(24) This matter of divinity is handled either in form of
instruction of truth, or in form of confutation of falsehood. The
declinations from religion, besides the privative, which is atheism
and the branches thereof, are three--heresies, idolatry, and
witchcraft: heresies, when we serve the true God with a false
worship; idolatry, when we worship false gods, supposing them to be
true; and witchcraft, when we adore false gods, knowing them to be
wicked and false. For so your Majesty doth excellently well
observe, that witchcraft is the height of idolatry. And yet we see
though these be true degrees, Samuel teacheth us that they are all
of a nature, when there is once a receding from the Word of God; for
so he saith, Quasi peccatum ariolandi est repugnare, et quasi scelus
idololatriae nolle acquiescere.
(25) These things I have passed over so briefly because I can report
no deficiency concerning them: for I can find no space or ground
that lieth vacant and unsown in the matter of divinity, so diligent
have men been either in sowing of good seed, or in sowing of tares.
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