Now idolatry and fellowship
with devils, I suppose, are unlawful, though no scandal should follow upon
them. And whereas he thinks meats sacrificed to idols to be lawful enough
out of the case of scandal, for this reason, because they are the good
creatures of God, he should have considered better the Apostle's mind
concerning such idolothites; which Zanchius(514) setteth down thus: _Verum
est, per se haec nihil __ sunt, sed respectu eorum quibut immolantur
aliquid sunt; quia per hoec illis quibus immolantur, nos consociamur. Qui
isti? Daemones._ For our better understanding of this matter, we must
distinguish two sorts of idolothites, both which we find, 1 Cor. x. Of the
one, the Apostle speaks from the 14th verse of that chapter to the 23d; of
the other, from the 23d verse to the end. This is Beza's distinction in
his Annotations on that chapter. Of the first sort, he delivers the
Apostle's mind thus: That as Christians have their holy banquets, which
are badges of their communion both with Christ and among themselves; and
as the Israelites, by their sacrifices, did seal their copulation in the
same religion, so also idolaters, _cum suis idolis aut potius daemonibus,
solemnibusillis epulis copulantur_. So that this sort of idolothites were
eaten in temples, and public solemn banquets, which were dedicated to the
honour of idols, 1 Cor. viii. 10. Cartwright showeth(515) that the Apostle
is comparing the table of the Lord with the table of idolaters; whereupon
it followeth, that as we use the Lord's table religiously, so that table
of idolaters of which the Apostle speaketh, had state in the idolatrous
worship like that feast, Num. xxv. 3; _quod in honorem falsorum Deorum
celebrabatur_, saith Calvin.(516) This first sort of idolothites
Pareus(517) calls the sacrifices of idols; and from such, he saith, the
Apostle dissuadeth by this argument, _Participare epulis idolorum, est
idololatria_. Of the second sort of idolothites, the Apostle begins to
speak in ver. 23. The Corinthians moved a question, Whether they might
lawfully eat things sacrificed to idols? _In privatis conviviis_, saith
Pareus.(518) The Apostle resolves them that _domi in privato convictu_,
they might eat them, except it were in the case of scandal; thus
Beza.(519) The first sort of idolothites are meant of Rev. ii., as Beza
there noteth; and of this sort must we understand Augustine(520) to mean
whilst he saith, that it were better _mori fame, quam idolot