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39.Relate those things which God hath done for thee. He bids him relate not his own work, but the work of God His design in doing so is, that he may be acknowledged to be the true minister and prophet of God, and may thus acquire authority in teaching. In this gradual manner it was proper to instruct an ignorant people who were not yet acquainted with his divinity. Though Christ is the ladder by which we ascend to God the Father, yet, as he was not yet fully manifested, he begins with the Father, till a fitter opportunity occurred.
We must now add the symbolical meaning. (557) In the person of one man Christ has exhibited to us “ of his grace” which is extended to all mankind. Though we are not tortured by the devil, yet he holds us as his slaves, (558) till the Son of God delivers us from his tyranny. (559) Naked, torn, and disfigured, we wander about, (560) till he restores us to soundness of mind. It remains that, in magnifying his grace, we testify our gratitude.
(557) Nunc addenda est anagoge. — “Maintenant il rested adjouster la deduction ou derivation;” — “ now remains to add the inference or remoter instruction.” — The word anagoge, or rather ἀναγωγὴ was technically employed by divines of the allegorizing school to denote the mystical meaning, which was the last and most recondite, as the literal was the first and most obvious, of the various meanings which they supposed to be contained in every verse of the Bible. Never did those men encounter a more zealous or more formidable opponent than Calvin. But, while he manfully sets his face against all that is mystical, when it can plead no higher authority than the ravings of a wild imagination, he is equally careful that those instructions which are indicated, though not directly conveyed, by the sacred writers, shall receive due consideration. He lays down as a general principle, which he endeavors to support by the word of God, that the cures of bodily diseases, performed by our Lord and his apostles, were intended to be symbolical of the removal of spiritual diseases by the power and grace of the Great Physician. Seldom does he close his illustration of one of those miracles without adverting to the loftier and more important occasions on which the arm of the Deliverer will put forth its strength. It is to this symbolical meaning that Calvin, under the word ἀναγωγὴ borrowing the language, but disavowing the principles, of an ancient school, now proceeds to draw the attention of his reader. The grounds of his opinion it were foreign to our purpose to examine, but we have judged it necessary to append this note, in order to bring out clearly what the Author means. — Ed.
(558) “Toutesfois nous luy sommes serfs et esclaves;” — “ we are his serfs and slaves.”
(559) “De la tyrannic malheureuse d'iceluy;” — “ his unhappy tyranny.”
(560) “Nous ne raisons que trainer ca et la estans nuds, deschirez, et dis- figurez;” — “ do but drag along here and there, being naked, torn, and disfigured.”