Notwithstandyng when ye knewe not God, ye did seruice vnto them whiche by nature are no Gods. But now after that ye haue knowen God, (yea rather are knowē of God) how is it, that ye turne againe vnto the weake and beggerly ordinaunces, whervnto againe ye desyre afreshe to be in bondage? Ye obserue dayes, and monethes and tymes, and yeres. I am in feare of you, lest I haue bestowed on you labor in vain.
But as the Iewes for a season were with a grosse religion, or rather supersticion kept vnder, because they should not vtterly slyde from al re∣ligion, so, what tyme the true God was vnknowen vnto you, accordyng to the ordinaunces of your elders, ye worshipped deuils, beleuyng them to be Goddes, whiche are in dede none, because he semeth muche nigher true religion, which is vnder a false, than is he, that thinketh there is no God at all, dispisyng all religion. God layeth not to the Iewes charge, because they for a tyme liued vnder theyr elders lawes, frō whom when they were taught better learnyng, they turned to the very right trade of godly conuersacion. Nor is your worshippyng of idolles, whom ye er∣roniously supposyng to haue an heauenly power in them had in honour, layde against you, synce the tyme, that by preachyng of the gospell ye knewe the liuyng God, or els (to speake it better) synce the tyme ye were knowen of God, ye found him not, but he by his holy spirite drewe you vnto him, euen as that, whereas ye nowe tenderly loue him, as a father, cōmeth by none other meanes, but because he fyrst loued you. God fauo∣rably and gentilly forgatte your olde errour, but of your owne accorde from the trueth once knowen wylfully to returne againe to the same, that offence is outragious and damnable.
The Iewes beyng taught the true religion, forsake theyr ceremonies: and wyll ye beyng called frō idolatrie, & taught by preachyng the gospell