A01136:195
A sermon preached at the christening of a certain Jew at LondonA sermon preached at the christening of a certaine Iew at London
A sermon preached at the christening of a certain Jew at London by John Fox. Containing an exposition of the xi. chapter of S. Paul to the Romans. Translated out of Latin into English by James Bell.A sermon preached at the christening of a certaine Iew at London by Iohn Foxe. Conteining an exposition of the xi. chapter of S. Paul to the Romanes. Translated out of Latine into English by Iames Bell.
London: printed by Christopher Barker, 1578
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The severity of this Law and the false ⟨image 111⟩worship that we and our fathers behold in them that profess the name of this man Jesus, withholdeth us from coming to make any covenant of peace with you, from joining hands with you, and entering into that familiarity with you, which should be between them that worship one God.1 We are commanded in our Law not to plough with an ox and an ass, neither to wear any garment of linsey woolsey: we understand it so, that we may not join God and Idols together: we may not serve our Lord otherwise than he hath commanded us, saying,2 Turn not aside to the right hand nor to the left. For he is a jealous God, and we are chosen to be an holy people unto him: which we are taught we can not be, unless we keep this commandment, Thou shalt have none other Gods but one: and this, Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing. And because they do so, we have been withholden by the commandment of our God from making any covenant with them, or hearkening unto any of their Prophets & teachers: for that were but to make Israel to sin, and to provoke the holy one to anger. When they talk with us, they say ⟨image 112⟩they are not such as our Prophets speak of, who worshipped beasts and other creatures, as the sun & the moon: but they worship only the creature of man, who was made to the image of God, and by whom God hath wrought great and marvellous works upon the earth. To whom we answer by the words of our Law, that all idolatry is forbidden us: the commandment forbiddeth not one thing more than an other, neither giveth greater liberty for one thing, than for an other: but saith in these words, Thou shalt not make the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth, thou shalt not bow down to them nor serve them. Whatsoever it be, it is forbidden by our commandment. And if any creature might be worshipped, reason would the sun & moon should have that honour done them: for they serve us to greatest purposes, & by them we reap daily profit. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: Mosheh, Samuel, and Elizahu with the rest of the Prophets were good men, and by them God wrought wonderful things, and yet we never worshipped any of them.