Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	world_n	worship_n	wrought_v	34	3	7.5679	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17641	Commentaries of the diuine Iohn Caluine, vpon the prophet Daniell, translated into Englishe, especially for the vse of the family of the ryght honorable Earle of Huntingdon, to set forth as in a glasse, how one may profitably read the Scriptures, by consideryng the text, meditatyng the sense therof, and by prayer; Praelectiones in librum prophetiarum Danielis. English. Abridgments	Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564.; Gilby, Anthony, ca. 1510-1585.	1570 (1570)	STC 4397; ESTC S107376	186,474	266

euident For who is that God sayth he He excepteth no god If a man aunswere that he speaketh by comparison because he would defend the glory of his God that he worshypped yet when hée belcheth forth this blasphemy agaynst all Gods surely his arrogancy is intolerable yea it was a deuilish fury which droue him so farre Now let vs come to the chief point where Daniel declareth with how great constancy Sadrach Mesach and Abednego were endued 16 Sadrach Mesach and Abednego aunswered and sayd to the kyng O Nebuchadnezer we are not carefull to aunswere thee in this matter 17 Behold our God whom we serue is able to deliuer vs from the hoate fiery fornace and hee will deliuer vs out of thy hand O kyng 18 But if not be it knowne to thee O king that we will not serue thy Gods nor worshyp the golden Image which thou hast set vp This is the chief thyng to be considered in this hystory that these three holy men dyd remaine constant in the feare of God though they dyd know most present daunger of death to hang ouer their heades Wherefore when death was set before their eyes they turned not backe from their right course but they set more by the glory of God then by their owne life yea then by an hundreth lyues if it had bene nedefull to haue bestowed so many and that had bene graunted vnto them Daniel doth not rehearse all their wordes but gathereth a brief summe onely in the which yet that inuincible power of the holy ghost wherewith they were indued doth playnely appeare Surely this was an horrible threatnyng when the kyng sayd If ye be not ready to fall downe before the Image at the blast of the trumpet ye shall the same houre bee cast into the firy fornace When the kyng thundered after this maner they might be shaken as mē For we know how deare life is vnto vs how the feare of death smiteth all our senses But Daniel rehearseth all these circumstances that we may know that there is more strength in the seruauntes of God when they are led with his spirite thē that they should geue place to any threatninges or fall downe for any terror They aunswere the kyng that there nedeth no long consultation For in that they say that they are not carefull they signifie by this word that the matter is determined as that worthy saying of Cyprian is reported by Augustine Whē the Courtiours did counsell him that he should regard hys lyfe for the Emperour dyd agaynst his will iudge hym to torment whē flatterers dyd thus vrge him of euery side to saue his life by deniall of Religion he aūswered In a matter that is holy or of Religiō there nedeth no deliberation So do these holy men say We care not that is we neuer enter into consultation or deliberation what is expedient what is profitable No this is already concluded that we by no meanes will bee drawne from the pure worshyp of god If thou read it we ought not to aunswere thee it will be almost the same sense For they declare that the feare of death is in vayne set before them for they are vtterly determined and their hartes settled not to swarue one straw bread from the true and lawfull worship of God. And here they do vse two reasons to reiect that which the kyng propounded They say that God hath power and strength enough to deliuer thē Agayne though they should dye yet that they do not so much esteme lyfe that they will deny God to prolong it Therfore they declare them selues to be ready to dye if the kyng will so rigorously vrge them to worshyp the Image This place is worthy to be noted For first this aūswere is to be learned that when men are about to bryng vs to deny God we must shut our eares and take no farther aduisement For euen then begyn we to do great iniury vnto God when we dispute whether we may decline from hys pure worship or no what so euer cause may therunto moue vs And would to God this were well knowne to all men that the glory of God doth excell and surmount all thinges that all must be brought law when the diminishyng or obscuryng therof is intended But this craft beguileth many now a dayes that they thinke it lawful to way as it were in balance whether it be better for a tyme to turne from the true worshyp of God when any profite doth offer it selfe of the other side as we do sée at this day such dissemblers of whom the world is full to haue their colours to cloke their wickednes when either they worshyp the Idoles with the wicked or els they deny either priuely or openly the true Religion O what is to be done the man that is in any office will say I sée how much good I can do if I dissemble a little and do not shew my selfe what I am for this playnes would not onely hurte me priuately but all others If the kyng haue none that may sometymes pacifie his anger the wicked thereby shal be vnbridled and haue their will and libertie to driue hym vnto all cruelty It is better therfore that some kéepe a meane and so hearken and lye in wayte what the wicked do and so though they can not do it openly yet by some secret practises they may turne away the daunger from the heades of the godly When they obiect these Argumentes they thinke that God is aūswered As though Sadrach Mesach and Abednego could not haue pretēded the same or as though it had not come into their mindes thus to say behold we are now armed with some authoritie to helpe our brethrē and what a barbarous crueltie will be executed amongest them if the open enemyes of Religion come into our place for as much as lyeth in them they will dostroy and roote out of the earth our nation and all memory of true Religion Is it not better then that we for a tyme gyue place vnto tyranny and to this cruell commaundement of the kyng then to leaue our place destitute which straight wayes shall be occupyed with outrageous enemyes who will vtterly ouercome our miserable nation which is to much oppressed already I say they might haue gathered all these clokes and colours to excuse their infidelitie if for the auoydyng of daunger they had knéeled before that golden Image but they do not so Therfore as I haue already sayd thē hath God his due and true honor when his worship is determined with out all doubtyng and that we are fully persuaded in this that nothyng ought to be so deare vnto vs that we may thinke it lawfull to swarue though neuer so litle from that profession which hée commaundeth and requireth in hys word To be short here is that securitie which ought to confirme the true worshyppers of GOD set agaynst all the craftes and croked counsailes which they inuēt that do lose the cause of lyfe for the

clothed vpon this mortalitie Paul affirmeth that men naturally can not be brought willyngly to go out of the world except as is sayd before that fayth get the victory But whē we vnderstand that our inheritaunce is in the heauens that we are straungers in the earth thē do we put of the desire of this earthly lyfe whereunto we are to much addicted These two are the thynges then which do prepare the childrē of God vnto Martyrdome that they doubt nothyng to offer thē selues and theyr lyues into the handes of God for a sacrifice that is to say if they be persuaded that theyr lyfe is preserued of God and that he wil be an assured deliuerer if he sée it to be expedient Agayne when they clime vp aboue this world and aspire vnto the hope of that eternall and euerlastyng lyfe so be ready to forsake the world And in their wordes a great magnanimitie may bée noted when they say Be it knowen to thee O king that we worshyp not thy Gods neither the Image that thou hast erected for here they accuse the kyng after a sorte that he wil be so arrogant to appoint Religion at his pleasure Thou hast set vp an Image but thine authoritie is to vs of no valure for we know that it is a fayned God whom thou wilt haue to bée worshipped vnder this Image But the God whom we worshyp hath opened hym selfe vnto vs and declared that he will not be worshypped vnder any Image We know that he is the maker of heauen and earth and that he hath redemed our fathers forth of Aegypt that he would chasten vs whē he cast vs forth into this banishment Because therfore a sure stabilitie of our faith is manifest vnto vs we vtterly despise thy God thy commaundemēt in this point 19 Then was Nebuchadnezer full of rage and the forme of his visage was chaunged agaynst Sadrach Mesach and Abednego therfore hee charged and commaūded that they should heate the fornace at once seuen tymes more then it was wont to be heat 20 And hee charged the most valiant men of warre that were in his army to binde Sadrach Mesach and Abednego and to cast thē into the hote fiery fornace At the first sight God séemeth here to forsake hys seruantes because he doth not openly helpe them The kyng commaundeth them to be cast into a fiery fornace no helpe appeareth from the heauens Wherfore this was a full and perfect triall of their fayth They were now armed as we did sée before to suffer all things For they do not aunswere so constantly onely because they trusted in the present helpe of God but because they were determined to dye and a better life dyd so comfort their mindes that they were content to lose this present lyfe This was the cause that they were not afrayde for the terrible cōmaundement of the king but they followed theyr course euen to suffer death without all feare for the honor of god For there remayned no thyrd thing but eyther to chuse to dye or els to deny the worship of the true god By the which example we are taught to premeditate this immortall life in our quiet state that if it so please God we do not doubt to lay downe our liues for the testimony of the truth for this is one cause why we are so fearefull Agayne when we doo come into present daunger then doo we tremble and quake because whiles we are forth of danger we vaynely imagine to our selues a continuall securitiy So long therefore as God geueth vs quietnes we must apply our myndes to meditate the life to come that the worlde may waxe vile vnto vs and that we may be ready so oft as néede shal be to geue our bloude for the testimony of the truth For this history is not set forth vnto vs that we should onely commend and magnify the vertue and constancy of these thrée holy men but it is set forth for vs to imitate theyr constancy And concerning the king Nebuchadnezer here Daniel agayne as it were in a glasse doth shew vnto vs the pride and arrogancy of kinges when theyr commaundementes are not obeyed Surely a hart of yron should haue bene mollified with this answere that Shadrach Meshach and Abednego did commit theyr liues vnto God and therfore could not for feare of death be drawn from theyr fayth But he is filled with anger Cōcerning this rage we ought to consider what power Sathan hath ouer mē whē he hath them in his clawes They haue no moderation nor rule of themselues although at other times they make a fayre shew of vertue As this king had many tokens of vertue as we haue sene before but because the deuill doth now styr hym there appeareth nothing in hym but crueltie and rage Forthermore let vs remember that our constancy doth please God although it doo not shew forth the fruite therof before the world For many vnder this colour spare themselues to liue in their pleasures because they thinke it a rashnes to offer themselues to death when there appeareth no profit And many excuse themselues vnder this pretence that they striue no more for the glory of God because they should lose their labour and theyr death should be fruitles But we doo heare Christ pronoūce this to be a pleasant sacrifice vnto God when we offer our liues for the testimony of the heauenly doctrine although the generation before whom we testify the name of God be crooked adultrous yea though it waxe the more stubbern at our constācy And such an example is here set forth vnto vs in these thrée holy persons For how so euer Nebuchadnezer waxed more more outragious with their bolde confession yet did that playne confession please God and they did not repent it although they did sée no such fruit of theyr constancy as they desired And the prophet doth expresse the circumstance to declare the kinges rage that he commaundid the fornace to be made seuenfolde hoater then it was wont and chused of his strongest men to cast these into the fornace But as it appeareth by the successe all this was done by the secret prouidence of god For the deuill might els haue obscured the miracle if all doubtes had not bene remoued But when the king commaundeth the fornace to be made seuenfolde hoater and did chuse out his strongest men to doo the execution God by deliuering his seruauntes tooke away all doubtfulnes that the more light should shine forth of that darkenes which Sathan thought to haue blinded men withall the kinges policy and his power Thus God vseth to disapoynt the wicked and the more witty that they be to obscure Gods glory the more doth God cause both his glory and his doctrine to shyne forth Like as here as it were in an image Daniel doth paynt vnto vs that the king Nebuchadnezer left nothing vndone whiles that he would thus smite a terror vnto all the Iewes with this

of Daniel appertayneth that the stone wherby all the kyngdomes which fought agaynst God were broken was not formed nor fashioned by mans hand and though it were rude and vnpolished yet dyd it grow into a great mountaine Of the which thyng I thought good to admonish you that amongest the thondryng threatnyngs you should quietly wayte that these empty cloudes may be driuen away by the heauenly power and so vanish Yet am I not ignoraunt to passe ouer the fires of thirty yeares what vnworthy troubles ye haue suffer these last sixe monethes how ofte in sundry places the tumultuous people haue broken into your assemblyes how oft you haue bene assaulted with stones and with swordes how your enemyes haue layne in wayte for you that they might oppresse your peaceable congregations with suddayn force at vnwares how some haue bene slayne in their owne houses some in the hye wayes how the bodyes of the dead haue bene trailed in derision the womē rauished many men wounded one woman great with child and her child also thrust through the houses broken and pulled downe But although more cruell thynges were yet at hand that you may declare your selues the Disciples of Christ rightly instructed in his schole you must indeuour your selues that no rage of the wicked which deale so outragiously do driue you from that moderation whereby hetherto onely they haue bene ouercome and disapoynted And if so be that the length of tyme do make you weary remember oftentymes that famous Prophecy in the which the condition of the Church was liuely expressed God declared then vnto his Prophet what battayles what troubles what griefes and perils the Iewes should suffer from the end of their captiuity and ioyfull returning into their countrey vntill the commyng of Christ Now the likenes of times causeth the same thyngs to be agreable vnto vs and therfore may be applyed to our vse Daniel reioyced for the miserable Church which had ben long drowned with a depe floude of miseries when he collected by the count of the yeares that the day of deliueraunce spoken of by Ieremy the Prophet was at hand Howbeit he had an aunswere that the state of the people should be more greuous after that liberty were restored so that they should scantly haue any breathyng tyme from their continuall miseries Daniel continued hys hope seuenty yeares not without great and bitter sorow and many griefes but now God increasing the tyme seuenfold doth strike hym to the heart as it were with a deadly wound Neither doth he yet onely pronounce that the people should be subiect to new troubles when after long tyme they beyng restored had gathered strength had built their Citie and Temple but in the first begynnyng of their mirth when they had scarce tasted the swetenes of the comfort he doth appointe them vnto misery Now concernyng the calamities which folowed soone after wherof there is a long rehearsall seyng we tremble at the hearyng onely of them how dolefull and bitter do we thinke they were to the rude people how horrible and fearefull a spectacle was it to see the temple prophaned by the bold malice of a cursed tyrant the sacrifices mixed with filthy pollutiōs in despite and all the bookes of the law to be burned to destroy all Religiō and all those to be drawen to the same fire who soeuer dyd confesse playnly and constātly that they would perseuere and continue in the worshyp of God How could the tender and weake behold this without great feare of heart And this was the purpose of the tyraunt that cruelty should driue the weakelynges to fall from their Religion Vnder the Machabees there semed some release to be offered the which yet was straight after deformed with most cruel slaughters and neuer wanted sorrow and grief For where as their enemy did farre excell them both in multitude and warlike munition they all thought nothyng better which had taken weapons for the defence of the Church then to hide them selues in the dennes of wild beastes or to wāder in wildernes with great pouerty and scarcity of all thynges There was also an other kynde of temptation that wicked hipocrites vnder a false pretēce of zeale as Daniel sayth did ioyne them selues to Iudas and his brethren By the which subtilty Sathā spotted the garisons that Iudas had collected with great infamy as though they had ben a bande of theues and robbers But nothyng was more lamentable vnto good men then to see the Priestes them selues as euery man was caried with hys ambition to betray the Church and the Religion of God with wicked packyngs and practises Neither was that holy office onely sold and made a marchandise but it was bought with mutuall slaughter and parricides Hereof came it that all states of men all though Circumcision and sacrifices were in vse were polluted in the ende through the manifold corruptions which spred euery where without punishment that it was a straunge wonder to wayte for the kyngdome of God when Christ came into the world and very few are therfore named with this commendation If now in that miserable deformity of the Church in the manifold desolations amongst those great terrours the spoylyng of their countreys the robbyng of houses and amongest the daūgers of death the Prophecy of Daniel hath susteined godly mindes when as Religion was yet wrapped in darke shadowes and the doctrine almost extinguished and the Priests themselues beyng degenerate dyd tread all holy thynges vnder foote how shamefull shall our tender weakenes be vnles this cleare light of the Gospell in the which God hath shewed his fatherly face towardes vs lift vs vp aboue all impediments and stablish vs with a constancy that can not bee wearied For as there is no doubt but that the seruauntes of God then dyd apply vnto their age to mitigate the sorowes of their present miseryes all such things as were spoken by the Prophetes of the Babilonicall captiuity so is it our part to haue our eyes bent vpon the miseries of our fathers that we refuse not to be gathered vnto that Church vnto whom it is spoken O thou poore one affiicted and tossed with tempestes that hast no comfort behold I will receaue thee and the which in an other place after she hath cōplained that the plowers haue plowed theyr backe and the wicked haue made long forrowes as it were in a field yet doth she glory straightwayes that their cordes were cut by the iust God that they could not preuaile And the Prophet hath not onely encouraged vs by the examples of those tymes to hope and to patience but he hath ioyned an exhortation taught by the holy spirite which is extended to the whole kyngdome of Christ and is peculiar vnto vs. Wherfore let it not be greuous vnto vs to be comprehended amongest the number of them who as Daniel sayth Must be tryed by fyre that they may be made white seyng that the inestimable felicity and glory which springeth therof

this thy Sonne whom already thou hast geuen vnto vs and hast established hys authoritie and hys diuine and eternall power by so many miracles and hast sealed the same as well by the publishing of thy Gospell as by the seale of thy holy spirit in our hartes and doest confirme the same by dayly experience that wee may remayne firme and stable in hym and that wee neuer turne from hym neither that our fayth fayle at ane tyme whatsoeuer Sathan attempt agaynst vs but that we may perseuer in the course of thy holy vocation whiles that at length we may be gathered into that eternal beatitude and blessed state of rest which is purchased vnto vs by the bloud of thine only begotten Sonne So be it 46 Then the kyng Nebuchadnezer fell vpon hys face and bowed hymselfe vnto Daniel c. 47 Also the king sayd to Daniel of a truth your God is a God of Gods a kyng of kinges c. That Nebuchadnezer worshiped God and Daniel though in some part it may be commended yet in some respect it is blame worthy for though he acknowledged the God of Israell to be the true God yet doth he geue part of Gods honor vnto a mortal man as many tymes men without knowledge do mixe heauen and earth together because that they alwayes fall to their superstitions though they haue sometymes some good motions And it is playne that this confession of the kyng was but particular for he dyd not wholly returne vnto God from hys Idolatry and errours but was astonished for the present and returned afterward to greater madnes as foloweth in the next chap. And thus many tymes God compelleth the wicked to geue testimonies to hys glory when yet they reteyne their vices and fall forthwith to their accustomed wickednes as it is playne afterward Wherby we may learne that it is not enough though a man with open mouth prayse the power and wisedome of God vnles he cast all superstitions forth of his hart and so hold of one God that he defie all others For there can not be required a playner confession then this and yet we sée that Nebuchadnezer was still reteined in the snares of Sathan because he holdeth still hys false Gods and thinketh it enough to make God of Israel the chief The which folie appeareth euidently amongest the Papistes which graunt the name of God and Christ but they rob away all the power and giue it vnto other creatures after their fond imaginations and they are not so good as this prophane kyng for they will not geue him the whole gouernement but fayne man to haue frée will and all thynges to runne by chaunce or that the heauen and earth accordyng to mās merites or demerites do their endeuours and office Thus make they mans frée will the cause of all and so robbe God of his honor This is their madnes ¶ The Prayer GRaunt almighty God seyng mans hart is so full of hypocrisie that there is nothyng more hard then to purge it from all lyes errors feynyng dissimulation that we may learne to examine our selues fully and substancially and also that thou wilt so shyne vnto vs with the light of thy spirite that we may verely know our hyd vices and that thou wilt driue them farre away from vs that thou onely mayest be our God and that true holynes may preuayle amongest vs and that we may geue thee pure and vnspotted worshyp and honor and that we may lyue with vpright consciēces in this world and so be content euery one with our own state that we study alwayes for the commoditie of our brethren whiles that at the length we bee partakers of that true glory which thou hast prepared for vs in the heauens by Iesus Christ our lord Amen Chap. 3. The Texte KYng Nebuchadnezer made an Image of gold The height therof was lx cubites and the breadth therof vj. cubites and he set it vp in the playne of Dura in the prouince of Babel NEbuchadnezer after that hee had professed the God of Israel to be the true God doth fall agayne to this foule Idolatry wherein after the custome of the Idolaters hee vttereth his owne pryde and ambition Wherein God would haue his wicked hart to be made manifest Who might haue bene thought by hys former confession to haue bene wholly chaūged but by this it appeareth that in his fayrest shew of wordes he remained wicked And as this is the maner of all superstitious persons when they pretend their Religiō and thinke that they serue their God yet will they be seene and praysed of the world so many tymes they will mixe policie with their Religion to bryng men into an vniformitie And these two thinges are heare manifest His Idole is so costly and great that his fame must nedes spred and he straitly chargeth all nations both Iewes and Gentiles vppon payne of death to ioyne in this Idolatry Thus for policie he will stablish one Religion in all the nations that were vnder hym lest by the mixture of the Iewes that were stiffe in theyr religion or by any other people any tumult might arise and by such tumult any shakyng or diminishyng of his dominion Thus do many Princes when they publish lawes for Religion rather regarde their owne quietnes and commoditie then what God requireth by his word And this bold temeritie hath bene amongest them from the begynnyng that sometymes they would make new Gods sometyme they would appoynt GOD a law how he should be worshypped but they would rarely or neuer subiect them selues onely wholly to the word of god Whereby their madnes is manifest that whiles they pretend to worshyp God they set them selues aboue God and worshyp their owne fantasie and folie They thinke it is not for their Princely dignitie to be in obedience vnder God or to set forth his word simply but they wil haue their procedynges to bée of more authoritie and puttyng in the name of the Kyng or the Quéene they thinke the matter is preiudicate and sufficient that GOD may be worshipped none other wayes then it pleaseth them and as they haue decréed by their authoritie And in such commaundementes we may sée that al those which depend onely of their fathers and antiquitie are easily ouercome to chaunge their Religion and they onely are able to stād fast agaynst such thunderyng threatnynges of Princes which haue their consciences grounded vpon Gods holy word And this is to be noted that the king doth not cōmaunde any to professe with their mouthes that this is a GOD or that it hath any diuinitie but hee onely requireth the outward gesture Whereby we may sée that they are worthely condemned of Idolatry that do the outward gesture be it for feare or fauour either that they do dissemble such a matter as many do amōgest the Papistes and in other places We must worshyp God in spirite and truth and also with outward profession not onely to exercise our selues in the

sometymes God worketh leysurely causeth that his doctrine which semed vnprofitable a long time becommeth at the length fruitefull and of force Now come I to the wordes The preface of the decrée is Nebuchadnezer the king to all people nations and langages which dwell in all the world that is vnder his dominion For he would not haue this vnderstād of Scithia or Fraunce or other farre countreys but because his dominion stretched farre and wide he spake proudly as we sée the Romanes call theyr Rome the imperiall sea of all the world yet were they not lordes ouer all Nebuchadnezer therefore doth here proudly set forth the largenes of his Monarchy when he sendeth forth his decrée to all people and nations vpon the whole earth Afterward he ioyneth this I thought it good to declare the signes wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me There is no doubt but that at length he perceiued that he was punished for his ingratitude because that he had geuen glory vnto the one and true God onely by toung and outward shew and afterward fell agayne to his olde superstitions yea he would neuer cast them of at all Therefore do we sée that this king was oft chastised before he would take profit of Gods correction Let vs not merueile then if God doo often smite vs with his hand for dayly experience doth try vs to be slouthfull and very sluggardes at Gods admonitions When God therefore will bring vs to repentance he must of necessity beate vs oftentimes because either we are nothing moued when we are chastised by his hand or if that we doo seme for one time wakened yet doo we returne agayne by and by to our olde sinfull slumber It is of necessitie therefore that the scourges be doubled This do we sée in this present history as in a glasse How be it this was a singular benefit of God that Nebuchadnezer did geue place at the length after that God had chastised him many times Yet know we not whether this confession came forth of a true and vnfeyned repentance I do leaue that in doubt Yet I doo nothing doubt but that Daniel doth rehearse this decrée to declare that the king was in the end compelled to confesse the God of Israell to be the onely God and to publish the same to all people and nations vnder his dominion In the meane ceason this is to be noted that this decrée of the king is praysed by the spirite of god For Daniell doth rehearse it for none other purpose but to declare the fruite of the conuersion in the king Wherefore thys is with out al controuersy that king Nebuchadnezer hath testified his repentance when he magnified the God of Israell before all the world and appoynted a penalty for all them which spake blasphemously agaynst that god Therfore is this place oft cited by Augustine agaynst the Donatistes for they would haue bene suffered still vnpunished when they maliciously troubled the Church when they corrupted the pure doctrine yea when they tooke vpon them to robbe like theues and rage like murtherers For it was manifest that diuerse were then murthered by them and others maymed When these men liued so wickedly yet would they haue their wickednes to go vnpunished thys they helde for a principle that no man ought to be punished for holding a contrary religion For the which thing some at this day are to much bent to contention It is euident what they séeke For if a man marke them they are wicked contemners of God at the least they would haue nothing to be certayne in religion Therefore doo they labour to ouerthrow and as much as in them lyeth to destroy all the principles of religion Therefore that they may poure forth theyr poyson they striue thus stoutly for impunity deny that heretikes and blasphemers ought to be punished That impudent Castalio is one of them and his felowes and other such like Such were then the Donatistes And therefore as I haue sayd Augustine doth often times cite thys place and declareth that it is shamefull slackenes when Christian princes doo not by punishing the heretikes and blasphemers maintayne Gods glory considering that Nebuchadnezer which was neuer truely conuerted yet by a certayne secret instigation published this decree How so euer it is it is euident enohgh to such as are modest and voyd of contention that this decree of Nebuchadnezer is commended by the testimony of the spirite If it be so it foloweth consequently that it is the duety of kinges to defend Gods true worship to punish seuerely prophane contemners who labour either to make nothing of true religiō or adulterate and corrupt the true doctrine with their errors and so dissipate the vnity of fayth and trouble the concord of the Church This is playne by the text of the prophet Nebuchadnezer sayth first It is good for me to declare the signes and the wonders which God hath wrought with me At the first he began to declare what God had done but it vanished away Therefore after that God had twise or thrise chastised him at the length he confesseth that it is good and glorious for him to declare the wonderfull workes of god And he breaketh forth into an exclamation how great are his signes how wonderfull are his mighty workes his kingdome is an eternall kingdome and his dominion for euer It is no doubt but Nebuchadnezer would stirre vp his subiectes to reade this decrée more diligently and to know the greatnes thereof that they might geue them selues to serue that true and only god He calleth the hygh God the God of Israell vndoubtedly Yet doo we not know whether he had cast away his supersticions or no. And I do rather thinke the contrary that he had not cast of his errors but that he was compelled thus to geue glory vnto the true god He dyd then so knowledge the God of Israell to be the hygh God that he dyd ioyne vnto hym the inferior Gods as companions and mates as all the faythles haue perceiued that there was one hygh God but they imagined therewith an heape of other Gods. So then dyd Nebuchadnezer confesse the God of Israell to be the hye God yet dyd he not correct the Idolatry that was vnder his dominion yea he mingled altogether his false Gods with the God of Israell and so left not hys corruption He doth greatly celebrate Gods glory but that is not enough vnles all superstions be abolished that that only religion which is prescribed in the word of God may haue place and the pure and perfit worshyp of God may only florish To be short this preface may be some token of a notable conuersion But we shall sée streight wayes that Nebuchadnezer was not wholly pourged from his errors Wherefore we ought to be the more moued where we sée the king wrapped in many errors to be so rauished with the admiration of Gods power that he exclameth cryeth out