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66 i.e dead men, fourfooted beasts, serpents &c which were the Idol gods of the Egyptians, or in the Waters under the earth, as crocodiles, fishes & the like, the first of which were worshiped by the Egyptians & the latter by the Canaanites. Thus the goodness of God was pleased to guard the church, the only church of God, then in the World against the prevailig Idolatry of the Nations of the earth.
Images are not forbidden except those which were intended as representations of spiritual beings & as objects of worship; as appears by the command to make a brazen serpent - the figures of Cherubim & the brazen Bulls which Solomon was ordered to have made at the dedication of the Temple & as ornaments thereof. And christians are not forbiden to make decent images, statues or pictures of persons or things. But any picture or image intended to represent the incomprehensible & eternal Jehovah is forbiden as impious. The reason given by that great & good legislator of the hebrews, Moses, why they should not make any image of the Deity, was that as the delivery of the law at Sinai, they saw no manner of similitude; only ye heard a voice, take ye therefore good heed to your selves, less ye corrupt yourselves & make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl, the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish, that is in the water beneath the earth. The prophet Isaiah, severely conjures the folly of Idol worshippers. The Smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals & fashioneth it with hammers & worketh it with the strength of his arms; - the carpenter stretcheth