Anti-Haman, or, An answer to Mr. G. Burnet's Mistery of iniquity unvailed wherein is shewed the conformity of the doctrine, worship, & practice of the Roman Catholick Church with those of the purest times : the idolatry of the pagans is truly stated ... / by W.E. ...

SECTION I. That Pagans thought their Idols to be Gods.

MY first reason is taken from severall places of Scripture, fathers, & Pagans, where they are expressely called Gods. Exo. 32.4. These are thy Gods, o Israel. Speaking of the calfe. and Micah having newly made an Idol, prepared a place to put it in,(a) 1.1 He set a part alittle house to the God. Or as the Inglish translation hath it Micah had a house of Gods. And the Danits having robbed him of his Idol, he bemoanes his losse with these words:(b) 1.2 My Gods, which I made me, you have taken away. Dan. 14.15. Doth not Bel seeme to thee aliving God? And the Psalmist:(c) 1.3 all the Gods of the Nations are Idols, the Latin hath it other∣wise, Omnes Dii Grentium daemonia: but the In∣glish Protestants cannot except against their owne edition. Lastly the same is as expressely, though more obscurely delivered in booke of wisdome.(d) 1.4 Where he says, the Pagans had

given the Incommunicable name to Stocks, & Stones. And what is that Incommunicable name but, that of the tru God? All othernames are communicable, as signifying things com∣mon to many: even that of Gods by participa∣tion, Gods by ressemblance.(a) 1.5 I have sayd you are Gods, & children of the most hygh. And:(b) 1.6 There are many Gods, & many Lords. Wherefore the tru meaning of that place is that the Pa∣gans affixt the Proper Name of God, to their Idols.

This may be gathered from the profession of Pagans themselves.(c) 1.7 Lucian relating an as∣sembly of their Gods, called by the greate Iupiter (on occasion of Atheisme, which the•• bare faced walked amongst the Philosophers, to deliberate how to oppose it, he makes Ju∣piter give a commission to Mercury to enter∣taine them, & place them orderly according to their severall dignitys by reason of their matter, or Art. On the first rank he should place those of Gold: on the second those of silver: on the third those of Jvory; on the fourth those of Brasse, or stone. And amongst these he should give the precedency to those who where the master pieces of famous workmen such, as Phidias, Alcumenes, Myron, Euphranor, &c. There Neptune sees with disdaine & indig∣nation, Anubis, with his dog's face take place of

him, because he was composed of more rich matter. Then there is a dispute, what place to assigne to the Colossus of Rhodes; which al∣though it was only of Brasse, yet for the bulke of it surpast the price of most of the golden Gods. In sine the whole discours evidently demonstrates, that the materiall Status, or Idols were beleived to be Gods, by the Pagans, whome Lucian there derides.

As for fathers, & Primitive Christians, out of their workes whole volumes myght be com∣posed in confirmation of this Truth. See Justi∣nus M. epist. ad Diognetum, pag. 492. Consi∣sider the matter & forme, of those things, which you call Gods, & judge them to be such. Are not some of them stones, like to those we treade on? Are not others of Brasse, like to that which is applyed to ordinary uses? Others of wood, & that worme eaten? Others of silver, which must be watched, least they be stolen? Others of clay? 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. These you call Gods, you serve, you adore these, & at last become entirely like them.

Tertul. Apolog. cap. 40. Si quid adversi acci∣dit urbibus, eaedem clades templorum, quae & moe∣nium fuerunt: ut jam hoc revincam, non à Deis evenire; quia & ipsis evenit. If any calamity be∣falls your townes, their Temples, & their walls perish alike: whence I prove, that your Gods doe not inflict it, seing they suffer, as much as the walls.

S. Cyprian. l. ad Fortunatum de Exhortat. Martyrii cap. 1. Proves against the Pagans, quod Idola Dii non sunt: That Idols are not Gods. A very superfluous taske, if what E.S. says be tru, that no body thought them so. More Fa∣thers shall be cited in my following reasons. So that E. S. will have no occasion to make himself merry, with a covy of three Fathers, as he did with that of one Patridge. See also s. Ambrosel. 2. de Virgin. ante finem.

Another reason is taken from the reprod ordinaryly made in Scripture to Idolarers. Da∣vid(a) 1.8 says they changed their Glory into the like nesse of a Calfe (or cxe) eating grasse: because they abandoned God, to adore a statu sha∣ped like an oxe: that is they left God not for at oxe, nor for the likenesse, of God; but for the likenesse, or ressemblance of a calfe. What the Royall Prophet reproches to his Ancesters it the wildernesse, the Blessed S. Paul(b) 1.9 charge uppon all Idolaters. They changed says he, the Glory of t he incorruptible God, into an Image made like to corruptible man, & to birds, & four footed Beasts, & creeping things. S. Hierom objects the same: l. 2. Comment in c. 1 Matt. Ignorantes Creatorem, & adorantes lap∣dem. Being ignorant of the Creator, & adoring stone.

Athird reason is taken from those places o•• Scripture, or fathers where Gods are sayd to be

made by men. We are first forbidden to make them:(a) 1.10 Yeshall not make Gods of silver, nether∣shall you make unto you Gods of Gold. And the Israelits were threatned(b) 1.11 in case of disobe∣dience to God's Commandments, that for a pu∣nishment, they should serve Gods, the work of men's hads, wood & stone, which nether see, nor heare, nor eate, nor smell. And in the booke of wis∣dome.(c) 1.12 Their hope is amongst thedead, who call Gods the worke of men's hands. In fine S. Paul(d) 1.13 was accused by Demetrius the silver-smith, for teaching, That they be no Gods which are made with hands: wherefore it was his, & the common opinion, that they were Gods, which were made with hands. Justinus Mar. Apol. 2. O stupidity! you adore those as Gods, which are made by wicked men. And in S. Austin(e) 1.14 Mercurius Trisme∣gistus avows some Gods to be made by men, to wit, those in temples: althô he owned that this proceeded from the ignorance of the tru wor∣ship of God.

This receives a greate lyght from Isayas(f) 1.15 A carpenter, says he in your Inglish translation, plants an Ash, & the rayne doth nourish ii. He bur∣neth part thereof in the fire, with part thereof he makes a God. Again(g) 1.16 They lavish Gold out of a bag, & weygh silver in the balance: & hire a Gold smith, & he maketh it a God. And Jere∣my

(a) 1.17 Shall a man make Gods, unto himselfe, & they are no Gods? the same in substance is sayd Jere. 10.3.4.14. althô more obscurely.

If M. Still. be not satisfyed with these testi∣monyes of holy writ (then which nothing can be more cleere, let him shew his Art in explica∣ting these verses of a Pagan, owning the same(b) 1.18

Olim truncus eram ficulnus inutile lignum: Cùm faber incertus, scamnū faceretnè, Priapum, Maluit esse Deum. Deus indè ego.

A fourth reason is taken from the prayers which were made to the statues, or Idols. In the booke(c) 1.19 of wisdome. He (the Idolater) maketh Prayer for his good, for his wife & children, & is not as hamd to speake to that which hath no life. For Health he calleth uppon that which is weake; for life he prayeth to that which is dead: for aide he humbly beseecheth that which hath least meanes to helpe: & for a good journy he as keth that, of that, which cannot set a foote forward. And for gaining, & getting, & good successe of his hands, as keth abi∣lity to doe, of him that hath least ability, to doe any thing. Againe one preparing to sayle, & about to passe thorow the raging waues, calls uppon a piece of wood more rotten then the wood which carryeth him. And in the Epistle of Hieremy.(d) 1.20 If they see one dumbe they bring him, & intreate Bel that he may speake: as though he were able to un∣der stand.

These two Bookes are held to be Apocrypha, by Protestants, (of which I will not treate at present) yet why they should deny them credit in a matter offact, I know no reason. But be∣cause they regard not what is reasonable in their controversys; but what serves their turne, I will shew the substance of all this, in bookes of unquestionable authority:(a) 1.21 The residue of the Ash, be maketh a God he falleth downe unto it, & adores it & prayes unto it, & sayth, deliver me, for thou art my God The sayings, of the other Bookes are only ampliations of this. Soe they cannot be denyed, without rejecting this; nor this ad∣mitted, without retaining of those.

A fifth reason is that the Idolaters were really perswaded, that their Idols did helpethem. Hie∣remy(b) 1.22 Saying to a stocke thou art my father: & to astone thou hast begotten me. Certainly those who could beleive that they ought their Being (the greatest of all gifts) to their statues, or Idols, of stone, or woode, would much easier believe they owed to them other goods of an inferiour nature. Certainly the Jews(c) 1.23 ascribed their past felicity in Hierusalem to their sacri∣fices offred to the queene of Heaven, & their then present miseryes to their ceasing from those sacrifices. But the most publick owning of singular benefits from Idols, is that of the Israe∣lits.(d) 1.24 These are thy Gods o Israel, which brought

thee our of the land of Aegypt. Which words S. Cy∣ril of Alex. l. 9. contra Julianum p. 308. B. (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,) un∣derstands to be sayd to that very calfe, which Aaron had cast.

If Mr. Still. think not this reason cleared enough out of Scripture, I shall desire him to reade what is written by the Greekes of the Palladium of Troy; & what the Romans thought of it, & of their Ancilia, what Macro∣blus writes of some Nations, who chained the Gods, Protectors of their Cittys, fearing they should forsake them. Let him at least reade S. Austin l. 1. de Civit. c. 3. And if he be not convinced, that the Pagans had confidence in their statues, or Idols, I say he shuts the eyes of his understanding soe close, as to exclude al lyght, but what pleases him, & serves his turne. Adde to his, Saint Cyprian l. ad Demetrianum. Pudeat te eos colere quos ipse defendis, pudeat tute∣lam de iis sperare, quos tu ipse tueris. Be ashamed to worship those, whome you defend: & to expect protection from those, who themselves neede yours.

I have two authorityes more, to confirme this reason: Jeremy(a) 1.25 affords the first. They must be carryed, because they cannot goe. Wherefore Feare them not for they can nether doe hurt, nor good. To what intent could this reason be alleadged, unlesse it were to confound that opinion that

the statues themselves could helpe, or hinder? The Pagans then were possest with that opi∣nion. My other is out of David(a) 1.26 who having sayd that the Idols of the Gentils were silver & gold, the worke of mens hands: that they had eyes, & could not see: eares, & could not heare-&c. He concludes his elegant induction, with these words: May every one who makes them be like unto them, & also all who trust in them. There was then a Trust, a confidence, a relyance on those Idols, which could not be grounded, but on an opinion that they did Good. Adde to this, what R. Majmonides says, as he is rendred by Dionysius Vossius, p. 8. Ab his simulacris bo∣na & mala omnia provenire indicabant universis: & proinde summo jure coli & metui. And Athe∣nagoras in his Embasly for Christians, p. 25. Ownes the same, but attributes the effects to spirits dwelling in them.

My last reason is taken from the severall ar∣guments produced in scripture against Idola∣try, that they were made by men, that care must be taken they did not fall.(b) 1.27 that they have no motion.(c) 1.28 Cannot defend themselves, from wormes, or birds, fire, or theives, or even from the sacriledges of their owne Adorers: as S. Ambrose(d) 1.29 observes out of the example of Dionysius the Tyrant.(e) 1.30

You will say Pagans were wise men: how could they then be capable of soe grosse an Er∣rour? ANSWER. This is that weakenesse of the understanding incident to some: who in matters of fact require demonstrations: soe a Philosopher denyed locall Motion because he could not answer the reasons against it, & de∣served no other confutation, but by this ques∣tion: Foole what doe I now. proposed by a man who walked. It is cleere out of what I have sayd, that the Pagans de facto did beleive their Idols to be Gods, why should we give eare to a speculative reason, against an evident hysto∣ricall Truth? As if man left to himself did no∣thing but rationally, or did not many times soe far darken his understanding, as to shew little use of it in his greatest concernes! It was the greatest folly imaginable, I grant it: yet that is incident to man when he is abandoned of God. And this the Ingratitude of Phylosophers deser∣ved. For whem(a) 1.31 they knew God they glorifyed him not as God nether were thank full, but became vaine in their imaginations, & their foolish hart was darkned professing them selves to be wise, they became Fooles. And changed the glory, of an In curruptible God, into an Image. Thus S. Paul. If you reply, you see, who you will dispute against: viz, the Fathers, S. Paul, Hieremy, Isayas, & the Holy Ghost.

If you still think the Paralel just betwixt the

Idolatry of Pagans, & the worship given in the Catholick Church to Images, skew your Art in sophistry, & prove that we hold our Images to be Gods: that we put our Confidence in them; expect good, or feare Evill from a stocke. How pittifull, would your discourse be, should you dispute against us in this manner: a Crosse is made by a man: ergo it is not a representa∣tion of our Saviours death. The statu of our B. Lady cannot move, without the helpe of man: ergo, we are not to hope for any thing from God, though her intercession.

In fine ether what Fathers, & what Scrip∣ture containes against the Idols of the Gen∣tills, is to no purpose, & all their Reasons are frivolous: or our doctrine of Images differs from theirs of Idols: the first is blasphe∣my: therefore you must subscribe to the second.

Notes

• (a) 1.1

  Iud. 17.5.
• (b) 1.2

  Iud. 18.24.
• (c) 1.3

  Psal. 96. (93.) 5.
• (d) 1.4

  Sap. 14.21.
• (a) 1.5

  Psal. 81. (82.) 6.
• (b) 1.6

  1. Car. 8.5.
• (c) 1.7

  Iupiter Tragaedus.
• (a) 1.8

  Psal. 105. (106) 20.
• (b) 1.9

  Rom. 1.23.
• (a) 1.10

  Exod. 20.23.
• (b) 1.11

  Deut. 4.28.
• (c) 1.12

  Sap. 13.10.
• (d) 1.13

  Actor. 19.26.
• (e) 1.14

  l. 8. de Civ. Dei. c. 23. & 24.
• (f) 1.15

  Isay. 44. à v. 9. ad 20.
• (g) 1.16

  Isa. 46.6. & 7.
• (a) 1.17

  Ierem. 16.20.
• (b) 1.18

  Horat. l. 1. Sat. 8.
• (c) 1.19

  Sap. 13.17.
• (d) 1.20

  Bar. 6.41.
• (a) 1.21

  Isayas 44.17.
• (b) 1.22

  Hier. 2.27.
• (c) 1.23

  Hier. 44.8.
• (d) 1.24

  Exo. 32.4.
• (a) 1.25

  Hier. 10.5.
• (a) 1.26

  Psal. 113.8. or Ps. 115.8.
• (b) 1.27

  supra.
• (c) 1.28

  Sap. 13.15. Bar. 6.26.
• (d) 1.29

  Bar. 6. Psal. 115.5. Ier. 10.5.
• (e) 1.30

  lib 2. de Virginibus ante finem.
• (a) 1.31

  Rom. 1.21.