An idol, or mere figment of the brain, may be personated; as were the gods of the heathen: which by such officers as the state appointed, were personated, and held possessions, and other goods, and rights, which men from time to time dedicated, and consecrated unto them. But idols cannot be authors: for an idol is nothing. The authority proceeded from the state: and therefore before introduction of civil government, the gods of the heathen could not be personated. [Sidenote: The true God.] The true God may be personated. As he was; first, by Moses; who governed the Israelites, that were not his, but God’s people, not in his own name, with _hoc dicit Moses_; but in God’s name, with _hoc dicit Dominus_. Secondly, by the Son of man, his own Son, our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, that came to reduce the Jews, and induce all nations into the kingdom of his father; not as of himself, but as sent from his father. And thirdly, by the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, speaking, and working in the Apostles: which Holy Ghost, was a Comforter that came not of himself; but was sent, and proceeded from them both. [Sidenote: A multitude of men, how one person.] A multitude of men, are made one person, when they are by one man, or one person, represented; so that it be done with the consent of every one of that multitude in particular. For it is the _unity_ of the representer, not the _unity_ of the represented, that maketh the person _one_. And it is the representer that beareth the person, and but one person: and _unity_, cannot otherwise be understood in multitude. [Sidenote: Every one is author.] And because the multitude naturally is not _one_, but _many_; they cannot be understood for one; but many authors, of every thing their representative saith, or doth in their name; every man giving their common representer, authority from himself in particular; and owning all the actions the representer doth, in case they give him authority without stint: otherwise, when they limit him in what, and how far he shall represent them, none of them owneth more than they gave him commission to act. [Sidenote: An actor may be many men made one by plurality of voices.] And if the representative consist of many men, the voice of the greater number, must be considered as the voice of them all. For if the lesser number pronounce, for example, in the affirmative, and the greater in the negative, there will be negatives more than enough to destroy the affirmatives; and thereby the excess of negatives, standing uncontradicted, are the only voice the representative hath. [Sidenote: Representatives, when the number is even, unprofitable.]