Lectures upon the four first chapters of the prophecy of Hosea Wherein the text…Lectures vpon the foure first chapters of the prophecie of Hosea Wherein the text…

But here some object, that they may lawfully present ⟨p. 296⟩their bodies at idolatrous service, so that they reserve their ¹hearts for Gods pure worship. To which I answer, that if this assertion were true, then were all Gods holy Martyrs but simple men, who rather were content to endure exquisite torments, then give any outward approbation to idolatry; then were the three children far out of the way, who rather chose to be cast into the fiery furnace, then they would bow to Nebuchadnezzars Idol. But indeed it is far otherwise, for the Lord who hath created and redeemed as well the body as the soul, hath wholly appropriated, as well the one as the other, for his worship and service. So 1. Cor. 6. 20. Ye are ²bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirits, for they are Gods. Rom. 12. 1. the Apostle exhorteth ³us to offer our body a lively sacrifice unto God. And 2. Cor. 6. 17. Come out from amongst them, and separate your ⁴selves, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. So Isaiah 52. 11. And the Apostle John doth exhort ⁵us, to keep not our souls alone, but our selves, that is, our whole person from idols, 1. Joh. 5. 21. So in the second Commandment, ⁶the outward bowing to images is precisely forbidden. And of this there is great reason: for what husband having a wife, would endure that she should prostitute her body to commit whoredom, though she should never so deeply protest that she reserved her heart for him? how much less will the Lord admit such an excuse, when those who profess themselves his spouse commit spiritual whoredom with idols in their bodies? Again, they who go thus far, will not stay here, but in the end will worship idols, as well with their souls as with their bodies. This progress of idolaters the Psalmist excellently expresseth,