6. If we trust in our Grace, we make a god of it. Grace is but a Creature; if we truft to it, we make it an Idol. Grace is imperfect, we cannot truft to that to fave us which is imperfect, Pfalm 26. 1. I have walked in my Integrity: I have trusted also in the Lord. David did walk in his Integrity; but did not truft in his Integrity; I have trufted in the Lord. If we truft in our Graces, we make a Christ of them. They are good Graces, but bad Chrifts. To love any Thing more than God, is to make it a god.

ift, If we love our Eftate more than God, then we make it a god. The young Man in the Gofpel loved his Gold better than his Saviour; the World lay nearer his Heart than Chrift, Matth. 19. 22. Fulgens hoc aurum præftringit oculos, Var. Hence it is, the Covetous Man is called an Idolater, Eph. 5. 5. Why fo? Becaufe he loves his Eftate more than God, and fo he makes it his god; tho' he doth not bow down to an Idol, yet he worfhips the graven Image in his Coins; he is an Idolater. That which hath most of the Heart, that we make a god.

2ly, If we love our Pleafures more than God, we make a god of Pleasure, 2 Tim. 3. 4. Lovers of Pleafures more than Lovers of God. Many let loose the Reins, and give themfelves up to all Manner of fenfual Delights; they idolize Pleafure, Fob 21. 12, 13. They take the Timbrel, and the Harp, and rejoyce at the Sound of the Organ. They spend their Days in Mirth. I have read of a Place in Africa, where the People spend all their Time in dancing, and making merry: And have not we many who make a god of Pleafure, who fpend their Time in going to Plays, and vifiting Stews, as it God had made them like the Leviathan, to play in the Water? Pfalm 104. 26. In the Country of Sardinia there is an Herb like Balm, that if one eat too much of it he will die laughing: Such an Herb is Pleafure; if one feeds immoderately on it, he will go laughing to Hell. Such as make a god of Pleasure, let them read but two Scripfures, Eccl. 7. 4. The Heart of Fools is in the Houfe of Mirth. And Rev. 18. 7. How much he bath lived deliciously, fo much Torment give her. Sugar laid in a damp Place turns to Water; fo all the fugared Joys and Pleasures of Smners, will turn to the Water of Tears at laft.

3ly, If we love our Belly more than God, we make a god of it, Phil. 3. 19. Whofe god is their Belly. Clemens Alexandrinus writes of a Fifh that had its Heart in its Belly: An Emblem of Epicures, their Heart is in their Belly; they do facrificare lari, their Belly is their god, and to this god they pour Drinkofferings. The Lord allows what is fitting for the Recruit of Nature, Deut. 11. 15. I will fend Grafs, that thou mayst eat and be full. But, to mind nothing but the indulging of the Appetite, is Idolatry; Whofe god is their Belly. What Pity is it, that the Soul, that Princely Part, which fways the Sceptre of Reafon, and is a-kin to Angels, fhould be enflaved to the brutish Part.

4ly, If we love a Child more than God, we make a god of it. How many are guilty in this Kind! they think of their Children, and delight more in them than God; they grieve more for the Lofs of their First-born, than for the Lofs of their firft Love. This is to make an Idol of a Child, and to fet it in God's Room. Thus God is oft provoked to take away our Children: If we love the Jewel more than him that gave it, God will take away the Jewel, that our Love may return to him again.

Ufe 1. It reproves fuch as have other gods, and fo renunce the true God. (1) Such as fet up Idols, Jer. 2. 28. According to the Number of thy Cities are thy gods, O Ifrael. Hof. 12. 11. Their Altars are as Heaps in the Furrows of the Field. (2) Such as feek to familiar Spirits. This is a Sin condemned by the Law of God, Deut. 18. 11. There shall not be found among you any that confult with familiar Spirits. It is ordinary, that if People have loft any of their Goods, they fend to Wizards and Sooth-fayers, to know how they may come by their Goods again: What is this but for People to make a god of the De-, vil, by confulting with him, and putting their Truft in him? What? because you have loft your Goods, will you lofe your Souls too? 2 Kings 1. 6. So, is it not because you think there is not a God in Heaven, that you ask Counsel of the Devil? If any be guilty, be humbled.

Use 2. It founds a Retreat in our Ears. Let it call us off from the Idolizing any Creature ;. and renuncing other gods, let us cleave to the

true

1. To make a true Image of God is impoffible. God is a fpiritual Effence, John 4. 14. and, being a Spirit, he is invifible, Deut. 4. 15. Te far no Similitude in the Day that the Lord fpake with you out of the Midst of the Fire. How can any paint the Deity? can they make an Image of that which they never faw? Quod invifibile eft, pingi non poteft, Ambrof. Tefaw no Similitude. It is impoffible to make a Picture of the Soul, or to paint the Angels, because they are of a fpiritual Nature; much lefs then can we paint God by an Image, who is an infinite, increate Spirit.

2. To worship God by an Image, is both abfurd and unlawful.

I. It is abfurd and irrational; for, 1. The Workman is better than the Work, Heb. 3. 3. He who buildeth the Houfe hath more Honour than the House. If the Workman be better than the Work, and none bows to the Workman, how abfurd then is it to bow to the Work of his Hands? 2. Is it not an abfurd Thing to bow down to the King's Picture, when the King himself is prefent? So to bow down to an Image of God, when God himself is every-where prefent.

II. It is unlawful to worship God by an Image; for, 1. It is against the Homily of the Church; it runs thus, The Images of God, our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, are of all others the most dangerous; therefore the greatest Care ought to be had, that they stand not in Temples and Churches. So that Image-worfhip is contrary to our own Homilies, and doth affront the Authority of the Church of England. 2. Image-worship is exprefly against the Letter of Scripture, Lev. 26. 1. Ye shall make no graven Image, neither shall ye fet up any Image of Stone, to bow down to it. Deut. 16, 22. Neither shalt thou fet up any Image which the Lord thy God hateth. Pfalm 97. 7.Confounded be all they that ferve graven Images. Do we think, to please God, by doing that which is contrary to his Mind, and [VOL. I.]

3. I

that which he hath exprefly forbidden? mage-worfhip is against the Practice of the Saints of Old. Jofiah, that renowned King, deftroyed the Groves and Images, 2 Kings 23. 24. Conftantine abrogated the Images fet up in Temples: The Chriftians deftroyed Images at Bafil, Zurick, Bohemia; when the Roman Emperors would have thruft Images upon them, they chofe rather to die than deflower their Virgin-Profeflion by Idolatry; they refused to admit any Painter or Carver into their Society, because they would not have any carved Statue or Image of God: When Seraphion bowed to an Idol, the Chriftians excommunicated him, and delivered him up to Satan.

Use

Ufe 1. It reproves and condemns the Church of Rome, who, from the Alpha of their Religion to the Omega, are Wholly idolatrous. They make Images of God the Father, painting them in their Church Windows as an Old Man; and an Image of Chrift in the Crucifix: And, because it is against the Letter of this Commandment, therefore they facrilegiously blot out the Second Commandment out of their Catechifes, dividing the Tenth Commandment into Two. Now this Image-worfhip must needs be very impious and blafphemous, becaufe it is a giving that religious Worship to the Creature, which is only due to God. It is vain for Papifts to fay, They give God the Worfhip of the Heart, and the Image only the Worfhip of the Body; for the Worship of the Body is due to God, as well as the Worfhip of the Heart: And to give an outward Veneration to an Image, is to give that Adoration to a Creature, which only belongs to God, Ifa. 42. 8. My Glery will I not give to another.

Object. 1. But the Papifts fays They do not worship the Image, only make use of it as a Medium, they worship God by it; Ne imagini quidem Chrifti in quantum eft lignum. sculptum, ultra debetur reverentia, Aquinas.

Refp. 1. Where hath God bidden them worfhip him by an Effigies or Spirit? a. 1, 12. Who hath required this at your Hands? The Papifts cannot fay fo much as the Devil, Scriptum eft, It is written.

2. The Heathens may bring the fame Argument for their grofs Idolatry, as the Papifts do for their Image-worship. Who of the Heathens

Ii

were

were fo fimple, as to think Gold and Silver, or the Figure of an Ox or Elephant, were God? They were only Emblems and Hieroglyphicks to reprefent him; they did worship the invifible God, by fuch vifible Things. To worfhip God by an Image, God takes as done to the Image itself.

Object. 2. But, Jay the Papifts, Images are Lay-Mens Books, and they are good to put us in Mind of God. One of the Popish Councils affirmed, That we might learn more by an Image, than by long Study of the Scrip

tures.

Refp. Hab. 2. 18. What profiteth the graven Image, the molten Image, and a Teacher of Lies? Is an Image a Lay-man's Book? See then what Leffons this Book teacheth, it teacheth Lies; it reprefents God in a vifible Shape, who is invifible. For the Papifts to fay, they make ufe of an Image, to put them in Mind of God, is as if a Woman fhould fay, fhe keeps Company with another Man, to put her in Mind of her Husband.

Object. 3. But did not Mofes make the Image of a brazen Serpent? Why then may not Images be fet up?

Refp. That was done by God's fpecial Command, Numb. 21. 8. Make thee a brazen Serpent; and there was a fpecial Ufe of it, both literal and fpiritual; but what, doth the fetting up this Image of the brazen Serpent juftify the fetting up of Images in Churches? What, becaufe Mofes did make an Image by God's Appointment, may we therefore fet up an Image of our own devifing? Because Mofes made an Image to heal them that were stung, is it lawful therefore to fet up Images in Churches, to fting them that are whole? This doth not at all follow. Nay, that very brazen Serpent which God himself commanded to be fet up, when Ifrael did look upon it with too much Reverence, and began to burn Incenfe to it, Hezekiah defaced that Image, and called it Hebufhtan; and God commended him for doing fo, 2 Kings 18. 4.

Object. 4. But is not God reprefented as having Hands, and Eyes, and Ears? Why then may we not make an Image to reprefent bim by, and help our Devotion?

Refp. Tho' God is pleafed to ftoop to our weak Capacities, and fet himfelf out in Scripture by Eyes, to fignify his Omnifciency; and

Hands, to fignify his Power; yet, it is very abfurd, from Metaphors and figurative Expreffions, to bring an Argument for Images and Pictures; for, by that Rule, God may be pictured by the Sun and the Element of Fire, and by a Rock; for God is fet forth by thefe Metaphors in Scripture: And fure the Papifts themfelves would not like to have fuch Images made of God.

Queft. 1. If it be not lawful to make the Image of God the Father, yet may we not make an Image of Cbrift, who took upon him the Nature of Man?

Refp. No. Epiphanius feeing an Image of Chrift hanging in a Church, brake it in Pieces. 'Tis Chrift's Godhead, united to his Manhood, that makes him to be Chrift: Therefore, to picture his Manhood, when we cannot picture his Godhead, is a Sin, because we make him to be but Half-Chrift, we feparate what God hath joined, we leave out that which is the chief Thing, which makes him to be Chrift.

Queft. 2. But how then shall we conceive of God aright, if we may make no Image or Refemblance of him?

Refp. We must conceive of God fpiritually, viz. 1. In his Attributes, his Holinefs, Juftice, Goodnefs, which are the Beams by which his Divine Nature fhines forth. 2. We must conceive of him as he is in Chrift, Christ is the Image of the invifible God, Col. 1. 15. as in the Wax we fee the Print of the Seal. Set the Eyes of your Faith on Chrift-God-Man, John 14.9. He that bath feen me, bath feen the Father.

Ufe 2. Take heed of Idolatry, viz. Image worship: Our Nature is prone to this fin, as dry Wood to take Fire; and indeed, what needs fo many Words in the Commandment, Thou halt not make any graven Image, or the Likenefs of any Thing in Heaven, Earth, Water, Sun, Moon, Stars, Male, Female, Fish; thou halt not bow down to them: I fay, what needed fo many Words, but to fhew how subject we are to this fin of falfe Worship? it concerns us therefore to refift this fin. Where the Tide is apt to run with greater force, there we need to make the Banks higher and stronger; the Plague of Idolatry is very infectious, Pfalm 106. 35, 36. They were mingled among the Heathens, and ferved their Idols. It is my

Advice