The Governance of Virtue, Part 2 · Section 10 – Section 12
Against the folowing of vngodly forefathers.
If thou through temptation of the Deuil or the …alse perswasions of Antichrists Prophets be m… …ed at any time to doubt of the truth of gods word which the papistes at this daye cal seditious doctrine, new learning and heresy, because thy forefathers hauehave both beloued and done the contrary▪ call these scriptures to thy remembraunce.
Sentences out of the olde Testament:
Folow not the multitude to do euill.Exod. 23.
Doo not you these thinges that theyLeu. 18. hauehave done, which were before you neither be ye defiled in them: I am the Lord your God kepe my commaundements.
The Lord sent his prophets to his people,4. Reg. 17. saying: returne from your vnrighteous wayes, and keepe my preceptes and ceremonies, according to all the lawe that I commaunded your fathers. But they would not heare, but became stifnecked, euen as their forefathers were stifnecked, whiche would not obey the Lord God.
Let them put their hope in God, & notPsal. 69. forget the works of the Lord but seke after his commaundementes, Let them not be like their forefathers, whiche were a frowarde and a spitefull nation, a nation that would neuer be true harted, nor bear an vpright mind toward God.
Be not hard harted as your forefathersPsal. 125. were, saith the Lord whiche chyde and rebelled against me.
We hauehave sinned with oure forefathers we hauehave done vniustly, and commited iniquitie.
Trust not in rulers nor in the sonnesPsal. 146. of men, in whome is no health. For whē theyr breath goeth away, they return vn to their earth: In y• day shall al their thou …hts, counsels, deuises and imaginations come to naught. I hauehave alway sayd vntounto your forefathers synce I brought them out of the land of Egipt euen vntounto thys daye heare my voice, but they would not hear nor once bow their eare vntounto it: But eueryevery one of them is gone astray in the fr… wardnes of his wicked harte, ye the people of Iuda and the men of Ierusalem are also fallē vntounto the wickednes of their fore fathers which would not hear my words: Insomuch that thei ar alredy gone away after straunge Gods and serue them. The house of Israel & the house of Iuda, hauehave brokē ye couenaunt which I made wt their fathers. Therfore thus saith the lord: Beholde I wil bring in extreme punishments vponupon thē, so y• they shal not escap frō thē.
They shall crye v…to me but I will not heare them. The cityes of Iuda and th… inhabiters of Hierusalem, shall goe & crye vntounto them, to whom they offered sacrifice: and yet shall they not saue thē in the time of their trouble. According to the number of thy cities were thy Gods, O Iuda, and after the number of thy waies, O Hierusalem, haste thou set vp altars of abhomination to do sacrifice vntounto Baalim.
Your forefathers hauehave forsaken me,Ierem. 16. sayth the Lorde, and they are gone awaye after straunge Gods, and hauehave serued thē and worshipped them: yea, they hauehave vtterlye geuen me ouer, and hauehave not kept my lawe. But you hauehave wrought more abhomination, than all your forefathers hauehave done.
For behold, eueryevery one of you walke after the leudnesse of his own wicked harte, and will not heare me.
Their forefathers hauehave broken my couenauntEze. 2. euen vntounto thys day, and they to whom I send thee, are children without all shame, and of such an harte, as can not be reclaimed.
Walke not in the commaundementesEze, 20 of your fathers, nor keepe not their ordinaunces: neither pollute your selues with their idoles. For I am the lord your God.
Therefore walke in my preceptes, and kepe my iudgementes, and do them.
Confusion of face and vtter shame beDan. 9. vntounto vsus, vntounto our kings, vntounto our rulers: & to our forefathers, which hauehave sinned.
Be not like your forefathers, vntounto whō Zach. 1.the Prophets in tymes past cryed, saying: thus sayth the Lorde of hostes, turne from your euill waies, and from your abhominable thoughtes, but they would not harken nor geue any attendaunce vntounto me, sayth the Lord.
Our forefathers hauehave sinned, and hauehave2. Par. 19. done euill in the sight of the Lord our god. For they hauehave forsaken him, and turned awaye their faces from the tabernacles of the Lord our God.
Be not lyke your forefathers and brethren,2. Par. 30 which rebelled against the Lorde God of their fathers, and he gaue them ouer into desolation, as ye see your selues. Be not ye hardnecked now as were your forefathers, but offer your hande vntounto the Lorde, and come to his sanctuarie, which he hath sanctifyed for euer, and serue the Lorde your God, so shall the indignation of his wrath turne away from you.
Examples out of the olde Testament.
CAin …lewe his brother Abel, and followedGen. 4. his forefather the deuill, which was a mansleyer from the beginning.
Nadab king of Israell folowed his forefather3. Reg. 15 Hieroboam, cōmitting idolatrie against the lord his God. Therfore Baasa destroyed him and his kingdome, & all the house of Hieroboam, so that one of the stocke remained not aliue.
Ozochias king of Israell followed hys1. Par. 22. wicked forefather Achab, & greuously sinned against the lord his God. He therfore reigned but a litle time, and also died a miserable death.
Amon king of Iuda, followed hys Idolatrous4. Reg. 21. forefather Manasses, and dyd that whiche was euill in the sight of the Lord his God. He reigned but two yeres, and was slaine of his seruauntes in hys own house.
Ioakim kyng of Iuda for…oke the godlye4. Reg. 23. waies of his moste vertuous father king Iosias, and followed the steppes of his wicked forefathers. The Lorde therefore suffered him to raigne but three monethes in Ierusalem, and gaue him ouer into the handes of his enemies.
Sedechias king of Iuda followed hys4. Reg. 25 wicked forefathers, and prouoked y• lord his God vntounto anger. He therfore was depriued of his kingdome, sawe his children slaine before his eyes, and afterward he hauing his eyes plucked out of his head, was bound in chaines, and miserably caryed away into Babilon.
¶ Sentences out of the ne… Testament.
All that come before me are theeues andIohn. 10. robbers, but my sheepe hauehave not heard them.
O ye stifnecked and vncircumcised ofAct. 7. hartes and eares, ye hauehave alwayes resisted the holy ghost▪ as your forefathers did, so do ye.
Which of the Prophets hauehave not yourAct. 7. forefathers persecuted.
See that ye passe the time of your pilgrimage1. Pet. 1▪ in feare, for as much as ye know how that ye were not redemed with corruptible siluer and golde from your vaine conuersation, which ye receaued by y• traditions of the forefathers: but with the precious bloude of Christ, as of a Lambe vndefiled and without spot.
Examples out of the new Testament.
THe Pharisies and the Scribes followingMat. 15. their vngodlye forefathers, obserued the traditions of their elders, and neglected the commaundementes of God.
The Iewes fulfilling the measure ofMath. 23. their forefathers, whiche slewe the Prophets that were sent vntounto them frō God, killed Christ and his blessed Apostles.
Paule before his conuersion followingAct. 9. his wicked forefathers the Iewes, persecuted the congregation of Christ, euen as hys elders persecuted Christ and the Prophets.
Agaynst the wicked olde customes and long vsages.
IF Sathan or any of his members labour to plucke thee from gods word vntounto wicked olde customes and longe vsages, auoyde him with these scriptures following.
Sentences out of the olde Testament.
ACcording to the custome of the landLeu. 18. 3. of Egipt wherin ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the manner of the land of Canaan, whether I wil bring you shall ye not doe, neither walke in their ordinaunces, but do after my iudgements, & keepe my ceremonies to walke therin. I am the lord your God. Ye shall keepe therfore mine ordinaunces & my iudgements, which if a man do, he shall liue in them. I am the lorde.
Take heede that ye commit not one ofLeu. 18. 30 these abhominable customes, which were committed before you, and loke that ye defyle not your selfe therin. I am the Lorde your God.
An example out of the olde Testament.
EUen vntounto this present day do they still2. Reg. 17 followe their olde customes.
They feare not the Lord, neither kepe they his ceremonies, his lawes and commaundements. The Prophets cried, worship no straunge Gods, but feare the Lord your God, and he shall deliuer you from the power of all your enemies. But they would not heare, but still committed wickednes according to their olde custome. They pretended as though they serued the Lorde and yet neuerthelesse did they also seruice to their idoles.
For as their forefathers did, so do their sonnes, & neuewes vntounto this present day▪
Against such as sclaunder Christes Gospell, by calling it new learning.
IF the aduersarye of true godlinesse goe about to perswade thee, that Christes gospel is new learning, and that therefore thou oughtest to geu… no care vntounto it, nor beleue it: looke that thou by n… meanes consent vntounto them, but rather remember that thys is no newe blasphemie, but vsed manye yeares before of wicked hipocrites, as thou shalte perceaue by these examples following.
¶ Examples out of the new Testament.
WHen Christ preached in the SinagogeMar. 1. at Capernaum, and healed the man that was possessed with an vncleane spirit, the people cryed out and sayd: what newe learning is this.
When Paule preached at Athens theActs. …7. resurrection of the dead, certayne bellye gods as the Epicures & Stoikes, straue with him and sayd: what meaneth thys pratler? Other sayd, he semed to be a preacher of new deuills. An other companye sayd, maye we not know what new learning this is, that thou shewest? Thou bringest in new things in deede vntounto our eares. Our olde fathers neuer taught vsus any such geare. We will knowe what these thinges meane.