[ 1172] Lewdnesse of the Preachers life, no warrant to sleight the Ordinance of Preaching.
IT was an unhappy meaning,* 1.1 that Sir Thomas Moor had, though he spake it pleasantly, when he said of a vitious Priest, That he would not by any means have him say the Creed, lest it should make him call the Articles of his Faith into question: Thus too too many are apt to call the Truths of Gods Word into question because of the lewdnesse of the Preachers life. One will not have his children baptized by such a one, it goes against anothers stomach to receive the Sacrament from the foul hands of such a one; others care not for their doctrine, because they say and do not, &c. A preposterous Zeal,* 1.2 God wot! Eliah received comfortable food from a Raven, as well as from an Angel. If God speak to thee as he did to Balaam by the mouth of an Asse, thou must have so much Patience (saith Luther) as to hear him; If God will have thee to be saved by one, who peradventure shall be damned, hear what he saith, and look not what he doth; if thy Pastor live lewdly,* 1.3 that is his own hurt; if he preach well, that is thy good, take thine own and go thy way; Good water, which pas∣seth into a Garden through a channel of stone, doth the Garden good, though it do the channell none; and so may the Word and water of life, conveyed by a bad instrument of a stony heart, do good to the Church of God, though it work not upon himself; And good seed, though it be cast into the ground with foul hands, will ••ructifie; One may be a bad Man, yet a good Seeds-man both in the Field and the Church; yet woe be to him by whom the offence cometh, by whose means the offerings of the Lord are so sleighted; Eli's sons smoked for this. And to many,* 1.4 which have prophesied in his Name, Christ will say in his just dis∣pleasure,* 1.5 Away from me ye workers of iniquity.