I have already shown,in the twentieth Chapter of this discourse,that to honour is to value highly the power of any person,and that such value is measured by our comparing him with others.But because there is nothing to be compared with God in power,we honour Him not,but dishonour Him,by any value less than infinite.And thus honour is properly of its own nature secret,and internal in the heart.But the inward thoughts of men,which appear outwardly in their words and actions,are the signs of our honouring,and these go by the name of worship;in Latin,cultus.Therefore,to pray to,to swear by,to obey,to be diligent and officious in serving;in sum,all words and actions that betoken fear to offend,or desire to please,is worship,whether those words and actions be sincere or feigned:and because they appear as signs of honouring are ordinarily also called honour.
The worship we exhibit to those we esteem to be but men,as to kings and men in authority,is civil worship:but the worship we exhibit to that which we think to be God,whatsoever the words,ceremonies,gestures,or other actions be,is divine worship.To fall prostrate before a king,in him that thinks him but a man,is but civil worship:
and he that but putteth off his hat in the church,for this cause,that he thinketh it the house of God,worshippeth with divine worship.
They that seek the distinction of divine and civil worship,not in the intention of the worshipper,but in the words douleia and latreia,deceive themselves.For whereas there be two sorts of servants:that sort which is of those that are absolutely in the power of their masters,as slaves taken in war,and their issue,whose bodies are not in their own power (their lives depending on the will of their masters,in such manner as to forfeit them upon the least disobedience),and that are bought and sold as beasts,were called Douloi,that is properly,slaves,and their service,Douleia;the other,which is of those that serve for hire,or in hope of benefit from their masters voluntarily,are called Thetes,that is,domestic servants;to whose service the masters have no further right than is contained in the covenants made betwixt them.These two kinds of servants have thus much common to them both,that their labour is appointed them by another:and the word Latris is the general name of both,signifying him that worketh for another,whether as a slave or a voluntary servant.So that latreia signifieth generally all service;but douleia the service of bondmen only,and the condition of slavery:and both are used in Scripture,to signify our service of God,promiscuously.Douleia,because we are God's slaves;latreia,because we serve Him:and in all kinds of service is contained,not only obedience,but also worship;that is,such actions,gestures,and words as signify honour.
An image,in the most strict signification of the word,is the resemblance of something visible:in which sense the fantastical forms,apparitions,or seemings of visible bodies to the sight,are only images;such as are the show of a man or other thing in the water,by reflection or refraction;or of the sun or stars by direct vision in the air;which are nothing real in the things seen,nor in the place where they seem to be;nor are their magnitudes and figures the same with that of the object,but changeable,by the variation of the organs of sight,or by glasses;and are present oftentimes in our imagination,and in our dreams,when the object is absent;or changed into other colours,and shapes,as things that depend only upon the fancy.And these are the images which are originally and most properly called ideas and idols,and derived from the language of the Grecians,with whom the word eido signifieth to see.They are also called phantasms,which is in the same language,apparitions.And from these images it is that one of the faculties of man's nature is called the imagination.And from hence it is manifest that there neither is,nor can be,any image made of a thing invisible.
It is also evident that there can be no image of a thing infinite:
for all the images and phantasms that are made by the impression of things visible are figured.But figure is quantity every way determined,and therefore there can be no image of God,nor of the soul of man,nor of spirits;but only of bodies visible,that is,bodies that have light in themselves,or are by such enlightened.
And whereas a man can fancy shapes he never saw,making up a figure out of the parts of diverse creatures,as the poets make their centaurs,chimeras,and other monsters never seen:so can he also give matter to those shapes,and make them in wood,clay,or metal.And these are also called images,not for the resemblance of any corporeal thing,but for the resemblance of some fantastical inhabitants of the brain of the maker.But in these idols,as they are originally in the brain,and as they are painted,carved,moulded,or molten in matter,there is a similitude of the one to the other,for which the material body made by art may be said to be the image of the fantastical idol made by nature.