Exposition of 2 Kings 17:15-16

2 Kings 17.15, 16.

They followed vanity & became vain & went after y^e heathen that were round about them, concerning whom y^e Lord had said that they should not do like them. And they left all y^e commandements of y^e Lord their God, & made them molten images even two Calves, & made a grove & worshipped all y^e host of Heaven & served Baal.

This whole Chapter is spent in describing y^e captivity of the ten Tribes by y^e Assyrians; the abominations of the Israelites for w^ch they were captivated; & y^e religion of y^e nations w^ch y^e Assyrians placed in Samaria in the Seats of y^e captivated Israelites; w^ch religion was that these nations joyned together y^r worship of y^e true God{s} in y^e Calves of Ieroboam, & y^e worship of y^e fals Gods of Gentiles round about in their respective \several/ Idols, even as y^e Israelites had joyned them before. But y^e words I have chosen to discourse on are a part of y^e description of y^e abomination of y^e Israelites w^ch these nations imitated. {illeg} complaining how they followed vainly & became vain by forsaking y^e commandements of y^e Lord to make molten images even two Calves, & worshipping all y^e host of Heaven & serving Baal. & going after y^e heathen that were round about them. Now this comprehending bothe y^e worship of Ieroboams Calves dedicated (as I shall shew) to y^e trew God, & also y^e worship of other Idols dedicated to y^e Gods of y^e Nations round about: we have here an opportunity to consider Idolatry in its full latitude & to discourse of its nature in general : ffor w^ch end I shall in the first place propound y^e six following particulars.

ffirst that y^e Israelites acknowledged & worshipped the true God at y^e same time that they worshipped the Gods of y^e Gentiles. Secondly that they & the nations w^ch succeeded them in \the cities/ Samaria {sic} worshipped y^e true God <2r> in the calves of Ieroboam. Thirdly that this worship was Idolatry notwithstanding that it was performed to y^e true God: & by parity of reason, that y^e worship of y^e true God by any Image w^ch he has not commanded is Idolatry (as indeed he has commanded none) is Idolatry. ffourthly that generally y^e Israelites & Gentiles worshipped not mere Images as Gods themselves but only as dedicated to their severall gods. ffiftly that those Idolaters who acknowledged y^e true God, did not esteem any of their other Gods equal to him but accounted them only finite beings, & for y^e most part y^e soules of men departed this life \deceased/ who for the eminent passa passage of their life here, \they supposed/ were after death rewarded w^th power \more or less/ over this world, to do good or hurt therein subordinatly {illeg} not only to y^e supreme God{s} but \even/ to some others of their imagined Gods. Lastly that y^e Glory of y^e true God w^ch they \Idolaters/ gave unto their Idola|s|, was not any of his attributes as some \are ready to/ suppose, but only this: To love, fear, trust in, & seek unto those Gods for y^e temporal blessings of this life, for w^ch y^e true God has appointed us to love fear trust in & seek unto none but himself immediately. To celebrate God for his eternity infinity omnic immensity omnisciency & omnipotency is indeed a very \pious/ lofty & seraphick worship {but} \& the duty of every creature to do it according to his capacity, but yet this part of Gods glory, as it – – – – / these as they almost transcends y^e comprehension of man so they |it| springs not from y^e necessity of freedom of Gods \Gods/ will but from y^e necessity of his nature. And as y^e wisest of men delight not so much to be commended for their height of birth strength of body, bewty, strong memory, large fantasy, or other such gifts of nature as for their wise good & great actions the issues of their will so y^e wisest of beings requires of us to be celebrated \not so much for his essence as/ chiefly to be celebrated for y^e issues of his will which are \his actions,/ the creating preserving & governing all things \according to his good will & pleasure. {sic}/. The wisdome power goodness & justice w^ch he always exerts in his actions are his glory w^ch he stands so much upon, & is so jea <3r> lous of. These are that glory {illeg} w^ch the Prophets & Apostles from one end of y^e scriptures unto y^e other \& especially the Psalmist/ so much celebrate, y^e only glory by w^ch God manifests himself to his creatures, y^e reason & w^ch his Creatures are able to behold in him, the reason why his creatures worship him, & y^e life & soule of all y^e worship we can give him: & therefore no wonder he is so extreamly jealous of his honour in this point even to y^e least tittle. As for his attributes he knows those can scarce be given to any other, because so soon as men do assribe {sic} any thing of his attributes to any thing they worship, they doe thereby mean y^e supreme God; though perhaps in other respects they may have a deformed notion of him, \as indeed the best notions any of us have of him are imperfect enough/: but for his works, many of those may & have been & still are too frequently ascribed to his creatures, the deified Heroes w^th their Idols among y^e Gentiles, & y^e saints w^th their reliques & images among too many Christians. And therefore they that think y^e Idolatr{ies}|y| of y^e Heathens to consist in giving any other part of God's honour & glory yⁿ that of his works to their Idols are mistaken, & they that begin to give any of this his glory to angels or saints, or to their images or y^e reliques of martyrs or y^e like, begin to give God's glory to another \to whom it belongs not/ after y^e same manner y^t the Idolatrous Israelites & \those/ Gentiles did who w^ped y^e true God & falsGods together.

\These are the six heads I intend to discourse of, &/ When I have run through these|m| six heads I intend for a conclusion to lay down out of scripture y^e notion of a fals God, of an Idol, & of Idolatry: To do w^ch is my chief designe because men are so much wanting in this notion that they scarce know what to apply Idolatry to besides those particular cases of y^e {illeg} Heathens to w^ch y^e Prophets themselves applyed it. But before I do this I have thoug{ht} it not amiss to premise y^e six preceding particulars: w^ch I do, not as if I intended them for necessary foundations of <4r> what I chiefly aim at but only as convenient to prepare y^e way.

The first was that y^e Israelites worshipped y^e true God together w^th y^e Gods of y^e g|G|entiles. Now this is very plain by the history of this chapter: for first so soon as y^e Israelites were carried away captive, & y^e other nations placed in their stead in y^e cities of Samaria, it's said that at the beginning of their dwelling there they feared not y^e Lord & therefore y^e Lord sent Lyons among them w^ch slew some of them. Wherefore they spake to y^e King of Assyria saying The nations w^ch thou hast removed & placed in the cities of Samaria, know not y^e manner of y^e God of y^e Land: therefore he hath sent Lyons among them & behold they slay them because they know not y^e manner of y^e God of y^e Land. Then y^e king of Assyria commanded saying carry thither one of y^e Priests whome ye brought from thence, & let them go & dwell there & let him teach them y^e way \manner/ of y^e God of y^e Land. Then one of y^e Priests whome they had carried away from Samaria came & dwelt in Bethel & tought {sic} them how they should feare y^e Lord. Howbeit every nation made Gods of their own – – – – So they feared y^e Lord & served their own Gods after y^e manner of y^e nations whome they carried away from thence. [Now the Lord which these nations were |here| taught to fear was most plainly y^e true God: first because y^e name by w^ch he is called in y^e hebrew is Iehovah a name given to none but y^e true God: ffor in vers 28 it is said that one of y^e Priests whome they carried away from Bethel Samaria came & dwelt in Samaria & taught them how they should fear Iehovah, & in vers 32 So they feared Iehovah & made unto themselves of y^e lowest of them priests, & in vers 33 they feared Iehovah & served their own Gods & lastly in vers 41 So these nations feared Iehovah & served their graven <5r> ^{[Editorial Note 1]} principal places of Idolatry, & yet when they came up to these to perform their Idolatrous worship, they used to swear The word liveth, that is y^e true God of Israel liveth for y^e Hebrew word w^ch we here translate Lord is Iehova, a word w^ch never signifies any other then the true God, & w^ch it seems was hitherto commonly used not only by the Prophets (as we find it in their writings) but |{now}| by y^e people, though after y^e Captivity \if the Rabbies say true/ it became so superstitiously reverenced, that it was made death for any to name it but y^e high Priest, & he too did it only in the Temple once a year in a solemn benediction of y^e people: w^ch supertition {sic} seems to me to have \might/ risen from the Prophets reprehending here their using it after a wicked manner {illeg} interdicting \here/ y^e use of this name as it might seem absolutely, though I suppose he meant only that evil use of it w^ch Israel \then/ practised.    Seing But however, seing Israel used to swear by y^e true God Iehovah when they came up to do their abominations at y^e said cities Gilgal & Bethaven its plain that they acknowledged & respected the true God in the midst of their abominations in y^e time of y^e Prophet Hosea, that is \w^ch was/ a little before they were captivated by y^e Assyrians, for Hosea wrote about 4|5|0 or 5|6|0 years before that captivity.

Now because God is so much offended at their swearing Iehova liveth as to mention it emphatically as a grand crime w^ch Israel committed when she went up to her cities of worship, & to forbid Iudah to do the like, & yet they were not interdicted under y^e law to make solemn oaths or vows in his name, but only to break them once made: one may presume there was some further grand mystery in these oaths, & what that was will I conceive appear by comparing this place of Osea w^th Isa|er| 44.25, 26, where a <6r> hand of Egyptians Iews^[1] w^ch in the time of Nebuchadnezzars captivity fled into Egypt vowed in the name of y^e Lord to worship the Queen of heaven. The words run thus. Hear y^e word of y^e Lord all Iudah that are in the Land of Egypt Thus saith the Lord of hosts y^e God of Israel, saying, Ye & your wives have both spoken w^th your mouth & fulfilled w^th your hands, saying, We will surely perform o^r vows y^t we have vowed to burn incense to y^e Qeen {sic} of heaven & to pour out drink offrings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows & surely perform yo^r vows. Therefore hear |ye| y^e word of y^e Lord all Iudah that dwell in y^e Land of Egypt, Behold I have sworn by my great name saith y^e Lord that my name shall be no more named in y^e mouth of any man of Iudah in all y^e Land of Egypt, saying, y^e Lord God liveth. Now concerning this place you may note first that these Iews when they were in y^e Land of Egypt worshippers of y^e Queen of heaven, they used the same manner to invoke & sweare by the true God as y^e Israelites did before at Gilgal & Bethaven saying y^e Lord God liveth: And therefore in the midst of their abominations in Egypt retained a memory of & respect unto y^e true God. And so we have here an example of y^e Iews falling into gross Idolatry w^thout forsaking y^e true God as we had before of y^e Israelites. And such an example too as makes it probable that Iudah never forsook y^e true God seing these men lived when Idolatry was grown to y^e height, & quoted the practices of their forefathers for t\w/hat they did, & seeme to have been as degenerate as any, obstinately refusing to obey Ieremiah whom God sent unto them, & not desisting till God cut them off in Egypt as he had newly done their idolatrous brethren at Ierusalem of whom they were an escaped rem <7r> nant. Secondly it is to be noted that y^e vowes here made were not extemporary oaths or protestations but solemn vows: for upon being reproved for their Idolatry they said, surely we will perform o^r vows w^ch we have vowed to burn incense to y^e Queen of heaven. Thirdly by Gods threatning that his name should be no \more/ named by any man of Iudah in all Egypt is not meant a withdrawing of y^e remembrance of his name from them but a cutting them off for their abominable prophaning his name, for in y^e next vers he adds y^e manner of it saying Behold I will watch over them for evil & not for good, & all y^e men of Iudah that are in y^e land of Egypt shall be consumed by y^e sword & by the famin untill there be an end of them. Fourthly it is to be noted that y^e reason why God {thus} threatned that his name should be no more thus named in Egypt by them was because they vowed to burn incense to y^e Qeen {sic} of heaven. Because they while they sware by his name they made such exerable vows as these, therefore God threatens they should swear by his name no longer but be cut off. Their swearing by Gods name has here a special relation to their vows to commit wickednes: for God does not say in general: Because ye worship y^e Queen of heaven therefore I will be no longer your god; but because ye have made such wicked vows as these are therefore ye shall be cut of that ye may use my name no longer to swear by. This therefore was their sin of swearing by his name that they sware solemnly by it to commit their abominations: when it is evident that they accounted him their \proper &/ principal God.^[2]

To proceed now \on/ to some further considerations: the truth of the assertion that Israel worshipped the true God <8r> {&} fals Gods together may appear by considering y^e designe of Ieroboams proceeding when he set up the calves to be worshipped. for y^e worship w^ch he instituted conti{illeg}nued till y^e time of y^e Captivity, that short persecution of Iezebel perhaps only excepted, & therefore was the same w^th that exercised next before y^e persecution, only w^th this difference that they were then become more abominable by adding forreign Gods to y^e calves. For in y^e history of their Captivity it is said that the Children of Israel walked in all y^e sins of Ieroboam \w^ch he did/, they departed not from them till he removed Israel {illeg} out of his sight. Now I would have you consider that when Ieroboam made this change in religion he had no further design in it then to confirm y^e kingdom to himself & for that end to keep y^e people from going up to Ierusalem to worship there least their hearts should turn again toward their brethren there & so they should slay him & return \again/ to Rehoboam. This is y^e reason set down in y^e history, & therefore it is not likely that he should go about to make any further change in religion then was requisite to stay y^e people from going up to Ierusalem it being against all rules of policy for a king to make any unnecessary changes in his kingdom. But the fundamental change of their God was no way requisite for this, & therefore it is not at all likely that he should go about to attempt that, especially, since that being y^e greatest change that could be made in religion, it could not but have {sic} a very dangerous & scarce feasible attempt to do it \so/ on a suddein, as we may easily apprehend by the obstinacy w^th w^ch all nations adhere to their perswasions. To have attempted it by force might have put all into confusion & rebellion, especially in a nation so unsetled, & to have attempted it by perswasive arguing against their God, would more probably have made them stone y^e disputers for blasphemers of their God then con <9r> vinced them. It is not likely therefore that he went about to change any more than the place & so much of y^e mode of their worship as might make them disaffected to y^e way of w^p at Ierusalem & so confirm their worship to other places. And this he might do by sophistry causing it to be put into their heads, that to worship at Ierusalem was but an innovation seeing their forefathers worshipped in other places, & Iacob in particular at Bethel where he put one of y^e calves. That theire Temple also was a \but a new/ device of Solomon, & that the calves might be y^e place of Gods special residence presence as well as y^e Cherubins \over the Ark/ at Ierusalem whoselower parts had y^e same figure & y^t there was as much reason why God might be worshipped before y^e one as before y^e other. With some such sophistry as this I am the more apt to think that they maintained all along their worship against y^e Iews because I find the woman of Samaria (one of y^e posterity either of them & of y^e nations w^ch succeeding them continued their worship) I find I say this woman arguing after y^e \this/ manner w^th our Saviour: Our fathers worshipped in this mountain & ye say that in Ierusalem is y^e place where men ought to worship.

Further as it is improbable {illeg} on y^e account of policy y^t Ieroboam should change their God, so also by this circumstance of the history that \God reccons it among his crimes that/ to these Calves he made Priests of y^e lowest of y^e people w^ch were not of y^e sons of Levi: for (as I have said of y^e like Priests w^ch the heathen successors of y^e Israelites made to y^e true God in Samaria) had these Priests been dedicated to any other God then y^e true one \in the calves/, the crime would have been to make Priests of y^e highest of y^e people & of y^e tribe of Levi because the first would have been a giving y^e greater honour to a fals God, y^e last a sacrilegious prophanation \violation/ of Gods special institution & privilege to have that Tribe Priests to himself.

<10r>

Much after the same manner one may argue from these Amos 4.4 where their worship is reprehended for deviating \in some things/ from y^e ceremonies of y^e law. Come to Bethel, & saith y^e Lord & transgress, at Gilgal multiply trangession, & bring your sacrifices every morning, & your tiths after three years, & offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving w^th leaven & proclaim & publish the free offerings: for this liketh you o ye children of Israel saith y^e Lord God Here you may see that Israel retained y^e worship of y^e Law at Bethel & Gilgal, the chief places of their transgression, but not exactly: for they offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving w^th leaven, w^ch was instituted to be w^thout Leaven as you may see in Levit. 7.12. Now whereas God upbraids them for this, certainly he would never have upbraided them for not observing y^e circumstances of his law towards any other God then himself.

But to make the buisines {sic} yet more plain, there is in the next chapter {illeg} an express declaration of their performing this their worship to the true God & his refusal to accept of it. Tis y^e 5^t Ch. of Amos y^e 21^th vers, w^ch I pray you mind. The words run thus. I hate, I despise your feast days & I will not smell in your solemn Assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings & your meat offerings I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fatt beasts. Take thou away from me y^e noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. This respects y^e national worship of the ten Tribes \during the standing of before the calves/: for the discourse begins w^th a threatning lamentation against Israel for what they did at Bethel Gilgal & Beersheba, & ends w^th |a| threatning them y^e captivity by the Assyrians w^ch happened about three or four score years after

To all these things \{illeg} things/ I might yet add more were it necessary^[3] As y^e great number of the Lords Prophets that were in Is <11r> rael. For in Ahabs reign besides y^e many Prophets w^ch Iezebel slew, there were 100|an| hundred saved in a cave: & it not {sic} at all likely that Prophets should abound so \very/ much in a kingdom in w^ch y^e name of y^e Lord by w^ch they prophesied was not acknowledged. The comparison of y^e greatnes of y^e sin of worshipping the calves w^th that of worshipping y^e Gods of y^e Gentiles might be also considered. ffor y^e sin of y^e calves though great enough is yet worshipped represented less then that of worshipping Baal. ffor of Ahab, (the first king of Israel that added the Idolatries of y^e Heathens to y^e sin of Ieroboam) it is said that he did evil above all before him, & as if it had been a light thing to walk in y^e sins of Ieroboam, he went & served Baal & worshipped him. And afterward of Iehoram y^e son of Ieroboam Ahab, for abolishing Baal it is said that he wrought evil in y^e sight of y^e Lord but not like his ffather, for he put away y^e Image of Baal that his ffather had made, nevertheless he cleaved to y^e sin of Ieroboam. Tell me now on what account the sin of Ieroboam should be thus esteemed less then that of worshipping Baal, unless it be this that in y^e former case y^e Idols was dedicated to y^e true God, |in| the latter to a fals one? ffor certainly the sins are equal, to worship any of y^e Gentile Gods.

Again y^e history of Iehu is very remarkable. for this king destroyed Baal out of Israel, & that in vindication of y^e worship against Baal. ffor when he had gathered y^e Priests of Baal together to slay them he caused a search to be made to see if any of y^e Priests of y^e Lord were among them, for fear they should perish w^th the rest,& for this his zeale in God's cause, & for destroying also the house of Ahab for their worshipping Baal, God was so well pleased with him, that he said, Because thou hast done well in executing that w^ch is right in mine eyes, <12r> thy children of y^e fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel: And yet for all this \while/ Iehu continued all this in the sins of Ieroboam like y^e rest of y^e Kings of Israel. as 'tis expresly testified of him.

Thus much may suffice to manifest y^e first particular That Israel worshipped y^e true God together w^th their fals ones. The next particular was that they worshipped the true God was worshipped in the Calves of Ieroboam And of this I have \occasionally/ said something already in arguing from Ieroboam's policy in y^e institution, from y^e reprehension of his making Priests to these calves out of y^e lowest of the people w^ch were not Levites, from their observing these legal ceremonies in their worship at Bethel where the{illeg} calf was, & being upbraided by God for not observing them fully, & from y^e sin of y^e Calves being less then that of worshipping y^e Gods of y^e Gentiles.

<13r> ^{[Editorial Note 2]}

I say rather pas on to say a word or on my second & 3^d Proposition that I may {sic} leave my discourse altogether imperfect The second was that tr the true God was worshipped in y^e calves. Now I And of this I have \occasionally/ said something already in discoursin arguing from Ieroboam's policy \in the institution/ from y^e Priests reprehension of his making Priests to these calves out of y^e lowest of y^e people w^ch were not Levites, from their worshipp observing y^e legal ceremonies in their worship at Bethel where y^e calf was, & being reprehended by God upbraided by God for not observing |yⁿ {sic}| fully; from y^e sin of y^e calves being less then that of w^ping y^e Gods of y^e Gentiles. {illeg} I may add that y^e worship of the calves was their national religion & consequently y^e same w^th y^e w^p of y^e true God w^ch was also their national religion. But the proclamation of Ieroboam Behold thy Gods o Israel w^ch brought the up out of y^e land of Egypt makes it plain. For hereby it's certain that they worshipped none other for y^e true God then him whom they worshipped in these calves. The expression indeed runs as if they meant y^e very calves to be that God. {sic} but this was but according to a mode of speaking familiar among them ffor as they used to call every all Images Baal w^ch were dedicated to Baal & all \other/ Images Chemosh w^ch were by y^e names of y^e Gods to w^ch they were dedicated, so they called these Calves by y^e name \title/ of y^e their own God because dedicated to him. Thus you may see in y^e 17 chapter of Iudges {illeg} \though/ Micah's Mother (as tis expresly said) dedicated eleven hundred sheckels of silver to make a molten Image & a graven Image to Iehovah for her son \Micah/ & accordingly made two images thereof & placed them in the house of her son & Micah & Micah worshipped Iehovah in them getting a Levite to be his Priest & saying Now I know Iehovah will do me good seeing I have a Levite to be my Priest: yet these Images history calls these Images his Gods saying that he had a house of Gods: And Micah himself also calls them his Gods <13v> saying to the Danites who took them away, Ye have taken away my Gods w^ch I made. I conceive I the ground of their The case is much like one famili \familiar/ w^th all y^e world. {illeg} \When/ We say behold this or that man who did such any action, {illeg} nothing can be beheld but his body & yet we speak it w^th reference to his soule the principle of y^e action: And so when they {illeg} said Behold thy God w^ch brough {sic} thee out of y^e Land of Egypt though nothing could be beheld but y^e Calf, yet their calling it a god must refer to y^e special \invisible/ presence of y^e God w^ch they supposed in it by whose presence or influence y^e on y^e account of w^ch they esteemed it of more value then a mere {illeg} of God who \especially seeing all Israell knew that their God/ brought them out of y^e Land of Egypt long before y^e Calf was made.

The third Proposition was that the worship of those calves was Idolatry notwithstanding that it was per y^e true God was worshipped in them, \though not so heighnous Idolatry. as the w^ping Baal & other Gods of the Gentiles./ Now for manife this will sufficiently appeare out of these two or these|ree| places. Hosea 8.4 Of their silver & their Gold they have made them Idols that they may be cut of. Thy calf o Samaria hath cast the off. \the workman made it therefore it is not God. But the Calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces/ Here God first acuses \tells/ them first in general that they made Idols to cut them of & then instances in y^e Calf \telling them it was not \a/ fals God/. So Hosea 13.2 They have made them molten images of their \molten images of their silver &/ Idols according to their |own| understanding, all of it y^e work of y^e craftsmen, they say of them let y^e men that sacrifice kiss y^e Calves; \they say of them/ of them that is of y^e Idols {illeg} they made let y^e sacrifices \kiss/ y^e Calves. So that here you see calves w^th other images altogether called Idolatry|s|. w^ch is all one as to call their w^p Idolatry. Again in Hosea 4.15 Though thou Israel play y^e Harlot yet let not Israel offend come not ye unto Gilgal neither go ye up to Bethaven. Here Israel is called a Harlot w^ch is as much much {sic} as to say a committer of Idolatry & the places where she did it are Gilgal & Bethaven whereof Bethaven I told \shewed/ you was Bethel y^e city where {sic} \called Bethaven that is the house of the Idols because / Ieroboam {illeg} /had\ placed one of y^e Calves. |there| ✝ < insertion from f 14v > |vers. pag.| ✝ there. And so in Hos. 10.8 when the Prophet had newly mentioned the calves of Bethaven or Bethel, he subjoynes The altars of the Idol the sin of Isr high places of Aven the sin of Israel shal be destroyed that is y^e \high places or/ Altars of y^e Idols. For Aven is one of y^e usual names for for an Idol & so y^e vulgar translation hath translates. < text from f 13v resumes > Lastly in 1 Kings 14.9 God tells Ieroboam that he had \Thou hast/ done evil above all that were before the{illeg}, for thou hast gone & made thee other Gods even molten Images to provoke me to anger & hast cast me behind <14r> thy back God tells them here that y^e Gods they wor \here/ calls these calves here {sic} other Gods \w^ch is all one as to call their w^p Idolatry/, & good reason. For though they \Israel/ supposed Gods special presence in them to heare their prayers & accept their w^p th{illeg} yet they were deceived, God was not there, they were mere unprofitable vanities, to w^ch God was a stranger to {sic}; {illeg} they were not filled w^th his presence \as Israel supposed/ out other Gods, {illeg} mere vanities, & their worship vain & idolatrous. Had God commanded it {then w} \such an Image/ & promised that he would place his \place his special/ be presence|t| in such an Image it & accept of their worship done before {sic} as done to him, such worship would have been pro \necessary/ profitable & pious, but since it was they made of it of their own heads & {illeg} twas another thing \an {illeg} \&/ a strange and an empty thing another God/ w^ch he had nothing to do with, & the worship of it disobedience vanity & idolatry the w^p of another God disobedience f vanity & Idolatry.

Now seing if it be Idolatry to make an image to \w^p/ y^e true God by this you may see the great extent of y^e second commandement \by {illeg} an Image/ you may hence learn these two things first that Idolatry according to old {sic} meaning of y^e word comprehends not only y^e worshipping given to y^e an {illeg} Idol absolutely \ultimately/ but \also/ that given through an Idol to y^e God to w^ch y^e Idol is dedicated, y^t is not only worship. by of an Idol but also w^p by an Idol is Idolatry, Or that an image becomes an Idol so far as we worship either it or any thing by it. And secondly you may learn hence y^e unive great extent of y^e 2^d Commandement ffor if it interdict y^e making of an image to God him self, much more to {illeg} must it to any thing els. So that comparing \both/ these two things I see not how any image w^p can be excused. Lastly they that think to excuse of some is hereby cut of ffor if pleading they are Christians & terminate their w^p on God, is hereby cut of. ffor \if this would/ {illeg} y^e Israelites if this would not excuse y^e Israelites who were Gods people & directed their w^p ultimately to him as well \much/ as they {illeg} \do/, how can it excuse them. Of the two they are y^e more guilty for they go a step futher out of the{illeg} way, & double the crime by transmitting their worship first through images to y^e soules of dead men & then through y^e soules of dead men to God

<15r>

By this history it is easy to collect y^t y^e Lord \God/ of y^e Land w^ch y^e new nations were tought {sic} to worship in y^e cities of Samaria was y^e true God, & that this same God had been worshipped before by y^e kingdom of Israel, even amidst the worst of their idolatries, as y^e God of y^e|their| Land, till y^e very time of y^e captivity. But this though it be plain enough of it self yet I intend y^e next time to point at y^e particular marks by w^ch it is put beyond all cavil; & not only so but to shew out of sacred history by examples \in ages/ before Ieroboam's time that y^e Israelites & their forefathers used not to forsake y^e true God when they fell into Idolatry but only to joyne to his worship the adoration of y^e Gods of y^e Gentiles as these did since Ieroboam. And this I shall do that it may appear that Israel during all her abominations from first to last scarce ever forsook y^e true God but only \any further then by forsaking his laws in/ /absolutely but only\ corrupted his w^p by mingling their own inventions w^th it as too many of o^r neighbouring christians dayly do. Which corruptions if they be at any time called a forsaking of God, no more need be understood by that but a forsaking of his laws.

T. g. o. o. L. I. C. & t. l. o. G. & t. f. o. t. H G.^{[Editorial Note 3]} be w^th us all evermore. Amen.

The first of y^e six Propositions w^ch I laid down from hence was that y^e \Idolatrous/ Israelites worshipped y^e true God together w^th y^e Gods of y^e Gentiles. And this I told you was plain by y^e history of the chapter captivity registred in this chapter ffor – – –

<15v>

There is a place \also/ in Ier (ch 44. v. 27) where certain of y^e Idolatrous Iews being fled from y^e taking of Ierusalem into Ægypt are reprehended for making {illeg} solemn vows to perform sacrifices to y^e Queen of heaven, & threatned that since they did make such vows they should be suffered to swear no longer to swear by the name of y^e Lord \God/ liveth, but be utterly destroyed out of Egypt by y^e arms of Nebuchadnezzar. And by comparing this place w^th y^e former of Hosea one may easily learn that \y^e reason why their swearing the Lord God liveth/ their vows by w^ch they ingaged to perform sacrifices or other duties to their \Idols &/ fals{illeg} Gods, used to be done in y^e name of y^e Lord |God| saying y^e Lord liveth. And no wonder therefore y^e Lord was so much offended at this oath as to reccon it among their greatst {sic} sins, though without doubt they thought they did it piously. honoured y^e Lord thereby.