Proeve vant ware ende valsche gheloove, ... / Sebastianus Castellio ; Uyt 't Lat. overgh. d...

Vred. I grant you faith, Lodewyck, for I myself have also been tempted in a similar way. But what would it have been if you had not believed that messenger? Lod. I would have remained in my own state. Vred. But if someone then saw you remaining in your old state, would they not easily have said that you did not give credence to that messenger? Lod. Easily. Vred. Let us now come to the matter; God has promised those who love Him the goods that eye never saw, ear never heard, nor did human heart ever conceive. 1 Cor. 2:9; Isa. 64:4 Let us now here, Lodewyck, also confess the truth: if we truly believed this promise, would we not with our hearts be so drawn into the Heavens that no earthly anxiety could affect us, much less burden us? Lod. Certainly. Vred. When we therefore rejoice through gain, suffer sorrow through loss, are heavily disturbed or even cast down through contempt, but are lifted up and cheered by honor and pleasure, which are all earthly things, is such not a dark proof that we do not believe God's promises, but that we cling to earthly knowledge? Lod. It is. Vred. But what would it be if God promised us something which we thought could not happen, as happened to Abraham, to whom God promised a son through an old and barren woman, Sara? Genesis 22:2 Or if God commanded us to do something that seemed unfitting, just as He commanded the same Abraham to sacrifice his son, from whom He had promised him a numerous lineage?