True Christian Religion (Chadwick) n. 292

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292. This commandment 'There is not to be any other God before my face' also means in the natural sense that no human being, alive or dead, is to be worshipped as a god, another practice found in Asia and various surrounding countries. Many of the heathen gods were no more than this, such as Baal, Ashtaroth, Chemosh, Milkom, Beelzebub; and at Athens and Rome, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, Pallas, etc. Some of these were first worshipped as saints, then as divine powers, and finally as gods. It is clear from the edict of Darius the Mede that they also worshipped living human beings as gods. This decree stated that for a period of thirty days no one should ask anything of God, but only of the king; otherwise he would be thrown into the lions' den (Dan. 6:8-end).


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