This sermon is from the Anti-Nicodemite Writings of John Calvin, and the sermon is based on the text of Psalm 27. I'll read that text as he has quoted it in the beginning of the sermon. One thing have I asked of God, and that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to look well upon his temple." It is amazing what a variety of interests one finds among men, and yet there is one point upon which all agree, and that is to entertain themselves in this world here below. Naturally, everyone will have his own goals and methods, Yet this vanity of seeking one's good and happiness only in this corruptible life rules everywhere. This shows how very debased men are. For we were created with quite a different purpose, namely that in our dealings in the world, we should aspire to God's heavenly kingdom. This is why the present life is called in the scriptures a path or road Therefore anyone who does not wish to deprive himself of God's eternal inheritance must begin here. He must prune himself of all foolish desires and fancies which would only detain him and keep him in this world. So that his chief desire would be to go to God and to let nothing obstruct him in the least bit. I say in the least because it is essential. that all worldly affections which serve only to distract us from God be utterly plucked from our hearts so that we may travel light on this journey which we must undertake. Now since it is so essential for us to have such a high degree of purity it follows next that we must remove all the hindrances that hold us back and pursue our course whatever may come of it. In the midst of our weaknesses we must nevertheless prefer the heavenly life to everything on earth. Now, for the means whereby we can succeed at this, it is not for us to devise such means. We must use the ones God has ordained. The main ones are indicated here by David. To wit, the order and policy which God has established in his church. That we be taught by his word, that we all worship him of one accord, and that we call upon him having the observance of the sacraments to help us do this. This is how we must train ourselves to become better and better confirmed in the faith, in the fear of God, in holiness, in despising the world, and in the love of the life of heaven. It is also in this account that David declares that above all things he has desire to dwell in the temple of God. By the word temple he means also the freedom to worship God purely with the faithful, to confess his faith, to pray, and to partake of the sacraments. At that time God had chosen a certain place where he wished men to sacrifice to him, to pay him homage, declaring him to be their only God, to be instructed in his law, and to receive witnesses of his presence. He expresses clearly what he has in view, in desiring to dwell in the temple, when he adds that it is to behold God's beauty. He thus shows that the temple itself was nothing. Rather, he simply kept to the practice to which he was consigned. We would do him a great wrong if we were to suppose that he was interested in a physical building. For that would be considered superstition on his part, rather than virtue. So we should be clear on the high esteem he has for the outward order which directs the faithful in the church. In short, he indicates that it is an inestimable possession and privilege to be in God's church, to partake of the means which this good father has given his children to draw near to him. Let us note well who it is that is speaking. It is not some poor idiot, coarse and unlearned, but the prophet most excellent and most enlightened by the Holy Spirit that ever there was. He does not speak of what is useful and good for the people in general. Rather, he declares that as for himself, there is nothing more desirable than being able to appear in the assembly of the people of God so that as he declares his faith, he may be ever more and more built up in it by the doctrine of salvation which is preached there and by the sacraments. This is not the only place where he declares this. He does so in many other passages, such as the preceding psalm, 26 verse 8, where he says, Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thy glory dwells. And again in Psalm 42, as a deer longeth to refresh himself in the water, so longeth my soul after thee, Lord. My soul burns with thirst, seeking God. When shall I come and appear before the living God? It was enough to have said this, but his desire carries him still higher. For he adds that he was overcome with tears when he was kept from coming to the temple. He adds furthermore that his heart melted when he remembered the time when he would go to the temple, praising God in the company of the faithful. After ample sighing, complaining, and mourning his case, the best comfort he can find is the hope He has conceived that God will restore to him this blessing that he has lost. My soul, he says, wherefore art thou disquieted and troubled within me? Yet shall I behold the face of the Lord. In Psalm 43 he again reiterates the same matter, especially in Psalm 84. He declares how devoted he is to it, that is, to the temple. For after crying out, O Lord of hosts, how amiable is thy tabernacle! He says that his heart and flesh cry out with ardent desire to enter into the presence of the Lord. He gives the reason that those who dwell in the house of God are blessed because they praise him there. That is, with one accord they recognize his graces and glory in him, confessing their faith. since David, who is so advanced in holiness and even like a heavenly angel living in this world, recognizes that he has so great a need to be helped and quickened by the means God has given to his people. I ask you, how about us, who are so coarse and worldly, and whose faith is so small, whose devotion so cold and meager? Surely we must conclude that even if David, given his perfection, that is, maturity, had foregone such lesser steps. For us, they are more than necessary, given our weakness. What then? Those who are the most perfect know far better what they lack than those who have nothing at all. Was David endowed with angelic graces? That makes him sense how much he ought to be more fired up by the preaching of the law, by the sacraments, and other such exercises. On the other hand, the prideful wicked who give no thought to all these things show thereby that there is not one drop of Christianity in them. I'm talking about our armchair philosophers who are under the papacy. It's just fine, they say, for one not to be a Christian if one does not go running to Geneva to get an earful of sermons and to take part in the ceremonies observed there. Cannot one read and pray to God alone? Must one enter a temple to be taught, since everyone has the scriptures at home? To this I answer that we do not lay a law upon anyone to move from the spot where he is. Indeed, if a man lives purely and serves God as he should, under papal tyranny, I esteem him a hundred times more than us who enjoy peace and freedom. There are, however, two things involved here. If those who feel their weakness come to a Christian church seeking strengthening as David in his time went to the temple in Jerusalem, do they not do well? Likewise, should not everyone, even those who are withheld by force, sigh, seeing themselves destitute of the ordinary means designed to bring them to God? Beasts having neither sense nor reason will low for pasture, And shall not they who call themselves children of God long for what nourishes and sustains their faith? Furthermore, they, the prideful men, are not satisfied to trample proudly underfoot such precious divine gifts. Rather, they ridicule those who go to a foreign country to seek and enjoy them. As for their pride, which makes them think that sermons, public prayers, and the sacraments are superfluous for them, No other witness is necessary to excommunicate and banish them from the Church of God. Saint Paul does not say that the order our Lord set in His Church is only for plain and simple people. He makes it the same for all, making exception of no one. He ordained, he says, apostles, pastors and teachers for the establishment of the saints, for the edification of the body of Christ, until we all come to the unity of the faith. A perfect man, according to the measure of the maturity of Christ. Ephesians 4.11 Let us note carefully that he does not say that God left the scriptures so that everyone would read them, but that he instituted a policy that there be people to teach. By that he also means everything else which follows from it. Wherefore, if everyone reads in private, that does not keep them from hearing the word in public. And to whom is he speaking? To the great and lowly, without distinction. Does he say that this is just for a time? On the contrary, he commands that this way be kept until death, for it is at that time that we are made perfect. Therefore, those who do not deign to maintain the ranks in order to advance in the faith and in every virtue through the common order of the Church, could not find a better way of cutting themselves off from the society of the children of God. Their cavilling is futile, for St. Paul's saying is all too clear. No one is of the body of Christ, nor should be so accounted unless he submits to this general rule, Ephesians 4.4. Therefore, my brethren, let us not tempt God, supposing we can fly without wings. Rather, let us humble ourselves. Someone will say perhaps David was speaking for the time of shadows because God then governed his people as if they were little children. As Saint Paul says, and therefore the longings that he expresses for the temple do not suit us today since we are like those who have left their childhood and grown up. To that I answer in the first place that the need to be taught through sermons, to be confirmed through the sacraments and trained in public prayers and confessing the faith is common to us and the ancient fathers. There are a great many promises concerning this, chiefly in the prophet Isaiah, chapter 60. There God says that his church will have countless children, and that after having conceived them and given birth to them, she will feed them. It is undeniable that this refers to the kingdom of Jesus Christ and to our time. Now it is notable that God sends his children to the fold of the church. Why? Because of the order he established to gather his people as by flocks. The same prophet expresses this beautifully in a lovely image when he says in chapter 60 that the Christians will be like doves who will return to their birdhouse by flights. And what I ask you is that birdhouse, if not each place where the word of God is preached, where the sacraments are administered, and where the name of God is proclaimed. Indeed, those who suppose themselves so hardy as to have no use for this external program, have a very poor eye to their own condition. Why has God ordained the sacraments for us? Why? Because being clothed with our bodies, we are too dull to apprehend spiritual things without the help of visible signs. The angels have the reality of the sacraments, and that is enough for them. But God must stoop lower for us because of our simplicity. Let these fanciful Christians divest themselves of their bodies and make themselves angels of heaven. Then they may also exempt themselves from these little helps to which they pay so little mind. All those, however, who recognize that they are merely men must submit themselves to the ordinary policy which God commands all his people to observe. It is true that the grace of God is not bound and the power of his spirit is not contained either in the sacraments or in any external things so as to prevent him from working without the means whenever he pleases. Here, however, we are dealing with the permanent order he has set in his church and not with what he does extraordinarily by the way of a miracle. They, therefore, who are deprived of the use of the sacraments and of the freedom of calling upon his name and yet do not feel their ill and wretchedness so as to groan under it, are more stupid than dumb beasts. I say furthermore that if David in his day had just cause to say, Lord, how desirable is thy temple! Blessed are they who dwell in thy house! My soul burns with the desire it has to enter the courts of the Lord. Today we should be more than twice as moved and stirred up to say that. What after all were the blessings of the temple which David missed so much as to be sick of living when he saw himself deprived of them? It is true that they were substantially the same ones that we have today. Yet we know that they were obscure shadows in which God did not display his grace nearly so greatly as we now have it revealed. For God reveals himself to us so personally in the order of the church that the heavens are open to us, so to speak. The sacraments do not show us Jesus Christ afar off as under the law, rather they set him before our eyes. We must therefore be very ungrateful if we do not prefer these blessings to everything that David could find back then in the temple of Zion. We are no longer in the courts as David describes them. There is no longer a veil hung between us and the sanctuary. In short, if our desire is not at least as great as David's, We do very poor honor to the infinite greatness of the blessings God has given us. I say this simply by way of teaching, for the exhortation shall follow later in its place. We now must examine more closely the nature of this desire of David, so that we may conform ourselves to it as our rule. I have asked, he said, one thing of the Lord. Psalm 27.4 By speaking of just one thing, He indicates that he was so much given to it that he set the other things aside as if he had forgotten them. Was it that he enjoyed the fulfillment of all his desires to such an extent that this was the only thing lacking? On the contrary, he was a fugitive from the land of his birth and was banished from his father's house and from the society of his relatives and friends. He had been stripped of his goods, rank and honors, which had been great. His wife had been taken from him. In sum, this was a man grieved in everything and by everything. Nevertheless, he longs for just one thing, to have access to the temple. Likewise, when in the reverse situation, he gives God thanks for all the kindnesses he had done him. After speaking of food and drink, of peace and of comforts for the body, he concludes by saying that he shall dwell in the temple of God. Psalm 23.6. This is as much as to say that when he is doing fine and enjoying all sorts of luxury, still, there is nothing more precious to him than being in the flock of the faithful and en route to the supreme good. So let us observe carefully that David, whether in afflictions or in prosperity, always had this same heart to enjoy the liberty God had given to the children of Israel which is no little virtue. We see some people who remember God under the pressure of trials and tribulations, but then as soon as they come out from under them and find themselves at ease, that is the end of it. What is worse, they balk against Him like overfed horses. Others become very upset, and so despise God in their adversity that they cannot bear to hear of Him. Is David overwhelmed with so many miseries that he seems the most wretched creature on earth? Rather than sorrow overwhelming him and causing him to react with anger and disdain at the mention of God, God becomes the only subject that he finds comforting. And even though he cannot think of God without grieving about being banished from his temple and cut off from the use of the sacraments and other exercises of the faith, he has no greater pleasure than to be moaned so great an ill. Is he on the other hand on top of everything? Has he defeated his enemies so that he is living in peace within his realm? Respected by all? Is he in a position to immerse himself in every vice? Yet, he remains firm in this. His true happiness is having access to the temple and sharing in the order of the church. By this we see that it was not for nothing that he had requested just one thing. That thing was so dear to him that he would have given everything else in exchange for it. Now let us see who among us has David's wisdom. Will people that are satisfied with what they have in hand cherish the freedom to be able to call upon God's name purely? To hear the preaching of his word and to partake of the sacraments more than their comfort at home? There are few enough who are likely to do so. More likely they will be so stupefied by the gravy that the only thing to concern them will be eating well. In short, the world is such that it will prefer a dish of mutton to the temple of God. If one speaks of the ills that may come, everyone fears being ravaged by war, suffering losses, troubles and griefs. However, losing the preaching of the doctrine of salvation the pure use of the sacraments, and such helps as are designed to bring us to God. This is not mentioned, and one does not see people who are deprived of these things being concerned about it. If their income does not take them to the end of the year, maintaining things as their ambition makes them desire to do, if their profit and volume of business decrease, if they lose credit, their self-torment knows no end. However, The ordinary feeding of the children of God, for which they ought to hunger, is of no consequence to them. By the threatening he makes, God shows us that no greater ill could befall us. I will send, he says, a famine, not of bread nor of water, as if he were to say that is no great matter, but of hearing my word. Amos 8.11. Therefore, my brethren, let us take care to keep ourselves from being dulled by Satan, and the world, so as to fail to esteem this good always above all others, that it is the blessing of being part of the flock of God under the outward order and direction that he has established among his own. This is expressed even better for us by what David has added, that he will seek after the thing he has asked for. He thereby indicates that this is not a matter of sudden devotion, which may soon cool, Rather, he has been constant and will go on pursuing this blessing. We see some who are so devoted for a little while that it seems they must abandon the whole thing the next day. The sort of steadfastness of which David speaks, however, is quite a rare thing. Indeed, most people deliberately stifle the goodly zeal God has set in them, instead of stoking the fire to ignite it. We have a similar witness concerning David in the psalm I have already cited, Psalm 84, 3. Being driven from the land of Judah, one might have anticipated his wandering to and fro. He therefore cries out, Thine altars, Lord of hosts, my God and my King, as if to say that though he should possess all the palaces on earth, he could find no place desirable without entry into the temple of God. He complains that his condition is worse than that of the sparrows and swallows who find a place to make their nests. Why is that? Does he not have a bed and board? He's not saying that at all. Rather, he finds no abode either good or fit, as long as he is far from the altars of God. It is quite certain that if this teaching once got well into our hearts, we would not be some of us hindered and others entirely prevented from employing the means God has placed in our hands to bring us along the road of eternal life. But what do we find? Ambition holds some back in their ranks and highest states, and invites others to seek after them. Greed ignites others and carries them away. Many think of nothing but their vices and vain debaucheries, all languish in their cupidity. Yet none cry out, Thine altars, Lord, where are Thine altars, my God, my King? The fact is that they are too much governed by the vanities of the world to obey God. This word, asked, is also important. When David says he asked God for what he is talking about, for it is easy to put on such a good performance before men that they think we are all on fire. Yet a man can truly say that he desires to belong to the flock when God is his only witness, and he still has this affection. For in the presence of such a judge, all our hypocrisy must cease, and there must be only truth and honesty. Do we care to follow David's example? Let every man draw aside with his own conscience, address God, and say, Lord, Thou knowest how I cherish being in Thy church above every worldly good. We are also instructed here not to chomp at the bit and moan and complain. Rather, we must direct our sighs straight to the one who can solve our problem. Indeed, we must recognize that the horrible dissipation in the world today, in that all the worship of God is corrupted, and that the word of God is falsified and the sacraments are bastardized, is a just vengeance upon our sins. So to whom shall we turn in order to enjoy pure teaching? the sacraments and the freedom to call upon God's name and to confess our faith except to the one who is chastising us by depriving us of these blessings. Let not the severity of God's chastisements keep us from coming to Him. Neither must we rebel against the spur hurting ourselves by not seeking the cure at the hands of the one who wounded us. Certainly David knew very well that it was not without the providence of God that he had been banished from the land of Judah. He did not, however, stop coming to God to offer his complaints. Not that this was some small and mild temptation to see himself apparently run off from God. Yet the faith he had in the promise which had been made to him lifted him up to entreat God to restore to him forever what he had taken from him for a time. It seems to me that I have already sufficiently applied this teaching to us and to the present time, unless there are some minds so dense that one cannot make them swallow anything without chewing for them over and over again the things presented to them. However, to tell the truth, it is neither their stupidity nor the difficulty of the teaching. Rather, they get themselves all wound up looking for whatever subterfuges they can possibly dream up to obscure what is quite clear in itself. In any case, such resistance obliges us to scrutinize further how the teaching expounded here above applies to our time. I grant that there is no longer a physical temple to which one must go on pilgrimage to make sacrifice to God, but that today we are His spiritual temples, and that in every place we should lift up pure hands to Heaven. Yet the directive to call upon His name in the company of the faithful lasts forever. It is not of the shadows of the Old Testament, but is rather the rule which our Lord Jesus has given us until the end of the world. Therefore, however much we may be different from David regarding the temple in Zion and the sacrifices, we are alike as to having to pray to God corporately and to assemble to confess our faith. It is true that we are no longer like little children bound under the tutelage of the law of Moses. Even so, we are men. and shall be until God takes us out of this world. So although the types and shadows of David's time are no longer ours, we still need to be quickened and led by the preaching of the gospel and by the sacraments. If anyone should argue to the contrary, experience is sufficient to overcome him. For the most capable people show their need for God to help their weakness. It is not a question of whether or not God can lead his people without lesser means, but of how he is pleased to lead them. True enough, seeing our infirmity, he has given us walking crutches or canes to lean on. I ask you, how foolish is it when we feel that our legs are failing us to give no thought to crutches as if they were of no use to us? So let us acknowledge that whatever difference there may be between us and the Jews, the doctrine set forth here by David is common to us all. We need only change the word temple. since we are no longer bound to a particular place. However, David's attitude does not suit us any less than it did him. It is true that haughty and presumptuous people have little regard for assembling to hear the sermon or to make public prayers or to administer the sacraments. This, however, is due to their failure to examine their consciences For our part, we were their only God's command. It would suffice us that He is pleased to deal with our faith so minutely. Furthermore, we have said that we sense the benefit we get from it, that is, from the order of the Church. In any case, St. Paul declares that the path to perfection is sticking to the order of the Church as Jesus Christ instituted it when He gave pastors, Ephesians 4.11. Cursed be the nonchalance of those who want to flit about in the air and pretend to climb to heaven by means of their own speculations, despising sermons and the use of sacraments as if they were merely external things and not strongly required. Knoweth well, my brethren, of whom I am speaking. I confess that God has some people in the captivity of the Antichrist, even though they are destitute of the helps which we enjoy here in liberty. The Word of God is not preached to them. They have no place where they are permitted to make confession of their faith. The sacraments have been taken away from them. Yet as they separate themselves from the abominations of the Antichrist and sigh, mourning, not having what would be so useful to them, God works in them by the power of His Spirit and supplies what is lacking there. Yet most people who dwell in such desolation are pleased enough nonetheless. Though they are going hungry, they have no appetite. They do just the opposite of the sophists. They think it enough to have read three and a half pages in order to declare that they know everything, now know everything there is to know. Such people, as it seems to them, do not need to be preached to. As for the supper, it's all the same to them if they never partake. As for any outward order of the church, They consign that to little children as if it were beneath them. Now I ask you, are not such people beyond blind? They will yet accuse us, however, because we exhort those to whom our Lord has declared His truth to use the means which God has ordained for the growth, preservation and perseverance of our faith. And why do they do so? Why? Because they are angry about being stirred up to sense their problem. I take the case in which they do not commit idolatry with the Papists. Even so, they cannot deny that it is an accursed slavery to be unable to confess the name of God and of Jesus Christ. Desiring to stir the hearts of the faithful who were captives in Babylon, the Holy Spirit set this saying in their mouth, How shall we sing the praises of God in a strange land? Psalm 137, 4. I grant that today the kingdom of God is everywhere and that there is no longer any distinction between Judea and other nations. Yet I still say that the nation where the worship of God is abolished and religion is eliminated should be considered strange and profane. Those who have no regret about not daring to declare their faith and worship God's name must be completely stupefied. Let the children of God be cautioned by this warning not to deaden their own sensibilities. As for those babblers who ridicule us, wondering if one cannot get to paradise except by way of Geneva, I answer, would to God they had the courage to gather in the name of Jesus Christ wherever they are and set up some sort of church either in their houses or in those of their neighbors to do in their place what we do here in our temples. But what do we find? Not deigning to use the means God provides them, they still want to be saved. It's like asking if they cannot come to port rowing backwards, or if they cannot tempt God and still enjoy His grace. Well, let them make themselves as big and strong as they like in order to break their own neck. But let the children of God be very careful not to exalt themselves with them. And whoever has no means of being in the Christian church, For God is worshipped purely. Let him at least groan, night and day, Thine altars, Lord, it is only Thine altars that I desire. My God, my King. And let this fire remain always lit in all good hearts, so that, come what may, they may never weary of being thus transported. Let not the length of time cool them, so that they stop seeking to be led to the flock. Furthermore, let everyone look well to himself, and see to it that he gathers quickly to the banner as soon as our Lord gives him the means to do so. This is how one must show that he was not faking when he made this request to dwell in the house of God. In conclusion, we should note what David adds, that he shall see the beauty of the Lord and behold his temple. Exercising oneself with the faithful in the entire outward order of the Church is not everything, that is, not enough, unless we reach toward this goal of knowing God better and better. There are two things required here. One is that we be diligent in attending upon the sermons and public prayers. The other, that we know why. For many attend with an empty-headed devotion, supposing themselves well-acquitted for having shown up in the temple. Let us therefore take heed to ourselves, my brethren. The danger exists that most of us will be condemned at the one point or the other. How many are there who flee from sermons and would be quite satisfied never to hear about another one? Those who plainly show themselves to be despisers of God, I leave there where they are. I am only speaking of the disdain or indifference found in many who would never think of coming to the sermon. if it were not Sunday. And even then, it is only out of obligation, as if they were doing some chore for God. Though the bells ring every day, they think it's sufficient to appear on Sunday. On Sunday they are summoned four times. But it is great if they get there once. For they satisfy themselves that there are plenty. You let it go and just come at the end of the fortnight. In short, most people follow the old proverb about being close to the church and far from God. Even some of those who abandoned their country to come here to serve God conduct themselves rather slothfully. What then is to be done? Since God reveals Himself to us, let us contemplate His beauty. Yet we must not overlook the means of beholding it. This consists in being ravished with the love of it. and transformed according to its likeness. As St. Paul says, 2 Corinthians 3.18, to do this it behooves us to be more attentive than we are or have been, to consider what God has for us in his temple. For what is the reason for our getting so little fruit from the sermons and the sacraments except are not applying ourselves to what is said and done in them. So it is that our ears are dull and our hearts untouched. Then there are some who really do not hear a sermon except for some word in passing, and that halfway. It is therefore not without reason that David speaks of visiting the temple of the Lord attentively. And indeed, the great treasures of the wisdom of God which are there shown to us in the temple well deserve our stopping to give them thoughtful attention. Now, as I have already mentioned, God does not devise that these things be contemplated so as to go away empty. Let us understand then that the teaching has been profitable in us when we are duly reformed to serve God. This is what David has in mind in Psalm 84, which we have cited above. They that dwell in the house of God shall praise Him. To what end do we assemble? Why is this gospel preached to us? Why do we have baptism and the supper, if not so that God may be magnified in us? Now this praise is not to die at the end of our tongue, but should stretch up throughout life. Therefore it is said in another passage, I will wash my hands in integrity, O Lord, then shall I compass thine altar. Psalm 26.6 We now see the true use of the entire order of the Church. It is for us to serve God in purity. Since the time of the law, those who came to worship in the temple and the sacrificing priests, entering to perform their task, washed themselves. That ceremony is now obsolete. But we must retain the truth of it. As we have the means to bring us into God's service, we should walk in greater integrity than others. For as God gives us helps, we are that much more inexcusable if we do not improve them. If we stumble, it is not because we do not see the roads before our feet. If we happen to wander astray, it is not because God failed to light our way amply. If we forget to do our duty, it is not for lack of being encouraged. In short, God admits no means of promoting our salvation. Let us therefore fear this reproach which he makes through his prophet Isaiah in the 56th chapter, verse 2. I have spread out my hands all the day to this rebellious people. If those who wander in the wastelands of the papacy shall not be spared if they fail to walk uprightly, I ask you, what of us who are fed as at home under the eyes of our Heavenly Father? Some have left their native country to take their place here in a Christian church. Others have been more fortunate, and God has come to visit them in their nest. Now, if those who are natives of the place fail to appreciate such a blessing by dedicating themselves fully to God, who has thus drawn near to them, shall such ingratitude remain unpunished? Rather, let them say, Lord, Thou hast built Thy temple and raised Thine altar in our midst. Therefore do us the kindness of purifying us, that we may not sully by our filth the sanctity of Thy gifts, nor turn the glory of Thy benefits into shame. As for those who have come from afar, let them determine to govern themselves in holiness. as in the house of God. They could certainly live elsewhere in debauchery, and there was no need for them to budge from places under the papacy in order to lead a dissolute life. And indeed, there are some. for whom it would have been better to have broken their necks rather than having ever set their feet in this church and acted so badly. Some join themselves to the revelers to harden them in their vice. Others are gluttons and drunkards. Still others are rebels and troublemakers. There are households where the husbands and wives are like cats and dogs There are some who elevate their own stations and imitate the nobility without any purpose. They are addicted to pomp and worldly excesses. Others become so delicate that they no longer have any idea what it is to work and are not satisfied with their food. There are some who are gainsayers and backbiters, who would find something to criticize in the angels of paradise, and as much as they are swamped in vices, that base all their holiness on finding fault with their neighbors. However, all these people suppose that God is greatly indebted to them for making the voyage to Geneva, as if they would not have done better to stay at their own compost pile, rather than coming and creating such scandals in the Church of God. Well, if there has been any wrongdoing heretofore, let each one plan on reforming himself. And if there are some who are simply incorrigible, let the children of God arm themselves with this teaching, so as not to be infected by their bad life. It should sorely grieve us to see the Church of God profaned like this. And yet, since we must be as the wheat among the tares, Let us be patient until God separates us from the company of the wicked. Neither is there any doubt but that this church is sort of a touchstone to testimony. In any case, since God has gathered us into his family, let us apply ourselves to become addicted to all purity, renouncing all the pollution of the world, so that the Lord Jesus upon the great day may avow us and reckon us among the number of those who laid hold upon his name, unfeignedly, was placed on tape by permission of the copyright holder, Presbyterian Heritage Publications. The sermon was taken from the book, come out from among them, the Anti-Nicodemite writings of John Calvin. This book contains a number of sermons by Calvin which have been translated into English for the first time. Although the book is not to be available until the summer of 2001, Lord willing, the text form of this book is now available on the New Presbyterian Heritage Publications CD. This CD is available from Stillwater's Revival Books. On the web, we are at www.swrb.com. You can also be reached by email at swrb at swrb.com. Our phone number is 780-450-3730. Thank you.