope that God should either favor or love us. But let us mark here how Saint Paul uses two words, to express how we are reconciled to God: First, he sets down the ransom or redemption, which is all [reconstructed: one]: and afterward the forgiveness of sins. How does it come to pass that God's wrath is pacified, that we are made at one with him, yes and that he accepts and acknowledges us for his children? It is by the pardoning of our sins, says Saint Paul. And furthermore, because redemption is requisite for it: he matches that with it also. True it is, that as in respect of us, God wipes away our sins of his own free goodness, and shows himself altogether bountiful of himself, without respect of any recompense for it at our hands. And in good truth what man were able to make amends for the least fault he has committed? Then if every one of us should employ his whole life in making satisfaction for any one fault alone, and by that means seek to win favor at God's hand: it is certain that the same does far surpass all our abilities. And therefore God must be content to receive us to mercy, without looking for any recompense or amends at our hands. But yet for all this, the atonement which is freely bestowed as in respect of us, did cost the son of God very dear. For he found no other payment, than the shedding of his own blood, insomuch that he made himself our surety both in body and soul, and answered for us before God's judgment, to get us our discharge. Our Lord Jesus Christ (say I) employed himself wholly both body and soul. For it had not been enough for him to have suffered so cruel and slanderous a death in the sight of men: but it behooved him also to endure such horrible anguish in himself, as if God had become a judge to him: for he came to that point, that he sustained the person of all sinners to make full amends for them. And so you see why Saint Paul has matched those two words together in this strain.

Therefore we have to mark first of all, that we can obtain no [reconstructed: favour] at God's hand, nor be received by him, till our sins be [reconstructed: wiped out], and the remembrance of them cleanly put away. The reason thereof is (as I said before) that God must needs hate sin wherever he sees it. So then, as long as he considers us as sinners, he must needs abhor us: for there is not anything in ourselves, nor in [reconstructed: our] own nature, but all manner of wickedness and confusion. Then are [reconstructed: we] enemies and adversaries to him, till we come to the remedy that Saint Paul shows us here, which is, to have our sins forgiven. Hereby we see that no man can be loved by God for any [reconstructed: worthiness] that is in himself. For wherein lies the love that God bears us: I have told you already, that he must be compelled to cast his eye upon our Lord Jesus Christ, and not to look a bit at us. But yet withal it is declared further, that God does never like well of us, till he has released our debts, and adopted us to be his children, notwithstanding that we are worthy of death before him. Thus you see that the assurance of our salvation (as is said in the song of Zechariah) (Luke 1:77) is that God be merciful to us and forgive us our sins whereby we were become his enemies. However, let us also bear in mind, that the clear release of our sins through God's free goodness, is not done without the ransom that was paid by our Lord Jesus Christ, not in gold nor silver (as says Saint Peter in his first Epistle) (1 Peter 1:18) but in such a way that he who was the unspotted Lamb, was compelled to serve that purpose himself. Therefore whenever we intend to seek God's favour and mercy, let us fasten all our wits upon the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may there find with which to appease God's wrath. And furthermore seeing that our sins are done away by such payment and satisfaction: let us understand that we cannot bring anything of our own, for which we should be reconciled to God. In which we see how the devil has by his [reconstructed: sleights] cut off all hope of salvation from the world, by making men believe that they must every man ransom himself, and make his own atonement with God. And that is the very thing which men call good works, merits, and virtues in Popery. For to what end tend all the inventions which they have forged? Why do they martyr themselves after so many fashions, so as men never make an end day nor night, but are ever still making new windlasses and courses? The mark that all these things aim at, is to pacify God. And so all the good works which are so counted in Popery, are nothing else but means whereby to make amends for sin. However that is but a defacing of the ransom of which Saint Paul speaks here. For there is (as you would say) an inseparable bond between these two things, namely that God puts our sins out of his remembrance, and drowns them in the bottom of the sea: and moreover receives the payment that was offered him in the person of his only son. Therefore we cannot attain the one without the other. Therefore if we intend to have God's favour, let us consider that we are his enemies till he has pardoned all our sins of his own free goodness: and yet notwithstanding, that our Lord Jesus Christ must be compelled to step in between him and us. For the sacrifice of his death serves to purchase us an everlasting atonement, so as we must always flee there for refuge. True it is that the whole life [reconstructed: of our] Lord Jesus Christ is become our ransom, for the obedience which he yielded to God his father in this world, was to make amends for Adam's offense, and for all the iniquities through which we have run into arrears. However Saint Paul speaks here purposely of his blood, because it behooves us to resort to his death and passion, as to the sacrifice which is of power to blot out all our sins. And for that cause has God represented in figures under the law, that men could not be reconciled to him but only by that means. Now it is true that Jesus Christ did not only shed his blood, namely at his death: but also feel the fear and terror which ought to have lighted upon us. But Saint Paul does here under one [reconstructed: parcel] comprehend the whole after the ordinary manner of the holy Scripture. To be short, let us repose all our righteousness in God's showing of himself merciful toward us of his own free goodness: and let us not presume to face him with any virtue of our own, thereby to bind him to us: but let it suffice us that he receives us into his favour, freely without any desert of ours, only because the remembrance of our sins is buried out of his sight. And again, let us understand, that the same cannot be done but by the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that that is the thing upon which we must wholly rest.

Hereupon Saint Paul adds that all is done according to the richness of God's grace. Not without cause does he here magnify God's mercy which he utters in receiving us to favor. For we see on the one side how men do willfully overshoot themselves through their foolish overweening: for most men have always imagined that they might make their atonement with God by their own satisfactions, and I know not what shifts besides. Seeing then that men are so far overseen in their own imaginations, Saint Paul, to exclude all such dealing, says that we must be ravished in love with the richness of God's goodness. He could have said simply that God does all according to his grace: but he sets down here his great treasures, to the intent that men should not be so fond as to bring as it were but a farthing for the discharge of ten hundred thousand crowns. And truly when the Papists prattle of their satisfactions, they say not that they be able to do it thoroughly in all points: but they are of opinion that with the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, they also are able to bring somewhat of their own, and to do so much by patches and pieces, that God shall be satisfied and contented. Thus you see what a devilish opinion reigns in papistry, for they will needs found masses, they will needs babble many prayers, they will needs gad on pilgrimage, they will needs keep this feast and that feast, they will needs perform I know not what devotions, they will needs wear sackcloth next their skin: and all to help forth the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ: as who should say, it were not sufficient enough of itself. But Saint Paul tells us that God's goodness as it is shown us in Jesus Christ is so great a treasure, that all other things must needs give over and be thrust under foot. And seeing that God uses so great bountifulness, as we ought to be wholly ravished at it: is it not too outrageous a presumptuousness, when we will needs bring our own petty trash, as though our going on pilgrimage and our doing of some other devotions were of any value or estimation? Is it not all one, as though the blood of Jesus Christ were not a sufficient price, I say a sufficient price and ransom for our salvation? You see then on the one side, how Saint Paul meant here to cut off all occasions of the fond imaginations that men conceive in surmising themselves able to pacify God's wrath by their own satisfactions and payments: and on the other side how he purposed to help our feebleness. For although we be given to believe wonderously well of our own virtuousness, and to bear ourselves in hand that God is greatly beholden to us: yet notwithstanding, when it comes to the calling upon God in good earnest, and to the putting of our trust in him: then if Satan urges us to despair, and that we be tossed with troubles and temptations: we be so dismayed, that all the promises of the holy scripture, and all that is said to us of the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, cannot make us to have any hope. Saint Paul therefore, to remedy this vice of unbelief which is too deeply rooted in us, does here set before us the great treasures of God's goodness, to the end that all the distrust which we can conceive may be as it were swallowed up, seeing that God vouchsafes to use so great bountifulness towards us.

And hereupon he adds, that he has made the same grace to abound towards us in all wisdom and understanding. By these words he makes known to us by what means we come by the thing that he had specified before. Behold, all our happiness and all our sovereign welfare consists in being at one with God, so as he may take us for his children, and it may be lawful for us to call upon him as our father with full liberty. But how shall we obtain that thing, from which we be so far wide? It is said, that although we be naught worth, nor can do anything: yet we shall find all things in Jesus Christ which are wanting in ourselves, and that his death and passion will be a sufficient sacrifice, to put away the remembrance of all our misdeeds. Howbeit does it follow therefore, that all men are partakers of this benefit which is purchased for us by our Lord Jesus Christ? No: for the unbelievers have neither part nor portion in it. Then is it a special privilege for those whom God gathers to himself. Also Saint Paul shows, that either we must have faith, or else Christ shall not profit us at all. Although then that Christ be generally the redeemer of the whole world, yet does his death and passion advantage none but such as receive the thing that Saint Paul shows here. And so we see that when we once know the benefits that are brought us by Christ, and which he offers us daily by his Gospel: we must also be knit to him by faith. For the Turks, Jews, and Papists, and all other like are cut off and estranged from Christ, and rot away in their own filth, because they presume to work wonders of themselves. For it is a common principle among the Papists, Jews, Turks, and all the heathen men that ever were, that they must appease God's wrath. And how? By a great sort of means of their own devising, and of every man's imagining in his own brain. Such men therefore have no part in Christ. Therefore if faith be the key that opens us the door to enjoy the treasure of which Saint Paul spoke just now: then is that the next way to make us rich, so far forth as shall be requisite for our salvation, so as we shall not want anything, if we be knit to Christ by faith.

Notwithstanding, it is not for nothing that Saint Paul has here set down these two words of wisdom and understanding. For they make us aware that the learning of the Gospel is enough to bring us to all perfection, and that whatever is added moreover is but dung, filth, and rottenness. To be short, Saint Paul's entitling of the Gospel with those two honorable terms is to the end that every man should quietly give ear to the things that God teaches him by the means of his only Son, and that we should yield ourselves so teachable to him, as not to take upon us to know anything, other than that which comes out of his mouth, but simply receive whatever he speaks, and continue in the same to the end, though the whole world despise us, and all men set themselves against us, and not be concerned with [reconstructed: the tricks and sleights] of the world, as many men do, who have itching ears and are always desirous to hear some new thing. To the end therefore that we be not so wavering, nor overled by foolish desire of knowing more than is lawful for us to know: let us mark well how Saint Paul says here, that if we have once profited thoroughly in the Gospel, we shall find there all wisdom to the full, so as we may reject all other things, not only as needless, but also as noxious, because that by them we shall be turned from the pure doctrine, whereby it is his will to have us knit to him. To be short, Saint Paul meant to show here, that God does us an inestimable good turn, when he vouchsafes to call us to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ his only Son, and that when we have him, we must despise all other things, and not be troubled with a foolish desire of knowing this or that, because that (as I have said already) the full perfection of all our knowledge is there, that is to say, in our Lord Jesus Christ. And here you see also why it is said to the Colossians, that he had been a faithful teacher, yes, even to bring men to the perfection of wisdom. Indeed he confesses that he was rude and homely of speech, and that he had neither the wisdom nor the eloquence that was highly commended in the world: but yet he declares, that if his doctrine were received, there should be found a full substance in it for the full [reconstructed: nourishment] of men's souls, and that there needs not any more to be added to it. When we hear these things now in our day, we must take warning to bridle ourselves, and to repress the fond over-curiosity that is rooted too deeply in us, that we may hold ourselves to the pure doctrine of the Gospel, and rest wholly thereupon. Thus you see in effect what we have to gather upon that strain.

Herewithal let us mark the thing that I have touched already: namely that as often as the Gospel is preached, so often is God's grace spread out upon us. If we acknowledge his goodness and liberality, which he makes us to perceive by his moistening of the earth, to the end it should yield us fruits for the sustenance of our bodies: much more may we understand, that when God sends us the word of salvation, he not only waters us for the welfare of our souls, but also gives us so largely of it to drink, as we may be thoroughly satisfied with it. For Saint Paul thinks it not enough to say, that whereas we be barren we have some refreshing by the Gospel: but he says, that it is as if God should pour down abundance of water upon us, and that we might be so watered and refreshed with it, as we might gather substance and lustiness from it to hold out to the end. And so you see in what way we ought to esteem of God's goodness, when he vouchsafes to draw us to him by means of his Gospel, and that herewithal we enter into possession of the benefits that have been purchased for us by our Lord Jesus Christ, according as he offers them to us by his word, and will have us also to receive them by faith.

Now for a larger opening of the matter, he adds immediately, that his so doing is because he has uttered the secret of his will to us, even according to his own good pleasure which he had purposed before in himself. See, here is another thing which ought to advance the dignity of the Gospel yet more: which is, that there we have the secrets which were hidden before in God. And it is not here only that Saint Paul speaks after this manner: but we shall see yet a larger discourse of it in the second chapter. And not only in this Epistle, but also everywhere else, he shows how we ought to be as it were ravished at the preaching of the Gospel, because God does there open the things that were incomprehensible to all men before, and which no man would ever have believed, or once thought of. For he seemed to have chosen the only line of Abraham, in such wise as if he had cast away all the world besides. Therefore it was a wonderful thing when he poured out his grace in common upon all nations. Yet notwithstanding we know, that at such time as Jesus Christ came into the world, the very selfsame people were grown out of kind, and God's doctrine was so corrupted, that there was nothing but superstition among the Jews. It seemed then that all had been past hope of recovery, when suddenly beyond the opinion of all men, behold, salvation was offered to all nations. Behold, Christ who had once been hidden in deep darkness, yes, and in so deep a darkness, as there was not any hope that ever he should have come out of it, rose up as the [reconstructed: Sun] of righteousness, to give light to the world. For this cause therefore does Saint Paul say, that in the Gospel we are made privy to the secrets of God's will. True it is, that at the first sight there seems to be nothing but simple stuff in the Gospel. And that is a cause also why many scoffers think that the things which are contained in the Gospel, do serve but for idiots: and they flatter themselves in thinking that they are able to devise many wittier things in their own dreams and dotages, than all the doctrine is that concerns Jesus Christ. But such folk are unworthy to taste of the thing that is shown us here: for their pride does utterly blind them, and make them stark dolts. Notwithstanding, however they fare, yet the faithful perceive full well, that there is a divine majesty in the doctrine of the Gospel. And for that cause Saint Paul does give us to know in this same text, that our coming there must not be to learn any common thing, but to lift up ourselves above the world. For we shall never be good scholars toward God, nor ever be in any readiness to profit in his school, except we mount above the world, and reverence the things that God speaks with his own holy mouth. To be short, the beginning and entrance of our faith, is lowliness. But how can men well humble themselves, unless they know that the things which God tells them, do far surpass their own wit and capacity? You see then that the thing at which Saint Paul aimed, is, that we should reverence the Gospel, assuring ourselves, that it is not for us to judge whether God has spoken well, or ill. For it becomes us to be fully resolved, that all that ever comes from him, is infinite wisdom, yes and such wisdom as is utterly faultless. To the end therefore that all glorying may be beaten down in ourselves, and we learn to reverence soberly and modestly the doctrine that is preached to us in God's name: Saint Paul has purposely set down this secret.

And to the end we should know how much we are bound to God, he repeats this word, "According to his good pleasure," which he had set down before. And that is done to put away, and to shut out all opinion which men might conceive of their own worthiness. For God's good pleasure can have no place, unless men are barred from all deserving, and repair to him utterly empty. For as soon as we presume to bring anything at all to God, surely it is an advancing of ourselves to the defacing of God's grace, so as it may have no more beauty nor preeminence among us, as it ought to have. To the end therefore that men should forbear such presumptuousness, Saint Paul sends us still back to God's good pleasure: as if he should say, that there was no other cause of the preaching of the Gospel to the world, than the only frank and free goodness of God. Yet notwithstanding, to repress all overboldness of men, he adds, that God had purposed the said ordinance, and the said high incomprehensible determination of his will beforehand in himself. For what is the cause that men take so great liberty of questioning, disputing, and going to law with God, but for that (to their seeming) they treat of matters which ought to be open and manifest to them? So then, Saint Paul perceiving us to be so foolish and rash, as to presume overboldly to be inquisitive of God's purpose, says it is a sealed letter, and that God has his purpose in himself, and that it is not lawful for creatures to mount so high, and that if they do so, it is the next way to cast them down, and to break their necks. True it is, that we may well apply our whole endeavor to know God's will: however, that must be no further than he has uttered in his word: for his word is our light. But if God does once hold his peace, he will have us to bridle and as it were to imprison ourselves, and not to start out any further, for if we would needs know more than is granted us, that is to say, more than we ought to know, and more than is imparted to us by his word: it were but an entering further and further into a maze, or rather into the bottom of hell. Therefore let us mark well, how Saint Paul's meaning in this text, is that whenever God keeps his purpose to himself, it becomes us to stoop, and to hold ourselves contented to be ignorant of it. For it is a cursed wisdom, and such a wisdom as sends us to the pit of hell, when we take leave to know more than God has taught us. And contrariwise we are wiser in our ignorance than all the wise men of the world, when we take not upon us to know anything further than God's word guides and governs us. True it is that there is not any more than only one single will in God. Nevertheless he utters the same to us according to our capacity, and so far forth as is expedient and profitable for us. As for example, we have seen that the forgiveness of sins is a point that we cannot overpass nor forbear: and therefore Zechariah calls it the knowledge of salvation. Again, it stands us in hand to know where the forgiveness of our sins is to be sought for. For if we have not Jesus Christ, we continue still enemies to God, we have no agreement nor rest in ourselves, and God's justice must needs pursue us: but Jesus Christ is our peace. Furthermore, when we know the things that are witnessed to us by God's word, we must also reverence the mysteries that are hidden from us, as has been said already, and must hereafter be said again, when we come to God's election. And Saint Paul does yet again set down here the word of foreordaining or fore-purposing, to show that God had predestined us before the making of the world, and yet that the same was hidden. Indeed, truly: but now is the same discovered to us, says he. Thus you see in effect, that the thing which we have to bear in mind, is that we are not called to the knowledge of the Gospel by our own readiness, nor for that any of us puts forth himself to it of his own accord, nor for that we have bound God to us by any virtue of ours: but for that God of his own infinite goodness chose to enlighten us. And he has not done it because it came suddenly in his mind to do it, as men are wont to do, who are carried with sudden impulses: but because he had determined the same in his own purpose, even from before all time. And if our wits are ticklish and provoke us to be inquisitive and to say, How so? Had God chosen us beforehand? And why then did he not utter it to us sooner? How happens it that it was not perceived before this? To the end we should not so overshoot ourselves, Saint Paul says that this purpose was after a sort locked up in God, till it was uttered to us. And so, to be short, it is not lawful for us to know any more than is uttered to us in the Gospel: and look what is shown us there, it behooves us to reverence it. And for the same cause it is added, that his so doing was to set forth the same in the fullness of time.

Now here he shows that men may well vex themselves, but yet shall they come short of their purpose, and all their wits and imaginations shall fail them, if they go about to know more than God has given them leave to know. For if any man demands why God hastened no sooner to do it, therein he shows that he would be wiser than God. And is not that a devilish pride? Is the creature worthy to go upon the ground, when it advances itself so high? For this cause Saint Paul says that the appointing thereof belongs to God. For if a man may set order after this manner in his own house, and say: I will have my folk to fare thus, I will have them to drink such drink, I will have them to eat that kind of bread, I will have them lodged after this manner — how much more ought we to let God do so? Why should he have less privilege than worms of the earth? Therefore let us give God leave to dispose of his church, and of the welfare of his chosen, as pleases himself best. And as for the time, let us take that for the full time which it shall please him to show us. For it is not for us to be either judges or umpires in this case, to measure the times, years, months, or days: but it ought to content us, that God wills to have it so. Some man will argue the case and say: what, I pray you? Behold, four thousand years passed between the fall of Adam and the coming of Christ — and could not God have remedied the matter by sending the redeemer of the world sooner? See what a number of wretched folk wandered away in darkness: behold the destruction of mankind as a waterflood that swallowed up all things — and yet in the mean while Jesus Christ was hidden. Besides this, a small number of men tasted of him, and only by figures and shadows. For none but the Jews waited for the redeemer, to obtain salvation by his means — and yet even they were fain to use calves and sheep and other brute beasts, to assure themselves of the forgiveness of their sins, and that God was merciful to them. If a man asks how this comes to pass, let us repair to that which is said here in one word: namely that the time was not yet fully come. And why? Because God had so appointed it. And this is the very same thing that we have seen already in the Epistle to the Galatians, where Saint Paul repressed all the foolish ravings through which men wander away in mounting up higher than is lawful for them to do. Therefore let us conclude that it is God's peculiar office to appoint times and seasons, and that we must not think any other to be due than that which he appoints. For although winter and summer are ordinary with us every year, yet if summer comes over late, we must bridle ourselves, and not grudge against God. We may well say, alas, if it pleased God to send us heat, it should be well welcome. But yet in the mean while we must fully resolve ourselves thus: it belongs to God to govern, and all sovereignty and authority pertains to him. If we ought to behave ourselves so modestly as in respect of the order of nature which is common among us, and in which God shows himself familiarly to us — what ought we to do when we come to the scanning of the heavenly secrets, as of the everlasting salvation of our souls, and of this high mystery that the Son of God has come to set the things in their state again which were lost and perished? Does it not become us to stoop in that case, and humbly to take in good worth whatever God tells us, and to like that which he likes? Thus you see why Saint Paul spoke here expressly of the fullness of time, as if he should say that we can never profit in the Gospel, till we yield God so much honor as to hold ourselves contented with his only will, so as we step not forth to reply against him, nor face him with our wrangling, but glorify him by acknowledging his will to be the rule of all wisdom, of all right, and of all equity.

And for the better declaration of this, he adds immediately, that it was to gather all things together, as well in heaven as in earth, by Jesus Christ, in himself. As touching this word gather, Saint Paul meant to show us thereby how we are all of us horribly scattered, until such time as our Lord Jesus Christ sets us in array again: and this is verified not only of us, but also of all other creatures. To be short, it is all one as if he had said, that the whole order of nature is as good as defaced, and all things decayed and disordered in the sin of Adam, until we are repaired again in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. For although we behold God's wonderful wisdom, power, goodness, justice, and righteousness in all creatures: yet notwithstanding there are marks of sin both above and beneath, and all creatures are subject to corruption, and all is disordered by reason that God hates and rejects us. Needs therefore must a restoration be made by Jesus Christ. And that is the thing that is meant by the gathering together that Saint Paul speaks of here, to the end we would learn to dislike ourselves, and to be ashamed of the disorder that is in ourselves, and with which the whole world is filled through our sinful life: and moreover learn also to magnify God's goodness so much the more. Then on the one side the Holy Spirit warns us in this text, that not only we ourselves are out of order, but also that we have brought the whole world to the same point, and do keep it still at the same stay daily by our sins, and that there is no other remedy thereof, but that Jesus Christ must be compelled to amend all again, and make such a gathering and union, as we may be knit again to our God. And so you see the first point that we have to note upon this text. Truly this thing is spoken in few words: but it needs to be dwelt upon more at length. For it is the thing about which we ought to occupy ourselves both early and late, that when we look into ourselves, we might bethink us in this way: who are you, o wretched creature? For you see you are separated from your God even from your birth: behold, you are his enemy and inheritor of his wrath: and on the other side there is nothing in yourself which tends not to naughtiness and perverseness: and you ought not only to feel this disorder in your own person, but also to perceive that all things else are out of order through the whole world by reason of your perverseness. Therefore let us sink down and be ashamed of it, and therewith confess how much we are indebted to God, for his vouchsafing to gather us together in the person of his only son, even us that have so torn asunder the things that he had set in so goodly order.

And for the same cause Saint Paul speaks here, not only of men (who were estranged from God before by reason of sin), but also of all things that are in heaven and earth, wherein he comprehends even the very angels. For although God's glory shines forth in them, and they were never yet separated from him, yet nevertheless it stood them in need to be gathered together by our Lord Jesus Christ, and that after two sorts. For although they never swerved aside, nor fell from what they were at the first, and God's righteousness does always show itself in them, insomuch that they are as it were mirrors and patterns of it, yet notwithstanding, if God lifted to look upon them with rigor, they should find themselves far short of the perfection of righteousness that is in him, as it is said in the book of Job. Furthermore, there is yet one other reason to be matched with this: which is, that the angels should not have such constancy and steadiness as were requisite, unless Jesus Christ had so established them that they might never fall. Thus you see one way how they were gathered together. But this gathering of which Saint Paul speaks here, is in respect of their uniting again to us. For we know that inasmuch as we were banished out of God's kingdom, we were cut off from all hope of salvation, so that the angels were immediately forced to become our enemies, and should be so still, were it not for the atonement which we have with them again, by means of the head which is common to us both. And here you see also why, in the ladder that was shown to Jacob, it is said that God stood upon the top of it, and touched both heaven and earth, and that the angels went up and down on it. Now our Lord Jesus Christ is the true living and everlasting God who touched both heaven and earth, because in his person God has knit his own divine being (or substance) and the nature of man together. Thus therefore you see that heaven is open, so that the angels begin to acquaint themselves with us, yes and to become our servants, as is said in the Epistle to the Hebrews, because the care of our souls is committed to them, and they (as is said in the thirty-fourth Psalm) encamp about us, and watch us, and are our keepers. You see then how we are united again to the angels of heaven by our Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the cause also why he said, from henceforth you shall see the heavens open, and the Son of Man coming down in his majesty with his angels. Whereby he makes known to us that heaven was shut against us, and that we also were unworthy to find any favor at God's hand, and that yet notwithstanding, now that he has come to be our head, and has made the atonement between his father and us, and taken upon him the office of mediator, and is become the head, not only of the faithful, but also of the angels — he has gathered all together again in such a way, that whereas the devils make war against us and pursue our destruction without ceasing, the angels are armed with infinite power to maintain us. And although we see them not with our eyes, yet must we certainly believe that they watch for our welfare. Otherwise what a thing were it? For we know that the devil is as a roaring lion, and seeks nothing else but to devour us. We see what a number of [reconstructed: flights] he has to wind about us with. Needs then must the angels have an infinite power to defend us withal. Also it must needs be, that we are preserved under the protection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is both their head and ours too. Thus you see briefly that the thing which Saint Paul meant to tell us in this text, where he says that we are gathered together again, is that we were scattered asunder before, and that we are not only reconciled to God by the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also now henceforth knit again to the angels, so that they are become our brothers and fellows, and God has given them charge to guide and maintain us in all our ways, and to watch over us, and to be in continual battle for the withstanding of all the enemies that make war against us, until we are gathered all together into the rest of heaven.

Now let us cast ourselves down before the majesty of our good God with acknowledgment of our faults, praying him to make us so feel them, as it may draw us to true repentance, and make us to continue the same all the time of our life, and that yet notwithstanding we may not cease to trust in him, and to offer ourselves boldly in his sight, forasmuch as our sins are scoured out by the blood that was shed for the washing of them — and that we may so frame ourselves to this doctrine, as we may all the time of our life acknowledge, that seeing he has purchased us so dearly, we ought to give ourselves wholly to his service — and that seeing he has shown himself so good a redeemer toward us, we may not doubt but he will continue his goodness from day to day, to the full finishing of the thing that he has begun, and strengthen us in all assaults, until he has delivered us from the cruelty of Satan and of all his supporters, yes, and completely taken us out of the world, to make us partakers of the happy blessedness to which he calls us. That it may please him to grant this grace not only to us, but also to all people and nations, etc.