onely you doe worshippe and honour so doe the Turkes Sarracenes Moores and Scythians as well as ye And where is there anie one nation vnder the coape of heauen so sauage and beastly that doeth not professe coÌ„fesse and worship one God onely And what is this to the purpose Albeit ye esteeme neuer so much of that your worshipping the great God if yet in meane whiles ye persecute his messengers and Ambassadours whome hee sendeth if you kill his Prophets if ye murther his Apostles Martyrs and Preachers Finally if you put to the most slaunderous death of the Crosse the deare entierly beloued and onely begotten sonne of God him selfe being tormented with all kynde of horrible tortures to the vnspeakeable reproche of the same your owne God with what shamelesse visage can you bragge that God to be your father whose sonne you haue so shamefully crucified Yea what were this to the purpose or what might it auayle you to seeme to your selues that the same God is your father if he do not reknowledge you for his children Take this for an vndouted trueth that no kinde of people can bee adiudged to bee the people of the liuing God but in respect of his deare sonne Christ iesu Which if your blundered senses can not comprehend as yet what meane those woordes of Osee I beseeche you and of whome were they spoken For yee bee not my people therefore will I not bee yours And it shall come to passe in the place where it was sayde vnto them you are not my people it shall bee sayde vnto them you are the sonnes of the liuing God. You doe persist still obstinately in the opinion of Gods Lawe and quite contrarie to the Lawe of God without all lawe equitie and conscience hanged and racked vpon tree the very same person of whome the whole Lawe did prophesie before notwithstanding so many strange and woonderfull miracles wrought by him so many brotherly benefites employed vpon you yea finding also no maner of cause worthy of death in him You â—o vaunt your selues lustily in speach of the circumcision of your fores kinnes and your vncircumcised hearts ouerflowe with spyderlike poyson you bragge of keeping the Sabboth daye whiles you take your bodily repast onely but the right vse of the Sabboth of the Lorde is to haue a quiet minde free from all iarre of enuie and malice This Sabboth you do prophane continually but then chiefely most wickedly when ye murthered the Lord him selfe neither seeme as yet satisfied therewith nor ye will relent any iote at al from your caâ—ckred conâ—umacie you professe in wordes the letter of the lawe but vtterly disclayme from the spirituall meaning of the lawe in your deedes You crye â—ut The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord and yet you abhorre the Church of Christ being the true Temple of the Lorde you challenge to your selues a wonderful hautie prerogatiue of the blood offrings of the Priesthoode of the Sacrifices and ceremonies of the Law which in deede carry a certaine gallaunt resemblance of true religion But these outwarde shadowes and ceremonies had their tyme and place long agoe and were not instituted to the ende they should continue irreuocable but for a season to represent as it were a superficiall viewe vnto vs of more excellent thinges Euen as the kingly Throne of Dauid and all that politique gouerâ—ement of the Israelites dyd prefigure nothing els vnto vs but the euerlasting kingdome of Christ and were as certaine principles wherewith the mindes of the beholders might be raysed vp to a more deep consideration of farre highe mysteries in so much that the very same which was but figured in king Dauid we playnly perceiue to haue bene expressely discouered in the king of the newe Ierusalem which is the Church of Christ. The same which was prefigured in Abel in Noah in Abraham Melchisedech Ioseph Moyses Aaron Iosuah Sampson Dauid Elias Ionas Iesu the great Priest in the Paschall Lambe in the brasen Serpent in the Rocke in Manna in the feast of Pentecoste briefely whatsoeuer exercises were practized in shadowes types figures we do vnfainedly acknowledge to haue met coÌ„curred byn accoÌ„plished in one body And this body truely is Christ Iesu who is also the ende consummation of al the whole Lawe In like maner the sacrifices and ceremonies trimminges and deckings of the olde Law conteined in them selues no sounde nor permanent matter but were shadowes and forerunners of more excellent graces For what is he so poreblinde in this our age that knoweth not that God doth not dwel in Temples made by mens handes that consciences are not cleaÌ„sed from sinnes with the blood of goats of bulles But these bloody offrings obteined a certaine resemblance only of the true purging of sinnes What doth the commandement of the prophete emply when in your Passeouer he charged a lambe of a yere olde cleane vndefiled to be slayne by families tribes Can your senses be so blockishe to thinke that so great effectuall operation lurketh in the blood of beasts as may auayle to deliuer you from cruel thraldome translate you to the lande of promise flowing with milke hony if there were no cornell of deeper mysterie enclosed within the outwarde shell of the letter It remayneth nowe that we treate of the promises of the Prophetes whereupon you boaste so much and rayse all your building which onely thing of all others doeth vnioynte and shyuer in pieces all the strong bulwarkes of your vnbeliefe euen to the very bottome of the foundation And to the ende I may make this appeare more euidently I wyll combate a crashe with you in your owne castle whereunto I will vse none other furniture but your owne weapons I meane the very words and knowen sentences of your owne prophets And I wil so deale with you in this coÌ„flict by the ayde assistaÌ„ce of God as not heaping together out of all the Prophets in generall their whole armorie of proofe that I know for that were vnmeasurable But I wil chuse rather out of certaine of theÌ„ not a multitude to surcharge you with nomber but certaine especial testimonies with the which as with choise shot powder I wil so batter y bulwarks of your bluÌ„dered vnbeliefe that you shall not be able by any meanes possible to delude the matter with caffling nor escape by denyall nor with any subtile legerdemayne of litterall exposition cast a myste before mine eyes nor vntwyne your selues out of the meashe by any crooked conueyaunce as you are wont to do though ye would neuer so fayne but either you shall be peruinced willingly to come to reason or els against your willes to be confouÌ„ded altogether with the manifest light of the trueth And to beginne first with the prophete Esay what answere can all the ofspring of the Hebrewes make to these woordes written in the ninth chapter of his prophecie For the yoke of their burden
imprinted And although my meaning was at the first to haue the same directed to the behoof of the Iewes chiefely yet I trust it vvil not be altogether vnprofitable to the Christian readers First because it may so be yea I feare me may also iustly be feared lest amongst the nomber of theÌ„ which say that they beleue in Christ some happely vvil be found in vvhose lippes onely this faith rolleth at large and hath not yet pearced any deeper nor taken roote in their heartes nor are as yet so sufficiently learned as if matter come to tryall and proofe they can render a true and vndoubted reason of this their faith Moreouer admitte that a man stande assured and stedfast in the certeintie of his faith yet vvhat faith is there so sure constant and vnuanquiâ—â—able but may be made more stable and perfect For if S. Paul did see sometime as in a darke ryddle if the Apostles notvvithstanding so many miracles vvrought in their sight needed yet the interpretation of Scriptures if those vvhich receaued the vvoorde by the preaching of Paul did neuerthelesse coÌ„ferre his doctrine vvith the Scriptures to see whether they agreed togetherâ— as is recorded in the Actes of the Apostles vvhat shoulde let vs to doe the like that by this meanes vve also myght encrease dayly from fayth to faith Finally for as much as our auncient deadly enemie doeth not more cruelly maligne nor more outragiously assaile any one thing so much as this our faith in Christ surely I iudge this aboue all other most requisite that euery of vs haue especial regard to be as much as is possible armed and garded vvith this target of faith that vve may couragiously encounter all attempts and assaults of the deuill vvhereunto hovve auaylable this litle Sermon vvill be I knovv not that let Christ our Lorde him selfe see vnto and giue his mercifull ayde therein I for my slender capacitie haue perfourmed vvhat I vvas able and as much as the Lorde graunted me vvhome I most heartily beseeche to blesse and encrease thy holy studies godly Reader and to direct the same to the honour glory of his name Amen A Sermon of the true and gladsome Oliue tree mentioned in the Epistle of Sainct Paul to the Romanes chap. xi preached at London by a faithfull Minister of God Iohn Foxe at the christening of a certaine Iewe translated out of Latine into Englishe FIrst as duetie requireth I do yeeld most humble thaÌ„ks to our Lorde and Sauiour Christ Iesu whome it hath pleased of his vnsearcheable mercie and bountifull loue towardes vs to minister so notable an occasion of our assembly this present day place and so fruitefull an argument for mee to empart vnto you all Secondly I doe no lesse heartily thanke then woorthily commend in the Lord all you that are present who according to your accustomed maner are so willingly and ioyfully gathered together enduced hereunto not through any vayne delight of fonde noueltie but of a seryons and studious zeale of godlinesse not as gazers of friuolous fantasticall fables but as willing witnesses of this great and inestimable benefite of almightie god Lastly I do from the bottome of my heart reioyce in the behalfe of this person for whose cause we are as nowe mette here together who being transported from out the vttermost parts of Barbarie into England and conuersant amongest vs by the space of sixe whole yeeres renouncing nowe at the last the naturall contumacie of his natiue country doth with so earnest bent affection of voluntarie wil chearefully desire to become a member of Iesu Christ and to be made partaker of his holye congregatioâ— through faith and Baptisme And withall I most humbly beseeche Almightie God that he will not onely vouchsafe his gracious encrease to this glorious worke begunne with this Israelite stranger but also to allure the whole remnant of the circumcised Race by this his example to be desirous of the same communion So that at the length all nations as well Iewes as Gentiles embracing the faith and Sacramentes of Christ Iesu acknowledging one Shephearde vnited together in one sheepefold may with one voice one soule and one generall agreemeÌ„t gloâ—ifie the only begotten sonne our sauiour Iesus Christ be glorified againe of him And that it may please him of his singular clemencie to graunt the same as also to blesse these our dayes with quiet calme and ioyfull tranquillitie which we doe nowe enioy vnder the gouernmeÌ„t of our most gracious Souereigne and her most honorable Magistrates I beseeche you of your charitie to ioyne with me in heart and minde vnto the eternall God father of vs all with the same prayer which his onely begotten sonne taught vs in the Gospell The Prayer Our father c. Forsamuch as in the administration of the Sacraments of the Church I doe well perceiue that both by the word of God and by an auncient and solemne custome amongst many it hath bene an vse to haue somewhat for the better instruction of their auditories read and expounded out of the bookes of holie scripture and deliberating likewise with my selfe what course I might best keepe at this present as well to serue the offred opportunitie as also to satisfie the publique commodity of you al chiefly I could not determine vpoÌ„ any one text of the whole scripture to be opened vnto you more profitable for your learning more effectuall for exhortation more applyable to our age and more agreeable for this present occasion then the sentence of S. Paul the Apostle not very long but of woÌ„derfull force taken out of the xi chapter of his Epistle written to the Romanes And to the ende you may receiue the same to your greater comfort it behoueth you to yeeld earnest and heedefull attention not with your bodily eares onely but with the eares of your minde also to these things which I shal vtter vnto you Hearken ye therefore to the words of the Apostle euen as him selfe hath spoken them To the Romanes the 11. chapter I speake vnto you Gentiles in as much as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles I wil magnifie mine office if by any meanesâ— may prouoke them which be my fleshe and may saue some of them for if the casting away of them be the receyuing of the worlde what shal the receyuing of them be but life froÌ„ the dead For if the first fruits be holy the whole masse is holy also And if the Roote be holy the braunches will be holye also And if some of the braunches be broken of and thou beyng a wilde Oliue tree wast graffed in amongest them and made partaker of the Roote and fatnesse of the true and naturall Oliue tree boaste not thy selfe agaynst the brauÌ„ches for if thou do boaste thou bearest not the roote but the roote beareth thee Thou wilt say then The braunches are broken of that I may be engraffed in Thou sayest well for vnbeliefe sake they were broken of and thou stoodest
not giue his glorie to an other and what is more glorious to him than to be acknowledged of his creatures to be the onely fountayne of all goodnesse to be our lightening and saluation that wee may dwell confidently vnder the shadowe of hiâ— winges who will be called vpon in the daye of our necessitie and he will heare vs. And therefore as that doctrine is contrarie to the doctrine of our Prophet is cast away of you which in this countrey beleue in the man Iesus So I haue more willingly and with a more readie minde hearkened to the wordes of your teachers and learned by Gods good working to knowe more of our promised Messhiach thaÌ„ our fathers beleue but no more than our scriptures most truely conteine Being assured that seing you haue the wordes of our Prophets and do not followe strange gods you are to be hearkened vnto For by our Lawe no Prophet may bee reiected but the false prophet who seketh to turne vs awaye from the Lorde our God to serue other gods And therefore as I haue learned by the wordes of your teachers conferring them with our Lawe and Prophets that our promised King Messhiach is not a Prince of this worlde as one that hath to establishe a temporal kingdome amongst vs but a spirituall whose power and might consisteth in gouerning vs by his Spirit and forgiuing the sinnes of Israel and taking awaye the iniquities of Iacob bearing in his owne bodie the chastisement of our peace that is the chastisemeÌ„t that worketh and getteth vs peace as our Prophets tell vs So I confesse acknowledge that he is already come and that it is he of whom our Prophet spake Behold the dayes come sayth the Lord that I wil raise vnto Dauid a righteous branche and a King shall raigne and prosper and shall execute iudgement and iustice in the earth in his daies Iudah shal be saued and Israel shal dwell safely and this is the name whereby they shall call him The Lord our righteousnes And therefore being heartilie sorie for my so long going astraye from the faith of this man Iesus after the euill leading of my countrie men and kinsmen after the flesh for whose speedie turning to the Lorde I most earnestly praye and giuing the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob heartie thanks for the working of his grace in me by bringing me from the darkenes wherein my fathers haue walked these fifteen hundreth yeres into his marueilous light to beholde the face of his Christ our true and onely Meshiach I protest vnto you that I vtterly forsake my former wayes and the steps that my nation walketh in leauing with them not only that false looking for an other Christ but my name also which was giuen me at my circumcision being Iehuda though in it selfe it be honourable desiring that as I haue receiued a new gift from the Lord so in token thereof I may be called Nathanael the summe of which gifte so farre forth as he hath as yet reuealed vnto me I here confesse acknowledge before you that you may be witnesses with me of my faith in Christ that Meshiach whom you beleeue in and I receiue for my redeemer I confesse with my mouthe and beleeue from my heart that the man Iesus Christ borne of the virgin Marie according to the foretelling of our Prophets and so by the flesh he toke of hir descending of the seede stocke of Dauid for the continuance of his kingdome for euer ouer his people Israel is the vndoubted Meshiach promised to our fathers for the redemption and deliuerie of vs his people out of the captiuitie wee are in which is not the captiuity of Egypt or Babylon or the captiuitie of the Romanes Empire which we haue iustly deserued by the shedding of his innocent bloud through betraying and deliuering him into the handes of the wicked to be crucified but the captiuitie of sinne death and damnation prefigured vnto vs by our Prophets vnder the shadowe of the foresaid captiuities of Egypt and Babylon Which things because our fathers vnderstoode not through ignorance of our scriptures they did all those thinges which they wrought against that holy one our only redeemer sauiour haue by that meanes estranged them selues and their posteritie from the common wealth in deede of Israel that is to saye from the communion of the sainctes and childreÌ„ of God which make pâ—â—fession of this mans name beleeue in trueth that he is the verie Christ and only anoynteâ— sauiour of the world which was so forepromised from the beginning of the world And therefore in full assurance of this full and perfect and last deliuerie wrought for all them that are both nigh and farre of that is for all that beleeue by that man Iesus whom our Prophets forenamed Immanuel which is by interpretation God with vs resting reposing my selfe in this horne of saluation I looke for no other Messhiach and Christ to come hereafter as the rest of my kindred anâ— people do blinded through vnbeliefe beeing my selfe throughly perswaded by the Prophets that this is that Shiloh which was to come that Angel of the Lord whom Elias the Thesbite as we cal him was to go before that is to say Iohn the Baptist whom soâ—e of our Prophets call the voyce in the wildernesse sent to prepare the wayes of this our King and holy one our redeemer conuerting by his preaching the fathers hearts vnto the children and the simple and vnbeleeuers to the obedience of the righteous For which cause also as our wordes meane he was by our fathers called Thesby which is by interpretation the seruant of God to worke repentance by And because this man who was appointed from the beginning to be our redeemer deliuerer out of the captiuity of sinne was to worke that great and marueilous redemption by his owne death as was prefigured vnto vs by our Passeouer and all our sacrifices and also declared by our Prophets which he performed in his time appointed being deliuered into the handes of Pontius Pilate by our Scribes and Pharisies to be put to that shamefull death of the Crosse whereof it is written in our lawe Cursed be the man that hangeth on the tree which is so well knowen to al the house of Israel that they call him euen to this daye in despite Talui which is by interpretation Hanged Therefore I also confesse and beleeue that our sacrifices commanded in our Law by the hand of Mosheh are at an end not to be vsed any more being in deede but shadowes of this bodie and truthe which was performed in and by this our Immanuel God with vs And therefore I most willingly and freely renounce that doctrine of our Elders which teacheth vs that our deliuerie forespoken 〈◊〉 by our Prophets is or shall be a restoring 〈◊〉 vs into our countrey and land of Iudea theâ— to keepe such ordinances and statutes toâ—ching sacrifices of goates and calues as werâ— commanded