A Sermon Preached at the Christening of a Jew, Confession of faith – Text
The confession of faith, which Nathanael a lewe borne, made before the Congregation in the Parish church of Alhallowes in Lombard streete at London, whereupon he was according to his desire, receiued into the number of the faithfull and so baptized the first of April. 1577.
MEn and brethrē, to whom God hath reuealed in these later dayes the secrete of his sonne which was hidden from you many ages, it is not vnknowen vntounto you how that in the dayes of our forefathers God chose vsus to be a precious people vntounto himself aboue all the people that are vponupon the earth:Deut. 7.6. and he loued vsus and chose vsus, not because we were mo in number then anie people: for we were the fewest of all people: but hee chose vsus onelyonly because hee loued vsus, and because he would keepe the othe which he had sworne vntounto our fathers Abraham, Isaac, & Iacob. By vertue of which promise the same our Lord and God, whose name is Iehouah, brought our fathers by a mightie hande and deliuered them out of the house of bondage from the hande of Pharaoh King of Egypt, that they might knowe that the Lorde their God is the God in deede, the faithfull God which keepeth couenant and merciemercy vntounto thē that louelove him and keepe his cōmandements, euen to a thousand generations. According to which great & vnspeakeable louing kindnesse, he kept, and preserued our fathers in the land of Israel, which he had giuen them vnderunder the obedience of his Lawe in such seruice of sacrifices and other rites, as he had appointed them to be done and practised all the dayes of their liues in the citie of Ierusalem, where was his Temple built vponupon the mount Sion, so long as they kept them selues in obedience to the same Lawe and ordinances. But when they forsaked the Lord their God, and cleaued vntounto false gods, he rewarded them to their face because they hated him, and brought them to destruction by deliuering them into the handes of manie enemies: as into the hands of Nabuchadnezer, by whom they were caried into captiuitie to Babylon, and there remained the dayes foretolde them by our Prophet Ieremie: Fulfilling thereby the wordes of our Prophet Moseh foretelling vsus that it should so be, if we forsooke the Lord our God: and leauing vsus their posteritie an example thereby, that, if we followed like iniquitie, like seueritie of punishment should ouertake vsus: As it came to passe, and is fulfilled in the eyes of all the world by this captiuitie which we are now in and hauehave been in, we and our forefathers, euer since the death of that righteous man Iesus Christ: whome the Scribes and Pharisies and Elders of our people deliuered into the handes of Pontius Pilate to be put to death, being before betrayed into their handes by one of his owne disciples that sonne of perdition Iudas Ishcarioth. As our forefathers then pronoūced against them selues, Let his bloud be vponupon our heads and vponupon our children: so it is come to passe by the righteous iudgement of that mightie & dreadfull God. For euen from those dayes vntounto this present the whole house of Israel, that is, wee yt come of the stocke of Abraham after the fleshe, is & are strangers out of the land of Israel our owne countrie without Lawe or Prophets, without all exercise of his statutes and ordinances concerning his worshippe prescribed vntounto vsus by the hande of his seruant Moseh. This long and weariesome captiuitie hath consumed a great number of our forefathers, …nd hath caused some of vsus frō time to time, through the grace and louelove of God wherewith hee loueth vsus for the promise sake, to thinke vpō our promised Messhiach: conferring these dayes of sorowe & calamitie with our former captiuities of our fathers, which were nothing so many in number of yeres, nor so grieuous for want of our Prophets. These fiftene hundreth yeres hauehave we bene strangers, & these fiftene hūdreth yeres hauehave we lacked our Prophets: a thing not seen at any time before whē we & our fathers were caried into a strange land. For in Egypt they had Mosheh & Aaron: and in Babylon they had Ieremie & Daniel, besides Ezra, Nechemiah, and manie other: onelyonly in this captiuitie is Israel left desolate and our Prophets cleane gone. Whereof when it pleased God I should hauehave consideration, I was lead to thinke that our Messhiach is come, and that our long looking for an other was but in vaine: And yt rather, for that I see ye wordes of Iacob our father accomplished where hee sayeth,Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah, nor a lawegiuer from betweene his feete vntill Shiloh come: and the people shal be gathered vntounto him. For the Scepter and gouernement was continued in the house of Iudah, as our fathers accord, vntill the comming of this man Iesus: in whom if it were not continued according to the woordes of our scriptures, it hath failed and wanted euer since. For since the dayes of that iust man there hath bene no Scepter amongest vsus, neither hauehave we or do we runne for iudgements vntounto Ierusalem: So that if ye wordes of our father Iacob be true, That the Scepter should not depart from the house of Iudah vntill Shilo came, and there is no Scepter nor Lawegiuer nowe in that house: then must it needes be that this man Iesus, whō you confesse and beleeue, is that Shilo which was to come: and is that childe of whom one or our Prophetes sayeth,Esa. 9.6. Unto vsus a childe is borne, and vntounto vsus a sonne is giuen, and the gouernement is vponupon his shoulder, And hee shall call his name Wonderfull, Counseller, The mightie God, The euerlasting Father, the Prince of peace, the increase of his gouernement and peace shall hauehave none end, he shall sitte vponupon the throne of Dauid and vponupon his kingdome to order it & to stablish it with iudgement and iustice from henceforth, euen for euer. The zeale of the Lord of hosts will performe this. This man then no doubt is that Messhiach which was looked for according to promise, and our fathers and people acknowledge not, fulfilling in them selues the wordes of their owne mouth, His bloud be vponupon our heads. In deede it seemed strange to me, and doth to the rest of my brethren according to the flesh, euē vntounto this daye, in whome this blindnesse and hardnesse of heart is in part continued through occasion giuen by them that professe the name of this man Iesus: And not onelyonly in vsus which are of the house of Israel, but in other, as the Turkes and Mahomets which are of the race of Ishmael. For had it not bene for the great and manifolde Idolatrie that is committed and vsed amongst the Christians almost in all places where his Name is professed, manie of our nation had repēted in sackcloth and ashes, and had come to this man Iesus their brother after the flesh, from whom they are nowe estranged and go astraye. But wel is it written in your Law, Woe be vntounto him by whom offence commeth: according as it is written in our Lawe, Cursed be the man that layeth a stumbling block in the waye of his neighbour, and all the people shall saye Amen. But when it pleased God to bring me into this land, which I must for the same cause call a blessed land, and I sawe therein no such impedimēt as holdeth our eyes blinded in other places: It was a meanes, I must needes confesse, that made mee more deepely to enter into the former consideration of our long captiuitie, & better to thinke of the wordes of our Prophets, and the promises set downe by them touching our Messhiach. For the wall that maketh a separation betweene our nation the stocke of Abraham, and you the Gentiles, is in your respect and in your behalfe broken downe: so that I can not iustly say of you, as we & our fathers and Elders saye of all other, vsing in all our bookes and writings to call and accompt of them by no other name but Baale abodazara Idolatrous masters, and lords of strāge worshippe: A thing so detestable vntounto vsus, as nothing more concerning our Lawe, being in deede the first and chiefest of our commandements giuen vsus by the hand of Mosheh, and so often repeated vntounto vsus, as no one thing more in all our scriptures: Besides the manifest anger of God shewed against it,Deu. 9.16. in punishing the trespasse therein committed by our forefathers in the absence of Mosheh, when he was gone vp into ye mount to fetche the Lawe. When our fathers were to enter into the lande of promise, the first and principall point required of them was this:Deut. 7,1. 3.4.5.6.7. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possesse it, & shall roote out many nations be…ore thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, & the Ammonites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hiuites, and the Iebusites, seuen nations mightier and greater than thou, & the Lorde thy God shall giuegive them before thee: then shalt thou smite them, thou shalt vtterly destroy them, thou shalt make no couenāt with them nor hauehave compassion on them, neither shalt thou make mar…ages with them, neither giuegive thy daughter vntounto his sōne, nor take his daughter vntounto thy sonne: for they will cause thy sonne to turne away from me, & to serue other gods: then will the wrath of the Lord waxe whotte against you, and destroy thee sodainly:Deu. 12,2. 3. But thus you shall deale with them, you shall ouerthrowe their altars, and breake downe their pillers, and you shall cut downe their groues and burne their grauē images with fyre.
The seueritie of this Lawe and the false worshippe that we and our fathers behold in them that professe the name of this man Iesus, withholdeth vsus from comming to make any couenāt of peace with you, from ioyning hands with you, and entring into that familiaritie with you, which should be betweene them that worship one God.Deu. 22,10 We are commanded in our Lawe not to plowe with an oxe and an asse, neither to weare any garmēt of linsie wolsie: we vnderstande it so, that we may not ioyne God and Idols together: we may not serue our Lorde otherwise than he hath commanded vsus, saying,Deut. 5,32 Turne not aside to the right hand nor to the lefte. For he is a iealouse God, and we are chosen to be an holie people vntounto him: which we are taught we can not be, vnlesse we keepe this commandement, Thou shalt hauehave none other Gods but one: and this, Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen image, nor the likenesse of any thing. And because they do so, we hauehave bene withholden by the commandement of our God from making any couenant with them, or hearkening vntounto any of their Prophets & teachers: for that were but to make Israel to sinne, and to prouoke the holy one to anger. When they talke with vsus, they saye they are not such as our Prophets speake of, who worshipped beasts and other creatures, as the sunne & the moone: but they worship onelyonly the creature of man, who was made to the image of God, and by whome God hath wrought great and marueilous workes vpō the earth. To whom we answere by ye words of our Lawe, that all idolatrie is forbiddē vsus: the commaundement forbiddeth not one thing more than an other, neither giueth greater libertie for one thing, than for an other: but saith in these wordes, Thou shalt not make the likenesse of anie thing that is in heauen aboue or in the earth beneath, or in the water vnderunder the earth, thou shalt not bowe downe to them nor serue thē. Whatsoeuer it be, it is forbidden by our commandement. And if anie creature might be worshipped, reason would the sunne & moone should hauehave that honour done them: for they serue vsus to greatest purposes, & by them we reape daily profit. Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob: Mosheh, Samuel, and Elizahu with the rest of the Prophets were good men, and by them God wrought wonderfull things, and yet we neuer worshipped any of them. And we can not thinke that this wisedome was or should hauehave bene hidden from all them, and all our fathers, if it had bene so great wisdome in the sight of our God. They say vntounto vsus oftentimes, that they do not worshippe them as Gods, but they worship God in them. Neither are the Heathen, we say, that are rounde about vsus so blinded with the imagination of their heartes, as that they thinke that the stockes & stones carued, or the tables which they paint them selues, to be God: but they are persuaded that the liuing God may bee worshipped and serued in them. And as for the creature that is worshipped, or in whome the liuing God is worshipped, whether it be better than an other and more to be accompted of than an other, that is not it that maketh false worship: but the commandement which sayeth, Thou shalt not make the likenesse of any thing. And yet those common Christians go verie farre: for the Christians of Spayne & Portugal hauehave it written in their bookes, as in one which they call Contemplationes del Idiota ala virgen Maria, That that virgin is the Lordes treasure, and that she bestoweth giftes and graces vponupon hir seruantes to make them worthy dwelling houses for hir blessed sonne and the holy Ghost: that hir merciemercy often time pardoneth them, whome the iustice of hir sonne might condemne: that she doth plentifully enriche thē that serue hir with the holy Ghost, and defendeth them most mightily from the enemie: to witte, from the world, the f…esh and the deuill: and that our saluation lieth in hir hands. But our Lawe teacheth vsus that our God Iehouah is all sufficient, and that all treasures are in his handes: he giueth to whom he listeth: and from whom he listeth he holdeth backe. He saieth he will not giuegive his glorie to an other, and what is more glorious to him than to be acknowledged of his creatures to be the onelyonly fountayne of all goodnesse, to be our lightening and saluation, that wee may dwell confidently vnderunder the shadowe of hi… winges, who will be called vponupon in the daye of our necessitie and he will heare vsus.
And therefore as that doctrine is contrarie to the doctrine of our Prophet, & is cast away of you which in this countrey beleue in the man Iesus: So I hauehave more willingly and with a more readie minde hearkened to the wordes of your teachers, and learned by Gods good working to knowe more of our promised Messhiach, thā our fathers beleue: but no more than our scriptures most truely conteine: Being assured that, seing you hauehave the wordes of our Prophets, and do not followe strange gods, you are to be hearkened vntounto. For by our Lawe no Prophet may bee reiected but the false prophet, who seketh to turne vsus awaye from the Lorde our God to serue other gods. And therefore as I hauehave learned by the wordes of your teachers, conferring them with our Lawe and Prophets, that our promised King & Messhiach is not a Prince of this worlde, as one that hath to establishe a temporal kingdome amongst vsus: but a spirituall, whose power and might consisteth in gouerning vsus by his Spirit, and forgiuing the sinnes of Israel, and taking awaye the iniquities of Iacob, bearing in his owne bodie the chastisement of our peace, that is, the chastisemēt that worketh and getteth vsus peace as our Prophets tell vsus: So I confesse & acknowledge that he is already come, and that it is he of whom our Prophet spake, Behold the dayes come, sayth the Lord,Iere. 23.5,6 that I wil raise vntounto Dauid a righteous branche, and a King shall raigne and prosper, and shall execute iudgement and iustice in the earth: in his daies Iudah shalbe saued and Israel shal dwell safely, and this is the name whereby they shall call him, The Lord our righteousnes. And therefore being heartilie sorie for my so long going astraye from the faith of this man Iesus after the euill leading of my countrie men and kinsmen after the flesh, for whose speedie turning to the Lorde I most earnestly praye, and giuing the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, heartie thanks for the working of his grace in me, by bringing me from the darkenes, wherein my fathers hauehave walked these fifteen hundreth yeres, into his marueilous light, to beholde the face of his Christ our true and onelyonly Meshiach: I protest vntounto you, that I vtterly forsake my former wayes and the steps that my nation walketh in, leauing with them not only that false looking for an other Christ, but my name also which was giuen me at my circumcision (being Iehuda) though in it selfe it be honourable: desiring that as I hauehave receiued a new gift from the Lord, so in token thereof I may be called Nathanael: the summe of which gifte, so farre forth as he hath as yet reuealed vntounto me, I here confesse & acknowledge before you, that you may be witnesses with me of my faith in Christ that Meshiach, whom you beleeue in, and I receiue for my redeemer.
I confesse with my mouthe and beleeue from my heart, that the man Iesus Christ borne of the virgin Marie (according to the foretelling of our Prophets) and so, by the flesh he toke of hir, descending of the seede & stocke of Dauid for the continuance of his kingdome for euer ouer his people Israel, is the vndoubted Meshiach promised to our fathers for the redemption and deliuerie of vsus his people out of the captiuitie wee are in: which is not the captiuity of Egypt or Babylon, or the captiuitie of the Romanes Empire, which we hauehave iustly deserued by the shedding of his innocent bloud through betraying and deliuering him into the handes of the wicked to be crucified: but the captiuitie of sinne, death, and damnation, prefigured vntounto vsus by our Prophets vnderunder the shadowe of the foresaid captiuities of Egypt and Babylon. Which things because our fathers vnderstoode not through ignorance of our scriptures, they did all those thinges which they wrought, against that holy one our only redeemer & sauiour: & hauehave by that meanes estranged them selues and their posteritie from the common wealth in deede of Israel, that is to saye, from the communion of the sainctes and childrē of God which make p… fession of this mans name, & beleeue in trueth that he is the verie Christ and only anoynte… sauiour of the world which was so forepromised from the beginning of the world.
And therefore in full assurance of this full and perfect and last deliuerie wrought for all them that are both nigh and farre of, that is, for all that beleeue by that man Iesus whom our Prophets forenamed Immanuel, which is by interpretation, God with vsus, resting & reposing my selfe in this horne of saluation, I looke for no other Messhiach and Christ to come hereafter, as the rest of my kindred an… people do, blinded through vnbeliefe: beeing my selfe throughly perswaded by the Prophets that this is that Shiloh which was to come, that Angel of the Lord whom Elias, the Thesbite as we cal him, was to go before, that is to say, Iohn the Baptist: whom so…e of our Prophets call the voyce in the wildernesse sent to prepare the wayes of this our King and holy one our redeemer, conuerting by his preaching the fathers hearts vntounto the children, and the simple and vnbeleeuers to the obedience of the righteous: For which cause also (as our wordes meane) he was by our fathers called Thesby, which is by interpretation, the seruant of God to worke repentance by.
And because this man, who was appointed from the beginning to be our redeemer & deliuerer out of the captiuity of sinne, was to worke that great and marueilous redemption by his owne death (as was prefigured vntounto vsus by our Passeouer and all our sacrifices, and also declared by our Prophets) which he performed in his time appointed, being deliuered into the handes of Pontius Pilate by our Scribes and Pharisies to be put to that shamefull death of the Crosse, whereof it is written in our lawe, Cursed be the man that hangeth on the tree: which is so well knowen to al the house of Israel, that they call him euen to this daye in despite Talui, which is by interpretation, Hanged. Therefore I also confesse and beleeue that our sacrifices commanded in our Law, by the hand of Mosheh, are at an end & not to be vsed any more: being in deede but shadowes of this bodie and truthe which was performed in and by this our Immanuel, God with vsus. And therefore I most willingly and freely renounce that doctrine of our Elders, which teacheth vsus that our deliuerie forespoken … by our Prophets is or shall be a restoring … vsus into our countrey and land of Iudea, the… to keepe such ordinances and statutes to… ching sacrifices of goates and calues as wer… commanded vsus by the hand of Mosheh: beeing assured by the scriptures that the Ierusalem, which we shalbe restored vntounto, is the kingdome of heauen from which wee were cast through vnbeliefe, and are againe restored vntounto it as manie of vsus as beleeue in this our Immanuel, by the same God with vsus… whose bloud hath opened vsus the waye, an… not the bloud of our goates & calues whic… were figures of this true and perfect sacrifice wrought by this man vponupon the crosse, by vertue whereof they were auaylable to so many of our fathers, as did beleeue, for the remiss… of sinnes and deliuerie out of that thraldo… of the soule: and not out of the captiuitie … ther of Egypt, or Babylon, or this wher… we and our forefathers hauehave iustly bene eu… since the vnrighteous shedding of this ri… teous mans bloud.
Moreouer I confesse with my mouthe … beleeue in my heart that this same man Iesus, the sonne of that virgin, is not onelyonly … but God, both God and man: so called by our Prophets, Immanuel, God with vsus: God not made in time, nor after a season, but God from the beginning and without beginning, who was before the sunne & shalbe after the sunne (as our Prophet Dauid sayth) by whō …s al things were made from the beginning, so are they preserued by his mightie power, and of his kingdome there shalbe none ende: Who as he is called the word of God his father, so were all the Prophets giuen and sent …y him the onelyonly true interpreter and messenger of his Fathers will: which he reuea…d from time to time to his people by the handes of his Prophets, as he thought best: ordering the measure of the reuelatiō of him selfe, as might best stand with the time of his comming when he was to be presented vntounto the world. And therefore he opened him self …nto our fathers in the times and dayes of …ur Prophetes, but darkely vnderunder types and …igures, laying a vayle as it were ouer our eyes, to the end we should be more earnest & painefull in seeking after him. But in the ful…es of time, when the season appointed hy his Father was come, then he reuealed him selfe fully and plainly, preaching both him selfe the kingdome of heauen, and sending forth his Apostles to do the same: vponupon whom therefore he powred out the holy Ghost, which is called his Spirit, so performing that which our Elders set downe as a proper marke of the comming of our Meshiach: to witte, that in that daye our Prophets should cease & th… holy Ghost should be giuen to ignorant an… vnlearned men, which we hauehave seen fulfilled in the eyes of all Israel. And therefore I receiue this word of God, which hath been fro… those daies called the New Testament, as the true & vndoubted word of God vttered by y• same Spirit, which spake in our Prophets.
Againe I confesse with my mouthe and beleeue in my hea…te that that holye Ghost and Spirit, who was the directour of all our Prophets, and was also promised by this m… Iesus our Immanuel to be alwayes with … people, to leade them into all trueth vntounto … worldes ende, is also verie God, one in s…stance and nature with God the Father … God the Sonne: but an other in persone… … the Father & the Sōne differ in person. … that there are not three Gods, but one Go… neither one onelyonly person, but three person… Which person of the holy Ghost, as he hath bene from the beginning of the world by the euerlasting counsel and determinate purpose of God the directour and gouernour of his Church, that is to say, the assemblie and companie of his people agreeing together in vnitie of faith and doctrine, and did therefore for the bringing and maintenance of them into the vnitie of this faith and doctrine deliuer them from God diuers rites & ceremonies: diuers in outward shewe, but one selfe same in effect and substance, hauing onelyonly for their ground and matter this man and God Iesus Christ our Immanuel: So doth he continue still to nourishe vsus vp in the same, and therefore commendeth to vsus to be kept for … euerlasting couenant two sacraments, the one of Baptisme, the other of the Lordes supper: which two the will of our Lord & God was and is, should be in place of the circumcision and Passeouer cōmanded to our forefathers. Which I stedfastly beleeue and religiously confesse, and therefore renouncing the former (as also al other rites and ceremonies of the Lawe) being but shadowes of the bodie which is now performed and come, I most humbly desire to be receiued into the fellowship of these Sacramentes: that as it hath pleased our Lord God and heauēly … ther, to reueale his sonne vntounto me, & to … me againe into the stocke of my father Ab…ham (from whence I was cast out thro… vnbeliefe with my forefathers, the stifneck … and disobedient) So I may through B… tisme be receiued and taken for a membe… … this our Meshiach: whom I confesse and … knowledge to be the …ly promised Chr… in whome whosoeuer will hauehave life must … saued: whereof I …ke and trust to be … taker in the … of the righteou… which shal … the … agai… of this our Imman…el when hee sha… come to iudge the …u…cke and the …ea….
FINIS.
To his beloued Mother, I. K. sendeth greeting in the Lorde.
THE desire that I hauehave to heare of your continuāce, which Christ Iesus in the day of this his battell which shortly shall end to the confusion of his proud enimies, neither by tong, neither yet by penne can I expresse, beloued Mother. Assuredly it is such that it vanquisheth, and ouercommeth all remembrance & solicitude, which the fleshe vseth to take for feeding and defence of herselfe. For in eueryevery realme and nation God wil stirre vp some one or other to minister those thinges that appertaine to this wretched life, and if men wil ceasse to doe their office, yet will hee sende his rauens: so that in eueryevery place, perchance I may finde some fethers to my body. But alas where I shal finde children to be begotten vntounto God by the worde of life, that can I not presently consider. And therfore the spiritual life of such as somtime boldly pro…essed Christ (god knoweth) is to my hearte more deare then all the glory, riches, and honour in the earth. And the falling backe of such men, as I heare dayly
End of the text · John Foxe, A Sermon Preached at the Christening of a Jew (1578)