The Protestant Religion Truly State and Justified, Part 47 – Part 48
The Nine and Fortieth accuſed Point.
That it is not lawful to reverence Images, nor to give any honour to inſenſible things.
Anſ. Methinks you ſhould ſometime ſpeak truth, if it were but before you are aware. 1. Proteſtants commonly hold, that they ſhould give Honour to all Inſenſible things: They are all the work of God; diſhonouring or not honouring the Creature, or Work, is diſhonouring or not honouring the Creator and Maker as ſuch. The due praiſe and honour of a Building, a Book, &c. is neceſſary to the due praiſe and honour of the Author! Do you think Proteſtants Condemn the 18th. Pſalm, the 104th. Pſalm, the 145, and all the reſt that Magnifie the works of God? Is there any above a Beaſt, that doth not honour and praiſe Sun, Moon, Stars, Heaven and Earth, Sea and Land, as the works of God? Yea we honour every Plant and Flower, every Vigetable and Mineral, knowing that God is wonderful and unſearchable in all. What is Phyſick, Aſtronomy, Geography, but the ſhell of knowing and honouring Gods Works, and God in them.
2. And the Image of Kings, of Holy Men, are purpoſely made and Printed by Proteſtants, in Love, Honour, and Reverence to the perſons Living or Dead, whom they repreſent: You may ſee many Rooms adorned with the Images of the Fathers, and of late Divines: For their Relation they love with ſome ſort of honour the Pictures of thoſe whom you have burnt as Hereticks: See whether you find them not in John Fox his Acts and Monuments.
3. But we are warned oft enough by God, and by the miſchievous effects of it in the Churches, againſt all Idolatrous and ſcandalous, and enſnaring reſpect and uſe of Images, which are either falſe Repreſentations, or are uſed contrary to the ſecond Commandment, to Corporal Idolatry though not mental, in ſuch likeneſs to the Heathen uſe of their Demons Images and deified Heroes and Emperours, as ſeemeth to be but a change of the object Perſons; or may tempt others to unlawful uſage of them: Eſpecially the uſe being not commanded us of God, while it is dangerous.
And we abhor the Papiſts Omiſſion of the ſecond Commandment, and turning the Tenth into two, leſt the people ſhould perceive the evil of ſuch Imagery. No wonder that their Proſelytes muſt be kept in Ignorance, and forbid the Scriptures in a known Tongue, without a ſpecial Licence, when they muſt not ordinarily read or hear all the Ten Commandments, even theſe Ten written by God himſelf in Stone, are too much for them to be truſted with; and yet all the Maſs of Ceremonies, and Ocean of Canon Laws, are not too much: And he that muſt be killed for not obeying theſe, muſt not know all Gods own Ten Commands; yea many have been burnt for having his Word Tranſlated.
4. And to pray before the Image of Saints, and then to ſay, we do not pray to them , but to thoſe that they repreſent, is but to do what the Heathen Idolaters promiſed to do to their Demons: They uſually ſaid, We be not ſuch Fools as to think Wood, and Stone, and Gold, and Images, to be God. But as the firſt Commandment forbids us to have any Gods but the true God; ſo the ſecond forbids us to ſeem to have any more, tho' our minds deſpiſe them, or by their way of Image-worſhip, to ſeem to be of their mind: For as a man that uſeth the common Words of an Oath, without any purpoſe to Swear, is a prophane Swearer with the Tongue, (which the mind ſhould better rule,) tho' his mind Swear not; ſo he that on his Knees in Religious Prayer, looketh on Images, as the mediate Object of his Worſhip, his act is bodily Idolatry, and his mind is guilty by not better ruling it.
Where God affixeth the mention of his Jealouſie, even to the Third and Fourth Generation, calling the bowers to Images, thoſe that hate him; it is needful to us to be jealous of our actions: For our God is a Conſuming Fire. And we are n…t ignorant of the Doctrine of your St. Thomas, who ſaith that the Image is to be Worſhipped, with the ſame ſort of Worſhip as that which it repreſenteth, and the Image of the Crucifix, with Latria, called Divine Worſhip.
The Fiftieth accuſed Point.
That no man hath ſeen God in any Form, and that therefore his Picture or Image cannot be made.
Anſ. 1. But what if it were Lawful to Paint God? Is it Neceſſary? Why may you not be contented to have a painted God your ſelves? Muſt all be burnt and damned as Hereticks that are not of your mind? Will you be jealous againſt thoſe that bow not to a painted God, as God is jealous againſt thoſe that do it? God ſaith Thou ſhalt not bow down to them, nor worſhip them: Where ſaith he, Thou ſhalt bow down to them, and worſhip them? Or bow towards them, and ſay, It is not to them?
2. God ſaith, Thou ſhalt not make to thy ſelf the likeneſs of any thing in Heaven or Earth, to bow down to them and worſhip them. Bowing down purpoſely towards them, and before them, is interpretatively bowing down to them, worſhipping them. And God would not be ſo worſhipped: Iſa. 40.16, 25. To whom will ye liken God? Or what likeneſs will ye compare unto him? To whom will ye liken me, or ſhall I be equal, ſaith the Holy one? See Lev. 26.1. Deut. 16.22. Hab. 18.2. The Molten Image is a Teacher of Lies.
It is Blaſphemy to make a Picture or Image of God, but what he maketh himſelf; as if we ſaid, God is like that Image or Creature.
But this Deceiver tells us, how God appeared to Adam and others, in a humane or ſome certain ſhape. Anſ. 1. And yet he hath oft and earneſtly forbid making Images of him to worſhip.
2. Anthopomorphits, that take God to have parts like man, are Condemned as Hereticks by the Church of Rome it ſelf. Every notifying ſign of Gods attributes, is not called his Image; and man is called his Image, for the Divine Impreſſions on his Soul, which cannot it ſelf be ſeen and Pictured. If God appear by an Angel, and that Angel appear in humane ſhape, we are nevertheleſs forbidden to worſhip God pictured as a man. Sun, Moon, Stars, yea, every Creature notifieth God to us; yet may we not paint him like theſe, or any other Creature. Did not Gods tranſcendency, and his expreſs Word plainly and frequently reprove this, Popery had ſome ſmall excuſes. If they deny Chriſts and his Apoſtles Words, that no man hath ſeen God at any time, ſave his Son, they reproach him: To ſee his Works, is only to ſe… that which notifieth him, and not himſelf: Elſe every Pagan and Brute ſeeth God. We deny not but the Sun, and Fire, and a man may be pictured, and that God being partly notified to us by theſe, (and every Creature) may be ſaid ſo far to appear in them? And when did he appear ſo wonderfully as in Chriſt▪ And yet it being not his Eſſence in it ſell that we ſee in them, but his attributes is part; an Image of a man, of the Sun, Moon, Stars, of a Horſe, or a Dog, or a Toad, is not to be called an Image of God, elſe God may have as many Images as Creatures.