Just finished translating this sermon preached in Basel in 1525. Here is the first sentence:
"The singular failing in which all misfortune occurs is ignorance of God and of ourselves. But if we knew how good and powerful he is, and indeed how wretched and weak we are, we would have instituted [institueremus] a much different life."
That sounds strikingly similar to the opening sentence of Calvin's Institutes, the first edition of which emerged eleven years later, in the same city. But to be fair, Oecolampadius' sermon was only published by his successor Myconius in 1536, the same year that Calvin's Institutes first appeared in Basel. But until I have time to investigate it, I can only imagine the conversations between the two (Myconius the editor and successor to the Basel reformation and Calvin the second generation Reformer who would make his way to Geneva).
Here is another line from the sermon that should be instructive to everyone, especially preachers:
"... no one speaks properly who does not treat God as holy."
Amen to that.
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