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A53750 A true and lively representation of popery shewing that popery is only new-modell'd paganism, and perfectly destructive of the great ends and purposes of God in the Gospel. Owen, Thankfull, 1620-1681. 1679 (1679) Wing O830; ESTC R18583 46,596 82

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God and worshipped Ashtoreth the Goddess of the Zidonians Chemosh the God of the Meabites and Milcom the God of the Children of Ammon And therefore it is very childish and ridion lous to imagine that Jeruboram would introduce that very Idolatry at his first coming for the practice of which God had threatned to pull the Kingdom out of the hand of his Master These two Examples do sufficiently and fully instruct us in the s●ose and meaning of God in the second Commandment that he forbid all worship of himself by an Image and that the making of designing any such Image though for his honour is palpable and gross Idolatry 8. I might now likewise for a conclusion of this Argument bring another instance of the grossest Idolatry that ever was committed by men solemnly practised by the Romists Church and injoyned by their Council of Trent and that is their worshipping of the Bread in the Sacrament which they can the Adoration of the Host than which besides the Idolatry involved in it I cannot find any Rite or Custom so barbarous in the whole Pagan Superstition unless I should bring in the Cannibals or Man-Eaters And if the Doctrine of Transubstantiation prove false as there is nothing more certain then by the testimony of Costerus the Jesuit there never was the like piece of Idolatry practis'd in the World before Take his own words Enchirid. Contr. c. 12. For the errours of those saith he were more tolerable who worship some Golden or Silver Statue or some Image of any other Materials for their God as the Heathen worshipped their Gods or a Red Cloth hung upon the top of a Spear as is reported of the Laplanders or some live-Animal as of old the Egyptians did than of these that worship a bit of Bread as hitherto the Christians have done all over the world for so many hundred years if the Doctrine of Transubstantion be not true From this Testimony then we are informed that if Transubstantiation be a Fiction then the Church of Rome is guilty of Idolatry and so gross a piece of Idolatry as a man can find no instance in Paganism to liken it to And that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is a ridiculous Figment a thing without Sense or Reason imposed upon the World I refer to those learned Authors who have on purpose discovered the falsity of it 9. I have shown that Almighty God by sending his Son our Saviour Christ Jesus into the World designed the replantation of his own blessed Nature and Image in mens Souls And that this might be the more fully and effectually accomplished he determined likewise to root out and extirpate all Idolatry which both debased the Majesty of the Great God and rendred mens Minds low contemptible and abject and having in the general discovered some of those Doctrines averred and maintained in the Church of Rome which directly overthrow this great Purpose of making men Partakers of a Divine and Godlike Spirit I shall now produce some other instances and shew how the practice of the Romish Church destroys those other two branches of the Divine Life that is Purity or Holiness and Love and Charity And for the first of these that is Purity and Holiness it is wholly evacuated by such Doctrines and Practices as minister to the Vices of men and reconcile Heaven and Salvation with the most licentious courses of sin and wickedness such as enervate all the Arguments used in the Gospel to promote a strict and holy Conversation and are apt to give allowance and incouragement to a wicked life 1. To this end and purpose the Doctrine of Purgatory is hugely subservient which besides that it is a Politick Device to squeeze and drain mens Money from them and so inrich the Clergy though with the Damnation of the Laity it is likewise fitted for the cherishing and pampering mens carnal lusts and affections and gives them hope of Salvation upon no difficult terms though they have not been so careful in providing for it in this life-time as Christ in his holy Gospel has commanded and injoyned them to be For since the worst of men amongst Christians if they take any care and use any competent circumspection may be dismissed from these Earthly Regions with fair hopes and assurances if not of going directly to Heaven yet at least of an entrance into Purgatory where-ever it be whether in a Torrid or Frozen Zone it must needs be a wonderful gratification to their Animal Faculties and Sensitive Lives to indulge and please them to the full and yet escape the torments of Hell at the last We have seen that if a wicked man live and die without the practice of Christian Virtues and with the habits of many damnable sins unmortified yet if at the last moment and conclusion of his life he have but an act of Attrition and confess to his Ghostly Father who is bound upon this to absolve him he shall certainly be saved which is incouragement enough to vicious persons to go on in sin and venture the odds of a surprize or sudden death upon such easie terms But if a man be so careless and wretchedly stupid as not to mind the making satisfaction for mortal sins in this life so long as he is assured by an Infallible Priesthood it may be done in the next the worst that can happen to him between Death and Judgment is only the state of Purgatory that is he must undergo some strange torment God knows where in Fire or Hail or Snow or Ice And this truly is a sad uncomfortable condition but still there is some hope left the redemption from this Dismal Prison prevents all despair of lying for ever under this severe Restraint Therefore this good natur'd Church of Rome bids them take heart and tells them that there is an Expiation of Sin after Death by the Prayers of the living It is the Doctrine of the Council of Trent That the Souls in Purgatory are delivered thence fidelium suffragiis potissimum vero acceptal ili Altaris saorificio Sess 25. i. e. by the Suffrages of the faithful but especially by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar And giving Directions to Bishops the Council says Let Bishops take care that the Suffrages of the faithful now living i. e. the Sacrifices of Masses Prayers Alms-deeds and other Works of Piety which according to the Constitution of the Church ought to be performed for the faithful deceased that they be done piously and devoutly c. And they Anathematize every one that shall say The Sacrifice of the Mass is a waked Commemoration of that Sacrifice on the Cross and not Propitiatory or that it only profits him that receives it and ought not to be offered for the Living and the Dead Sess 22. Can. 3. for Sins Punishments Satisfactions and other Necessities There is no great danger then that a Man should lye long in Purgatory if he have either Mony or Friends for either of
Shadow follows the Body as it moves so when any person hath God propitious to him at the same time all the Angels and blessed Spirits are likewise his Friends In like manner Lactantius says that God hath his Ministers whom we call Angels verum hi neque Dii sunt neque Deos se vocari aut coli volunt quippe qui nihil praeter jussum ac voluntatem Dei fatiant i. e. but these are neither Gods nor would they be called Gods nor worshipped forasmuch as they only execute the Will and Command of God Add to this that the Papists make their Saints particular Presidents and Regents of Countries Cities Religious Orders of Beasts and of the Elements Fire Water c. and appoint to them distinctly and by name several Opitulations So Caecilius in Minutius Felix says of the Heathens that each particular Nation had its own Municipal Gods which they worshipped And Arnobius tells the Gentiles Lib. 2. adver Gentes that with them Dii certi certas habent tutelas licentias potestates neque eorum ab aliquo id quod ejus non sit potestatis ac licentiae postulant i. e. Certain Gods have certain Guardianships Licences and Powers neither do they ask from any of them that which is not in their power and gift Accordingly the Papists have distributed several Offices to several Saints whose assistance they implore for those particular things to which they are appointed as for example S. Apollonia for the Tooth-ach S. Otilia for Bleer-Eyes S. Rochus for the Pox S. Blasius for the Squinancy S. Petronella for Feavers S. Wendeline for Sheep and Oxen S. Anthony for Hogs S. Nicholas is the Patron of Mariners S. Clement of Bakers S. Luke of Painters and S. Afra and Magdalen of Whores For S. Austin says that Varro maintained C. D. l. 4. c. 22. it was profitable to know the power and working of every God in particular that men might be able to sue unto them according to their several Offices for every distinct or particular benefit lest otherwise they might ask water of Bacchus the God of Wine or Wine of the Nymphs the Goddesses of the Water And this is so plain and evident that it could not but extort this honest Confession from Ludovicus Vives one of their own In Com. C. D. l. 8. c. 27. Multi Christiani c. Many Christians err in a good matter in that they worship He and She-Saints after the same manner that they worship God nor can I see in many things what difference there is between their Opinion of the Saints and that which the Heathens thought of their Gods For what other account did the Pagans make or in what did they do honour to their inferiour Deities which Papists do not express to their Saints Did the Pagans consecrate Temples to their Demons so do the Papists to their Saints Do they appropriate several offices and imployments to their inferiour Gods the same do Papists to their Saints Have they Altars built to them so have the Saints Do the Heathens offer Sacrifice to their Deities so do Romanists to the Saints Had they Images erected to them so have the Saints Were the Demons invoked before their Images so are the Saints Did they make Vows to the Demons so do Papists to their Saints Do they make those Middle Powers Mediators and Intercessors between the Supreme God and them it is no more than what Papists ascribe to the Saints Now what these Mediae Potestates or Middle Powers were we learn from Apuleius that they are inter terricolas De Deo Socratis calicolasque Vectores hinc precum inde donorum qui ultro citroque portant hinc petitiones inde suppetias ceu quidam utrinque Interpretes Salutigeri i. e. a kind of Carriers between the Inhabitants of Heaven and Earth that travelling to and fro carry from hence Prayers and bring from thence Blessings from hence Requests and Petitions from thence supplies and aids or a certain kind of Interpreters or Messengers and Internuncii between both And 't is a great sign that the more understanding Papists were long ago sensible of this because in their Expurgatory Indices they take special care that such expressions as these should be blotted and razed out of those Authors that speak against their wicked Practices viz. that God alone is to be adored that the Saints are to be honoured but not Religiously worshipped that Angels are not to be honoured with Religious Worship And because when Protestants cite such notoriously blasphemous and idolatrous forms of prayer allowed in the Popish Church wherein they beg of their Saints and especially of the Virgin Mary no less Boons than remission of sins preservation from the assaults of the Devil a safe conduct through the hazards of the World to eternal life comfort and assistance at the hour of death and the possession of Eternal Glory in the life to come The Vulgar Papists amongst us are taught that these forms of prayer are no more than an Ora pro nobis and all one as to say Holy Apostle or Blessed Lady pray for us which yet is Idolatry it is certain that many of them are made in other expressions and likewise are direct Addresses to such and such Saints upon account of what is peculiar for them to help them in The prayer to S. Agnes is not Ora pro nobis but te exoro precibus I pray you to keep me in the right Faith or grant you that all may serve God in perfect charity And the prayer to S. Brigit is By your safe guidance bring us to the reward of everlasting life Can any man in his right senses say that this is no more then O Brigit pray for us The Belgick Expurgatory Index commands these words to be razed out of Fabricius which are not much unlike this subterfuge of our Jesuits O all ye Saints pray to God for me is all one as to say I wish all the Saints would pray to God for me adding this reason for in very deed we invoke the Saints not only wishing but requiring their prayers which cannot be excused from Idolatry The account which Chemnitius gives of the Introduction of this piece of Paganism into the Christian Church is to this purpose That in the Primitive Church until two hundred years after Christ Exam. Concil Trident. p. 3. this Doctrine and Practice was utterly unknown then about the year 370. it began to be spoken of in Publick Assemblies by Basil Nyssen and Nazianzen upon occasion of their Panegyrical Orations at the same time when by the same Persons Monkery was brought out of Egypt and Syria into Greece But notwithstanding this it was not generally and universally received in those times for about the year 400. S. Chrysostom interposed and laboured against it Afterwards he shews out of Nicephorus that Petrus Gnapheus condemned for Heresie in the fifth Universal Synod was the first Author among the Grecians of mixing
end and intent of God in the Gospel as if by those the Devil had plotted the utter extirpation and subversion of that blessed Nature which ought of right to have the Soveraign Rule and Dominion over all Intellectual Beings 1. The Doctrine of the Direction of the Intention 2. The Doctrine of Probability 3. That of Sacerdotal Absolution upon Confession at the hour of Death The first of these viz. the Direction of the Intention serves to so many excellent purposes for the propagation of all manner of Vice and the bringing into act all the secret machinations and contrivances of evil with the safety and security of Conscience that at first sight it looks like a Devilish Engine fram'd on purpose for the destruction of the true and living Nature of God in mens souls For if this Doctrine be true and if it be not let them look to it that teach and uphold it there is no Vice so heynous no Sin so great but a man may salva Conscientia with a good and honest Conscience commit it if he have but the wit to direct his Intention aright Ex. gr If a certain company of men here plotted to kill the King and some of them be apprehended and brought before a Civil Magistrate who has Power to take the business into Examination the rest that remain yet undiscovered may lawfully kill both the Magistrate and the Witnesses that informed against their Associates always provided they direct their Intention aright for that secures the Action from being Criminal that is they must not kill them upon pure Revenge for that is forbidden by the Law of God but may dispatch them to preserve their Reputation or to free a whole Order and Society of men from an indelible disgrace that is likely to be cast upon them and now the sin is vanished and the Conscience clean and white as in the day of Innocence But in such an affair as this or something else of like nature care must be taken that the Action be managed with the greatest secresie for though the inner man be secure yet the outer is not and though the Fathers Conscience be entire and sound yet his Neck may be broken by the force of a Humane Law that takes no notice of this Admirable Invention of the Direction of the Intention In like manner this superpolitick device shall sanctifie and hallow Fornication Adultery Theft or whatever other enormous wickedness a sensual person thinks fit to run into by which all endeavours and hopes of attaining to a new Birth unto Righteousness are utterly stifled and cut off and the new Creature in the Scripture shall be no more than an empty sound For surely that Person can give but a poor sign of the Renovation of his Mind and the change of his Soul by the Spirit of Holiness and Righteousness that can allow himself in any of those forementioned gross sins let his Intention be what it will And though perhaps it may be said that this is no Doctrine of the Romish Church yet it is a Doctrine which is taught and practis'd by the greatest Casuists and most flourishing Order that that Church abounds withal Nay it is a thing that seems to pervade and run through the whole Body of their Religion forasmuch as no Sacrament can be valid and efficacious if the Priests intention be either wanting or otherwise imployed And since this is so I see no reason why this Engine should not be turned and made to do execution upon themselves For supposing this to be true it evidently follows that no man can be assured that amongst those many Millions which make up the Romish Hierarchy there is so much as one true Priest and consequently no man can have any certainty that ever any Sacrament is rightly and duly administred for this depends upon the mans being a true Priest and that no man can know and be sure of unless he first be certain that he was rightly and duly baptized nor can he have any assurance of this unless he be likewise certain that he was baptized with due Intention that is that the Minister of his Baptism was not a secret Jew or Moor or Atheist but a Christian in heart as well as Profession otherwise believing the Sacrament to be nothing in giving it he could intend to give nothing and that he neither out of negligence nor malice omitted his Intention But suppose the man be a true Priest yet when he consecrates the Sacrament I am not sure he will do it with Intention for there is a story of a Priest that was burnt in France for compacting with the Devil to give no Sacraments with Intention 2. The Doctrine of Probability is likewise a neat and excellent Device to set forward the Trade of Sin and Wickedness For thus Emanuel Sa A man may do what he conceives lawful according to a probable Opinion though the contrary be more safe And agreeable to this is the Assertion of the Jesuit Knot in Mr. Chillingworth That for the avoiding of sin we are not always bound to take the safest way but may follow the Opinion of any probable Doctors Which impious Doctrine is loaded with so many mischievous and fatal consequences as render that new Birth unto Righteousness without which our Saviour says no man shall enter into Heaven perfectly useless and unnecessary For 1. From hence it will follow that a man may resolve not to use his utmost care and endeavour to avoid sin without any hazard or danger of his damnation And if this Doctrine be once throughly reduced to practice in the lives of men a deluge and flood of wickedness will as certainly break in and overflow the World as the waters once drowned it when God broke up the Store-houses of Heaven and Earth For this casts a fatal damp upon all endeavours after Holiness and Righteousness and mens Zeal and Contention for a better state of life cools like the air by intervening showres and all those Motives and Exhortations which are used in the Gospel to excite and stir up our drowsie souls to a watchful and diligent prosecution of the War against sin are rebated and made ineffectual and the Fire of Hell is no more to be valued than a painted flame Mr. Chillingworth discoursing upon this Doctrine of probability says Chap. 7. He knew a young Scholar in Doway Licens'd by a great Casuist to swear a thing as upon his certain knowledge whereof he had yet no knowledge but only a great presumption because forsooth it was the opinion of one Doctor he might do so Cardinal Bellarmine teaches That want of Power to maintain a Rebellion was the only Reason that the Primitive Christians did not rebel against the Persecuting Emperours To whom agrees Aquinas when he says Ecclesiam tolerasse ut fideles obedirent Juliano Apostatae quia sui novitate nondum habebant vires compescendi Principes terrenos i. e. That the Church suffered the faithful to obey Julian the
religious worship to any Creature whether to Saints and Angels or Demons and Heroes is a making or having other Gods before the true and everliving God and this being so expresly forbidden by the God of Israel it is most certain that all erecting Images to be bowed to or worshipped in reference to these is forbidden also But I am fallen upon the second Branch of the Parallel afore I was aware that is that as the Images of the Pagans so likewise of the Papists are Symbolical Representations of the Gods they worship That the Image of Christ or of the Virgin Mary or of this or that Saint should be like the carnal Figure of those Persons while they lived on Earth is extremely uncertain suppose now a devout Papist bowing down and worshipping the Image of the Blessed Virgin if this worship be given with respect to the Personal Similitude the Image hath with the Party it represents it will certainly fall upon some other perhaps wicked Person and not upon the holy Virgin The Picture of the beautiful Curtizan Phryne was placed upon a high Pillar at Delphos and according to the Features and Lineaments of this as of the most exquisite Beauty was drawn the Picture of the Goddess Venus and therefore 't is certain that the Strumpet Phryne and not the Goddess will be the ultimate object of the religious worship given to the supposed Picture of Venus This I say will follow upon account of Personal Similitude But that they account them symbolical Representations and worship Images as the Israelites worshipped the Golden Calf with reference to Jehovah and intended it as the Symbol of his presence is manifest from the Images they make of God wickedly representing the sacred and ever-to-be-adored Trinity under the Figure of an old Man in sacerdotal Vestments with a tripple Crown and a young Man and a Dove and this is proposed not only to be gazed upon but to be worshipped So Cajetan Images of the Trinity are painted in the Roman Church In 3. p. Tho. 9.25 ar 3. not only that they may be shewed or looked on as the Cherubims of old time were in the Temple but that they may be adored 3. The Papists agreeably to the Pagans affirm that they use Images in their religious worship as sensible helps to excite and stir up their Devotion and fix their Imaginations upon When the Council of Nice had established the worship of the Images of Christ the Virgin Mary and all the Saints according to the Excellency and Venerability of their Prototypes they add this Reason as Photius says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For even by these are we carried up into a certain Unitive and Conjunctive Vision and thereby are vouchsafed that divine and supernatural Conjunction or Contact with the highest of all desirables As if by the worshipping of Images the Souls of Men were transported beyond themselves and carried up in Ecstatical Raptures to an Union with God himself Which is no more than what Pope Adrian who influenced that Council writes to the Empress Irene and her Son Constantine In the whole Christian World says he the holy Images are honoured or worshipped by Believers Ut per visibilem vultum ad invisibilem Divinitatis Majestatem mens nostra spirituali affectu rapiatur i. e. That by that sensible Figure our Mind may be carried by a spiritual affection to the invisible Majesty of the Divinity By which Testimonies it is clear as the Meridian Light that the Romanists worship Images as helps to quicken and draw up their affections in a more inflamed and vigorous manner to the Deity they adore And though the great Sticklers for Image-worship use many Niceties and raise a Cloud of Dust by their subtil Distinctions to blind the Eyes of the People that they may not see to the bottom of this their gross Idolatry yet can they never clear themselves from that foul and detestable Crime For though the Council of Trent express no particular but only with great caution define that due honour and worship be given to Images yet by referring us to the second Council of Nice it is plain that the Council of Trent decreed the same that the Nicene Council had done before and the Nicene Synod decreed such worship to be due to Images as the Council of Franefort said was not due but condemned by the Scriptures and the constant Practice of the Primitive Church To this purpose there is a Story in Roger Hoveden P. 1. Annal An. 792. a Native Historian of the Affairs of Britain Charles the French King says he sent a Synodal into Britain directed unto him from Constantinople in the which Book many things out alas inconvenient and repugnant to right Faith were found especially it was confirmed almost by the unanimous consent of all the Eastern Doctors no less than three hundred or more That Images ought to be worshipped which thing the Church of God doth altogether detest and abhor Against which Synodal Book Albinus wrote an Epistle marvellously confirmed by Authority of Divine Scripture and carried the same to the French King together with the foresaid Book in the name of our Bishops and Princes And not only in Britain but in other places this abominable Practice of Image-worship was condemned by the best and wisest Men of the best times and ages The Council of Eliberis in Spain forbad the use of Pictures in Churches for this reason Eliber Can. 36. Lest that which is worshipped or adored be painted upon the Walls To the same purpose the fourth Council at Constantinople cites the same words of Epiphanius against placing Images in Churches Thus another Synod at Constantinople consisting of 338 Bishops under Constantius Copronymus An. Dom. 753. forbad all religious use of Images in Churches or out of them And so much of their Decree as prohibited the worship of Images was again confirm'd by the Council of Francfort where the Bishops of Italy France and Germany were assembled by the command of the Emperour Charles the Great to that purpose To these we may add the Council of Mentz and the second Council of Sens in which Image-worship was opposed and cautioned against And a Greek Historian informs us that when Frederick 1. the Emperour who led his Army to the Conquest of the Holy Land Njcetas Chron. l. 2. An. Dom. 1180. entered into Armenia the Christians of those Parts did lovingly receive them because the worship of Images was not admitted amongst them as amongst other Northern People And lastly for the Doctrine and Practice of the first and best ages of the Church it was very remarkable what is told by Aelius Lampridius in the Life of Alexander Severus That when Adrian the Emperour had commanded Churches to be built without Images it was supposed he intended them for the service of Christ Than which saith that learned Bishop Dr. Taylor there needs no greater Ductor dubit l. 2. c. 2. or clearer Instance of the
Doctrine and Practice of the holy Primitives But I had almost forgotten the Popish Consecration of Images which runs exactly Parallel with that of the Heathens Of the Pagans it is reported that they consecrated the Statues and Images of their Gods with certain Prayers and Ceremonies before they paid any Religious Veneration to them by vertue whereof they supposed some extraordinary Powers or Vertues were acquired and resided in them Vid. Minut Fel. Such were all those Telesmatical Images which were consecrated to certain purposes viz. to stop the rage and fury of Fire or sudden Inundations or to hinder the sudden Incursions of Enemies To which last purpose I remember Mr. Gregory cites a Story of certain Telesmatical Statues or Images hid in the Ground upon the Borders of Thrace which when upon some occasion they were digged up the Barbarians soon after over ran the whole Country Of this nature was the Trojan Palladium and those Images of the Jebusites in which they reposed such confidence that they derided David as thinking that so long as those consecrated Statues remained in the City it was impossible it should be taken Except thou take away the blind and the lame thou shalt not come in hither thinking David cannot come in hither 2 Sam. 5.6 The wit of Man certainly cannot find any difference between the Consecration of those Images of the Pagans and the Dedication of the Golden or Wooden Images of the Papists For thus runs the Prayer at the Consecration of the Image of the Virgin Mary Sanctifie O God this Image of the Blessed Virgin that it may bring saving help to thy faithful People that Thunders and Lightnings may be driven away the sooner that immoderate Rains or Floods and Civil wars or the Invasion of Heathens may at the Presence of this be suppressed In a word it is very plain from their publick and authorized Practice that the Papists consecrrate their Images they hope in them they expect Gifts and Graces from them they Clothe them and Crown them they erect Altars and Temples to them they kiss them and bow the Head and Knee before them they light up Tapers and Lamps to them which is a direct consumptive Sacrifice and as Irenaeus says of the Gnostick Hereticks Lib. 1. c. 24. who had gotten the Images or Pictures of Christ Pythagoras Plato and other Philosophers Reliquam observationem circa eas similiter ut gentes faciunt they do to their Images as the Heathens do to theirs I know nothing now that can by any Papist be brought with any shew of reason to invalidate what I have here said unless it be that common subterfuge that they are indeed forbidden to make or worship the Image of any false God but that they are not interdicted the worshipping of the true God or his Saints in Images and Statues The vanity and foolery of which Plea though it have been already demonstrated by divers learned Persons yet I shall here reply something to it partly to gratifie the sincere and unprejudiced Reader and withal to render my Discourse upon this Point more unexceptionable and entire First therefore I say that the second Commandment in the Decalogue forbids both the making of an Image to the true God and likewise the worshipping of Images in reference to Saints and Angels And whereas the Papists do grant that the Precept binds strongly as to the Prohibition of the worship of the Images of false Gods I shall take the advantage of this their Concession and make use of it to overthrow even out of their own mouths their Doctrine of worshipping Images in reference to Saints and Angels Thus therefore I argue There is no more than one God and the rest no otherwise made Gods than by giving Religious worship to them of which erecting consecrated Images to them and bowing to them is one Mode And therefore these Saints and Angels to whom Religious worship is given by a Law do ipso facto become Gods but not true Gods but false Gods and therefore the worshipping of their Images is strictly forbidden in this second Commandment by the full confession of Papists themselves who say the Images of false Gods are here prohibited Secondly I say that the True and Ever-living God hath so strictly forbidden the worshipping of himself by any Image whatever that represents any thing within the comprehension of the whole Creation that when the Israelites worshipped the Golden Calf which was intended for a symbolical representation of the true God they so far provoked his wrath by this their heynous Crime of Idolatry that notwithstanding there fell thousands of them by the Sword yet God threatens to remember that very transgression upon them in future Ages so that it is commonly said by the Jews that in every Plague and Captivity that fell upon them there was an Ounce of the Calf God continuing to punish this sin in all their Posterities that continued to provoke him with the like Now that this Golden Calf was not the Image of a false God as suppose the Egyptian Osiris or some other particular and inferiour Deity but designed for the symbolical presence of the true and ever-living God appears from the whole History of it in which there are so many pregnant proofs that this Cherub or Calf was intended for a Symbol of the presence of the true God that none but a humoursome and prejudiced mind can understand it otherwise 1. The first thing that offers it self is the occasion of this Idolatry which arose from the absence of Moses for he staying in the Mount for forty days they took it for granted they should never hear any more tidings of him so we read v. 1. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the Mount the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him Vp make us Gods which shall go before us for as for this Moses the man that brought us up out of the Land of Egypt we wot not what is become of him Here we plainly see that when after many days expectation of Moses they heard no tidings of him they sollicit Aaron to make them Gods to go before them that is to bring them onward to the promised Land as Moses had hitherto done 2. When the people had thus wrought on the timorous nature of Aaron and he according to their desire had framed the Golden Cherub of the Ear-rings they brought him they no sooner saw it but they cry out These be thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt or as 't is related in Nehem. 9.18 This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt Now let any man but of an ordinary understanding consider whether if this Molten Image were the representation of a false God as suppose the Egyptian Isis Serupis or Osinis the Israelites could be so weak and sottish as to say of it that that was it which brought them out of