wroth with you, nor rebuke you. Your iniquity, though sought for ever so diligently, shall not be found; for I, saith the Lord, will pardon it," Jer. 1. 20. Doth the Lord in the mean while hide his face from you, on account of your sins, he will not do so for ever, for according to Rev. xxi. 3, 4, "his tabernacle shall be with you, and ye shall be his people, and he will be with you, and will be your God, and wipe away all tears from your eyes." Amen.

EXPLANATION

OF THE

SECOND COMMANDMENT.

XXXV. LORD'S DAY.

Exod. xx. 4, 5, 6. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing, that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; 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; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Q. 96. What doth God require in the second commandment ? A. That we in no wise represent God by images, nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his word. Q. 97. Are images then not at all to be made?

A. God neither can, nor may be represented by any means; but as to creatures, though they may be repreesnted, yet God forbids to make, or have any resemblance of them, either in order to worship them, or to serve God by them.

Q. 98. But may not images be tolerated in the churches, as books of the laity ?

A. No; for we must not pretend to be wiser than God, who will have his people taught, not by dumb images, but by the lively preaching of his word.

It is

T is not so much the matter, as the manner and good quality of a work, that renders it good. Though a building were constructed of polished stones and of cedar wood, it would nevertheless be neither comely nor convenient, if the materials were not properly joined to gether, and if the apartments were not well adapted to their use. Although the matter of a garment were ever so costly, yea, such as would befit a king, it would notwithstanding be unseemly and disagreeable, if it were disproportioned to the body. The warlike apparel of Saul was such as became a king, but David rejected it, because it was not proportioned to his body, and he was not used to it, 1 Sam. xvii. 38, 39. It is thus likewise with all our religious performances. It is not so much the matter of our actions, as the manner and the requisite qualifications of them, that renders them good. The ceremonies of fasting and of sacrifices were commanded: but because the Lord's people did not perform them in a right manner, he disapproved of them, as abominations. See Isaiah i. 10-15. lviii. 1-5, The Lord saith, Isaiah Ixvi. 3. "He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man: he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck: he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's flesh : he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol." The Lord is indeed a God, who observes strictly he looks not only at actions, but also at the qualities of actions; we must hear the word of God, but we must also "take heed how we hear," as Jesus admonisheth, Luke viii. 18. The great Lawgiver did not therefore deem it sufficient to require of his people in the first commandment, that they should honour and worship him alone as God, in opposition to all idols; but he requires also in the second commandment, that they should do this in a right manner, spiritually, and not only with the body; according to his prescript, and not just as they saw fit; in spirit and in truth, and not by images. when he saith, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness."

The Lord God, in order to discover his jealousy against images, forbids them,

II. He assigns exceedingly weighty reasons to restrain all men from them.

I. It is necessary, 1, to explain what is forbidden here. "2, to inquire concerning what is commanded, and, 3, to show that this second commandment is not defective, but perfect.

1. God forbids making and honouring an image and likeness. Pezel signifies a graven image, and themouna. a likeness which represents something that exists; others have explained largely enough in what manner these words have been translated by the Greeks. It will suffice us to say, that they denote in this commandment images and likenesses of every kind, "whether graven, or molten, or painted, or woven, or embroidered. The Lawgiver speaks not therefore of "his own image and likeness, after which he made man,' Gen. i, 26, but of an image and likeness, meaner than the man himself, made by himself, and thus not worthy that the maker of it should bow down himself to it. The Papists, not knowing how to excuse their forbidden imageworship, say that we must understand by image and likeness here, an image of an idol, which was contrived indeed by the heathens, but exists no where, and is thus an image of a falsehood, because the apostle saith, 1 Cor. viii. 4. "We know that an idol is nothing in the world." But to be nothing denotes here that an idol is not worthy, that we should ascribe any divinity to it; and therefore the idols are called clilim, “nothings," or "not gods." The divine command speaks of images and likenesses, which represent that which is in heaven above," as the sun, moon, stars and birds; "that which is in the earth beneath," as men, beasts and plants; and "that which is in the waters under the earth," as brooks, streams, rivers, fishes and seamonsters.

The God of Israel forbids making images and likenesses of thesc things. The instructor asks with good reason, "Are images then not at all to be made?" Must we justify the followers of Mahomet, who proscribe entirely the art of making images? shall we utterly abolish the civil use of images, as ornaments of houses, cities and coins? If any should be so unreasonable, as to censure Solomon for adorning his throne with images of lions, he will certainly not disapprove of the conduct of the Lord, that he taught Bezaleel by his Spirit" to cut stones, and carve timber in a curious manner," Exod. xxxi. 1-5. When therefore the Lawgiver saith, "Thou shalt not make any image or likeness, he speaks of images, by which men endeavour to represent him in particular; for so this prohibition is explained, as we will show presently from Deut. iv. 15-18. God VOL. 11. 2 C

forbids also every other kind of images, with respect to any religious use of them. The heathens and Jews were too wise to think that all their images represented God: they made images of creatures also, in order to honour God by them: therefore the Lord forbids also " bowing ourselves down to them, and serving them." The Hebrew word Schachah signifies an outward downbowing of the body, either with the head, or with the knees, or with the whole body to the earth. The Greek translators render this word by firoskunein, to reverence, as the idolaters reverenced their images and gods, sometimes even by kissing them; for they kissed either the images themselves, or they kissed their hands in honour of their gods, whom they could not reach. See Job. xxxi. 26, 27. The other word gnabad, to serve, is translated by the seventy latreuein, and they translate it elsewhere douleuein. There is not therefore, so great a difference between the service of latreia and douleia, as the Papists imagine. We have spoken more largely of this in the foregoing sermon. Thus all religious worshipping of images is forbidden, whether by praying or by sacrificing, or by burning incense, or by celebrating festivals.

The Lord God doth not forbid this making and worshipping of images without a reason. He knows the corrupt inclinations of the heart, which doth most easily suffer itself to be seduced to this abominable service: it knows that God ought to be worshipped; if we shall worship him, we must conceive of him as present with us; the soul bereaved of the image of God, knows not how to do this: therefore she did not know how to conduct better in this matter than by representing him in a bodily manner, and by directing her religious services to such a representation. The children of Ham and of Japhet, separating themselves from Shem, and from his true covenant God, invented even at an early period several gods for themselves; the sun, moon, and stars were first and before all others honoured as guds by the Babylonians After this they placed men also in the number of their Gods; they deified their parents, children, princes, heroes, and others, making use of certain ceremonies for this purpose. The Egyptians looked upon beasts, plants, crocodiles, serpents, and other monsters, to be gods Idolatry passed from them to the Greeks: and the Romans, although they were wiser than the rest, became so foolish, that they adopted the gods of ali nations, and builded a Pantheon, or temple of all the gods, and brought all their gods into it. Even the Germans and Dutch did

Although the author speaks in the original only of the Dutch, it is evident from what he says, that he intends both the High and the Low Dutch,