holy ghost that in baptisme hath giuen fulnesse to innocencye in confirmation performeth increase to grace But let thē shewe me what warrant of God hys worde they haue for thys what promise of God is sealed in vs by this their new founde Sacrament Is Christianitie now to be fet oute of popery Is the truth of God contayned in the Scriptures insufficient to informe vs Is there no full Christiā vnlesse he be annointed Alas where are so many Apostles so many martyrs become that neuer wer annoynted Is baptisme insufficient wtout cōfirmatiō Is baptisme auaileable as the decrée hath only for them that should dye straight confirmation for them that shuld lyue longer Doth baptisme only regenerate vs to lyfe but confirmation furnishe vs vnto the fyght what is it thē the Paul hath We are buried with Christ by baptisme into hys death that lyke as Christ was raysed vp frō the dead by the glory of the father Rom. 6. so we also should walke in newnesse of lyfe Thys partaking of death and lyfe with Christ is nothing els but the mortifiing of our own flesh the quickening of the spirit in that the olde man is crucified Mar. 7. and we may walke in newnesse of lyfe But by this their deuise they take away halfe the effect of baptisme reiecting therein the commaūdemēt of God to establish their own tradition Wherfore I wil reasō with you as Christ did with the Pharises Mat. 21. Is the confirmation which you call a Sacrament ordained to be so from heauen Mat. 21. or of men If it be of men it is no Sacrament If it be of God then shew the worde Ye haue the example of the Apostles in the. cha 8. and .19 of the Actes Folio 54 a. Actes 8. But no exāple suffiseth for a Sacramēt The Apostles thēselues vsurped not so much But sée how well ye folow the example When the Apostles which were at Hierusalem heard say that Samaria had receaued the worde of God they sēt vnto them Peter and Iohn which when they were come down prayed for them that they myght receyue the holy ghost For as yet he was come down on none of them but they were baptised only in the name of the Lorde Iesus Then layd they their handes on them and they receyued the holy ghost Now are ye ignoraunt what here is ment by the holy ghost I wyl tel you The gift to speake in diuerse languages to worke miracles and other particuler graces of the holy spirite And although they had receyued the common grace of adoption regeneration through baptisme yet had they not these other qualities which in the beginning of the Church were graunted and now be denyed So that laying on of handes serued to good vse then when it pleased God at instance of the Apostles praiers to conferre the visible graces of hys spirite but now that there is no such ministery in the Church now that miracles be ceassed to what ende should we haue thys imposition of handes the signe without the thyng If a mā should now a dayes prostrate hymselfe vpon the bodyes of the dead bicause Helias and Paul vsed thys ceremony in raysing of their dead should he not be thought preposterously to doe So that it might well be a kynde of Sacramēt in the Apostles tyme but the cause ceassing what should the signe continue Yet ye content not your selues with the Apostles order ye wyll as I sayd before haue somewhat of your owne For neyther Peter nor Iohn annoynted the Samaritanes but you do besmere whomsoeuer you lay handes on Folio 54. a. Ye cal it Chrisma salutis the Chrisme of saluation But whosoeuer seketh saluation in the Chrismatory shal be sure to lose it in Christ Oyle for the belly and the belly for oyle but the Lord shall destroy both the one and the other Good Lorde what beast but a papist what papist but a diuell durst presume to say that saluation should be fet out of an oyle box The Apostle calleth vs from impotēt and beggerly things Gala. 4. Colos 2. and if we be dead with Christ he sayth we must not be burdened with traditions Wherfore ye take the matter all amisse that by the dooinges of S. Peter and S. Iohn in Samaria or els by the fact of S. Paul at Ephesus Act. 19. do grounde your Sacramente of Confirmation One reason ye haue heard Bicause the Ceremony of laying on of handes serued for particular graces whiche were but temporall and therfore now the thyng abolished the signe should not remayne An other I wyll bryng you The Apostles layed their handes but only vpon certayne persons euen such as the gyftes aforesayd were bestowed on Confirmation is extended vnto al gracious and gracelesse come who wil none is denyed it Who gaue you authoritie where is your commission to bestowe the indifferently vpon all persons which the Apostles gaue but vnto fewe In dede if it be so necessary to saluation as ye make it I can not greatly blame you But thē on the other side blame you I must that you are so negligent in bestowing it For this is your doctrine that without confirmatiō there can be no perfect Christian And I besech you how many be suffered to dye vnconfirmed vnlesse the bishop chaūce to passe by which is once peraduenture in seauen yeare all they that departe in the meane season are Iewes belyke or in state of damnation And can your charities suffer without remorse of conscience so many semi christians to passe you Thus euery way you cōfute your selues For if your Sacramēt of Confirmation Folio 55. a. be as you say such an oyntment vvith vvhose most holy perfection the gyft and grace of baptisme is made perfect If it be an oyntment altogether holy and diuine the perfection it selfe and sanctification the beginning the substance the perfecting vertue of al holinesse giuen vs from heauen Then are you wycked persons that take no order that the moe may haue it But if there be no such vertue in it then do ye lye the more Agayne yet further to note your absurditie Your decrée in case of Confirmation De consecr Dist 5. cap. Manus quoque is thys Manus quoque impositionis sacramentum magna veneratione tenendum est quod ab alijs perfici non potuit nisi a summis sacerdotibus nec tempore Apostolorum ab alijs quam ab ipsis Apostolis legitur aut scitur peractū esse nec ab alijs quam qui eorum tenent locum cuiquam perfici potest aut fieri debet Nam si aliter praesumptum fuerit irritum habeatur vacuum The Sacramente of laying on of handes must be helde with great worship which can not be made of any but only of the hye priestes nor it is red or knowen that in the Apostles tyme it was ministred by any but onely by themselues nor it can or ought to be done of any saue only such
the signe of the fayth of Abraham wherein the Iewes might and did glory Thys circumcisiō then wherby suche perill miraculously was shunned was done by a stone not that an earthly stone should be the more estemed but Christ the corner stone be signified by whom al sinnes and transgressions be cut of Exod. 7. and by whom the daunger of eternall death only is auoyded The rod of Aaron Aarons rod. was often turned into a serpent often returned into the own nature which in a figure represented Christe from lyfe to death Exod. 15. from death arising vnto lyfe againe or els that as the rod by deuiding the red sea made a passage open into the lāde of promise so Christ through baptisme into hys death hath prepared the way into lyfe for vs shall nowe the rod of Aaron bicause it wrought such miracle be set vp in the Church The vvod of Marah The trée that was cast into the waters of Marah dyd make them swete in token that the bitternesse of the lawe was taken away by the death of Christe and nowe the mindes of the faythfull people be replenished thorow it with spirituall and aboundaunte pleasure shall therefore the signe of that piece of wood now be worthied of honor The Iewes were preserued from the serpentes stinges Num. 14. by loking on the brasen Image representing also the death of Christ which from infection of damned spirites The brasē Serpent Nume 20. The vvater out of the rock saueth hys elect shal now a piece of brasse or signe of a serpēt be set vp in Churches and reuerently adored The Rocke smittē with Moses hande gushed out of water and the streames flowed in the parched fieldes to satisfy the drought of the thirsty people whereby is signified Christ to be the stone cut out of the quarrey Sine manibus precidentium without any workmans hand which by the liuely liquor of his eternal testament quencheth the thirst of incredulitie crying continually Si quis sitit veniat ad me bibat Ioan. 7. If any man thirst let him come to me and drinke Shall nowe for this respect the rock or riuer be exalted set in place of Gods seruice The fléese of Gideon Iud. 7. Gideons fleese was onely moysted with the deawe when al the earth beside was drie agayne it was only drie vpon the fléese when the deawe fell vpon all the ground to note the Gentilitie of all the worlde destitute of grace voyd of that heauenly and spirituall deawe when onely the fléese of Israell the people of the Iewes were comforted with the showers of Gods word promises Agayne that for want of true beliefe the foresayde people should wither wyth the drought of infidelitie when the heathen folke should be all to be sprinckled with the deawe of heauen as nowe we are by preaching of the gospell But where the threshing place of the barne and fleese of Hierobaal were the meanes whereby the miracle was wrought shall any of them both be nowe magnified of vs Sampson with the Iawbone Iud. 15. Sampsōs Iavvbone of an Asse slewe a thousand men and oute of the chéeke tooth thereof the water ranne to asswage his thirste in signification how Christ our aduocate and mediatour hath ouerthrowen the aduersary power hath by one death destroyed all the enimies of life and hath refreshed the drye soules of faythfull people which be the members of his body with the spirituall drinke of affiance in him Shall we now haue Iawebones and chéeke téeth 2. Reg. 2. Elias cloke 2. Reg. 5. in the Church Elias with his cloke deuided the water of Iordā insinuating vnto vs how Christ by hys incarnation hath made a way to baptisme that by faith in him we may walke on the dry land of securitie dreadelesse of the waues of synne Shall therefore a cloke be hanged vp and a candle lighted before it Naaman Naamans vvashing the Syrian by washing himselfe in Iordan was clensed of his leprosie And shall the signe of Iordan be worshipped of vs The hem of Christs garment The shadovve of Peter Paules handkerchefe The hem of Christes garment conferred health vpon the womā touching it And shal the signe of this be had in estimation The shadowe of Peter healed also some that passed by Likewise the kerchefe handkerchefs of Paule cured diseases and droue out euill spirites shall nowe the signe of a shadowe shall a sory clout be so much made of Therefore if miracles of olde time past wrought as I may graunt you though absolutely I am not bounde to beleue all that you doe bring by meane of a Crosse shall be sufficient cause to make the signe thereof or the selfe same thing to be erected and honoured then shall the fyry bushe the Mountayne of the Lorde the Circumcision of Moses the Rodde of Aaron the woode of Marah the brasen serpent the water of the rocke the fléese of Gideon the Iawebone of Sampson Mat. 9. Act. 5. Act. 19. the cloke of Elias the washing of Naaman the hemme of Christes coate the shadowe of Peter the handkerchefe of Paule be set vp in the Church themselues or their signes For by none of these but miracles were done and as good reason in this respecte to set vp in the Church any one of these as otherwise the Crosse As I haue shewed you the effecte and ende of other miracles reported in the Scripture So when it pleased almighty God to bring moe nations to one fayth in Christ and vsed the Crosse as a meane to worke the lyke by you must as well vnderstande the meaning not to bring the woode into an admiration not to teach vs the seruice of a signe but to confirme the fayth in the crucified and due obedience to him that was signified Fol. 108. a. A Ievvell you saye a precious stone of some straunge vertue if a man haue it muste be kepte vvarely nor the stone be suffered to be broken And shall vve Christen men breake the Crosse of Christ c. An hearbe in the garden medicinable for this or that dysease muste not be rooted out And shall vve roote out of our gardens the holy signe of the Crosse and so forth Well M. Martiall let me aske you this question If ye haue but a glasse and repute it a diamond doth your estimation bring vertue to the thing If ye had a good hearbe and the same be nowe withered wyll ye make as much of it as if it were in the prime The Crosse that ye make so greate accompte of that ye couet to haue set vp in Churches hath not the vertue and power that ye talk of It can not heale It can not preserue It can not daunt the affections of the fleshe It can not driue the wicked spirites from vs. As the meane is gone of the foresayd effectes so are the effectes themselues ceassed Possible it is that in time paste men dyd some good by
the inconuenience that should by them aryse vnto vs vtterly forbad them as the places aboue rehearsed proue Let not therefore the disguising cloke of a good intent make vs shake of the true garment of God to transgresse his commaundement and derogate from his glorie Who soeuer leade vs but a little awry frō the path that Christ hath willed vs to treade in leade vs the right way to the Diuell of hell Beware ye therefore of these Syrene times these enchaunting charmes that wise men of the worlde are wont to vse saying Beare for a time Vse discretion Be not to rash in reformation We ought rather to hearkē to Christ himself Iean 12. which willes vs To vvalke vvhilest vve haue the light If we suffer mistes to be ouercaste the cleare shyning sunne darkenesse shall soner ouertake vs than we woulde There is but one gate whereby we muste enter into eternall life There is but one way to bring vs to our iourneyes end The least strayning in the world shall make vs come neuer thyther And yet not onely for our owne sakes but also for Christes cause we must take a wise way herein For they that goe about to bereue vs of our life which is hydden in Christ would as well that God should be disgraced in vs. Wherefore in controuersies of our religion we should not onely haue respecte to this howe deare our own saluation is to vs but also how farre we further and aduaunce the glorie of our God Then if it were so that Images were cōmaūded as they are not and had their ende to teach as they doe not both our owne profite honour of our God might make vs the willinger to embrace them But as they are not commaūded but accursed so bring they no knowledge but blind in ignoraunce For if they do teach it is for the shape and not for the substance Otherwise the trées in the woode siluer in the shop might teach as well as they If the shape do worke an vnderstanding in vs bycause it is made as the Image of a man or of a woman then why not one Image teach as well as another Shall the gayer coate which maketh vs peraduenture more couetously disposed or more wātonly affected strike a more zeale of deuotion into vs We haue séene Images in euery Church specially of Ladies and of the Crosse then why did they gadde from London to Wilsdon from Wilsdon to Walsingham to séeke for other Ladies Coulde not the one teache as muche as the other Their eloquence their voyce and diligence was all alyke Why did my countrey men from their own parishes where they had crosses ynowe come on pilgrimage so oft to the very Crosse of Ludlowe Why did they runne from euery corner of their owne countrey to the Roode of Chester Vnlesse ye will say as many thought in déede that the yron chayne of that sturdy champion put about the necke might saue them from the hempen halter which other could not doe Then must it néedes be somewhat else than teaching that maketh this people to giue vnequal honor to signes of equal saincts Alexander the Coppersmyth will come in with his band and there will be a styrre which shall be the dearest Diana to thē Otherwise they woulde no more crouche to this Image or that than they do to the Bible which teacheth me thinke as much as they Agayne if they teach let me aske them whom Learned or vnlearned If they teache the vnlearned howe can they knowe the picture of Christ from the picture of Peter Bycause of the Crosse Why both were crucified But not after one sorte Howe knowe they that They haue learned it of other But here they haue loste the state that they were in for they are nowe become to be learned Of other also they might haue learned moe lessons than that and of more certaynty But the crowne of Thorne the woūd in the syde doe make the matter playne Alas howe shall the simple knowe that Christ was crowned was wounded for vs They haue hearde it of M. Parson let M. Parson then preache it to them If he preache not a truthe with his tong the picture by and by will teache a lye I remember howe Stephen Gardiner Stephen Gardiner whose authoritie I vse in aunswering of him who was Vsher of the schoole where he was Byshoppe of the Sée was fowly once abused by an Image Where as the King in his great seale was set on both sydes on the one syde as in warre the chiefe captaine on the other syde as in peace the liege soueraine that famous byshop had found out there S. George on horsebacke which the grauer neuer made in it nor the Sealer neuer sealed with it Yet in his letters to M. Vaugham of Portesmouth aunswered afterward by the Counsell concerning the same matter which we haue now in hand He vseth these words He that can not reade the scripture about the Kings broade seale eyther bycause he can not reade it at all or bycause the vvay doth not expresse it yet he can reade S. George on horsebacke on the one syde If his learned Lordshippe could not reade aright such a cōmon Image if the inscription could escape his eyes no maruell if the lay people were deceyued in the like I will tell you what these bokes doe teach them Carnall and grosse ymaginations of God and giue further occasion to féede their owne wicked humour When Amadys Amadys a Goldsmith of London lay at the poynt of death his Parson presented him with the Crosse to put him at the least in remembraunce of his maker But what his remembrance was helped thereby his answere declares For he raised himself in his bed said What is the price of an ovvnce Such is the fruite that the vnlearned receiue by Images yea though they be of the best sorte As for the learned they haue better bokes they nede not to be warned with such ydle workemanship A liuely Image is more to purpose than a deade And if the proportion and shape of a man may moue vs then why not of the lyuing rather than the deade If I sée a poore man stretched on the Crosse in déede enimies scorning him power oppressing him death aflicting him he may for the remembrance doe me more good and for perill lesse harme For I néede not to doubt Idolatrie to him But if I nayle a dead picture on the materiall Crosse and set it vp in the Church my memorie is little mended I may peraduenture and not like to the cōtrary but I shal be misse led by it Now suppose it were so that a Crucifixe in the Church did tel me in déede in most significant and plaine letters that Christ on the Crosse died what am I the better for that vnlesse I knowe that he dyed for me and the meane how his death may be applyed to me But thys by no picture can be expressed The promises in the worde must
passion which the finger cannot impresse in the forehead Folio 18. b. but grace can engraffe in the minde of man Haec crux non terribiles sed despicabiles hominibus daemones effecit This Crosse hath made Diuels not terrible but contemptible vnto men M. Martiall a fine translator In translating of which fewe wordes ye shewe your selfe to be very negligent or very ignoraunt For thus ye english theÌ„ This Crosse hath made diuels not onely terrible but contemptible to men Where ye should haue sayd eyther not onely not terrible or else haue put onely in your purse For the sense can not stand with it Nowe where ye gather but indirectly out of Chrisostoms words that two things be requisite first printing the merits of Christes passion in the minde afterward the signing of the Crosse in the body I briefly aunswere Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora In vayne it is to doe by the moe that may be done by the fewer There is nothing in the worlde that the Crosse can do but fayth can do without the Crosse Leaue we therfore that which may tend to superstition and is vncoÌ„maunded and betake our selues to that which is of force ynough and is the foundation of our fayth Another note to be obeserued in readiÌ„g of the Fathers Here would I stay with you from recitall of more out of Chrisostome but that I thought good to warne you that figures of Hyperbole and Metonymia be often in the Fathers writings When they prayse a thing they ascribe more vnto it than they meane and many times vnder the name of one thing applyed fitly to our capacities they vnderstande another I remember that Chrisostome hath these wordes Tom. 4. de laud. Pauli Hom. 4. Non solum crucifixum sed etiam pro ipso occisorum fauillas Daemones contremiscunt Not only the Diuels tremble at Christ crucified but also they quake at the very ashes of them that were slayne for him Here is as much attributed to ashes as was before to the Crosse And thinke ye therfore that Sathan would be afrayd to teÌ„pt you if ye had a fewe ashes of deade bones in your bosome Peraduenture some of you may be so sotted in folly that ye would gather them vp deuoutly and kepe them as reliques holily Such I referre to the place of Chrisostome In opere imperfect Hom. 44. in Cap. Mat. 23. Wherevpon I shall haue occasion hereafter to entreate when I come to speake of the like absurditie Folio 19. b. the little pieces of the Crosse kept Now let vs heare what ye finde in other Origen Origen ye bring in his exposition of the Epistle to the Romanes Lib. 6. And although this father maketh most agaynst you as afterward shal appeare yet to the ende that such yong schollers as you may learne with what iudgement ye ought to reade the olde writers I thinke it expedient somewhat to speake of him In sundry poynts his doctrine is sounde specially concerning the Trinitie the two natures in Christ the baptisme of Infants original sinne and vse of Images But things haue passed vnder his name where are intermedled many fonde opinions which both were condemned in his own time and are not now to be credited of vs. As that before the creation of the worlde there was an other worlde That the Diuels in hell shall at the last be saued And if ye scan his other writings there will appeare eyther great inconstancie or very small perfection In the article of iustification he swarueth from himselfe and in some poyntes from all other too The spirite he taketh not for the motion of the holy Ehoste but for the Allegoricall interpretation Peter he supposeth to excell the rest bycause it was sayde to him in the plurall number Whatsoeuer thou losest in earth shall be losed in the Heauens Caelis Caelo Whereas to other it is spoken in the singular number It shall be losed in Heauen These and such other toyes are not onely in him but also in other of hys time and age wherefore they ought to be redde as witnesses of things done not as Presidents of fayth and doctrine Yet vnlesse you M. Martiall will set Origen to schole agayne and teach him what to say you can not conster any lesson of his to picke out a proufe of any other Crosse than the minde conceyueth not the hand maketh For though ye bring a piece of a sentence wherein the prayse of the Crosse is put Tanta vis est Crucis So great is the power of the Crosse ê™ he Yet if ye remembred the very nexte wordes that goe before ye should playnly sée of what Crosse he meant Discoursing vpon these wordes of the Apostle â—et not sinne raigne in your mortal body He asketh a question howe it is possible to auoyde it He aunswereth Si faciamus illud quod idem Apostolus dicit Mortificate membra vest aqua sunt super terram et si semper mortem Christi in corpore nostro circumferamus Certum namque èst quia vbi mors Christi circumfertur non potest regnare peccatum If we doe that sayeth he which the same Apostle willeth vs Mortifie your members which are vpon the earth and if we cary about alwayes in our bodies the death of Christ For it is certayne that where the death of Christ is caried about there can no sinne raygn And immediatly he inferreth your wordes Est enim tanta vis Crucis Christi For the povver of the Crosse of Christe is so great Wherby it is euident that he speaketh of the death of Christ and that is the Crosse that he commendeth That Crosse haue you nothing to do withall But if the picture of a Crosse loked on be able to daunt as you deuise concupiscence and sensualitie how hath it fallen out that your spirituall fathers all to be crossed about their beddes haue had their familiars betwene the shéetes How haue your Nuns that chast generation with their beades in their hands ben blest with great bellies I will no more offend chast eares But Origens Crosse that is to say the death of Christ both may and must Origen ouerthrovveth Imagry Contra Celsum Libr. 8. be set before our eyes and faythfully kept in the chest of our hearts though no visible signe be made therof which neyther hand can truely counterfet nor mannes folly ought falsly to forge Origen therefore in the behalfe of Christians of his time sayth Celsus aras simulachra delubra nos ait defugere quominus fundentur quandoquidem inuisibilis nostrae huius inexplicabilis communionis fidem charitatis factionem esse existimat cum nihil interea videat nobis quidem pro arit delubris iustorum esse mentem à qua haud dubie emittuntur sua assimi incensi odores vota inquam et preces ex conscientia puriore c. Bycause his sentence is long in the Latine I