Graphautarkeia, or, The Scriptures sufficiency practically demonstrated wherein whatsoever is contain'd in Scripture, respecting doctrine, worship or manners is reduced to its proper head, weighty cases resolved, truths confirmed, difficult texts illustrated and explained by others more plain.

CHAP. XL. Of Idolatry: setting up and worshipping of strange gods, graven Images. (Book 40)

LAban said to Jacob, Wherefore hast thou stollen my gods? Gen. 31. 30. Jacob said unto his houshold, Put away the strange gods that are among you, &c. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hands, and all their ear-rings which were in their ears: and Jacob hid them under the Oak, Gen. 35. 2, 4.

I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other god before me: thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image, or any likeness that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thy self to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, &c. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold, Exod. 20. 2, 3, 4, 5, 23. Psal. 81. 9, 10.

He who sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed, Exod. 22. 20.

Make no mention of the names of other gods: neither let it be heard out of thy mouth, &c. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, &c. Thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their Images, &c. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods, &c. if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee, Exod. 23. 13, 24, 32, 33.

The people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, &c. we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the ear-rings, &c. and bring them unto me, &c. and he received them at their hands, and fashi∣oned it with a graving-tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up, &c. Aaron saw it: he built an altar before it, &c. and they rose up early in the morning, and offer∣ed burnt-offerings, &c. And the Lord said to Moses, &c. Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, &c. Exod 32. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10. Psal. 106. 19, 20.

Ye shall destroy their Altars, break their Images, and cut down their groves, for thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord whose name is Jealous, &c. lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a who∣ring after their gods, and do sacrifice to their gods, &c. Thou shalt make thee no molten-gods, Exod. 34. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Numb. 33. 51, 52.

Turn you not to Idols, nor make your selves molten-gods: for I am the Lord your God, Levit. 19. 4.

Ye shall make you no Idols, nor graven-Image: neither rear you up a standing Image (or, Pillar), nor set you up any Image (or, figure) of stone in your land, to bow down to it: for I am the Lord, &c. Levit. 26. 1.

They called the people unto the sacrifice of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods, and Israel joyned himself to Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, Numb. 25. 1, 2, 3. Psal. 106. 28.

Upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments, &c. Numb. 33. 4.

Ye shall not go after other gods: of the gods of the people which are round about you: for the Lord thy God, &c. Deut. 6. 14, 15. Deut. 11. 16.

Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, &c. for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, &c. Ye shall destroy their altars, &c. Deut. 7. 3, 4, 5, 16, 25.

Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess, served their gods, &c. you shall overthrow their altars, Deut. 12. 2, 3.

Such who should endeavour to draw others to Idolatry, were to be put to death, Deut. 13.

Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee; neither shalt thou set up any Image (or, statue) which the Lord thy God hateth, Deut. 16. 21, 22.

If any hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded: he shall be stoned, &c. Deut. 17. 2, 3, 5.

That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods: so should you sin, &c. Deut. 20. 18.

Ye have seen their abominations, and their Idol-gods (or, dunghil-gods) wood, stone, &c. Deut. 29. 17, 18.

They provoked him to jealousie with strange gods, &c. they sacrificed to devils, not to God, to gods whom they knew not, &c. Deut. 32. 17, 21. Psal. 106, 37.

Neither make mention of the names of their gods, neither cause to swear by them: neither serve them, nor bow your selves to them, Josh. 23. 7, 16. Josh. 24. 14, 23.

When Joshua and that generation were dead, and there arose a new genera∣tion who knew not the Lord, they forsook the Lord, and followed strange gods, Judges 2. 10, 12, 13, 14.

Gideon made an Ephod, and put it in his City, &c. and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare to Gideon and his house. And when Gideon was dead, the children of Israel turned again and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god, Judges 8. 26, 27, 33, 34. chap. 10. 6, 7.

Micahs mother s•…•…id, I had wholly dedicated the silver to the Lord to make a graven-image, &c. And she made an Image, &c. Micah consecrated the Le∣vite, &c. The Danites take away the Idol, and the Priest, &c. Then Micah cryed

out, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the Priest, and y•…•… are gone away: and what have I more, &c? and the children of Dan set up the graven Image, Judges 17. 3, 4, 5, 12. chap. 18. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24.

Solomon in his old age was drawn away to commit idolatry, 1 Kings 11. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Jeroboam (lest Israel by going up to Jerusalem to worship, should revolt to Rehoboam) made two calves of gold, and set one in Dan, and the other in Bethel: said, Behold thy gods, O Israel: so Israel went and worshipped; and he made a house of High-places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, &c. ordained a feast, &c. which he had devised, &c. 1 Kings 12. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33. chap. 14. 9, 10.

They built them High-places, and Images, and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree, 1 Kings 14. 23. 2 Kings 17. 9, 10, 11, 12.

Asa king of Judah removed the Idols, &c. but the High-places were not re∣moved, 1 Kings 15. 11, 12, 13, 14.

All the kings of Israel after Jeroboam, did continue in thr same idolatry till Ahab: and he served Baal and worshipped him, 1 Kings 16. chap. 22. 51, 52, 53.

Hezekiah destroyed Idolatry, removed the High-places, brake the Images, cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen-serpent which Moses made: for in those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it, and called it Ne∣hushtan, &c. so did Josiah the king, 2 Kings 18. 4. chap. 23. 4, 5, &c.

King Ahaz his Idolatry, 2 Chron. 28. 23, 25.

If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god, shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart, Psal. 44. 20, 21.

Confounded be all they who serve graven-images, who boast themselves of Idols: worship him all ye gods, Psal. 97. 7.

Our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he pleased: their Idols are silver and gold, the works of mens hands: they have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not, &c. they who make them, are like unto them: so is every one who trusteth in them, Psal. 115. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Psal. 135. 15, 16, &c.

Their land also is full of Idols: they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: and the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself, &c. The Idols shall utterly pass away, and they shall go into the holes of the rocks, &c. for fear of the Lord, &c. In that day, a man shall cast his Idols of silver, and his Idols of gold which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats, &c. Isa. 2. 8, 9, 18, 19, 20. chap. 31. 7.

In that day shall a man look to his maker, &c. and he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands: neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the Images, Isa. 17. 7, 8.

The Carpenter encouraged the Gold-smith (or, founder), &c. shew the things to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do

evil, &c. Behold, ye are nothing (or, worse than nothing), and your works of nought: an abomination, &c. their molten-images are wind and confusions, Isa. 41. 7, 23, 24, 29.

I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven-images, &c. they shall be turned back: they shall be greatly ashamed who trust in graven-images: who say to the molten-images, Ye are our gods, Isa. 42. 8, 17.

They who make graven-images, are all of them vanity, &c. they see not, nor know, that they may be ashamed: Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven-image, which is profitable for nothing? behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed, and the workmen, &c. they shall be ashamed together, &c. The Carpenter, &c. heweth down Cedars, &c. he will take thereof and warm himself: yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread: yea, he maketh a god and worshippeth it: he maketh it a graven-image, and falleth down thereto: he burneth part thereof in fire, &c. and the residue thereof he maketh a god; his graven-image, he fal∣leth down and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my God, &c. None considereth in his heart, neither is there know∣ledg or understanding to say, I have burnt part of it in the fire, &c. and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of (or, that which comes from) a tree? Isa. 44. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.

They shall be ashamed, and also confounded all of them: they shall go to con∣fusions together, who are makers of Idols, &c. they have no knowledg who set up the wood of their graven-image, and pray unto a god who cannot save, Isa. 45. 16, 20.

To whom will ye liken me, &c? they lavish gold out of the bag, &c. hire a Goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: and they fall down, yea, they worship: they bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him and set him in his place: and he standeth, &c. yea, one shall cry to him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble, Isa. 46. 5, 6, 7.

I have even from the beginning declared, &c. lest thou shouldst say, Mine Idol hath done them: and my graven-image, and my molten-image hath commanded them, Isa. 48. 5.

A people who provoke me to anger continually to my face: who sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick, &c. Isa. 65. 3, 4. Jer. 1. 16.

Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit, &c. The house of Israel ashamed, &c. saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, thou hast brought me forth, &c. but where are thy gods which thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy Cities, are thy gods, O Judah, Jer. 2. 10, 11, 26, 27, 28. chap. 11. 12, 13.

Israel is gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree: and there playeth the harlot, &c. her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went

and played the harlot also, &c. committed adultery with stones and with stocks, Jer. 3. 6, 8, 9.

Seest thou what they do in the Cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusa∣lem? the children gather wood, and the fathers kindle a fire: and the wo∣men knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger, Jer. 7. 17, 18.

They are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities: silver spread into plate, &c. but the Lord is the true God, &c. The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens, &c. every founder is confounded by the graven-image: for his molten-image is falshood, and there is no breath in them: they are vanity, and the work of errors, Jer. 10. 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15.

Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? Jer. 14. 22.

The Gentiles shall come, &c. and say, Surely our fathers have inherited lyes, vanity, and things wherein is no profit: shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Jer. 16. 19, 20.

Then all the men who knew that their wives had burnt incense unto other gods: and all the women who stood by, &c. answered Jeremy, saying, &c. We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the Queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the Cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty, &c. so the Lord could no longer bear, &c. Jer. 44. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21.

I am broken with their whorish heart which have departed from me, and with their eyes which go a whoring after their Idols, &c. Ezek. 6. 9.

These men have set up their Idols in their hearts, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them, &c? I the Lord will answer him according to the multitude of his Idols, &c. I the Lord will answer him by my self, Ezek. 14. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7. Hosea 2. 2, 3, 4.

The unsatiable idolatry of Jerusalem, with all nations, Ezek. 16. 15, 16, &c.

I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen: because thou art polluted with their Idols, Ezek. 23. 30.

Such of the Levites who had offered before Idols, God refused afterwards, that they should offer any more unto him, Ezek. 44. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.

The Image of Nebuchadnezzar set up, Dan. 3.

My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms have caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God; they sacrifice upon the top of mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under Oaks, &c. Ephraim is joyned to Idols, let him alone, Hosea 4. 12, 13, 17.

Of their silver and their gold have they made them Idols, that they may be cut off: thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off: mine anger is kindled, &c. The

workman made it, therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be bro∣ken in pieces, for they have sown the wind, Hosea 8. 4, 5, 6, 7.

According to the multitude of his fruit, he hath increased the altars: accor∣ding unto the goodness of his land, they have made goodly Images: their heart is divided: now they shall be found faulty; he shall break down their altars: he shall spoil their Images, Hosea 10. 1, 2.

And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten-images of their silver, and Idols according to their own understanding; all of it the work of the crafts-men: they say of them, Let the men who sacrifice, kiss the calves: therefore they shall be as the morning-cloud, &c. Hosea 13. 2, 3.

For their Idols have spoken vanity, and the Diviners have seen a lye, and have told false dreams, &c. Zechar. 10. 2.

Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved (or, ought to love) and hath married the daughter of a strange god, Malachi 2. 11.

The people said, &c. The gods are come down unto us in the likeness of men: and they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius; because he was the chief speaker: Then the priest of Jupiter, &c. brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people: which when the Apostles, Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their cloaths, and ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, What do ye in these things? We are also men of like passions with you, and preach unto you, that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God who made heaven and earth, &c. Acts 14. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18.

We write unto them, that they stay from the pollutions of Idols, Acts 15. 20, 29

Paul, &c. at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he saw the City wholly given to Idolatry (or, full of Idols): therefore disputed he in the Sy∣nagogue, &c. Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too super∣stitious: for, as I past by and beheld your devotions (or, gods whom ye wor∣ship), I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God: Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, &c. Forasmuch then as we are the off-spring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art, or mans device, Acts 17. 16, 17, 22, 23, 29.

Demetrius said, This Paul hath perswaded and turned away much people, saying, That they be no gods which are made with hands: so that not only this our craft is in danger, &c. but also, that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth, &c. Great is Diana of the Ephesians, &c. the Image which fell down from Jupiter, Acts 19. 26, 27, 28, 34, 35.

When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, &c. but became vain in their imaginations, &c. and changed the glory of the invisible God, into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, &c. who changed the truth of God into a lye, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, Rom. 1. 21, 23, 25. chap. 2. 22.

Thou who abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit sacriledg? Rom. 2. 22.

We know that an Idol is nothing in the World, and that there is none other God but one: for though there be that are called gods (whether in heaven or earth), as there be gods many, and lords many: but to us there is but one God, &c. 1 Cor. 8. 4, 5, 6.

Neither be ye Idolaters, as were some of them: as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play, &c. My dearly beloved, flee from Idolatry, &c. What say I then, that the Idol is any thing? or that which is offered in sacrifice, is any thing? but I say, That the things which the Gen∣tiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils, 1 Cor. 10. 7, 14, 19, 20.

Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carryed away unto these dumb Idols, 1 Cor. 12. 2.

How ye turned to God from Idols, to serve the living and true God, 1 Thess. 1. 9.

Little children, keep your selves from Idols, 1 John 5. 21.

And the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and Idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk, Rev. 9. 20.

See worshipping of the true God, Chap. 16.