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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64364	Of idolatry a discourse, in which is endeavoured a declaration of, its distinction from superstition, its notion, cause, commencement, and progress, its practice charged on Gentiles, Jews, Mahometans, Gnosticks, Manichees Arians, Socinians, Romanists : as also, of the means which God hath vouchsafed towards the cure of it by the Shechinah of His Son / by Tho. Tenison ...	Tenison, Thomas, 1636-1715.	1678 (1678)	Wing T704; ESTC R8	332,600	446

Temples Altars Priests or Prayers though by such worship he Idolized the Heavens the Earth and Man Let this then from the Premises be the conclusion of the present Chapter that the Gods of the Heathen are Idols and Vanities and unworthy the submission of any reasonable creature CHAP. VI. Concerning the Idolatry of the Jews and particularly of their worshipping the Golden Calf Also of the Egyptian Symbol of Apis as at that time not extant And of the probable Reasons which set up Moses as the Original Apis. PART 1. Of the Provisions made by God against Idolatry among the Jews THE Israelites by their Constitution were of all Nations a people the most averse to Idolatry Their first Commandment prescribeth the Worship of one God Their second forbiddeth external religious honour to graven Images which by the exhibition of that honour whatsoever they were before become very Idols Wherefore St. Cyprian thus renders the sense of the Command Thou shalt not make to thy self an Idol And the contention about the Translation of Pesel by Graven thing Idol or Image is with respect to the design of Moses an unnecessary Grammar-War This second Command against the Worship of Images the Jews have esteemed the great Command of all Their very Moneys have had on the Obvers the name of Moses inscribed and on the Revers that second precept or prohibition Their third Command Thou shalt not take or bear in thy mouth the name of Jehovah thy God in vain may seem also to discountenance Idols and to forbid all Oaths of promise made by them in the name of God by which they often called their false Deities It may seem to forbid not so directly the breach of Neder a Vow to the Lord as Schefugnah according to the distinction of the Jews a Vow by the Lord or by his Name when that Name was used in signifying some Idol I say it may seem so to do for that it does so I rather guess than affirm In this conjecture I am helped by Tertullian That Father discoursing concerning the unlawfulness of naming the Gods of the Gentile-world maketh use of this distinction he teacheth that the bare naming of them is lawful because it is necessary in Discourse but he condemneth the naming of them in such manner as if they were really Gods After this distinction he pursueth the Argument in this manner The Law saith You shall make no mention of the names of other gods neither shall they be heard out of your mouths This it commanded that we should not call them gods For it saith in the first part or Table of it Thou shalt not take up the Name of the Lord thy God in vain that is in an Idol He therefore fell into Idolatry who hononred an Idol with the name of God But if they must be called gods I should add something by which it may appear that I do not own them to be Gods For the Scripture it self calls them gods but then it addeth by way of discrimination their gods or the gods of the Nations In such manner David called them gods when he said the gods of the Nations were Devils It is a customary wickedness to say Mehercule And it proceeds from the ignorance of some who know not that they swear by Hercules Now what is swearing by those whom in Baptism you have forsworn or renounced but a corrupting of the Faith with Idolatry For who does not honour those he swears by To this purpose are those words in Hosea Though thou Israel play the Harlot yet let not Judah offend and come not ye unto Gilgal neither go ye up to Beth-aven or Bethel now become a house of iniquity vanity or Idolatry nor swear the Lord liveth That is seeing they worship the Golden Calves which are really Idols though they give to them the name of Jehovah as setting them up for his Symbol yet use not you that word there or the form of their oath by Jehovah for thereby you will take up the name of God and the name by which he is most eminently distinguished in vain or in an Idol Idols are Elilim or vanities they are very lyes at once to use the terms the Prophet gives them and to allude to the Syriack Version of the third Command Thou shalt not take up the name of the Lord thy God with a lye He therefore who sweareth by them without distinction calling them gods or giving them any names which signifie Divine Power He that sweareth or voweth by Coelum or Coelus that is the Heavens by Pluto or the Earth such a one does not only dishonour the name of the true God but he doth also by interpretation forswear himself for he sweareth by an Idol lie or vanity vowing by its help to perform his Oath which therefore he cannot by that means perform because he trusteth to an helpless thing though by his trust he honoureth it as a Divine Power Further one great end of the fourth Command was the prevention of Idolatry The seventh day was observed as a Memorial of that one God the Creator of the World and the God of Israel and they who kept it holy kept it holy to Jehovah and made profession hereby that they were not Gentiles who worshipped many Gods but the seed of Abraham who served but one the God of that Patriarch and of Isaac and Jacob. This saith Mr. Mede was the end of the Sabbath that thereby as by a Symbolum or sign that people might testifie and profess what God they worshipped He ought it may be to have spoken this with limitation and called it a great end and that it was such is evident from the Text of Moses than whom no man better understood the Levitical Oeconomy To him God spake saying Speak thou also to the children of Israel saying Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your Generations that ye may know that I am the Lord who doth sanctifie you or set you apart as my Worshippers distinct from those who worship Idols Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their Generations for a perpetual Covenant It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth and on the seventh day he rested or ceased and was refreshed or was pleased with that exceeding good and beautiful frame of things which his Wisdom Goodness and Power had made A like end there was of the Levitical Sacrifices God needed them not the Sacrifice of a pure and humble mind was more agreeable to him who is an Intellectual Spirit But the Israelites doted on such a gross manner of expressing their devotion And seeing they must needs offer Sacrifice it pleased God to give them a Law which might at once indulge them in their inclination and restrain them from sacrificing unto

Lord Simmias and Socrates in some sort consenting to him turn his sentence into the plural of Lords and Gods Julian likewise though he professed the belief of one true God yet he assigned several Countries and Cities to the care of several Tutelar Gods So we find in Porphyry certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God 's that were conceived to be Presidents of Regions such amongst whom the Government of the lower World was parted The Gentiles indeed did not wholly exclude the supreme God but they worshipped him as one who had not reserved unto himself the greatest share of the Government Hence is it that we find among their ancient Inscriptions many such as that remembred by Elmenhorstius TO JUPITER THE BEST AND GREATEST Deity AND TO THE GENIUS or Demon OF THE PLACE They thought of the supreme Jove but they seldom thought of him without his Deputy Such Philosophy concerning the Lieutenancy of Demons is at this day on foot in China There the Litterati or those of the Sect of Confusio own one God and though they do not reverence him with any solemn worship as if he were a kind of unconcerned Epicurean Deity yet they have Temples for Tutelar Spirits The Sect of the Tausi also acknowledg one Great God and other lesser Ones that is Vicegerent Demons The same sort of Philosophy is found amongst the Benjans in the Eastern India The Sect of them called Samarath though it believeth one first Cause which created the World yet it assigneth to him Three Subftitutes Brama Buffiuna and Mais Brama they fay hath the disposal of Souls which he sends into such Bodies as Permiseer or the supreme God appointeth for them whether they be the Bodies of Men or Beasts Buffiuna teacheth the World the Laws of its God He hath also the oversight of Provisions for common life and advanceth the growth of Wheat Herbs and Pulse after Brama hath indu'd each of them with Souls Mais exerciseth its power over the dead This looks to me like a Tale of Jupiter Ceres and Pluto This Opinion of the Gentiles which ascribeth so much of the Government of this World to Demons as Gods Commissioners in certain Precincts and as Superintendents over Places Persons and Things is manifestly contrary to the tenor of the Scriptures They teach That God is the great disposer of Good and Evil in all Cities and Places and that his Providence extendeth to the fall of a little Sparrow and of a lesser thing than that an hair of our head That sheweth us how he used great importunity for the turning of Jew and Gentile from the confidence which they placed in their Genii This saith St. Cyril he would never have attempted if they had been Presidents of his own appointment His Angels minister before him but they do not properly govern under him much less is that true of Superexisting Souls The Angels of Graecia and Persia were such Spirits as did at that time serve his will in that particular employment But we have no cogent reason I think to perswade us that they always enjoyed a setled Lieutenancy over those Countries It was a rash conclusion which Vatablus drew from those Visions of Daniel to wit that to every Nation was assigned an Angel as President over it The whole of that Discourse in Daniel is a Vision and a representation of Heavenly things in a Scene upon Earth And they who make particular application of every circumstance without due attention to the main design of it forget that they confound Earthly and Heavenly things and lay their gross absurdities of fancy at the door of the Spirit of God Such for instance sake would they be who should think from this Vision that an Angel toucheth Gods Prophets with an hand at what time he inspireth them because Daniel so expresseth himself as if it were so done to him or who should believe that a good Angel ordained by God to comfort his Prophet could be detained by an evil one for one and twenty days until he prevailed against him by the assistance of Michael because the Scripture useth such an ●…umane Image and alludeth to the impediments of good men on earth who are not equal in power and motion to the ministring Angels who are quick and vigorous as Spirits or Winds and flames of Fire On such quickness and vigor God serveth his Purposes by the temporary Ministry of Angels but by Himself still and not by them as setled Delegates He dispenseth favours and severities Accordingly God inviting the Jews to renounce their Genii or inferior Deities and Patrons and not meerly to turn from evil Angels and to apply themselves to good ones promiseth by himself to send them that worldly plenty which they had sacrilegiously ascribed to their Idols And St. Paul endeavouring to draw the Lycaonians from their Vanities remindeth them of the testimony which God had given them of his Providence in sending them fruitful seasons This if it had been done by Commissioned Demons the Gentiles might have abated the force of the Apostles argument which proveth the care of the supreme God by the supplies of outward blessings The same St. Paul hath left us another Text most worthy of our attention in which he confirmeth the Government and the Providence of the supreme God rejecteth the Lieutenancy of Demons and owneth Christ alone as the Substitute of the Father Though there be said he such as are called Gods though there be many Superior and many Inferior Baalim Gods or Lords yet to us Christians there is but one God and one Lord Jesus Christ. He is the true God and Eternal life He is Gods Vicegerent who is the Everlasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Father and not the Platonick Demon called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that of the Valentinians which together with their Logos made the second Conjugation of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first whence they came being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind and Truth If then God by his Providence dispenseth immediately Good and Evil if his care reacheth to things below the Moon whose Orb some made the limits of it with equal vanity and boldness whilst others with Maimonides allowed a Providence over man but not over beasts If he useth his Angels as ministring not governing spirits as messengers of several kinds and not as Commission-Officers of his Court and administrators of the Affairs of his Kingdom as the Attendants ordinary or extraordinary of his Substitute Jesus Christ but not as fellow-Viceroys if he thus far only useth his Angels and it may be useth not departed Souls so far as this amounts to it is plain Idolatry to worship Demons as did the Gentiles in that quality of divine Lieutenants For from them they expect good and evil them they fear them they thank When God sendeth fruitful Seasons and by them Plenty they send

though it may be and it is certain they have not in all Ages known according to what is in the Prophesie of St. John what Jesus Christ will do next yet that still by the spirit of Prophesie as it were the Saints have been guided to seek for those things at the hands of God and Christ which he was about to accomplish Also that the Saints in Heaven before the day of Judgment have a share and an hand in Christs government of the world and that they have a knowledg by the Angels that are continually Messengers from Heaven to Earth of the great things that are done here And he that writeth the Epistle to the Reader maketh this Application of Mr. Goodwins Doctrine Now saith he what may we think the Saints in Heaven who within these ten years last past lost their lives in the Cause of Christ he meaneth the Army-Saints from the year forty-four to that of fifty-four who dy'd in maintenance of the Bad Old Cause are EMPLOYED ABOUT at this time they understanding by the Angels what great changes are come to pass on our Earth Those of whose Saintship we have better assurance though in a state of rest and light are esteemed by the Fathers but a kind of Free Prisoners not being acquitted by the publick Sentence of the General Judgment And their opinion who give them a Lieutenancy under God in the Government of the World before that day does recall to my mind the Argument used by that truly great man Sir Walter Raleigh in his own unhappy Case He pleaded that the grant of a Commission from the King did argue him to be absolved and that he who had power given him over others was no longer under a sentence against his own life Abraham and Isaac do not now rule us and it may be they are ignorantt of us which whilst I affirm I do not wholly ground my Assertion on the Text in Isaiah That soundeth otherwise whether we take it in its positive or hypothetical sense It s positive sense may be this Doubtless thou art our Father notwithstanding we live not under the care of Abraham or Isaac but are by many generations removed from them who therefore knew us not or own'd us not we being not men of their times we are their seed however though at a great distance and to such also was thy promise made And for the Hypothetical sense it may be this Be it supposed that Abraham knows nothing of us yet certain we are that thou art the God of Israel whose knowledg and care of thy people never faileth I admit here that the Saints pray for the Church in general that Angels are concerned in particular Ministrations but that Angels and even Saints have shares of the Government of the World though in subordination to God so as to be Commission-Officers under the King of Heaven and not only Attendants on his Throne and as it were Yeomen and Messengers of his Court the general condition of the Angels I cannot admit without peril of Idolatry This in my conceit is the great resemblance betwixt the Romanists and the Gentiles Both of them suppose the World to be ruled under God by several Orders of Daemons and Heroes though I have confessed already that they are not so exactly alike but that Rome-Christian may be distinguished from Rome-Pagan For the Gentiles so much hath been shewn already and it may appear further from the place of the Greek Historian cited in the Margent And for the Romanists that too hath already been manifested in part and shall be further decl●…red and Rivallius in his History of the Civil Law or Commentary on the Twelve Tables does very honestly confess it He having commented on that Law which ordereth the worship of the Heathen gods both Daemons and Heroes letteth fall words not unfit to be here gathered up by us Christians saith he meaning those of the Roman Communion retain a Religion like to this for they worship God immortal and for those that excel in Virtue and shine with Miracles first with great pomp and inquisition they register them among the Deities or Saints and then they worship them and after that they erect Temples to them as we see in the case of S. John S. Peter S. Catherine S. Nicholas S. Magdalen and other Deities In this point then let us join issue and offer on our side the manifestation of these particulars First On what occasions this worship of Ruling-spirits came into the Church Secondly How it derogateth from the honour of God as Governour of the World Thirdly How it derogateth from the honour of Jesus as the Mediator and King ordained by God First For the occasions of this Worship I conceive them to be especially these two The Celebration of the Memory of the Martyrs at their Tombs and the compliance of the Christians with the Northern Nations when they invaded Italy and other places in hope of appeasing them and effecting their conversion First I reckon as an occasion of this Worship the celebration of the memory of the Martyrs at their Tombs and Monuments and Reliques and in the Churches sacred to God in thankfulness for their Examples The thankful and honourable commemoration of the Martyrs was very ancient and innocent at the beginning For as the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna concerning the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp testifies They esteemed the bones of the Martyrs more precious than Jewels They kept their Birth-days that is the days of their Martyrdom on which they began most eminently to live they pursu'd them with a worthy affection as Disciples and Imitators of Christ but they worshipped none but Christ believing him to be the Son of God But laudable Customs degenerate through time And this in the fourth Century began to be stretched beyond the reason of its first institution as appeareth by the Apostrophe's of St. Basil St. Gregory Nazianzen and others of that Age. Afterwards the vanity of men ran this Usage into a dangerous extreme and those who had been commemorated as excellent and glorified Spirits and whose Prayers were wished were directly invoked and worshipped as the subordinate Governours of Gods Church This Veneration of the Martyrs which superstition thus strained was occasioned by the Miracles which God wrought where his Martyrs were honoured Times of Persecution at home and of Invasion from abroad required such aids for the Encouragement of Catholick Christians and the Conversion of Infidels and misbelievers Thus in the days of St. Austin in whose Age the Getae or Goths sacked Rome and many of the barbarous people imputed the present misfortunes of Italy to the Christian Religion God pleased to work Miracles at the Bodies of the Martyrs Protasius and Gervasius in the City of Milan Thus as is reported by Procopius and Egnatius he miraculously saved those Christians at Rome and Pagans also both in the time of Alaricus and Theudoricus who

them has in all cases such power by commission that little motive is left for immediate application unto God and much trust and gratitude due to him is paid to these Delegates Fifthly The Angel whose protection Jacob implored for the safeguard of Ephraim and Manasses as having had himself experience of his aid was a Diviner Spirit than either Michael or Gabriel even the Logos of God This is the opinion of Novatianus declared once and again in his Book of the Trinity This is the opinion of many of the Fathers whose Testimonies shall be produced in my Fourteenth Chapter At present it may suffice to bring forth that plain one of St. Cyril of Alexandria in his Thesaurus An Angel is said to have striven with the Patriarch Jacob and this Divine Writ testifies but the holy man retaining him said I will not let thee go unless thou bless me Now this Angel was God which the words of the Patriarch shew whilst he saith I have seen God face to face Him appearing to him as an Angel he desireth to bless the Children And a while after he thus discourseth When Esau his Brother designed against him he did not invoke an Angel but God saying Take me O Lord out of the hands of my brother Esau for I stand in fear of him Sixthly The story of Raphael protecting Tobias is not found in Canonical Scripture But if it be notwithstanding a true report this being a peculiar favour of God in an extraordinary case it doth not encourage men in all emergencies to pray for the like without a promise from God He sendeth not all to be our guides who may sympathize with our estate The Angels who never sustain'd infirmity do not so neither doth the ministration of an Angel argue that of a Saint Nor doth it follow that God doth use such ministrations so frequently and visibly under the Gospel as under the Law in which dispensation his Shechinah in which the Angels attended was shewn often on Earth Seventhly If St. Roch once assisted the infected it is not proved thence that God sends him where-ever he sends that heavy judgment And how appeareth it that he ever helped at a distance in that dreadful sickness which requires a Domine Miserere Why because say they the infected prayed to him and were healed But the event is not always the effect and God in pursuance of his own greater and mysterious ends doth often answer the matter of the requests of the superstitious and the wicked And often there are other ordinary second Causes which men fancy by the event to have been more extraordinary and divine They who among the Heathens prayed to Lavina for her assistance in a cleanly cheat might impute the effect unto their Goddess though she never understood them and their own cunning brain and slight of hand brought the couzenage to pass with such undiscovered Art S. Austin will furnish us with a better instance a matter of fact In his Eleventh Chapter de Curâ pro mortuis he telleth of one Eulogius a Master of Rhetorick in Carthage who was perplexed with a knotty place in the Rhetoricks of Cicero which he was next day to interpret to his Schollars And in that night saith the Father I interpreted unto him in his dream that which he understood not Nay not I but my Image I being wholly ignorant of this affair and being so far beyond the Sea doing or dreaming some other thing and being wholly careless of his cares The mans brain was heated and amongst other Images that of S. Austin came in his mind he being then the fam'd Schollar in Africa and his dreams as often it happens were luckier than his waking thoughts and he imputed to St. Austin that which followed his Apparition in the brain though that was not the cause of it Eighthly if St. Michael was once sent to succour the Jews it is not to be thence concluded that Saints do the like or that he himself hath always the same Office in reference to the quality or the object of it or that Angels appear alike under the dispensation of the Logos substituted without union to manhood and that of him incarnate and installed King of the World nor do all the Learned think that by Michael is always meant an Angel In sum the Romanists are not so much charged with Idolatry for praying to such Saints as most sympathize in their conjecture with their present conditions as for trusting in them as such whom God hath impower'd to succour all Christians in equal circumstances and like places and for returning the thanks to them which are oftenest due to the immediate Providence of the Omnipresent God If they do not apply themselves to them as such why do they use such Forms in their Prayers Why do they give them the name of Patron and Guardian-Saints Why do they as well call on the Virgin as on the highest Angel for Guardianship Why do the Popes in their many Bulls declare them to be Patrons of such places and helpers in such particular cases Why are the people directed in the choice of them and advis'd to an especial affiance in them Why is there mention in their Authors of their appearance in person to their Supplicants with present aid and further assistance This is done by Bernardin de Bustis and recited in a Manual Printed at Paris with approbation in a Discourse of the seven Joys of the Virgin to wit in their account her Annunciation by the Angel her Visitation by Elizabeth the glorious Birth of Christ the Adoration of the Magi the Retrieve of her Son in the Temple the appearance of Christ after his Resurrection and her happy departure and Assumption into Heaven With these Joys saith Bernardin St. Thomas of Canierbury a devout servant of the Virgins did every day salute our Lady To him as he proceeds she one day appeared when he was at his Prayers and she assured him that his saluting her with her seven Joys on earth which sometimes were said to be but five was very agreeable to her but that the saluting of her with her seven Joys in Heaven to wit her Exaltation above the Angels her illuminating Paradise as the Sun does the World the reverence paid her by Angels Archangels Thrones and Dominions her being the Conveyer of all the Graces which Christ bestoweth her sitting at the right hand of her Son her being the hope of sinners in such sort that all who praise and reverence her are by the Father recompenced with eternal Glory the augmentation of her graces and favours in Paradice until the Day of Judgment was acceptable to her in a higher degree And she promised to him and to others also who should daily repeat these Salutations adjoining to each an Ave Maria that she would be present with them at the hour of death and that for her sake they should be saved In which instance we have the Patronage of the

that great Wit to rail at Opinions without offering reasons for his contrary judgment and here he offereth two The First he taketh from those first words of the Epistle to the Hebrews God who at divers times and in divers manners spake to our forefathers by the Prophets hath in these last times spoken to us by his Son The Second he taketh from the second and third verses of the second Chapter in which the Holy Author preferreth the Gospel before the Law because the Law was given by Angels that is saith he by the Angel sustaining the person of God and for that reason mentioned by St. Steven in the singular number and by many more such spirits making up that glorious train but the Gospel by the Lord Jesus the Son of God Upon the seeming force of such Reasons I find Curcellaeus and others agreeing in the sentence of Grotius Now for the first Objection I may remove it out of the way by saying no more than that God spake formerly by his Son as his Logos or Minister and in the latter times by him as his Son Incarnate or as begotten by the Holy Ghost of the substance of the Blessed Virgin The same Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews saith of the Throne of Christ as Gods Logos that it was from everlasting and yet we well know that his Kingdom as Messiah Mediator Incarnate or the Word made flesh was but then at hand when his Harbinger John took upon him the Office of Baptist And Justin Martyr thought not himself in an error when he said That the Logos both spake by the Prophets things to come and also by himself being made subject to like infirmities with us The Word was Gods Minister before and under the Law but not in the same quality as under the Gospel In those times he spake not himself immediately for how can a Divine Subsistence be meerly of it self corporally vocal But he spake I conceive by some principal Angel assumed as hath been said without personal union assisted by him in a miraculous motion of the air or brain Under the Gospel he spake with his own mouth as having assumed human nature into unity of Person This word Person if I may make a digression of two or three lines deserveth not the clamour with which Socinians hoot at it especially when we consider it as now we do with relation to Christ as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Face or personating Shechinah of God They then that rightly distinguish betwixt Christ as Gods Word and Shechinah under the former Covenants and as Mediator and Gods Son incarnate under the Gospel will not much be perplexed with such places of Scripture as speak sometimes of Christs Praeexistence and oftner of his coming into the world in the fulness of time And thus much Monsieur le Blanc himself taketh notice of in his Theological Theses He there favoureth the opinion of Christs praeexistence He owneth him as the Minister of God of old but not properly as Mediator which he saith including Christs Priestly Office did of necessity require not only a mission of one Divine Person by another but a Divine Person incarnate Now from that which I have suggested in this answer to the first Objection of Grotius it will be a matter of small difficulty to infer a Reply unto his second For an assumed Angel being us'd by the Divine Logos as the immediate Minister of himself to the people and Christ speaking with his own mouth under the Gospel as God-man and the great mystery of the Gospel consisting in the manifestation of God in the flesh the Apostle had sufficient reason to prefer the Gospel before the Law We have before us a matter of lesser astonishment when we think of Divinity speaking by an Angel to which it is not vitally united than when we contemplate it as manifesting it self in the quality of God-man in unity of Person with human nature Such were the thoughts of St. Hilary of Poictiers who in our present Argument thus discourseth Then God only was seen in the shew of man He was not born Now he who was seen is also born For Athanasius he contendeth that Christ was call'd the Son long before he was incarnate and that Moses himself knew of the future Incarnation as well as he saw the present Appearance of the unincarnate Logos I conclude then notwithstanding these Objections That there is almost as good warrant for reading the Preface to the Decalogue in this manner Christ spake all these words and said as the ancient Saxon Prefacer had thus to read as he does that part of the fourth Commandment For in six days Christ made the Heaven and the Earth God who by his Logos gave all Physical Laws to Nature did also by the same Word give the Moral Law to Israel In the beginning of that Law saith St. Austin God prohibited the worship of any Image besides one the same with himself that is to say the Logos his Son whom Moses saw it being promised to him that God should apparently converse with him and that he should behold the similitude or Image or as the Seventy render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Glory or glorious Shechinah of God Whether at the giving of the Law Moses saw the Shechinah in human figure his Text does not inform us yet it doth not necessarily follow that Moses or Aaron saw no figure because the people did not For there was much more danger in them who had had the education of slaves and who labour'd under gross and sensitive apprehensions than there was in Moses a Learned and Prudent person of abusing such similitude in the framing of Idols and one would think that at the receiving of the Tables he saw something in human figure for he is said to have seen the back-parts of God or his Shechinah or the shew of a man inverted or rather a less degree of luster in the Shechinah neither he nor any man living being able to behold the face or full luster of it which perhaps might then appear to the attending-Angels So that the desire of Moses was in effect like that of Eudoxus who desir'd to see the Sun just by him If it should have been granted he must have pay'd down his life as the expence of his curiosity And indeed the seeing of the Face of God in that sense was at that season the less necessary because God had just then made a promise of his Shechinah or presence in the Tabernacle to go along with him and to support him against the incredulity of the people to whose eyes such a Shechinah as they could bear was in wisdom to be accommodated Whilst Moses was beholding this Pattern in the Moant and receiving Laws from the Presence of God the people seeing neither as at his departure they had done the Glory of God in Clouds and Flame nor as in the