On Superstition

“Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, ‘Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.’

Acts 17:22

“…when the accusers stood up, they…  had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.”

Acts 25:18-19

“…why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances (touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using) after the commandments and doctrines of men?”

Col. 2:20-22

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Order of Contents

Articles  3
Book  1
Quote  1
Latin  3


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Articles

1600’s

Gillespie, George – pt. 3, ch. 1, ‘That the Ceremonies are Unlawful Because Superstitious, which is Particularly Instanced in Holy Days & Ministering the Sacraments in Private Places’  in English-Popish Ceremonies  (1637)

Cawdrey, Daniel

‘Of Superstition’  in Diatribe triplex, or, A Threefold Exercitation concerning 1. Superstition, 2. Will-Worship, 3. Christmas Festival, with the Reverend & Learned Dr. Hammond  (London: Wright, 1654)

Exercitation 1, ‘Of Superstition’  in The Account Audited & Discounted: or, a Vindication of the Threefold Diatribe, of: 1. Superstition, 2. Will-Worship, 3. Christmas Festival, Against Dr. Hammond’s Manifold Para-Diatribes  Buy  (London, 1658), pp. 62-143

Cawdrey was a Westminster divine.

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1700’s

De Moor, Bernard – Section 17, ‘Things Opposed to True Religion in General: Impiety & Superstition’  in A Continuous Commentary on John Marck’s Compendium of Didactic & Elenctic Christian Theology, vol. 1  Buy  (Leiden, 1761-71), ch. 3, ‘On Religion’


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Book

1600’s

Crompton, William – A Remedy Against Superstition: or a Pastor’s Farewell to a Beloved Flock, in Some Preservatives Against Creature-Worship  (1667)  175 pp.  no ToC


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Quote

Daniel Cawdry

Diatribe triplex…  (London: Wright, 1654), ‘Of Superstition,’ p. 6

“There may be therefore two heads of superstition.

§5. 1. Negative, when men abstain from some things under a notion of religion, or worship of God, which are not forbidden by God, but left free and indifferent: either not forbidden, or, if once they were, now [they are] antiquated, or outdated…  And of this sort was that, Col. 2:21, ‘Touch not, taste not, handle not;’ which was superstitious negative will-worship.

§6. 2. Positive, when men of their own hearts and heads set up ways of religion, to worship God by, which He never commanded; and this (as was said) may be committed against any of the four first Commandments…  Now this positive superstition may be exemplified in many particulars…”


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Latin

1600’s

Velthuysen, Lambert – A Tract on Idolatry & Superstition  no ToC  in All the Works of Lambert Velthuysen…  part 1  (Rotterdam: Leers, 1680), pp. 371-524

van Mastricht, Peter – ch. 13,‘Of the Instituted Worship of God, & of Superstition’  in The Idea of Moral Theology, bk. 2, ‘Of Religion’, pp. 1238-40

Voet, Gisbert – Select Theological Disputations  (Utrecht, 1659), vol. 3

9. Superstition  91
10. Some Addenda [to Superstition]  126
11. Historical Appendix: Theology of Sneezing [sometimes it was considered to be an omen]  132

12. Genuflection at the Name of Jesus & unto the Table, or Altar  139
13. Part 2  163
14. Part 3  179
15. Part 4  201
16. Part 5  214

37. Appendix to the Disputations on Superstition & Idolatry  532-39

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Related Pages

Expositions of the 2nd Commandment

On Images

Images in Worship

On Idolatry

The Regulative Principle of Worship

On Ceremonies

Religious Holidays