Sermon 1
The Happiness of the People of God
Or
A Sermon on Psalm 33 verse 12
By
Francis Turretin
Translated and edited by Wilhelmus
Copyright, 2010
All rights reserved
Psalm 33:12 O happy
is the nation of which the Eternal is God, and the people whom he chose for his
heritage[1]!
Sacred
history teaches us that the Queen of Sheba, having heard of Solomon’s glory,
was curious to see him. And when she had
come to
The Oracle which you just heard, my brothers, from the mouth of a great king and an excellent prophet, clearly confirms that which we have just told you about the happiness of those whom God has taken for his people, and the marvelous advantage which believers encounter in communion with this happy Lord. And that is without a doubt the main subject of this holy hymn, for as the Psalmist’s goal was to encourage the faithful to bless God for the wonders which he has done in the world by creation and in the wonders which he dispenses everyday in the course of his providence, (of which the psalmist spoke in the preceding verses,) yet it is certain that his principal motive is to draw from the loving work of redemption, and from the glorious privilege that he gives to his church by receiving her in his covenant. That is why, after having spoken in the previous verse about the unchangeable steadfastness of the counsel of God, and “of his plans which endure from age to age,” he draws from this the infallible assurance of our happiness. And to manifest that there is nothing which touches him so tenderly, nor anything on which he meditates more joyfully, he expresses it only in terms of admiration. “O happy is the nation of which the Eternal is God, and the people whom he has chosen for his heritage!”
Since God called us today to bring to you the word of exhortation, we believed that we could not entreat you of any doctrine more important or more necessary than that of the happy covenant to which God condescended to treat us and the great advantages that it procures for us. And because the devotion and zeal which you usually display during these holy exercises fully persuade us that you are already disposed to listen to that which this holy prophet wants to teach us, we do not forbear to ask again, my brothers, for your religious attention, to benefit from these saving truths. We request above all the assistance of your prayers to implore with us the grace of the Holy Spirit in order than this great Doctor of Truth may so address the thoughts of our hearts and the words of our mouths, that we would put forth nothing in such an important matter but which serves for God’s glory and your edification. For our part, if the Lord gives us the grace to do it, we will attempt to show you the sense and truth of this Oracle by examining the two principal parts which it contains. In one we will view the nature of this divine covenant, and that which ensues from the wonderful privilege that “God is our God, and that he chose us for his heritage.” In the other we will consider the happiness of those to whom this privilege is granted and why one must make the same judgment of it as the psalmist does.
As God at all times gave to his
Church a great number of beautiful and rich promises to console her, it must
yet be admitted, my brothers, that there is none greater or more glorious than
that by which he assures her that he wants to be her God and that he has taken
her for his heritage. That promise is
the center from which all the others follow in succession. That is the unshakable support of our faith
and of our hope. That is the source of
all the blessings which God gives to us in grace, and which await us in
glory. In short, it is the heart of the
covenant and the marrow of the whole gospel.
And if our Lord, when speaking of love to God, says that it is the first
and great commandment, we can say fittingly of this promise, that it is the
great promise of God which is the foundation and sum of all the others. There is also none which is so often repeated
in Scripture, in the Old as much as in the New Testament, before the law, under
the law, under grace, and which even awaits in glory. These are the terms of the covenant which God
dealt to Abraham in the beginning, “I will establish my covenant,” he said,
“between me and you and among your posterity after you, in order that I may be
God to you and to your posterity after you[3],” whence
it comes that he calls himself so often the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of
Jacob. That is what he confirms to the
people of
I know well that one can say
generally, that God is the God of all men in the world because he created them,
he preserves them by his power, and because everyday he gives them many
different testimonies of his goodness.
But as the prophet uses these terms to describe to us the particular
privilege of one nation, which has no place among other nations, he is not
expressing them in this sense. In this
respect God is not only the God of only one nation, but the God of as many as
there be on the earth. He is as good to
the Gentiles as unto the Jews, and to the reprobate and unbelieving just the
same as the faithful and elect. And his
temporal blessings which he makes to redound upon the multitude of men do not
hinder him from looking upon them with indignation and pursuing them in his
wrath to punish them for their crimes. Once
again I admit that one could attribute this to the privilege which God had
before given to
There are no graces or saving blessings which this expression does not reinforce. When you say that God is our light and our life, our buckler and our strength, our Redeemer and our Father, you have without a doubt said very much already, however you have not said anything but what is contained in this single word, that God is our God. For if this be true, there is nothing in God which is not ours. Everything that he is in his nature and in his incomprehensible attributes belongs to us. We enjoy all of his goods, and he does not make use of any wonder in nature or in grace which does not contribute to our happiness. And if you want to consider what you have just heard more distinctly, reflect on these three incomparable advantages which are here presented to us, union with God, the communion of his graces, and conformity to his character. For if he is our God we must not doubt that he wishes to unite himself to us, to make us take part in all of his graces, and to make us conformable to himself. I say first of all that this promise necessarily includes our union and our reconciliation with God. For while he is separated from us and we are estranged from him, while we consider him to be an angry Judge, and he looks upon us as his enemies, we cannot say that he is our God and that we are his people. But since he is appeased and reconciled toward us in Jesus Christ, since he looks upon us as his children, and we are able to think of him as our Father, we can glory in that we belong to him, and that we possess him. And if it is true that in marriage, which is the most intimate relationship found in the world, the husband gives himself to his wife, and the wife gives herself to her husband, can we doubt that in this blessed covenant which God makes with us, which the Scriptures often represent under the symbolism of marriage, God gives himself wholly to us, and that we must also give ourselves entirely to him? “I belong to my Beloved,” says the wife in the Song of Songs, “and my Beloved belongs to me[12].” God sees us as his in virtue of a double right that he has over us, both from creation and redemption, and in the positions of Father and Husband which he willed to take on. We also consider him to be ours by virtue of the covenant which he condescended to make with us, by which he united us to himself so intimately that we can say in some sense that all he has is ours, and that all that we have belongs to him.
And this marvelous union does not only take place with regard to the general Divinity, but also with each Person of the Holy Trinity in particular, with whom we have a communion so intimate, that as we glory in belonging to them, we may also assure ourselves that they belong to us. That is why baptism, which is the seal of this covenant, is administered to us in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, to teach us that by this sacrament we are engaged to the service of these three divine Persons to whom we are consecrated. They also promise to us their blessing and their grace, and all Three engage themselves, if one must speak so, to work to accomplish our salvation. In effect they each work according to the unique manner which is attributed to them: the Father by his grace, the Son by his merit, and the Holy Spirit by his efficacy. The Father elects by his counsel, the Son redeems us on the cross, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us in our hearts. The Father gives us his promises, the Son signs them in his blood, and the Holy Spirit seals them with his signet. The Father ordains salvation to us, the Son acquires it, and the Holy Spirit applies it. The Father adopts us to be his children, the Son purchases us to be his members, and the Holy Spirit regenerates us to be his temples. So we become objects of the love of these three adorable Persons, and as the Father takes particular care of us as his children, the Son and the Holy Spirit give themselves to us with all their graces. Jesus Christ makes himself ours in all his offices. He is our Surety to make satisfaction for us, our Head to give us life, our Prophet to promise us salvation in his word, our Priest to merit it by his blood, and our King to apply it to us by his power. The Holy Spirit is ours with all his gifts. He is our Doctor to teach us in our ignorance, our Comforter to gladden us in our afflictions, our Sanctifier to cleanse us of our stains, and our Life to deliver us from our death. In short, we find nothing in the Holy Trinity which is not ours, and which does not work for our good.
But this is no less true with regard to God’s attributes. For if he is our God, we can say assuredly that his virtues are ours, and that there is nothing in them which does not contribute to our salvation. For example, if God is all-good, it is to do us well. If he is all-wise, it is to guide us. If he is all-powerful, it is to defend us. If he is just, it is to avenge himself of our enemies. If he is merciful, it is to pardon our crimes. If he is faithful, it is to grant us the fulfillment of his promises. Finally, (not to prevent us from considering his other excellent virtues, for the sake of which both men and angels exult in admiration), if he is all-powerful and sufficient for himself, it is to assure us that he will also be so for us, and that there is nothing we could desire which we would not find in this inexhaustible spring of good things. On this all those excellent promises are founded, which God gives us in his word, of which there is none that does not relate to one of these glorious attributes. God wills to lay them out in our favor that they should serve for us as so many unshakable supports of our faith and our hope. To this effect the Scripture says that God is our light, our strength, our rock, our fortress, our salvation, and our life[13]. And as the prophet remarkably notes, and which comprehends all the effects of his protection and grace, he is “our sun and our buckler[14]”. He is our sun of blessing, and our buckler of assurance; sun to enrich us, buckler to defend us; sun to give us life, and buckler to preserve it. So we may say that we have, (if one may speak in this manner), a treaty of offense and defense with God. Just as we are obligated by virtue of this covenant to take up God’s cause and to fight his battle, God also promises us in return to sustain us against the efforts of our adversaries. He declares himself to be staunchly on our side. He is just as concerned about our miseries as if he suffered them himself. If we are in anguish, he is in anguish with us. When someone touches us, he says that one “touches the apple of his eye[15]”, in other words the most dear and sensitive part of the body. And if one mistreats the Lord’s disciples, he cries from heaven that it is he they are persecuting[16].
O how sweet this consolation is, my
brothers, and how powerful it is to dissipate everything in the world which
causes us to fear and all that upsets us.
For if it is true that all the power of God belongs to us, what could we
have to fear or how could we not hope, because here we find the remedy for all
the evils which may beset us and the source of all good things for which we
could wish? And that drives us to the
second consideration which we must take from this promise, which is to manifest
that all things belong to us and that there is nothing under heaven or in the
earth over which we do not have a right and of which we may not make use, for
we belong to him who is Master of the world, to whom all things belong, for him
to dispose of according to his will. It
is just as indisputable that we, having him, possess all things, as it is that
without him we have nothing. That is why
the apostle says, “That all things belong to us, whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or death, or things present, or things to come. All things belong to us, and we to Christ,
and Christ to God[17].” For as ever since man rebelled against God
all the creatures rebel against him, and have become so many ministers of God
to execute his vengeance, so it is that since we were reconciled to God, and he
made himself ours, we have entered into the possession of all his goods. All the creatures favor us and are ready to
serve us. The angels stand no longer at
the gate of
But though these advantages are
without a doubt worthy of consideration, they are not all that is included in
his loving promise. The greatest good
that we receive from it is this, that by virtue of the covenant, God imparts
himself to us so far as to transform us into his image by the imprint of his
character. He is not content to give us
the effects of his attributes by his grace which he pours out upon us, but
rather he wills to engrave their conformity and resemblance on the inside of
us. And that is what is said in St.
Peter, “That we are made participants of the divine nature[19],”
because we bear the traits and characteristics of it, and in St. Paul, “that
contemplating as in a mirror the glory of the Lord with uncovered face, we are
transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the
Lord[20].” I know well that it will properly be in
heaven that we will be able to have this perfect conformity with God, when
contemplating him face to face, we will be fully satisfied in the resemblance
of him. But nevertheless this does not
hinder the fact that we begin to bear some of his traits here on the earth when
he receives us into communion with him. See
here, believers, how far God’s goodness extends to you, when he wills to be
your God and he chooses you for his people.
This is not only to say to you that all that he is, and all that he has,
belongs to you, but it is to assure you that he wills to make you similar to
himself in order that you may be in some manner as he is, as much as a finite
nature as yours can be. That is to say
that he will imprint in your souls the rays of his light and of his love, of
his holiness and his justice, of his patience and of his sweetness, of his
happiness and of his glory. Without pushing
the meaning of this excellent promise too far, it is not difficult to justify
it with that beautiful passage which our Lord uses in St. Matthew to prove the
immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body against the Saducees,
for “God calls himself the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, and he is not
the God of the dead, but of the living[21]”,
where he evidently presupposes that this covenant brings with it the communion
of the life and of the glory of God, not only in one part of the man, but in
his whole person. Such that God calls
himself the God of Abraham after his death, it is required also that his soul
be immortal, that his body resuscitate one day, and that both enjoy the same
happiness. The Church rests on this
foundation when she derives from God’s eternity the eternity of the life of
believers. “But you, you are always the
same, and your years will never end. The
children of your servants live near to you, and their race will be established
before you[22].” And in the prophet Habakkuk, “Are you not of
long ago, O Eternal my God, my Holy One?
We will not die[23],”
saying that it is impossible that believers, who are united to God who is
immortal and lives for all ages, may ever perish, because being with him who is
the source of life, it cannot be that they would remain in death. The communion that we have with him brings
this blessed conformity with it, as
The Psalmist does not content
himself to say that God is our God. He
adds that he “chose a people for his heritage,” not only to confirm more explicitly
that which he had just stated, as is often the custom in the Psalms to explain
in other words in the second part of the verse that which was said in the first
part, but primarily to uncover the underlying principle and the source of this
whole mystery. Because all men are
naturally in the same mass of corruption and misery, from which they cannot
escape of themselves, nor are they capable of even having the will, how could
they become the people of God if our Lord had not given them the grace for it
and if he did not precede them with his mercy?
Therefore it is to his sovereign good pleasure that one must ascend as the
source of all his graces. In that alone
we must rest if we wish to find the cause of this saving dispensation. For God, seeing all men as fallen in Adam and
guilty of death, willed from all eternity to choose of them a certain number out
of his pure good pleasure, though they would be no better or more worthy of
consideration than the others, to save them by Jesus Christ. And that is why in the fullness of time he
sent his Son into the world to redeem them by his death. That is also why he gives them his Spirit and
calls them by an efficacious calling, in order that just as he elected them
from eternity to be his people, he also chooses and separates them in time to
be his heritage. For God chooses his
people in these two ways: by his
election of them from before all ages, and by the calling with which he visits
them in time. One is the cause and the
other is the effect. One marks the
counsel of God and the other represents its execution. By that one he resolved to separate us from
the world, and by the other he separates us in effect. But he does both being motivated purely by
his mercy, without a single ground having been supplied by us. As of old it was not any righteousness or
grandeur of
Note well this truth, my brothers,
to oppose it to the error of those miserable Pelagians[31]
and Semi-pelagians ancient and modern, who in order to elevate the power of
human nature, bring down as far as they can the marvel of his grace, and who,
under the pretext of making free men, make sacrilegious men, robbing God of the
glory which belongs to him only, that is, being uniquely the cause of our
salvation, as if God’s election of us in eternity had been founded on his
prevision of our works or of our faith, and as if the choice which he had made
in time always presupposed some good disposition in us which could have
determined his choice. I do not now wish
to set forth the many reasons which reverse this false doctrine, nor to stop to
show you how it directly combats the glory of God and the consolation of
man. But even if we only had the one
passage which we are handling, would it not suffice to confront it? For if it is true that God only elects us
under the prevision of our works or of our faith, it is no more God who chooses
us, but it is we who choose God. It is
not he who loved us first, as
It is very clear that by these terms the Psalmist meant to denote nothing but the choice which God makes of a people and the care that he takes of it. But because the expression that he uses is wonderfully beautiful, it is necessary to examine its force more closely. I know well that the Scriptures often use the word “heritage[33]” to denote the happiness which God is preparing for us in heaven, in order that we may learn that we cannot merit it by our works and that we do not receive it but as a free gift from our heavenly father who will give it to us in virtue of the adoption with which he has honored us. But it is not in this regard that “heritage” is used here. For in this first sense it describes things which we must one day possess. However in this passage and also in others it describes persons, but it is not always used in the same respect. Sometimes the Holy Spirit attributes it to God, and at other times to men. It is attributed to God when he says that he is our heritage. “The Lord,” says the Psalmist, “is the portion of my heritage, and of my beverage[34].” It refers to men when it is said that we are God’s heritage. “Remember your assembly which you acquired in ancient times, which you took to be the portion of your heritage[35].” Although at their root meaning these two usages converge in the same sense referring to the covenant that he makes with us, nevertheless this difference may be noted, that one of these expressions uncovers more particularly the communion that we have with God, and the other that which God has with us. God is our heritage because he gives himself to us. We are God’s heritage because he takes us to himself and he wants us to give ourselves to him. He is our heritage because we take pleasure in him as the most precious thing that we have on earth and he is for us the ultimate good. We are the heritage of God because he takes pleasure in us and because he looks upon us as the object of his love and his precious jewel.
I know full well that the whole
earth and all that it contains belongs to him.
There is no people which cannot be called his heritage in some
sense. As many nations as there are
under the sun have arisen in his empire and are recipients of his care and
providence. Nevertheless, as the apostle
assures us, although God is the conserver of all men, he is such to believers
in a particular manner[36]. We are also obligated to recognize that in
the general empire which he has over all men, he has a particular possession
which he regards as his heritage, and which he cherishes above all the other
things in the world. It is the Church
which has this glorious privilege, as Moses declares it in his song, “The portion
of the Eternal is his people, and Jacob is the lot of his heritage[37].” And it is in this same sense that the
apostle, speaking of the faithful of the New Testament, says that we are made
in Christ “the heritage of God[38].” In addition there could have been but few
terms more proper to show us at the same time both the absolute right that God
has over us and the particular care which he wills to take of us. You know that there is nothing which more
legitimately belongs to us than the heritage which we have from our fathers
because it is nature itself that gives it to us. And you are not ignorant of the fact that
there is nothing which is more precious to us.
Witness the response of Naboth to King Ahab, who wanted to order him to
sell his vineyard, “It would not bode well for me,” he said, “if I would sell
the heritage of my fathers[39].” It was one of those things which the Jews
took the most care to preserve, as an inalienable good, because they considered
it to be a precious guage of God’s blessing and an express sign of his
love. That is why they gave in their
language the name of “heritage” to things which were the most precious to them,
for which they had particular esteem, as the Psalmist called “the law his heritage[40]”,
which is to say, as he explains elsewhere, that which is his entire happiness
and comfort, which he prefers willingly to all the most excellent things on
earth. Therefore in order to assure us
that God regards his church as the most precious thing which he has on earth,
he says that God chose her for his heritage.
And we cannot doubt, because we know that he has chosen her from among
all men to be a peculiar people unto himself, devoted to good works. That is who he cherishes and guards as the
plum of his eye. It is she whom he nurtures
daily with extraordinary care. If he
disperses the marks of his goodness and favor upon the rest of mankind, it is
upon her that he pours out the treasures of his mercy. If he is the Creator and the Sustainer of all
men, he is the Savior of the faithful in particular. The former are subjects which he governs with
the authority of Lord and Master. The
latter are his children which he treats with a fatherly tenderness. The former are like dry and unfruitful
fields, which are left fallow. The latter
are like his
But as much as this excellent
advantage appeared in a sort upon this people, in the external dispensation,
because it enjoyed many fruits of this covenant, one must however admit, that
it is only in
This last point remains for us to explain to you. It will not be difficult to listen to, for after having seen what this loving promise brings with it, we cannot doubt the happiness of those who are made participants in it. If the blessing consists in the deliverance from every kind of evil, and in the possession of all good, who can doubt that he who has the Eternal for his God, is perfectly happy, because he finds in communion with him these two glorious advantages: that there is no evil, from which he does not deliver, nor good which he does not make him to enjoy? I admit that if this promise concerned men, and if our hope were founded in the earth, we could not draw this conclusion because we only find vanity and inconsistency in men. But because the happy God whom we serve is quite far from each of these weaknesses, for that he is powerful and faithful, and has all the goodness and the power necessary to do us good, how could we doubt of the happiness of him who possesses him, and who is received in communion with him? No, my brothers, we cannot doubt without fault, because he himself has the goodness to assure us and because he protests to us often, that if he is for us, there is nothing which can be against us. We are in such a state as to fear nothing, and hope everything. For where is the evil, or danger, which could be capable of surprising us from now on? Would it be the wrath of God and the rigor of his inflexible justice? But if God is our God, must we not be assured, that he regards us no longer as Judge, but as Father, and that he does not have to do with us any longer by his justice, but rather in his great compassion? Would it be the curse of the law and the frightening lightning bolts which he casts upon sinners? But who does not know that by this blessed covenant, we are no longer under the law, but under grace, and that Christ having willed to be made a curse for us, there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in him? Would it be the greatness and enormity of our crimes, or the violence of our covetousness? But after the pardon that he has accorded to us for his love of Jesus Christ, and after the grace by which he regenerates us by his Spirit, why would we be apprehensive? For we know that Christ has destroyed the devil’s empire and that he can no longer dominate us. Once again, is it the rage of the devil and the world’s hatred, which do their best to make us perish? But what could they do against us, if we are in the hand of him who makes the demons tremble in their abysses, and without whose permission they would not be able to do anything, not even enter into a herd of swine? Would it be, finally, the fear of death and hell? But because we are with the Prince of life, who has the keys of death and of hell, why would we fear? Do we know that these are vanquished enemies, who are no longer capable of causing us to fear, or of harming us? And so it is that even if there were only just this one consideration, it would oblige us to recognize that the nation which has the Eternal for its God, is perfectly happy. For there is no evil which may cause it to fear.
But must we not say, when we reflect upon the advantages which come to us in this, that we find not only deliverance from the evils which could make us to fear, but also the possession of all the good things which we could desire? For in possessing God, is it not true that we possess all? His justice and his life, his holiness and his faithfulness, his grace and his glory appear to us. We are heirs of his Kingdom, and we would want nothing for the perfection of our happiness, which we would not find abundantly in this irrepressible spring of blessings. Is it any surprise, that, after all this, the Psalmist cries, “Blessed is the nation of which the Eternal is God, and the people whom he chose for his heritage.” The book of Psalms is all full of these holy raptures, and never does this faithful servant of God think on the grace that he grants to his children, but he makes use of the same language. “O how blessed is the person”, he says in the fortieth Psalm, “who sets the Eternal for his assurance[45]”, and elsewhere, “O how blessed is the man whom the God of Jacob is helping! O how blessed is the one who trusts in you[46]!” “Those who distance themselves from you will die, but as for me,” he says in another place, “to approach unto God is my good[47].” And so it is in infinite places. He would have good cause to say, because there is only God who is able to be our Sovereign Good, and who possesses all attributes. For if according to the philosophers, that only is a true good, which has the reality, and not merely an appearance, an infinite and universal good, which is able to remedy all our evils and satisfy all our desires, an eternal and permanent good, which could never be taken away from us, where could we find all these conditions but in God? As for creatures, as beautiful and as excellent as they are, you know that since the sin of man, there is nothing which is not subject unto vanity, and by consequence they are incapable of giving us any true happiness. And when some things are found which are not vain, though they be finite in their essence, and imperfect in their qualities, they are not able to satisfy our appetite, or to prevent us from desiring something more in addition. Finally there is no one who knows how they began to be. They must all have an end. One is not able to find one thing that is not fading and perishable. “All flesh is as grass, and the glory of the flesh is like the flower of the grass, the grass is withered, its flower is fallen[48].”
But it is not the same with God, my brothers. He is the true good who has no part in the vanity of creatures, because he is truth itself, bearing for that reason the name Jehovah, signifying him who is in and of himself, and who depends on no one. He is an infinite and universal good, for he is the Shaddai, who possesses the fullness of all kinds of good things, in whom we find abundant provision for every one of our needs. Are we in darkness? He is a light without shadow to dissipate it. Are we soiled? He is perfect holiness to purify us. Are we in misery? He is a treasure of glory and happiness to enrich us. Are we in death? He is the Prince of life to deliver us from it. So then that for which society searches in vain in the variety of creation is that which we find perfectly in the unity of the Creator who reinforces in his bosom all the good things for which we could wish. But it would still be a small thing to have obtained this advantage, if we were in danger of losing it every hour, or if it did not last but a short time. But it is in that which we have the greatest consolation, that the good which we have in communion with God is not only solid and all-encompassing, but that it is also eternal and permanent. As God is living unto ages of ages, he wills to make us take part in his immortality. In giving himself to us once, he gives himself to us for always. And those whom he has loved since the beginning, he loves unto the end. The covenant which he made with us is eternal, as he promises to never forsake us[49], he assures us also that he will give us the fear of himself in order that we will not turn back from him. Judge therefore, believers, whether being propped up upon such a firm and unshakeable foundation, we have any reason to fear or to question the happiness of our condition, and if we cannot quickly and hardily say with our prophet, “How happy is the nation, of whom the Eternal is God, and the people he has chosen for his heritage.” But it seems to me upon hearing that, I hear the flesh which opposes itself to this reality, which cannot stand that one would use such language. How, it says, could one call a nation happy which sees itself every day in combat and in suffering? Is it not true that ever since God declared himself in favor of the Church, the earth and hell conspired against her, and spared nothing to kill her? Is it not true that she is hated and persecuted by the world, that she must carry the cross of her Master, and that she bears his shame?
The Lord Jesus foretold us so
expressly, his apostle confirms it to us so often, and the experience of all centuries
gives us so many proofs of it, that we would not reasonably be able to
doubt. How then is a people happy who is
exposed to so many miseries? So our
blind and carnal sense judges of it, which stops at the appearance and measures
the good or the bad by the adversity, or by temporal and external prosperity. But the believer who is enlightened by the
Spirit of God, reasons differently about it.
Far from believing that the calamities or the suffering of the church
could prevent him from being happy, he is persuaded on the contrary that it is
the road which leads us to bliss, that it is how God demonstrates his love to
us, and that he is making us conformable to the image of our glorious Head,
that he advances our sanctification every day, and that he makes us to enter in
to his divine Kingdom. Besides it is
steadfast that whatever efforts the devil and the world make against us, yet
nevertheless they are not able to make us perish, ever since we belong to this
blessed Savior. They can well attack us,
but they cannot vanquish us. They can
shake us well, but they cannot topple us.
They can take from us this miserable life, which we are dragging upon
the earth, but they cannot rob us of that eternal life which God promises to
us. If they torment the body and kill
it, they can do nothing to the soul, nor to salvation, which is in God’s
hands. This is what makes the apostle
say, “that if God is for us, nothing can be against us[50],”
and there is no accident or calamity no matter how big it might be, which would
ever be able to separate us from his love.
But in all these things we are more than conquerors in him that loved
us. He does not deny that we are exposed
to many battles and miseries, but he assures us, that all that cannot separate
us from God. The bites of the ancient
serpent may indeed injure our heel, that is to say, afflict that part of our
flesh, which is the inferior part of man, but they cannot reach the head, to
give us incurable wounds and the stroke of death. God so happily directs all the strokes of our
enemies, that the schemes with which they intend to harm us, cannot however
succeed. What am I saying, that they
cannot harm us? God even makes them to
serve us, and to contribute to our happiness.
Have you not heard
But it is not enough, brothers, that we understand the truth of this oracle in general. The main thing is that we now make a serious application to ourselves, and that we engrave it deeply in our hearts, to serve us for consolation in our sadnesses, for correction to our vices, and for direction and instruction in our whole life. And certainly one must admit, that as this excellent doctrine is the sum of the gospel, and the marrow of the entire doctrine of salvation, it is also the true source of our joy, the foundation of our faith, and the rule of all our conduct. Let us first see, before anything else, if we are truly of the number of those who have a part in this blessing. It is without a doubt the first reflection which we are obligated to make on this matter, and without which all we could otherwise say would be absolutely useless. For what would it serve us to know that the nation which has the Eternal for its God is happy, if we cannot be assured that we are of this number? And what consolation could we have from all the promises which God makes to his people, and the goods which he provides to it, if we are excluded from this blessed communion? First, therefore, we must work at that, in order to be in a state to enjoy the fruit of this pleasant promise. Do not say to me, brothers, “How could we know this? Would we have to climb up to heaven to leaf through the book of life to see if God has written our names there by his decree of election?” The thing is not so difficult that you could not easily come to the goal, if you took care to reach it. Not by climbing up to heaven, and leafing through the secrets of the counsel of God, which is reserved unto himself, but by descending into your hearts, and considering the marvels of his grace, with which he willed to ravish you. It is not in curiously researching that which he has decreed about you from all eternity, but in taking note of that which he has done for you in time, and that which you have done toward him. For these are the two main marks by which we can recognize whether we are the people of God, his graces, and our duties, his calling, and our sanctification, the favors which he bestows upon us, and the services which we render to him. If it is true that we have been called by a holy calling, and that we have responded to him by faith, if he has honored us with his saving knowledge, and if we remain firm in his truth, if he has chosen us to be his children, and if we honor him as our Father, we must not doubt that we are of this holy nation to which he promises happiness. And if this is true, my brothers, how is it possible that we are not ravished in admiration of his goodness and filled with consolation and joy, in sensing our happiness?
Picture for yourselves the unhappy state, in which we were with all the rest of men, of miserable criminals, slaves of demons, victims of hell, who being without God and without hope in the world, cannot expect but the horrible lightning bolts of his wrath. And meanwhile instead of abandoning us and letting us perish like the others, God has had pity on our misery, and he found in himself the means of our salvation. He separated us from the others to take us for his people, he made us partakers of all his graces, and as if that were not enough, he gave himself to us. The profane Jews elsewhere said, lying, when the Lord presented various signs of his love to them, “In what have you loved us[54]?” But, believers, we have reason to make use of completely different language, and to say to him truthfully, In what have you not loved us, Lord, and what have you not done in our favor? What could we desire of your goodness, which you have not provided? We were lost, and you saved us. We were slaves, and you redeemed us. We were guilty of a thousand crimes, and you pardoned us for all of them. We were in a state of death, and you gave us life. If your justice and our sins demanded an infinite merit for the price of our ransom, you had no difficulty in giving us your own son to satisfy them. If we needed your Spirit to sanctify and console us, you communicated him to us to remain with us forever. If our misery and our emptiness could not be filled but by you, you did not refuse us this inestimable favor. In taking us to yourself, you gave yourself to us with all your graces. You wanted to be our God, and that we would be your people. In what therefore have you not loved us? Certainly, well-beloved brothers, we will be obliged to recognize and confess it, when we will remember, that everything that he has done, all that was nothing but a pure act of mercy for which we never gave him any cause. Yes, believers, let us give him all the glory for it. Let us never sacrifice to our own snares and our own spinning, as if it had been by our merits that we had acquired this advantage. What? Miserable earth worms that we are, poor and scrawny creatures, rebellious sinners and criminals, would we dare to pretend to something of God’s majesty? Would we dare to flatter ourselves with this thought, that we preceded it, and that he saw something in us more than in the others which obliged him to choose us for his heritage? May the doctors of error and of the lie, may the partisans of nature and the enemies of grace say of it what they will: for us, believers, who are instructed in a better school, admit frankly that it is he who has preceded in his mercy, who chose us of his pure good pleasure, and that it is only to him that all of the glory is due for it. But as this thought obliges us to humiliate ourselves and proclaim God’s goodness toward us, do we not have a ground of our consolation in the assurance of happiness and to make use of this Oracle as an impenetrable buckler to extinguish all the fiery darts of the evil one? For once we are persuaded of this truth, that God is our God and that he has chosen us for his heritage, where is the evil, or the danger which could frighten us? Living under the protection of this sovereign Lord, all-wise, all-powerful, and all-merciful, being under the shadow of this invincible hand, and in the shelter of this great buckler, what could we fear? When men join together with demons, when the earth and hell unite their forces to kill us, all that is not able to shock us. “For, if God is for us, who is it who will be against us? Who is it who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will it be oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? But in all these things we are more than conquerors in him who loved us[55].”
It is not that we could promise ourselves any rest or contentment from the world. For you know that one of the first lessons which the Lord taught us, is that of taking up his cross and renouncing ourselves. And you are not ignorant that the characteristic of the church is to mourn as the dove, and to have many evils to suffer and enemies to combat. If this were not necessary to prove our faith and our patience, we would need this exercise to correct our faults and prepare us for the possession of glory. But we have this consolation, when we know that God is our God, that if he strikes us, he does so as Father, and not as Judge, not to kill us, but to save us, and to make us participants in his holiness. We are assured that in the midst of his wrath, he always remembers to have compassion. If he hides his face for an instant in the moment of indignation, he receives us in eternal mercies, and if he sends evil, he never sends it above our strength to withstand, but with the temptation he grants us escape, that we may be able to endure it. We know that if he permits the world to hate and persecute us, it is in order that we will learn to despise and hate it, but he will never allow it to prevail over us, or triumph. Let us rejoice therefore, believers, in this thought. Let us oppose all the temptations which may assail us, for none of them are able to tear us away from the blessed communion of the Lord, or make us fall away from salvation, which he has called us to possess. May this same consideration sustain us both in sufferings and in persecutions, to which we often see the church exposed. And above all, in this sad and calamitous season, when it seems that Satan, seeing that little time remains, redoubles his efforts and his machinations against her in an extraordinary manner, let us remember always, that whatever he does, he will never reach the goal of his wicked devices, for God who willed to be her God, and who took her for his people, surrounds her by his providence, and guarantees her by his powerful hand, “God is in the midst of her, she will not move. God will give her aid at daybreak[56].” Yes, my brothers, let us be persuaded of this. Again when we often see the dangers and the misery increasing, again when it seems as though the tempest arises from every side, in the meantime let us not be frightened at all. Let us rest our assurance upon God, and we will be resting under his wings. He wills to do us much more good than our enemies know how to do us harm. They are vicious, and we are infirm, but his power is beyond compare greater than our infirmity, and his goodness infinitely surpasses all their malice. Let us only be careful to please him, and he will carefully preserve us. Let us never lose the characteristic of his people, and faithful subjects, and he will never forsake the role that he has taken on our behalf as Protector and Father.
So being content in our happy state, let us rejoice sweetly in the grace that he grants to us, without desiring anything else besides. Let the worldly chase after the honors, pleasures, and the treasures of the age. May they pursue their ultimate good as much as they want in these perishable things. For us, believers, who know the truth of these things, never envy them of this portion. Let us content ourselves to have the Lord for our own and know that this is sufficient, and that it is the good part which will never be taken away from us. I know that we will not find there the greatness and benefits of the world, as in Babylon, but we will find there that which is of infinitely greater value, the remission of our sins, peace of conscience, the assurance of grace and the hope of glory. We will not find there the arms of the flesh, the favor of the great and princes of the earth, but we will find there the eternal and all-powerful arms of the Lord, who extends them for his children, and the favor of the King of heaven and earth, who is not subject to change as those of earth. We will not find there the deceitful sweets and delicacies of the age. But there we will taste the true satisfactions and inexpressible things of heaven, which will no longer be mixed with any bitterness, and which will drown us pleasantly in the vast ocean of glorious delights. But, dear brothers, if the sense of God’s love and of our happiness gives us so much joy, let us remember the duties and services which they demand. For, if all the covenants of men are reciprocal, obliging parties one to another to observe some conditions, will we doubt that that which we have with God is not of the same sort? He wills to be our God, but it is upon condition that we be his people, if he is Father, that we be his children, if he loves us, that we serve him, if he blesses us, that we praise him, if he gives us his good things, that we recognize him, finally, if he is our God by his love and his protection, that we be his people by the faithfulness of our obedience. For, could we imagine, that God would want to be for them, who declare themselves against him, that he favors with his love and his protection, those who constantly make war against him through their vices, and that he regards as his people and his children, those who in their lives and actions do everyday the acts of enemies and rebels? Oh! My brothers, let us not flatter ourselves with this criminal thought. Let us rather be cognizant that we will never do well with him if we have not broken away entirely from sin and from the world, and that we will never have him for us, if we be not for him. If Jesus Christ says for good reason to prove the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body, that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, we can show the necessity of our sanctification for the same reason, and say after him, that he is not the God of the vicious and the profane, but of the faithful and the righteous. Do we want to know, then, whether we belong to him in this manner? Let us look to see if we have the seal and the mark which he requires, if we are holy as he is holy, if as he has chosen us by his love from among all the men of the earth, to be his children and his people, we choose him also by our faith from among that which we regard most precious in the world, to be our God and our Father, if just as he is engaged by his promises to help us, and by his oath itself, we engage ourselves also to serve him by our obedience, if as he is highly interested in our disasters and our sufferings, taking part in all that touches us, we interest ourselves also in his cause, battling unreservedly for his fight, not having any difficulty in suffering for his glory, if he calls us to it. In short, as in naming himself our God, he assures us that all that he is, all that he has, and all that which he does belongs to us: his powers, his goods, and his works, in the same way if we truly belong to him, then all that we are, all that we have, and all that which we do belongs to him and is for him: our persons, our goods, and our lives, in such a way that we have no other God but him, and that we banish from our hearts all the false deities to which we would burn incense, not only the gross idols of the pagans, but the secrete idols of jealousy, which Christians worship only too often: greed, ambition, sensuality, anger, and similar accursed passions, which the profane set up in their hearts like so many deities before whom they prostrate themselves. On the contrary may it be he alone who reigns in our heart, and may he really be its Master. May we not have any motion or thought which does not have his Spirit for its principle, his will for its rule, and his glory for its end. And if we have the benefit of having been chosen to be the heritage of the Lord, what does that require of us, if not that we respond to his care by our service, and that receiving so many proofs of his goodness, we render unto him some signs of our recognition? What, would we want to resemble the accursed vine, which, having been cultivated with so much care, when one expected fruit, bore nothing but wild grapes? Would we want to be like the unfruitful fig tree in the gospel, which lacking nothing which would make it fruitful, yet remained unfruitful and was cursed[57] and cut in the end? Would we want to be like Jeshurun[58], who having been fattened, kicked against his God? Believers, God prevents us from falling into this sad calamity. May he also grant unto us to be so constant and faithful in his service, that there could be nothing which would be capable of removing us from it: neither the promises, nor the dangers of the world, neither death, nor life, in order that we may always live as the holy nation and the people taken into God’s possession, and may we be able to experience the truth of this Oracle of the prophet, that “happy is the nation of which the Eternal is God, and the people whom he chose for his heritage.”
If all the churches of the world can
take part in this benefit, would not one have to admit, my brothers, that the
church which you make up today has experienced it after a particular manner,
and that she is a living commentary to these divine words? Who is able to consider her founding and her
nourishment, who would not visibly recognize the hand of God which sustains
her, and his grace which accompanies her?
If Moses could say elsewhere of that ancient people, “O, how you are
happy
If he has made you take part in his
most precious blessings, is it not in order that you render unto him your
homage and reverence with more submission and devotion? If he has favored you above many others, to
what does this tend, if not that you love him also more than they, and that the
sincerity and the zeal of your gratitude corresponds, as far as it can, to the
excellence of his grace? If he has made
you a holy nation and a people taken into his possession, what does this
benefit demand, if not that you proclaim the virtues of him who has transported
you from darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son? In short, if he has given himself to you, may
you give yourself to him, and may you never allow yourself to become seduced
away from his service under any pretext, nor drawn away from the true Religion
that he has taught you. Watch,
therefore, well-beloved brothers, that you never miss these saving duties. As he does the works of a forgiving and
merciful prince, render unto him all the duties of a faithful and obedient
people. As he has planted and cultivated
you with his own hand, and he considers you as his precious heritage, respond
to his care and his nurture with the pleasant fruits of true piety and a
sincere repentance. May it never so
happen to you, that you are some of the bad trees, or of the sterile branches,
which never bear any fruit. Be rather
like these beautiful trees planted along the streams of water, whose leaf never
fades, and who bear their fruit in season, like the
And as until now you have shown by the faithfulness and submission that you have rendered to your superiors, that the obedience which you owe to God is not incompatible with the respect that they demand, and that our religion and our doctrine is not an enemy of superior powers, that we know how to be established by God, (though nevertheless we are often falsely accused by some), remain always firm in this thought, to render unto Caesar the thing which is Caesar’s, and to God the things which belong to God, and know that you will never render to God any service which is pleasing to him, if you do not take care to make to appear in your life the truth of that beautiful motto which St. Peter recommends to Christians, to “Fear God and honor the King[60].”
Finally, my brothers, display by your conduct that it is not only in name and profession, but in reality and truth, that you are the people of God, by the holiness of your life, and by the honesty of your conduct. This will be the true means of shutting the mouths of the false accusers, who accuse our religion, as you know, of being the enemy of piety, and of favoring licentiousness. This will be the means to fully justify of the sincerity of your faith and the purity of your doctrine. This will be the means above all to draw upon yourselves the continuation of heavenly graces and of affirming you in the possession of your happiness. God who sees your faithfulness will not fail to crown it. He will continue to diffuse his graces and his blessings both on the church in general and on all her members in particular. He will always be your sun and buckler. He will give you grace and glory. He will not refuse any good thing which you could desire, which is truly saving to you. Yes, my brothers, we must hope, that this great Shepherd, who for so many years has made his flocks to pasture among the lilies, and who has planted this church with so many demonstrations of his power and of his love, he who has preserved her until the present time, and who still so marvelously preserves her today, notwithstanding the malice and opposition of the devil and the world, will continue to shower the effects of his grace and of his protection upon her with the same goodness, in the interest of his own glory, to the frustrating of his enemies, and the consolation of his children. This is what we ask of him for you, my brothers, from the deepest depths of our hearts, in order that having experienced on earth the truth of this beloved promise, we may all see the accomplishment of it in heaven, when God will be all in all, and when we shall be eternally happy with him. To him, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one sole God blessed eternally, be glory, dominion, and magnificence for ever and ever. Amen.