No More Learning

And that which St. Paul saies (1 Thessal. 1. 9, 10. )
"That they turned from Idols, to serve the living and true God, and
to waite for his Sonne from Heaven:" Where to waite for his Sonne from
Heaven, is to wait for his comming to be King in power; which were
not necessary, if this Kingdome had beene then present. Againe, if the
Kingdome of God began (as Beza on that place (Mark 9. 1. ) would have it)
at the Resurrection; what reason is there for Christians ever since the
Resurrection to say in their prayers, "Let thy Kingdome Come"? It
is therefore manifest, that the words of St. Mark are not so to be
interpreted. There be some of them that stand here (saith our Saviour)
that shall not tast of death till they have seen the Kingdome of God
come in power. If then this Kingdome were to come at the Resurrection
of Christ, why is it said, "some of them" rather than all? For they all
lived till after Christ was risen.




Explication Of The Place In Mark 9. 1

But they that require an exact interpretation of this text, let them
interpret first the like words of our Saviour to St. Peter concerning
St. John, (chap. 21. 22. ) "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is
that to thee? " upon which was grounded a report that hee should not dye:
Neverthelesse the truth of that report was neither confirmed, as well
grounded; nor refuted, as ill grounded on those words; but left as a
saying not understood. The same difficulty is also in the place of St.
Marke. And if it be lawfull to conjecture at their meaning, by that
which immediately followes, both here, and in St. Luke, where the same
is againe repeated, it is not unprobable, to say they have relation
to the Transfiguration, which is described in the verses immediately
following; where it is said, that "After six dayes Jesus taketh with
him Peter, and James, and John (not all, but some of his Disciples)
and leadeth them up into an high mountaine apart by themselves, and
was transfigured before them. And his rayment became shining, exceeding
white as snow; so as no Fuller on earth can white them. And there
appeared unto them Elias with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus,
&c. " So that they saw Christ in Glory and Majestie, as he is to come;
insomuch as "They were sore afraid. " And thus the promise of our Saviour
was accomplished by way of Vision: For it was a Vision, as may probably
bee inferred out of St. Luke, that reciteth the same story (ch. 9. ve.
28. ) and saith, that Peter and they that were with him, were heavy with
sleep; But most certainly out of Matth. 17. 9. (where the same is again
related;) for our Saviour charged them, saying, "Tell no man the Vision
untill the Son of man be Risen from the dead. " Howsoever it be, yet
there can from thence be taken no argument, to prove that the Kingdome
of God taketh beginning till the day of Judgement.




Abuse Of Some Other Texts In Defence Of The Power Of The Pope

As for some other texts, to prove the Popes Power over civill
Soveraignes (besides those of Bellarmine;) as that the two Swords that
Christ and his Apostles had amongst them, were the Spirituall and the
Temporall Sword, which they say St. Peter had given him by Christ: And,
that of the two Luminaries, the greater signifies the Pope, and the
lesser the King; One might as well inferre out of the first verse of the
Bible, that by Heaven is meant the Pope, and by Earth the King: Which
is not arguing from Scripture, but a wanton insulting over Princes, that
came in fashion after the time the Popes were growne so secure of their
greatnesse, as to contemne all Christian Kings; and Treading on the
necks of Emperours, to mocke both them, and the Scripture, in the words
of the 91. Psalm, "Thou shalt Tread upon the Lion and the Adder, the
young Lion and the Dragon thou shalt Trample under thy feet. "




The Manner Of Consecrations In The Scripture, Was Without Exorcisms

As for the rites of Consecration, though they depend for the most part
upon the discretion and judgement of the governors of the Church,
and not upon the Scriptures; yet those governors are obliged to such
direction, as the nature of the action it selfe requireth; as that the
ceremonies, words, and gestures, be both decent, and significant, or at
least conformable to the action. When Moses consecrated the Tabernacle,
the Altar, and the Vessels belonging to them (Exod. 40. ) he anointed
them with the Oyle which God had commanded to bee made for that
purpose; and they were holy; There was nothing Exorcised, to drive away
Phantasmes. The same Moses (the civill Soveraigne of Israel) when he
consecrated Aaron (the High Priest,) and his Sons, did wash them with
Water, (not Exorcised water,) put their Garments upon them, and anointed
them with Oyle; and they were sanctified, to minister unto the Lord
in the Priests office; which was a simple and decent cleansing, and
adorning them, before hee presented them to God, to be his servants.
When King Solomon, (the civill Soveraigne of Israel) consecrated the
Temple hee had built, (2 Kings 8. ) he stood before all the Congregation
of Israel; and having blessed them, he gave thanks to God, for putting
into the heart of his father, to build it; and for giving to himselfe
the grace to accomplish the same; and then prayed unto him, first,
to accept that House, though it were not sutable to his infinite
Greatnesse; and to hear the prayers of his Servants that should pray
therein, or (if they were absent) towards it; and lastly, he offered a
sacrifice of Peace-offering, and the House was dedicated. Here was no
Procession; the King stood still in his first place; no Exorcised Water;
no Asperges Me, nor other impertinent application of words spoken upon
another occasion; but a decent, and rationall speech, and such as in
making to God a present of his new built House, was most conformable
to the occasion. We read not that St. John did Exorcise the Water
of Jordan; nor Philip the Water of the river wherein he baptized the
Eunuch; nor that any Pastor in the time of the Apostles, did take his
spittle, and put it to the nose of the person to be Baptized, and say,
"In odorem suavitatis," that is, "for a sweet savour unto the Lord;"
wherein neither the Ceremony of Spittle, for the uncleannesse; nor the
application of that Scripture for the levity, can by any authority of
man be justified.




The Immortality Of Mans Soule, Not Proved By Scripture To Be Of Nature,

But Of Grace

To prove that the Soule separated from the Body liveth eternally, not
onely the Soules of the Elect, by especiall grace, and restauration of
the Eternall Life which Adam lost by Sinne, and our Saviour restored
by the Sacrifice of himself, to the Faithfull, but also the Soules
of Reprobates, as a property naturally consequent to the essence of
mankind, without other grace of God, but that which is universally given
to all mankind; there are divers places, which at the first sight seem
sufficiently to serve the turn: but such, as when I compare them with
that which I have before (Chapter 38. ) alledged out of the 14 of Job,
seem to mee much more subject to a divers interpretation, than the words
of Job.

And first there are the words of Solomon (Ecclesiastes 12. 7. ) "Then
shall the Dust return to Dust, as it was, and the Spirit shall return to
God that gave it. " Which may bear well enough (if there be no other text
directly against it) this interpretation, that God onely knows, (but
Man not,) what becomes of a mans spirit, when he expireth; and the same
Solomon, in the same Book, (Chap. 3. ver. 20,21. ) delivereth in the same
sentence in the sense I have given it: His words are, "All goe, (man
and beast) to the same place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust
again; who knoweth that the spirit of Man goeth upward, and the spirit
of the Beast goeth downward to the earth? " That is, none knows but God;
Nor is it an unusuall phrase to say of things we understand not, "God
knows what," and "God knows where. " That of Gen. 5. 24. "Enoch walked
with God, and he was not; for God took him;" which is expounded Heb.
13. 5. "He was translated, that he should not die; and was not found,
because God had translated him. For before his Translation, he had this
testimony, that he pleased God," making as much for the Immortality
of the Body, as of the Soule, proveth, that this his translation was
peculiar to them that please God; not common to them with the wicked;
and depending on Grace, not on Nature. But on the contrary, what
interpretation shall we give, besides the literall sense of the words of
Solomon (Eccles. 3. 19. ) "That which befalleth the Sons of Men, befalleth
Beasts, even one thing befalleth them; as the one dyeth, so doth the
other; yea, they have all one breath (one spirit;) so that a Man hath no
praeeminence above a Beast, for all is vanity. " By the literall sense,
here is no Naturall Immortality of the Soule; nor yet any repugnancy
with the Life Eternall, which the Elect shall enjoy by Grace. And (chap.
4. ver. 3. ) "Better is he that hath not yet been, than both they;" that
is, than they that live, or have lived; which, if the Soule of all them
that have lived, were Immortall, were a hard saying; for then to have
an Immortall Soule, were worse than to have no Soule at all. And
againe,(Chapt. 9. 5. ) "The living know they shall die, but the dead know
not any thing;" that is, Naturally, and before the resurrection of the
body.

Another place which seems to make for a Naturall Immortality of the
Soule, is that, where our Saviour saith, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
are living: but this is spoken of the promise of God, and of their
certitude to rise again, not of a Life then actuall; and in the same
sense that God said to Adam, that on the day hee should eate of the
forbidden fruit, he should certainly die; from that time forward he was
a dead man by sentence; but not by execution, till almost a thousand
years after. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive by promise, then,
when Christ spake; but are not actually till the Resurrection. And the
History of Dives and Lazarus, make nothing against this, if wee take it
(as it is) for a Parable.

But there be other places of the New Testament, where an Immortality
seemeth to be directly attributed to the wicked. For it is evident, that
they shall all rise to Judgement. And it is said besides in many places,
that they shall goe into "Everlasting fire, Everlasting torments,
Everlasting punishments; and that the worm of conscience never dyeth;"
and all this is comprehended in the word Everlasting Death, which is
ordinarily interpreted Everlasting Life In Torments: And yet I can find
no where that any man shall live in torments Everlastingly. Also, it
seemeth hard, to say, that God who is the Father of Mercies, that doth
in Heaven and Earth all that hee will; that hath the hearts of all men
in his disposing; that worketh in men both to doe, and to will; and
without whose free gift a man hath neither inclination to good, nor
repentance of evill, should punish mens transgressions without any end
of time, and with all the extremity of torture, that men can imagine,
and more. We are therefore to consider, what the meaning is, of
Everlasting Fire, and other the like phrases of Scripture.

I have shewed already, that the Kingdome of God by Christ beginneth at
the day of Judgment: That in that day, the Faithfull shall rise again,
with glorious, and spirituall Bodies, and bee his Subjects in that his
Kingdome, which shall be Eternall; That they shall neither marry, nor
be given in marriage, nor eate and drink, as they did in their naturall
bodies; but live for ever in their individuall persons, without the
specificall eternity of generation: And that the Reprobates also shall
rise again, to receive punishments for their sins: As also, that those
of the Elect, which shall be alive in their earthly bodies at that
day, shall have their bodies suddenly changed, and made spirituall, and
Immortall. But that the bodies of the Reprobate, who make the Kingdome
of Satan, shall also be glorious, or spirituall bodies, or that they
shall bee as the Angels of God, neither eating, nor drinking, nor
engendring; or that their life shall be Eternall in their individuall
persons, as the life of every faithfull man is, or as the life of Adam
had been if hee had not sinned, there is no place of Scripture to prove
it; save onely these places concerning Eternall Torments; which may
otherwise be interpreted.

From whence may be inferred, that as the Elect after the Resurrection
shall be restored to the estate, wherein Adam was before he had sinned;
so the Reprobate shall be in the estate, that Adam, and his posterity
were in after the sin committed; saving that God promised a Redeemer to
Adam, and such of his seed as should trust in him, and repent; but not
to them that should die in their sins, as do the Reprobate.




Eternall Torments What

These things considered, the texts that mention Eternall Fire, Eternal
Torments, or the Word That Never Dieth, contradict not the Doctrine of
a Second, and Everlasting Death, in the proper and naturall sense of the
word Death. The Fire, or Torments prepared for the wicked in Gehenna,
Tophet, or in what place soever, may continue for ever; and there may
never want wicked men to be tormented in them; though not every, nor
any one Eternally. For the wicked being left in the estate they were in
after Adams sin, may at the Resurrection live as they did, marry, and
give in marriage, and have grosse and corruptible bodies, as all
mankind now have; and consequently may engender perpetually, after the
Resurrection, as they did before: For there is no place of Scripture to
the contrary. For St. Paul, speaking of the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15. )
understandeth it onely of the Resurrection to Life Eternall; and not the
Resurrection to Punishment. And of the first, he saith that the Body is
"Sown in Corruption, raised in Incorruption; sown in Dishonour, raised
in Honour; sown in Weaknesse, raised in Power; sown a Naturall body,
raised a Spirituall body:" There is no such thing can be said of the
bodies of them that rise to Punishment. The text is Luke 20. Verses
34,35,36. a fertile text. "The Children of this world marry, and are
given in marriage; but they that shall be counted worthy to obtaine that
world, and the Resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given
in marriage: Neither can they die any more; for they are equall to
the Angells, and are the Children of God, being the Children of the
Resurrection:" The Children of this world, that are in the estate
which Adam left them in, shall marry, and be given in marriage; that is
corrupt, and generate successively; which is an Immortality of the Kind,
but not of the Persons of men: They are not worthy to be counted amongst
them that shall obtain the next world, and an absolute Resurrection from
the dead; but onely a short time, as inmates of that world; and to the
end onely to receive condign punishment for their contumacy. The Elect
are the onely children of the Resurrection; that is to say the sole
heirs of Eternall Life: they only can die no more; it is they that are
equall to the Angels, and that are the children of God; and not the
Reprobate. To the Reprobate there remaineth after the Resurrection,
a Second, and Eternall Death: between which Resurrection, and their
Second, and Eternall death, is but a time of Punishment and Torment; and
to last by succession of sinners thereunto, as long as the kind of Man
by propagation shall endure, which is Eternally.




Answer Of The Texts Alledged For Purgatory

Upon this Doctrine of the Naturall Eternity of separated Soules, is
founded (as I said) the Doctrine of Purgatory. For supposing Eternall
Life by Grace onely, there is no Life, but the Life of the Body; and no
Immortality till the Resurrection. The texts for Purgatory alledged by
Bellarmine out of the Canonicall Scripture of the old Testament, are
first, the Fasting of David for Saul and Jonathan, mentioned (2 Kings,
1. 12. ); and againe, (2 Sam. 3. 35. ) for the death of Abner. This
Fasting of David, he saith, was for the obtaining of something for them
at Gods hands, after their death; because after he had Fasted to procure
the recovery of his owne child, assoone as he know it was dead, he
called for meate. Seeing then the Soule hath an existence separate from
the Body, and nothing can be obtained by mens Fasting for the Soules
that are already either in Heaven, or Hell, it followeth that there be
some Soules of dead men, what are neither in Heaven, nor in Hell; and
therefore they must bee in some third place, which must be Purgatory.
And thus with hard straining, hee has wrested those places to the proofe
of a Purgatory; whereas it is manifest, that the ceremonies of Mourning,
and Fasting, when they are used for the death of men, whose life was
not profitable to the Mourners, they are used for honours sake to their
persons; and when tis done for the death of them by whose life the
Mourners had benefit, it proceeds from their particular dammage: And so
David honoured Saul, and Abner, with his Fasting; and in the death of
his owne child, recomforted himselfe, by receiving his ordinary food.

In the other places, which he alledgeth out of the old Testament, there
is not so much as any shew, or colour of proofe. He brings in every text
wherein there is the word Anger, or Fire, or Burning, or Purging, or
Clensing, in case any of the Fathers have but in a Sermon rhetorically
applied it to the Doctrine of Purgatory, already beleeved. The first
verse of Psalme, 37. "O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath, nor chasten me
in thy hot displeasure:" What were this to Purgatory, if Augustine had
not applied the Wrath to the fire of Hell, and the Displeasure, to that
of Purgatory? And what is it to Purgatory, that of Psalme, 66. 12. "Wee
went through fire and water, and thou broughtest us to a moist place;"
and other the like texts, (with which the Doctors of those times
entended to adorne, or extend their Sermons, or Commentaries) haled to
their purposes by force of wit?




Places Of The New Testament For Purgatory Answered

But he alledgeth other places of the New Testament, that are not
so easie to be answered: And first that of Matth. 12. 32. "Whosoever
speaketh a word against the Sonne of man, it shall be forgiven him; but
whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not bee forgiven
him neither in this world, nor in the world to come:" Where he will have
Purgatory to be the World to come, wherein some sinnes may be forgiven,
which in this World were not forgiven: notwithstanding that it is
manifest, there are but three Worlds; one from the Creation to the
Flood, which was destroyed by Water, and is called in Scripture the
Old World; another from the Flood to the day of Judgement, which is the
Present World, and shall bee destroyed by Fire; and the third, which
shall bee from the day of Judgement forward, everlasting, which is
called the World To Come; and in which it is agreed by all, there shall
be no Purgatory; And therefore the World to come, and Purgatory, are
inconsistent. But what then can bee the meaning of those our Saviours
words? I confesse they are very hardly to bee reconciled with all the
Doctrines now unanimously received: Nor is it any shame, to confesse the
profoundnesse of the Scripture, to bee too great to be sounded by the
shortnesse of humane understanding. Neverthelesse, I may propound such
things to the consideration of more learned Divines, as the text it
selfe suggesteth. And first, seeing to speake against the Holy Ghost, as
being the third Person of the Trinity, is to speake against the Church,
in which the Holy Ghost resideth; it seemeth the comparison is made,
betweene the Easinesse of our Saviour, in bearing with offences done to
him while he was on earth, and the Severity of the Pastors after him,
against those which should deny their authority, which was from the Holy
Ghost: As if he should say, You that deny my Power; nay you that shall
crucifie me, shall be pardoned by mee, as often as you turne unto mee by
Repentance: But if you deny the Power of them that teach you hereafter,
by vertue of the Holy Ghost, they shall be inexorable, and shall not
forgive you, but persecute you in this World, and leave you without
absolution, (though you turn to me, unlesse you turn also to them,) to
the punishments (as much as lies in them) of the World to come: And
so the words may be taken as a Prophecy, or Praediction concerning the
times, as they have along been in the Christian Church: Or if this be
not the meaning, (for I am not peremptory in such difficult places,)
perhaps there may be place left after the Resurrection for the
Repentance of some sinners: And there is also another place, that
seemeth to agree therewith. For considering the words of St. Paul (1
Cor. 15. 29. ) "What shall they doe which are Baptized for the dead, if
the dead rise not at all? why also are they Baptized for the dead? " a
man may probably inferre, as some have done, that in St. Pauls time,
there was a custome by receiving Baptisme for the dead, (as men that now
beleeve, are Sureties and Undertakers for the Faith of Infants, that
are not capable of beleeving,) to undertake for the persons of their
deceased friends, that they should be ready to obey, and receive our
Saviour for their King, at his coming again; and then the forgivenesse
of sins in the world to come, has no need of a Purgatory. But in both
these interpretations, there is so much of paradox, that I trust not
to them; but propound them to those that are throughly versed in the
Scripture, to inquire if there be no clearer place that contradicts
them. Onely of thus much, I see evident Scripture, to perswade men, that
there is neither the word, nor the thing of Purgatory, neither in this,
nor any other text; nor any thing that can prove a necessity of a place
for the Soule without the Body; neither for the Soule of Lazarus during
the four days he was dead; nor for the Soules of them which the Romane
Church pretend to be tormented now in Purgatory. For God, that could
give a life to a peece of clay, hath the same power to give life again
to a dead man, and renew his inanimate, and rotten Carkasse, into a
glorious, spirituall, and immortall Body.

Another place is that of 1 Cor. 3. where it is said that they which
built Stubble, Hay, &c. on the true Foundation, their work shall perish;
but "they themselves shall be saved; but as through Fire:" This Fire, he
will have to be the Fire of Purgatory. The words, as I have said before,
are an allusion to those of Zach. 13. 9. where he saith, "I will bring
the third part through the Fire, and refine them as Silver is refined,
and will try them as Gold is tryed;" Which is spoken of the comming of
the Messiah in Power and Glory; that is, at the day of Judgment, and
Conflagration of the present world; wherein the Elect shall not be
consumed, but be refined; that is, depose their erroneous Doctrines, and
Traditions, and have them as it were sindged off; and shall afterwards
call upon the name of the true God. In like manner, the Apostle saith
of them, that holding this Foundation Jesus Is The Christ, shall build
thereon some other Doctrines that be erroneous, that they shall not be
consumed in that fire which reneweth the world, but shall passe through
it to Salvation; but so, as to see, and relinquish their former Errours.
The Builders, are the Pastors; the Foundation, that Jesus Is The Christ;
the Stubble and Hay, False Consequences Drawn From It Through Ignorance,
Or Frailty; the Gold, Silver, and pretious Stones, are their True
Doctrines; and their Refining or Purging, the Relinquishing Of Their
Errors. In all which there is no colour at all for the burning of
Incorporeall, that is to say, Impatible Souls.




Baptisme For The Dead, How Understood

A third place is that of 1 Cor. 15. before mentioned, concerning
Baptisme for the Dead: out of which he concludeth, first, that Prayers
for the Dead are not unprofitable; and out of that, that there is a Fire
of Purgatory: But neither of them rightly. For of many interpretations
of the word Baptisme, he approveth this in the first place, that by
Baptisme is meant (metaphorically) a Baptisme of Penance; and that men
are in this sense Baptized, when they Fast, and Pray, and give Almes:
And so Baptisme for the Dead, and Prayer of the Dead, is the same thing.
But this is a Metaphor, of which there is no example, neither in
the Scripture, nor in any other use of language; and which is also
discordant to the harmony, and scope of the Scripture. The word Baptisme
is used (Mar. 10. 38. & Luk. 12. 59. ) for being Dipped in ones own
bloud, as Christ was upon the Cross, and as most of the Apostles
were, for giving testimony of him. But it is hard to say, that Prayer,
Fasting, and Almes, have any similitude with Dipping. The same is used
also Mat. 3. 11. (which seemeth to make somewhat for Purgatory) for
a Purging with Fire. But it is evident the Fire and Purging here
mentioned, is the same whereof the Prophet Zachary speaketh (chap. 13.
v. 9. ) "I will bring the third part through the Fire, and will Refine
them, &c. " And St. Peter after him (1 Epist. 1. 7. ) "That the triall
of your Faith, which is much more precious than of Gold that perisheth,
though it be tryed with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour,
and glory at the Appearing of Jesus Christ;" And St. Paul (1 Cor. 3.
13. ) The Fire shall trie every mans work of what sort it is. " But
St. Peter, and St. Paul speak of the Fire that shall be at the Second
Appearing of Christ; and the Prophet Zachary of the Day of Judgment: And
therefore this place of S. Mat. may be interpreted of the same; and then
there will be no necessity of the Fire of Purgatory.

Another interpretation of Baptisme for the Dead, is that which I
have before mentioned, which he preferreth to the second place of
probability; And thence also he inferreth the utility of Prayer for the
Dead. For if after the Resurrection, such as have not heard of Christ,
or not beleeved in him, may be received into Christs Kingdome; it is
not in vain, after their death, that their friends should pray for them,
till they should be risen. But granting that God, at the prayers of the
faithfull, may convert unto him some of those that have not heard Christ
preached, and consequently cannot have rejected Christ, and that the
charity of men in that point, cannot be blamed; yet this concludeth
nothing for Purgatory, because to rise from Death to Life, is one thing;
to rise from Purgatory to Life is another; and being a rising from Life
to Life, from a Life in torments to a Life in joy.

A fourth place is that of Mat. 5. 25. "Agree with thine Adversary
quickly, whilest thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the
Adversary deliver thee to the Officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till
thou has paid the uttermost farthing. " In which Allegory, the Offender
is the Sinner; both the Adversary and the Judge is God; the Way is
this Life; the Prison is the Grave; the Officer, Death; from which, the
sinner shall not rise again to life eternall, but to a second Death,
till he have paid the utmost farthing, or Christ pay it for him by his
Passion, which is a full Ransome for all manner of sin, as well lesser
sins, as greater crimes; both being made by the passion of Christ
equally veniall.

The fift place, is that of Matth. 5. 22. "Whosoever is angry with his
Brother without a cause, shall be guilty in Judgment. And whosoever
shall say to his Brother, RACHA, shall be guilty in the Councel. But
whosoever shall say, Thou Foole, shall be guilty to hell fire. " From
which words he inferreth three sorts of Sins, and three sorts of
Punishments; and that none of those sins, but the last, shall be
punished with hell fire; and consequently, that after this life, there
is punishment of lesser sins in Purgatory. Of which inference, there is
no colour in any interpretation that hath yet been given to them: Shall
there be a distinction after this life of Courts of Justice, as there
was amongst the Jews in our Saviours time, to hear, and determine
divers sorts of Crimes; as the Judges, and the Councell? Shall not
all Judicature appertain to Christ, and his Apostles? To understand
therefore this text, we are not to consider it solitarily, but jointly
with the words precedent, and subsequent. Our Saviour in this Chapter
interpreteth the Law of Moses; which the Jews thought was then
fulfilled, when they had not transgressed the Grammaticall sense
thereof, howsoever they had transgressed against the sentence, or
meaning of the Legislator. Therefore whereas they thought the Sixth
Commandement was not broken, but by Killing a man; nor the Seventh, but
when a man lay with a woman, not his wife; our Saviour tells them, the
inward Anger of a man against his brother, if it be without just cause,
is Homicide: You have heard (saith hee) the Law of Moses, "Thou shalt
not Kill," and that "Whosoever shall Kill, shall be condemned before the
Judges," or before the Session of the Seventy: But I say unto you, to
be Angry with ones Brother without cause; or to say unto him Racha, or
Foole, is Homicide, and shall be punished at the day of Judgment, and
Session of Christ, and his Apostles, with Hell fire: so that those words
were not used to distinguish between divers Crimes, and divers Courts
of Justice, and divers Punishments; but to taxe the distinction between
sin, and sin, which the Jews drew not from the difference of the Will
in Obeying God, but from the difference of their Temporall Courts of
Justice; and to shew them that he that had the Will to hurt his Brother,
though the effect appear but in Reviling, or not at all, shall be cast
into hell fire, by the Judges, and by the Session, which shall be the
same, not different Courts at the day of Judgment. This Considered, what
can be drawn from this text, to maintain Purgatory, I cannot imagine.

The sixth place is Luke 16. 9. "Make yee friends of the unrighteous
Mammon, that when yee faile, they may receive you into Everlasting
Tabernacles. " This he alledges to prove Invocation of Saints departed.
But the sense is plain, That we should make friends with our Riches, of
the Poore, and thereby obtain their Prayers whilest they live. "He that
giveth to the Poore, lendeth to the Lord. "The seventh is Luke 23. 42.
"Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome:" Therefore, saith
hee, there is Remission of sins after this life. But the consequence
is not good. Our Saviour then forgave him; and at his comming againe in
Glory, will remember to raise him againe to Life Eternall.

The Eight is Acts 2. 24. where St. Peter saith of Christ, "that God
had raised him up, and loosed the Paines of Death, because it was not
possible he should be holden of it;" Which hee interprets to bee a
descent of Christ into Purgatory, to loose some Soules there from their
torments; whereas it is manifest, that it was Christ that was loosed;
it was hee that could not bee holden of Death, or the Grave; and not the
Souls in Purgatory. But if that which Beza sayes in his notes on this
place be well observed, there is none that will not see, that in stead
of Paynes, it should be Bands; and then there is no further cause to
seek for Purgatory in this Text.



CHAPTER XLV. OF DAEMONOLOGY, AND OTHER RELIQUES OF THE RELIGION OF THE
GENTILES




The Originall Of Daemonology

The impression made on the organs of Sight, by lucide Bodies, either in
one direct line, or in many lines, reflected from Opaque, or refracted
in the passage through Diaphanous Bodies, produceth in living Creatures,
in whom God hath placed such Organs, an Imagination of the Object, from
whence the Impression proceedeth; which Imagination is called Sight; and
seemeth not to bee a meer Imagination, but the Body it selfe without
us; in the same manner, as when a man violently presseth his eye, there
appears to him a light without, and before him, which no man perceiveth
but himselfe; because there is indeed no such thing without him, but
onely a motion in the interiour organs, pressing by resistance
outward, that makes him think so. And the motion made by this pressure,
continuing after the object which caused it is removed, is that we call
Imagination, and Memory, and (in sleep, and sometimes in great distemper
of the organs by Sicknesse, or Violence) a Dream: of which things I have
already spoken briefly, in the second and third Chapters.

This nature of Sight having never been discovered by the ancient
pretenders to Naturall Knowledge; much lesse by those that consider not
things so remote (as that Knowledge is) from their present use; it was
hard for men to conceive of those Images in the Fancy, and in the Sense,
otherwise, than of things really without us: Which some (because they
vanish away, they know not whither, nor how,) will have to be absolutely
Incorporeall, that is to say Immateriall, of Formes without Matter;
Colour and Figure, without any coloured or figured Body; and that they
can put on Aiery bodies (as a garment) to make them Visible when
they will to our bodily Eyes; and others say, are Bodies, and living
Creatures, but made of Air, or other more subtile and aethereall Matter,
which is, then, when they will be seen, condensed. But Both of them
agree on one generall appellation of them, DAEMONS. As if the Dead of
whom they Dreamed, were not Inhabitants of their own Brain, but of the
Air, or of Heaven, or Hell; not Phantasmes, but Ghosts; with just
as much reason, as if one should say, he saw his own Ghost in a
Looking-Glasse, or the Ghosts of the Stars in a River; or call the
ordinary apparition of the Sun, of the quantity of about a foot, the
Daemon, or Ghost of that great Sun that enlighteneth the whole visible
world: And by that means have feared them, as things of an unknown, that
is, of an unlimited power to doe them good, or harme; and consequently,
given occasion to the Governours of the Heathen Common-wealths to
regulate this their fear, by establishing that DAEMONOLOGY (in which
the Poets, as Principal Priests of the Heathen Religion, were specially
employed, or reverenced) to the Publique Peace, and to the Obedience of
Subjects necessary thereunto; and to make some of them Good Daemons,
and others Evill; the one as a Spurre to the Observance, the other, as
Reines to withhold them from Violation of the Laws.




What Were The Daemons Of The Ancients

What kind of things they were, to whom they attributed the name of
Daemons, appeareth partly in the Genealogie of their Gods, written by
Hesiod, one of the most ancient Poets of the Graecians; and partly in
other Histories; of which I have observed some few before, in the 12.
Chapter of this discourse.




How That Doctrine Was Spread

The Graecians, by their Colonies and Conquests, communicated their
Language and Writings into Asia, Egypt, and Italy; and therein, by
necessary consequence their Daemonology, or (as St. Paul calles it)
"their Doctrines of Devils;" And by that meanes, the contagion was
derived also to the Jewes, both of Judaea, and Alexandria, and other
parts, whereinto they were dispersed. But the name of Daemon they did
not (as the Graecians) attribute to Spirits both Good, and Evill; but
to the Evill onely: And to the Good Daemons they gave the name of the
Spirit of God; and esteemed those into whose bodies they entred to be
Prophets. In summe, all singularity if Good, they attributed to the
Spirit of God; and if Evill, to some Daemon, but a kakodaimen, an Evill
Daemon, that is, a Devill. And therefore, they called Daemoniaques, that
is, possessed by the Devill, such as we call Madmen or Lunatiques; or
such as had the Falling Sicknesse; or that spoke any thing, which they
for want of understanding, thought absurd: As also of an Unclean person
in a notorious degree, they used to say he had an Unclean Spirit; of a
Dumbe man, that he had a Dumbe Devill; and of John Baptist (Math. 11.
18. ) for the singularity of his fasting, that he had a Devill; and of
our Saviour, because he said, hee that keepeth his sayings should not
see Death In Aeternum, (John 8. 52. ) "Now we know thou hast a Devill;
Abraham is dead, and the Prophets are dead:" And again, because he said
(John 7. 20. ) "They went about to kill him," the people answered, "Thou
hast a Devill, who goeth about to kill thee? " Whereby it is manifest,
that the Jewes had the same opinions concerning Phantasmes, namely, that
they were not Phantasmes that is, Idols of the braine, but things reall,
and independent on the Fancy.




Why Our Saviour Controlled It Not

Which doctrine if it be not true, why (may some say) did not our Saviour
contradict it, and teach the Contrary? nay why does he use on diverse
occasions, such forms of speech as seem to confirm it? To this I answer,
that first, where Christ saith, "A Spirit hath not flesh and bone,"
though hee shew that there be Spirits, yet he denies not that they are
Bodies: And where St. Paul sais, "We shall rise Spirituall Bodies," he
acknowledgeth the nature of Spirits, but that they are Bodily Spirits;
which is not difficult to understand. For Air and many other things
are Bodies, though not Flesh and Bone, or any other grosse body, to bee
discerned by the eye. But when our Saviour speaketh to the Devill, and
commandeth him to go out of a man, if by the Devill, be meant a Disease,
as Phrenesy, or Lunacy, or a corporeal Spirit, is not the speech
improper? can Diseases heare? or can there be a corporeall Spirit in a
Body of Flesh and Bone, full already of vitall and animall Spirits?
Are there not therefore Spirits, that neither have Bodies, nor are meer
Imaginations? To the first I answer, that the addressing of our Saviours
command to the Madnesse, or Lunacy he cureth, is no more improper, then
was his rebuking of the Fever, or of the Wind, and Sea; for neither
do these hear: Or than was the command of God, to the Light, to the
Firmament, to the Sunne, and Starres, when he commanded them to bee; for
they could not heare before they had a beeing. But those speeches are
not improper, because they signifie the power of Gods Word: no more
therefore is it improper, to command Madnesse, or Lunacy (under the
appellation of Devils, by which they were then commonly understood,)
to depart out of a mans body. To the second, concerning their being
Incorporeall, I have not yet observed any place of Scripture, from
whence it can be gathered, that any man was ever possessed with any
other Corporeal Spirit, but that of his owne, by which his body is
naturally moved.




The Scriptures Doe Not Teach That Spirits Are Incorporeall

Our Saviour, immediately after the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the
form of a Dove, is said by St. Matthew (Chapt. 4. 1. ) to have been "led
up by the Spirit into the Wildernesse;" and the same is recited (Luke 4.
1. ) in these words, "Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, was led in
the Spirit into the Wildernesse;" Whereby it is evident, that by
Spirit there, is meant the Holy Ghost. This cannot be interpreted for
a Possession: For Christ, and the Holy Ghost, are but one and the same
substance; which is no possession of one substance, or body, by another.
And whereas in the verses following, he is said "to have been taken
up by the Devill into the Holy City, and set upon a pinnacle of the
Temple," shall we conclude thence that hee was possessed of the Devill,
or carryed thither by violence? And again, "carryed thence by the Devill
into an exceeding high mountain, who shewed him them thence all the
Kingdomes of the world:" herein, wee are not to beleeve he was either
possessed, or forced by the Devill; nor that any Mountaine is high
enough, (according to the literall sense,) to shew him one whole
Hemisphere. What then can be the meaning of this place, other than that
he went of himself into the Wildernesse; and that this carrying of him
up and down, from the Wildernesse to the City, and from thence into a
Mountain, was a Vision? Conformable whereunto, is also the phrase of St.
Luke, that hee was led into the Wildernesse, not By, but In the Spirit:
whereas concerning His being Taken up into the Mountaine, and unto the
Pinnacle of the Temple, hee speaketh as St. Matthew doth. Which suiteth
with the nature of a Vision.

Again, where St. Luke sayes of Judas Iscariot, that "Satan entred into
him, and thereupon that he went and communed with the Chief Priests, and
Captaines, how he might betray Christ unto them:" it may be answered,
that by the Entring of Satan (that is the Enemy) into him, is meant, the
hostile and traiterous intention of selling his Lord and Master. For as
by the Holy Ghost, is frequently in Scripture understood, the Graces and
good Inclinations given by the Holy Ghost; so by the Entring of
Satan, may bee understood the wicked Cogitations, and Designes of the
Adversaries of Christ, and his Disciples. For as it is hard to say,
that the Devill was entred into Judas, before he had any such hostile
designe; so it is impertinent to say, he was first Christs Enemy in his
heart, and that the Devill entred into him afterwards. Therefore the
Entring of Satan, and his Wicked Purpose, was one and the same thing.

But if there be no Immateriall Spirit, nor any Possession of mens bodies
by any Spirit Corporeall, it may again be asked, why our Saviour and his
Apostles did not teach the People so; and in such cleer words, as they
might no more doubt thereof. But such questions as these, are more
curious, than necessary for a Christian mans Salvation. Men may as well
aske, why Christ that could have given to all men Faith, Piety, and all
manner of morall Vertues, gave it to some onely, and not to all: and
why he left the search of naturall Causes, and Sciences, to the naturall
Reason and Industry of men, and did not reveal it to all, or any man
supernaturally; and many other such questions: Of which neverthelesse
there may be alledged probable and pious reasons. For as God, when he
brought the Israelites into the Land of Promise, did not secure them
therein, by subduing all the Nations round about them; but left many of
them, as thornes in their sides, to awaken from time to time their
Piety and Industry: so our Saviour, in conducting us toward his heavenly
Kingdome, did not destroy all the difficulties of Naturall Questions;
but left them to exercise our Industry, and Reason; the Scope of
his preaching, being onely to shew us this plain and direct way to
Salvation, namely, the beleef of this Article, "that he was the Christ,
the Son of the living God, sent into the world to sacrifice himselfe for
our Sins, and at his comming again, gloriously to reign over his Elect,
and to save them from their Enemies eternally:" To which, the opinion
of Possession by Spirits, or Phantasmes, are no impediment in the way;
though it be to some an occasion of going out of the way, and to follow
their own Inventions. If wee require of the Scripture an account of all
questions, which may be raised to trouble us in the performance of Gods
commands; we may as well complaine of Moses for not having set downe the
time of the creation of such Spirits, as well as of the Creation of the
Earth, and Sea, and of Men, and Beasts. To conclude, I find in Scripture
that there be Angels, and Spirits, good and evill; but not that they are
Incorporeall, as are the Apparitions men see in the Dark, or in a Dream,
or Vision; which the Latines call Spectra, and took for Daemons. And I
find that there are Spirits Corporeal, (though subtile and Invisible;)
but not that any mans body was possessed, or inhabited by them; And that
the Bodies of the Saints shall be such, namely, Spirituall Bodies, as
St. Paul calls them.




The Power Of Casting Out Devills, Not The Same It Was In The Primitive

Church

Neverthelesse, the contrary Doctrine, namely, that there be Incorporeall
Spirits, hath hitherto so prevailed in the Church, that the use of
Exorcisme, (that is to say, of ejection of Devills by Conjuration) is
thereupon built; and (though rarely and faintly practised) is not yet
totally given over. That there were many Daemoniaques in the Primitive
Church, and few Mad-men, and other such singular diseases; whereas in
these times we hear of, and see many Mad-men, and few Daemoniaques,
proceeds not from the change of Nature; but of Names. But how it comes
to passe, that whereas heretofore the Apostles, and after them for a
time, the Pastors of the Church, did cure those singular Diseases, which
now they are not seen to doe; as likewise, why it is not in the power of
every true Beleever now, to doe all that the Faithfull did then, that is
to say, as we read (Mark 16. 17. ) "In Christs name to cast out Devills,
to speak with new Tongues, to take up Serpents, to drink deadly Poison
without harm taking, and to cure the Sick by the laying on of their
hands," and all this without other words, but "in the Name of Jesus,"
is another question. And it is probable, that those extraordinary gifts
were given to the Church, for no longer a time, than men trusted wholly
to Christ, and looked for their felicity onely in his Kingdome to come;
and consequently, that when they sought Authority, and Riches, and
trusted to their own Subtilty for a Kingdome of this world, these
supernaturall gifts of God were again taken from them.




Another Relique Of Gentilisme, Worshipping Images, Left In The Church

Not Brought Into It

Another relique of Gentilisme, is the Worship of Images, neither
instituted by Moses in the Old, nor by Christ in the New Testament; nor
yet brought in from the Gentiles; but left amongst them, after they had
given their names to Christ. Before our Saviour preached, it was the
generall Religion of the Gentiles, to worship for Gods, those Apparences
that remain in the Brain from the impression of externall Bodies upon
the organs of their Senses, which are commonly called Ideas, Idols,
Phantasmes, Conceits, as being Representations of those externall
Bodies, which cause them, and have nothing in them of reality, no more
than there is in the things that seem to stand before us in a Dream:
And this is the reason why St. Paul says, "Wee know that an Idol is
Nothing:" Not that he thought that an Image of Metall, Stone, or Wood,
was nothing; but that the thing which they honored, or feared in
the Image, and held for a God, was a meer Figment, without place,
habitation, motion, or existence, but in the motions of the Brain.
And the worship of these with Divine Honour, is that which is in the
Scripture called Idolatry, and Rebellion against God. For God being King
of the Jews, and his Lieutenant being first Moses, and afterward the
High Priest; if the people had been permitted to worship, and pray to
Images, (which are Representations of their own Fancies,) they had
had no farther dependence on the true God, of whom there can be no
similitude; nor on his prime Ministers, Moses, and the High Priests;
but every man had governed himself according to his own appetite, to the
utter eversion of the Common-wealth, and their own destruction for want
of Union. And therefore the first Law of God was, "They should not take
for Gods, ALIENOS DEOS, that is, the Gods of other nations, but that
onely true God, who vouchsafed to commune with Moses, and by him to give
them laws and directions, for their peace, and for their salvation
from their enemies. " And the second was, that "they should not make to
themselves any Image to Worship, of their own Invention. " For it is the
same deposing of a King, to submit to another King, whether he be set up
by a neighbour nation, or by our selves.




Answer To Certain Seeming Texts For Images

The places of Scripture pretended to countenance the setting up of
Images, to worship them; or to set them up at all in the places where
God is worshipped, are First, two Examples; one of the Cherubins over
the Ark of God; the other of the Brazen Serpent: Secondly, some texts
whereby we are commanded to worship certain Creatures for their relation
to God; as to worship his Footstool: And lastly, some other texts, by
which is authorized, a religious honoring of Holy things. But before I
examine the force of those places, to prove that which is pretended, I
must first explain what is to be understood by Worshipping, and what by
Images, and Idols.




What Is Worship

I have already shewn in the 20 Chapter of this Discourse, that to Honor,
is to value highly the Power of any person: and that such value is
measured, by our comparing him with others. But because there is nothing
to be compared with God in Power; we Honor him not but Dishonour him
by any Value lesse than Infinite. And thus Honor is properly of its own
nature, secret, and internall in the heart. But the inward thoughts of
men, which appeare outwardly in their words and actions, are the signes
of our Honoring, and these goe by the name of WORSHIP, in Latine,
CULTUS. Therefore, to Pray to, to Swear by, to Obey, to bee Diligent,
and Officious in Serving: in summe, all words and actions that betoken
Fear to Offend, or Desire to Please, is Worship, whether those words
and actions be sincere, or feigned: and because they appear as signes of
Honoring, are ordinarily also called Honor.




Distinction Between Divine And Civill Worship

The Worship we exhibite to those we esteem to be but men, as to Kings,
and men in Authority, is Civill Worship: But the worship we exhibite
to that which we think to bee God, whatsoever the words, ceremonies,
gestures, or other actions be, is Divine Worship. To fall prostrate
before a King, in him that thinks him but a Man, is but Civill Worship:
And he that but putteth off his hat in the Church, for this cause, that
he thinketh it the House of God, worshippeth with Divine Worship. They
that seek the distinction of Divine and Civill Worship, not in the
intention of the Worshipper, but in the Words douleia, and latreia,
deceive themselves. For whereas there be two sorts of Servants; that
sort, which is of those that are absolutely in the power of their
Masters, as Slaves taken in war, and their Issue, whose bodies are not
in their own power, (their lives depending on the Will of their Masters,
in such manner as to forfeit them upon the least disobedience,) and that
are bought and sold as Beasts, were called Douloi, that is properly,
Slaves, and their Service, Douleia: The other, which is of those that
serve (for hire, or in hope of benefit from their Masters) voluntarily;
are called Thetes; that is, Domestique Servants; to whose service the
Masters have no further right, than is contained in the Covenants made
betwixt them. These two kinds of Servants have thus much common to them
both, that their labour is appointed them by another, whether, as a
Slave, or a voluntary Servant: And the word Latris, is the general name
of both, signifying him that worketh for another, whether, as a Slave,
or a voluntary Servant: So that Latreia signifieth generally all
Service; but Douleia the service of Bondmen onely, and the condition of
Slavery: And both are used in Scripture (to signifie our Service of God)
promiscuously. Douleia, because we are Gods Slaves; Latreia, because
wee Serve him: and in all kinds of Service is contained, not onely
Obedience, but also Worship, that is, such actions, gestures, and words,
as signifie Honor.




An Image What Phantasmes

An IMAGE (in the most strict signification of the word) is the
Resemblance of some thing visible: In which sense the Phantasticall
Formes, Apparitions, or Seemings of Visible Bodies to the Sight, are
onely Images; such as are the Shew of a man, or other thing in the
Water, by Reflexion, or Refraction; or of the Sun, or Stars by Direct
Vision in the Air; which are nothing reall in the things seen, nor in
the place where thy seem to bee; nor are their magnitudes and figures
the same with that of the object; but changeable, by the variation of
the organs of Sight, or by glasses; and are present oftentimes in our
Imagination, and in our Dreams, when the object is absent; or changed
into other colours, and shapes, as things that depend onely upon the
Fancy. And these are the Images which are originally and most properly
called Ideas, and IDOLS, and derived from the language of the Graecians,
with whom the word Eido signifieth to See. They are also called
PHANTASMES, which is in the same language, Apparitions. And from these
Images it is that one of the faculties of mans Nature, is called the
Imagination. And from hence it is manifest, that there neither is, nor
can bee any Image made of a thing Invisible.

It is also evident, that there can be no Image of a thing Infinite: for
all the Images, and Phantasmes that are made by the Impression of things
visible, are figured: but Figure is a quantity every way determined: And
therefore there can bee no Image of God: nor of the Soule of Man; nor of
Spirits, but onely of Bodies Visible, that is, Bodies that have light in
themselves, or are by such enlightened.




Fictions; Materiall Images

And whereas a man can fancy Shapes he never saw; making up a Figure out
of the parts of divers creatures; as the Poets make their Centaures,
Chimaeras, and other Monsters never seen: So can he also give Matter to
those Shapes, and make them in Wood, Clay or Metall. And these are also
called Images, not for the resemblance of any corporeall thing, but for
the resemblance of some Phantasticall Inhabitants of the Brain of the
Maker. But in these Idols, as they are originally in the Brain, and
as they are painted, carved, moulded, or moulten in matter, there is a
similitude of the one to the other, for which the Materiall Body made
by Art, may be said to be the Image of the Phantasticall Idoll made by
Nature.

But in a larger use of the word Image, is contained also, any
Representation of one thing by another. So an earthly Soveraign may be
called the Image of God: And an inferiour Magistrate the Image of an
earthly Soveraign. And many times in the Idolatry of the Gentiles there
was little regard to the similitude of their Materiall Idoll to the
Idol in their fancy, and yet it was called the Image of it. For a
Stone unhewn has been set up for Neptune, and divers other shapes far
different from the shapes they conceived of their Gods. And at this
day we see many Images of the Virgin Mary, and other Saints, unlike one
another, and without correspondence to any one mans Fancy; and yet serve
well enough for the purpose they were erected for; which was no more but
by the Names onely, to represent the Persons mentioned in the History;
to which every man applyeth a Mentall Image of his owne making, or
none at all. And thus an Image in the largest sense, is either the
Resemblance, or the Representation of some thing Visible; or both
together, as it happeneth for the most part.

But the name of Idoll is extended yet further in Scripture, to
signifie also the Sunne, or a Starre, or any other Creature, visible or
invisible, when they are worshipped for Gods.




Idolatry What

Having shewn what is Worship, and what an Image; I will now put them
together, and examine what that IDOLATRY is, which is forbidden in the
Second Commandement, and other places of the Scripture.

To worship an Image, is voluntarily to doe those externall acts, which
are signes of honoring either the matter of the Image, which is Wood,
Stone, or Metall, or some other visible creature; or the Phantasme of
the brain, for the resemblance, or representation whereof, the matter
was formed and figured; or both together, as one animate Body, composed
of the Matter and the Phantasme, as of a Body and Soule.

To be uncovered, before a man of Power and Authority, or before the
Throne of a Prince, or in such other places as hee ordaineth to that
purpose in his absence, is to Worship that man, or Prince with Civill
Worship; as being a signe, not of honoring the stoole, or place, but the
Person; and is not Idolatry. But if hee that doth it, should suppose the
Soule of the Prince to be in the Stool, or should present a Petition to
the Stool, it were Divine Worship, and Idolatry.

To pray to a King for such things, as hee is able to doe for us, though
we prostrate our selves before him, is but Civill Worship; because we
acknowledge no other power in him, but humane: But voluntarily to pray
unto him for fair weather, or for any thing which God onely can doe
for us, is Divine Worship, and Idolatry. On the other side, if a King
compell a man to it by the terrour of Death, or other great corporall
punishment, it is not Idolatry: For the Worship which the Soveraign
commandeth to bee done unto himself by the terrour of his Laws, is not
a sign that he that obeyeth him, does inwardly honour him as a God, but
that he is desirous to save himselfe from death, or from a miserable
life; and that which is not a sign of internall honor, is no Worship;
and therefore no Idolatry. Neither can it bee said, that hee that does
it, scandalizeth, or layeth any stumbling block before his Brother;
because how wise, or learned soever he be that worshippeth in that
manner, another man cannot from thence argue, that he approveth it; but
that he doth it for fear; and that it is not his act, but the act of the
Soveraign.

To worship God, in some peculiar Place, or turning a mans face towards
an Image, or determinate Place, is not to worship, or honor the Place,
or Image; but to acknowledge it Holy, that is to say, to acknowledge
the Image, or the Place to be set apart from common use: for that is the
meaning of the word Holy; which implies no new quality in the Place, or
Image; but onely a new Relation by Appropriation to God; and therefore
is not Idolatry; no more than it was Idolatry to worship God before
the Brazen Serpent; or for the Jews when they were out of their owne
countrey, to turn their faces (when they prayed) toward the Temple of
Jerusalem; or for Moses to put off his Shoes when he was before the
Flaming Bush, the ground appertaining to Mount Sinai; which place God
had chosen to appear in, and to give his Laws to the People of Israel,
and was therefore Holy ground, not by inhaerent sanctity, but by
separation to Gods use; or for Christians to worship in the Churches,
which are once solemnly dedicated to God for that purpose, by the
Authority of the King, or other true Representant of the Church. But to
worship God, is inanimating, or inhibiting, such Image, or place; that
is to say, an infinite substance in a finite place, is Idolatry: for
such finite Gods, are but Idols of the brain, nothing reall; and are
commonly called in the Scripture by the names of Vanity, and Lyes, and
Nothing. Also to worship God, not as inanimating, or present in the
place, or Image; but to the end to be put in mind of him, or of some
works of his, in case the Place, or Image be dedicated, or set up
by private authority, and not by the authority of them that are our
Soveraign Pastors, is Idolatry. For the Commandement is, "Thou shalt not
make to thy selfe any graven image. " God commanded Moses to set up the
Brazen Serpent; hee did not make it to himselfe; it was not therefore
against the Commandement. But the making of the Golden Calfe by Aaron,
and the People, as being done without authority from God, was Idolatry;
not onely because they held it for God, but also because they made it
for a Religious use, without warrant either from God their Soveraign, or
from Moses, that was his Lieutenant.

The Gentiles worshipped for Gods, Jupiter, and others; that living, were
men perhaps that had done great and glorious Acts; and for the Children
of God, divers men and women, supposing them gotten between an Immortall
Deity, and a mortall man. This was Idolatry, because they made them so
to themselves, having no authority from God, neither in his eternall Law
of Reason, nor in his positive and revealed Will. But though our Saviour
was a man, whom wee also beleeve to bee God Immortall, and the Son of
God; yet this is no Idolatry; because wee build not that beleef upon
our own fancy, or judgment, but upon the Word of God revealed in the
Scriptures. And for the adoration of the Eucharist, if the words of
Christ, "This is my Body," signifie, "that he himselfe, and the seeming
bread in his hand; and not onely so, but that all the seeming morsells
of bread that have ever since been, and any time hereafter shall bee
consecrated by Priests, bee so many Christs bodies, and yet all of them
but one body," then is that no Idolatry, because it is authorized by our
Saviour: but if that text doe not signifie that, (for there is no other
that can be alledged for it,) then, because it is a worship of humane
institution, it is Idolatry. For it is not enough to say, God can
transubstantiate the Bread into Christs Body: For the Gentiles also held
God to be Omnipotent; and might upon that ground no lesse excuse their
Idolatry, by pretending, as well as others, as transubstantiation of
their Wood, and Stone into God Almighty.

Whereas there be, that pretend Divine Inspiration, to be a supernaturall
entring of the Holy Ghost into a man, and not an acquisition of Gods
grace, by doctrine, and study; I think they are in a very dangerous
Dilemma. For if they worship not the men whom they beleeve to be so
inspired, they fall into Impiety; as not adoring Gods supernaturall
Presence. And again, if they worship them, they commit Idolatry; for the
Apostles would never permit themselves to be so worshipped. Therefore
the safest way is to beleeve, that by the Descending of the Dove upon
the Apostles; and by Christs Breathing on them, when hee gave them
the Holy Ghost; and by the giving of it by Imposition of Hands, are
understood the signes which God hath been pleased to use, or ordain to
be used, of his promise to assist those persons in their study to
Preach his Kingdome, and in their Conversation, that it might not be
Scandalous, but Edifying to others.




Scandalous Worship Of Images

Besides the Idolatrous Worship of Images, there is also a Scandalous
Worship of them; which is also a sin; but not Idolatry. For Idolatry is
to worship by signes of an internall, and reall honour: but Scandalous
Worship, is but Seeming Worship; and may sometimes bee joined with
an inward, and hearty detestation, both of the Image, and of the
Phantasticall Daemon, or Idol, to which it is dedicated; and proceed
onely from the fear of death, or other grievous punishment; and is
neverthelesse a sin in them that so worship, in case they be men whose
actions are looked at by others, as lights to guide them by; because
following their ways, they cannot but stumble, and fall in the way of
Religion: Whereas the example of those we regard not, works not on us
at all, but leaves us to our own diligence and caution; and consequently
are no causes of our falling.

If therefore a Pastor lawfully called to teach and direct others, or any
other, of whose knowledge there is a great opinion, doe externall honor
to an Idol for fear; unlesse he make his feare, and unwillingnesse to
it, as evident as the worship; he Scandalizeth his Brother, by seeming
to approve Idolatry. For his Brother, arguing from the action of his
teacher, or of him whose knowledge he esteemeth great, concludes it
to bee lawfull in it selfe. And this Scandall, is Sin, and a Scandall
given. But if one being no Pastor, nor of eminent reputation for
knowledge in Christian Doctrine, doe the same, and another follow him;
this is no Scandall given; for he had no cause to follow such example:
but is a pretence of Scandall which hee taketh of himselfe for an excuse
before men: For an unlearned man, that is in the power of an idolatrous
King, or State, if commanded on pain of death to worship before an
Idoll, hee detesteth the Idoll in his heart, hee doth well; though if he
had the fortitude to suffer death, rather than worship it, he should
doe better. But if a Pastor, who as Christs Messenger, has undertaken to
teach Christs Doctrine to all nations, should doe the same, it were
not onely a sinfull Scandall, in respect of other Christian mens
consciences, but a perfidious forsaking of his charge.

The summe of that which I have said hitherto, concerning the Worship of
Images, is that, that he that worshippeth in an Image, or any Creature,
either the Matter thereof, or any Fancy of his own, which he thinketh
to dwell in it; or both together; or beleeveth that such things hear
his Prayers, or see his Devotions, without Ears, or Eyes, committeth
Idolatry: and he that counterfeiteth such Worship for fear of
punishment, if he bee a man whose example hath power amongst his
Brethren, committeth a sin: But he that worshippeth the Creator of the
world before such an Image, or in such a place as he hath not made, or
chosen of himselfe, but taken from the commandement of Gods Word, as the
Jewes did in worshipping God before the Cherubins, and before the Brazen
Serpent for a time, and in, or towards the Temple of Jerusalem, which
was also but for a time, committeth not Idolatry.

Now for the Worship of Saints, and Images, and Reliques, and other
things at this day practised in the Church of Rome, I say they are not
allowed by the Word of God, not brought into the Church of Rome, from
the Doctrine there taught; but partly left in it at the first conversion
of the Gentiles; and afterwards countenanced, and confirmed, and
augmented by the Bishops of Rome.




Answer To The Argument From The Cherubins, And Brazen Serpent

As for the proofs alledged out of Scripture, namely, those examples
of Images appointed by God to bee set up; They were not set up for the
people, or any man to worship; but that they should worship God himselfe
before them: as before the Cherubins over the Ark, and the Brazen
Serpent. For we read not, that the Priest, or any other did worship the
Cherubins; but contrarily wee read (2 Kings 18. 4. ) that Hezekiah brake
in pieces the Brazen Serpent which Moses had set up, because the
People burnt incense to it. Besides, those examples are not put for
our Imitation, that we also should set up Images, under pretence
of worshipping God before them; because the words of the second
Commandement, "Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any graven Image, &c. "
distinguish between the Images that God commanded to be set up, and
those which wee set up to our selves. And therefore from the Cherubins,
or Brazen Serpent, to the Images of mans devising; and from the Worship
commanded by God, to the Will-Worship of men, the argument is not good.
This also is to bee considered, that as Hezekiah brake in pieces the
Brazen Serpent, because the Jews did worship it, to the end they should
doe so no more; so also Christian Soveraigns ought to break down the
Images which their Subjects have been accustomed to worship; that there
be no more occasion of such Idolatry. For at this day, the ignorant
People, where Images are worshipped, doe really beleeve there is a
Divine Power in the Images; and are told by their Pastors, that some
of them have spoken; and have bled; and that miracles have been done by
them; which they apprehend as done by the Saint, which they think either
is the Image it self, or in it. The Israelites, when they worshipped the
Calfe, did think they worshipped the God that brought them out of Egypt;
and yet it was Idolatry, because they thought the Calfe either was
that God, or had him in his belly. And though some man may think it
impossible for people to be so stupid, as to think the Image to be
God, or a Saint; or to worship it in that notion; yet it is manifest
in Scripture to the contrary; where when the Golden Calfe was made, the
people said, (Exod. 32. 2. ) "These are thy Gods O Israel;" and where the
Images of Laban (Gen. 31. 30. ) are called his Gods. And wee see daily by
experience in all sorts of People, that such men as study nothing but
their food and ease, are content to beleeve any absurdity, rather than
to trouble themselves to examine it; holding their faith as it were by
entaile unalienable, except by an expresse and new Law.




Painting Of Fancies No Idolatry: Abusing Them To Religious Worship Is

But they inferre from some other places, that it is lawfull to paint
Angels, and also God himselfe: as from Gods walking in the Garden; from
Jacobs seeing God at the top of the ladder; and from other Visions, and
Dreams. But Visions, and Dreams whether naturall, or supernaturall, are
but Phantasmes: and he that painteth an Image of any of them, maketh not
an Image of God, but of his own Phantasm, which is, making of an Idol. I
say not, that to draw a Picture after a fancy, is a Sin; but when it
is drawn, to hold it for a Representation of God, is against the second
Commandement; and can be of no use, but to worship. And the same may be
said of the Images of Angels, and of men dead; unlesse as Monuments of
friends, or of men worthy remembrance: For such use of an Image, is not
Worship of the Image; but a civill honoring of the Person, not that is,
but that was: But when it is done to the Image which we make of a Saint,
for no other reason, but that we think he heareth our prayers, and is
pleased with the honour wee doe him, when dead, and without sense, wee
attribute to him more than humane power; and therefore it is Idolatry.

Seeing therefore there is no authority, neither in the Law of Moses,
nor in the Gospel, for the religious Worship of Images, or other
Representations of God, which men set up to themselves; or for the
Worship of the Image of any Creature in Heaven, or Earth, or under the
Earth: And whereas Christian Kings, who are living Representants of God,
are not to be worshipped by their Subjects, by any act, that signifieth
a greater esteem of his power, than the nature of mortall man is capable
of; It cannot be imagined, that the Religious Worship now in use,
was brought into the Church, by misunderstanding of the Scripture. It
resteth therefore, that it was left in it, by not destroying the Images
themselves, in the conversion of the Gentiles that worshipped them.




How Idolatry Was Left In The Church

The cause whereof, was the immoderate esteem, and prices set upon the
workmanship of them, which made the owners (though converted, from
worshipping them as they had done Religiously for Daemons) to retain
them still in their houses, upon pretence of doing it in the honor of
Christ, of the Virgin Mary, and of the Apostles, and other the Pastors
of the Primitive Church; as being easie, by giving them new names, to
make that an Image of the Virgin Mary, and of her Sonne our Saviour,
which before perhaps was called the Image of Venus, and Cupid; and so of
a Jupiter to make a Barnabas, and of Mercury a Paul, and the like. And
as worldly ambition creeping by degrees into the Pastors, drew them to
an endeavour of pleasing the new made Christians; and also to a liking
of this kind of honour, which they also might hope for after their
decease, as well as those that had already gained it: so the worshipping
of the Images of Christ and his Apostles, grow more and more Idolatrous;
save that somewhat after the time of Constantine, divers Emperors, and
Bishops, and generall Councells observed, and opposed the unlawfulnesse
thereof; but too late, or too weakly.




Canonizing Of Saints

The Canonizing of Saints, is another Relique of Gentilisme: It is
neither a misunderstanding of Scripture, nor a new invention of the
Roman Church, but a custome as ancient as the Common-wealth of Rome it
self. The first that ever was canonized at Rome, was Romulus, and that
upon the narration of Julius Proculus, that swore before the Senate,
he spake with him after his death, and was assured by him, he dwelt in
Heaven, and was there called Quirinius, and would be propitious to
the State of their new City: And thereupon the Senate gave Publique
Testimony of his Sanctity. Julius Caesar, and other Emperors after him,
had the like Testimony; that is, were Canonized for Saints; now defined;
and is the same with the Apotheosis of the Heathen.




The Name Of Pontifex

It is also from the Roman Heathen, that the Popes have received the
name, and power of PONTIFEX MAXIMUS. This was the name of him that in
the ancient Common-wealth of Rome, had the Supreme Authority under
the Senate and People, of regulating all Ceremonies, and Doctrines
concerning their Religion: And when Augustus Caesar changed the State
into a Monarchy, he took to himselfe no more but this office, and that
of Tribune of the People, (than is to say, the Supreme Power both in
State, and Religion;) and the succeeding Emperors enjoyed the same. But
when the Emperour Constantine lived, who was the first that professed
and authorized Christian Religion, it was consonant to his profession,
to cause Religion to be regulated (under his authority) by the Bishop
of Rome: Though it doe not appear they had so soon the name of Pontifex;
but rather, that the succeeding Bishops took it of themselves, to
countenance the power they exercised over the Bishops of the Roman
Provinces. For it is not any Priviledge of St. Peter, but the Priviledge
of the City of Rome, which the Emperors were alwaies willing to uphold;
that gave them such authority over other Bishops; as may be evidently
seen by that, that the Bishop of Constantinople, when the Emperour made
that City the Seat of the Empire, pretended to bee equall to the Bishop
of Rome; though at last, not without contention, the Pope carryed it,
and became the Pontifex Maximus; but in right onely of the Emperour; and
not without the bounds of the Empire; nor any where, after the Emperour
had lost his power in Rome; though it were the Pope himself that took
his power from him. From whence wee may by the way observe, that there
is no place for the superiority of the Pope over other Bishops, except
in the territories whereof he is himself the Civill Soveraign; and where
the Emperour having Soveraign Power Civill, hath expressely chosen the
Pope for the chief Pastor under himselfe, of his Christian Subjects.