01 - Introduction

"Keep yourselves from idols!" 1 John 5:21

IDOLATRY is a soul-damning error! In the law, God laid claim to the fat of the sacrifice, Leviticus 3:3. Just so, all divine worship, which is the fat of the sacrifice, the Lord will have peculiarly reserved for Himself; whereas the idolater gives that to the idol which is due to God. Idolatry is spiritual adultery. Ezekiel 23:37, "With their idols have they committed adultery!" Idolatry opens the sluice to all God’s judgments; therefore, the Jews used to say in all the punishments which befell them—there was an ounce of the golden calf in them. Our nature is as prone to idolatry—as dry wood is to take fire. This plague is catching. The Jews "made cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they gave drink offerings to their other idol gods!" Jeremiah 7:18. Rather than not worship something, men will worship the devil! Leviticus 17:7, "They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat-demons that they have prostituted themselves with." In the Hebrew, it is "to the hairy ones," because the devils appeared to them in the form of satyrs or goats.

Let all God’s people, as they prize their salvation, beware of idolatry. It is remarkable when the Apostle has said, "You are the temple of the living God," he adds presently, "What agreement has the temple of God with idols?" and verse 17, "Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord." And what is POPERY, but Romish idolatry? That God’s living temples may not be defiled with idolatry of the church of Rome, I shall show some of the chief teachings in Popery, and anatomize that religion a little. And, when I am done, I think everyone should abhor that cheat of Rome, and say of the papists, as once Jacob did of Simeon and Levi, brethren in evil, Genesis 49:6, "May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly!"