A68306:47
The copy of an epistle sentThe copie of an epistle sent
The copy of an epistle sent by John Knox one of the ministers of the English Church at Geneva unto the inhabitants of Newcastle, & Berwick. In the end whereof is added a brief exhortation to England for the speedy embracing of Christs gospel heretofore suppressed & banished.The copie of an epistle sent by Iohn Knox one of the ministers of the Englishe Church at Geneua vnto the inhabitants of Newcastle, & Barwike. In the end wherof is added a briefe exhortation to England for the spedie imbrasing of Christes gospel hertofore suppressed & banished.
At Geneva : s.n., M.D.LIX. 1559
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.
These testimonies and many more (which to avoid prolixity I omit) we have of the prophets, how corrupt was the whole body even in the days of the most godly Kings, yea, even in the days, when the plagues were upon them. And the histories do witness, that no sooner did ever any Idolater rise, but that so soon from the highest degree to the lowest, from the prince to the Prophet (a mean number except) were all ready to obey,1 what soever was commanded by such as were placed in honours and authority. The history doth farther witness, that the princes of Judah after ⟨p. 75⟩the death of Jehoiada, by whose wife Joas was preserved in that most cruel murder of all the kingly seed made by Athalia, and by whose most faithful diligence the same Joas was in the seventh year of his age made king over Judah:2 the covenant and league, before broken by Idolatry, was renewed again betwixt God and the people,3 and betwixt the people and the king: to wit, that the one and the other should be the people of the Lord, by renewing of which covenant unhappy and cruel Athalia was killed,4 the people did enter into the house of Baal, brake it down with his altars and images, even to powder, and finally before the altars of Baal did most justly kill Mathā Baals great priest: after the death (I say) of Jehoiada, by whose godly providence ⟨p. 76⟩all these things were brought to pa•• see the princes of Judah came & bowed them selves unto the King, making no doubt this petition unto him, that they might have the religion,5 which long had been retained amongst the Kings of Judah, even from the days of Solomon, & that they should not be so straitly bond, as the covenant made by Jehoiada commanded▪ so they would not return (as may appear they did allege) to Baal, but stand content with their high altars, their thickets of wood and ancient Idols. And that this was their petition the history giveth plain light. For it saith, And the King hard them: & they leaving the house of the Lord the God of their fathers, served thickets, and Idols, which thing albeit it did so displease the Lord, that he sent his prophets sharply to rebuke their unthankful defection, yet