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
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
any man But that fayth alone without any Crosse is right auayleable the Scripture in euery place witnesseth Now where ye contende Fol. 117. a. that a Crosse is necessary notvvithstanding that men may haue Godly instructions by reading the Scriptures And hearing good preachers bycause euery man can not reade Scripture nor vnderstande it vvhen he readeth it euery man cannot at all times so conueniētly heare a good preacher as he may see the signe of the Crosse And things seene do moue more affection than those that be heard or red As your aunswere to this obiection agaynst your selfe contayneth thrée pretended causes so wyll I in order consider of them First that all men cannot reade Scripture or vnderstand it when they reade it I besech you be Images and Crosses such bookes as al men can reade vnderstand Images do speake doubtfully Did not I tell you how Stephen Gardiner a learned man made a false construction out of such a boke taking the Image of the king for S. George on horsebacke The countenance the proportion the apparel of them is as pleaseth the workman to deuise the vertue the power and the qualities of them is as pleaseth the lokers on to ymagine And let them reade in Images that lust They teach Diuelishly let them vnderstande as they may nothing doubtlesse is to be readde or vnderstode in them but the leude lessons of grosse Idolatrie penned by the diuell tending to damnation They be read vnlawfully And if there were not apparantly such perill in them the contrary whereof can not be auoyded yet were we bound not only to suspecte but also to refuse such scholemasters as they being not authorised by Gods commission but as I haue proued alwayes inhibited If Christ as the Gospell telleth vs twice in one place together be the only doctor and guide of his Math. 23. If God hath spoken in these last dayes by his sonne vnto vs in whose person all wonted wayes of instruction all reuelations doe ceasse Hebr. 1. we must nowe goe no further than to hys word we must seke no teacher but his holy spirite Ipse nos inducet in omnem veritatem that same wyll induce vs into all truth And although I knowe that the gyftes of God haue their degrées yet dare I say Ther can be no such ignorance as shall driue vs to seeke a knovveledge in an Image that none is vtterly so voyde of grace but hath for vnderstanding so much conferred on him as shall be expedient for his owne behoufe vnlesse he be vtterly as a rotten member cut of from Christ But if the skyll of reading or gyfte of vnderstanding be denyed vnto any shall he be driuen to séeke it where it is not Then shall he finde what he would not If our heauenly father refuse to teach vs a vile creature can not instruct vs. If God wythdrawe his decréed meane whereby he may win vs an extraordinary matter a stock or a stone cānot conuert vs. If God do not suffer vs a preaching parson the diuel doth send vs such dūb vicares If man be not worthied to direct vs in a truth an Image or a Crosse wil peruert vs with a lye Posuit thesaurum suum in vasis fictilibus He hath put his treasure in frayle vessels sayth S. Paule speaking of the worke of Gods exceding mercy in sending vs men of our owne nature by whome his wil may be reuealed to vs. But if your order assertion did holde then had he put his treasure in dumbe dead and senslesse creatures and shoulde stande to discretion of the Carpenter or smyth where he should best conferre his grace A strange case That vvhich al the creatures of God can not teach a Crosse can that where all the workes of God be insufficient to teach humilitie to persuade pacience to conuert from errour and comforte in despaire the vile worke of mannes wicked hande is able as you say to procure and compasse the same for vs. The worlde it selfe is a certayne spectacle of thinges inuisible for that the order and frame of it is a glasse to beholde the secrete working and hydden grace of God The heauenly creatures and spheres aboue haue a greater marke of his diuinitie more euident to the worlds eye than eyther can be vnknowen or dissembled Which thing S. Paule declareth to the Romains Rom. 1. saying that so much was opened vnto men as was requisite to be knowē of God in that his inuisible powers yea till ye come to his eterne vertue and diuinitie being vnderstode from the very beginning and creation of the world be dayly séene amongst vs. Notwithstanding such a knowledge as this being growen and gathered by such circumstaunces as be common vnto all alyke is naturall as it were and onely enforceth this that no excuse no cloke of ignoraunce can be pretended But to alter the heart to make a new minde to regenerate it to true pietie is the worke of another instrument and effecte of another cause For the principall and chiefe poynt wherevpon dependeth our health and saluation is not onely to know Gods absolute and vniuersall authoritie whereof both Heauen and earth is full and all the worlde is wytnesse but also to fynde out hys secrete counsayles to consyder his iudgementes to marke the mysteries of our saluation in Christ our Lorde which is hidden from the worlde Then if the maruellous workes of God be not sufficient to directe our wayes considering howe frayle we are and if it hap that through them sometime we fall into any deper consyderation of the heauenlie nature strayght wayes we are pulled from the thoughte thereof to our owne leudenesse and ymaginations slyding to the dotages and dreames of the fleshe whereby it commeth to passe that if perhappes any true instincte doe sparckle in vs it is out agayne before we can get any warmth of it What shall we thincke of a syllie Crosse that sorrie wormes and canker doth corrupte that neuer God nor good man deuised Shall we runne to so wicked and vnweldy succour shall we séeke so blinde a guide to bring vs out of darkenesse God neuer hath no not from the beginning dealt otherwise wyth hys electe but that he would strengthen and relieue their weakenesse with a stronger remedie For he hath vsed to their instruction the mysterie of his worde Illuminantis oculos Psal 18. intellectum dantis paruulis That lighteneth the eyes and giueth vnderstanding vnto the méeke Therefore the goodman and master of the house sayd in the Gospell Negotiemini donec veniam Occupy til I come Luke 19. When he intending to goe abrode himselfe gaue eche of his seruauntes his portion to bestowe What portion was it What was the talent What was the marchandize that they should trafficke with Not wyth the marchants of Tyrus to lade their shippes wyth precious wares nor with the Mariners of Ahasias séeke straunge countreyes to get golde But his