Sermon 6: Upon Ephesians Chapter 1

15. For this cause I also, having heard of the faith which you have in Jesus Christ, and of the love which you have toward all the Saints, 16. Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, should give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, to have knowledge of him. 18. That is to say, to have the eyes of your mind enlightened, that you might understand what the hope is which you ought to have of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the Saints.

We have seen already how Saint Paul brought the Ephesians not only to the chief but also to the only cause of their salvation, and showed that they must of necessity ascribe all the whole upon God, without mingling of any foolish presumption therewith, as who should say that they themselves had furthered God's grace which they had received, either by their free will, or by any good intent in them. Saint Paul therefore has showed in effect, that not only the Ephesians to whom he spoke, but also they that had been God's Church before, ought all without exception to confess, that all their welfare proceeded of God's only free goodness, not only because they were all redeemed by means of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also because he had called them to the belief of the Gospel, according to his choosing of them before the creation of the world.

And now he warrants all the said doctrine by the record which it yields to God, in that it does even then magnify his goodness, when he is as it were separated from man's eye, and from the sight of all witnesses. Truly the doctrine of the Gospel ought not to be the less esteemed when it is preached and published in the open face of the whole world: but yet it behooves him that speaks it to have it thoroughly printed in his heart, and to say the same thing in himself before God and his Angels, which he speaks before men: for otherwise it were but a jangling, or rather an unhallowing of God's word: if a man should step up into the pulpit to talk like an Angel, and in the mean while have no such meaning in his heart, nor be persuaded of the thing that he speaks. It were better that a man were drowned a hundred times, than to bear abroad the most excellent record of salvation and of God's truth: and in the mean season not to be persuaded in himself of the thing that he preaches, so as God and his Angels might know that he has the same thing printed in his heart. Therefore it is not without cause, that after Saint Paul has preached God's free goodness in choosing whom he liked, and in calling them to the knowledge of his Gospel when he had chosen them, and in confirming them with his strong hand, and by giving them invincible constancy and steadfastness when he had called them: now he adds that God knows his witnessing thereof to be in good earnest and unfeignedly. For he protests here concerning the prayers which he makes alone by himself, when no man could know his thought nor what he says and utters with his mouth: that even then he avows the same doctrine before God, inasmuch as he prays him to vouchsafe to accomplish the thing that he has begun. Here therefore we have to mark first of all, that such as have a mind to have their labor profitable to the edifying of the Church, and such as have any true zeal, must not only give themselves to teaching, but also therewith pray God to work with them by his power and grace. For oftentimes it happens, that we do but beat the water, (indeed though we have the tongues of Angels) because we pray not God to further the doctrine that we preach. For of ourselves we be but unprofitable instruments: and when he has given us utterance, he must also make it effectual, according as it is said, that he who plants is nothing, and he that waters is nothing, but it is God that gives the increase. Seeing it is so: Let such as have the charge of teaching God's Church walk fearfully and carefully, and not only endeavor to win men to God, [reconstructed: but] also humbly acknowledge that they can do nothing of themselves, and that they should but cast forth a sound into the air, which would vanish away out of hand, if God worked not with them by the secret power of his Spirit. That therefore is the thing that we have to remember upon the words that Saint Paul speaks here.

But every one of us also ought to apply it generally to his own use. Therefore when we come to be taught God's word, or when any of us reads it alone by himself: let us not imagine our wits to be subtle enough, and that we are able enough to understand whatever the scripture tells us: but let us acknowledge our own beastliness, and pray God to make his doctrine to prevail in such wise with us, as it may not slip from us. But this thing will be perceived the better by the process that Saint Paul holds on here, if we weigh well all the words that he uses. He says that he yields thanks to God without end or ceasing, for the faith which he heard to be in the Church of Ephesus, and for their love towards the saints: and yet notwithstanding he continues his praying to God, that he should enlighten them more and more, and bring them to the perfection which all the faithful ought to labor to attain to, till God has taken them out of this world. Now, in that he says that he ceases not to give thanks to God, we see by his example what the faithful ought to spend their time about. For in very deed the chief sacrifice that God requires and allows, is that we should honor him for all his benefits, and yield him his deserved praise for the same. And it is not to be thought that that can be done (as you would say) by starts or by patches: but just as God on his side ceases not to pour out his benefits infinitely, so also it behooves every one of us to force ourselves to bless and praise him without ceasing. For Saint Paul speaks here unfeignedly: and when he blessed God for the Ephesians, he meant as much for all other churches. What an unkindness then were it, if a man should not think at all upon the benefits that he has received at God's hand? We are all of us bound to praise God for our neighbors. If we hear it reported that God has prospered his church, or showed mercy to his people a hundred leagues off, and to be short, if we hear of anything that ought to make us glad: it becomes our mouths to be open to praise God for it. Now if we are bound to do this for the good turns that we see not, but which our neighbors feel, though they are distant in far countries from us: what is to be thought of us when God fills our mouths (as it is said in the Psalm (Psalm 145:16)), and yet in the meantime we have no mind at all to yield him thanks? And we have to note further, that if we are bound to praise God for our meat and drink, and for all the things that belong to this fleeting life: he binds us to him much more without comparison, when he calls us to the heavenly heritage, and when he blesses and enriches us with spiritual gifts of grace, which serve to lead us far further than this world. Seeing then that God uses such bountifulness towards us: what excuse can we have, if we follow not the example that is shown us here in Saint Paul? Which is, that all our life long we must occupy ourselves continually in praising the name of God.

Now herewith he shows that faith and charity are the very gifts of God, and come not of ourselves, as men always imagine through a devilish pride. I told you before, that Saint Paul played not the hypocrite in giving thanks to God for the faith and charity of the Ephesians. If every man could believe, and had faith of his own inclination, or could get it by some power of his own: the praise thereof ought not to be given to God: for it were but a mockery to acknowledge ourselves beholden to him for that thing which we have of others than of him. But here Saint Paul blesses God's name for enlightening the Ephesians with faith, and for framing their hearts to charity. Therefore it is to be concluded, that the whole thing comes of God. The heathen men, bringing in their own free will, thought themselves beholden to God for nothing, but for their good fortune, as they termed it: for they surmised that they had all things by their own power and policy. The Papists also will well grant that God's grace must be ready to help us in part: but yet they will have man to be still exalted, and to attain to faith by his own motion. Here Saint Paul shuts out all these devilish opinions, and shows (as we have seen heretofore) that whenever there is any church in the world, or any people to call upon God, which are settled and grounded upon the belief of the Gospel: God deserves to have the whole glory thereof. And why? For his hand must needs have worked in that case, because men would never incline to any goodness, if they were not guided and governed to it, yes, and even drawn to it perforce by the Holy Ghost. For there is so great [illegible] in us, that we not only are weak and feeble, as the Papists imagine, but also utterly contrary to God, until such time as he has cleansed us. And this is the thing which he means in saying by his prophet Ezekiel, that the hearts which were stony before, shall be turned into fleshly hearts, namely that he will soften them, and bow them to his obedience.

Furthermore under these two words of Faith and Love, Saint Paul has comprehended the whole perfection of Christians. For the mark at which the first table of the Law aims, is that we should worship one only God, and hang upon him for all things, acknowledging ourselves to be so indebted to him, as we ought to flee to him alone for all refuge, and endeavor to spend our whole life in his service. That is the sum of the first table of the Law. The contents of the second are nothing else, but that we should live together in equity and uprightness, and deal in such way with our neighbors, as we should strive ourselves to help all men without hurting any man. And we are sure that God has set forth so good and perfect a rule of good [illegible] in his law, that nothing can be added to it. Seeing it is so, not without cause does Saint Paul in this place set down faith in Jesus Christ, and charity towards our neighbors as the sum of whole Christian [illegible], showing to what we ought to frame ourselves, and which is our rule. But herewith all we have also to mark, that under this word Faith, he comprehends the whole service of God. For it is impossible that we should not be wholly ravished in love to our heavenly father, being once acquainted with his goodness, as he has showed it us in the person of his only son. Behold, God draws us out of the dungeon of confusion and death, and opens us the gate of the heavenly kingdom, and tells us that he will take us for his children. Now can we hear and believe this, but that we shall be wholly given over to him, forsaking the world, and hating the evil that is in ourselves, because it separates us from him. You see then how the word faith imports a full yielding over of ourselves wholly to God. Again, faith is not an idle thing: it imports that we should resort to God, and that whenever we are stained with any blot, we should pray him to redress it: for there is not any necessity in the world, which is not as a dash with a spur, which God gives us to make us come to him. Faith therefore imports prayer and supplication. It imports moreover that it cannot be but we must hallow the name of God by resting ourselves upon him, and by yielding him the whole glory that belongs to him, when we know that he gives us all things of his own free goodness, looking for nothing at our hands but only the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Thus you see how faith imports all that is contained in the first table of the Law. True it is that the part is put for the whole: however it is to be considered that the things which we have spoken of, cannot be put asunder. Now then it stands us on hand to live uprightly and indifferently with our neighbors, as it is said in the 16th Psalm, that we are beholden to God for all things, and that we cannot yield him any recompense again, and that when we have strained ourselves to the uttermost, to bestow anything upon him, all that we can do, is neither here nor there to him. What requires he then? That we should be given to doing of good to his poor faithful ones, according as Saint Paul also names the saints expressly in this text. True it is that we ought to use charity towards all men without exception: for we cannot be the children of God, who makes his sun to shine both upon good and bad, except we love our enemies, and strive ourselves to succor and help them. That therefore is the mark that we must aim at. Yet notwithstanding this hinders us not to love all God's children with a brotherly love, because they are knit to us with a stricter bond. That is the cause why it is said as well in my aforementioned text of the 16th Psalm, as in this present one of Saint Paul, that we must have love towards all the faithful. Indeed and Saint Paul himself in another place does well discuss the doubt that may be cast in this behalf. For he wills us to have charity to all men in general, and chiefly to such as are of the household of faith. God then will have us to become like him [illegible], and to follow his example in doing good to all men, indeed even to [illegible] as are not worthy of it, in so much that we should to the uttermost of our power, procure the welfare of those which seek nothing else but to pick out our eyes. Moreover, forasmuch as he has set his mark upon all the faithful, and commended them to us, he will [illegible] us to bear a certain special brotherly love towards them. For God's gifts are to be esteemed wherever they are seen, according to the 15th Psalm, where it is said, that we must love such as fear God, and abhor such as are wicked. Then if we see the tokens that God has put into his faithful, whereby he comes near them: is it not fitting that we also on our side should be stirred up to love them? To be short, we see that Saint Paul has comprised here the whole rule of good and holy conversation: that is to wit, that first of all we must give over ourselves wholly to our God, to stick steadfastly to him: and secondly live evenly and uprightly with our neighbors, abstaining from all evil doing, and endeavoring to do good to all men, according to our power and ability. And how may that come to pass? Even by knowing our heavenly father, and by acknowledging the infinite good turns which he has done us, and of which he vouchsafes to make us partakers daily, so as all our whole life depend upon him, and he only be the party at whose hand we look for everlasting salvation, by calling upon him, and by yielding him thanks all our life long. Let that serve for the first point.

Again, as touching the second, it is not possible for us to love our neighbors, but we must also live soberly without showing any evil example, and look in such a wise to our behavior, as no man may have cause to complain of us. For what charity is there in a whoremonger that goes about to dishonor another man's wife? Or in a thief that seeks to steal another man's goods? Again, seeing that our life ought to be guided with all honesty: whenever any man bursts out into drunkenness, blasphemy, or such other things, it cannot be, but that in so doing there must be some troubling of poor folks, some robbing them of their goods, or some starting out into all manner of extortions and excesses. So then, if we have charity, and love toward our neighbor, we shall live a sound and upright life with them, and we shall rule it in such a wise, that we shall not busy ourselves about vain fancies, as the Papists do: for they take [illegible] pains in their ceremonies, and they call it God's service to babble much, and to gad here and there on pilgrimage, and to do this [illegible] that: and in the mean while they do but [reconstructed: wander] away in their own imaginations: and that is only for want of knowing where God calls them to. To the end therefore that we take not labor [illegible] in vain, let us mark what God allows, and let us hold us to that. For we cannot miss, if we abide continually in the way, as he shows it us by his word, especially since he shows us in so small a room what is requisite to the leading of such a life as becomes us. For were the volumes long, and without end, we would excuse ourselves that we were no great clerks, and that we could not bear away so many things. But now seeing that our Lord utters his whole demands in two or three words, we must needs grant, that if we bear not away so short and easy a lesson, we be too peevish and perverse, and stop our ears willfully, lest we might hear what he says to us.

Finally it is to be noted upon this word faith, that St. Paul does not without cause say, the faith in Jesus Christ: for that is the thing which we must look at. The fathers of old time had always the image of God before their eyes: for they might not make sacrifice but before his mercy seat: they might not hope that God heard them, or was merciful to them by any other means. They then had the visible image of the Ark of the covenant: but we have now Jesus Christ the image of God, which was invisible of himself: for not without cause does St. Paul say, that God is incomprehensible till he manifest himself in the person of his son. Therefore since we have Jesus Christ who is the express image of God, it behooves us to look there. And here you see also why it is said, that he is the express image of the power of God his father. For although the persons be distinct: yet does he represent to us the things that are belonging and requisite to our salvation, so that in knowing the son, we know the father also, as says St. John: and he that has not the son, renounces the father, whatever protestation he makes of going to him. So then, whereas it is said here, that we must believe in Jesus Christ: let us think of the warning which he gives to his disciples. Believe in God (says he?), believe also in me. There he shows that the ancient fathers which lived under the Law, had but a dark teaching, until the time that he was manifested to the world. True it is that they worshipped the living God, indeed and that they had no access to him but by means of the mediator. However, that was but under shadows and figures, neither had they any such light as we have nowadays under the Gospel. And [reconstructed: for] that cause also I told you that he is called the image of God, who is of his own nature invisible, so as we could not know him, unless he revealed himself by such means. To be short, let us mark that we do nothing else but wander, till we have our faith settled in Jesus Christ. And this will be the better perceived by the errors with which the world has been imbued to this day. For the Papists will protest well enough that they believe in God: as much do the Turks and the Jews also. True it is that the Papists and Jews seem to come nearest the truth: for the Jews protest that they worship the living God, even the same God that gave them his Law by Moses. But what of that? In the meantime they reject Christ, who is the end and substance of the Law. As for the Papists, although they [reconstructed: confess] Christianity, and avow Jesus Christ to be their savior: yet is it [reconstructed: apparent] that they make war against him, for as much as they [reconstructed: do] set up serving of God after their own liking, so as there is nothing but disorder in all their doings. As touching the Turks, they can well enough say, Almighty God the maker of heaven and earth: but shall we think that God will renounce himself, or unsay that which he has said, which is, that no man can come to him but by his well-beloved son, whom he has ordained to be the mediator [reconstructed: be]tween him and men? Again we see how the Papists will well enough say, that they believe in God: but yet with that they will needs [reconstructed: have] patrons and advocates to bring them to his presence. Again, [reconstructed: it is] not enough for them that they be bought with the blood of our [reconstructed: Lord] Jesus Christ: they must also put to their own merits, and [reconstructed: ransom] themselves by their own satisfactions: and when we have offended God, we must have such means and such. Then if a man wishes to examine the Papists' belief, surely he shall find that they believe their own dreams, and that all that ever they do, is [reconstructed: a] confused maze. For with Jesus Christ they mingle whatever comes into their own head, whereas we know that he ought to continue whole and alone by himself. We see then how St. Paul leads us to the true trial of our faith: which is by resting upon Jesus Christ, so that we feel ourselves utterly void of all goodness, and that we must draw from out of his fullness, to be filled with all good things, or else [reconstructed: so it will go with us]. For if we had all the Angels in heaven on our side (if it were possible:) yet is it certain that all should go to ruin, if we have not the said head, as St. Paul says in the first and second chapters of the Epistle to the Colossians. And so you see what we have to gather upon that sentence.

Now after Saint Paul has said that he thanks God for the things that he saw already in the Church of Ephesus, he adds that he prays to him also. This is to show us that when we see God bestow his excellent gifts upon his children, we need to beseech him still to continue and go forward with the same, and that for two causes. For he that stands may happen to fall, and again, God needs to increase his grace more and more. For even they that are the most perfect shall have cause to be ashamed, if they look well into their own wants. You see then that the thing to which Saint Paul brings us is that when we praise God for the gifts which he has bestowed upon his chosen children, we ought to match prayer also with our thanksgiving. And why? For it is in his power only to bring to pass the thing that he has begun, and it behooves us to lay always this ground: Lord, you will not leave the work of your own hands half undone. And the same thing which we ought to do for others is also requisite for ourselves. To be short, we are here warned to magnify God in such a wise for his goodness and gifts which we have felt already, as we must perceive that there is still much default in us, and that it behooves us that he should give us perseverance to the end, and moreover that he should correct our vices and augment his grace in us, till we have come to full perfection, which thing will never be till we are rid of this mortal body. Yet nevertheless we see how Satan does nowadays possess such as surmise a hellish perfection, and make but the three first petitions to their Father, saying that it is enough to pray God that his name be hallowed, that his kingdom come, and that his will be done, and so they cut off all the rest of the prayer which our Lord Jesus has left us. And for this matter I have the signing of their own hands which their disciples know, whereby those devils show that they must needs be utterly without wit, seeing they are carried away so far as to refuse to yield God this glory, that even now we are yet still overladen with the burden of our infirmities, held down with store of corruptions, and hemmed in with abundance of vices, and that God must be constrained to cleanse us of them more and more, indeed even from day to day, until he has brought us to the perfection to which he calls us. And it behooves us so much the more to mark this doctrine well, because the Papists are not so far overshot in the errors of their superstitions and idolatries as these varlets are, which do nowadays sow abroad their poisons in their privy meetings and lurking holes. But however they fare, let us mark well what is shown us here by the Holy Ghost, when Saint Paul says that he prays God. And why? I have told you already that the Ephesians had profited, and that the gifts of God and of his Holy Spirit were augmented in them — he has shown that. Now to knit up the matter, he says further that he prays God to give them that which they have not and which they still want. Since it is so, let us mark that the more we have profited, the more cause have we to humble ourselves, and with all mildness to beseech God to finish the thing that he has begun, and to increase his gifts in us, till we need no more to go any further, which shall be at the meeting of which we shall speak more in the fourth chapter.

But yet we must mark well the words that Saint Paul uses. For he says, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, or the glorious father, (for the speech "father of glory" is put in the Hebrew tongue for "glorious father") give you the spiritual revelation to have knowledge of him. Now when Saint Paul sends us here to Jesus Christ, saying that the God whom he calls upon is the same which is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, yea and his father too: it is to show the trust that he had to be heard, and that the Ephesians should take heart to follow the same fashion and rule of praying, and that when they have any occasion to resort to God, they should hold the same way that he did, and keep by the straight line of coming to our Lord Jesus Christ. But now if a man demand how God is above our Lord Jesus Christ: the question is easy to be resolved, if we have an eye to the person of the mediator, which is abased in our stead and degree, to be the means between God and us. True it is that Jesus Christ is all one with his father, and when we speak of the living God, it behooves us to acknowledge that the whole fullness of the Godhead dwells in him. Therefore we must not separate our Lord Jesus Christ, as though he were a new God, and some other than the same that was shown to the fathers from the beginning (as some devils say nowadays, which have stirred up that stinking villainy and abomination:) but it is the selfsame only one God which has shown himself to us in the person of the father, so we seek him in Jesus Christ. For in Jesus Christ we have to consider the office of the mediator, in that he so abased himself. Not that he forwent any part of his majesty, nor that he was any part abridged or diminished of his eternal glory, there was no such thing at all. But as in respect of us he was abased, indeed and utterly emptied. And we must not be ashamed to say that Jesus Christ was abased, seeing it is said that he was emptied: for that is the very word that Saint Paul uses to the Philippians. Therefore when we speak of Jesus Christ as he is joined to us, to the end to bring us to his father: so is he under God his father, namely in respect that he has taken our nature upon him, and is become our fellow. And that also is the cause why he said to his disciples (as Saint John reports in his twentieth chapter) Go to my brethren and tell them, I go to my God and your God, to my father and your father. Look how Jesus Christ joins himself in such manner with his faithful ones, that he says he will have one selfsame God with them. Yes: however, inasmuch as he is clothed with our flesh, and inasmuch as he vouchsafed to be made flesh, to the end that we might be members of his body: that is the cause why he has one God with us. And that is the cause also why the Apostle applies this text of Isaiah to his person: Look, here am I with the servants which you have given me: so as Jesus Christ comes there as a captain that presents himself before his king and prince, saying, Look, here I am with the company of children which you have given me. However the case stands, we see that Jesus Christ draws us to God his father, to the end we should repair to him with full trust, and he receive us. For otherwise who is he that dared be so bold as to assure himself that his request should be heard? What grace could we obtain, if the gate were not opened to us by Jesus Christ, and that he performed not the thing that he has spoken, namely that he is the way?

However, to the intent we might the better know what need we have to be guided by our Lord Jesus Christ: Saint Paul sets here before us the infinite glory of God. How dare we then be so bold as to offer ourselves into God's sight, but for that we have an advocate which makes us a way in there? For if the sun does dazzle men's eyes, and the heat of it singes us though we be very far off from it: what will become of us when we will press to God? For what else is the sun than a little power which he has breathed into it? And must we not needs be as it were swallowed up, when we press to the incomprehensible majesty that is in God? Yet notwithstanding if we have Jesus Christ, we have to understand that God is not only the father of glory, but also the father of mercy, and that he looks with pity upon such as are most miserable, and are had in reproach and disdain of the world. This is upon which we ought to rest in praying to God.

Saint Paul prays God here expressly to give the Ephesians the spirit of wisdom and revelation. It is certain that God had already revealed to them the truth of his Gospel, as it is seen. And verily we could not have one spark of faith, or of light, except God had wrought in us already, according as it is said to Peter in the sixteenth chapter of Saint Matthew, Flesh and blood has not opened these things to you, but my heavenly Father which is in heaven. And yet for all this, Peter shows afterward, that he knew not any whit of Christ's spiritual kingdom. Then although he were but as a simple novice at his A B C, yet it is witnessed of him, that the small taste of the Gospel which he had, was a gift from heaven. Hereby we see how God must be compelled to increase his gifts more and more in us: and in that respect is our life termed a way, because we must always go on forward, till our race be ended. And whoever imagines any perfection in this world, is possessed of Satan, and utterly renounces God's grace. Yet notwithstanding let us not surmise that God changes his purpose, (for he is not variable) or suffers his grace to be chopped out in gobbets and pieces, at men's pleasures: but he has appointed this order, that we should grow from day to day, and yet therewith learn to acknowledge soberly our wants, and to groan for them, and to dislike them, and to hold ourselves always in awe. You see then that these two things agree very well: namely that the Ephesians had already received the spirit of Revelation, and yet that they needed to have it given them of God. For although there be but one spirit, yet are the gifts diverse, and they be distributed to each of us in measure, and as it pleases him to give them. There is none but Jesus Christ who has received them fully. He only is the fountain that can never be drained dry, it is he upon whom God's spirit rests: to the end that we should all of us be made partakers of it. And for our own parts let us acknowledge, that the wisest of us have need to be always scholars, and to learn still even to our dying day. However, by the way let us mark that this word Revelation condemns us of all blindness. For we have our eyes open to discern between white and black: we see the Sun and the Moon, we see these worldly things, and are able to judge of them: we need no new revelation for that matter, for we have it of nature. True it is that our eyes are instruments of God's power and goodness, whereby he makes us to enjoy the light: but that is a common thing. But here Saint Paul shows us, that we be blind, and that we conceive not any whit of God's spiritual grace, except he open our eyes, and take away the kerchief or veil that is before them, yea and give us a new sight, which we have not. For we have our eyes worse than stopped, until he enlighten them by his holy spirit. Thus you see what we have to bear in mind. And that is the thing which he proceeds still withal. Namely (says he) to have the eyes of your understanding enlightened. But a man might reply, If we have the spirit of Revelation already, why have we need of it? Indeed as who should say, you saw nothing at all. True it is that you see partly: but you have your eyes still too much dimmed. And this may be said generally of all men, according as it is said, that in this world we see things but dimly, and as it were through a glass, till we be able to behold God in his heavenly glory, at which time we shall be fashioned like to him. Again, to the intent that men should not allege (and say) Must God then reveal things in such wise to us, as if we were in such taking that we could see nothing at all? And shall a man be as a brute beast without discretion or judgment? To answer hereto, it is true that we have some wit, but yet are we blind for all that, because we be corrupted by sin. God therefore must be compelled to give us new eyes, as I said before. And he adds the word wisdom, the better to beat down the fond overweening that men conceive in themselves, when they will needs fly without wings to come to God. For there is not that man which would not be wise. If we desired true wisdom by seeking it at God's hand: it were a good and well-ruled desire. But there are two faults in us: for we will needs be wise after our own conceit. Am I not wise enough to govern myself, will a fool say? And in the meantime we despise God's word, and each of us will needs have the bridle laid loose in our neck, and have leave given him to do what he thinks good. But that is too great an overweening. The other vice is, that in reading the holy Scripture, we still imagine to come to the knowledge of the things that are contained there, by our own discretion. But here both of them are excluded by Saint Paul. For when as he desires God to give his faithful ones the spirit of wisdom, he shows that they have no discretion, no more than brute beasts, except it be by the guiding of our Lord Jesus Christ, of purpose to come to the kingdom of heaven. For even in civil matters and worldly affairs, God gives it not to any, but to such as he thinks good. Now if he keeps his special goodness always to himself, to give discretion to whom he pleases, to guide himself withal in these base things of the world: then does he make the unbelievers to be well-sighted: and therefore when the case concerns the heavenly life, there is no preparation in us. And so Saint Paul presupposes the thing which I have said already, namely, that we must be taught at God's hand, to know him by the doctrine of truth through the record of the Gospel, for without that, we should be like these fantastical fellows, which rove under the pretense of having the revelation of God's holy spirit: however, that is not after the manner that Saint Paul takes the word Revelation, when he prays God to give it to his children. As for example, when Jesus Christ speaks of his spirit, he does not separate it from the doctrine that he had preached. When the spirit comes (says he) he shall tell you all truth. And how is that? Had not the Apostles received it already? Yes: but he adds, he shall show you the things that you hear now of my mouth. To be short, it is the peculiar office of the Holy Spirit to teach us in such wise, as the word which we hear, may therewith have his course and place, and as we may profit in the same.

And thereupon Saint Paul shows also wherein lies all our light and knowledge: namely in knowing God in the person of his only Son. That (he says) is the thing with which we must content ourselves. For if we have [reconstructed: ticklish] wits too be inquisitive of the things that pass our capacities, let us consider a little how weak and raw our understanding is. And if our wits be so gross and heavy, how shall we do when we would [reconstructed: soar] above heaven and earth? Are we able to comprehend all that in so small a room? Yet nevertheless we see how men take unmeasurable leave to be inquisitive of this and that, and to put forth questions in way of pleading and disputing against God. For this cause Saint Paul shows us here, that if we mean to be wise, it behooves us to be sober: that is to say, we must understand what manner of thing God and our Lord Jesus Christ is, as he himself will show anon after, that when we be once come to that point, we have so much as ought well to suffice us, and if we presume to go any further, it is but a willful overthrowing of ourselves. Saint Paul then will show that more at length hereafter: but it ought to suffice us, that as well in this text, as in all the whole Holy Scripture, we ought to learn which is the God whom we ought to serve, what is his will, how we may have our trust in him, what entrance we may have to pray to him, and to fly to him for help at all times. That is the thing to which we must apply ourselves. But that cannot be done, unless all that ever we have need of, and is available to our welfare, be to be had in Jesus Christ, in whom God has manifested himself. For in itself the majesty of God is too high a thing, and we should be undone a hundred times before we could come near him, if it were not that he has come down to us. But if we once have Jesus Christ, there we have a lively image of him, wherein we may behold whatever is requisite for our salvation. For there we understand that God is our father, and that we be cleansed from all our sins to be transformed into the glory of God. There we see how God accepts us as righteous, and that we be reconciled to God again. There we perceive how he has ransomed us, and that we shall never be left destitute of the grace of his Holy Spirit, till he has brought us to the enjoying of our inheritance. Thus do we know all these things in our Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the cause also why Saint Paul says in another place, that he desired not to know any other thing than Jesus Christ, and that it is he only of whom he intended to boast. According to which we have seen before, how he forsook all things to abide under the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that although the same has to the world nothing but shame and reproach, yet he protests that he had given over all that he had esteemed before, and that he esteemed them but as hindrance and loss, yes and as filth and dung, to the intent to cleave to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to show that such as are possessed with the fond opinion of their own deservings, do separate themselves from our Lord Jesus Christ, and that if we will be knit to him, we must give over all that we imagine ourselves to have of our own, and offer ourselves to him void of all goodness, to be filled at his hand. And here you see also why Saint Paul says, that he had rather come to the haven of salvation poor and stark naked, than to live in the midst of the sea, and to be there swallowed up. For although he were taken for a holy man, and as half an angel, yet he made no reckoning of all that, so he might be partaker of the remission of sins that was given him in Jesus Christ, and of the grace which he has communicated to all his members. Therefore let us learn to magnify God's grace in such a way, as we may utterly forget all the toys with which the devil [reconstructed: deceives] the unbelievers, by puffing them up with I know not what manner of pride, and come utterly empty to our Lord Jesus Christ to beg his grace. For we cannot receive one drop of it, but by confessing ourselves to be utterly unworthy of it.

And now let us fall down before the majesty of our good God, with acknowledgment of our faults, praying him to make us perceive them more and more, and that the same may so humble us, as we may be established in his grace, and labor to come nearer and nearer to him, that being beaten down in ourselves, we may be raised up by him through his mere mercy, and depending altogether upon him, resort to him as to [reconstructed: our] father, and continue in so doing till he has taken us out of the prison of sin, and joined us perfectly to himself. That it may please him to grant this grace, not only to us, but also to all people, etc.