God alone now will ye haue an inferiour reuerence And what is that Forsoth you can not tel But it hath bene declared of other I know what other in this behalfe haue babbled making their distinction betwene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They put .ij. horses into one stable to eate at one racke and reach to one manger yet they be not serued alike bycause they haue a barre betwixt them I could speake more of the absurditie hereof but that I must lay my finger on my line treads the onely steppes of you that full crookedly haue gone before me If you voutchsaue to tell me what that inferior reuerence shuld be which now by silence ye vtterly suppresse ye shal then know further of my minde It only remayneth that I aunswere your Paradox your straunge your incredible proposition Fol. 129. that there can be no mystruste nor feare of Idolatrie in Christen men vvorshipping and adoring the Crosse To come to Worship and Adore againe where the nexte line before ye would haue but an inferiour reuerence maketh me thinke that you be very fickle and not settled as yet on any certayne ground But worship a Gods name adore deifie say you for certayne it is there can be no perill of Idolatrie Ye do very wisely to put men in security for otherwise they would be very loth to vēture Greate is the leape and the water déepe But howe shall we passe Ye haue deuised a bridge as it were of a bulrush Your argument is this A strange proufe that no man may feare Idolatry in a Papist All that be Christiās are baptised And if they be baptised then haue they receyued the fayth of Christ and beleue in one God father almighty and so forth and haue learned that commaūdement of his Thou shalt haue no other Gods but me If then by baptisme they haue receyued the fayth of Christ and beleue in one God father almighty c. and haue learned that commaundement of his that they shall haue no other Goddes but him Then beleue they in no other God but in him then serue they no other God but him then make they to themselues no other God but him But vvhensoeuer they pray vvhersoeuer they knele vvhatsoeuer gestures they vse they giue all honour and prayse to God they haue their heartes and mindes fixed vpon him nor vve may iudge the cōtrary for they are Christians and so are vve also expresly forbed to iudge of other mens consciences or to be curious or suspitious of other mens doings To answere with modestie to so impudent an assertion is hard reasonably to deale with so vnreasonable a creature is more than couenant to vse many wordes where a wand is deserued is more a great deale than néedeth for your reason vnlesse ye were purged first For doubtlesse there is some mad humour raygning that bringeth forth so absurde reasoning Th' effect of Martials argument First ye haue proued that all Protestants be good Christians for they be baptised they haue receyued the fayth c. Then that your selfe are very much to blame in déeming amysse of them For in asmuch as they haue learned the commaundements they also of necessitie muste obey the commaundementes Thirdely that all subiectes in the realme of Englande all Christians beside are in right good ease for they can not synne This is your reason M. Martiall and not mine For thus ye say They haue learned the commaundement to haue no other God but him then beleue they no other God but him then serue they no other God but hym By the same reason I may reply The man that is baptised The absurdities thereof hath receyued the fayth doth knowe the commaundement Thou shalt not steale Thou shalt not committe adulterie Therfore there is none that is baptised that can be a théefe or adulterer The Iewes were circumcised they had the lawe they knewe that they ought to haue no other Goddes but him Therfore no Iewe that euer was Idolatrer But notwythstanding our Christendome and fayth receyued many be théeues and murtherers notwithstanding the lawe deliuered to the Israelites they worshipped some of them the brasen serpent and the scripture sayth they were Idolatrers therein Therefore notwithstanding that men outwardly professe one God yet do they not worship alway one God nor serue him on such sorte as they are cōmaunded So that it bydeth still for all your blinde reason that a man may feare Idolatrie in such as doe pretende a worshipping of God And we doe not offend in affirming you Idolatrers Folio 129. b. For althoughe as you saye one kinde of Idolatrie be beste knowen vnto God alone who searcheth the heart yet hath he left a way to try it a iudge to discerne it And therfore indefinitely and absolutely to say that Idolatrie is a sinne lurking and lying secret in the heart is an inconuenience Remembre howe Christ at the first entraunce into his schole gaue out this lesson Quemeunque puduerit mei coram hominibus Luc. 6. pudebit me illius coram patre meo et sanctis Angelis Whosoeuer shall be ashamed of me before men I wyll also be ashamed of him before my father and his holy Angels A profession of Christ is requisite in a Christian Rom. 10. So that God is not herewith contented if a man inwardly wyth hart acknowledge him but also seuerely doth exact that by our outward profession we testify to the world that his disciples we are For vpō none other condition but this he doth admit vs into the societie fellowship of his kingdome Truly doth Paul say Corde creditur ad iustitiam ore confessio fit ad salutem With heart we beleue to righteousnesse with mouth we confesse to saluatiō Out of which words it is playnly to be gathered that there is no true fayth before God but the same engēdreth a confession before men That euery man according to his calling grace giuen him do further by al meanes as occasiō is giuen him 1. Pet. 3. the glory of his God Therefore Peters precept is general to be ready alwayes to giue an answere to euery man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in vs. This reason ye refuse ye kepe a byrd in the bosome but it berayes the nest For impossible it is that a good cōscience in seruise of his God shal in apparance do one thing in effect another And although the seruise acceptable vnto god consist in spirit in truth Ioan. 4. as Christ himself pronounceth yet wil he not only be truly serued but also be knowē that he is so serued For which purpose these extern actions are right necessary to be witnesses to the world of our affecte within vs. Vnderstand ye therfore that as .ij. kindes of honor be due to God one spiritual resting in the heart another corporal consisting in outward gesture So are there also .ij. kindes of Idolatry The fyrst
had bene abused by them yet in that terrible Interraigne of Antichrist a Pilgrimage in Wales was straight erected Faire fruite followed Much resort vnto it neuer any of the learned fathers opened once his mouth against it Such is the trust to men So ready and apt we are to followe as the Prophet sayth as I did alleage before the abhominations of our owne eies attempering Gods seruice vnto our outward senses Whereby it commes to passe as Lactantius doth say vt Relligio nulla sit De fal Rel 1.2 Cap. 19. vbi simulachrum est that no Relligion is there where an Image is And since to come néere to our present purpose Crosses in market places and not in Churches are as by good proufe we finde great stumbling stones not onely to the simple but also to such as wil séeme to be wyser impossible me think it is a Crosse to be erected in place of Gods seruice and him that hanged on the Crosse to be honored as he ought For the minde is rapt from heauenly consideration to the earthly creature from the soule to the substance from the heart to the eye Cause we can assigne none other but as the same Lactantius doth say Esse aliquam peruersam potestatē De fal Rel. li. 2. Cap. 1. qua veritatis sit semper inimica quae humanis erroribus gaudeat cui vnicum ac perpetuum sit opus offundere tenebras hominum caecare mentes ne lucem videant ne denique in caelum aspiciant ac naturā corporis sui seruent There is a certaine peruerse power which alwayes is enimie vnto the truth which taketh pleasure in mans error whose only and continuall work it is to ouercast cloudes and mistes of darkenesse to blinde the mindes of men that they sée not the light that they loke not vp into heauen and kepe the nature of their owne body For where as other liuing creatures in that they haue not receiued wit and reason bende groueling to the grounde but we haue an vpright state a countenaunce aloft from God our maker giuē vs it appeareth that the religion and seruice of God accordeth not vnto mens reason which bends and bowes the heauenly creature to worship to knéele to knocke to the earthly God would haue vs to loke vpon the heauens to séeke for our religion there in that place which is the seate of his glory to beholde him in heart whome with our eye we can neuer sée And is not this an extreme folly yea a mere madnesse to aduaunce the metal which is but corruptible to abase the minde which is eterne where as the shape and proportion of oure bodies doe teache vs no lesse but that our mindes should be lifted thither whetherward ye sée our heads erected yet hath our enimy so enchaunted vs that we haue for his sake forsaken our frend forgotten God and our selues to But he hath not done this at once and altogether by a lyttle and a lyttle he hath crept in vpon vs til at the length he hath wholly possessed vs. At the firste Images among Christen men were only kept in priuate houses paynted or grauen in story wise which had some meaning and signification in thē Afterward they crept into the Church by a zeale not according to knowledge as by Paulinus at Nola yet nothing lesse was meant than worship of them So that at the firste they séemed in some respecte to be tollerable as meanes to excite men to thankfulnesse and deuotion vntil the Diuel shewed himselfe in his likenesse and turned the glory of the immortall God to the seruice of a vile and earthly creature Yet if we had not séene that effect follow which in dede we haue to lamentably to the desperate destruction of many christen soules we might notwithstanding iustly condemne the whole faithlesse and fond inuention For it was but a wilworship a naughty seruice hauing no ground of the worde of God and onely spring of error and Gentilitie For according to the cōmaundement of the Almighty Deut. 12. Euery man must not do vvhat soeuer seemeth good in his ovvn eyes VVhat soeuer God hath cōmaunded vs vve must take heede to it neyther adding any thing vnto it nor taking any thing avvay from it Lykewise the Prophet Ieremie Ierem. 23. doth aduise vs Not to hearken to them that speake the vision of their ovvne heart and not out of the mouth of the Lorde For vvhat is chaffe to vvheate And the Apostle to the same effect Rom. 14. VVhat soeuer is not of faith is sinne faith is by hearing and hearing by the vvord of God Wherefore Tertullian doth well affirme quod nobis nihil licet de nostro arbitrio indulgere De pres aduers Heret sed nec eligere quod aliquis de arbitrio suo induxerit Apostolos domini habemus authores qui nec ipsi quidque de suo arbitrio quod inducerent elegerunt sed acceptam a Christo disciplinam fideliter nationibus assignarunt That it is not lawfull for vs to flatter our selues with any thing of our own iudgement and discretion nor to chose that which any man hath brought in of hys owne head we haue the paterne of the Apostles for vs which toke nothing to bring in after their own pleasure but faythfully assigned to the nations the doctrine that they had receiued of Christ Ciprian also Cecilio fratri Epis 6 8. Non hominis consuetudinem sequi oportet sed Dei veritatem cum per Esaiam Prophetam Deus loquatur dicat Sine causa autem colunt me mandata et doctrinas hominum docentes Et iterum Dominus in Euangelio hoc idem repetat dicens Reijcitis mandatum Dei vt traditionem vestram statuatis We muste not followe the custome of man but the truth of God in asmuch as he speaketh by his Prophet Esay and sayth They honor me in vayne teaching the doctrines and preceptes of men And agayne in the Gospel Christ himselfe repeateth the same saying Ye refuse the commaundement of God to establish your owne tradition And learned Austin doth teache vs no lesse wryting on this sorte Extat authoritas diuinarum Scripturarum De Trinita lib. 3. Cap. 11. vnde mens nostra deuiare non debet nec relicto solidamento diuini eloquij per suspicionum suarum abrupta praecipitari vbi nec sensus corporis regit nec perspicua ratio veritatis elucet There is extant wyth vs the authoritie of holy Scripture from the whiche our minde oughte not to swarue nor leauing the substantiall ground of Gods word runne hedlong on the perilles of our owne surmises where we neyther haue sense of body to rule vs nor apparant reason of truth to directe vs. Wherefore syth the scripture hath taught and Fathers confirmed that onely God is sufficient scholemaster and his worde prescribeth vs one certayne order Eche man by preaching to be instructed in the truthe What should we runne to
in form likenesse of the other then is it somwhat that you haue sayd But if it were the preaching of the word as most certain it is which did so work in the heartes of men the refusing their errors they became to be faythful then you are a falsefier of the word M. Martial Learne you of me that preaching is that hand of God that standard of his whereby that merciful effect is wrought as wel in vs as in al other to be brought to the truth from blindnesse ignorance And if ye thinke scorne to learne of me learne of God himselfe who in the text before sayth that his mouth is a sharp sweard and that preaching is a chosen shaft had in the quiuer of the almighty For the word in operation is as forcible as a sweard it moueth it rauisheth it renueth men it pearceth to the heart it searcheth the secret places it entreth through as S. Paul sayth Heb. 4 euen vnto the deuiding asūder of the soule and of the spirits of the ioynts of the marowe and is a discerner of the thoughtes and the intentes of the heart neyther is there any creature which is not manifeste in his sight but al things are naked and open vnto his eyes with whome we haue to do This two edged sweard which God hath put in the mouth of man doth trye the force of things set against it It cutteth the corrupt affections from the heart It openeth the festered sores the pestilent impostumes of our ill desires It ouerthroweth the kingdome of Sathan It slayes his host sinne death and hell And as an arrowe which is past the bowe of a cunning archer can not be stayed by hand before it haue his lighting place so doth the word hold stil his constant course it maketh way whersoeuer it goeth it falleth as he willeth which is the onely directer of it But fall where it will it falleth with effect nor any man can withstand the blowe that it giueth If you can iustly ascribe any such piece of operation to the Crosse in your fourth signification then will I gladly giue place vnto you But whereas it is certayn that no work of man can alter the heart or once regenerate it to true pietie the standard that Esay the Prophet speaketh of maketh nothing for your purpose But S. Hierome ye say taketh your part for vpon that place he noteth Fol. 23. b. Vndoubtedly there is meant the banner or signe of the Crosse In dede s Hierome hath these words Haud dubium quin vexillum crucis vt impleatur illud quod scriptum est Laudibus eius plena est terra Which is as much to say as this No doubt but it shal be the ensigne of the Crosse that it may be fulfilled which is written The earth is ful of his prayses Here Hierome doth explicate himself what he doth meane by the ensigne of the Crosse the setting forth of the prayse of God which is not by setting of a Crosse on the altar but by preaching the crucified Christ vnto people The place of Ieremy the .iiij. maketh no more for the Crosse thā it doth for the Candlesticks For when the Prophet had spoken to the inhabitants of Iuda Ierusalem to be circumcised to the Lorde Ieremie 4 and cut of the foreskinnes of their infected heartes ne egrederetur tanquam ignis furor eius et accēderetur nemo extingueret least his wrath should go forth as fier and should be kindled and no man quench it He commeth further to declare the obstinacy of mennes hearts that by no meanes can be brought to goodnesse but seke by al meanes to auoyd the rewarde and plague of wickednesse Wherefore by an Ironye he sayth vnto them Blowe the trumpet in the land crie and gather together and say Assemble your selues and let vs go into strong cities Set vp the standard in Sion c. As if that he had sayde I knowe what you will doe when the wrath of God shall fall vpon you when your ennimies shall oppresse you you will not consider the cause thereof but you wil run to your strong holdes you wil arme your selues and stand at your defence you wil set vp your standard in Sion and thinke that you shall be safe there But it will not be so sayth the Lord Quoniam ego malum accersam ab Aquilone Bicause I wil bring a plague from the North. And truely there is no cause why Hierome in this place should runne to his Allegorie whereas there is so playne and sound a sense in the letter But if his Allegorie should take place let all go togither and it maketh agaynst you For his words be these Ingrediamur ciuitates munitas Haereticorum bella consurgunt Christi monumenta nos teneant Leuate signum Crucis in sublimitate ecclesiae Let vs enter into the walled cities The battayles of the Heretiques doe arise Let the munitions of Christ holde vs Lift vp the signe of the Crosse in the height of the Church Let me nowe aske you this question whether we must runne agaynst heretiques with a Crosse in our hande as I remember a priest of your facultie beat all his parishe with the Crosse staffe If this artillerie beate not downe heresies thinke that S. Hierome meante another thing that it is to say The signe of the Crosse in the toppe of the Church The preaching of the vvord in the prelates of the Church Nowe as for the signe of the sonne of man Math. 24. vvhich shall before the iudgement appeare in heauen Forsoth there is no certayne proufe that it shall be a Crosse For Chrisostome in his second exposition vpon the .xxiiij. Chapiter of Mathewe Hom. 49. sayth Quidam putant Crucem Christi ostendendam esse in caelo Verius autem est ipsū Christū in corpore suo habentē testimonia passionis id est vulnera lanceae clauorum vt impleatur illud quod dictum est Et videbunt in quem pupugerunt Some sayth Chrisostome thinke that the Crosse of Christ shall be shewed in heauen But it is truer that Christ himselfe shall appeare hauing in his body the testimonies of his passion that is to say the wounds of the speare and nayles that it may be fulfilled which was sayd And they shall sée him whome they pearced Nor onely contente with his owne censure he bringeth after a proufe of Scripture that the wordes cannot be spoken of the Crosse but of the body of Christ himselfe bicause the rest of the Euangelistes writing of the same matter doe only say Videbunt filium hominis venientem They shall sée the sonne of man cōming Whervpon he concludeth that al the Euangelists do shewe Signum Christi esse ipsum corpus Christi qui in signo corporis sui cognoscendus est à quibus crucifixus est That the signe of Christ is the body of Christ himself who in the signe of his body shal be knowen of them of
who for fylthy lucres sake endeuour to make those thinges that can not be made and go about wyth their wicked handes to expresse counterfets of those things which are onely wyth heart and mouth acknowleged Vndoubtedly such was the iudgement of him that called the Image it self Christ But Christ is by this name both God and man it followeth then that it is the Image of God and man And that also followeth that either according to their vayne opinion he hath circumscribed the deitie shut vp the Godhead vvithin a compasse the which can not be circumscribed or limitted his rovvme as is the nature created or that he hath confounded by confusion most wicked that vniting and knitting together of the two natures which are inconfusible and in themselues distinct and so by his description and confusion hath committed agaynst the godhead a double blasphemy Such therfore as worship them are enwrapped in the same blasphemies and the curse is rewarde to eyther of them in that they haue erred wyth Arrius Dioscorus and Eutiches and such also as are infected wyth the heresie of the Acephali Notwithstanding they being condeÌ„ned of men of vnderstaÌ„ding in that they haue atteÌ„pted to paynt the diuine nature of Christ which is not only not to be measured bounded in but also not to be comprehended or by vvit comprysed do flée through their vngracious inuentioÌ„ to some other defence That we do set forth alone the Image of that nature onely of that I say which we haue séene handled and bene conuersant with And that is very wicked and a diuelish deuise of Nestorius This also is further to be considered that if so be according to the minde of the right beleuing fathers the flesh which is not onely flesh but the flesh of the sonne of God did neuer learne the way to be deuided but the whole nature of the diuinitie receyued and perfect deitie therevnto was taken How shall it of these wicked ones which endeuour this thing be deuided into two and eche by it self be separated Like is the state condition of his sacred soule For after such time as the Godhead of the sonne had assumpted in proper person the nature of flesh the soule placed hir selfe a meane betwene the deitie and the grossenesse of the flesh as that flesh was not only meare flesh but also the flesh of God the worde euen so the soule not onely an humaine soule but also the soule of God the word And both together being seene that is to say the soule and the body the godhead remayned as inseparable froÌ„ them yea that euen in the separation it selfe of the soule from the body in that passion which willingly he suffered For wheresoeuer the soule of Christ is there is also the Godhead And where the body of Christ is there is also the Godhead If that therefore the Godhead could not be separate from these in the passion how do these mad men as rash altogether vnreasonable make a diuision of flesh ioyned with the diuinitie deified and attempt to paint thesame as the Image of a naturall man only no more And forth of this they slip into another bottomlesse pit of impietie For in that they do separate the humaine nature from the diuinity do bring in the same subsisting by it self therby do make another person in the flesh the which they say to be represented in the ymage they do ioyne a fourth person to the Trinitie giue sentence that the word of God is wicked Therefore it must néedes follow of them which attempt to paynt Christ that eyther they must say that the godhead is circuÌ„scriptible such as may be coÌ„tayned vvithin a certayne compasse so confounded with the flesh or els affirm that the body of Christ is void of the godhead diuided moreouer a person by it self subsisting in the flesh so ioyne with the heresie of Nestoriê° impugning gods truth Forasmuch then as they fal into such blasphemy impietie let them be ashamed let them abhorre themselues let them cease to practise such things neyther they only which doe make them but those likewise which doe worship that which they make and vntruly name the Image of Christ Let therefore be farre from vs as reason requireth aswell the diuision of Nestorius as also the confusion of Arius Dioscorus Eutiches Seuerus wickedly disagreing one with another and on eyther syde causing an impiety And a little after the sayd Councell hath Imaginum falsi nominis praua appellatio neque ex Christi neque ApostoloruÌ„ neque patruÌ„ traditione caepit neque precationeÌ„ sacram vllam qua saÌ„ctificari possit habet sed manet communis inhonorata quemadmodum ab artifice pictore absoluta est Quod si autem quidam ex eo errore existentes dixerint rectè ac piè à nobis dictum esse in subuersione imaginis Christi a nobis facta propter indisseparatam inconfusam essentiam duarum naturarum in vna hypostasi conuenientium tamen iterum dubitare oportet propter Imagines ter inculpatae supergloriosae dominae deiparae Prophetarum Apostolorum MartyruÌ„ cuÌ„ sint meri nudique homines neque ex duabus naturis diuina scilicet humana in vna hypostasi consistant quemadmodum in folius Christi imaginibus fieri renuntiauimus Dubitare autem oportet propter Imagines ter inculpatae supergloriosae Deiparae dominae Prophetarum Apostolorum Martyrum cum fuerint nudi homines non ex duabus naturis constituti quid nam conueniens aut coÌ„modum ad has dicere potuerint subuerso priore argumento Profecto nihil est quod hic habet Sed quid dicimus de subuersione Quandoquidem catholica nostra Ecclesia media existens inter Iudaismum Gentilitatem neutram illis consuetam sacrificationem accepit verum nouam pietatis mysticae constitutionis à Deo datae formam viam ingreditur Nam cruenta Iudaeorum sacrificia holocaustomata non admittit Gentilitatis in sacrificando omnem Idololatria statuarum copiam auersatur Haec caput inuentrix abhominabilis istius artis fuit Nam cum spem resurrectionis non haberet dignum sibi ludierum excogitauit vt per euÌ„ lusuÌ„ absentes tanque adhuc praesentes exhiberet Siquidem igitur nihil noui sapit haec res profectò tanque alienum daemoniacorum hominum inuentum ab Ecclesia Christi longissimè abijciatur Cessent itaque ora omnium quae loquuntur impia contumeliosa contra hanc nostram Deo gratam sententiaÌ„ decretuÌ„ Sancti enim qui Deo placuerunt qui ab eo dignitate saÌ„ctitatis honorati suÌ„t etiaÌ„si hinc traÌ„smigrauerint non tamen eos odiosa mortua ars vnque faciet rediuiuos Sed quicunquè ex GentiliuÌ„ errore illis statuas aut Imagines erigere fuerit conatus blasphemus iudicabitur Quomodo autem valdè laudatam Dei matrem quam obumbrauit plenitudo
left Vnto which he addeth these words Remembre deare children that ye bring no Images into the Church neyther place them in the sléeping places of the sainctes but sée that continually ye earye aboute in your heart the Lorde Neyther yet let them be suffered in a common house For it is not lawefull for a Christian to be holden in suspense by his eyes but by the contemplation of his minde The same father also in many other of hys sermons hath declared many things touching the ouerthrow of Images which the studious séeking for shall easely finde Likewyse also Gregorie the diuine saith in his verses It is a thing most abhominable to beleue in colours and not in heart For that which is in colours is easyly washed away but suche thinges as are in the depth of the minde those lyke I well Iohn Chrisostome also teacheth thus we through writing enioye the presence of the Sainctes although that we haue not the Images of their bodyes but of their soules for those things which are spoken by them are Images of theire soules Basilius also the great saith that the chiefest thing seruing to the outfinding of truthe is the meditation of the Scriptures giuen vnto vs by diuine inspiration For in these not onely arguments of things are founde but also the written liues of holy men are printed vnto vs as certaine liuely Images and that through the polityke imitation of their workes according to God Also Athanasius the light of Alexandria sayde howe are they not to be lamented which worship creatures that those that sée yeld seruice to those which are blind those that heare do pray and besech those which are altogether deafe For the creature shall neuer be saued of a creature Lykewise Amphilochius byshop of Iconium thus sayth We accompt it a matter of no estimation to counterfet in tables wyth colours the bodyly countenaunces of the Sainctes bycause that of these we haue no nede But we ought rather to be mindefull of the pollicy of their vertues Agreable also herevnto doth Theodorê° bishop of Ancyra teach in these wordes We iudge it nothing séemely at all to make the formes and shapes of holy men wyth materiall coloures but it is requisit that we often repayre make fresh their vertues which by writings are deliuered vnto vs euen as though it were certayne lyuely Images For by these we may come to the zelous following of the like Let those tell vs which set vp the same Images what profyte they haue by them whether they haue any kinde of remembrance by such special kinde of beholding them But it is most apparaÌ„t that euery such thought is vayne and an inuention of diuelish deceyt Likewise also Eusebius Pamphili signified after this sort to Constantia the Empresse crauing of him to sende the Image of Christ vnto hir For as much as ye haue wrytten to me of the Image of Christ that I should send it vnto you I would you shoulde shewe me what thing you thinke the Image of Christ to be whether that same true and vnchaungeable creature bearing the markes of the deitie or that which he assumpted for oure sakes taking on him the shape of a seruaunte But as touching the picture of the deitie I iudge ye be not very carefull in asmuch as ye haue bene taught of him that none hath knowen the Father but the Sonne and that none hath worthyly knowen the Sonne but the Father which begatte him And after other thinges but ye altogether desire the Image of the seruauntes shape and of the flesh which he toke on him for our sake but we haue learned that this is coupled with the glory of the Godheade and that the same suffred dyed And a little after Who can therfore counterfet by dead insensible colours by vayne shadowing Paynters arte the bright shining glistering of such hys glory whereas his holy disciples were not able to beholde the same in the mountayne Who therefore falling on their faces acknowledged they were not able to beholde such a syght If therefore the shape of fleshe receyued suche power of the Godhead dwelling within the same what shall we then say when as it hath now putte of mortalitie washing away corruption and hath chaunged the shape of a seruaunt into the glory of the Lorde and God What shall we say now after hys victorie ouer death after his ascending into heauen after his sytting in the kingly throne on the right hande of his Father after reste in the not vtterable secretes of the Father into the which he ascending and sytting the heauenly powers those blessed ones wyth voyces together do crye Ye Princes lyft vp your gates ye heauenly gates be ye opened and the King of glorie shall enter in These fewe testimonies therefore of Scriptures and Fathers out of many we haue placed here in this our determination auoyding in déede multitude least the matter should be too prolixe and abstayning of purpose from the residue which be infinite that those which luste may themselues séeke them Being therefore throughly persuaded by these Scriptures inspired from God and by the iudgementes of the blessed Fathers staying our féete vpon the rocke of the worshippe of God in spirite we which are girded wyth the dignitie of the priesthode being of one minde and iudgement assembled together in one place doe wyth one voyce determine in the name of the holy supersubstantiall and quickning Trinitie that euery Image made by Paynters wicked arte of any kinde of matter is to be remoued forth of the Church of Christians as that which is straunge and abhominable Let no man froÌ„ this time forward of what state soeuer he be followe any such kinde of wicked vncleane custome Whosoeuer therfore froÌ„ this day forward shall presume to prepare for himself any image or to worship it either to set it in a Church or in any priuate house or else to kepe it secretely if he be a Byshoppe or a Deacon let him be deposed but if he be a priuate person or of the laye fée lette him be accursed and subiecte to the Emperiall decrées as one which withstandeth the commaundementes of God and kepeth not his doctrine Wherevpon the Councels determination so farre as concerneth this case ensueth thus Si quis non confessus fuerit Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum post assumptionem animatae rationalis intellectualis carnis simul sedere cum Deo patre atque ita quoque rursus venturum cum paterna maiestate iudicaturum viuos mortuos non amplius quidem carnem neque in corporeum tamen vt videatur ab ijs à quibus compunctus est maneat Deus extra crassitudinem carnis anathema Si quis diuinam Dei verbi secundum incarnationem figuram materialibus coloribus studuerit effigiare non ex toto corde oculis intellectualibus ipsum sedentem à dextris patris super solis splendorem lucentem in throno gloriae adorare anathema Si quis
yet where ye touch that Matrimonie is a sacrament yea the company it self of man and wife together in the act of matrimony to be a sacrament euery sacrament you say conferreth grace howe doth this holde together that in the acte of matrimonie in the company of man and wife together ye deny the presence of the holy ghost for your law affirmeth it to be sinne though a sinne veniall Shall it nowe be a sacrament Dec. 1. parte dist 13. Cap. item aduers in glo and anone no sacrament Shall all sacraments conferre grace and this be a sacrament and conferre none shall it be holy and yet prophane a sacrament and yet a sinne Last of all to proue that in all your deuises of error and hipocrisie The fift absurdity for the sacrament of matrimony ye séeke for nothing else but to colour and cloke abhominations consider what an heape of mischieues is couered with this face of holynesse When ye haue determined that matrimonie is a sacrament ye take the knowledge of causes Matrimonial vnto your selues for spiritual cases must not be handled of prophane iudges Then haue ye made such horrible lawes to confirme your tyranny that they are not onely impious to God but iniurious to man As that yong folk wilfully contracting themselues without their parents coÌ„sent may marry well ynough that there shall be no mariage within the seauenth degrée that he that diuorceth an adulterous person may not marry another that gossippes as we call them may not be man and wife together that from thrée wéekes before Lente till the octaues of Easter from Aduent to Twelftyde for thrée wéekes before Midsommer there shall be no marrying at all wythout a dyspensation No maruell then if ye haue made a sacramente of Matrimonie since that is the mylch cowe that yeldeth so large a meale of spirituall extortion Nowe to come to Penaunce Penaunce Folio 68. â— which ye make a sacrament as well as Matrimonie Ye call it a bath of teares a dispoyling of the olde lyfe the second boorde after shipvvracke These titles argue not that it is a sacrament nor I contend who giueth it these titles certayne I am that some of them be blasphemous and abhominable For to go no further than to this that it is called the second table after shipvvracke Quia si quis innocentiae vestem in Baptismo perceptam peccando corruperit Lib. 4. Sent. Dist 14. ca. 1 per Paenitentiae remedium reparare potest Bicause sayth the author whose name I suppresse as well as you if any haue marred his garment of innocencie which in Baptisme he gat by the remedie of Penance he may repaire it This is asmuch to saye as if the effecte of Baptisme were taken away by synne whereas we be bounde to call our Baptisme to remembraunce when so euer we synne that by the promyse exhibited in Baptisme the sinfull soule may be refreshed penance out of it gathered Therefore as the gospell it self doth say Mar. 1. Dec. caus 15. quest 1. Iohn preached the Baptisme of penance to remission of synnes So the fathers of the Church do cal Baptisme sometime the sacrament of Penaunce But to your reason Folio 68. b. whereby ye proue Penaunce to be a sacrament It is a visible signe of inuisible grace ye say the visible signe is the external act of the priest absoluing the penitent By this reason ye proue better AbsolutioÌ„ to be a sacrameÌ„t than Penance And so shal our sacrameÌ„ts multiply stil I besech you what hath Penance to do with the priests Absolution Can there be no remission of sinnes vnlesse the priest assoyle me I wil proue that manifestly false by your own law For Confession goeth before absolution yet without coÌ„fession there may be good remission So by this reason we stand not in nede of the visible element the inuisible grace is grauÌ„ted without it For according vnto your canon De Paen. dist 1. Ca. Si cui Folio 68. b. Voluntas remuneratur non opus The wil is rewarded not the work Then is it a lie which you affirm that sinnes are remitted by meane of the external vvork I know that you be more conuersant in the Popes decrées theÌ„ in Austins works therefore I wil shew you what GratiaÌ„ gathereth out of theÌ„ De Paen. dist 1. Ca. Faciliê° The sorrow of my hart though I speak neuer a word nor priest lay hand vpoÌ„ my head purchaseth me pardon Id quod probatur autoritate illa prophetica In quacunque hora peccator fuerit coÌ„uersus et ingemuerit Non enim dicitur ore confessus fuerit sed tantum coÌ„uersus fuerit ingemuerit vita viuet et non morietur Which thing is proued saith he by the authoritie of the Prophet saying In what houre soeuer a sinner shal be turned lament for he saith not wheÌ„ he shal be confessed but when he shal be coÌ„uerted and lament then shal he liue and not dye Ca. qui natê° Likewise after Euidentissimè apparet quod sola cordis contritione sine confessione oris peccatum remittatur It appeareth most euidently that by the onely contrition of heart without confession of mouth sinne is remitted And yet againe Ca. Quidam Deo Confessio quae soli deo fit quod est iustoruÌ„ purgat peccata The confessioÌ„ which is made to God alone which is the part of the righteous purgeth the offences By which places all it is playnly to be sene first that your eareshrift one part of your penance is to no purpose then that Absolution which is your externall worke your Sacrament as you call it is no meane of Remission Furthermore to rake out this kenell of Poperie Penance is a sacrameÌ„t ye say Euery sacrament a visible signe The visible signe herein is the externall acte of the priest the inuisible grace is the remission of sinnes to the penitent So the signe and sacrament is in the priest but the grace in the people But how is this grace conferred Forsoth by the priest the ghostly father And on whose head so euer the priest layeth his hands vnder confession hath he remission Lib. 4. Sent. Dist 1. Cap. 1. 3. Yea forsoth Quia sacramenta nouae legis efficiunt quod figurant Bycause the sacraments of the newe law do bring to passe that which they figure Then euery murderer théefe adulterer though he neuer repent hath cleare remission for he hath the sacrament O shamelesse impudencie But if it were so which is great impiety that by the external act remission were obtayned yet I sée not how that shoulde be a Sacramente Folio 69. a. For the matter of this Sacrament say you is the external act of the penitent coÌ„tayning these three poyntes Contrition Confession Satisfaction Among all these where is the visible elemente Vbi est illa corporalis species Ser. de bap Infan quae fructum habet spiritualeÌ„ as Augustine sayth