Of the Commandments. to Of the Ten Commandments.

Of the Commandments.

Exod. 20.3.

Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.

2. THat we must have no other God: Thou shalt have no other God before me.

Quest. What is meant by this word, Before me?

Resp. That is, before my Face, In conspectu m[gap]o, in my sight, Deut. 27.15. Cursed be he that makes a Graven Image, and puts it in a secret place. Some would not bow to the Idol that others might see, but they would secretly bow to it: But though this was out of Mans sight, it was not out of Gods sight: Cursed therefore (saith God) be he who puts the Image in a secret place. Thou shalt have no other Gods. 1. There is really no other God. 2. We must have no other.

1. There is really no other God. The Valentinians held there were two Gods; the Polythites that there were many. The Persians worshipped the Sun, the Egyptians the Ox and Elephant, the Grecians Iupiter: But there is no other than the True God, Deut. 4.39. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the Lord is God in Heaven above, and upon the Earth beneath; there is no other. For there is but one first Cause, that hath its Being of it self, and on which all other Beings depend: As in the Heavens the primum mobile moves all the other Orbs. So God is the Great Mover, he gives Life and Motion to every thing existent.

2. There is but one Omnipotent Power. If there be two Omnipotents, then we must always suppose a Contest between these two; that which one would do, the other Power being equal would oppose, and so all things would be brought into a Confusion. If a Ship should have two Pilots of equal Power, one would be ever Crossing the other; when one would Sail, the other would cast Anchor: Here were a Confusion, and the Ship must needs perish. The Order and Harmony in the World, the constant and uniform Government of all things, is a clear Argument, that there is but one Omnipotent, one God that rules all, Isa. 44 6. I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God.

2. We must have no other God. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me: This Commandment forbids, 1. Serving a False God, and not the True, Ier. 2.27. Saying to a stock, Thou art my Father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: Or 2. Joyning a False God with a True, 2 Kings 17.33. They feared the Lord, and served their own Gods. Both these are forbidden in the Commandment; we must adhere to the true God, and no other: God is a jealous God, and he will endure no corrival: A Wife cannot lawfully have two Husbands at once; nor may we have two Gods, Exod. 34.14. Thou shalt worship no other God, for the Lord is a jealous God, Psal. 16.4. Their Sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God. The Lord interprets it a forsaking of him ▪ to espouse any other God, Iudges 2.12. They forsook the Lord and followed other Gods. God would not have his People so much as make mention of Idol Gods, Exod. 23.13. Make no mention of the Names of other Gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. God looks upon it as a breaking of the Marriage Covenant, to go after other Gods. Therefore when Israel committed Idolatry with the golden Calf, God disclaims his Interest in them, Exod. 32.7. Thy People have corrupted themselves. Before, God called Israel his People; but when they went after other Gods, Now, saith the Lord to Moses, they are no more my People but thy People, Hosea 2.2. Plead with her Mother, Plead, for she is not my Wife; she doth not keep Faith with me; she hath stain'd her self with Idols, therefore I will divorce her, she is not my Wife. To go after other Gods, is that God cannot bear, it makes the Fury rise up in his Face, Deut. 13 6, 8, 9. If thy Brother, or thy Son, or the Wife of thy Bosom, or thy Friend, which is as thy own Soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other Gods. Thou shalt not consent unto him, neither shall thy eye pity him. But thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the People.

Quest. But what is it to have other Gods besides the True God? I fear upon search we have more Idolaters among us than we are aware of.

Resp. To trust in any thing more than God, is to make it a God. 1. If we trust in our Riches, then we make Riches our God: We may take Comfort, not put Confidence in them: It is a foolish thing to trust in them. 1. They are deceitful

Riches, Matt. 13.22. and it is foolish to trust to that which will deceive us. [gap]. Chrys. 1. They have no solid Consistency, they are like Lanskips or golden Dreams, which leave the Soul empty when it awakes and comes to it self. 2. They are not what they promise; they promise to satisfie our Desires, and they increase them: They promise to stay with us, and they take Wings. 2. They are hurtful, Eccles. 5.13. Riches kept for the Owners thereof to their hurt. It is Foolish to trust to that which will hurt one: Who would take hold of the edge of a Razor to help him? They are oft Fuel for Pride and Lust, Ezek. 28.5. Ier. 5.7. So that it is Folly to trust in our Riches; but some do, and so make Mony their God, Prov. 10.15. The rich Mans Wealth is his strong Tower. He makes the Wedge of Gold his Hope, Iob 31.24. God made Man of the Dust of the Earth, and Man makes a God of the Dust of the Earth. Mony is his Creator, Redeemer, Comforter. His Creator: If he hath Mony, now he thinks he is made. His Redemer: If he be in danger he trusts to his Mony to redeem him. His Comforter: If he be Sad, Mony is the golden Harp to drive away the evil Spirit. Thus by trusting in Mony we make it a God.

2. If we trust in the Arm of Flesh, we make it a God, Ier. 17.5. Cursed be Man that trusteth in Man, and maketh flesh his arm. The Syrians trusted in their Army, which was so Numerous, that it filled the Country, 1 Kings 20.27. but this arm of Flesh withered, ver. 29. What we make our Trust, God makes our Shame: The Sheep run to the Hedges for shelter, and they lose their Wool: We have run to second Causes to help us, and we have lost much of our golden Fleece: They have not only been Reeds to fail us, but Thorns to prick us: We have broken our Parliament-Crutches by leaning too hard upon them.

3. If we trust in our Wisdom, we make it a God, Ier. 9.23. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Glorying is the highth of Confidence; many a Man doth make an Idol of his Wit and Parts: He Deifies himself: But how oft doth God take the Wi[gap]e in their own Craftiness, Iob 5.13. Achitophel had a great Wit, his Council was as the Oracle of God, but his Wit brought him to the Halter, 2 Sam. 17.23.

4. If we trust in our Civility, we make it a God: Many trust to this, none can charge them with gross Sin. Civility is but Nature refined and cultivated; a Man may be washed and not changed: His Life may be civil, yet there may be some reigning Sin in his Heart: The Pharisee could say, I am no Adulterer, Luke 18.11. but he could not say, I am not proud: To trust to Civility, is to trust to a Spiders Web.

5. If we trust to our Duties to save us, we make them a God, Isa. 64.6. Our Righteousnesses are as filthy rags: They are Fly-blown with Sin: Put Gold in the Fire and there comes out much Dross: Our most golden Duties are mixed with Infirmity: We are apt either to neglect Duty or idolize it. Use Duty, but do not trust to it, for then you make it a God. Trust not to your Praying, and Hearing; these are the means of Salvation, but they are not Saviours. If you make Duties Bladders to trust to, you may sink to Hell with these Bladders.

6. If we trust in our Grace, we make a God of it. Grace is but a Creature; if we trust in it, we make it an Idol. Grace is imperfect, we cannot trust to that to save us which is imperfect, Psal 26.1. I have walked in my Integrity: I have trusted also in the Lord. David did walk in his Integrity, but did not trust in his Integrity. I have trusted in the Lord. If we trust in our Graces, we make a Christ of them. They are good Graces but bad Christs. To love any thing more than God, is to make it a God.

1. If we love our Estate more than God, then we make it a God. The young Man in the Gospel loved his Gold better than his Saviour; the World lay nearer his Heart than Christ, Matt. 19.22. Fulgens hoc aurum praestringit oculos, Var. Hence it is the covetous Man is called an Idolater, Eph. 5.5. Why so? Because he loves his Estate more than God, and so he makes it his God: Though he doth not bow down to an Idol, yet he worships the Graven Image in his Coins; he is an Idolater: That which hath most of the Heart, that we make a God.

2. If we love our Pleasures more than God, we make a God of Pleasure, 2 Tim. 3.4. [gap]. Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God. Many let loose the Reins, and give themselves up to all manner of sensual Delights, they idolize Pleasure, Iob 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 Pleasure; who spend their time in going to Plays, and visiting Stews, as if God had made them like the

Leviathan to play in the Water, Psal. 104.26. In the Country of Sardinia there is an Herb like Balm, that if one eat too much of it, he well die laughing. Such an Herb is Pleasure; if one seeds immoderately on it, he will go laughing to Hell. Such as make a God of Pleasure, let them read but two Scriptures, Eccl. 7.4. The Heart of Fools is in the House of Mirth. And Rev. 18.7. How much she hath lived Deliciously, so much Torment give her. Sugar laid in a damp p[gap]ace turns to Water: So all the sugared Joys and Pleasures of Sinners, will turn to the Water of Tears at last.

3. If we love our Belly more than God, we make a God of it, Phil. 3.19. Whose God is their Belly. Clemens Alexandrinus writes of a Fish that hath its Heart in its Belly: An Emblem of Epicures, their Heart is in their Belly, they do Sacrificare lari, their Belly is their God, and to this God they pour Drink-Offerings: The Lord allows what is fitting for the Recruit of Nature, Deut. 11.15. I will send grass, that thou maist eat and be full. But to mind nothing but the indulging the Appetite is Idolatry, Whose God is their Belly. What pity is it, that the Soul, that Princely part, which sways the Scepter of Reason, and is akin to Angels, should be enslaved to the Brutish part!

4. If we love a Child more than God, we make a God of it. How many are guilty in this kind! They think more of their Children, and delight more in them, than in God: They grieve more for the loss of their First-born, than for the loss of their first Love. This is to make an Idol of a Child, and to set it in Gods 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.

Use 1. It Reproaches such as have other Gods, and so renounce the true God. 1. Such as set up Idols, Ier. 2.28. According to the number of thy Cities, are thy Gods, O Israel. Hos. 12.11. Their Altars are as heaps in the Furrows of the Field. 2. Such as seek 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 consult with Familiar Spirits. It is ordinary if People have lost any of their Goods, they send to Wizards and Soothsayers, to know how they may come by their Goods again. What is this but for People to make a God of the Devil, by consulting with him, and putting their Trust in him? What! because you have lost your Goods, will you lose your Souls too? 2 Kings 1.6. So is it not because you think there is not a God in Heaven, that you ask Council of the Devil? If any be guilty, be humbled.

Use 2. It sounds a Retreat in our Ears; let it call us off from the Idolizing any Creature, and renouncing other Gods: Let us cleave to the true God, and his Service: If we go away from God, we know not where to mend our selves.

1. It is honourable serving of the true God: Servire Deo est regnare: It is more Honour to serve God, than to have Kings serve us. 2. Serving the true God is Delightful, Isa. 56.7. I will make them joyful in my House of Prayer. God oft displays the Banner of his Love in an Ordinance, and pours in the Oyl of Gladness into the Heart. All Gods Ways are Pleasantness, his Paths are strowed with Roses, Prov. 3.17. 3. Serving the true God is beneficial; they have great Vails here, the hidden Manna, inward Peace, and a great Reward to come. They that serve God, shall have a Kingdom when they dye, Luke 12.32. and shall wear a Crown made of the Flowers of Paradise, 1 Pet. 5.4. To serve the true God is our true Interest. God hath twisted his Glory and our Salvation together. He bids us believe; and why? That we may be saved. Therefore renouncing all others, let us cleave to the true God.

2. You have covenanted to serve the true Iehovah, renouncing all others. When one hath entred into Covenant with his Master, and the Indentures are drawn and sealed, then he cannot go back, but must serve out his time. We have covenanted in Baptism to take the Lord for our God, renouncing all others; And renewed this Covenant in the Lords-Supper, and shall we not keep our Solemn Vow and Covenant? We cannot go away from God without the highest Perjury, Heb. 10.38. [gap]. If any Man draw back, as a Soldier that steals away from his Colours, my Soul shall have no pleasure. I will pour Viols of wrath on him, make my Arrows drunk with blood.

3. None ever had cause to repent of cleaving to God and his Service: Some have repented that they have made a God of the World. Cardinal Woolsey said, Had I served God as Faithfully as I have served my King, he would not have left me thus. None ever complained of serving God, it was both their Comfort and Crown on Death-Bed.

Of the Commandments.

Exod. 20.4.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any Graven Image, &c.

IN the First Commandment is forbidden the worshipping a False God, in this, the worshipping the true God in a false manner.

1. Thou shalt not make unto thee any Graven Image; this forbids not the making an Image for Civil use, Mat. 22.20. Whose is this Image and Superscription? they say unto him Caesars. But the Commandment forbids setting up an Image for Religious Use or Worship.

2. Nor the likeness of any thing, &c. All Ideas, Pourtraitures, Shapes, Images of God, whether by Effigies or Pictures, are here forbidden. Deut. 4.15. Take heed lest ye corrupt your Selves, and make the Similitude of any Figure. God is to be adored in the heart, not painted to the Eye.

3. Thou shalt not bow down to them. The intent of making Images and Pictures, is to worship them. No sooner was Nebuchadnezzars Golden Image set up, but all the People fell down and worshipped it, Dan. 3.7. Therefore God forbids the prostrating our selves before an Idol: So then the thing prohibited in this Commandment is Image-worship. To set up an Image to represent God, is a debasing of the Deity, 'tis below God. If one should make the Images of Snakes or Spiders, saying, he did it to represent his Prince, would not the Prince take this in high disdain? What greater disparagement to God, than to represent the infinite God by that which is finite; the Living God, by that which is without Life, and the Maker of all, by a thing which is made?

1. To make a true Image of God is impossible. God is a Spiritual Essence, Iohn 4.24. And being a Spirit he is invisible, Deut. 4.15. Ye saw no Similitude on the Day the Lord spake 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 saw? Quod invisibile est, pingi non potest, Ambr. Ye saw no Similitude. It is impossible to make a Picture of the Soul, or to paint the Angels, because they are of a Spiritual Nature; much less then can we paint God by an Image, who is an Infinite, Increate Spirit.

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

I. It is absurd and irrational; for First, The Workman is better than the Work, Heb. 3.3. He who buildeth the House, hath more Honour than the House; if the Workman be better than the Work, and none bows to the Workman, how absurd then is it to bow to the work of his Hands? Secondly, Is it not an absurd thing to bow down to the Kings Picture, when the King himself is present? So to bow down to an image of God, when God himself is every where present.

II. It is unlawful to worship God by an Image; for First, It is against the Homily of the Church; it runs thus, The Images of God, our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, are of all others most dangerous, therefore the greatest care ought to be had that they stand not in Temples and Churches. So that Image-Worship is contrary to our own Homilies, and doth affront the authority of the Church of England. Secondly, Image-worship is expresly against the Letter of Scripture, Lev. 26.1. Ye shall make no Graven Image, neither shall ye set up any Image of Stone to bow down to it. Deut. 16.22. Neither shalt thou set up any Image which the Lord thy God hateth. Psal. 97.7. Confounded be all they that serve Graven Images. Do we think to please God by doing that which is contrary to his Mind, and which he hath expresly forbidden? Thirdly, Image-worship is against the practice of the Saints of old. Iosiah that Renowned King, destroyed the Groves and Images, 2 Kin. 23.24. Constantine abrogated the Images set up in Temples. The Christians destroy'd Images at Basil, Zurick, Bohemia; when the Roman Emperors would have thrust Images upon them, they chose rather to dye than deflour their Virgin Profession 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 Christians excommunicated him, and delivered him up to Satan.

Use 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 him in their Church-Windows as an Old Man, and an Image of Christ in the Crucifix. And because it is against the Letter of this Commandment, therefore they sacrilegiously blot out the Second Commandment out of their Catechises, dividing the Tenth Commandment into Two. Now this Image-worship must needs be very Impious and Blasphemous, because it is a giving that [gap], or Religious Worship to the Creature, which is only due to God. It is vain for Papists to say they give God the worship of the Heart, and the Image only the worship of the Body; for the worship of the Body is due to God, as well as the worship 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. Isa. 42.8. My Glory will I not give to another.

Obj. 1. But the Papists say, they do not worship the Image, only make use of it as a Medium, they worship God by it; Ne imagini quidem Christi in quantum est Lignum sculptum, ulla debetur reverentia, Aquinas.

Resp. 1. Where hath God bid them worship him by an Effigies or Spirit? Isa. 1.12. Who hath required this at your Hands? The Papists can't say so much as the Devil, Scriptum est, it is written.

2. The Heathens may bring the same Argument for their gross Idolatry, as the Papists do for their Image-worship; who of the Heathens were so simple, as to think Gold and Silver, or the Figure of an Ox or Elephant, were God? They were only Emblems and Hieroglyphicks to represent him; they did worship the invisible God, by such visible things. To worship God by an Image, God takes as done to the Image itself.

Obj. 2. But say the Papists, 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 Scriptures.

Resp. Hab. 2.18. What profiteth the Graven Image, the Molten Image, and a Teacher of Lies? Is an Image a Lay-mans Book? See then what Lessons this Book teacheth, it teacheth Lyes, it represents God in a visible shape, who is invisible. For the Papists to say they make use of an Image, to put them in mind of God, is as if a Woman should say she keeps company with another Man, to put her in mind of her Husband.

Obj. 3. But did not Moses make the Image of a Brazen Serpent, why then may not Images be set up?

Resp. That was done by Gods special command, Num. 21.8. Make thee a Brazen Serpent; and there was a special use of it, both Literal and Spiritual; but what, doth the setting up this Image of the Brazen Serpent justifie the setting up of Images in Churches? What, because Moses did make an Image by Gods appointment, may we therefore set up an Image of our own Devising? Because Moses made an Image to heal them that were stung, is it lawful therefore to set up Images in Churches, to sting them that are whole? This doth not at all follow. Nay, that very brazen Serpent which God himself commanded to be set up, when Israel did look upon it with too much Reverence, and began to burn Incense to it, Hezekiah defaced that Image, and called it Nehushtan, and God commended him for doing so, 2 Kings 18.4.

Obj. 4. But is not God represented as having Hands and Eyes and Ears? Why then may we not make an Image to represent him by, and help our Devotion?

Resp. Though God is pleas'd to stoop to our weak Capacities, and set himself out in Scripture by Eyes, to signifie his Omnisciency, and Hands, to signifie his Power, yet it is very absurd from Metaphors and Figurative Expressions, 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 set forth by these Metaphors in Scripture; and sure the Papists themselves would not like to have such Images made of God.

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

Resp. No. Epiphanius seeing an Image of Christ hanging in a Church, brake it in Pieces; 'tis Christ's Godhead, united to his Manhood, that makes him to be Christ; therefore to Picture his Manhood, when we cannot Picture his Godhead, is a Sin, because we make him to be but half Christ; we separate what God hath joyned, we leave out that which is the chief thing, which makes him to be Christ.

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

Resp. We must conceive of God Spiritually, viz. 1. In his Attributes, his Holiness, Justice, Goodness, which are the Beams by which his Divine Nature shines forth. 2. We must conceive of him as he is in Christ. Christ is the Image of the Invisible God, Col. 1.15. As in the Wax we see the print of the Seal. Set the Eyes of your Faith on Christ-God-Man, Iohn 14.9. He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.

Use 2. Take heed of Idolatry, viz. Image-worship; our Nature is prone to this Sin, as dry Wood to take Fire; and indeed what needs so many Words in the Commandment, Thou shalt not make any Graven Image, or the likeness of any thing, in Heaven, Earth, Water, Sun, Moon, Stars, Male, Female, Fish; Thou shalt not bow down to them; I say, what needed so many Words, but to shew how subject we are to this sin of false Worship? It concerns us therefore to resist this sin. Where the Tide is apt to run with greater force, there we had need make the Banks higher and stronger; the Plague of Idolatry is very infectious, Psal. 106.35, 36. They were mingled among the Heathens, and served their Idols. It is my Advice to you, to avoid all occasions of this Sin.

1. Come not into the Company of Idolatrous Papists; dare not to live under the same Roof with them: You run into the Devils Mouth. Iohn the Divine would not be in the Bath where Cerinthus the Heretick was.

2. Go not into their Chappels to see their Crucifixes or hear Mass: As the looking on an Harlot draws to Adultery, so the looking on the Popish guilded Picture, may draw to Idolatry. Some care not though they go and see their Idol-worship; indeed a Vagrant that hath nothing to lose, cares not though he goes among Thieves. Such as have no goodness in them, care not into what Idolatrous Places they come, or what Temptations they cast themselves upon; but you who have a Treasure about you, good Principles, take heed the Popish Priests do not rob you of your Principles, and defile you with their Images.

3. Dare not to joyn in Marriage with Image-worshippers. Solomon though a Man of Wisdom, yet his Idolatrous Wives drew away his Heart from God; the People of Israel entred into an Oath and Curse, that they would not give their Daughters in Marriage to the Idolaters, Nehem. 10.30. For a Protestant and Papist to Marry, is to be unequally yoaked, 2 Cor. 6.14. and there is more danger the Papist will corrupt the Protestant, than hope the Protestant will convert the Papist. Mingle Wine and Vinegar, the Vinegar will sooner sour the Wine, than the Wine will sweeten the Vinegar.

4. Avoid Superstition, which is a Bridge leads over to Rome. Superstition is the bringing in any Ceremony, Fancy or Innovation into Gods worship which he never appointed. This is very provoking to God, because it reflects much upon his Honour, as if he were not wise enough to appoint the manner of his own Worship. God hates all strange Fire to be offered in his Temple, Lev. 10.1. A Ceremony may in time bring to a Crucifix. They who contend for the Cross in Baptism, why may they not as well have the Oyl, Salt and Cream, the one being as antient as the other? Such as are for Altar-worship, they who will bow to the East, may in time bow to the Host. Take heed of all occasions of Idolatry. Idolatry is Devil-worship, Psal. 106.37. And if you search through the whole Bible, there is no one Sin that God hath more followed with Plagues than Idolatry; the Jews have a Saying, that in every Evil which befals them, there is uncia aurei vituli, an Ounce of the Golden Calf in it. Hell is a Place for Idolaters, Rev. 22.15. For without are Idolaters. Synesius calls the Devil [gap], a Rejoycer at Idols, because Image-worshippers help to fill Hell. That you may be preserved from Idolatry and Image-worship,

1. Get good Principles, that you may be able to oppose the Gain-sayer. Whence doth the Popish Religion get ground? not from the goodness of their cause, but from the ignorance of the People.

2. Get love to God. The Wife that loves her Husband is safe from the Adulterer; and the Soul that loves Christ is safe from the Idolater.

3. Pray that God will keep you. Though it is true, there is nothing in an Image to tempt; for if we pray to an Image, it cannot hear, and if we pray to God by an Image, he will not hear; I say there is nothing to tempt; yet we know not our own Hearts, or how soon we may be drawn to Vanity, if God leave us; therefore pray that you be not enticed to false Worship, or receive

the Mark of the Beast in your right hand or Forehead: Pray, Psal. 119.117. Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Lord, let me neither mistake my way for want of Light, or leave the true way for want of Courage.

2. Let us Bless God who hath given us the Knowledge of his Truth: That we have tasted the Hony of his Word, and our Eyes are enlightned. Bless him that he hath shewn us the Pattern of his House; the right Mode of Worship: That he hath discovered to us the Forgery and Blasphemy of the Romish Religion. Let us pray, that God will preserve pure Ordinances and powerful Preaching among us. Idolatry came in at first by the want of good Preaching. Then the People began to have golden Images when they had wooden Priests.

Of the Ten Commandments.

Exod. 20.5.

For I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation, of them that hate me.

1. I The Lord thy God, am a jealous God.] The first reason why Israel must not worship graven Images, is because the Lord is a jealous God, Exod. 34.14 The Lord whose name is Jehovah is a jealous God. Jealousie is taken in a good sense, and so God is jealous for his People. 2. In a bad Sense, and so God is jealous of his People.

1. In a good Sense, and so God is jealous for his People, Zech. 1.14. Thus saith the Lord, I am jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion, with a great jealousie. God hath a dear Affection to his People, they are his Hephsibah or Delight, Isa. 62.4. The Apple of his Eye, Zech. 2.8. To express how dear they are to him, and how tender he is of them, Nihil charius pupilla oculi, Drusius. They are his Spouse, adorn'd with the Jewels of Grace: They lye near to his Heart. He is jealous for his Spouse, therefore will be avenged on them who go to wrong her, Isa. 42.13. The Lord shall stir up jealousie like a man of war; he shall roar, he shall prevail against his enemies. What is done to the Saints, God takes as done to himself, 2 Kings 19.22. and the Lord will undo all them that afflict Sion, Zeph. 3.19. I will undo all that afflict thee. 2. Jealousie is taken in a bad Sense, and so God is jealous of his People: And so it is taken in this Commandment. I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. I am jealous lest you should go after false Gods, or worship the true God in a false manner; lest you defile your Virgin Profession by Images. God will have his Spouse keep close to him, and not go after other Lovers, Hos. 3.3. Thou shalt not be for another man. God cannot bear a Corrival. Our conjugal Love, viz. a Love joyn'd with Adoration, and Worship, must be given only to God.

Use 1. Let us give God no just cause to be jealous. A good Wife will be so Discreet and Chast, as to give her Husband no just occasion of Jealousie. Let us avoid all Sin, especially this Sin of Idolatry or Image-worship: It is heinous, after we have entred into a Marriage-Covenant with God, now to prostitute our selves to an Image. Idolatry is Spiritual Adultery, and God is a jealous God, he will avenge it: Image-worship makes God abhor a People, Psal. 78.58. They moved him to jealousie with their graven Images. When God heard this, he was Wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel. Image-worship enrageth God, Prov. 6.34. Iealousie is the Rage of a man: It makes God divorce a People, Exod. 32.7. Thy People, lo-ammi, Hos. 2.2. Plead with your Mother, plead, for she is not my Wife, Cant. 8.6. Iealousie is cruel as the grave. As the Grave devours Mens Bodies, so God will devour Image-worshippers:

Use 2. If God be a jealous God, let it be a word to such whose Friends are Popish Idolaters, and they are hated by their Friends, because they are of a different Religion, and perhaps they cut off their Maintenance from them. O remember God is a jealous God, better move your Parents to hatred, than move God to jealousie: Their Anger cannot do you so much hurt as Gods: If they will not provide for you, God will, Psal. 27.10. When my Father and Mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

2. The second Reason against Image-worship, Visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children, unto the third and fourth Generation.] There is a Two-fold Visiting. 1. There is Gods visiting in Mercy, Gen. 50.25. God will surely visit

you. That is, he will bring you into the Land of Canaan, the Type of Heaven. Thus God hath visited us with the Sun-beams of his Favour: He hath made us swim in a Sea of Mercy: This is an happy Visitation. 2. There is Gods visiting in Anger, Ier. 5.9. Shall I not visit for these things? That is, Gods visiting with the Rod; and Isa. 10.3. What will ye do in the day of Visitation? That is, in the day when God shall visit with his Judgments. Thus Gods visiting is taken here, in this Commandment, visiting Iniquity, that is, punishing Iniquity. Observe here three things.

Observ. 1. That Sin makes God visit: Visiting Iniquity. Sin is the cause why God visits with Sickness, Poverty, Psal. 89.31, 32. If they break my Commandments: Then will I visit their transgression with the rod. Sin twists the Cords which pinch us: Sin creates all our Troubles: It is the Gaul in our Cup, and the Gravel in our Bread: Flagitium & flagellum sunt sicut acus & filum. Sin is the Trojan Horse: The Phaeton that sets all on Fire: It is the Womb of our Sorrows, and Grave of our Comforts. God visits for Sin.

Observ. 2. One special sin God visits for, is Idolatry and Image-worship. Visiting the iniquity of the Fathers. Most of Gods invenomed Arrows have been shot among Idolaters, Ier. 7.12. Go now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it. God for Israels Idolatry, suffered their Army to be routed, their Priests slain, the Ark taken Captive, and we never read that the Ark returned to Shiloh any more. Hierusalem was the most Famous Metropolis of the World: There was the Temple, Psal. 122.4. Whither the Tribes go up, the Tribes of the Lord. Yet for their high places and Images, their City was besieged and taken by the Chaldean Forces, 2 Kings 25.4. When Images were set up in Constantinople, the chief Seat of the Eastern Empire, this City which was in the eye of the World impregnable, was taken by the Turks, and many cruelly Massacred. Then the Turks, in their Triumphs, reproached the Idolatrous Christians, causing an Image or Crucifix to be carried through the Streets in Contempt, and throwing Dirt upon it, cried, This is the God of the Christians: Here was Gods Visitation for their Idolatry. God hath set special marks of his Wrath upon Idolaters. At a place called Epoletium there perished by an Earth-quake 350 Persons, while they were offering Sacrifice to Idols. Idolatry hath brought Misery upon the Eastern Churches, it removed the golden Candlesticks of Asia. This Iniquity God visits for.

Observ 3. Idolatrous Persons are Enemies not only to their own Souls, but to their Children: Visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon their Children. As an Idolatrous Father intails his Land of Inheritance, so he intails Gods Anger and Curse upon them. A jealous Husband finding his Wife hath stained her Integrity, may justly cast off her and her Children too, because they are none of his. If the Father be a Traytor to his Prince, no wonder if all the Children suffer. God may visit the Iniquity of Image-worshippers upon their Children.

Quest But is it not said, Every one shall dye for his own Sin? The Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father? How then doth God say, he will visit the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children?

Resp. Though the Son be not Damned for his Fathers Sin, yet he may be severely punished, Iob 21.19. God lays up his iniquity for his Children. That is, God lays up the Punishment of his Iniquity for his Children; the Child smarts for the Fathers Sin. Ieroboam thought to have established the Kingdom by Idolatrous Worship, but it brought Ruin upon him and all his Posterity, 1 Kings 14.10. Ahab's Idolatry wronged his Posterity, they lost the Kingdom and were all Beheaded, 2 Kings 10.7. They took the Kings Sons, and slew seventy Persons. There God visited the I[gap]quity of the Father upon the Children. As a Son catcheth an Hereditary Disease from his Father, the Stone or Gout; so he catcheth Misery from him, his Fathers Sin ruins him.

Use 1. If so, then how sad is it to be the Child of an Idolater? It had been sad to have been one of Gehazi's Children, who had Leprosie intail'd upon them, 2 Kings 5.27. The Leprosie of Naaman shall cleave to thee, and to thy Seed for ever. So it is sad to be a Child of an Idolater, or Image-worshipper. His Seed are exposed to Gods heavy Judgments in this Life: God visits the Iniquity of the Fathers upon their Children. Methinks I hear God speak, as Isa. 14.21. Prepare slaughter for his Children for the Iniquity of their Fathers.

Use 2. See what a Privilege it is to be the Children of good Parents: The Parents are in Covenant with God, and God lays up Mercy for their Posterity, Prov. 20.7. The just man walks in his Integrity, his Seed are blessed after him. A Religious Parent

doth not procure Wrath, but helps to keep off Wrath from his Child: He seasons his Child with Religious Principles; he prays down a Blessing on his Child: He is a Load-stone, drawing his Child to Christ by good Council and Example. O what a Privilege is it to be born of Godly Religious Parents! St. Austin saith, That his Mother Monica travelled with greater Care and Pains for his new Birth, than for his Natural. Wicked Idolaters entail Misery on their Posterity. God visits the Iniquity of the Fathers upon their Children: But Religious Parents procure a Blessing upon their Children. God reserves Mercy for their Posterity.

3. The third Reason against Image-worship, Of them that hate me.] This is a Reason against Image-worship, 'tis hating God: The Papists who worship God by an Image, hate God. Image-worship is a pretended Love to God, but God interprets it an hating of him: Quae diligit alienum odit sponsum: She that loves another Man, hates her own Husband. An Image-lover is a God-hater. Idolaters are said to go a Whoring from God, Ezek. 34.15. How can they love God? I shall shew that Image-worshippers hate God, whatever love they pretend.

1. They who go contrary to Gods express Will, hate him. God saith, You shall not set up any Statue, Image, Picture, to represent me: These things I hate, Deut. 16.22. Neither shalt thou set up any Image which the Lord thy God hateth. Yet the Idolater will set up Images and worship them. This God looks upon as an hating of him. How doth that Child love his Father, who doth all he can to cross him?

2. They who shut the Truth out of Doors, hate God. Iephtha proves, that his Brethren did hate him, because they laboured to shut him out of his Fathers House, Iudges 11.7. The Idolater shuts the Truth out of doors: He blots out the Second Commandment: He makes a shape of the invisible God: He brings a Lye into Gods Worship, which is a clear proof he hates God.

3. Idolaters, though they love the false Image of God in a Picture, yet they hate the true Image of God in a Believer. They pretend to Honour Christ in a Crucifix, yet persecute Christ in his Members: These bate God.

Use 1. This may confute those who plead for Image-worshippers, they are very devout People, they adore Images, they set up the Crucifix, kiss it, light Candles to it: They love God. Nay, but who shall be judge of their Love? God saith, they hate him: They give Religious Adoration to a Creature: These hate God, and God hates them: And they shall never live with God, whom he hates: He will never lay such Vipers in his Bosom: Heaven is kept as Paradise, with a Flaming Sword that they shall not enter: And Deut. 7.10. He repayeth them that hate him, to their face. God will shoot all his murdering pieces among Idolaters: All the Plagues and Curses in the Book of God shall befall the Idolater: The Lord repays him that hates him to his Face.

Use 2. Let it exhort us all to fly from Romish Idolatry; let us not be among God-haters, 1 Iohn 5.21. Little Children keep your selves from Idols. As you would keep your Bodies from Adultery, so keep your Souls from Idolatry. Take heed of Images, they are Images of Jealousie to provoke God to Anger: They are Damnable: You may as well perish by false Devotion, as by real Scandal: By Image-worship, as Drunkenness and Whoredom. A Man may as well dye by Poyson as Pistol: We may as well go to Hell by drinking Poyson in the Romish Cup of Fornication, as by being Pistoll'd with gross scandalous Sins. To conclude, God is a jealous God, no Corrival; he will visit the Iniquity of the Fathers upon their Children: He will entail a Plague upon the Posterity of Idolaters. He interprets Idolaters to be such as hate him. He that is an Image-lover, is a God-hater: Therefore keep your selves pure from Romish Idolatry: If you love your Souls, keep your selves from Idols.