An Expofition upon the ph1nenefs: Do none of you t~ink flightly of Religion, accounting it either a Politick Defign, or a ncedlefs Prec1fenefs? Are none of you negligent in the pnblick \Vorfhip and Service of God; nor yet in Private and Family Duties; or if you perform them, is it not very carcleOy and perfunfrorily; or if you feem zealous in them is not your Zeal excited by fomc Temponl Adv:mt:tges, and low bafe Worldly End~ and De figns? Do you not make that common and unhallowed, which God hath made ~oly, eithc: by abu~ng his Namel pollutiOg his Sabbaths,. or v~l~fying his Word Ill your ordmary Ratlery? And laftly, do none of you dcfptfe Spmtual Privileges and Enjoyments, and thofe likewife who are invell:ed with them? If fo, how fa ir anQ fpecious .foevcryour Lives and ACtions may be,altho' yon may think the rude debauch~d Sinner at a vaft diftance froni your fehres, and account him the only pm~ phane Perfon, yet certainly this black Stile belons as properly to you, and you arc prophane yiolaters of this. firft Command which requires you to take the I..or.d for your God, and accordingly to honour and reverence him, and whatfoevcr apperta ins unto him. And thus much for the Third notable Trartfgreffiori of this Command, Prophanc~ nefs. · 4 rhly . The Fourth and !aft breach of this Command is by Idolatry, Thou jha!t havt no other godJ bejidcJ me ; which they tran(grefs who fet up any other God befides the Lord Jehovah. Idolatry accotding to its Etymolor-y and Ufe, fi~nifies 3: ferv ing of l ma~ ges, or Idols; now, an Idol, tho' it properly fignifies an artifici<tl Effigies or RefcmR hlance made to reprcfent any thing or perfon, yeti~ Divinity it fignifics any thing befides the true God, unto wh ich we afcribe Divine Honour and Worfhip. And as an Idol is twofold, one i ntern:~. I in the fiCtion JQd imagination of the Mind; another external and vifible, either the Work of Mens hands, as Statues and lma~ !!es, or elfc the \Vork of God's hands, as the Sun, Moon and Stars, or any other Creature; fo there is a twofold Idolatry, the one l ntern?-1, when in 011r Minds :md AffeCtions vie hono11r and venerate th<it as God which indeed is not fo, but is either a CtC..<~.tnre Of the true God, or a Fiction of a deluded Fancy: The other External, which we are theh ~nilty of when we cxprefs the inward Vcner.:~tion of our Souls, by outward ACts of Adoration. As for inftance: Whofoevcr lh:tU believe the con~ fecrated Bread in the Sacrament to be tran filbftantiated and changed into the true and proper Body of Jefus Chrift, and upon this belief, fhall in his mind revere and. honour it as his God (as the Papifts do) he is guilty of internal Idolatry: But if to this internal Veneration, he add any external Rites C?f \:Vorfhip, as Proftration, Invocation, &c. he is then Iikewife guilty of external Idoh•try. • It is the former of thefc two kinds of Idolatry, which ts here prohibited in this firft Commandment, T~Jou jlutlt have no other godJ before me ; that ts, thon fhalt not give unto any thing either m Heaven or Earth, that inw:trd Hcart-worfhip of Af- .fiance, Love, Fear, Veneration, and Dependence, which is due only to the tn1e God, · the Lord Jehov.:~h : ~he impente ACl:s, or outward _Exp_reffi0n~ of this. inw.:~1:d \:Vorfhip, is that whtch we ca\1 external Idolatry, whtch ts fpecmlly forbtddcn m the fecond Commandment, of which I fhaU treat in its place and order. Now (0ncerning thls Internal ldol:ttry, obferve thefe follow ing Propolitions: Fir{!-, Whofocver acknowledgcch, and in his heart worlh ipeth anothe r God different from that God who hath revealed himfclf unto us in his holy Scriptures, he is guilty of this Internal Idol atry, and the breach of this ~rft Comm~ndmcnt. And therefore not only thofc miferablc Creatures who worfhtp the De~tl, or thofe th~t have rccourfc to Diabolical Arts and Charms, or thofe who worfhtp Men whofe Vt- .ces were their d"frJ;;ir.!111$, and their Crimes their Confecration, as BacchUJ, and Vemu, and others of the Heathenifh G6ds; nor thofe who worfhip'd Me.Q. famous for their Vertnesl as the Heathens did_their Hero's, a"nd the Papifrs do their Sai_nts; or thofe Who worfhip any of the Creatures of Go9.1 as the Hoft of He:1ven, Ftreas the A-.Jg, tl1. Per{ians, or Water. as the Egypti'!m, o; ~he ~reatu;es o_f Art, as.StJt?es and lm.1ges, c''~~· Del as if poffefr and amm:1ted by thctr J?emes; m whiCh refpefr Tnfmeg!Pm called lmaJ.a. c. ~J. ges the Bodies of the Gods: And wtth the fame ~adnefs ar_c the P~ptfts poffeft, who are perfitaded that God and Chrift, and the Samts dwell m certam Images made to r eprcfen t them, and b). thofe lm.1ges give anfwe;s t0 their Vota~i~s, and perform many wonderfu l and miraculousWorks; whereas tf ~here be any Spmt ~hat poffe~eth them (as pcrhaps .there .may) we have reafon to ~e~reve th_at li~ce thetr Wor!h'P of them is thc.very fame wtth the H eathens, thofe Spmrsare llkewtfe the fame, vt~· not God, nor Saints, but D~vils and datnned Spirits. But 1fay, not only thefc ar~3~:;
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