John Trapp on Habakkuk 2:18

Verſ. 18. What profiteth the graven image] The Chaldees promiſed themſelves much help againſt their enemies from their idols: and were ready to ſay, as that Roman Emperour Antoninus the Philoſopher did, when he was to meet his enemie,Ita refer.- Vulcat. Galliz. in Avid. Caſſ. Non ſic deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret. We have not ſo ſerved the gods, as that he ſhould overcome us. The Prophet here rejecteth their confidence, and layeth open their folly. See the like, Jer. 10.8, 14, 15. Zech. 10.2. Eſay 44.16, 17, &c. Confer Jer. 51.47, 52. Ezek. 20.30, 32.

that the maker thereof hath graven it] And can he hope for help from the work of his own hands? can the image give that to others, which it hath not for it ſelf? In Henry the eights time, one Mr. Cotiſmore was accuſed of hereſie, for ſaying,Act & Mon 763. that Images were but Carpenters chips; and that when men go to offer to them, they did it to ſhew their new gear. The men of Cockram, not pleaſed with their new Rood, quarrelled with the joyner, and refuſed to pay him: he complained to the Major of Doncaſter, who gave them this counſell; Pay the poor man his money, and go your wayes home, and look on it, and if it will not ſerve for a god, make no more ado, but clap a pair of horns on his head, and ſo he will make an excellent devil. This the Pariſhioners took well in worth: the poor man had his money, and diverſe laughed well thereat: but ſo did not the Babyloniſh prieſts,Ibid. 1340, ſaith Mr. Fox. Horace brings in Priapus, that ridiculous garden god, ſaying, thus, Olim truneus eram ficulnus, &c. He thought no otherwiſe of the Images of Jupiter, and the reſt: but durſt not ſay ſo, for fear of the people So that of him it might be ſaid, as Auguſtine doth of Seneca, who wrote a book againſt ſuperſtitions, but colebat quod reprehendebat, De civ. D[illegible: 1 letter]i. lib.6. c. 10. agebat quod arguebat, quod culpabat, adorabat, he reproved them, but yet uſed them.

the molten image, and a teacher of lies] Pictura falſa veritas eſt, ſaith One. It is but a ſhadow of the perſon that it repreſenteth. God cannot be pictured, or expreſſed by any image. Images of Chriſt are not onely defects, but alſo lies, ſaith the Homily againſt perill of idolatry, ſet forth in Queen Elizabeths dayes. Irenaeus reproveth the Gnoſticks for carrying about the images of Chriſt, made in Pilates time, after his own proportion, Lactantius ſaith, that there is no religion where there is an image. Varro had ſaid the ſame long before him, as Auſtin reciteth him. Plutarch ſaith, it is ſacriledge to worſhip by images, &c. and telleth us, that Numa forbad the Romans the uſe of images in temples; neither had they any for the firſt 170. years together, no more had the Perſians, ſaith Strabo, nor the old Germanes, ſaith Tacitus. The old Britones indeed had their idols, Portenta diabolica (ſo Gildas calleth them) penè numero Aegyptiaca vincentia, ugly for ſhape, and almoſt as many as the Egyptians for number. Theſe all fell down together, when Chriſt was firſt known here (as they ſay the Egyptian idols did, when Chriſt with his parents fled thither, for fear of Herod) but Antichriſt ſoon ſet up others in their ſtead, and taught the people that they were Lay mens books. But if they be lying teachers, (as here they are called) they muſt be lying books too; and therefore not to be read by any that would receive the love of the truth, that they may be ſaved. Bern in Swiſſerland, was the firſt town, that after the Reformation, was purged of images; making a bone-fire of them, on an Aſhwedneſday. The like was done here in England, in King Edward 6. his raigne, on that very day wherein the victory was gotten at Muſcleborough in Scotland: and now I hope we are rid of them for ever. The Turks will not endure them, no not upon their coynes; becauſe of the ſecond Commandement: for they alſo do ſo honour Moſes his writings,Par. Porleg. in Geneſ. that they kiſſe any piece of Paper, wherein any thing of his is written, and do exceedingly hate Papiſts for their abominable idolatry: as do likewiſe the Jewes.

that the maker of his work truſteth therein] Which he would never do, if not bewitcht, and bereft of his right mind. To truſt in a god of a mans own making, is a prodigious errour, a ſtupendious ſtupidity.

to make dumb idols] In the Hebrew there is an elegant Agnomination, Elilim illemim, ſpeechleſſe, No-gods, that give no anſwer to their ſuitours, and —quorum ſunt numina nomina tant ùm.