heaven and is Lord; but that which is His peculiar
office, to take away sin, this they take from Him, and ascribe it to
their own works. Thus they leave to Him nothing more than the name
and title; but His work, His power, and His office, they will have
themselves. So that Christ has truly said, "Many shall come in my
name, and say, I am Christ, and shall seduce many." For they are this
preeminently, not who say, "I am called Christ," but "I am He;" for
they seize to themselves the office that belongs to Christ, thrust
Him from His throne, and seat themselves thereon. This we see before
our eyes, insomuch that no one can deny it. Therefore St. Peter calls
them damnable or ruinous heresies, for they run all of them straight
to hell; so that I suppose that among a thousand, hardly one is
saved. For whoever shall be saved therein must say this much: "My
obedience, my chastity, &c., do not save me; my works do not take
away any sin from me." But how many there are who have these views,
and remain in such a damnable state!

_And shall bring upon themselves quick damnation._ That is, their
condemnation shall quickly overtake them; although it is plain that
God forbears long, yet He will come soon enough. But it is not a
thing that respects the body, that we should be able to see it with
our eyes, but just as the fifty-fourth Psalm says, "They shall not
live out half their day;" that is, death shall seize upon them ere
they themselves suspect, so that they shall say, like Hezekiah, Is.
xxxviii., "I have said in the midst of my life, I must go down into
the grave;" as though they should say, "O Lord God, is death already
here?" For those men who do not live by faith, who are never more and
more weary of life, the longer they live the longer they would live,
and the holier they seem the more terrible will death be to them,
especially to those who have scrupulous consciences and cruelly urge
and vex themselves by works, for it is not possible to vanquish death
by human powers. Where faith is wanting, the conscience must tremble
and despair. Where faith is strong, death comes too slow; while, on
the other hand, he comes to the unbelieving always too soon, for
there is no end to the thirst and love of life.

This is what Peter means here: these people who set up such sects,
and so deny Christ, must come to die with the greatest unwillingness,
trembling and desponding; for they can have no other thought but
this, "Who knows whe