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A12808
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A sermon on the Second Commandement preached in Saint Pauls Church, Ianuarie 6. 1623. By Iohn Squire vicar of Saint Leonard in Shorditch by London.
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Squire, John, ca. 1588-1653.
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1624
(1624)
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STC 23115; ESTC S121755
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30,399
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59
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that for this point for Images Although their powder plot would haue buried our Records yet our Records cannot burie their powder plot That telleth vs that they hate vs and that they hate vs as for Poperie in generall so for Images in particular Were they not Image-worshippers which were those powder Pioners And was it not a miraculous Image which some afterwardes Garnets straw produced to iustifie nay to sanctifie either the Action or some Actor in that conspiracie But blessed bee God! that Action was indeed an Image Idolum Scimus idolum in mundo nihil esse it did nothing in the world to hurt vs. And those Actors were meere Idola like the Heathen Images Psal 135. 15. They had eyes but they saw not that Flame which they looked for They had eares but they heard not that Cracke which they prayed for They had The seuen Sparkes mouthes but they breathed not out that threatned hauocke to our Church and Common-wealth which they conspired for O then although you esteeme vs not Christians yet abate abate as yee are men abate this inhumane crueltie And if that plot had beene perfected you had doubtlesse plagued vs to the third and fourth Generation but withall I feare I feare you had preuented God from shewing mercy toward your selues euen to Thousands Therefore for our Bodies sake and for your owne Soules sake Blessed bee our God for that blessed preuention But to those who are disposed more mildly I dare vnbosome my Exhortation more boldly Some Romish Catholikes I beare them Rom. 10. 2. Act. 17. 30. 2. Thes 2. â—2 record that they haue zeale but not according to knowledge and I know God will shewe mercy to the ignorant prouided that their ignorance bee not affected and that they take not pleasure in vnrighteousnesse Let me speake therefore vnto you as Saint Paul did to Agrippa Doe you beleeue the Act. 26. 27. Scriptures I know you doe beleeue them If you doe Thinke you Is not this Commandement the Scripture Are they not the very syllables of this Commandement which I haue read to you yea let mee presse you a little farther Haue I not laid open all your starting holes that your best Arguments are but Fig-leaues not able to couer the apparent nakednesse of your idolatrie Let me therefore conuent your conscience and in the sight of your conscience and of God himselfe let mee coniure you to reade ouer this long Commandement againe and againe at your best leasure And then consider aduisedly whether GOD doth not seeme to speake to you as hee did to Ionah Doest thou well to bee angrie for the Ionah 4. 3. gourd so here doe you well to be angrie for the forbidding of Image-worship But if you should answere GOD for your errour as Ionah vers 9. did for his anger Wee doe well to worship Images euen vnto death that you will die in that Deuotion Then doe I feare that the seuenth verse of the nintie seuen Psalme will be the Epitaph on your Graue-stone Confounded are all they which worship carued Images But beloued I hope for and pray for better things for many of you euen such things as may accompanie saluation To which end consider this plaine Commandement Not any likenesse of any thing in any place Consider also the Argument The Punisher a iealous God whome yee cannot blinde with your blanch'd excuses The Punishment he will visite the sinnes of the Fathers on the Children to the third and fourth generation that is if you persist Gods visitations and plagues may bee powred on your owne Persons yea and on your childrens children and your owne eyes shall behold them But if you conuert Christ moue your hearts to such a happy conuersion then mercies shall bee multiplyed vpon you in Thousands you shall bee made the instruments to saue thousands of soules of such as shall issue from your owne bodies I beseech you therefore for Gods Iudgements and for Gods Mercies for Gods sake for your owne sake for your childrens sake yea for your childrens childrens sake for the sake of a thousand Soules yet vnborne I beseech you Brethren I beseech you consider what I say and God almightie giue you vnderstanding in all things But be it so that in Gods secret Wisedome or in his sacred Iustice our Aduersaries doe esteeme these poore wordes of mine to bee indeed but Wordes but Winde but Water spilt vpon the ground not worth the taking vp yet you who are Friends Brethren and Fellow-members bee yee Gedeons fleece attract this deaw of Heauen more then the Romish Catholikes that is in their sence more then all the world besides A motiue Consider the Controuersie betwixt vs. It is not as Bellarmines phrase is de stillicidijs concerning that Eaues-dropping House ransacking Soule-sifting Bosome-exenterating Auricular Confession though that bee a strange intruding mysticall policie It is not de vno apice of one Point that full Point where the Papists would pitch their period the Papacie the Primacie though that be an insolent insulting proud Tyrannie Neither is it onely an heresie although the worshipping euen of Christs Image was esteemed an heresie by Irenaeus Epiphanius Augustine Bellar. de Imag. lib. 2. cap. 21. pag. 2081. and Damascen as Bellarmine himselfe doth testifie But it is Idolatrie Idolatrie at the very name whereof Heauen doth lament Hell triumph and the Earth cannot but quake and tremble Idolatrie of which Perinottus protested that the Emperour could suffer any reproach of errours Melchior Adam in vita Meâ—a abuses but of Idolatrie hee was impatient as of a thing insufferable Idolatrie for which Claudius and Nicostratus Bell. de Imag. lib. 2. cap. 6. expert Statuaries were put to death because they would not make such Statues chusing rather to die then to giue the occasion of Idolatrie Idolatrie of which Spalato speaketh that Idolatrie is worse then most Heresie Idolaters Consilio sui Reditus sect 2. to bee separated from by all men Idolatrie is the crime from which God doth command you and I perswade you Now that worshipping of Images is Idolatrie I neede not tell you ex ore infantium when you catechise your children your children will catechise you Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen Image c. But nowe you know it your care must be to shunne it For the Lord is a iealous God and will diuorce that Soule which shall sinne by Idolatrie by spirituall Adulterie and Hee will visite send out a plague It is Carions opinion that Carion Chron. lib. 2. the Turkes haue ouer-run so much of Christendome for this one sinne of Idolatrie How soeuer our Securitie may suppose the Turks long armes too short to reach vs so farre off Yet if wee become Idolaters may Hee or some such as Hee by Gods permission visite vs But the Lord blesse vs from such a visitation And this Visitation may bee deriued to the third and fourth generation if you worship Images you may see Gods plagues on the children in this world and in the world to come you may heare your childrens children crie out in that phrase of Saint Cyprian Heu parentes sensimus parricidas alas our Parents haue damned vs by their exemplarie Idolatrie But I passe these punishments perswading my selfe that I shall perswade you from Promises You being Sonnes or Seruants not Slaues to be led with gentlenesse and not to bee forced with whipping Beware then of Images because God will bequeath mercy vnto Thousands and Thousands of mercies vnto you if you doe beware The Meanes also God setteth before you Amor mei and Mandata mea If you haue the loue of God â—â— your Hearts and the Law of God in your 〈◊〉 Image-Idolatrie will finde you impregnable Custome in the later Ages may perhaps stagger the Ignorant but Mandata mea Gods Law doth obscure Mans Law as the Sunne doth the smallest Candle Reade the Scriptures and it is impossible to bee inticed to Idolatrie For the other branch The loue of Trafficke may preuaile with Merchants the loue of Noueltie with Trauellers the loue of Profit with Trades-men the loue of Pleasure with Gallants and the loue of Preferment with the Ambitious Moreouer men may bee allured to Idolatrie by the loue of Friends by the loue of Parents by the loue of Children by the loue of a Wife or by the loue of a Husband O but let these petie Streames fall into this mayne Ocean Let this Loue of God swallow vp all these Loues of Men. And the force of this Loue constrayneth mee at the very thought of Images to Bow my knees to You that You would neuer bow your knees to Them And God himselfe bow all your Hearts to Him that you may Neuer bow to any Images Amen Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS