CXLV expository sermons upon the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St.…

1. There are made and constituted many gods by mans vanity, and there is one only true God indeed. The Apostle, 1 Cor. 8.4, 5. hath given us this distinction,¹ where having asserted, that an Idol is nothing, viz. formaliter, though it be made of wood or stone, and have rich ornaments, yet the thing signified is nothing. Though there are Sun and Stars, yet as made Gods, so there is no such thing: Though there were such men as Saturn and Jupiter, yet relatively as Idols representing a God, they were a non-entity. He brings this verse in by way of accusation to answer the objection: There are, saith he, [Greek or Hebrew], there are many that are called Gods: The whole world is full of such; they have their Celestes, Acrii, Terrestes, Marini, as many Gods as creatures almost; but to us, viz. Believers, there is one only true God the Father: So that you see there is one real existent true God, and there are many fictitious and constituted Gods made by man, which the Scripture calls Idols, and that by very significant names: Sometimes by a word that signifieth nothing, sometimes by a lye and vanity, sometimes by dung and dirt that is rolled up and down, sometimes by scar-crows, or terricula muta, and very often by abomination. The beginning and progress of this Idolatry is handled by Learned men, and Learned Tractates are written de Diis Syris, de Diis Romanorum ⟨p. 91⟩and Germanorum, in all which we may mourn over that horrible blindness and folly which doth seize upon all men by nature, and we may bless God for the Christian Religion, which hath made us to cast off all those abominable Idolatries.

1. There are made and constituted many gods by mans vanity, and there is one onely true God indeed. The Apostle, 1 Cor. 8.4, 5. hath given us this distinction,¹ where having asserted, that an Idol is nothing, viz. formaliter, though it be made of wood or stone, and have rich ornaments, yet the thing signified is nothing. Though there are Sunne and Starres, yet as made Gods, so there is no such thing: Though there were such men as Saturn and Jupiter, yet relatively as Idols representing a God, they were a non-entity. He brings this verse in by way of accusation to answer the objection: There are, saith he, , there are many that are called Gods: The whole world is full of such; they have their Celestes, Acrii, Terrestes, Marini, as many Gods as creatures almost; but to us, viz. Beleevers, there is one only true God the Father: So that you see there is one reall existent true God, and there are many fictitious and constituted Gods made by man, which the Scripture cals Idols, and that by very significant names: Sometimes by a word that signifieth nothing, sometimes by a lye and vanity, sometimes by dung and dirt that is rowled up and down, sometimes by scar-crows, or terricula muta, and very often by abomination. The beginning and progresse of this Idolatry is handled by Learned men, and Learned Tractates are written de Diis Syris, de Diis Romanorum