Com.2, . 193 Chap.2. .Againsf Images. therefore take heed that they attempted not to make any likenefs ofany thing, as you may read there at large ; for if God had been willing they fhould have made any certainly he would have reprefcnted himfelf to them in fome form or fhape, when he came unto the Mount. Let us takeheed therefore , that we takenot upon ns . to frame to our felves any reprefentation of God , and to make Images to his dishonour. It is thenature of Faith , to believe things not vifible; and therefore to make invifiblc things become vifibte in Religion, is the next way to dishonour itcb.u.r. God, and to overthrow Faith, and confequently, Religion it felt. Our Saviour tells john 4.ot. the Woman of Samaria, that the time was coming when the true worfhippers fhould worfhip God in fpirit , and truth , and in Images there is no truth , butfrmu- lacram veritatis , a refemblance of truth : The very Temple of 7erufalem as a type fhould not be accepted. Hxod.aç.tS. It is obiceted , if all fimilitudes be condemned , how came it to pals that Heb.9.ç God himfelf prescribing the making of Cherubins , and they were. refem- blances ? fp. There was no fuch refemblance in them , as their definition of an Image imports, which is ( as they fay ) quod habet exemplar in rerum natura, that is like fomenatu- ral thing but Cherubins were not fo : for they weremade like Boys without Arms, inftead thereof were two great wings which we cannot paralel in nature. But it Exod.zç, :, is plain, that God caufed them not to bemade, to the intent to be worlhipped ; for then he would not have put them into the darkeft places , in the fanüum fanntorum, whither none came but the High Prieft, and hebut once a year. And indeed God fheweth wherefore he made them,that the Prieft might know from whence to receive his anfwer, and to lignifie the readinefsof the Angels, to execute the will of God. iiS.le Wt. And Tertullian anfwereth this fully, God faith not, that an Image fhould not be 00m. 1.2..447made, but nonfaciestibi, thou (halt not make it to thy felt. Godcommanded thefe to be made by Mofes. God might difpenfe with his ownPrecept, fo far as it was pofitive, as the prohibition of making any Image is, but to worfhip or give any Divine honour to it, which is minim in fe, limplyevi)s though it were not forbidden , this God never allowed, or difpenfed with ; the other is only ma'amquia prohibi- rum, this is prohibitumquia malum. lais Paid alto , why then didGod command the Image of the Fiery Serpent to be Numb,z1:8. made? xsjp. This was not ut coleretur, fed ut mederetur, not that it fhould be worfhipped , but that it fhould be as a means to heal the People that had been plagued for their murmuring. And indeed Tertullianhath the fameobjeEtion, and anfwereth it thus. Quod idemDeus,vetuit lege [militudinem extraordinario preferipto aneumferpentem fierifecit, fi to eandem legemobfervas legerñ-habes, eam obferva f poft' ,receptumfa4tum, fimilitudinemfeceris, & to imitare Mofen,id eft, ne facialtibifsmulachrum , nifi Dem to Ptgait, that the fame Goddid both forbidby his Law the makingofImages, and yet by anextraordinary command, caufed the brafen Serpent to bemade, if thou obferve the fame Law; thou haft a Law, keep it, if thou be afterward commanded to make an Image, imitate Mofes , that is , make none, except God command thee. Concerning this point , we have {hewed, what moved God to make this re- flraint, on hisown part. Now it followeth to thew whyhe did it on ourpart, in re- gardofour corruption. t. Tertullian faith, (in the Book before quoted) that before the Flood, even in the days of Seth, the worlhip of Godwas corrupted with Images, and that Enoch/ inftauration wasnothing but the reftoring ofpure Religion again , and that there- forehe is laid to have walked with God. Again we fee, that after the Flood , 3a. Gen. 5.zr. cob by being in Labans Houle, had learnt to take Teraphim , Images of Gods, 31,x9, and to mingle them in Gods worfhip. Now the reafon of this, God himfelf gives. 6. 3. Man is but flefh. Though he confifts oftwo parts,flefh,andfpirit, yet thegroffncfs of the flefh, overgrows the purenefsof the fpirit, and corrupts it, turning that other part of ManCthe fpirit)intofleth,infomuch as the Apoftics many times in their Wrightings, call the Soul and Mind, by thename of flefh ; and Saint Paul gives us warning, to take heed of the fiefh of the Soul tee ixt And hence it is that we have an affeïtion in us, which they call 4xaikwo a delire to feel,
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