Sermons upon Deuteronomy

But we must mark diligently all the circumstances which are set down here. Remember (sayeth he) how ye provoked Gods wrath in Mount Horeb. That mountain ought to have bin sanctified, because God had chosen it to give his Law there, in respect whereof it is a place that is ennobled to the worlds end. For sith it pleased God to utter his will there, which is the rule of all righteousness, and there to make his covenant with the children of Abraham: ought not that place to have been acknowledged as holy? Not upon any superstition: but by putting the people the better in mind to honour their God as oft as they speak of Mount Sinai. It is a mountain in the wilderness, which aforetimes bare no renown: & now it became as an earthly Paradise, so as God showed his Majesty there. Seeing that God had said unto Moses,¹ The place where thou standest is holy, put off thy shoes: so as he required a special reverence because he was minded to show himself there: and ought not the self same reason to prevail in respect of Mount Sinai? But so far off were the people from being allured to honour God a hundred or a thousand years after, by acknowledging the singular benefit which he had bestowed upon them there: that they started away from him and fell to spiting of him, even while the law was a giving, & while Moses was yet upon the Mount. So then Moses meant here to make their sin more heavy by showing them that it was like as if a man should come and as it were despitefully rush into a Church, where folk were assembled together to pray unto God and to hear his word and to receive his sacraments: and there commit some villainy or lewdness that might breed offence. And were not such a sin so much the heinouser? Yes: and so was it with them. Therefore when we read it, the very hair ought to stand up upon our heads. Nevertheless we must understand, that this is set down as a looking-glass for us, to see that we should be no better than they if we were not withheld by the holy Ghost. Let us consider what men are. These were a people whom God had chosen from among all others: he had given them his doctrine: he had showed them his law: and yet for all that, they give over themselves to so cursed a thing.

But wee must marke diligently all the circumstances which are set downe here. Remember (sayeth he) howe ye prouoked Gods wrath in Mount Horeb. That mountaine ought to haue bin sanctified, bicause God had chosen it to giue his Lawe there, in respect whereof it is a place that is innobled to the worlds end. For sith it pleased God to vtter his will there, which is the rule of al righteousnesse, and there to make his couenant with the children of Abraham: ought not that place to haue beene acknowledged as holy? Not vppon any superstition: but by putting the people the better in minde to honour their God as ofte as they speake of Mount Sinay. It is a mountaine in the wildernes, which aforetimes bare no renowne: & now it became as an earthly Paradise, so as God shewed his Maiestie there. Seeing that God had saide vnto Moses,