" This done, he bid them go on their
way, and take heed to the other directions of the shepherds. So they
thanked him for his kindness, and went softly along the right way,
singing.
Another reason why delusions do so easily take place in the hearts
of the ignorant, is because those that pretend to be their teachers
do behave themselves so basely among them. And indeed I may say of
these, as our Lord said of the Pharisees in another case, All the
blood of the ignorant, from the beginning of the world, shall be
laid to the charge of this generation. They that pretend they are
sent of the Lord, and come saying, Thus saith the Lord; we are the
servants of the Lord; our commission is from the Lord--I say, those
who pretend themselves to be the preachers of truth, but are not, do
by their loose conversation render the true doctrine of God and his
Son Jesus Christ contemptible, and do give the adversary mighty
encouragement to cry out against the truths of our Lord Jesus
Christ, because of their wicked walking. Now "shall not his soul be
avenged on such a nation as this?" who pretend to be teachers of the
people in goodness, when, as for the most part of them, they are the
men that at this day do harden their hearers in their sins, by
giving them such ill examples that none goeth beyond them for
impiety? As for example, Would a parishioner learn to be proud? he
or she need look no further than to the priest, his wife, and
family; for there is a notable pattern before them.
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