The sermon we'll hear read today is the
Fifth Sermon of Jacob and Esau from the
minister John Calvin from the book titled Sermons
on Election and Reprobation based on the Old
Paths Publications edition of 1996.
And the minister takes for his text the
book of Genesis, chapter 25, verses 29 through
34.
Now as Jacob was seething pottage, Esau came
out of the field and was hungry.
Wherefore Esau said unto Jacob, Suffer me to
keel forth of this pottage so red, for
I am weary.
Therefore everyone called his name Edom.
But Jacob answered, Sell me now thy birthright.
And Esau said, Behold, I hasten to death,
and what avail this birthright unto me?
To whom Jacob said, Swear unto me this
day.
Who swear unto him?
So he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of
lentils, and he did eat and drink and
rose up and went his way.
And Esau contemned his birthright.
He said previously that God approves and ratifies
his election when he governs his children by
his Holy Spirit and that he makes them
to strive up to the heavenly life and
gives them in holy affection to despise the
world and to look up more high.
Conversely, that he discovers what man's nature is
when he lets loose the bridle to those
that are reprobates so that they become as
it were brute beasts looking to nothing but
this brittle and temporary life.
We have the confirmation of this doctrine in
the history which Moses here recites.
For on the one side he sets Esau
before us who returning out of the fields
from hunting was as a starving wolf.
He desires nothing but to eat and moreover
is content to sell his birthright with an
oath.
And here he renounces his birthright so that
he may have wherewith to fill his belly.
He then esteems the pottage so highly that
his birthright was nothing to him in comparison
thereof.
Now let us mark as it has already
been touched before and as we shall see
more fully that this was not an earthly
privilege namely that he should have a double
portion and that he should be advanced in
his father's house.
But it was to be the chief of
the church of God waiting till our Lord
Jesus Christ should appear for the salvation of
the world.
Now although this was a thing of such
importance yet Esau prefers his belly and he
cares for nothing so that he may have
meat.
On the other side Jacob although he had
made ready his dinner or his supper though
it was his meal and that he had
an appetite to eat yet he chose rather
to abstain and deprive himself than to let
slip the occasion of getting the birthright.
We see then that Esau was brought as
a beastly man who sought nothing but to
be fed and nourished.
Yes and to be greedily fed.
Jacob is a weak man subject to hunger
and thirst yet he restrains himself and looks
up higher than to this world and forgoes
bodily meat to obtain a spiritual benefit which
was of more value than a hundred yes
than ten thousand lives.
Mark briefly what we have to learn of
this history.
Now it is very true that a man
might think at the first blush that this
was but a childish toy for what wrong
was it in Esau after that he had
labored and taken great pain yes to bring
venison to his father if he was weary
if he was hungry and should demand to
eat.
It seems that this should not be imputed
to him for a fault and again on
the other side someone might say what cruelty
was there in Jacob seeing his brother in
such need not to help him at the
least with half of his meal for he
should not have put off his brother's complaints
till he had cried for hunger but rather
ought frankly to have offered him of that
which he had prepared for himself for if
he had seen but a stranger to be
so needy so weary and so weak he
ought to have given him some refreshment and
food but behold his own brother for they
were both born in one belly yet he
leaves him in this case and will not
grant to give him one spoonful of his
pottage one might say therefore that Jacob was
too rude and again why should he compel
him to sell his birthright for here he
put the knife as it were to his
throat and we know that bargains are always
of no force when there shall be any
violence offered if men do anything by constraint
or if they promise anything by compulsion rationally
they are not bound to keep it but
see Esau who was hungry he could do
no more he was so far past himself
that he knows not what his birthright means
so then besides the cruelty of Jacob there
was an immediately obvious oversight and when he
bargained what whatsoever came between yet this ought
not in any case to hold by any
right or reason well notwithstanding all this this
is not recited to reprove Jacob as though
he had committed any fault or offended either
God or his brother but to the contrary
the Holy Ghost gives him here testimony that
he shows us the way how to search
after heavenly things and first of all we
must seek the kingdom of God and renounce
our own desires or else somehow captivate and
bring them under that they hinder us not
from looking always to that which is most
important and conversely the example of Esau is
set before us to the end as the
apostle shows us in Hebrews 12 verse 6
we should not be profane as he was
that is to say that we should be
given to the earth but that we should
think that which is promised us is belonging
to eternal life so then we must not
judge of this history after our natural opinion
but we must wait to what end and
purpose it is here rehearsed to the end
we may the better make our profit of
it now I have already said in the
first place that God would as it were
seal his election here in the person of
Jacob and that he has showed also in
the person of Esau that he was of
the number of those that were cast off
from him it is very certain that if
Jacob had not been governed by the spirit
of God he would have been altogether like
his brother Esau but we must see how
the spirit of God was rather given unto
him than unto Esau we shall not find
this diversity but in the only free goodness
of God so then let us know that
Jacob was led with an holy affection for
as much as God had held him of
the number and company of his children as
also St. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2
verse 10 that we are the workmanship of
God created to good works the which he
hath prepared he speaks there not of all
men in general it is true that God
has created us all without difference but there
is a new creation in those whom God
reforms and whom he purges from their wicked
lusts to the end that he may bring
them to himself and conform them to his
righteousness so that they desire nothing more than
to honor and serve him purely mark therefore
a second creation which God works in his
children so then let us know that if
God reach out his hand to us to
show us the way of salvation if he
give us courage cheerfully to march forward and
strengthen us also to continue therein that then
he shows that his election is not in
vain and frivolous but has its full effect
and strength to conclude when he abandons us
and that we are as strays throughout all
our life that we forget the salvation of
our souls let us know that in this
he declares his curse upon us and so
let us learn to tremble as often as
we see men doled in beastliness so as
they know not their own state and condition
neither to what end they were created nor
wherefore God has placed them in the world
when we see this it is fit and
proper for us I say to tremble and
to pray to God that he will not
suffer us so to be estranged from him
but that he will always hold us in
and keep us and that he will imprint
in our hearts such an assurance of the
hope which he has given us that we
may bear therein the right mark of his
election as if men spread a little wax
upon a seal the form of the seal
will remain perfect but the wax has the
shape and image thereof so when our Lord
engraves his fear in our hearts by his
Holy Spirit and such an obedience towards him
as his children ought to perform unto him
this is as if he should set upon
us the seal of his election and as
if he should truly testify that he has
adopted us and that he is a father
unto us for as much as we have
the pledge of his free adoption that is
to say the Holy Ghost but now let
us come to that which is here handled
particularly it is said that Esau being returned
he asked of his brother Jacob that he
would give him of that red potage and
of that meat he says it but this
was as a war in contempt and yet
in this we see that he was not
so delicate and fine mouthed but he could
do no more he was so weary that
he knew not what he did and therefore
he asks nothing but to be satisfied and
hereupon he says give unto me as if
he should say it is all one to
me whether I eat brown bread or white
so that I may fill my belly admittable
but with acorns it is all one to
me a man might here find some color
to excuse Esau and it seems that this
might well have been pardoned him but what?
so much the more in this must we
behold that our desires how natural and lawful
soever they are are yet nevertheless to be
repressed when there is any question of the
heavenly life for then we must bring under
every consideration and rather loose life and hundred
times then go out of the path of
salvation it is not enough therefore that men
abstain from those acts that are altogether dissolute
and wicked and whereof they may be ashamed
but yet whatsoever desire they shall have yes
permitted unto them of God which is not
altogether condemned yet must they tame them when
there shall be any comparison with spiritual benefits
but hereof we shall yet entreat more at
large in the meantime it is necessary for
us to note this point that Esau sought
not after great dainties he saw the pottage
whereof mention is here made and he asks
nothing but to be satisfied with it now
Jacob asks of him his birthright in payment
if he had asked him through ambition and
that it had not belonged to him undoubtedly
it had been no bargain on the other
side the malice which he had could by
no means have been excused and farther this
was to commit an outrageous and thievish act
so to hold his brother's throat shut up
as to say if you will not forego
unto me all that belongs to you I
will not give you one morsel to eat
rather you shall perish and to what extremity
would this grow but Jacob demands nothing of
Esau but that which was before given him
for he was taught that before the two
children were born now already this sentence was
pronounced that God had declared that it must
needs be that the elder must serve the
younger Jacob then in respect of God possessed
already through faith the birthright it is true
that that stood him in no stead in
the judgment of the world but the question
is here of the right title that he
knew that God had appointed him to be
the firstborn and had declared that the birthright
belonged unto him so then he robs not
Esau of anything that was his but he
rather asks again that which was his own
as he should have said because you are
first come out of the womb you despise
the sentence that God has given both concerning
me and yourself but yet that must stand
which God has declared it cannot be called
back again for myself I always remain in
this hope that I shall obtain that which
was promised unto me but for your part
this is to the end that you should
understand that I set more store by the
service of God than by my own life
and therefore sell me your birthright we see
here briefly that Jacob would not get the
good of another by deceit or malice neither
compelled his brother to spoil himself of that
blessing which belonged to him but he demands
that that which God had given him might
be approved and ratified among men lo then
the sum of that which is spoken here
and therefore they who will use so great
rigor to get the substance of another and
to entice themselves with the loss of their
neighbors have not with which to make them
any buckler here as we shall see very
many who will spy out occasions that if
a poor man be in any extreme necessity
it must needs be that he be robbed
lo then they will pray and violently grate
upon him for then they will bargain with
him when they see him in this case
and oh say they who live upon spoils
as hawks do upon the prey this man
must pass through my hands lo then a
poor man who shall have but one field
or one meadow if he be indebted or
fail to find money to pay if he
come to some usurer he will say unto
him lo there is no remedy I must
needs sell you such a piece oh I
have no money says he at this time
and yet in the meantime he will keep
his money in his purse watching that occasion
which is as a robber for as much
as he seeks the means to deceive his
neighbor this is commonly seen that he that
shall be pinched with any misery he shall
be eaten even to the bones of such
as only have the means to help those
that are in necessity but if such wicked
wretches as I have said will cloak their
iniquity in the person of Jacob it is
too vain for Jacob sucked not another man's
goods unto himself nor he sought not to
enlarge himself to the end to lessen his
brother but he remained in the possession of
that which God had given him the birthright
was his own already indeed not according to
the order of nature but because it so
pleased God inasmuch therefore as he deceived none
did wrong to no man neither used any
rigor or excess to draw another's good unto
himself we must not take any pattern and
patronage from hence of those same thieveries and
oppressions which commonly are exercised among men and
for as much as the question is here
of a spiritual benefit that Jacob seeks not
riches he seeks not his conveniences nor any
earthly honor to advance himself above his brother
he forsakes all this this is all one
to him but he would have that which
God had promised him that is that though
he be small in this world though he
be afflicted tormented and devoured and that men
do him many injuries it is all one
unto him so that this inestimable treasure be
reserved unto him that is to say that
of his race shall come the salvation of
the world and that with this he is
made of the company and fellowship of God's
children touching Esau his answer we see already
that which the apostle says and that which
we have also alleged that he was altogether
a profane man I haste to death to
what purpose he says shall my birthright serve
me in saying that he hasteth to death
and that his birthright served him to no
purpose we see that he was altogether dull
and block headed and that it was all
one to him so that he might pass
this present life and lo also what this
word profane imports for it is contrary to
the word holy and what means this word
holy to be holy is when we are
separated and put apart to serve God for
all the world is full of filthiness and
iniquity as Saint Paul says and when we
shall have our conversation here beneath after the
common manner this is to defile ourselves with
all filthiness but to the end we may
be held for the children of God it
is necessary that we be separated even as
Saint Paul speaks thereof in the first chapter
of the first epistle to the Corinthians it
is necessary that God gather us unto himself
for if we walk among thorns that is
but to scratch us every minute if we
go through dirt and clay that is to
defile disfigure us it is necessary then that
we be separated but as I have said
the word profane is contrary and opposite to
this what then must we do this is
it that a man take good heed to
himself yes even to his body for even
like as there are two parts in us
namely the body and the soul so the
spiritual life is when we know where unto
God has called us and where unto he
daily bids us namely that we should be
heirs of the kingdom of heaven see what
it is to sanctify ourselves as it is
said purify yourselves yea all you that bear
the Lord's vessels and Saint Paul alleging this
place says having therefore such promises that is
that God accounts us for his servants and
children let us take heed that we cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness as well of the
body as the soul but behold Esau who
has no care but for his belly and
that he shows very well when he says
behold I haste to death and what shall
this birthright avail me yes but it was
for everlasting life it was for a heavenly
inheritance he has no regard to all this
so then we see that he did eat
as a dog or rather as a hog
that had his nose always in the swill
trough and sought for nothing but meat behold
them the disposition of Esau which is declared
to us in these words and so the
exhortation of the apostle ought well to be
practiced of us when he says in Hebrews
12 verse 16 let us not be profane
men as Esau was for see what is
the cause that makes us to forego the
hope of that salvation that God has given
us when we are snared in our own
sense and in our carnal desires it is
certain that we are quite out of taste
with that which appertains to the salvation of
our souls that has no favor with us
so that there is neither word of God
nor promise nor anything which we do not
lightly esteem when we are so profane now
then let us take good heed when we
are provoked with some desire to think hey
God has not placed us in this world
to perish as asses and horses he has
given us a soul wherein he has engraven
his own image so then it is necessary
for us always to labor and to aspire
to this heavenly immortality and especially to enforce
ourselves to fight against all our affections and
not to be so held here below that
we strive not always to break and undo
these cords that hinder us that we cannot
come directly unto God mark then what we
have here to learn that we be not
like Esau saying I haste to death and
where to shall my birthright serve me what
shall we do such dishonor to the dignity
and nobility which God has placed in us
for as much as he has given us
immortal souls that we say we are not
of this world our place is above and
our right is above and in the meanwhile
shall we rest and be entangled here so
then though we should perish a hundred times
yet let us know that God has reserved
a better life for us and that there
is our sovereign good that we ought to
esteem and though we lack and have need
of temporary benefits which only serve to maintain
us here beneath yet let us bear it
patiently and let us always mark if I
die not to say I perish or I
am utterly lost and cast away for this
is but a passage by death to go
from one life to another we must therefore
look up to that place and this is
the sum of what we have to mark
here but howsoever it be we see here
how God has laid open the beastliness of
Esau and has shown that he was already
forsaken of him and was not governed by
his Holy Spirit as the wisest of the
world albeit it seemed they pierced through the
clouds yet are they so dull and block
headed that they regard nothing but that which
is present unto them and to that they
wholly give themselves we shall see therefore are
they wittiest and those whom men so greatly
magnify which look to nothing but to build
their houses now I say not only to
build goodly palaces but also to get great
revenues for their children to advance themselves and
to become great states to live up to
be feared and honored and that all the
world may be constrained as it were to
pass through their hands and in the meantime
as for God they do not much remember
him and they are in such a way
unthankful that it were much better to be
a hog or an ass than to be
like unto them and why so a hog
has but his natural appetites when his belly
is full he will sleep or he will
wallow in dung and he is well contented
with it but men what desires have they
it is certain that there can be found
no greater grief to torment them with more
cruelly than their own appetites so then for
this cause they are in continual aggravation and
torment in as much as they respect nothing
but this life and if they once die
why with them it seems all is dead
likewise we see in all the reprobate that
they have not any taste of the heavenly
life and therefore we must so much the
more pray unto God that he will open
our eyes to the end we may always
see beyond these present things and that we
may keep ourselves therein in such a way
that we be not held here beneath but
Jacob contents not himself that Esau has simply
sold him his birthright but he will have
another Esau swears this is all one to
him and in this we see how God
threw him under his feet for although that
hunger oppressed him so hardly that he was
constrained to renounce his birthright yet when he
came to swear and that the name of
God was taken to witness and protested that
God should be his judge and punish him
if he were sworn and disobedient and kept
not his promise when all this was done
and he not ignorant what his birthright was
worth it must be said that the devil
had altogether blinded him but hereby we are
admonished that when we when we have once
begun to start away and to turn our
backs to God it must needs be that
so much the more we be second hardened
to have no more understanding of God than
brute beasts and when we have after a
way renounced the inheritance of salvation it shall
come to pass that we shall renounce it
a hundred and a thousand times yes the
devil will find a hundred ways in one
day to plunge us in the gulf of
perdition out of which we shall never be
able to help ourselves mark then what we
have yet to observe upon this place but
by the way we have to consider Jacob's
abstinence behold an example of true fast and
not as the papists imagine, it is true
that fasts are commanded unto us in the
holy scripture for various reasons for they serve
to tame our carnal affections and we must
so cut off our drinking and our eating
that the temperance which God requires of us
may be as a continual fast for the
whole time of our life but yet it
is often times required that we should lessen
our portion and why so?
to the end we may be the better
disposed to prayer and again when we are
afflicted there is no question then of banqueting
and making great cheer if God threaten us
that he will show us some sign of
his wrath as he says by his prophet
I then call you to mourning and weeping
and if we loose the range to our
desires it is as if we should bid
him battle treat him with contempt and provoke
him to anger mark then how fasting serves
to humble us before God and to make
us as wretched malefactors acknowledging that we have
offended him moreover the fast word I have
mentioned is made here is that which causes
a man to abstain yes from eating and
drinking if the same hinder him from serving
God and which makes him rather to forsake
his own life than to be turned away
from God's will for as we have already
said Jacob suffered as much as his brother
Esau it is very true that he had
not traversed and run so far that day
in the fields and woods he had tarried
in the house after his accustomed manner but
conceding the fact that he had made ready
his dinner he was hungry and had an
appetite to eat but howsoever it was he
liked better to abstain and to captivate himself
and to renounce his dinner and as it
were his own life than to lose this
occasion which he had that his birthright might
be confirmed unto him so then we have
here to make a comparison between Jacob and
Esau and to make our profit of the
exhortation which we have alleged that is to
say that we be not profane but to
the contrary it is said of Esau that
he did eat and drink and rose up
and went his way the speech here at
the first sight is simple but it carries
much with it for it was not enough
that he had said that Esau without any
further thinking of the matter had emptied his
dish and was gone but Moses says that
he did eat and drink that he took
his nourishment wholly at his ease and that
he was well filled as though his birthright
had been nothing unto him and this is
the conclusion which he sets down that he
condemned his birthright but before we come to
this it is said that he did eat
that he drank and rose up and went
his way whether it is showed that Esau
was embarrassed at nothing but he was a
dog that did nothing but shake his ear
after he had eaten and drunk that he
went his way and pleaded not the matter
against his brother as they which repent themselves
are better advised when they have done any
unadvised act they consider alas what have I
done what shall become of me how far
have I overshot myself Esau thinks nothing of
all this but he leaves his brother after
he was full he rose up and had
no care of anything now therefore we have
here to behold how the devil when he
has taken possession of a man makes him
so senseless and block headed that he has
no feeling of sorrow in himself no remorse
nor scruple although he see that he be
as it were cut off and banished from
the kingdom of God yet he is not
one bit moved with it but this is
which I have touched before for a time
is yet better expressed that is that always
we fall from one evil to another and
when the devil has gotten us into his
snares he so entangles us in them that
we can never bring it to an end
but we must gather this general doctrine of
this history that is that we always think
upon that which is said by our Lord
Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33
that first of all we seek for the
kingdom of God and that the rest shall
be cast unto us now when he speaks
of the kingdom of God this is not
only to be understood of life everlasting but
this also is comprised in it for the
kingdom of God is that God be glorified
in us that he be served and worshipped
that we be his people as also he
has mutually sanctified us as he has spoken
thereof by his prophet Isaiah sanctify the Lord
of hosts and he will sanctify you and
will be your strength when we shall therefore
seek that God may be honored and that
we labor to dedicate ourselves to him and
to be as it were living sacrifices then
shall all other things be given unto us
that is to say as Saint Paul also
has declared God will show himself a father
as well of our bodies as of our
souls for he says unto Timothy in 1st
Timothy chapter 4 verse 8 that if we
walk in the fear of God thinking more
upon heaven than upon the earth we have
the promises how so ever it be of
this present life as well of the life
to come it is very true that the
promises belonging unto this present life are accessories
that is no other than that which follows
and depends there upon but it is so
much that if we lean upon the bounty
of God and strive there where he has
called us that is to say to the
salvation which he has so dearly purchased for
us by our Lord Jesus Christ God will
not only become the father of our souls
but also of our bodies we are thoroughly
assured of this and ought to be resolved
in it but now how so ever it
be if we must be ready to renounce
this present life and all the conveniences which
are here if we must renounce our own
life by a stronger reason we must renounce
to live now we cannot live here without
eating and drinking but yet it is necessary
that we be ready to suffer hunger and
thirst rather than be turned away from our
calling and not only this but when the
question shall be of death we must offer
our lives to God doing him this homage
and always desiring rather a precious and blessed
death before him than all the lives that
might be imagined in this world which he
shall accurse behold then the rule that is
given to all Christians and whereby they are
tried if they be the true children of
God and that is when the world hinders
them not to serve God that they always
march on forwards by that path which is
showed them by the Holy Scripture when I
say that the world hinders them not I
understand not only those wicked lusts as drunkenness,
whoredom, covetousness and such like but also those
desires that are not utterly condemned as eating
and drinking when it shall be permitted us
of God and if eating and drinking shall
hinder us from serving God then we must
so strive that our desires may be tamed
now this will be better understood by the
common experience we have there is a man
which may live in delights and pleasures he
has to eat to the full yes of
all manner of dainties and delicates and exquisite
meats but he must hang his conscience as
they say upon the rack or rather be
profaned with the wicked world for there are
a great many conditions offered to many which
are as the enticing baits of Satan there
upon they will think oh if I were
in such a place I might rather a
great deal of, I might gather a great
deal of good and afterwards I should be
in great honor all the world would crouch
unto me in the mean season I should
have my table well furnished I should have
with which to nourish me to my desire
yes and in my old age when I
should have gathered together my livelihood and rents
I should be assured to live at my
ease but I cannot attain unto it but
to where tends this even hitherto that I
cannot do this without being in great danger
to bring myself to great wickedness yes and
without utter estranging myself from God howsoever it
be I cannot serve God purely as He
has commanded me but if any man be
tempted with this it is certain that he
is like unto Esau if he make choice
of this condition which shall be more agreeable
to the world and in the mean time
shall forsake the means he has to serve
God and to live in the peace and
tranquility of a good conscience for he considers
not I am a weak man and have
much to do to hold myself in the
fear of God although I be every day
exhorted unto it yes and though I do
give myself wholly unto it and enforce myself
thereunto and what shall become of me when
I shall have no word of God that
I shall not be exhorted to do my
duty and that I shall be entangled with
many business and affairs of the world if
a man think not of all this and
that be make choice of a good table
that is to say if he rather choose
an estate whereby he may enrich himself it
is certain that he shall be resembled unto
Esau to the contrary when we shall think
hey it is true that we shall be
at our ease if we will forsake God
or rather depart from him and will decline
be it never so little from a good
way but what the devil will by and
by find new slice to bring us wholly
to wickedness in such a manner that we
shall be as a desperate people but let
us prevent such a danger and rather let
us love hunger and thirst yes and to
feed properly and not to have any great
pop and great superfluity let us choose rather
I say not to have so great an
estate and hold ourselves in sobriety than to
be rich and wealthy notwithstanding to forget ourselves
and to have all our joy here beneath
when we shall so behave ourselves in this
lo how we follow the example of our
father Jacob but as I have said already
the question is not only of forsaking our
ease and convenience but also when need shall
be of our own life for if so
be we must die to make confession of
our faith such as God requires of us
and to glorify the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ and must pass that way we
must likewise also forsake our own life and
that which belongs unto it and if we
do it not we show that we know
not what it is to have tasted of
spiritual blessings but that we have lost all
taste of them for as much as the
devil has made us drunken with his poisons
and has bewitched us and made us senseless
and block-headed we see here by the
way how profitable this history is unto us
for besides that which we have said already
that God has ratified his election and has
discovered that which was in Esau and Jacob
here our father Jacob reaches out his hand
unto us and shows us that all the
pleasures of this world ought to be nothing
unto us no not our very nourishment when
there shall be any question to be as
poor starved people that we rather forsake to
eat and drink when all shall be made
ready yes especially when the smell shall have
provoked us that we imagine to have the
morsels already in our mouths and to have
swallowed them down when we shall come so
far nevertheless that we enter into such a
combat with us against ourselves that we renounce
our natural inclination and especially that which is
not utterly condemned among men if it prevents
us from coming unto God if it hinder
us or entangle us here beneath in any
corruptions behold what we ought to do and
moreover that we take good heed on the
other side that we be not like unto
Esau and that we allege not this and
that as many say oh we must live
we may well make our excuses before men
but when we shall come to render a
reckoning before that great judge who has declared
unto us that he will have us to
set such price upon the treasure of our
salvation that he has offered us in the
gospel that we learn to withdraw ourselves from
the world and that all that is in
it be nothing in comparison of it but
this thing is practiced after various ways and
manners for when a Christian man shall have
plenty if he be sober in eating and
drinking and do not so gorge himself that
he loose both his sense and memory but
be always disposed to praise God to execute
the charge where unto he is called and
to employ himself to that which belongs to
his estate and vocation if a man be
so temperate he is like unto Jacob for
he forsakes to eat and drink not because
he does not use the benefits that God
has put into his hand but he forsakes
them in bridling his desires to the end
not to exceed measure and after he always
lifts up himself on high regarding the service
of God and preferring it before any worldly
thing again if it be necessary that he
which was rich should be poor and that
God had rather be poor yes if it
were but to eat roots if need should
be rather than to be alienated from God
and that always he remains steadfast in it
saying for as much as I am an
heir of the world I ought to be
well contented and now if I endure hunger
or thirst if I bear any necessities and
miseries I will pray unto God that he
will give me patience and this is the
reason why St. Paul also says in Philippians
chapter 4 verse 12 that he had learned
he left that he had learned in the
school of our Lord Jesus Christ to be
hungry and to be full that is to
say when he had had enough he left
not to hold himself in and when he
had nothing he was patient in his necessity
he had recourse to God and chose rather
to have many wants in respect of the
world than to have that with which to
grow and enrich himself and yet to be
empty of heavenly benefits for it is certain
that Esau had his soul buried in the
pottage he saw there he smelt them and
to that he laid his snout and why
because he had no other consideration than of
this present life lo his soul which was
buried therein now we may be compassed round
about with all the goods of this world
but it is necessary that the smell do
not so allure us that we esteem not
spiritual things far above them and always to
prefer them mark then briefly how we ought
to apply this doctrine unto our use and
moreover let us mark well that which is
spoken here that the wickedness of Esau was
because he made no account of his birthright
and therefore this is a sign that we
despise and scorn the graces of God and
as a man would say cast them to
the ground and tread them under our feet
when we are so much addicted either to
this life or to our desires and when
we can endure and bear nothing but will
have all which is pleasant unto us after
the flesh when then we will in such
a way hold our lusts it is certain
that we make right account of that heavenly
inheritance for how shall that be esteemed of
us it shall be esteemed of us as
I have already said when the world shall
be unto us but an accessory and all
that is in it shall go as at
the tail end but the gospel and the
promises which are therein contained whereby God testifies
unto us how he has adopted us and
likewise how he will have us to himself
this must mount up above them and we
must be ravished in them and now withstanding
let us well advise ourselves for if once
the devil gain this of us that we
become beastly in our pleasures he will not
put us in mind for not we shall
seek after nothing but this passing short-lived
life we shall do nothing but run up
and down like poor beasts and have no
mark where not to aim as it fell
out with Esau I have said already that
these words are not put in vain, he
did eat, he drank he rose up and
went his way and what a company of
such and such like do we see at
this day for they which have their delights
after the manner of the world will esteem
us for beggarly fools and blockheads and they
deride our simplicity well well say they let
them have their gospel and not withstanding die
for hunger and they be such as have
not a rag to hang on their tail
end and have nothing to chomp between their
teeth or rather let them droop and hang
their wings and be so miserable as none
can be more and let them rejoice in
their gospel as much as they will but
we in the meantime will have our swing
in this world we will have our desires
and our table well garnished and above all
these scorners of God which are at this
day advanced into states and dignities it is
well how they flout us, it is well
known how they flout us and bleed out
their tongue if men speak unto them of
the gospel and it seems to them that
we are as mad men which cannot discern
between good and evil and why so for
they eat and drink they rise up and
go their way yes the world does so
hold them or rather Satan has in such
a way possessed them that heaven is nothing
unto them and they all together forget everlasting
life we see this and yet it is
to no purpose to pursue it for our
Lord has set before our eyes that this
is in horrible condemnation when we fall into
such blockheadedness to prefer this life which is
nothing but a shadow before that eternity to
which God has called us so let us
put the case that we should live a
hundred years after our death and yet what
is that if we make comparison as St.
Paul says with this world it is but
a minute and a figure which passeth away
and in some but a moment now conversely
of what weight ought our immortality to be
with us which is offered unto us in
our Lord Jesus Christ and of which he
has so well certified us and yet concerning
this life who is it that can promise
us one day for they who are well
fed they grow therein and there cannot be
a minute to uphold them and especially in
temperance chokes very many and we see that
men the more they have by which to
do well they kill themselves and yet in
the mean season we cannot content ourselves that
like poor beasts we must seek for thou
which has no certainty and in the turning
of a hand all is lost we seek
nevertheless for this and unto this we are
given yes wholly addicted insomuch that we discern
not between thou which is permanent and thou
which flits away for if we despise that
which is everlasting where then do we go
it is certain that the most wicked themselves
will say that this is a madness but
after they have said it they show that
they are strayed and that they do not
greatly pass for it and this is so
common a vice and it is necessary that
the most perfect especially fight against it and
the apostle not without cause handling this matter
says be not profane to the end to
make us watchful and to make us think
who we are and that we should not
be so brutish as to rest upon this
present life so then let us go further
and that which is here given us let
us apply for our help to make us
run on the more swiftly but if there
be anything that hinder us yes though it
were our very eye as our Lord Jesus
Christ says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 29
that our eye may rather be plucked out
and we rather desire to enter into the
kingdom of heaven blind than having all our
senses sound to go into everlasting destruction so
then to conclude let us rather love hunger
and thirst than to cram and stuff our
bellies and in the meantime not to regard
everlasting life for we must not be so
snared in these corruptible and temporary things that
we cannot always lift up our senses and
affections on high to the end through hope
to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven
but now let us fall down before the
majesty of our good God in acknowledging our
offenses praying Him that it will please Him
in such a way to make us feel
them that it may serve to make us
there to open them and that we may
learn in such a way to fight against
all temptations that if we must endure many
poverties and miseries in this world how so
ever it be that this do not turn
us to wickedness and make us to decline
from the right path but that everyone may
here resist both himself as also all his
desires and all his passions and that we
may serve our God in such a way
that if it will please Him to prove
our patience in leaving us destitute of means
and of the conveniences of this world that
we may bear all with a quiet and
peaceable courage until we be received into this
blessed inheritance where we shall not lack anything
what so ever it be but there we
shall have the fullness of all joy and
happiness Amen This recording is copyright and was
made with the permission of Old Towns Publications
and may not be duplicated without their written
permission This Reformation audio resource was read by
Mr. Mike Grounds on August 12, 2001 and
is a production of Stillwaters Revival Books Many
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