Sermon 2*

Jesus' Tears for Jerusalem

Sermon on Luke chapter 19 verses 41, 42

Francis Turretin

Translated and edited by Riley Fraas

International Center for Reformation of Faith and Life

www.reformed.us

Luke 19: 41, 42

And as he approached, seeing the city, he cried over it saying, “O if even you would have recognized, at least in this your day, the things which belong to your peace. But now they are hidden from before your eyes.”

“Blessed is the man who fears continually, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity[1].” My brothers, the sage in the book of Proverbs gives us an excellent lesson to teach us with what care we must examine ourselves in time to prevent the judgments of God, and that we must not neglect the means of our salvation while he presents them to us by his grace. It is not that he desires to bring the faithful under a hopeless fear and daily mistrust of God's love, to tremble at his every approach, or to think only on his majesty. Such criminal fear only has its place among the wicked, who never repenting of their faults, cannot have peace of conscience. Unlike the love which motivates the faithful, these do not know God but as an angry and unyielding judge who is ready to launch the lightning bolts of his vengeance upon them. The faithful are assured of God's love, which chases this vicious fear from their hearts as incompatible with the Spirit of adoption that they have been given. But that fear which the sage recommends to him is a profound humility and a respectful fear, which forces him to prostrate himself in the presence of God by a true sense of his faults. It also causes him to study to please him by all means and to prevent his judgments by serious repentance.

God desires that he renounce himself so that he may trust God more, and that he recognize his powerlessness so that he may run back to him who fulfills his strength in our weaknesses. God desires that the faithful man have a vivid sense of the punishment which he has earned in order that he might be in a proper state to receive the grace which God promises him. This is the only way, and the certain way, in which we can obtain bliss. In contrast, those who live in hardness and impenitence, who remain unfazed both by God's voice, and his chastisements, cannot fail to perish sadly and to receive the just punishment of their disobedience.

It is true that God does not punish them right away. Because of his sovereign goodness and patience, he bears with men for a long time. He urges and exhorts them to repent. He pressures and appeals to them continuously not to let pass the time of his grace and of their salvation. But if they despise his loving invitations, and if instead of converting, they only harden themselves more, then he withdraws himself in wrath. Then he must take up the rod to make known that he is no less a just Judge to rigorously punish those who offend him, as he is a good Father to favor those who fear him. The Scriptures speak so often of this holy dispensation of God's wrath that one would have to be either blind or wicked to doubt it.

But even if we had no express warning, yet we would need only to regard the disastrous examples which God sets before our eyes every day to prove its truth beyond a doubt. For solid evidence you need only to consider the sad condition of that ungrateful people of whom we have spoken to you, and the sad pleading of the Lord which you have just heard. Because, if this miserable nation had feared God's pronouncements of judgment in time, if it had taken advantage of the time of its visitation, and recognized the things which pertained to its peace, there would have never been a happier people in the world. No men on earth would have enjoyed a sweeter and more advantageous condition. But because it hardened its heart and despised the riches of God's patience, it became sadder than any nation had ever been. Neither had any nation ever become a more horrible spectacle of God's frightful judgments.

God would, my brothers, that we fall not into this cursed state, and that the ingratitude and impenitence of this people that we have described to you, as well as the terrible judgments that the Lord dispensed on it, would touch all of us so vividly, that instead of hardening ourselves in our crimes, instead of despising his voice and his rod, (which we for the most part have done only too much until now), we would fear in his presence unto salvation, to turn away his judgments and draw his continuing graces. That is why we are extraordinarily assembled today in this temple, so that afflicting our souls with fasting, with tears, and with lamentations, you would deny yourselves with greater zeal, and carry out this charge unto salvation. That is why you have already been addressed with these two holy exhortations, which you have just heard, which must have been like two powerful strokes of the rod. Having struck the rock of your hearts, they made it yield without fail, to draw the waters of repentance unto salvation. But if we have been so cursed to have not been touched as we must be from Moses' rod, be on guard at the very least, my brothers, that you be not insensitive to the rod of Jesus Christ. Do not be so hardened that your eyes remain dry as we watch this blessed Savior shedding tears for the salvation of poor sinners.

Having determined that we could not choose a more appropriate subject than this, we decided to speak to you now to look after your devotion on this holy day. No other subject is more fitting for our present state and for the emotions which our extraordinary humiliation demands. I know well that we are always obliged to enter into this meditation. It is never unnecessary. Because we are liable every day to fall into criminal hardening, which is to our great hurt, is it not important that we fear savingly every day to guarantee such humiliation, and stir up such emotions throughout our lives? But we must admit that there are certain times and occasions when we must think of these things particularly, when we see the greatest signs of God’s judgments and the hardening of men, when God does not only warn, but he strikes, and when he has not only the rod in hand, but makes its blows felt effectively; and at the same time, men, continuing in their wicked trajectory, give no thought either to his justice or to their sins but stay plunged in a deep slumber and a deadly stupor.

You must agree that it is time to think about this circumspectly, at least to avoid being crushed by the hailstorm of his judgments. When sailors see clouds obscure the sky, and hear thunder rumbling over their heads, when they notice the lightning flashing all around, and feel stormy winds agitating their vessel, which swell the waves of the sea more greatly than usual, they perceive immediately that they are going to have a furious tempest. They make preparations to escape it to the best of their ability, or harbor in some port where they may find safe haven from the storm. Or they lighten their vessel, or cast anchor out of fear that being carried by the winds’ whim, they will land on a reef or be broken to pieces on a rock. Therefore, brothers, when we see the sky cover the Church with the thick clouds of disaster, and hear the thunder of God’s threatenings rumbling overhead, when we observe the lightning bolts of his judgments, which are already falling in divers places, as the furious winds of persecution blow, and the stormy ocean of this world, being unusually agitated, puts us continually in danger of shipwreck, do you think it is time to sleep and relax like Jonah did? Is it not rather in that hour, that the pastors, (who are nothing less than heavenly ship-pilots), and the believers who are in the ship, must prepare themselves to stand firm, and do everything they can to resist this tempest, whether by lightening their hearts of the sins which could have caused this storm, or casting the anchor of their hope on the Rock of Ages, or reaching the port of salvation in time, where God’s almighty covering hand can give safe haven from the tempest?

Surely you will admit that if there ever was a time when we were obliged to think these saving thoughts, it is now when we are made to see such signs of God’s wrath in every place and such marks of our own impenitence. I do not mean to speak of the scourges which God makes to be felt on the face of the earth, and the judgments which he sends to all men in general. We would have to be blind not to notice the weapon in his hand and observe that he is angry at the world. But I only refer to the judgment which he makes to be felt in his church; for he begins with his own house. Can we behold the desolations in Zion, and the unusual destruction which God permits, like: pestilence, war, fire, and similar scourges with which he is accustomed to punish men, happening in his Jerusalem, without trembling, and fearing savingly to make good use of the sad example before our eyes? When we regard the schemes which the world and the devil plot against the faithful, the unceasing efforts that this raging lion makes against them to devour them, and their pitiful state in every region: in prisons, banishments, confiscation of property, and loss of liberty, and thousands of other persecutions, can we regard these things without being touched to the very soul, shedding many tears, and longing for their deliverance? A good child who sees his father take up the rod and give his brothers a hard beating cannot restrain himself from going to stop him. Dropping to his knees, he sobs from both eyes and his mouth to soften his father’s heart and cause the rod to fall from his hands. So if we are true children of our Father, must we not, watching his heavy hand upon so many of our brothers, stand in the gap like Moses, wail and sigh for them, and seek to inspire the bowels of God’s compassion through our own[2]?

But even if we did not have enough reason to afflict ourselves for our brothers, would we not have enough reason for ourselves, if we regard the evil that we do, or the evil which we fear? By God’s grace we still enjoy a sweet peace and comfortable liberty, and we have received ever new signs of his benevolence and protection (for which we would not know how to thank him enough,) having been spared by his loving patience from so many evils which have afflicted many of our brothers until now, and watching the storms which have agitated them while relaxing in our little port. You know however that we must not fall asleep here as if we had made a deal with death, as if evil could never reach us. You know well enough. I do not need to remind you of the matters that God gives us every day to keep us on our guard, and the troublesome pricks that he lets torment us from both sides. And finally, you will not ignore, that even if we had nothing to fear from the devil and the world, we have enough to fear from God, who having so many rods in his hand, does not fail to chasten us if we do not recognize more fully that his blessings and the graces with which he favors us are not of our own production. My brothers, that is truly the greatest reason of all for us to humiliate ourselves before God and tremble under his hand. It is not for the trouble that we suffer. It is for the sins that we commit. We fear neither the hatred of the world, nor the power of demons. However great and frightening their power may be, we know it is limited. They can neither attempt nor execute anything without the permission of our Father. Thus no matter how hard they work, and devise (no doubt) even a thousand evil schemes, they will never advance one step unless God wills to release the bridle and give them the power to carry out their designs. But our great fear is that through our crimes we might lose God’s marvelous protection, which has made us invulnerable until now. We fear lest the continual course of our sins might arrest the course of his graces, and the war we wage against God by our rebellion draw the evil desires of our enemies upon us by God’s just judgment. We are afraid that we have despised for such a long time the riches of God’s kindness and his outstretched arm inviting us to repentance, and now we have obliged him to shut the door of his grace to us and compose the irrevocable decree of our destruction.

For how can we promise ourselves that his benevolence will continue while we continue to offend him so stubbornly? How may we justly claim the testimonies of his favor when we give him only proof of ingratitude in return? That is the main reason why we are humbled here before God’s majesty, to ask forgiveness for our past faults, and make a holy resolution to live better in the future. By this means we intend to make ourselves ready to obtain the graces that we ask both for ourselves and our brothers through prayer. That is why we continue to exhort you in the name of God not to tire, but rather to redouble your focus and your zeal so that you will finish the day well, as we hope you have begun it well. Remember to this end that the fasting which the Lord requires of you does not consist simply in abstaining from meat, but in a true abstaining from sin. It will not do you any good to tear your clothing, hang your head low like a rush, and cover yourself in sackcloth and ashes, if you do not humiliate yourselves deeply before God, recognizing yourselves to be dust and ashes before him. Remember that you are here in the presence of God. He sees you and hears you. He is the one who tries the hearts and the reins. He knows all the motions of your soul perfectly. You are not able to disguise yourselves before him. He sees the foundation of your conscience, whether sincerity or hypocrisy is there. And he will not fail to reward one with his blessing, or punish another by his justice. Therefore listen religiously, believers, to what the Lord wishes to teach you by the deadly example of the ingratitude of this people, so that you might see the evils you have to fear, if you imitate it, and the grace for which you have to hope if you turn yourselves away from it. On this occasion God wanted us to reflect on these two main points. If God gives us the grace, we will attempt to consider distinctly what Jesus did while he was approaching Jerusalem, what he said, the loving tears which he shed for it as he approached, and the moving exclamation he makes to testify of his passionate grief for its misery. “O if even you would have recognized, at least in this your day, the things which belong to your peace. But now they are hidden from before your eyes.”

Jesus Christ was about to make his solemn entry into Jerusalem. He had just heard the cries of joy and the public hails of the whole multitude, praising God for the powers they had seen in him. He had just heard the pleasing wish of the ancient prophet in his favor and the glorious song of praise that the angels had begun to sing to him, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace be in heaven, and glory in the highest[3].” It seemed as though all this would give him great comfort and joy, that he should have praised God with his disciples and promised himself all favorable things to come. Meanwhile he no sooner approaches the city, than he begins to cry over it. From where did this extraordinary change come? Why would he cry at such a time when there appeared to be so much cause for joy? But we must not think that he did not have a good reason to cry. Was there not reason enough when he saw the malice and envy of the Pharisees, who instead of joining with the voice of the others to bless, wanted him to restrain his disciples as if they were doing something inappropriate? Had he not enough reason to pity their hardness, just as he had rebuked them for their unbelief? “I tell you that if these remain silent, even the rocks will cry out[4].” But beyond a doubt stronger considerations made him cry when he reflected on the ungratefulness of this wicked city, and the terrible judgment which God must shortly visit upon it. That is why he cried and groaned from the moment that he began to approach the city, which came into view as he descended from the Mount of Olives. “And as he approached, seeing the city, he cried over it.”

First of all, it seems strange that the Lord would have cried. Considering the dignity of his person, our human reason regards these tears as being ill-suited to his glory. Without a doubt this idea led to the thinking of some of the ancients, like St. Epiphanus, who wanted to remove the word “cry” from the text as if it had been added to the words of St. Luke, and as if Jesus Christ had never done any such thing. But because all the representative manuscripts consistently retain this word, as this ancient doctor notes, we would not be so reckless as to cut it out. And we have little reason to do so. For not only here is Jesus Christ represented to us as crying, but also in various other places, like when he approached Lazarus’ tomb, and at the time of his passion, when he prayed with great cries and tears to him who had the power to deliver him from that which he feared. Certainly he would not have done that if there were something in it unsuited to his dignity. And no matter how far-fetched that thought could be, it is nevertheless true that these tears are mysterious, and that they stem from his admirable wisdom. In effect, if the Lord could assume our nature without any prejudice to his glory, why would he not also take on all our emotions and all our infirmities? If he willed to expose himself to a cruel and shameful death in this human nature, and shed all his blood for us, do we find it strange that he would feel sad or shed a few tears for us? Have we not all the more reason to admire his goodness? He cares so much for our salvation that he uses not only words and examples, but also blood and tears to assure all of us of his true human nature and the tenderness of his affection. These are the two main things that his tears teach us.

First there is his true human nature. If he were only God, he would not have been susceptible to sadness or tears. It is true that he could still have had compassion on our pains, but he could not have felt them, like when he is said to groan within himself, to be hungry, thirsty, and to be subject to the same passions and infirmities as we are. We recognize that he was truly our brother, and that he was like us in all things except sin. Furthermore we needed “such a merciful and empathetic high priest, who was faithful in all things required to be done before God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. He who suffered and was tempted was also able to comfort those who are tempted[5].” Besides the fact that he could not have expiated our sins if he had not participated in our nature, we could not be assured of the similarity that he shares with us unless we could notice the same innocent emotions in him. By this he wanted to teach us again, that the religion which he came to establish in the world does not agree with the old Stoic philosophers, who under the pretext of spiritual power and steadfastness, stripped man of his humanity. They believed that their sage’s virtue was not achieved until one could show oneself to be insensitive to all strength of passions, and not to be touched by sadness or joy any more than if one were made of stone or bronze. But we have not so learned Christ. The blessed Savior’s example has taught us otherwise. His grace corrects human nature, but it does not destroy it. His grace regulates our passions to prevent them from being thrown into excess, but it does not seek to abolish their legitimate use. His grace prohibits us from falling into excessive sadness or excessive joy, but it does not allow us to absolutely banish either one of these passions. The Lord Jesus teaches us to moderate and sanctify our passions. Just as he expects us to rejoice of the good that he gives us, he also wants us to be sensitive to the bad things he sends us. He is not content to command us by his word, but he also wanted to show us an example by his life, displaying joy or sorrow, like when he cried over Jerusalem.

But he did not do it just to make us see his true human nature. He also did it to assure us of his tender love, and the lively sensitivity he has toward our troubles. He would have had great cause to be angry at this miserable city, which had so abused the grace that God gave it. Nevertheless you see how his mercy passes over the city’s strange rebellion. The city’s rebellion does not prevent him from being touched by its curse and shedding tears for it. O great and unspeakable goodness! Of what greater love could one speak, or think? When the Jews saw Jesus crying over the tomb of Lazarus, they had to admit that it was a great sign of love. “See,” they said, “how he loved him[6].” And how could we possibly overstate his great affection for Jerusalem when he wept so bitterly over it? By his example what sensitivity ought we to have of our own brothers’ calamities? Obviously we should not look at them with cruel and malicious eyes, as too many do, rejoicing over the pain of others. But should we look at our brothers with dry and uncaring eyes, when we see our Lord Jesus crying over ungrateful Jerusalem? If he is sympathetic even to his enemies when the curse is upon them, how hard are we if our brothers’ sadness does not touch us? The saints of old always used to have compassion on their brothers’ pains. You know how they have groaned and shed tears for the Church’s sins and disasters. There is no theme so commonly found in David’s Psalms. There are also many examples in the prophets, particularly in Jeremiah, who begins to cry when he thinks of such things, “I would that my head should be filled with water, and that my eyes would become a flowing fountain of tears; I would cry day and night, sorrowful for the death of my people's daughter[7],” and elsewhere, “My eyes have cried streams of water for the downfall of the daughter of my people. They have no rest until the Eternal shall look upon our emptiness[8].”

But all that is nothing compared with the tears of Jesus Christ. The compassion of men never brings them to cry unless their own interests are harmed in some way. But when the Lord cried, it was a pure expression of his love for Jerusalem, since he had no share in its suffering. And if it is true that wise men never experience such tender feelings except for some great and important reason, we must say that those of Jesus, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, are driven by great and extraordinary reasons. If you ask what reasons these be, it will not be hard to find the answer. You will only need to pay attention to the words which immediately follow to uncover the real cause:

The days will come upon you, he says, when your enemies will besiege you from trenches, and will surround all your sides. They will raze you and your children who are with you. They will not leave a stone upon a stone, because you did not know the time of your visitation[9].

Because in the light of his eternal wisdom he foresaw the fearful judgment that God would soon execute on the city and the desolation that would occur, he could not but shudder and show compassion. He represented in himself the lamentable state to which this great and exceptional city would be reduced.

That city which had long enjoyed worldly admiration and delicacies would be finally desolate. He imagined the disastrous siege of the Romans, which would toss them into anguish and inconceivable calamity. This siege would be such a great slaughter of these people that more than one million two-hundred thousand would perish. This siege would drive them to such lengths that even mothers would eat their own children. Finally, following the siege this beautiful flourishing city would be taken, sacked, and burned. A contemptuous and merciless conqueror would commit the worst cruelties, not sparing for age, sex, or infirmity. They would see the great and magnificent palace, which had been the seat of the kings of Judah, destroyed and ruined beyond repair. Above all, the awesome and venerable temple, which was justly regarded as one of the marvels of the world, where God condescended to dwell by his grace, to send his oracles and to receive the prayer and adoration of his people, would be reduced to its foundations before their eyes so that not one stone would remain upon another. But even more sadly and painfully, this miserable nation would finally lose what little liberty it still enjoyed. Being reduced to a shameful slavery which was harder and crueler than even death, it would be dispersed over the face of the earth, and become an appalling example of the indignation and vengeance of God, and the disgrace and hatred of men.

That is why the Lord Jesus had such cause to cry for Jerusalem, as before when the prophets had made so many lamentations during the sad Babylonian captivity, and in the other calamities under which God's hand made it suffer. Yet that is not the main thing which afflicted him. He cried indeed for the evils that Jerusalem was to suffer, but he cried most of all for those which it had committed, and which it was committing every day. He cried for the desolation that Jerusalem would experience, but he also cried for the rebellion which was the cause of it. He cried for the frightful judgment that God would send upon it, but he cried chiefly for the unbelief and impenitence which had ensnared it. He cried that a city which had been so enriched by the grace of God, and honored by so many marvels, displayed such ingratitude and so little appreciation. A city which God had chosen for his sanctuary, where he had set the pavilion of his glory, and the dwelling place of his ark, had responded so badly to so much favor, and turned itself into a seat of impiety and violence—a cave of bandits. A city which had enjoyed the privilege of having so many prophets and ministers of God, which had heard his voice every day, instead of taking advantage of it, hardened itself only more. It persecuted and put to death God's servants whom he sent to it instead of honoring them. Finally, a city that was blessed to have the Savior of the world, to see so many of his miracles, to hear so many of his excellent sermons, and to have been so cursed as to make itself unworthy, to reject the Redeemer, to despise his word, to malign his miracles, to subject him to a thousand disgraces and a thousand indignities, and to attain to such extreme furor and rage, as to cruelly put him to death. My brothers, that must have shocked all of nature. That rightly draws tears from the eyes of the Lord Jesus and the sad pleading of his mouth, “O if even you would have recognized, at least in this your day, the things which belong to your peace!”

You see the pleading that the Lord makes for this ungrateful city. He pleads for its blindness and impenitence, not having known the things which pertain to its peace. That is to say, not to have recognized the time of God's visitation, to make good use of his favor, and to have rejected the Messiah who was sent to it instead of embracing him and serving him as the only Author of its peace and happiness. Because this crime was so great and extraordinary, he was not content merely to speak of it, but he emphasized it with an extremely touching exclamation which illustrates the enormity of the crime, the justice of the penalty, and the passionate regret that he had about it. “O if even you would have recognized, at least in this your day, the things which belong to your peace!” In the Prophets this is God's usual way of pleading concerning the rebellion and impenitence of his people. “O, if my people,” he says in Psalm 81, “had listened, if Israel had walked in my ways! I would have knocked down their enemies in an instant, and turned my hand against their adversaries[10].” And in chapter 48 of Isaiah, “I would that you had been attentive to my commandments. Your peace would have been like a stream, and your justice like the waves of the sea[11].”

It is not that God is affected by those desires and regrets which often drive men to make such exclamations. He is a pure and simple Spirit, not material. He is not subject to such weak passions, which are never faultless, or, at least for us, are always a mark of inability. But just as the Scriptures accommodate themselves to our weakness by attributing to God various body parts like ours, to show the wonder of his power; in the same way they often describe him to us as being subject to our passions. When anger and sadness, jealousy and repentance, and similar emotions are attributed to him after a human mode of speaking, we have to understand this in a manner fitting the Divine Majesty. We are not to search in God for these emotions, but to learn something of benefit. Therefore the Scriptures speak to us of God’s wrath against sin, to show that he hates it, and that he will severely punish it. They speak of him as repenting to teach us that he willed to change his course regarding men, and of his jealousy, to testify to us that he regards with horror the unbelief of sinners who have broken his covenant. They speak to us of his bowels of mercy to teach that he is full of compassion and sympathy. In the same way desires, pleadings, and regrets are attributed to him, not because his wishes may be fruitless or frustrated, or to speak of some ineffectual and conditional will, which is repugnant to his wisdom, his power, and his goodness. He is not ignorant of what will happen to men, nor does he lack the means to remedy it if he chooses. But all things lie under his eyes and in his hand. Nothing happens in time which he has not ordained and foreseen from all eternity. But on the one hand the justice of that duty which he requires of man and the pleasure that he takes in his conversion and salvation, and on the other hand the inevitable calamity into which the sinner falls through impenitence and the just punishment that awaits him, are made known. Which calamity is so much the more just because the sinner is without excuse, not able to blame God for his loss. Man has nothing but his own malice to blame. His own malice has insolently despised God’s invitations to repentance and salvation, shut the door of grace, sadly, and brought the wrath of God upon him.

So the Lord pleads regarding this people in Isaiah, using the metaphor of a vine, which, after all the care the heavenly vinedresser has taken to plant it, to cultivate it, and to guard it, instead of bearing the good fruit of faith, repentance, and holiness, it responds to his labors by bearing only wild clusters, the bitter fruits of impenitence and rebellion. “What could I have done for my vine that I have not done for it? I expected it to produce grapes, but why did it produce wild clusters[12]?” To speak properly, God, who knows all and can do all things, cannot be disappointed in his expectation or remain in suspense and doubt upon what will happen. But it is a manner of speech graven in man, who is used to pleading and testifying his discontent when he has done much good to an ungrateful person but has received nothing in return. Therefore this pleading and expectation denotes a strong and serious commandment of God and a strong obligation to obedience on the part of man, like the obedience and recognition one would expect from someone for whom one had done many good deeds. It is in this same sense that God often pleads regarding the unbelief and impenitence of his people who do not respond when he calls them, and do not profit from the exhortations with which he addresses them. He pleads to show them that God did not cause their loss. Their loss was not caused by any failing of his to exhort them often to their duty, and to offer them his grace. It is their fault for having insolently despised him. So much the more, for God shows himself daily inclined toward mercy rather than justice, and takes more pleasure that a sinner might live, than in his destruction and death. Even when God must punish him because of the enormity of his crimes, the Scripture says that he only does so regretfully as if it were a strange work to him.

When therefore our Lord testifies of the desire he has for the salvation of Jerusalem, regretting her loss, it is not as though this event had taken him by surprise, as if it were happening contrary to his intention and will, for he knows that it was ordained from all eternity. But it is to show the inescapable obligation of this people to repent and believe after all of God’s favors, the pleasure that God would have taken in it if it had repented and believed, and the saving fruit it would have received instead of the pain which it justly merited and was going to receive very soon, for which it had nothing but its own hardness and rebellion to blame. Besides, we must remember, my brothers, that our Lord is not acting according to the nature of the Son of God, and God forever blessed together with the Father, but in the nature of a Son of Man, and Minister of the Circumcision. In the first place it is true that he is not susceptible to our emotions, and if the Scripture attributes them to him, it is only by some analogy to that which appears in men, as we have just said. But in another respect one cannot doubt that he felt emotions, for as he truly took our nature upon himself, he also put on all our innocent emotions, to make use of them when the interests both of his charge and of our salvation demanded it. Just as a faithful servant of God deeply desires the salvation of those to whom he is sent, he cannot but be afflicted at their loss. Thus Jesus Christ in his human nature was able to wish for the salvation of this ungrateful people and be displeased at its loss, even though as God he knew, their loss was inevitable, and that it had been decreed from all eternity. Elsewhere he speaks in this manner when he so forcefully reproves and so passionately deplores the unconquerable obstinacy of this nation. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, he says, who kill the prophets, and stone those who are sent to you. How many times did I want to assemble your children together, as the hen does her chicks under her wings, but you did not want it at all[13]?” Here the Lord is clearly not speaking of the hidden will of the counsel of God, which shows what he has resolved to do among men, for that is always effectual. But he speaks of God's revealed will and commandment, which the ministers of God must present to men to teach them their duty. This will often goes unexecuted.

Perhaps you will say to me, if Jesus Christ was so saddened by the loss of Jerusalem, why did not he prevent it, who could have done so without difficulty? Why did he not give it the grace to respond to God's call, and to think on things which belonged to its peace? For without a doubt he had the means. And it could not have done so without him. And why does he feel sorrow for Jerusalem's rebellion, if it was not able to obey without his grace, which he in the meantime withheld from it?

To remove this difficulty, I say one must not doubt that Jesus could not have felt sorrow as God. Nothing could have prevented him from converting this rebellious people, if he had wanted. But by his wisdom he carried it out differently. He certainly willed to call Jerusalem outwardly by the word, but he did not will to make it partaker in the inward and efficacious call by his Spirit. He certainly willed to show it its duty, and promise his grace, if it obeyed, but he did not will to give it the power to accomplish, or to embrace its duty. Yet he retains the right to reprove its crime, and execute the penalty due, because it was obligated to obey God just as it was, having no legitimate excuse for its error. Just as a creditor retains the right to require of his debtor the money which he lent to him, even if he has lost all his goods, and is in no state to pay him back, the same is true for the man who has lost by his own fault all the graces which God had given him in the beginning, and is totally incapable of rendering to him the service which he demands. God did not lose the right to demand it of him. He may demand it so much the more justly, for the inability which prevents the man from doing his duty was not only brought about by his own fault, but it is voluntary and malicious. It does not stem from the loss of his faculties, but of their extreme corruption. He is convicted in himself that the evil which he does, he does voluntarily without constraint, (contrary to the common argument that is made.) This makes him even more inexcusable because his ignorance may not serve as a pretext. He must attribute the cause only to his own hardening and malice. He has no room to complain about God's refusal to grant his grace to him because God is not obligated to give it to him. If he is deprived of God's grace, he made himself unworthy by his error.

Thus the Lord was able to testify all at once of his compassion for its destruction, and the just rebuke that he had reason to give for its unfaithfulness. For the former was inevitable, and the latter could not be excused. But let us consider a bit more particularly the nature and justice of this rebuke. It is “not having recognized the things which belonged to its peace.” The Hebrews do not understand the word peace as only referring to an earthly peace, or some external tranquility, but also the inner peace of conscience, and generally every kind of happiness and prosperity. For there is no good thing that does not accompany peace, just as there is no evil which war does not bring after it. Thus when our Lord says that Jerusalem did not recognize the things which belonged to its peace, he is not only talking about a political peace which it could have hoped to make with its enemies to ward off desolation and war that it would otherwise suffer. He includes everything which could have contributed to its salvation and eternal happiness, like faith in the Lord Jesus, the remission of sins, the conversion of the soul, the study of piety and sanctification, and generally everything that God requires of man to please him, and to obtain the effects of his love and mercy. But one must not doubt that Jerusalem did not pay particular attention to the favorable occasion which Jesus Christ offered by his coming to work for its salvation. For because he was the Messiah promised by the prophets, whom the faithful awaited, because only he could procure the salvation and redemption of his Church, there being no salvation in any other, and because finally he was the true Melchizedek the King of Righteousness and Peace, who had to make peace for men with God, and bring them to a state of perfect happiness, it is very true that if this people had taken advantage of such a profitable occasion, it would have recognized the things which belonged to its peace. It would have prevented the destruction which menaced it instead of not having made use of the grace that God had given it and stubbornly rejecting this blessed Messiah. So Jerusalem made itself absolutely inexcusable.

Thus the sense of this discourse which appears in the imperfect tense can easily be fulfilled, so to speak, by the subjunctive, as alternatively some would have it, “if you knew,” and if you truly recognized, as you had to, the things that belong to your peace, you would have taken care to study them, and you would not despise them as you do. Or, just as well, as we have translated it, and which is doubtlessly more appropriate, in the past tense, “if you would have recognized” the things which belong to your peace, and which could make you fully happy. If you had zealously worked to obtain them by the means of a true faith and a serious repentance, if you would have believed my promises, and obeyed my commandments, you would have been able to turn away the disastrous blow that struck you. Instead of not having taken notice of them, and these things having been hidden from before your eyes, you would have made yourselves the happiest people on earth. For you there is no more room to hope for grace or mercy. It is necessary for you to feel the utmost wrath from heaven, which will soon thunder upon you, and place you in the midst of the greatest desolation ever made. “O, if even you would have recognized, at least in this your day, the things which belong to your peace.” He calls the practice of saving exercises “the things which belong to your peace.” That is to say those things which could contribute to Jerusalem’s happiness, because if it had seriously applied them, it would not have failed to receive the pleasant fruit of peace and happiness, according to the unchanging order which God has established to give salvation unto faith and holiness. In the same way death is an inseparable effect of sin. Thus the peace is called “Jerusalem’s,” not because God had determined to give peace to it, for he knew full well that it would never be in a state to possess it and that he did not will to furnish it with the means. But it is so called because Jerusalem desired peace, and because it would have enjoyed peace without fail if it had made good use of this grace of God instead of not profiting from it and seeing itself sadly deprived of peace. What strange and terrible blindness this ungrateful people had! It saw the miracles which the Lord Jesus had already done, and which he would do every day in its favor. It heard the loving discourses of his divine wisdom. It was convinced, or at least it should have been, that this was he who was to come, and that there was no need to wait for another.

Meanwhile Jerusalem is so hardened, that none of this touches it at all. It still remains in its unbelief without remembering either the good it had been promised, or the evil which endangers it. Jerusalem continues to disregard and reject him who should have been the unique object of its desire and hope, for he was the only Author of its happiness. But if this sin is great considered independently, it is without a doubt much stranger, when notice is taken of the two accompanying circumstances: of the persons, and of the time, which our Lord points out here. Of the persons, when he speaks expressly of Jerusalem in comparison to others, “O if even you would have recognized.” Of the time, when he mentions a very important juncture, “If even you would have recognized at least in this your day.” Both are great considerations which serve well to emphasize the crime of this miserable people. As for the persons, if it is true that the crime grows in proportion to the knowledge one has, or of the good one has received, how enormously great was the sin of this ungrateful city, which having such light, and having been honored by such favors, displayed such ingratitude and so little recognition? “If the servant who knows the will of the Master, and does not do it, must be struck with many blows[14],” how many did Jerusalem have to suffer, which God had taken care to instruct in his will and to uncover his mysteries to it? If he who has received much is obliged to give much, what services and what obedience was not owed to God by this miserable city, after the extraordinary favors which it had received, which on the other hand it had so misused?

Our Lord rebukes it for this when he cries, “O if even you would have recognized the things which belong to your peace,” so as to say, there is without a doubt not one of those to whom I have been manifested, who is not obligated to this important duty. But you are bound in a particular way, whom God had enlightened with his knowledge above all other cities in the world, you who were the storehouse of his oracles, where he placed his ark and the pavilion of his glory, who had received so many good things from his liberal hand, and whom he crowned every day with a thousand blessings, to whom he uncovered so clearly the way of life, and whom he so earnestly called to salvation. What could have been more fitting for you than to recognize this merciful Benefactor by your service? And because he desired for you to wear the name Jerusalem, that is to say vision of peace, what could have been better than for you to have done works, mindful of those things which belong to your peace? What was more important for you than to embrace the grace that I offered, and to respond to my call? Meanwhile you did none of these things. You persevered in your rebellion and in your impenitence. And you set before the eyes of the whole world an example of ingratitude and disregard, when instead I would have made you a model of blessing and grace. What could you expect, therefore, but disaster from God, and to have to suffer extreme punishment from God since you committed horrible sin? If Nineveh, totally wicked and corrupt as it was, did not fail to convert itself at the preaching of a mortal man, if it no sooner heard these frightful words of Jonah, “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overturned[15],” which touched it extraordinarily, than it humiliated itself in sackcloth and ashes, how much more despicable is your crime, who, having heard every day, not a prophet, but the Prince of Prophets, and God's own Son, who exhorts you to your duty, and threatens you with an inevitable ruin if you do not repent, do not cease to harden yourself in your crimes or to mock everything that he tells you. O wicked and cursed city! One would have hoped for your sake that you would have recognized the things which belong to your peace! But as they are hidden from before your eyes, because you did not feel them and did not want to reflect on them, do not be surprised if you find you have let go of God's patience and drawn his utmost wrath. Your error is without excuse, and your punishment will be without recourse. The higher you were lifted up, the more heavily you will slide. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you were lifted to heaven, and you will be lowered to hell.

Thus our Lord aggravated this people's crime by considering who had committed it. But he aggravated it no less because of the circumstance of the time that crossed its path, which doubtlessly obliged it to reflect on itself: “If even you would have recognized, at least in this your day the things which belong to your peace.” In effect, if it was a great sin for Jerusalem to have rebelled against God's voice in the past when he sent his servant-prophets to it every morning to make it hear his voice, what sort of crime was it for Jerusalem to continue its rebellion at a time when no longer the voice of servants, but the Master and Son spoke to it? Would not the past have been sufficient, cursed city, to disobey your God, even if you had not continued in your evil course? Do you not consider that if until the present time you have despised these saving invitations, at least you do not have to do so now, for I come to you in this your day, which is the last time of my grace and patience in which I must speak to you? O, how happy you would be, if at least today as I speak to you again, you would return to yourself, and if you would make a holy resolution to renounce your unfaithfulness and submit to my imperial reign. You would have nothing to fear and nothing for which you could not hope. But I see well that you are not in a state to benefit from my loving entreaties, for you shut up your ears and your heart from my words. Everything that I present for your good is hidden from your eyes. This is what makes me cry out with all the more sorrow as I bewail your loss, “O, if even you had recognized, in this your day, the things which belong to your peace, but now they are hidden from before your eyes.” He calls the time that Jesus Christ was made manifest to it “your day” because it was the season of grace and the day of salvation. Whether you take it only as that particular day when he would make his solemn entry into Jerusalem, when he was ready to give her many testimonies of his grace, or even if you read it as speaking generally of Jesus Christ’s manifestation in the flesh, (of him who came into the world to do the work of our salvation, who spoke to the Jewish people in particular to call them into communion with him,) the prophets ordinarily speak of that time as a pleasant season and a day of salvation. “Now is the pleasant time,” Isaiah says[16], “now is the day of salvation.”

I know well that sometimes Scripture calls that time the Day of God because it is then when he draws near to men and offers them his grace. But elsewhere it is called the day of man because it is the time of man’s calling which procures for him either eternal happiness or eternal misery. So we say that it is the day of a Church when God speaks his word to her, or when he visits her in some extraordinary manner, or visits by his favors or by his chastisements. It is the day of a believer when God draws near unto him and gives him some particular sign of his love. For that reason the Scriptures speak so often of seeking God while he may be found, calling on him while he is near, and not hardening our hearts in the day when we hear God’s voice[17]. For once we let these precious moments escape, we may never find them again. For God has fixed a certain season for calling men during which the door of his grace is always open, but after which there will be no turning back. Listen to how Wisdom speaks in the book of Proverbs,

For I shouted and you refused to listen. I extended my hand and no one took notice of it. You rejected my advice and you had no willingness at all to let me reprove you. So I too will laugh over your calamity. I will mock when your terror shall arise upon you like ruin, and your calamity shall come like a whirlwind. When distress and anguish shall come upon you, then you will cry for me, but I will not answer. Early in the morning you will search for me, but you will not find me, because you hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Eternal[18].

O what a terrible and disastrous danger! It ought to cause even the Libertines and the profane to tremble, who day by day put off their repentance as if they would always have time to spare. For if it is true that God has destined a day after which, once it has passed, there will be no more grace, is it not a very sad thing that it is not given serious thought while the day remains? If God is calling you today with such tenderness, how do you know, miserable sinner, that he will be so gracious to you tomorrow? If you have long abused his favors, how do you know he will not take them away entirely, removing the means of your conversion of which you have made yourself unworthy? How do you know that since you have scorned to enter in the day when the door of his grace was open to you, he will not completely close it in that which follows, to banish you eternally from his presence? So God usually deals with sinners when they let the day of their calling pass without making use of it.

Our Lord speaks in this way to Jerusalem in order to make her understand what advantage she would have if she made good use of this grace, and the terrible sadness that her impenitence would draw upon her. It is not as though the whole people would be engulfed in desolation without exception. For as God always preserved a good remnant according to the election of grace, who would turn themselves to the Lord through the preaching of the gospel, he was not willing to forbear to touch their hearts and bring them into the communion of his grace in his own time, the contradiction and resistance of the others notwithstanding. But because the majority of the people should fall into this calamity, he addresses himself to the City of Jerusalem in general to denote according to the style of the Scriptures, the largest number of her inhabitants, to reproach them of their crime and convince them of the justice of that punishment which God would cause them to suffer.

“O, if even you had known, in this your day, the things which belong to your peace.” What ought these tears and regrets of the Lord Jesus to have done to the spirits of this people? What could he have said to it more strongly, or more touchingly, to move its hard heart and carry it to a serious repentance? If the tears of a father or mother must touch a child sensitively, at least if he is not completely unnatural, what emotion, what sadness ought this miserable nation to have felt in itself, seeing this blessed Savior, its Lord and its Father, crying so tenderly over it. Yet what a strange thing! All this made no impression on its spirit. It still remained unbelieving and unrepentant without making good use of the time of the Lord’s visit, nor thinking of the things which belonged to its peace. O evil and ungrateful nation! How worthy are you to suffer the strokes of God’s wrath! For you have despised with such obstinacy the riches of his goodness and of his patience! How you justly deserve to cry under the pain of your punishment, because you now look with dry eyes upon the tears which this good Jesus sheds upon you. But let us, my brothers, take heed that we do not make ourselves guilty of the same sin, and fear, lest we become enveloped in the same penalty. May we tremble at the disastrous example of this people’s hardening and desolation so that we will strive to flee it rather than to fall into the same. This is the saving fruit which we must glean from our meditation on all these things. This is why I beg you to wake up your devotion and your zeal, and to grant us a little more of your favorable attention. You have prepared till now to listen to what the Lord has to say to you through our ministry for your amendment and your consolation.

We read in Deuteronomy that after Moses had presented everything God had given him to say to the people of Israel, he concluded his discourse with this powerful exhortation,

Look. I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil. For I command you today, to love the Eternal your God, and walk after his ways, that you may live, and that you may be multiplied, and that the Eternal bless you in that country which you are going to possess. But if your heart turns back, and you do not obey his commandments, I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. I call the heavens and the earth as witness against you, that I laid before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that you may live, you, and your posterity, by loving the Eternal your God, obeying his voice, and adhering to him[19].

Far be it from us, my brothers, to compare ourselves to this great servant of God, who was honored with the particular grace that God spoke to him face to face as a friend speaks to his friend. But we do not forbear to tell you that we arrive today at something similar. After everything God’s servants, (who have spoken to you today), have told you today from God, after you have just heard of the curse of this people which was not willing to obey the voice of its God, we can conclude like Moses, addressing you in more or less the same terms. Look! We have set before you today life and death, good and evil. Therefore, choose life that you may live, as you love the Eternal your God and obey his voice. Otherwise, if your heart turns away from him, I declare to you that you will certainly perish. If you have been touched (as you must be) by the things which we have said to you, and if the picture we have painted of this people’s rebellion and ingratitude has made a powerful impression on your spirit, it will lead you to detest this rebellion and ingratitude with all you heart. If you are disposed to make better use than this people did of your God’s graces, and to think seriously of the things which pertain to your peace, to be faithful to him in all your life, we can assure you that you shall live. We can assure you that the Lord shall never withdraw his favor or his protection in your midst, that he will always be your Sun and Shield, and that if he has thought some calamity against you, he will repent, to do good to you. But if you are so accursed, that you continue in your vices and fall asleep in your security, despite all the exhortations with which he has addressed you, if you despise the riches of his goodness and do not rather recognize that you have seen but little of the day of the Lord, the time of his visitation, you cannot but expect the same end as this sad people. In other words God will pursue you with the arrows of his wrath. He will deprive you of his blessings and graces. He will remove the candlestick of his truth. He will take back the saving shadow of his hand, with which he has covered you from all the attacks of your enemies till now. In one word, he shall abandon you.

May God protect us, my dear brothers, from ever falling into such a deplorable desolation, so sad, that it makes the Lord cry over us, as he once did for Jerusalem. I know very well, that we have given him only too much cause to do so in the past. And if the Lord would have willed to regard our rebellion, he would have tried us long ago and pronounced a guilty verdict. I have now no intention of going into the details of your former actions in this regard. I leave each of you to apply this to yourselves and to unpeel your hearts before God, to recognize your faults and repent of them. But I cannot be prevented from telling you of the thing we most have to fear, that bearing such resemblance to that miserable city, in the graces with which God has favored us and in the ingratitude which we have paid in return, we might share in her punishment for even one day, if we do not endeavor to be wise at her expense and benefit from her example. For speaking of the graces of the Lord, was there ever a city as well-off as Jerusalem? God wanted to honor it with knowledge of him. He willed to choose it to be the home of his ark and the sacred ground where he gave his oracles. Is it not the same favor he gave to this little Zoar[20], when he visited it in his mercy, and made the sun of his righteousness to rise upon it? He gave her the light after darkness according to the badge she wears, which he chose among many others to make her the sanctuary of his grace and the pavilion of his glory. If he has surrounded Jerusalem with his protection, and if he has given it infinite signs of his goodness and succor by great deliverances which he has accomplished, what has he not done to preserve us for so long? How many plots did he have to diffuse? How many schemes has he reversed? Have we not many times experienced the marvelous deliverances which he has given us, as his heavenly arm and his all-powerful mouth have fought for us, and brought us out of the pit of death where it seemed that we had fallen hopelessly? If he extraordinarily blessed Jerusalem, if he sustained it amid many dangers, preserving it in peace and liberty, feeding it on his wheat grindings and reinforcing the bars of its doors, who can ponder the happiness of our own sustenance amid such dangers as surround us?

Consider this sweet country and its pleasant liberty which we have enjoyed for so long, despite all the confusions and disasters that have always befallen states and republics incomparably larger and more powerful than ours. Who is not obliged to avow it an extraordinary miracle of God’s providence? Can we not say of ourselves, as the Lord once did of Joshua, and of the people after the return from captivity, that we are prodigal men[21], though God has done such great things for us? Let us say again, my brothers, that if God sent his servants the prophets every morning, to speak to Jerusalem according to his heart, and to declare his will, he has not withheld from us the same advantage. Is it not true that he sends his servants daily to instruct us in his ways, to show us the way of salvation? As he causes famine to be felt in so many places, not of bread, but of the word of God, (which is much more frightful), he nourishes us abundantly with his heavenly manna, causing it to fall daily at our doors so we take but little effort in getting it. Finally, if Jerusalem had honored the presence of the Lord Jesus who usually stayed there while in the days of his flesh, (partly to make his voice heard there and partly to do his miracles there,) may we not boast of a similar privilege? I know well that we cannot see him anymore with our natural eyes, and that he no longer appears visibly on earth since his ascension. But can we doubt that he was, and still is, with us in our midst by the saving effects of his grace present in his word, present in his sacraments, present in his governing providence and in a thousand other blessings that he heaps upon us every day? If he were not there, how would we have survived so long? How do we still survive despite all our weaknesses and the violence and hatred of our enemies?

Admit, therefore, my brothers, that just like Jerusalem, Geneva is an illustrious theater of God’s goodness. Though it is one of the least among the thousands of Judah, it is not prevented from being one of those which has had the most glorious advantages. A happy city you are, if you know to recognize as you must the goods which the liberal hand of God has imparted to you, and if you take care to benefit from his wonderful patience by responding to the sweet invitations of his grace. A happy city you are, if you always remember that which you have received of him, and that which you must give to him. But a sad, triple sad city you are if you bury the blessings that he gives you in ungrateful silence, and if, instead of taking advantage of his goodness which drives you to repentance, you use it to harden yourself more and fall asleep in a carnal security as if you had nothing to fear or to suffer. A sad city you are, if despite all the exhortations God gives you every day by his servants, despite such grace as he accords, you persevere in your stupor and your impenitence without recognizing the time of the Lord’s visitation or thinking of those things which belong to your peace.

Meanwhile, can we deny that we are guilty of the same crimes, and that the Lord would have just as much occasion to reproach us as he did Jerusalem? Is there anyone among us who could absolutely justify himself in this regard, who would not have to pass condemnation on himself: magistrate and people, pastors and flock, great and small, young and old, rich and poor, men and women, whoever we are, whatever age, sex, or condition that we are? Yes, my brothers, we must frankly admit it. God is just and we are shamefaced because we have sinned against him. For after we have received such graces of his goodness, what faithfulness and what obedience do we not owe him? I pray you, have we even recognized him for them? What have the testimonies of our piety been toward him? What have been the proofs of our love to our brothers? What have been the marks of holiness in all our conduct? On the contrary, what ingratitude and what rebellions have we raised in opposition during the course of his goodness? With what sins have we not irritated the eyes of his glory? Have not greed, ambition, sensuality, envy, hatred, distrust, licentiousness, drunkenness, and all the other sins which reign in the world had their course among us? Is not the name of God blasphemed on account of these? I am ashamed to say, but it must be admitted. As much as God’s goodness and marvelous protection have made us worthy of honor, so much have we discredited ourselves by our corruption and licentiousness. And if we have made ourselves prodigals of his grace, I fear, lest we make ourselves prodigals of ingratitude and disregard, and one say of us, You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

We bear the name of Christians, Reformed Christians, known for separation from the world’s vices as well as its errors. Meanwhile we do not have the fruition of it, or the reality. I know that we make profession of God’s truth. We go to hear preaching. We participate in the Lord’s sacraments, and we acquit ourselves, at least in appearance, of the other pious exercises which are commanded. But what does all this serve if this external profession is not accompanied by sincerity of heart, if we conduct lives which are contrary to our doctrine? What if, in maintaining the form of piety, we deny its force? “The kingdom of God does not consist in word, but in power[22].” The essence of a Christian lies not in bearing Christ’s name, or in profession of his truth, but in the life of his Spirit and the practice of his holiness. “If anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, that one does not belong to Christ[23].” “If anyone invokes the name of Christ, let him keep himself from iniquity[24].” Here is the true seal of the gospel, the uniform of Christ’s disciples, and the mark of good religion. Though you go to hear preaching every day, never miss an occasion to approach the Lord’s table, and though you pray continually, that will not prevent you from perishing if your life does not answer to the name you bear and the profession you make. This awesome name with which you glorify yourself will prove to be quite far from any benefit to you. It will only serve to make you so much more inexcusable when you tarnish its glory with an evil life, and when, under the mantle of a Christian, you do the deeds of a pagan and an unbeliever. Here is that disaster which envelops most Christians today.

Would to God that there were none such in our midst, that we had conserved the purity of our morals as we have that of our doctrine, and that our life were as holy as our religion is good! But alas! Who does not presently groan at the sight of our unusual laxity? How have we degenerated from the piety and virtue of our fathers, and that so forcefully that one can truly say we have forgotten our first love? For where, I pray you, is that ardent zeal today, which motivated them to embrace the gospel, searching for the heavenly manna with avid holiness, to freely leave our parents, our goods, our country, and all that which we hold most dear in the world to win the Lord Jesus, and to assemble ourselves together like eagles in the sky around this dead corpse. Where is this among our lax and cold souls, our tepid and indifferent spirits, which ring both sides of the bell? We would prefer if we could join Christ with Belial, and God with the world, and, far from leaving everything for Christ, are so swift to abandon Christ for the smallest worldly advantage. Where is that purity and integrity which appeared in their actions as well as in their words, which made them easily recognizable among the people of the world? Today one does not see but impurity and drunkenness, both in speech and in life, by salty and hateful words which emanate from the mouths of many, and by evil crimes which one hastens to commit. Where is that simplicity and modesty which was manifest in their daily habits? Today luxury and vanity are at such a high point that there is no one who can restrain them, whether pastors by censure, or the magistrate by punishment. We are such self-idolaters that we sacrifice everything for our ambition and often run to our own ruin. When it comes to doing some charitable thing, or to contribute to the public good, we are always poor. Yet when it comes to spending on clothing, furniture, or banquets, we find money to cover it. Nothing is too expensive for us. We do not dare say that we are in no place to spend. We want everyone to think that we can do as much or better than our neighbor. Where is the charity and brotherly love which appeared with such warmth among our fathers, which led them to give voluntarily, to forgive their brothers, to give their goods to them whom they saw in need, and to forgive those who had offended them? Where is this divine virtue today amid our cold indifference, our savage hardness? The love has grown so cold, that it seems that we no longer know what it is to give, or to forgive. Instead of being disposed to part with our goods for those who need them, how many of us are there who pillage the goods of others by violence, fraud, or injustice? Far from being in a frame to forgive the wrongs that are done to us, are there any who do not display proud and irreconcilable hearts, who in mortal bodies nourish immortal hatred and animosity, and who have no greater pleasure than to satisfy their passions and take vengeance for an injury received whatever the cost?

No matter how much our Lord calls out to us every day that the only commandment he gives us is to love one another, no matter how much he tells us that it is in this they will know that we are his disciples, we could not care less about it. We would rather take sides with the Prince of Darkness, (who is a murderer and liar from the beginning,) than to obey the Lord Jesus by imitating his example. Even if I tried I could not make mention of all our wrongs. No matter where I look, whether to our duties to God, our duties to our neighbor, or duties to ourselves, I find nothing at all but cause for shame. And I see that the Lord has only too much reason to reproach us, just as much as Jerusalem, of our failure to think of those things which belong to our peace. For if we thought about these things like we should, would we not be more careful to look into them by studying to be pious and holy instead of making ourselves unworthy by our impenitence? Would it not be of more benefit to us if we were to be converted by our Lord’s loving goodness instead of using it as a cushion for our carnal security? Would it not be of more benefit to us if we sought to keep the Lord in our midst through faithful obedience instead of, (as it appears,) trying to chase him away through our rebellion and ingratitude? Thus was the course of ungrateful Jerusalem. Thus she finally brought upon herself this deadly judgment which made her utterly desolate. My brothers, what else can we therefore expect, if God does us justice, but that participating in her sins, we become companions in her punishment? What will our hope be, and what will we not fear, if we do not repent? If God did not spare Jerusalem, which was heaven’s love and earth’s delight, why would he spare us, who have nothing to commend ourselves? Do not flatter yourselves, sinners, by hoping in his grace and thinking you are immune. I know his mercy is great, but even so it has its boundaries. If his grace is the asylum of the repentant, it will never serve as a retreat for the impenitent and profane. Again, I admit that the Lord has lovingly supported us and that we can never thank him enough. But who has assured you this will continue? Have you received word that you will always be under the shadow of his wings, and that the stinging blow of God’s wrath which has passed on nearly all will not come upon you? Should you not rather fear, (being neither better nor worse than the others,) that you will not be spared either, and that for so long a time as his patience supported you, his judgment will be more severe to punish you?

Consider, I pray you, the grievous example that God sets before your eyes. I am not only speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem, or of the ruin of those beautiful, flourishing churches of the orient, which now groan under the yoke of that false prophet Mohammed. I am speaking of the dissipation of those of the Lord’s flocks who are now feeling his rod, exposed to a thousand cruel persecutions. See how his judgment began in his own house, how he smites his sanctuaries from all sides. Remember, if he did not forgive the others, he will not forgive you either, if you do not repent. Avert, therefore, in the name of God! Avert such a terrible judgment! Unpeel yourself. Unpeel yourself, undesirable nation, before the decree is delivered. And if we wish to prevent our Lord from crying over us, let us cry over ourselves while the time is ripe. But let us cry truly, to drown our sins with our tears from now on, and to dim the fire of his wrath with the saving waters of our repentance. Only take heed that they be not the tears of hypocrites, who cry only from the eyes and appear with many other signs of sorrow and melancholy, yet their heart is not touched at all. Tears of true repentance are not murmuring tears of impatience, as the wicked often shed when they see themselves in misery, and when they feel the hand of God weighing down upon them. But it is really the evil they are suffering, not that which they have done, which touches and afflicts them. That is the world’s sorrow which can only produce death. Those are the tears of profane Esau, trembling for the loss of his blessing, whose last hope was to plead for it with tears. But these are the tears of sincere repentance, which is godly sorrow, that produce a repentance never to be repented of. They do not afflict so much from the evil that we suffer, but from the evil we do. They proceed not from a slavish fear, but from the tenderness of a child who feels displeased at having offended his father. In effect, how could we remember God’s graces and our ingratitude, his goodness and our malice, of that which he has done for us and that which we do against him every day, and not be distressed in the soul at having offended such a good father? How could we not, with the prodigal son, casting ourselves at his feet, tell him with tearful eyes, “My father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worth to be called your son[25].”

Yes, Lord, we confess it in your presence. We have sinned against heaven and before you. We are no longer worthy to carry the glorious title which you give to your children. We have abused your graces. We have resisted your word. We have not recognized your time of visitation, and the time of our calling. We have turned back from you to follow the world’s bad examples and the criminal suggestions of our flesh. We admit that we merit your harshest chastisements, and that even if you made us to feel all the evils we could imagine, we could not but put a finger over our mouth and silently adore your justice. But, if our sins are great, we know that your mercy is greater still, and that there is no error so great that you are not ready to grant pardon, provided that we ask with a contrite heart and penitent soul. Here we are, good God, cast down before you under the conviction of our crimes, planning to renounce them completely from now on. We repent of it in dust and ashes. We resolve to live better in the future than we have in the past, to glorify you in our bodies and in our spirits instead of just offending you and irritating your glorious eyes. Look therefore, Lord, on our groans and our tears. Pity us and be gracious unto us, though we are unworthy of it. Do it for the love of yourself and this good name which has been invoked upon us. However it is not enough for us to testify by our tears and sighs our displeasure at having offended God, and our intention to repent, if we do not truly make it to appear in our lives and do not effectively change course. That is what it is about now, brothers. Let us therefore make a resolution from this moment on. Yet let us make it so sincerely and strongly that nothing can change it. Let us cause its effects to be seen in all our conduct that one may no longer see these vices and disorders which have dishonored it in the past. From now on let us only study to please God and serve him in order that these members which have been used for sinning, as instruments of iniquity, may henceforth become God’s instruments of righteousness. Let these eyes which have only served by lascivious and impudent looks be changed into a living fountain of tears to cry over our past life. Let these hands which have only been busy robbing, or doing violence, be used for benevolence and charity. Let these mouths from which one never heard but stinking, salty words or impious oaths and blasphemies be no longer opened except in good speaking which glorifies God and edifies ones neighbor. May these feet which ran so quickly to commit evil retain the same ardor and swiftness, but to run in the paths of God and to set themselves to work in his service. May these hearts which were so attached to the earth, which only sighed after the world’s perishable goods, raise themselves to heaven from now on, sighing for the incorruptible goods of glory.

In short, we are guilty of not having thought of the things which pertain to our peace. We should not be so cursed as to always continue in this habit. Let us make use of the time which God has given us and the grace that he bestows upon us. If we want him to continue to favor us with peace, let us not continue making war against him with our vices anymore. Let us make peace with him when the time is right and not let such a favorable occasion escape. Enough with abusing his patience! Enough with despising his goodness! Let us be sure not to despise it again. Let us at least think of it today when he comes to us in his grace and speaks to us again by the mouth of his servants. For how do we know whether the Lord will give us another opportunity at a later time? How do we know whether the door of his grace will always be open, or whether the time of his patience will last forever? He is good but he is just. He is slow to anger. He does not willingly afflict the children of men. But he is jealous for his majesty. He will not allow it to be despised. His justice has woolen feet, but it has iron hands. The more slowly he walks, the more roughly he strikes. Let us not constrain him to arm himself against us. Rather let us cause the weapons to drop from his hands by the sighs of our hearts and by the tears of our repentance.

But along with the pious tears we have to shed for ourselves, let us remember to join with them the tears of compassion and charity which we must shed for our brothers. Let us be sick of Joseph’s brokenness and cry over the desolations of poor Zion. Alas! Can we see to what pitiful estate she is reduced in so many regions today without being afflicted to the very soul, without standing in the gap to halt God’s wrath and to pray for her peace and her deliverance? You see how she is crying, (I say not tears of water, but of blood), for the evils which the Devil and the Antichrist make her to suffer. And will we look upon this sad spectacle with dry eyes? Will we not give her at least a few sighs? If Jesus cries over a wicked city which had killed the prophets, persecuted the saints, and which should put him so cruelly to death, will we not cry at all for such beautiful, flourishing Churches where God’s name was invoked, where his word was preached, and where his ark and the candlestick of his truth were situated for such a long time? Will we not cry for such good brothers, whom we see today exposed to a thousand battles and persecutions? Certainly one would have to be harder than a stone and more insensitive than a rock not to be touched by it. And we shall never know a more assured sign of the communion we have with Christ than the compassion and sympathy we have for his poor members.

Finally, let us remember, my brothers, that if we want God to continue making us to take part in the graces which he has promised us, we must acquit ourselves faithfully of all the duties which he demands of us, whether piety towards him, charity to our neighbors, and most of all to think every day of those things which belong to our peace. Let us all think about this seriously whoever we are, in whatever vocation, and in whatever state we are.

Magistrates, this is what the Lord expects of you in the important charge in which he has called you. Do you want him to make your way to prosper and to bless your resolutions? Do you want him to dissolve the schemes of your enemies and make you to continue living happily in the world? Recognize the time of the Lord’s visit and think about those things which belong to your peace. Remember, that if God supports you, it is in order that you may be the fathers and tutors of this people, to watch over its safety and render due justice. Remember that if you honor the beams of his majesty through the authority he has given you, it is in order that you may resemble him even in his holiness, and that the interest of his glory and the maintenance of pure religion be always your greatest care. May you have nothing else at heart but to establish the reign of God in the midst of this people, to make sure his word is heard there, that his Sabbaths are observed and that his great and awesome name is adored by both great and small. May the scandalous, the impious, the profane, the blasphemers, and other pests of public society find no support from among you nor go unpunished. But animated with a holy zeal, make a holy vow with David to protect the innocent, punish the guilty, and clean up the city of the Lord of all workers of iniquity. This will be the means of rendering your government happy, drawing upon you and on this people the continuation of his peace and his graces.

Pastors, my dear brothers, whom God has given the embassy of peace and of reconciliation, let us also recognize the time in which we are and let us think of the things which belong to our peace. We must take so much the more care because we see that Satan, knowing that only a little time remains for him, today redoubles his efforts to take this precious peace and this beneficent liberty away from us by force. Therefore let us take heed to ourselves and the whole flock over which the Lord has established us as bishops. Let us above all work to cause it to make peace with God and to prevent him from ever coming to break it off for its crimes. If we are displeased when we see the beginning of vices and the opposition of sinners increasing day by day, let us reignite our zeal more and more to oppose ourselves to them. Let us never cease from preaching the word in season and out of season, to instruct the ignorant, convince the refuters, correct sinners, comfort the afflicted, and bring every soul captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Let us speak to Jerusalem according to this frame of heart, to announce to it the good news of its peace and its reconciliation. But let us remember also to lift up our voice, when necessary, like a cornet, and to shout at the top of our lungs[26] telling Jacob of his trespasses and Israel of his iniquities, in order that we may give a good account to the Lord of those souls which he has committed to us. And if there are any who perish in unbelief for not having accepted the peace which we offer on behalf of God, their own blood be upon them and not on us. Let us remember finally to feed the flock of Christ which he has committed to us, not as having dominion over the Lord’s heritage, but as stewards of the flock, in word and in deeds, by the purity of our doctrine and by the holiness of our lives. Let us faithfully discharge this important duty, so that we will be able to have the comfort of seeing the saving fruits of our ministry in this Church, and one day to receive from our great Pastor’s liberal hand the incorruptible crown of glory which he has promised us.

Fathers and mothers of families, you recognize the time of our Lord’s visit, too, and think of those things which belong to your peace. Do you want the peace of God to be in your houses? Live in peace with one another. Make sure your families are well-disciplined by the study of piety and the fear of God. For this is the greatest treasure you will leave to your children, that you may take satisfaction not only of having brought them into the world, but also of having consecrated them to God in his Church. One day may you say with joy, “Here am I, Lord, and the children which you have given me.”

All of us, my brothers, of whatever age, whatever sex, and whatever our profession, let us be zealous, repent, and remember, at least this day, to think on things which belong to our peace. Do not let the time of his grace pass by without seizing it advantageously for your own conversion. That is the holy profession we must make to him now before we leave this temple, and which we must execute faithfully throughout our lives. For what does it serve us, brothers, to have the idea or to make a resolution if it only lasts for a few moments, and if we no sooner leave this sacred place than we return to our bad course and continue our vices? Woe unto us if we have such a thought! It would be better no doubt not to have fasted than to misuse it that way. For then we would make it apparent that our fasting was not but a fasting of hypocrites, which the Eternal hates. We would be adding to the rest of our crimes the blackest of all, that of perjury, by wickedly feigning the faith which we have been given. But if we do differently, as I hope by God’s mercy and your piety, if we serve him faithfully all our lives and blamelessly keep the oaths we have just made, we must not doubt that our humility will be agreeable to him, and that for his part he will fulfill the promises he has made to us. He will surround us with his protection every day like a wall of fire. He will crown us with his free gifts and his compassion. He will dissolve our fears. He will sweeten our bitterness. He will comfort us in all our afflictions and he will gloriously make us to triumph over all our enemies. And instead of the way he cried over Jerusalem because of its unbelief and its impenitence, seeing our repentance and our faith, he will rejoice in us, taking his great pleasure in us. His saving presence will always remain with us. Until, when we have passed blessedly through this valley of tears, he will receive us in his heavenly Jerusalem, the true vision of peace, where all our tears will be wiped away and all our mourning will have come to an end. He will turn our tears into joy, our sighs into thanksgiving, and our wailing into triumphal song, as together with all the saints we take up the chorus of eternal “Haleluja to him who is on the throne, and to the Lamb, be honor, praise, and glory, forever and ever[27].” So be it.

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* Sermon 2 of Turretin’s first book of sermons, preached in Geneva on a day of fasting

[2] French, “tacher d’émouvoir les entrailles de sa compassion par les mouvements de la notre”, “try to move the bowels of his compassion by the movements of our own”

[16] Isaiah 49:2; 2 Corinthians 6:2

[17] Psalm 32:6, 95:7; Isaiah 55:8

[20] Meaning Geneva, a city in which Protestants fleeing persecution had taken refuge as Lot and his family had fled to Zoar at the destruction of Sodom, cf. Genesis 19:23.

[26] French, “de crier au plein gosier”, “to cry out with the full throat”