And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These [are] the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
Ver. 20. These are the people of the Lord.] And these are the fruits of their religion. Are these the holy people? &c. Lactantius a complaineth of his times, that God's truth was evil spoken of by the heathen, because Christians lived loosely and lewdly. Whereupon Erasmus b crieth out, O rem miseram! Oh, lamentable! Even in those purer times the piety of Christians was so much abated, that the gospel was therefore evil spoken of, for the evil lives of many that professed it. What marvel then, saith he, that Turks cry out upon us? that the banks of blasphemy are broken down in persons disaffected to the power of godliness?
a Lactant., de Opific. Dei; Proaem.
b Erasm. in Lactant.