A65285:1939
A Body of Practical Divinity
A body of practical divinity consisting of above one hundred seventy six sermons on the lesser catechism composed by the reverend assembly of divines at Westminster : with a supplement of some sermons on several texts of Scripture / by Thomas Watson ...
London: printed for Thomas Parkurst, 1692
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. Thou shalt not bow down to them. The intent of making Images and Pictures, is to worship them. No sooner was Nebuchadnezzars Golden Image set up, but all the People fell down and worshipped it, Dan. 3.7. Therefore God forbids the prostrating our selves before an Idol: So then the thing prohibited in this Commandment is Image-worship. To set up an Image to represent God, is a debasing of the Deity, 'tis below God. If one should make the Images of Snakes or Spiders, saying, he did it to represent his Prince, would not the Prince take this in high disdain? What greater disparagement to God, than to represent the infinite God by that which is finite; the Living God, by that which is without Life, and the Maker of all, by a thing which is made?
1. To make a true Image of God is impossible. God is a Spiritual Essence, John 4.24. And being a Spirit he is invisible, Deut. 4.15. Ye saw no Similitude on the Day the Lord spake with you out of the midst of the Fire. How can any paint the Deity? Can they make an Image of that which they never saw? Quod invisibile est, pingi non potest, Ambr. Ye saw no Similitude. It is impossible to make a Picture of the Soul, or to paint the Angels, because they are of a Spiritual Nature; much less then can we paint God by an Image, who is an Infinite, Increate Spirit.
1. To make a true Image of God is impossible. God is a Spiritual Essence, Iohn 4.24. And being a Spirit he is invisible, Deut. 4.15. Ye saw no Similitude on the Day the Lord spake with you out of the midst of the Fire. How can any paint the Deity? Can they make an Image of that which they never saw? Quod invisibile est, pingi non potest, Ambr. Ye saw no Similitude. It is impossible to make a Picture of the Soul, or to paint the Angels, because they are of a Spiritual Nature; much less then can we paint God by an Image, who is an Infinite, Increate Spirit.