CHAP. XXXVIII.]

OF IDOLATRY,

&c.

Lord could no longer bear, because for they have sown the wind.-Hosea
of the evil of your doings.-Jer. viii. 4-7.
xliv. 15-22.

I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me; and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols.-Ezek. vi. 9.

The vision that Ezekiel had of their abominable idolatry.-Ezek. viii. These men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face should I be inquired of at all by them? &c. I the Lord will answer him that cometh, according to the multitude of his idols, &c. I the Lord will answer him by myself. Ezek. xiv. 3-7. Hosea ii. 2-4.

The insatiable idolatry of Jerusalem, with all nations.-Ezek. xvi. 15, &c.

I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.-Ezek. xxiii. 30. xvi. 36, &c.

Such of the Levites who had offered before idols, God refused, afterwards, that they should offer any more unto him.-Ezek. xliv. 10-15.

The image Nebuchadnezzar set up.
-Dan. iii.

Belshazzar and his princes, &c. praised the gods of gold and of silver, &c.-Dan. v. 3, 4.

My people ask counsel at their stocks, 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 tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks, &c. Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.Hosea iv. 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 broken in pieces;

According to the multitude of his fruit, he hath increased the altars : according unto the goodness of his land, they have made goodly images: their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty; he shall break down their altars: he shall spoil their images.-Hosea x. 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 craftsmen. they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice, kiss the calves: therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, &c.—Hosea xiii. 2, 3.

I will cut off them who worship the host of heaven, &c. that swear by the Lord, and swear by Malcham.

Zeph. i. 4, 5. Amos viii. 14.

For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams, &c.-Zech, x. 2.

Nor will we say any more to the work of our hands, ye are our gods. Hosea xiv. 3.

-

Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved (or ought to love); and hath married the daughter of a strange god.-Mal. ii. 1 1.

God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven.-Acts vii. 42.

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, which was before the city, 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 clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you; and preach unto you, that ye

OF ANGELS, &c.

should turn from those vanities, unto
the living God, which made heaven
and earth, &c.-Acts xiv. 11-15. 18.
We write unto them, that they
abstain from pollutions of idols.-
Acts xv. 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 synagogue, &c. Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious: for, as I passed by, and beheld your devotions (or gods whom ye worship), I found an altar with this inscription, To THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, &c. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art, or man's device. -Acts xvii. 16, 17. 22, 23. 29.

Demetrius said, This Paul hath persuaded 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 to be set at nought; 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 xix. 26-28. 34, 35. When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, &c. and changed the glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, &c. who changed the truth of God into a lie, and served the creature more than the Creator. -Rom. i. 21. 23. 25. ii. 22. Ps. cvi. 19-21.

Thou who abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?-Rom. ii. 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

:

[CHAP. XXXIX.

heaven or earth), as there be gods many, and lords many; but to us there is but one God, &c.-1 Cor. viii. 4-6.

Neither be ye idolaters, as were people sat down to eat and drink, and some of them: as it is written, The 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 to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.-1 Cor. x. 7. 14. 19, 20.

carried away unto these dumb idols,
Ye know that ye were Gentiles,
even as ye were led.-1 Cor. xii. 2.

nature are not gods.-Gal. iv. 8.
Ye did service unto them, which by
How
to serve the living and true God.-
ye turned to God from idols,
1 Thess. i. 9.

from idols.-1 John v. 21.
Little children, keep yourselves

not killed by these plagues, yet reAnd the rest of the men which were pented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.-Rev. ix. 20.

The Lord will be terrible unto them; for he will famish (or make lean) all the gods of the earth.-Zeph. ii. 11.

CHAP. XXXIX.

OF ANGELS APPEARING TO MEN: WHAT
THEY ARE, and do.
AND the angel of the Lord found
And the angel of the Lord said unto
Hagar by a fountain of water, &c.
her, Return to thy mistress, &c. I
will multiply thy seed exceedingly,
&c.-Gen. xvi. 7—11.

his discourse with them, and enter-
Three men appeared to Abraham :

taining of them.-Gen. xviii. Dan. x. 5, &c.

And there came two angels to Sodom at even, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom and Lot seeing them, rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground, &c. but the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house, &c. and they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, &c. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son-inlaw, &c. for we will destroy this place, &c. The angels hastened Lot, &c. and while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, &c. When they had brought them forth abroad, he said, Escape for thy life, &c. And Lot said unto them, O not so, my Lord, &c. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing, &c. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom, and upon Gomorrah, brimstone, &c.-Gen. xix. 1. 10—13. 15-19. 21. 24.

And the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad.-Gen. xxi. 17.

And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham, &c. Lay not thine hand upon the lad, &c. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time.-Gen. xxii. 11, 12. 15.

Abraham said unto his servant, The Lord God of heaven, &c. he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.-Gen. xxiv. 6, 7.

Jacob dreamed, and behold a ladder, &c. and the angels of God ascending and descending on it.-Gen. xxviii. 12. The angel of God spake unto Jacob in a dream, &c. said, For I have seen all that Laban doth unto thee: I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me.-Gen. xxxi. 11-13.

And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him: and when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host, &c. And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with power him, &c. As a prince hast thou with God and with men, &c. Jacob said, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.—Gen. xxxii. 1, 2. 24. 28. 30. Hosea xii. 4.

And

The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.-Gen. xlviii. 16.

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, &c. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, &c. said, I am the God of thy father, &c.-Exod. iii. 2-6. Acts vii. 30. 35.

And the angel of God which went before the camp of Israel, removed, and went behind them: and the pillar of the cloud, &c.-Exod. xiv. 19, 20.

Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way, &c. for mine angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites.-Exod. xxiii. 20. 23. xxxii. 34. xxxiii. 2.

He heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt.-Numb. xx. 16.

way,

God was angry with Balaam, because he went: and the angel of the way, for an adverLord stood in the sary against him, &c. And the ass (upon which he rode) saw the angel of the Lord standing in the and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside, &c. But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the And when the ass vineyards, &c. saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, &c. And the angel of the Lord went farther, and stood in a narrow place, &c. and when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam, &c. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on