560. * Adoring anyone as Christ's vicar on earth, or invoking any saint as God, is no more effective in heaven than praying, as it might be, to the sun, the moon and the stars and seeking a fortune-teller and believing what he says, which is useless. This would also be like adoring a church and not God in the church. It would be like begging a king's servant, who carries in his hand the sceptre and crown, for honours and distinction, and not the king himself. This would be as empty as embracing the brightness of purple, the glory, light and golden rays of the sun, and its mere name, without thinking of the things themselves. These words in John are for those who behave like this:
We remain in the truth in Jesus Christ. He is the true God and everlasting life; my children, beware of idols. 1 John 5:20, 21.
* The numbering of sections in the original goes from 539 to 560 without anything intervening.
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