Twenty-One Sermons on Amos 2, Collection of lectures · Lecture 6
THE VI. LECTVRE.
AMOS. 2.4.
And their lyes caused them to erre, after the which their fathers hauehave walked.
IN my last Sermon I began the exposition of the third part of this prophecie against Iudah, and passed ouer the two first branches. You then heard the people of Iudah reproued, for contempt, and rebellion: Contempt of the law of the Lord, and rebellion against his commandements. They hauehave despised the law of the Lord, they hauehave not kept his commandements.
What! Iudah! Iudah, aLament. 2.1.the daughter of Sion; she that was great among the Nations, andbLam. 1.1. a Princesse among the Prouinces: Iudah! That was the LordscEsai. 19.25. inheritance, the LordsdExod. 19.5. peculiar, the LordsePsal. 114.2. Sanctuarie, thefEsai. 61.9. blessed seed of the Lord, thegEsai. 5.7. plant of the Lords pleasure: Iudah, to whom thehRom. 3.2. oracles of God were committed; is Iudah become rebellious? Hath Iudah despised the law of the Lord? Hath not Iudah kept his commandements? What may be the reason of it? The reason followeth in my Text:
Their lyes caused them to erre, after the which their fathers hauehave walked.] In steed of lyes, the vulgar Latin hath Idola, Idols. So hath S. Hierome: Deceperunt eos Idola eorum; their Idols hauehave deceiued them. What Idols? Euen such as their fathers followed, while they liued in Aegypt. They fashioned vntounto themselues, the semblance and counterfeit of the Aegyptian Oxe; they adored Beelphegor, they worshipped Astaroth and Baalim. Beelphegor, Astaroth, Baalim; these were the Idols, as S. Hierome commenteth, by which the inhabitants of Iudah were deceiued: Deceperunt eos idola eorum; their Idols deceiued them.
For Idols, our English translation readeth Lyes. The Hebrew fountaine is our warrant: the word there signifieth Lyes. Their Lyes caused them to erre.
Lyes are of two sorts: some are in commercijs; some in cultu divino: some in commerce with men; some in the seruice or worship of God. Lyes in commerce with men, are cōmitted 3. manner of wayes, in words, in manners, in things. A Lye in words is, when we speake one thing, & thinke another: and this is either iocosum, or officiosum, or perniciosum; it is either a lye in iest, or an officious lye, or a pernicious lye; not one of these can be excused: no, not the lye in iest, though S. Austin call it otiosum, an idle lye; and exempteth it from blame: as also some do officiosum, the officious lye.
A Lye in manners you may call simulation, dissimulation, counterfeiting, dissembling. This is seene in false-Christs, false-Prophets, false-Apostles, false-Teachers, such as make a faire shew of honestie, or for aiLuc. 23.14. pretence make long prayer, orkMath. 7.15. weare sheeps clothing, but are hypocrites, deuourers, wolues. These lye in their manners: of these it is said, frons, oculi, vultus persaepe mentiuntur: the forehead, the eyes, the countenance, do often lye.
The lye in things is, when one thing is substituted or put in the place of another; a counterfeit for a true thing: as when a cosener sells opium for apium, or broome twigs for balmewood, or alchimie for siluer, or copper for gold. But these lyes obuious and frequent in commerce with man, I must passe ouer. They are not intended in my text. The lyes intended in my text, are lyes in cultu divino, lyes in the seruice and worship of God.
Their lyes caused them to erre.] These lyes in the seruice and worship of God, what are they? Lyranus will tell you. Quaecun{que} fiunt, aut cogitantur sine Dei verbo; Whatsoeuer things in diuine worship are done or deuised without the warrant of Gods word, they are lyes. So saith, that learned Professor of Paris, Mercer; Omnia humana figmenta, quae contra Dei verbum, in Dei cultu excogitantur; All humane inventions in diuine worship deuised contrary to the word of God, they are lyes. Summarily thus I say: By lyes in this place we are to vnderstand, fictitios cultus, whatsoeuer worship of God is forged or counterfeited;lColoss. 2.23. foreign, all will-worship, all superstitious and blinde worship. These are the lyes, that caused Iudah to erre.
Their lyes caused them to erre.] First, they betooke themselues to the Idolatrie of the Gentiles, they made their sons to passe through the fire, according to the abominations of the Heathen, 2. Kings 16.3. Secondly, they forsooke the seruice of the Lords house, his holy Temple at Ierusalem, and sacrificed, and burnt incense, in high places, on hills, vnderunder eueryevery greene tree, 2. King. 16.4. Thirdly, they mHos. 10.1. & 8.11.increased their Altars, multiplied their sacrifices, and augmented their ceremonies, supposing thereby ex opere operato, euen for such their superstition sake, to demerit vntounto themselues the fauor of God, though they were vtterly voide of faith, and repentance. These were the lyes that deceiued Iudah; these their lyes caused them to erre. Commenta falsi cultus: their new-deuised, feigned, and forged worships of God, were the lyes, that caused them to erre.
This appellation of lyes is also giuen to false worship, Rom. 1.25. where S. Paul chargeth the Gentiles, with changing the truth of God into a lye. They changed the truth of God into a lye, that is, the true worship of God they peruerted, and changed into false worship. The reason why false worship there is called a lye, is, because its opposed to truth.nDrusius. Quicquid veritati contrarium est, mendacium est; Whatsoeuer is contrary to truth, that is a lye. And therefore our Prophet here in this text opposeth lyes, to the law of God; because Lex Dei veritas, Psal. 119 142. the law of God is truth. This antithesis betweene the law of God, and a Lye, we finde, Psal. 119.163. Mendacium odi, imme detestatus sum; legem tuam diligo. I hate a Lye; yea I abhorre it, but thy Law do I louelove.
We see now, what these lyes were, which caused Iudah to erre: they were humane deuises, and inuentions in the worship of God, defiling and infecting the sinceritie of that worship, which God onelyonly approueth. And yet is the Holy Spirit here pleased further to notifie vntounto vsus these Lyes of Iudah, in these words: After the which their fathers walked.
Their Lyes caused them to erre; after the which their fathers hauehave walked.] What fathers meaneth he? Those, whichoPsal. 106.19. made them a calfe in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image, and turned their glory, euen their God, into the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grasse? of whom we read, Exod. 32.4. Or meaneth he those which serued strange Gods in Ʋr of the Chaldees? of whom we read, Iosuah 24.2. Whatsoeuer the Fathers were, here meant by our Prophet; they were to these inhabitants of Iudah their ancestors; they were their forefathers: such as tooke delight in the seruice of false Gods.
Their Lyes caused them to erre after the which their fathers walked.] It is no new thing, no strange thing, for children to striue to imitate their fathers, that they may be like vntounto them. This doth S. Stephen, Act. 7.51. obiect to the successors of these Iewes: Yee stiffe-necked and vncircumcised in heart and eares, yee doe alwaies resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so doe yee. Your Fathers were a stiffe-necked people; so are yee. Your Fathers were of vncircumcised hearts and eares; so are yee. Your Fathers resisted the Holy Ghost; so do yee. Yee stiffe-necked and vncircumcised in heart and eares, ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost; as your Fathers did, so do ye. By Fathers in this place the Protomartyr S. Stephen meaneth maiores, their predecessors, their ancestors, their fore fathers.
What? Are these words of S. Stephen extended to all the ancestors of the Iewes? Were they all a stiffe-necked people? Were they all of vncircumcised hearts and eares? Did they all resist the Holy Ghost? This may not be imagined. The many and glorious titles, and appellations bestowed vponupon that people in Sacred Writ do euidently make good the contrary. We must therefore distinguish of those ancestors, and forefathers. Some of them were excellent men, and sincere worshippers of the true God: such were Abraham, Isaac, Iacob, and all the faithfull, that issued out of their loynes: these are not the Fathers, whom S. Stephen meaneth. Other some there were notoriously infamous for their impietie, for their bloudy tyrannie towards the Lords Prophets, for their idolatrous seruice of false Gods. And these S. Stephen in his speech intendeth.
These are they who in the 78. Psal. vers. 8. are called, a stubborne and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright; a generation, whose spirit was not stedfast with God. These are they, who S. Iohn the Baptist meaneth, Matth. 3.7. where he calleth the Pharisies, a Generation of Vipers.
These are they, whom our blessed Sauiour also intendeth, Matth. 12.33. & 23.33. where he stileth the Pharisies, as Iohn Baptist did; a Generation of Vipers. And what is this generation of vipers, but aspComment. in Act. 7.51. Lorinus saith, pessimorum parentum pessimi filij, wicked sonnes of as wicked parents.
Such were these Fathers in my text: of whom it is further said, that they walked after Lyes.]
They walked after Lyes.] To walke, in the Scripture phrase is metaphorically taken, and hath diuers significations. For the vnderstanding of the phrase in my text, you may know; there is a walking after truth, and a walking after Lyes; or which is all one, there is a walking after God, and a walking after Idols. We walke after truth, or God, when from the bottome of our hearts, we thinke vponupon, and do those things, which God hath prescribed vntounto vsus in the word of truth; when we liue a godly life, in this present world. On the other side, we walke after lyes, or after Idols, when we worship that which is not God; or when we worship the true God, but vponupon a false foundation, polluting and defiling his sacred worship, with the foolish imaginations and inventions of our owne braines. Thus did the ancient Iewes walke after Lyes; which is here laid vntounto their charge: Their Lyes cause them to erre, after which their Fathers walked.
Hitherto hauehave you heard the exposition of the text. GiueGive eare now I beseech you to such lessons as may from hence be taken for our further instruction, and the reformation of our liues. The first lesson I take from these words, Their Lyes caused them to erre; their lyes, that is, their idolatrous and false worship of God, hath caused them to erre, hath deceiued them. The doctrine is:
When men decline or swerue from the prescript of Gods word, they are forthwith enwrapped and involued in deceit; and cannot but erre.
I thus explicate it. If we embrace not the truth of God, if we despise his holy Lawes, if we keepe not his commandements, we must of necessitie fall into supine and grosse lyes. For so God permitteth. Whosoeuer beleeue not the truth, but hauehave pleasure in vnrighteousnes; whosoeuer receiue not the louelove of the truth, that they may be saued, to such shall God send strong delusion that they shall beleeue lyes, 2. Thess. 2.11. Now Almighty God to keepe his elect and beloued ones from such efficacie of errour, from such strong delusions; how oft doth he admonish them, that in no wise they depart from his holy word.qDeut. 12.32. Prov 30.6. Reuel. 22.18, 19. Adde not to my word, neither diminish ought from it, Deut. 4.2.rDeut. 5.32. & 28.14. Iosh. 23.6. Esai. 30.21. Turne not from my word, to the right hand or to the left, Iosh. 1.7. Lay vp my words in your heart and in your soule; binde them for a signe vponupon your hand, let them be as frontlets betweene your eyes, Deut. 11.18. What more obvious in holy Scripture then those Mementoes from the Lord?sDeut. 4.1, 6. Hearken vntounto my statutes, and vntounto my iudgements, keepe them, do them: Remember tNum. 15.39.my commandements, uDeut. 6.17.keep them diligently, xProv. 7.1.lay them vp yProv. 3.1.in thy heart: forget not my law, zProv. 3.1.aProv. 4.2.forsake it not: bProv. 4.20.attend to my words, cProv. 7.1.keepe my words, dProv. 4.20.encline thine eare vntounto my sayings.
And why I pray is the Lord so earnest to hauehave his statutes, his iudgements, his commandements, his lawes, his words, his sayings to be kept by vsus? Is it not, because hee well knoweth, that if we euer so litle decline or swerue from these, or from any one of these, we are forthwith inwrapped, and involued in deceit, and cannot chuse, but erre? Statutes, iudgements, commandements, lawes, words, sayings. Here are multa verba, many words, but res vna, they all signifie one thing, and that is expressable in one word, euen the word; the word of God mentioned in my doctrine, from whose prescript if wee decline or swerue, wee are forthwith enwrapped and involued in deceit; wee cannot chuse but erre.
A reason hereof I may giuegive you, out of Psal. 119.105. where the word of God is compared to a lampe, or a light: Thy word is a lampe vntounto my feete, and a light vntounto my path. You know the vse of a lampe, or light. It is to direct vsus in the darke, that we erre not. Now what is this world, but a place of darknesse? Here the naturall man sitteth in darknes, Luk. 1.79. he walketh in darknes, Psal. 82.5. his eyes are blinded with darknes, 1. Ioh. 2.11. his vnderstanding is darkned, Ephes. 4.18. he is subiect to the power of darknesse, Coloss. 1.13. he hath fellowship with the vnfruitfull workes of darknes, Ephes. 5.11. he is euen darknes it selfe, Ephes. 5.8. How then can he chuse but erre, if he hauehave not this lampe, or light of God, the word of God, to direct him?
It was not vnvsuall, with the Iewes, to seeke to them, who hadeEsai. 8.19. familiar spirits, and to peeping and muttering wizards. To reclaime them from this error, the Prophet Esay cap. 8.20. calls them ad legem, & ad testimonium, to the law and to the testimonie, that is, to the word of God. And why doth he so? He tells you why, in the words following: If (saith he) they speake not according to this word, it is, because there is no light in them: What can be more plaine? Where the word of God is not, or directeth not, there is no light, there is nothing but darknesse, nothing but errour.
You hauehave enough for the confirmation and illustration of my doctrine, which was,
When men decline, or swerue from the prescript of Gods word, they are forthwith enwrapped and involued in deceit, and cannot but erre.
Is it so beloued? If we leaue the word of God, are wee forthwith in errour? Let this be a strong motiue to vsus, to giuegive more diligence to the word of God, then hitherto we hauehave done. Let vsus as we are exhorted by S. Peter in his 2. Epist. cap. 1. vers. 18. Let vsus take heed vntounto it, as vntounto a light, that shineth in a darke place, till the day dawne, and the day-starre arise in our hearts. Let vsus not thinke any time misspent, that we bestow vponupon this word of God, either to heare it, or to read it, or to keepe it. Yong men, wherewithall will you clense your wayes, but by taking heed vntounto your wayes according to the word of God, as you are aduised, Ps. 119.9. All men I know would be blessed; but then must they delight in the word of God, and make it their meditation day and night, as it is Psal. 1.2. If we leaue the word of God, which is the lampe and light of God, then are we forthwith in darknes; we are in error.
Is it so, beloued? Then secondly let vsus bring and offer to our gracious God, the calues of our lips, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing, for that it pleaseth him for our direction in this valley of darknes and shadow of death, to giuegive vsus the light of his most precious word. He hath not dealt so with many nations of the earth. Many there are, that hauehave not the light of his word. And where this light is not, there can be nothing but darknes.
Is it so, beloued? Then thirdly is the Church of Rome very iniurious to the people of God, to with-hold and keepe from them this light of the word of God. Is it not plaine, they do so, when they forbid the Scriptures to be translated into any Vulgar tongue, and so seale them vp from the vnderstanding of the ignorant and vnlearned? They willingly send the Scriptures abroad in the Hebrew, Greeke, and Latine tongues: but what are the common people of any Nation hereby benefited? Do they vnderstand the Hebrew, Greeke, or Latin?
A Papist will answer; there is no necessitie that the vulgar sort should vnderstand those ancient & sacred tongues. ThefRalford. Directorie cap. 56. Church hath appointed learned men alwayes to instruct the simple out of the booke of God, with such histories and lessons, as may be most fit to edifie and help them, in the way to Heauen.
I grant, there is no necessitie, yea it cannot be, that the common people should vnderstand, the Hebrew, Greeke, and Latin tongues: but I adde; it is therefore necessarie that the Holy Scripture should be translated into vulgar and knowne tongues, euen for the vnderstanding of the common people: as this day (through Gods goodnes) we hauehave them in our English tongue, not dismembred, and very much corrupted, as Radford would beare the world in hand; but more perfectly rendred, then euer was that old vulgar Latin edition, obtruded to the Christian world for Authenticall by thegSess 3 cap. 2. Trent Fathers.
The exception taken against the translation of the Scriptures into vulgar, and knowne tongues, is vaine and ridiculous. They say, that great, and marueilous inconveniences and discommodities hauehave fallen out through such translations. How proue they this? They will seeme to proue it by sundry instances.
1. They tell vsus of ahStaphylus de Biblioris trāslatione pag. 492. Painter of Prussia, who, because he had in Luthers German Bible read of Lot his incest, aduentured to abuse his owne daughter.
2. They tell vsus of aiIdem ex Joh. Gastio Brisac. lib. de Catab…ptis…is. woman ofkMonasterij. Munster in Westphalia, who, hauing diligently perused the historie of Iudith and Holofernes, attempted by the example of Iudith, secretly to kill the Bishop of Munster.
3. They tell vsus oflI…hannes Iugdunensis, Sarcinater Batavus. Iohn of Leiden, who would be as a King, becausemStaphylus vbi suprà. p. 494. ex Sleidan. lib. 10. Iosuah was such: and would hauehave the toleration of many wiues, because the Patriarchs had many.
4. They tell vsus ofnIdem ex Aenca Sylvio in historia Doemorum. Grubenheimer, who, because he had read in Genesis, Encrease and multiplie, approued that in their night conuenticles, their lights extinguished, they might commit filthinesse not to be spoken. These foure instances are brought by Frid. Staphylus in his treatise of the translation of the Bible into vulgar idomes.
5. They tell vsus of Dauid George, a Batauian, who by reading the Scriptures in his mother tongue, was perswaded of himselfe, that he was the sonne of God, and the Messias.
6. They tell vsus of an English woman, who hearing the Minister of the Parish where shee liued, read out of Eccles. 25. somewhat against wicked women, which pleased her not, rose vp from her seate, and sayd, Is this the word of God? Nay, rather it is the word of the Deuill. These two latter instances are brought by Cardinall Bellarmine lib. 2. de verbo Dei cap. 15.
To these, and the former, vrged by Bellarmine, and Staphylus, to shew the inconueniences, and discommodities of hauing the Bible in vulgar, and knowne languages, I thus briefly reply. Shall sober men be forbidden the vse of meates and drinkes, because many surfet of them? This you will grant to be very absurd and vnreasonable. So absurd is it, and vnreasonable, that the people of God should be forbidden the vse of the booke of God in their vulgar & knowne languages, because a few, vnstable persons, such as were the aforenamed, the Painter of Prussia, the Cobler of Leyden, Grubenheimer, Dauid George, and two silly women, the one of Westphaelia, the other of England, abused so rich a treasure to their owne ouerthrowes.
This my reply agreeth with that answere, whichoAnimaduers. in Bellarm. Controu. 1. lib. 2. cap. 15. §. 63. Iunius giueth vntounto Bellarmine: Non conuenit, vt propter eos qui abutuntur malè, praecludatur, aut eripiatur Scriptura eis, qui sunt vsuri benè. Its not conuenient, that for their sakes who doe to ill purpose abuse the Scriptures, the Scriptures should be sealed vp, and barred from such, as would vse them well.
The reason, which Dr Bucknham, sometimes Prior of the Black-fryers in Cambridge, for this very purpose brought against Mt Latimer, is altogether as vaine, and friuolous. The danger of hauing the Bible in our English tongue hee prooued after this manner. The plowman hearing that in the Gospell by St Luke, Chap. 9.62. No man that layeth his hand on the plow, and looketh backe, is meete for the kingdome of God, may peraduenture cease from his plow: likewise the baker hearing that, Galat. 5.9. A little leauen corrupteth a whole lumpe of dow, may per-case leaue our bread vnleauened, and so our bodies shall be vnseasoned. Also the simple man, hearing that, Math. 5.29. If thy right eye offend thee, plucke it out, and cast it from thee, may make himselfe blind, and so fill the world full of beggers.
This friarly and bald reason of Dr Bucknham, is not worthy any other answere, then the wish of Latimer. pFox Martyrol. pag. 1904. Edit. Lond. An. 1570.Latimers wish was, that the Scripture may be so long in our English tongue, till English men be so mad; the plowman, not to looke backe; the baker, not to leauen his bread; the simple man, to pluck out his owne eye.
See you not (Beloued) how iniurious the Papists would be towards you, were they Lords ouer you? The light of Gods word, the incomparable and heauenly treasure, they would scale vp from you in an vnknowne tongue.
This was not the practise of olde. Of old time, in the primitiue times of the Church, the Holy Scriptures had their free passage. All sorts of people might read them, might search into them, might iudge of them. The vnlearned, as the learned; the laitie, as the clergie; women, as men; base, as noble; yong, as old; all had their shares in reading, in hearing, in meditating, in practising the sacred doctrines contained in the Holy Scriptures. There can be no iust reason to the contrary.
For as S. Chrysostome in his first Homilie vponupon S. Mathew saith: The Scriptures are easie to the slaue, and to the husbandman, to the widdow, and to the childe, and to him, that may seeme to be very simple of vnderstanding.
To which purpose S. Austine Epi. 3. ad volusian: affirmeth, that Almightie God in the Scriptures speaketh, as a familiar friend without dissimulation, vntounto the hearts both of the learned, and also of the vnlearned.
The like S. Basil avoucheth vponupon the 1. Psal. The Scripture of God is like an Apothecaries shop, full of medicines of sundry sorts, that eueryevery man may there choose a conuenient remedie for his disease.
VponUpon this ground S. Chrysostome Hom. 2. in Iohan would perswade his auditors, not onelyonly in the Church to bee attentiue to the word of God, but that at home also, the husband with the wife, and the father with the childe, would talke together thereof; and would to and fro inquire, and giuegive their iudgments: and would to God, sayth he, they would once beginne this most approued, and most excellent custome.
Theodoret in his fift Booke de curatione Graecarum affectionum, seemeth much to reioyce at the knowledge which the Christians generally had in the sacred Scriptures. Our doctrine, (saith he) is knowne not onelyonly of them, who are the doctors of the Church, and Masters of the people, but also euen of Taylers, and Smiths, and Weauers, and all Artificers: of women too, not such onelyonly as were learned, but also of labouring women, and Sewsters, and seruants, and hand-maides. Neither onelyonly Cittizens, but Country folkes also doe very well vnderstand the same: Ditchers, deluers, Cowheards, Gardiners, can dispute of the Trinitie, and the creation of all things.
Thus was it of old, and why should it not be so now in our daies? The Holy Scriptures are the same now, that then they were. Now, as in the dayes ofqSermon. de Confessorib. sive Dispensat. p. 610. Fulgentius, In Sacris Scripturis abundat, & quod rebustus comedat, & quod parvulus sugat, There is in the Scriptures plentie, whereof the strong may eate, and the little ones may sucke. Now, as in the dayes ofrEpist. ad leandrum. Gregorie, Scripturae flumen sunt, in quo agnus ambulet, & Elephas natet, the Scriptures are as a great Riuer, wherein a Lambe may walke, and an Elephant may swim. Now, as in the dayes ofsDe Lazaro. Theophylact, Scripturae sunt, Lucerna quo fur deprehenditur. The Scriptures are as a lanterne, whereby you may descry, and discouer that great theefe, the Deuill, who is euer readie to steale away your hearts from God.
Let vsus (dearely beloued) follow this lanterne. Let this Lampe of Gods word direct your footsteps. So shall we bee safe from errour. But if we will not follow it; if we will decline, if we will swerue from it, we shall be suddainly involued, and inwrapped in deceit, and cannot choose but erre: This was my first doctrine. I can but touch the second.
Their lies caused them to erre, after which their Fathers walked.] You hauehave vnderstood by my precedent exposition of these words, that the Inhabitants of Iudah are here blamed, for adhering to the blind superstitions of their forfathers. The doctrine arising hence is this; In matters of Religion we are not tyed to follow our forefathers.
This truth is plainely deriued from my text, for if we will make it our rule in Religion, to follow our forefathers; their lyes, that is, their blind superstitions, and idolatrous worship of God, may deceiue vsus, and cause vsus to erre. Were not the elders of Israel, thus deceiued, and brought into errour? The twentie Chapter of the prophecie of Ezechiel makes it plaine, that they were so: there shall you finde it obiected to them; that they were polluted after the manner of their fathers, and committed whoredome after the abomination of their fathers, ver. 30. And to draw them from adhering to the ill courses of their fathers, the Lord himselfe is pleased ver. 18. 19. thus to speake vntounto them: Walke yee not in the statutes of your fathers, neither obserue their iudgements, nor defile yourselues with their Idoles. I am the Lord your God: Walke in my statutes, keepe my iudgements, and doe them. What will you more for the confirmation of my propoūded doctrine? You hauehave alreadie the warrant of Almightie God from heauen for it, that in matters of Religion we are not tyed to follow our forefathers.
It is backed with another text, Zach. 1.4. Be not as your Fathers: your Fathers they heard me not, they hearkened not vntounto me, saith the Lord. Be not you therefore as your fathers. Your fathers tempted me in the desert, Psal. 95.9. Will you also tempt me? Be not as your Fathers. Your Fathers were a stubborne and rebellious generation, Psal. 78.8. Will you also be stubborne, and rebellious? Be not as your Fathers. It is out of doubt; Our fathers must not be followed in euill. Yea, in matters of Religion we are not bound to follow our Fathers. If our fathers in their religion were blinded with superstition, and worshipped God otherwise, then they were directed by Gods holy word, we are not to follow them: yea, we are plainely charged, not to be as they were: Thus briefly of my Doctrine: In matters of religion we are not tyed to follow our forefathers.
This truth serueth for a reproofe of Iesuits, Priests, Recusants, and all other popishly affected within this our country, who are so strangely devoted to the Religion whereof their fathers were, that they purposely shut their eyes against the light of Gods word, & will not suffer it to shine vponupon them. To whom shall I liken them? They are like to certaine Iewes, that dwell in Pathros in the land of Egypt: who when Ieremie, in the name of the Lord, dehorted them from their Idolatrie, did as it were, defying the Prophet, thus protest, Ierem. 44 17. We will not hearken vntounto thee; We will doe what seemeth good to vsus, as we hauehave done, we, and our Fathers, our Kings, and our Princes, so will we doe. We will burne incense to the Queene of Heauen, we will powre out drinke offerings vntounto her. For so long had we plentie of victuals, we were well, we saw no euill.
Doe not our popelings in England now sing the same song? Call themtEsa. 8.20. ad l…gem, & ad testimonium: call them to the word of God. Their answere is readie at their tongues end: we will not hearken to it: we will doe, what seemeth good to vsus: as we hauehave done, we, and our Fathers, our Kings, and Princes before vsus, so will we doe. We will perseuere in the Religion professed by our Fathers, and reviued in Queene Maries dayes. For so long, as that religion was on foote, we had plentie of victuals, we were well, we saw no euill.
Wretched men and women, as many of you, as are thus wilfully addicted to the superstition of popery, take you heed, that the words of the Lord, Esa. 6.10 giuen in charge to the Prophet, to be conueyed to the Iewes, be not in euerie poynt appliable vntounto you: Make the heart of this people fat, make their eares heauy, shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and heare with their eares, & vnderstand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Will theuIerem. 13.23. Aethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots? Then will our countrymen of the popish sect change from the religion of their forefathers. Their firme resolution to liue and dye in the religion of their fathers, is made apparant by theirxAn. D. 1603. supplication, to the most puissant Prince, and orient Monarch, our gracious Lord, King IAMES; one branch whereof, is this: We request no more fauour at your Graces hands, then that we may securely professe that Catholike religion, which all your happy predecessors professed, from Donaldus the first converted, vntounto your Maiesties peerelesse mother.
To this purpose dothyPreface to the King, before his Survey. Dr Kellison recite vntounto the KING a long catalogue of his noble Predecessors, to moue him, if possible, to embrace their Religion. But (God his holy name be blessed for it) all in vaine.
When Fridericke the IV. Elector of the Sacred Romane Empire, and Count Palatine of the Rhene, was by a certaine Prince aduised, for his religion to follow the example of his Father Lewis; hiszPolan. com. in Ezech. 20. answer was: In religione non parentum, non maiorum exempla sequenda, sed tantum voluntas Dei: In religion we are to follow, not the examples of our Parents, or our ancestors, but onelyonly the will of God. And for this resolution he alleaged the fore-cited testimonie of the Lord out of the 20. of Ezechiel: Walke yee not in the statutes of your fathers, neither obserue their iudgements, nor desile your selues with their Idols. I am the Lord your God; walke yee in my statutes. I doubt not, but that our gracious Soueraigne, King IAMES, hath euer had, and will hauehave a like answer in readinesse, to stop the mouths of Kellison, and all others, who hauehave dared, or shall attempt, to moue his royall Maiestie for his religion to be like his predecessors.
God giuegive our King the heart ofaIosh. 24.15. Ioshua; a heart stedfast and vnmoueable in the true seruice of the Lord our God. Though some of his Predecessors hauehave bin deceiued to fall downe before the beast in the Apocalyps, and to worship his image, yet good God, so guide our King, and blesse him with a religious people, that He and we, and his people, may now and euermore feare thee, and serue thee, in sinceritie and truth, to the glory of thy great name, and the saluation of our owne soules, through Iesus Christ our Lord.