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Again, one preparing himself to sail, and about to pass through the raging waves, calleth upon a piece of wood more rotten than the vessel that carrieth him.
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For verily, desire for gain devised that vessel and the workman built it by his skill.
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But Thy providence, O Father, governeth it; for Thou hast made a way in the sea and a safe path in the waves,
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showing that Thou canst save from all danger, yea, though a man went to sea without art.
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Nevertheless Thou wouldest not that the works of Thy wisdom should be idle; and therefore do men commit their lives to a small piece of wood and, passing the rough sea in a weak vessel, are saved.
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For in the old times also when the proud giants perished, the hope of the world, governed by Thy hand, escaped in a weak vessel and left to all ages a seed of generation;
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for blessed is the wood whereby righteousness cometh.
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But that which is made with hands is accursed, as well as he that made it: he because he made it, and it because, being corruptible, it was called god.
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For the ungodly and his ungodliness are both alike hateful unto God,
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for that which is made shall be punished together with him that made it.
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Therefore even upon the idols of the Gentiles shall there be a visitation, because in the creation of God they have become an abomination, and stumbling blocks to the souls of men, and a snare to the feet of the unwise.
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For the devising of idols was the beginning of spiritual fornication, and the invention of them the corruption of life.
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For neither were they from the beginning, neither shall they be for ever.
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For by the vainglory of men they entered into the world, and therefore shall they come shortly to an end.
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For a father, afflicted with untimely mourning, when he hath made an image of his child soon taken away, now honored him as a god who was then a dead man, and delivered to those who were under him ceremonies and sacrifices.
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Thus in the process of time an ungodly custom grown strong was kept as a law, and graven images were worshiped by the commandments of kings
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whom men could not honor in presence, because they dwelt far off. They took the counterfeit of his visage from far, and made an express image of a king whom they honored, to the end that by this their forwardness they might flatter him that was absent as if he were present.
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Also, the singular diligence of the artificer helped to set forward the ignorant to more superstition.
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For he, perhaps willing to please one in authority, forced all his skill to make the resemblance of the best fashion.
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And so the multitude, allured by the grace of the work, took him now for a god, who a little before was but honored as a man.
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And this was an occasion to deceive the world; for men, serving either calamity or tyranny, ascribed unto stones and stocks the incommunicable Name.
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Moreover this was not enough for them, that they erred in the knowledge of God; but whereas they lived in the great war of ignorance, those so great plagues called they peace.
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For whilst they slew their children in sacrifices, or used secret ceremonies, or made revelings with strange rites,
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they kept neither lives nor marriages any longer undefiled, but either one slew another traitorously, or grieved him by adultery,
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so that there reigned in all men, without exception, blood, manslaughter, theft and dissimulation, corruption, unfaithfulness, tumults, perjury,
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disquieting of good men, forgetfulness of good turns, defiling of souls, changing of sex, disorder in marriages, adultery, and shameless uncleanness.
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For the worshiping of idols not to be named is the beginning, the cause, and the end of all evil.
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For either they are mad when they be merry, or prophesy lies, or live unjustly, or else lightly forswear themselves.
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For insomuch as their trust is in idols which have no life, though they swear falsely, yet they look not to be hurt.
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Nonetheless, for both causes shall they be justly punished: both because they thought not well of God, giving heed unto idols, and also unjustly swore in deceit, despising holiness.
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For it is not the power of them by whom they swear, but it is the just vengeance upon sinners that punisheth always the offense of the ungodly.