oftē giuen so straghtly enioined Thou shalt make to thy self no likenesse of any thing Suppose they be so strengthened in fayth so assisted by grace that how great soeuer the daunger be yet they fall not in it they kepe themselues vncorrupt from Idolatry shall that be sufficient excuse for them if they leaue occasion of such offence to other Shal their learning and wysedome be cause of folly and deceyt to the simple Shal they haue such regard of their own fāsie which is to no purpose but only to gaze on wtout a cōmaundement as they thēselues confesse that the silly flocke shal be scattered therby and the more multitude being simple perish for whō Christ payed as deare a ransome as for the greatest the wisest the best learned of the earth The Scripture is cōmaunded to be knowen of al men Gather sayth Moses the people together Deute 31. men wemen children the straunger that is within thy gates that they may heare and that they may learne and feare the Lord your God kepe and obserue al the words of hys law Likewyse in the new testament the lyke cōmaundement is giuē by Christ to search the Scriptures Which words if any mā think Iohn 5. do appertaine only to the Iewes of the old tyme or to that Cleargy now by the same reasō as Augustine doth wel proue he may say the Christians ought not to know Christ De verb. Domini Ser. 45. nor be knowen of Christ Notwithstanding the Scriptures contrary to Gods wil haue bene for a policie forbidden to be red least the ignoraunt myght fal into error by thē And shal not the pictures forbidden banished out of Gods seruise breding a most vile affection of Idolatry be remoued rather out of the tēple aswel in respect of the precept as peril I haue shewed what these Images do describe pryde auarice wantonnesse and nothyng else If a man say thys Sainct in hys lyfe tyme despysed hys lyfe to lyue with God cōtinued in pouerty to be rich in Christ reiected the pleasures lustes of the fleshe to subdue the same to the good guiding spirite hys Image by by controls hym of a lye For he séeth a most chereful stately loke a gorgious rich attire an embracing in death of the which in lyfe he most abhorred Wherfore as Images generally describe a contrary effect to their first paternes as alway they worke a more wicked ende than in religiō is to be admitted so the Crosse it selfe doth not nor cannot leade as to the crucified but estrāgeth our harts frō god the creator to a vile creature And if the commoditie of Images in the Church or Crosses had bene such as you would haue it appeare I maruell the Christ our scholemaster that hys Apostles our teachers toke no order for them Rom. 15 Paul sayth not Quaecūque picta sunt sed quaecunque scriptae sunt ad nostram doctrinā scripta sunt c. Whatsoeuer thinges are painted but whatsoeuer thynges are written are written for our instructiō Not that by Images or gasing stockes 2. Tim. 3. but thorow pacience and cōfort of the Scriptures we may haue hope Nor he sayth All picture but Scripture inspired of God is profitable to teach to reproue to instruct that the mā of God may be perfect furnished to all good workes Then if the Scripture be a commended and commaunded way and the same sufficient to make vs perfect in all pointes I sée not to what vse an Image or a picture is Exo. 20. God gaue the lawe to Moses not set forth with colours but writtē in .ij. tables Iosue Iosu 23.2.4 deliuered the same vnto the people not in Imagery but in worde not glorious to the eye but gladsome to the eare comfortable to the hart so that the meane wherby they would the benefites of God to be kept in remēbrance was not to paint or graue the lykenesse of thē but by faythfull pen report the noble factes so print in the hart a thankfull memory Dauid intreating of the incarnatiō natiuitie passion death resurrection kyngdom of Christ our Sauior which are the proper effectes which you wyl haue set forth in Imagery sayth in the persō of Christ thus Psa 39. In capite libri scriptū est deme In the beginning of the boke it is writtē of me It is not graued in a piece of metal or painted on a wall The Euāgelist sayth Sicut scriptū est in libro Sermonū Esaiae Luke 3. As it is written in the boke of Esaies Esa 52. sermons He spake of sermons and not of signes of a boke and not of an Image The Apostles also of whome it is written beautifull are the fete of those that bryng tidinges of peace preach helth which wēt throwing their sedes with teares planting the fayth of Christ with afflictiō and shal returne agayne hauing their handfull Psa 125. with plentifull increase with ioy for gayne and successe of the gospell sent not a Crosse or history of the passion painted in a table to cities or to nations but their Epistles the certayne witnesses of their myndes their writinges Nor Christ that we reade of conferred on them the art of painting caruing or engrauing wherby they myght conuert the heathen to the fayth or leaue a remembraunce with their disciples after them Luk. 24. Sed aperuit illis dominus sensum scripturarum but the Lord opened the sense of Scripture to them S. Iohn banished into the Ilande Patmos to receyue the secrete and diuine reuelations heard at the Lordes handes Scribe haec in libro Apoc. 1. Wryte these in a boke and not worke thē in stone or metall Wherby we are giuen to vnderstande that the instruction of our fayth the only ayde of a Godly memory must be the Scripture The Crosse with a picture of a mā vpon it with armes stretched body pearced and fete nayled may peraduenture put me in mynde of a man so executed but who it was for what cause it was to what holesome ende and effect it was no picture in the world can tel me If preaching inspired by the grace of God working effectually in the hearts of hearers be not able to turne and conuert the obstinate If the lawful vse of Gods holy instrument pearcing the hearts and striking the conscience can not frame aright and reforme to pietie what shall we thynke of a dumbe senselesse vnlawfull thyng If I sée a fellon a théefe a murtherer hanged before myne eyes haue I not more to consider myne owne estate than if I behelde a wodden roode or siluer crucifix Suppose I know that that picture representeth Christ am I furthered any thyng towarde my saluation or are the mercies of Christ more effectual to me Ephe. 1. vnlesse I know that euen God the father hath also chosen me in Christ hys sonne before the foundations of the worlde were layd that I
AN AVNSWERE TO THE TREATISE OF THE CROSSE wherin ye shal see by the plaine and vndoubted word of God the vanities of men disproued by the true and Godly Fathers of the Church the dreames and dotages of other controlled and by lavvfull Counsels conspiracies ouerthrowen Reade and Regarde Si quis diuersam sequitur doctrinam non acquiescit sanis sermonibus Iesu Christi et ei quae secundum pietatem est doctrinae is inflatus est nihil scit Paulê° 1. ad Tim. 6. If any man teach otherwyse and agreeth not to the holesome wordes of Iesus Christ to the doctrine which is according to Godlinesse he is puft vp knoweth nothing IMPRINTED AT LONdon by Henry Denham for Lucas Harryson Anno. 1565. To Iohn Martiall student in Diuinitie Iames Calfhill Bacheler of the same vvisheth the spirit of Truthe and modestie wyth increase of knowledge in the feare of God IT is not very long agoe since the famous report of your Martial affairs came vnto mine eares and treatise of defence vnto my handes In deede as a yong scholler for so ye say ye are and I by your vvorkmanship may vvell coÌ„iecture ye haue sayd for the Crosse so far as your skyl doth serue you or as the honestie of the cause deserueth I suppose it had bene more honesty for you and vvould haue furthered your purpose better if eyther your vveakenesse had vvrestled at the first on a better grouÌ„d or so vveak a cause had got some sturdier champion to defend it Novve that you fight more egerly than vvisely in a Crosse quarrell ye lie so open to be crossebytten that the cause it selfe and your poore credit go to the ground together For though ye vse to face men vvithal such termes and titles of estimacion as rather of some be gotten by continuaunce than giuen by desert as Bacheler of Lavve and student in Diuinitie yet if ye had ioyned more Logique vvith your Lavve your reasons should not haue runne so lavvlesse as they do or if you had remembred your olde humanitie you vvould not haue stayned your nevve diuinitie vvith such slaunders and lies such vaine supposals and idle tales as I am ashamed to heare of any that challengeth to himselfe the name of learning But mans lavve striketh so great a stroke vvith you that Goddes rule coÌ„science is excluded from you and being so depe in your popish diuinitie you haue forgotten al christian humanitie VVherefore the censure of S. Paul vvhich in the beginning I vsed as my vvorde may iustly be applied to you that in asmuch as ye giue no eare to the sounde doctrine 1. Tim. 6. nor coÌ„tent your self vvith that religion vvhich accordeth to pietie ye are but puft vp vvith vaine glorie ye seeke for praise of men vvhich of the vviser sorte ye shall neuer purchas Hovv vvell your poesy serueth against vs vvhom you vvold seeme to touch vvhen the Apostle inueyed against the enimies of the crosse of Christ vvhich you are and not vve shal aftervvarde be seene in the discourse But among you the vvilful vvanderers of one affection of one bringing vp the saying is verified vvhich Horace hath Horatius in Arte Poetica Scribimus indocti doctique PoeÌ„mata passim First came into our stage a gaye disguised gest a sodaine conuert and I feare me greatly least an Apostata M. Doctor Harding he bicause he is right vvorshipfull M. Doctor and hath othervvise some opinion of learning vvordes in deede at vvil he must needes be thought to say something But hovv this somthing in effect is nothing the Byshop of Salisburie aboundantly doth proue Next to the Master came the vvorthy Scholer and yet vvorthy Man he gaue but a Dor. VVe doe easly see in vvhose forge he vvas framed he sauours of the fier that flevve out before and yet neither of them both for all their heate of railing hath any vvarmth of religion His proues I passe to the reproufe published abrode already Onely I am sory M. Novvell had not a more learned aduersarie Then commes in M. Rastal and puts in his Reioynder All againste M. Ievvell Alas I pitie the poore soule he maketh his match so farre amisse Dares Entellum Nay Hinnului Leonem Yet he saith that he vvil but fight vvith a Penknife He vvill ouerthrovv vvith a breath if he can O noble courage He leaueth the bloudy launces and terrible halbardes for Hardy Harding and Doughty Dorman he himself vvil come after and blovve his enimies afore him If I should deale vvith this daungerous bugge I vvould for all that prouide my selfe of a longer svvorde for belike he hath a very strong breath and yet vvith a Bodkin he may be borne ouer I vvill not touch this proud pecockes taile I vvill leaue it at leasure to be pulled of an other To make vp the messe steps out M. Stapleton he vvil not stand by and be but a looker on hauing therefore neuer a vveapoÌ„ of his ovvne he runs to a Ruffian and borrovves his svvord He hath put on a nevv scabbard on it he hath varnished the hiltes The blade it self is al to be hackt It hath bene already in so many frayes and borne avvay so many blovves that it is novve scarcely able to scratch This yong man therefore vvil sight vvith the scabberde But if a man giue him a drie blovv or tvvo as for his vvilfulnesse he vvell deserueth vve shal see hereafter vvhat fence he hath for it There is none of all these but may vvith more ease make .xv. suche bookes as they cuÌ„ber the Printers of Antvverp vvithal than ansvvere xv leaues of sound doctrine The parties be knovven their skil their qualities vve are God vvote to vvell acquainted vvith to be novv abused by Dogs eloquence If your causes vvere better as vvorse they can not be forsoth you should finde of your olde acquaintance ynovve to match you and vnlesse ye vvere sounder to shame you to This aduauntage ye haue God be thancked for it that ye haue nothing else to do but coÌ„mit to vvriting your pieuish fansies and send them into England to set vs a vvorke vvithal VVe our selues are occupied othervvise as freÌ„ds to the flock of christ vvhich vve haue in charge thaÌ„ that vve can or vvill atteÌ„pre our doings to the levvd desert of our contemned enimies or mispende our time in ansvvering of that vvhich in the eares of al indifferent carieth a sufficient confutacion vvith it Notvvithstanding least some more simple than other may be deceued by you and you your selues be fooded in your folly through to much forbearing and silence of ours vve haue humbled oure selues beneath the honestie of our cause vve haue for charities sake vouchsaued to say more than the cause requireth or all the colledge of your coÌ„spiracy can vvith good reason ansvvere As for you good sir vvhich only come to make vp a number and seme to do something choosing to entreate of a plausible matter as your discretion doth
the Papistes by their deuises doe or whether we by remouing al Images and consequently the Crosse to doe derogate from Christ and from his passion as they doe which hauing the materiall Crosse can not come to the knowledge and fayth of the crucified I confesse that I am more aspre in my writing than otherwise I woulde or modesty requireth But no such bitternesse is tasted in me as the beastlinesse of them with whome I haue to do deserueth Beare with mée therfore I beséeche you beare with a truth in plaine speeche vttered Bayarde hath forgot that hée is a Horse and therefore if I make the stumbling iades sydes to bléede blame mée not Impute not to malice impacience that which is grounded of hatred to the crime but loue to the persons which be toucht I hope by this meanes that seyng their own shame they will come to more honesty or hearing their owne euill doings surceasse at leaste wyse theire euill speaking They haue nothing so rife in their deprauing mouthes wherwithall to burden our ministerie in Englande as heaping togither all base occupations to shew Fol. 9. a. b. that the craftes men thereof be our preachers I wis I might aunswere iustify the same that as great a number of learned as euer were as auncient in standing and degrée as they supply the greatest roomes and places of most credite Wherefore they doe vs wrong to match the simplest of our syde with the best of theirs As for their famous writers Rascall Dorman Martiall Stapleton which now with such confidence make their challenges be knowen vnto vs what they are But they which at home be no more knowen than contemned as sone as euer they taste the good liquor of Louain they be great clarkes Bachelers of Diuinitie studentes of the same they must be magnified they muste be reuerenced as if Apollo sodainly had cast his cortayne about them But to graūt that the inferior sort of our ministers were such in déede as these men of spyte ymagine such as came from the shop from the forge from the whyrry from the loome should ye not think you finde more sincerity and learning in them than in al the rable of their Popish chaplens their massemongers their soulepriests I lament that ther are not so many good preachers as parishes I am sory that some to vnskilfull be preferred But I neuer saw that simple reader admitted in our church but in the time of Popery ye should haue found in euery diocesse forty six Iohns in euery respect worse I could exaggerate their case alike and proue it better how Bawdes Bastardes and beastly abused Boyes haue bene called to be Bishops among them Sorcerers Simoniakes Sodomites Pestilent Periured Poysoners haue bene aduaunced to be Popes among them Shal this derogate from their holy sée Yet none of oures of any calling or name amongst vs can of enuy it selfe be burdened with the like As for the Rascall of their religion what were they what are they Adulterous Blasphemous Couetous Desperate Extreme Folish Gluttons Harlots Ignoraunts and so go through the crosse rowe of letters and truly end it with Est Amen Therfore if they vrge vs any further with imperfectiō in our state thereby to bring vs into contempt and harred we wil descēd to particularities and detecte their filth to the whole worlde We are not deare Christians the men Folio 9. b that the aduersaries of the truth reporte vs we doe not leane to our owne wisedomes we preferre not our sayings before the decrées of auncient Fathers But after the aduise of the fathers themselues we preferre the Scriptures before mennes pleasures This may we do without offence I trust The Popes themselues haue permitted vs this Eleutherius the Pope writing to Lucius King of England sayd thus vnto him Petijstu a nobis leges Romanas Caesaris In the ancient recordes of London remayning in the Guild hall vobis transmitti quibus in regno Britanniae vti voluistis leges Romanas Caesaris semper reprobare posumus legem Dei nequaquam Suscepisti énim miseratione diuina in regnó Britanniae legem fidem Christi Habetis penes vos in regno vtranque paginam Ex illis per Dei gratiam per consilium regni vestri sume legem per illam Dei patientia vestrum rege Britanniae regnum Vicarius vero Dei esto in regno illo c. Ye haue required of vs to sende the Romane and Imperiall lawes vnto you to vse the same in your realme of England we maye alwayes reiecte the lawes of Rome and lawes of the Emperor but so can we not the lawe of God For ye haue receyued through the mercy of God the lawe and fayth of Christe into your kingdome You haue both the Testamentes in your realme Take out of them by the grace of God and aduise of your subiectes a lawe and by that lawe through Gods sufferaunce rule your realme But be you Gods Vicar in that kingdome And so forth If the Louanistes had but a mangled piece of suche a Presidente for the Pope as here is for euery Prince Lorde howe they would triumphe They would desiphre and by rethorique resolue euery letter of it But let that passe It is ynough for thys place to shewe the Popes owne decree that all mennes deuises be they neuer so worthied with the name of Fathers may iustly be repelled and ought to giue place to the lawe of God Wherefore if any of their owne imagination haue brought in any thing to Gods seruice not altogether consonant to the worde not we but the worde doth wipe it quite away Dist 11. cap. Consuetudinem For I thinke it méete according to the decretall taken out of Augustine Consuetudinem laudare quae tamen contra fidem Catholicam nihil vsurpare dinoscitur to prayse the custome whiche notwithstanding is knowen to vsurpe nothing against the catholique fayth If this fayth be retayned I wil not contende with any but the Fathers I will with all my heart reuerence The common place of our aduersaries is to exhorte the Prince and other to kepe the aunciente traditions of our Fathers And I beséech them wyth al my heart that they will defende and mayntayne those thinges which they receyued according to truthe If tyranny of men hath brought in any thing agaynst the Gospell let not the name of Fathers and vaine opinion of antiquitie bereue vs of the sacred and euerlastyng veritie What greater follie can there be than this to measure Gods matters with the deceitfull rule of mannes discretion where the pleasure of God reuealed in his word should only direct vs They that pleade at the barre in ciuile causes will not be ruled ouer by examples but by law Demosthenes sayd very well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not méete that things should be ordered as otherwise they haue often bene Much lesse should Gods wysedome be sette to schoole vnto mannes folly
whom he was crucified So that ye challenge more a great deale than we nede to graūt you But you shal sée howe curteously I wil deale with you Admit that the signe of the sonne of man is the Crosse in déede What haue ye gayned nowe Firste it shall be no materiall Crosse made with mannes hande nor yet a signe prynted in his foreheade Therefore ye must runne to a fyfte signification of Crosse in Scripture for this can not serue for the fourth The places that ye cite out of the ninth of Ezechiell and seauenth of the Reuelation where many be sealed into Gods seruauntes out of which order I feare me least a number of my Crossemasters may cry with the Fryer Nos sumus exempti we are exempt I maruel that you can without blushing vtter But if ye haue any shame in you I will make you to blushe Thinke you that the signe of GOD in the foreheades was the signe of a Crosse drawen with a finger Is the spirit of life and liuely fayth which only expresse the true printe of God inspired as sone as a Crosse is figured Is the signe of a Crosse sufficient to discerne the good from the bad the faythfull from the infidels Yet such must the signe of the Crosse be if it be thesame that eyther Ezechiel or Sainct Iohn speaketh of Consider this ye grosse Papiste that he that marked the foreheades in Ezechiell was neyther Caruer Crosser nor Coniurer He was clothed in linnen and had an ynkehorne by his side He bare the type of a Scribe and a Priest The marke that he gaue them was the letter Thau The letter Thau of which I speake more in the next Article signifying the law direction or rule To note that the minister of Gods word must printe the seale He muste ingraue in the very hearte the lawe of God and rule of fayth and then be they safe and sure from all euill The bloude of the Lambe in the olde lawe was not caste behinde the dore but sprinckeled vpon the dore postes The marke of God is not set in the backe but in the foreheade of all the faythfull That as thinges most manifest be sayde to be written in a mannes foreheade and the forehead is the place of shame so should the seruantes of the lyuing God lightened wyth his worde and holy spirite neuer dissemble it or be ashamed of it Agayne the persons sealed as well in Ezechiell as in the Reuelation doe shewe that they had a surer marke than a sory signe of the Crosse can be For in Ezechiell we reade Passe thorowe the Citie of Hierusalem and sette a marke vpon the foreheades of them that mourne and cry for all the abhominations that be done in the myddeste thereof And in the seauenth of the Reuelation Tyll we haue sealed the seruaunts of our God in their foreheads Therefore such as lamente and be sory for abhominable wickednesse such as be in dede the seruants of God they be sealed But all men indifferentely haue the signe of the Crosse many moe than be grieued with the sight of sinne or doe continue in the feare of God Therefore the seale that in these places is spoken of is not the signe of the Crosse Iulian was Crossed Pope Siluester was crossed and yet as it is proued afore neyther of them both did mourne for their sinnes or serued God Sée ye not then howe fondely ye pretende scripture for your crosse There be only fiue places brought and euery one of them doth make agaynst you Wherefore since these be the only ground of the two kindes of Crosses wherevpon in this treatise ye minde to discourse Folio 24. a. and these make nothing for you what shall we thinke not of your slender building but ilfauoured botching whose foundatiō already is shaken vnto naught Ye please your selfe well and thinke ye haue shewed a great piece of wit when ye cal your aduersaries me and such other enimies of the Crosse Folio 24. But I thinke there is no man so mad to beleue you vnlesse ye could tel what the Crosse meaneth Folio 24. Ye say that ye attribute nothing to the signe of the Crosse vvithout special relation to the merites of Christes passion Then why did ye bring in the example of Iulian and the Iewe Why afterward alleage ye Folio 92. a. that mā vsing only the signe of the Crosse putteth avvay all the craft and subtiltie of the Diuell Ye forget your selfe ye should haue one to wring you by the eare But I will beare with your weakenesse although to confirme your better aduisemente ye close vp your tale in the first Article with as vaine a supposal as in your dreaming deuising ye conceyued afore that as God giueth victory in battayle health in sickenesse c. but by the helpe of men as externall meanes So Christ vvorketh all the effectes that shal be but by the holy signe of his Crosse If I might craue so much of your mastership I would be a suiter once to haue you proue that which so often you confidentely affirme I acknowledge you not for any such Pythagoras that it shall suffise me for mine owne discharge to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Martiall hath sayd the worde But I rather thinke you to be some scholler of Anaxagoras which haue learned to make Quidlibet ex Quolibet An apple of an oyster Pardon me therefore if I trust you no further than I haue tryall of you To the seconde Article A Foole on a time came to a Philosopher and asked him What is honestie whereto he would make him no aunswere for sayd he thou demaundest me a questiō of that that thou hast nothing to doe withall And sith your wisedome in the seconde Article doth proue nothing else but that which ye professe ye will haue nothing to do withall it may séeme folly in me to make you any aunswere to it In the next side of the leafe before these wordes ye haue Folio 24. a. There be tvvo kindes of signes of the Crosse The one made of some earthly matter to be set vp in Churches and left in the sight of the people The other expressed or made vvith mannes hand in the ayre in form and likenesse of the other and imprinted in mennes foreheads breasts and other partes of the body and vsed as further occasion requireth Of vvhich tvvo signes in this treatise I minde to discourse Nowe if eyther of these signes was prefigured in the lawe of nature foreshewed by the signes of Moses lawe denounced by the Prophetes or shewed from heauen in the time of grace then thinke that you haue sayde something and I haue done you wrong in reprouing of you But the passion of Christ and maner of his death was onely prefigured What is this to the signe And if it were so which you shall neuer proue that the signe it selfe the God of the Roode lofte the Crosse of the altare were prefigured what is
the enterprise alwayes assist me Wherfore I can not but greatly be moued at the sight of him to whome I owe my duetye and seruice Thus God deliuered his people then Thus God appeared to Alexander the great in a priests attire Now if it be lawfull to vse your ordre and of euery particular and priuate case to gather a generall and like rule I may as well conclude that the vision of Alexander instructeth vs in all our troubles and distresses to haue the signe of a Priest in hys masking garments as the vision of Constantine to haue the signe of a Crosse For God vsed the one meane aswell as the other and no more coÌ„maundemeÌ„t is of the one then of the other Gregory reporteth a notable history Dialog Li. 3 cap. 1. how God somtime deliuered a sort of poore prisoners out of the hands of barbarous aliens not by the signe of a Crosse nor yet by secret vision as before but by a straunger fact of his prouidence When the Vandales had spoyled Italie and caried from thence many captiues into Africk with them Paulinus a godly man and Byshoppe in those parties gaue the pore soules whatsoeuer he had for their reliefe And when he could extende his charity no further but al was gone a wydowe on a day came to him lamenting hir estate that hir sonne was caried away prisoner and by the kings sonne in lawe wherfore she besought him to giue hir somewhat for his raunsome if happely his Lord and taker would accept it But the good man deuising with him selfe what he might gyue for hir comfort founde nothing but his owne person and therefore he saide good wife I haue nothing for thée saue onely my selfe Take me say I am thy seruaunt and giue me vp for a bondman in thy sonnes stéede The woman hearing this of so great a personage thought rather that he mockt hir then pitied hir But he perswaded hir to do after his aduise forward they went the wydowe as the misteris the Byshop as the bond man To Affrick they came They mette wiih the kings sonne in law The wydow makes hir humble sute to haue hir soÌ„ne restored to hir But he doth not onely refuse to assent but disdaine to here such a caytiffe as she was At length she besought him so much to tender hir as to accept for her sonnes exchaunge a seruaunt that she had brought him presenting the byshop When the gentleman had beheld his swéete face and fatherly countenaunce he asked him of what occupation he was No occupation ê™ he but I can kepe your garden wel whervpon he was wel contented to accept the seruaunt and the onely sonne was giuen vp vnto the mother Thus was the pityfull wydowe gladded The reuerende Father became a gardiner Nowe when the kings sonne in lawe shoulde vse to resort into hys garden he questioned often with him and finding him verye prudent in his aunsweres forsooke the company of others his familiers and rather chose to talke with his gardiner Paulinus then accustomed euery day to bring sallads to his Lordes table and hauing hys dinner with him go to his worke againe When thus he had continued a certaine season it fell out on a day that as his Maister was in secret talke with him he saide on this sort Sée what ye doe make good prouision how the kingdome of the Vandales may be disposed and gouerned For the King sooner than ye are ware and very shortly shall dye When this he heard bycause he was beloued of the king more than the rest he conceled it not but vttered all that he vnderstoode by his gardiner whom he reputed to be very wyse When the king heard it he aunswered I would fayne sée the man that you talke of Then saide hys sonne in lawe Paulinus Maister He vseth to prepare mée sallades for my dynner and to the ende ye may know him I will take order that hée shal bring them vnto the table where your highnesse shall sitte And euen so he did whom as sone as euer the king had espyed he began to tremble and calling aside his sonne in law reuealed hys secret vnto him saying True it is that thou haste heard For this night in my dreame I saw certaine iudges sitting in the place of iudgement against mée among whom this man was also one and they awarded the scourge from me which I sometime tooke in hande againste other But aske what he is for I think him not to be any common person as he semeth but rather a man of great worthinesse and estimation Then secretely the kings sonne in lawe did call Paulinus to him and enquired earnestly what he was To whom the good man aunswered I am thy seruaunt whome thou diddest take a substitute for the wydowes sonne But when more instantly he lay vpon him to vtter not who he nowe was but what condition and estate he was of in his owne countrey at length with much a do he confessed that he was a Byshop When his master and Lord heard it he was stricken in a great feare and aske ê™ he what soeuer thou wilt that thou mayst retourne into thine owne countrey bountifully rewarded of me To whome Paulinus answered One benefite there is whereby thou mayste moste gratifie me if thou release all the prisoners of my citie Which thing was accomplished and the captiues sought throughout all the countrey were sente home agayne and ships full of grayne with them Thus God for deliuery of his seruants vsed the ministery of a captiue Byshop And shall we gather of this that in like extremities we muste haue a byshop to become a gardiner and with sallets in hys hande wayte at his masters table Yet as good reason for this as for the vse of the Crosse grounded on Constantines apparition A wise man of this and such lyke examples would haue gathered an other maner of rule generall and sayd that by this we learne how God neuer forsaketh his but by secret meanes vnknowen to the world worketh their comforte and deliuery The Crosse was commaunded to Constantine to be set vp and vsed in his warres Therefore say you his pleasure is at this present day Folio 34. b. to haue the signe of the crosse made set vp in open places vsed in vvarres c. How proue ye this M. Martiall Forsoth ye say Quia Iesus Christus heri et hodie vsque in secula Bicause Iesus Christ is yesterday to day and he for euer By the same reason I proue that we néede not at this day the signe of the Crosse for Christ is able otherwise to defend vs his power is not abated he is thesame that he was before a thousand wayes he hath beside to helpe vs. But I gladly conclude with you that the signe was shewed from heauen at Hierusalem to declare that the fayth and doctrine of the Christians was both preached by men and shewed from heauen and that it consisteth not in the persuasible words
of humaine wisdome but in the shewing of the spirite and power The droppes of rayne that fell vpon Iulian made a printe of the Crosse in his garment and the rests Therefore say you it is necessary for euery man to be signed marked vvith the crosse But the Crosse noted them to be persecutors Ergo it is necessary for vs to be noted as persecutors Ye sée howe your owne examples kill you there is nothing that ye bring but maketh against you Ecclesi hist lib. 5. Oap 1. In dede Sozomenus writeth that some did interprete the Crosses on that sorte Christianorum doctrinam esse caelestem oportere omnes Cruce signari That the doctrine of christians was heauenly and that all men ought to be signed with the Crosse But God forbyd we should haue such occasion to be so marked For none were marked but such as had reueged their fayth So that the Crosse doth not alwayes portende goodnesse nor is the signe peculiar vnto Christians If the signe had bene of such force as ye make it Iulian the Apostata would not haue gone forwarde with his attempted mischiefe But forwarde he went though the Crosse continued on his coate styll Wherefore the Crosse is no proufe of vertue Folio 35. The same may be confirmed by the story that followeth For the glittering signe of the Crosse in the element the crossing of the Iewes coates when they would haue reedified their Hierusalem was but a token of Gods wrath and vengeaunce and although it was Signum salutaris Crucis the signe of the healthfull Crosse yet was it not healthfull to them that ware it but rather a testimonie of Gods iust iudgement agaynst them Wherfore as God miraculously did worke and vsed this signe to contrary effectes sometime for comforte sometime to dispeire sometime for the godly sometime to the wicked So muste we not contrary to reason gather an vniuersall onely of the one side and contrary to his will abuse it at our pleasure If it had bene alwayes graunted to the godly and to none but them If it had bene alwayes a signe of succour and not of destruction your argumente then should haue had some apparance of troth or likelyhode Nowe by your owne examples where the wicked onely be signed with the Crosse where the Crosse doth worke nothing but confusion the groundwork of your cause is miserably shaken and you be turned ouer in your owne trip Of all your examples ye inferre your owne fansy what you do thinke Gods meaning was to shew such signes of the Crosse both vnder the law and in the time of grace but of your meaning ye bring no proufe at all eyther out of Scripture or Doctours that ye bragge of Onely for vs your ydle supposall as you thinke may serue Louain hath licenciate you Goddes vvord the ground of religion to make what lies ye lust The substantiall groūd that I spake of before whervpon we ought to builde our religion is the worde of God without the which no facte of man no particular example can proue any thing Then if ye would haue the signe of the Crosse receyued into Gods seruice ye should as well proue Gods will therein and bring his direct authoritie to vs. It suffiseth not to say This vvas once so but rather to shewe This vvas vvel so nor any one example can binde vs now without expresse cōmaundement in Gods boke for it extending to vs during for euer But you deale with gods boke as Epiphanius reporteth of heretiques Qui multos decipiunt Contra Her Lib. 1. To. 2. per malè compositam dominicorum verborum adaptatorum sapientiā Which deceiue many by the wisedome of the Lords words ilfauouredly applied As if a man should take an Image of some notable personage liuely set forth and adorned wyth pearle stone and afterward shuld deface the counterfet of a man in it make a dog or a fox of it Then if he should remoue the iewels and garnishing of the one to the picture of the other and say to them that loke vppon it This is the picture of suche a man or suche and for proufe thereof would bring the pearle and stone so cunningly cowched would ye not think him to be a crafty fellowe and yet beleue him neuer a whitte the soner Euen so fare you For in steade of the texte ye bring forth a contrary misseshapen glose and then ye apparell it with a fewe pearles of Scripture applyed as wel as a precious Diamond to the picture of a grinning dogge And yet a dogge is but a dogge although he had a byshops beste Myter on his heade no more are you but leude liars for all the patch of truth sowed on your cloke of fables Bleare not therefore the peoples eyes deceiue not your selues learne the true seruice of God out of his worde and goe no further The Crosse of Christ is necessary for vs his death and passion is onely our ioy and comforte our life and our redemption but the materiall or mysticall signe thereof is more than nedeth to daungerous to be vsed We haue the worde the ordinary meane to leade vs into all truth we must not beside the word séeke signes tokens We haue the bodies what grope we after shadowes The ende of Ceremonies Ceremonies were giuen vnto the Iewes to be a mound as it were betwene the Gentiles and them to seuer the people of God from other not onely by inward things but also by outward that the people of God should be with in that inclosure the other without and these outward rytes and obseruaunces were an assurance vnto the Iewes that they were lawefull heires of the promise and not the Gentiles But Christ came into the worlde to gather one Church of both peoples and therefore pulled downe the wall that was betwene them Decretae ceremonialia The Decrées of Ceremonies Christ followed herein the pollicy of Princes which if they will gather into societie of one kingdome as it were diuers peoples they will take away the thinges that made the difference before diuersities of coynes and lawes So Christ minding to make one people of the Iewes and Gentiles vtterly did abolish all legall ceremonies And Paul compareth them to a hande writing whereby we be bounde to God that we can not stand in argument agaynst him and deny our debt But by Christ this debte is so remitted that the obligation is cancelled that hand-writing is put out as the Apostle sayth now whē the instrumentes are cut in pieces the obligations cancelled Colos 2. the debter is set frée which we haue purchased by Christes death Wherefore we reade that the vayle of the temple tare to the ende the people might vnderstand therby that their sinnes were remitted and they discharged from burden of the lawe But when the wicked and faythles nation continued after Christes death to exercise in the temple ceremonies which had their ende before and would thrust
Roode nor Crucifix nor yet of mysticall signe on the forehead which are the onely matters that you take in hande to proue Loth woulde we be to cite hym for our part inasmuch as we depeÌ„de not vpoÌ„ mens iudgementes vnlesse he spake consonant vnto the Scriptures and brought better reason for other matters wyth hym than you or any other alleage for the Crosse For the trueth of an history we admyt him as a witnesse for vs for establishing of an error we wyl not admyt hym or any other to be a iudge agaynst vs. It suffiseth you to vse the name of Iustinian how small soeuer the matter be to purpose But I wyll bryng you for one two that not in doutful speach but in playne termes and vnder greuous paine haue decréed in all their seigniories and couÌ„treis a direct coÌ„trary order vnto yours Not that there was no Crosse theÌ„ vsed which might wel answere Iustinians case but that there should not be vsed any Petrê° Crinitê° ex libris Augustalibê° De honesta disc lib. 9. cap. 9. Doth make meÌ„tion of the law the same which Valens and Theodosius concluded on His wordes be these Valens Theodosius Imperatores praefecto Praetorio ad hunc modum scripsere Cum sit nobis cura diligens in rebus omnibus superni numinis religionem tueri signam saluatoris Christi nemini quidem concedimus coloribus lapide aliáue materia fingere insculpere aut pingere sed quocuÌ„que loco reperitur tolli tubemus grauissima poena eos mulctaÌ„do qui coÌ„trarium decretis nostris imperio quicquam tentauerint Valens and Theodosius Emperors wrote on thys sorte to their lieftenant Wheras in al things we haue a diligeÌ„t care to maintaine the religioÌ„ of God aboue we grauÌ„t libertie to none to couÌ„terfet engraue or paint the signe of our Sauiour Christ in colors stone or any other matter but wheresoeuer any such be founde we coÌ„mauÌ„de it to be taken away most greuously punishing such as shal atteÌ„pt any thyng coÌ„trary to these our decrées coÌ„mauÌ„demeÌ„t Here is another maner of order taken than out of any wryting of receaued author caÌ„ iustly be alleaged for your part In Cathech suo So that with Erasmus I may iustly say that not so much as mans constitution doth bynde the Images should be in Churches Ye sée M. Martiall I haue not coÌ„celed any one of your authorities I haue omitted no piece of proufe of yours yet authoritie being rightly scaÌ„ned doth make so much against you that your proufes be to no purpose at al. Folio 46. a As for the vse of that which you cal the Church is in dede the Sinagoge of Satan I néede as little to cumber the readers with refuting of as you do meddle with approuing of it Only this wil I say that euer synce Siluesters tyme such filth of Idolatry and superstitioÌ„ hath flowed into the most partes of al Christendom out of the sinke of Rome that he neded in dede as many eyes as Argus that should haue espyed any piece of sinceritie vntyl the tyme that such as your worship wisdom according to your catholike custom when the scalding spirite of scolding comes vpon you cal heretikes nuscreaÌ„tes began to reforme the decaied state Folio 46. b and bryng things to the order of the Church primitiue Apostolike Decr. 1. parte dist 3. parag veritate Wherfore if ye sticke vpon a custom consider your decree Nemo consuetudinem rationi veritati praeponat quia coÌ„suetudineÌ„ ratio veritas semper excludit Let no man prefer custome before reason truth bicause reasoÌ„ truth alwaies excludeth custome Parag. qui contempta And in the same distinctioÌ„ out of Augustine is alleaged thys Qui coÌ„teÌ„pta veritate praesumit coÌ„suetudineÌ„ sequi aut circa fratres inuidus est malignê° quibus veritas reuelatur aut circa deum ingratê° est inspiratione cuius ecclesia eius instruitur NaÌ„ dominus in Euangelio Ego sum inquit veritas noÌ„ dixit Ego sum coÌ„suetudo Itaque veritate manifestata cedat consuetudo veritati quia petrus qui circuÌ„cidebat cessit Paulo veritatem praedicanti igitur cuÌ„ Christus veritas sit magis veritatem quam consuetudineÌ„ sequi dedemus quia consuetudinem ratio veritas semper excludit He that presumâ—â— sayth Augustine to folowe custome the truth contemned either is enuious hatefull agaynst hys brethren De baptis paruulorum to whom the truth is reueled or vnthankfull vnto God by whose inspiration hys Church is instructed For our Lord in the gospell sayd I am the truth He fayd not I am custome Therfore wheÌ„ the truth is opened let custome geue place to truth for euen Peter that circumcised gaue place to Paul when he preached a truth Wherfore since Christ is the truth we ought rather to folow truth than custome bicause reasoÌ„ and truth alwayes excludeth custome Then be not offeÌ„ded good sir I pray you if folowing better reason than you haue grace to coÌ„sider more truth thaÌ„ is yet reueled to you we refuse your catholike scisme impietie Be not spitefull to theÌ„ that know more than your self Be not ingrate to God that in these latter dayes to knowleage of hys word hath sent more aboundaÌ„ce of hys holy spirite dwel not vpon your custome Bring truth I wil thanke you Speake reason I wyl credite you NoÌ„ annoruÌ„ canities est laudanda sed moruÌ„ Ambros. in epi. ad Theo. valent Folio 64. b In orat funebri de chitu Theodo Lib. 5. ca. 20 nullus pudor est ad milior a transire Not the aucieÌ„ty of yeres but of maners is coÌ„meÌ„dable no shame it is to passe to better The tale of the superstitious whom you call vertuous lady Helena I shal speake more of in the eyght Article Certain it is the superstitious she was as is proued afterward in the eight Article who would gad on pilgrimage to visit sepulchres c. Likewise CoÌ„stantinus her sonne was not throughly reformed For as Theodorete Theodoretê° Lib. 5 ca. 20. reporteth after he came to Christianity fana non subuertit he ouerthrew not the places of Idol worshippinges Wherfore it is no meruaile if they building Churches should haue some piece of GeÌ„tilitie obserued a Crosse or a Roode loft Yet where mention is made that Helena dyd fynde the Crosse we fynde not at all that she worshipped the Crosse Ambros. de obitu Theodosij but rather the contrary For Ambrose sayth Inuenit titulum regem adorauit noÌ„ lignum vtique quia hic GeÌ„tilis est error vanitas impiorum She founde the title she worshipped the king not the wood pardie for thys is an error of GeÌ„tilite and vanitie of the wycked And where we reade Euse de vita Const lib. 4. that Constantinus the great for hys miraculous apparition and good successe did greatly estéeme the Crosse graued it in hys
as they bring their warrant for them God forbyd in dede but we should admit them If we established our traditions and destroyed theirs If we deuised a worship of our own despised theirs we wer to be blamed But when in respecte of Gods commaundement which no man ought on peril of his life transgresse we reiecte a custome and deuise of man we are not to bée burdened with pride or singularitie Folio 80. Your selues thinke it laweful to alter and innouate at your owne pleasures all traditions and ceremonies of elder time As taking away mylke and hony from Christenings contrary to Tertullian and denying infants the supper of the Lorde contrary to Augustine with an hundred moe that I could rehearse And wherewithall doe you supply them with your owne fansies your owne follies Yet you neyther discredite nor disauthorize the fathers We if we stande not to euery iote that any one of the fathers heretofore hath written and hath pleased the Pope of his power absolute to admit are compted heretiques schismatiques such as haue separated our selues from the Church In dede we professe a separation from you as our Apologie doth witnesse Folio 81. Apologie of the church of England and shewe good reason why Therein your finenesse doth cal vs patchers I wys all the packe of you hath not cloth in your shoppes to make the like But separating our selues from you the enimies of God and of his truth we ioyne as we ought with the church of Christ For what is the vnitie Vnitie of Papistes that you appoynt vs The humble obedience of the Church of Rome whome you wil haue to be the mother Church whō you doe call the boosome and the lappe that all men ought to runne vnto which will be numbred among Gods children You with this vnitie content your selues seking rather your selues ouer Christ than Christ ouer the flock to raigne compassing rather how your selues may dayntily liue in this world than howe the members of the Church may be brought to heauen But we must appoynte suche kinde of vnity Vnitie of Christiās as must not depend vpon one particular or priuate Church be it eyther of Antioch or of Hierusalem or of Rome it selfe but vpon the catholique and vniuersall Church which was not onely before Rome in antiquitie but shall continue when Rome is gone This muste we search out of the scriptures Rom. 12. Vnū corpus multi sumus in Christo sayth the Apostle We being many are one body in Christ Christ is the head and we be the members Howe doe the members and the head agrée With one flesh one bloud one spirite and one life As Christ is in the father and the father in Christ so we al by Christ are one in God If one spirite rule vs we must all thinke one thing If we be all one body we must not hate our owne fleshe As brotherly loue and charitie is necessary for vs to declare by the same that we be Christs disciples as peace quietnesse among vs all is a thing most expedient as a bande to knyt vs in the vnitie of the spirite so they which are thus vnited vnto Christ must not only be quickned with the same spirit but be cōforted maintained with the same fayth hope Wherfore if you wil haue vs to continue the vnity of your church with you then make it first a catholike Church of a sink of Idolatry a follower and furtherer of true religion It is not by by the vnitie of the church which coms vnder colour name of it Hierome a doctor of the Church writeth Sub rege Constantio Contra Luciferianos Eusebio Hippatio Consulibus nomine vnitatis et fidei infidelitas scripta est In the time of Constance the king Eusebius Hippatius being Consuls vnder the name of vnitie and fayth infidelity was written And such an vnitie do you deliuer vs not you alone I meane but all the rable of popish heretiques with you as consisteth of Idolatry false worshippings simony with a corrupt body and a coūterfet head euen Antichrist himself You say that the vnity of the church doth hang vpon obseruance of ceremonies olde rites customes We say that it standeth vpon fayth and spirite Ephesi 4. Which are the truer in this behalfe S. Paul byddeth vs to be carefull to kepe the vnitie of the spirit til we méete together in the vnitie of fayth Augustine intreating of the Sabboth fast Epist. 86. sayth Interminabilis est ista contentio generans lites nunquam fiaiens quaestiones This contention is endelesse stil ingendring strife neuer ceassing from doubtes And what I besech you do you that bragge of your vnitie dissent from all antiquitie not agrée with your selues contende about trifles damne the true fayth derogate all from Christes death and his passion and giuing it to your owne frée will and works The works that you cōmaunde be your owne deuises The works that God commaundes you haue nothing to doe withall Breake Gods cōmaundement and it is no matter Breake yours we dye for it It is a wonder how bolde you will be to pronounce heretiques to serue your turne Euseb ecclesiast hist. Lib. 5. Victor Bishop of Rome woulde excommunicate and condemne of heresie all the churches of Asia bicause they did kepe their Easter Quartadecima luna primi mensis when the Iewes swete bread is eaten not at the time that he kept it at Rome A sore point I promise you But you condemne vs of heresy for preaching of the Gospel against the traditions and precepts of men If they from whose ordinances we do depart had eyther thought their traditions necessary or shewed scripture wherevpon they grounded them we would not presume to withstande their authoritie or gaynesay their good reason But when they deliuer them as thinges indifferent and plainly professe that they haue no worde of the Lorde for them a hope of commoditie may cause vs to retayne them but an apparant mischief must driue vs to refuse thē Tertullian himself Tertulliā de corona militis when he had rehearsed a great sorte of traditions among which this was the last that we nowe doe speke of the manner of signing vvith the Crosse in the forehead immediately inferreth Harum aliarum eiusmodi disciplinarum si legem expostules scripturaerum nullam reperies If thou require a lawe of Scripture for these and such like orders of discipline thou shalt finde none Wherefore since they builde not vpon the Scripture they do not expounde vpon the word when these ioyes be taught we can not as you say dyscredite and dysauthorize them Folio 79. b. as though they knevv not the scriptures true interpretatiō of the lavv When you doe make a lye of your owne doe I discredite your knowledge in the lawe A lawyer may sometime be a liar as you proue vnto vs and yet not the lawe to wyte When the
adore and vvorship it These are youre wordes yours I may call them for they be furthest of frō Athanasius meaning And in the margēt the place is quoted Quaest 39. ad Anti. Here be thrée lyes together Fyrst by suppressing a piece of Athanasius saying of the speare réede sponge that they are holy as the Crosse Where the author hath that they are as holy as the Crosse Thē remēber thys as Also by corrupting of the texte putting in the wordes of Adore vvorship whiche are not in the boke Last of all referring vs to the .xxxix. question wheras there are not so many in all In dede Quaestione 16. Quest 16. ad Antio these are hys words Quare credentes omnes ad crucis imaginem cruces facimus lanceae vero sanctae aut arundinis aut spongiae figuras nullas conficimus cum tamen haec tam sint sancta quam ipsa crux Responsio Figuram quidem Crucis ex duobus lignis compingentes conficimus vt si quis infidelium id in nobis reprehendat quod veneremur lignum possimus duobus inter se disiunctis lignis crucis dirempta forma ea tanquam inutilia ligna reputare infideli persuadere quod non colamus lignū sed quid Crucis typum veneremur in lancea vero aut spongia vel arundine nec facere hoc nec ostendere possimus which in englishe are these Why do all beleuers make Crosses after the Image of the Crosse but make no figures or likenesses of the speare the réede or the sponge where as notwithstanding these are as holy as the Crosse it selfe The aunswere We make in déede the figure of the Crosse by putting of two stickes together that if any of the infidels reproue that in vs that we worship wood we may by separating two pieces of wood and taking away the forme of a Crosse accompt them as vnprofitable sticks and persuade the infidell that we worship not wood but the thing represented by the Crosse which in the speare sponge or réede we neyther can doe nor shewe Here first it is euident that the réede or speare is as holy as the Crosse and therefore as wel to be worshippped as the Crosse although the word of comparison you would fayne suppresse Then that there is not any worde or halfe worde for worshipping yea the whole sequele of the matter doth conuince the contrary Yet your honesty is such as to put in of your owne vnder name of Athanasius Adore and Worship By the Popes owne lawe for being such a falsarie ye should haue your crowne pared be made an Abbey lubber Dist. 50. ca. Si Episcopus as long as ye liue And may not I vse the words of your zealous spirite and say Ah see good readers vvhat a sotte vve haue to doe vvithall Bicause ye reade or heare say at the leaste that a Crosse was made therefore ye conclude Folio 84. b. it was set in the Roodeloft for no man say you maketh him a veluet coat to lay it vp in his presse or his frends picture to be put in the colehouse But doth any wiseman whē he hath a new garment proclaime it in the market place or hang the counter fet of his friend vpon a pole to be sene By your owne slender reason as ye iudge of the one so ymagine of the other Now to come to the ecclesiasticall history where mention is made of the Idol Serapis I wold the readers shuld wel consider it For Roodes Crosses Images haue bene nothing else but coūterfets of Serapis Roodes Crosses Images coūterfets of Serapis Ruffinus Ecclesias hi. lib. 2. cap 23. The priests of Egipt the votaries of those dayes for Ruffinus calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as had made themselues and God wyll chaste set me vp in their temple a monstrous Idoll reaching from one syde of the wal to the other To purchase more credit to it they had made a little windowe eastwarde where the morning sunne might glimmer in taking the iust heyght of their idol shuld shine no lower nor higher than they wold but that when their God was shrined might be full in his face and vpon his lippes And so by this meanes a miracle was wrought the sunne with a kisse bad him welcome to Church Agayne where the nature of the Lodestone is to draw iron to it they made as curiously as workmanship could deuise the Image of the sonne in iron that whereas the sunne was in the vawte the Image directely vnderneath it the Image sometime might rise and hang in the ayre But least the ponderositie of the metall might come to his course agayne they conueyed it away and sayde The sunne hath now taken his leaue of Serapis and gone to his businesse These and such other inuentions they had to deceyue the people Such hayes they pitched to purchas their profit But these were but grosse in respect of the finenesse of our parish priests and popish Chaplens For they haue made Roodes with rowling eyes sweating browes with speaking mouth and walking féete I report me to the Roode of grace the Roode of Winchester the very Crosse of Ludlow and Iacke knacker of Witney Nor maruel if the Crosse be so déepe in your bokes that can stand a hielone and walke on the altare that can runne in the night time from S. Iohns Chappel into our Ladies and will not for ielousy abide frō hir But I would the world should vnderstand that as the Egiptians Christians Serapis and the crosse signe in name do differ so the priests of them both be of one religion Ruffinus Eccl Hist lib. 2. cap. 25. like conuersation Tirānus a chauntrey priest seruing at Saturnus altare had a way to créepe into his Gods belly for he was hollow as most part of our Images are mete for to make swines troughes when so euer any gentlewomans deuotion serued hir to come to make hir oraisons if the priest liked hir parson answere was made frō within that she must abide there all that night in pryuie contemplatiōs The silly husband was glad that he had any thing to do his God a pleasure therfore would deck hir trim hir vp in hir holyday aray and to Church she goeth with penny in hir purse taper in hir hand to offer for hir sinnes The priest before al the people shuts the Church dore he leaues the woman within and home he goeth But afterward by a priuy vawt vnderneath the ground he conuoyes himself into the body of the ymage while the lampes be burning she praying he roareth somewhat out of his trunk partly to feare hir partly also to make hir wel apayde that she should be worthied to haue a God to talk to hir But whē he had wrought what soeuer he thought good eyther to astony hir or entise hir to folly then sodainly by a vice all the candels goe out he playeth the priest
reason of the distaunce semeth no bigger than a mannes head there is so greate a glysteryng that the engine of mans eye is not able to loke directly on it and if for a whyle ye fixe your sight theron dymnesse darkenesse do follow your dased eyes what lyghte what clearenesse may we thynk to be with God with whom ther is no night at all who hath so ordered thys lyght of hys the neyther by to muche shining beames nor ouer parching heate he shuld hurte the cattel yet of both hath departed so much as either the bodyes of man may beare or riping of the fruites require Wherfore he concludeth Num igitur mentis suae compos putandus est qui authori datori luminis candelarum ac cerearū lumen offerit pro munere Is he to be thought to be in hys ryghte wyttes that to the author and geuer of lyghte offers vp the lyghte of candels and tapers for a gifte And can there any thyng more playnly be sayde to condemne the vse of burning tapers on the Lordes table There must be no tapers on the Lordes table God hath required an other lyght of vs sayth Lactantius and the same not dym and smokye but cleare and bryghte proceding from the mynde which for that cause is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much to say as lyght which doubtlesse is impossible for any to set forth but hym that knoweth God Then if we set vp in the day tyme a candell for our selues we be blynde fooles if for the vse and seruise of God we be blasphemous Terrenum enim facimus eum in tenebris agentem For we make hym earthly and shut hym vp as it were in a dark prison Itaque istiusmodi cultores quia celeste nihil sapiūt etiam religiones quibus deseruiunt ad terram reuocant In ea enim lumine opus est quia ratio eius natura tenebrosa est Therfore such worshippers bicause no heauenly thyng sauors with them call down their religions which they obserue and kepe vnto the earth wherin we stande in nede of lyght bicause the respect and nature of it is cloudy altogether and ful of darkenesse Thus much haue I sayd to your first proufe of Crosse Tapers at tyme of Litany Now where you finde your selfe agreued Foli 94. b. that we haue not likewise your ceremonies in vre saying oure heretiques novve a dayes vvill haue no. Crosse at the singing of their Lordes prayer Martiall refuseth the Lords prayer and consequently the Lorde Christ bicause neyther their Lord nor they can abyde the sighte of the Crosse Truly I had thought that we had had all one Lord before that we had all depended vpon Christ and iustly might haue bene called Christians now that ye refuse hym in the playn field what shall I call you but Antichristes and Apostotae For euident it is who is our Lord by the prayer that we vse and Christ hath commaūded vs you by condemning the prayer also deny the Lorde For what meane you by this Heretiques at their lordes praier haue we any other Lordes prayer than that which is written in the .vj. of Mathew .xj. of Luke If thys ye acknowledge ye myght aswell haue sayd at the Lordes prayer or at our Lordes prayer as at their Lordes prayer but if ye haue such a sect of your selues that do mislike with the lordes prayer I would be gladly taken as an heretique of such and all your religion I holde accursed Folio 94. b. They cannot be heretiques say you that can abide the sight of the Crosse And wil you abide by that Ye haue proued by this time Luther Luther is proued no heretique no heretique for alwayes he is pictured ful deuoutly knéeling before the Crosse And truely no Papist had the signe of the Crosse in more reuerence than he Wherefore you must restrayne your position or lessen much the numbre of your heretiques Iustinians Iustinian Emperor lawes though in ciuile cases I doe gladly admit and in some matters of correction I like very wel Vt quod paederastis virilia confestim exsecari voluit yet in Religion we are not bound to this order I know that in his time many superstitions were come in place and since he liued in the same age with Agapetus the Pope fyrste foūder of Processions no maruel if he followed some piece of his fansy Mamertes Gregory that first deuised Litanies although they make mention of diuers orders and solēnities that were vsed in them namely of the vse of the Bishops Pall yet speake they no word that the Crosse shuld go before them Wherfore I greatly force not whether the order of crosses in Litanies were vsed somewhat before his time or first by himselfe deuised since we haue example of so many faythful that prayed without it and promise that our prayer shall be heard though we want it My self wil not discredite the Emperour which being as Suidas sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vtterly vnlearned deserued well of learning But what he was both for his lawes and execution of iustice and religion reade Alciate and Euagrius Alciat li. 4 Disp. Cap. 7 Euagrius Libro 4. Ca. 30. et 32. The tale and titles of Augustine the Monke who commonly is called the Apostle of Englande I haue not in such credite and estimation that I thinke vs as you say next vnto God most beholden to him for our fayth and religion For euer since the time of Eleutherius of Rome and Lucius of Englande Christianitie hath bene receyued and neuer fayled among vs. Augustin the monk commonly called the Apostle of Englande In dede some partes of the realme which now are accompted chiefe and then lay most open to the spoyle of enimies were blinded with Paganish superstition and the faythfull Christians fled into the mountaynes The Sarons for the part that they possessed were most Idolater The Britons remayned Christians in so much that when Augustine came among them he founde seauen byshoprikes and an Archbyshoprike beside diuers and sundry monasteries which all had faythful and learned prelates kéeping their flockes in most Godly order Nor vtterly was the fayth extinguished where Augustine lāded For Ethelbert the king of Kent as Polydor writeth was metely wel instructed by a godly wife that came out of Fraūce and a Christian byshop that attended on hir But Augustine when he came in place of Idolatry planted superstition and where religion was sincerely taught he laboured what he could of a certayne ambitious proude heart to peruert it For finding in the city of Bangor a notable sort of Monkes not idle bellies as of late yeres they haue bene but learned and liuing of the sweate of their browes in so much that being deuided into seauen partes there were no lesse than thrée hundreth of a company this Romishe Prelate required subiection of them and further woulde haue enioyned them to become seruitoures in preaching of the
fathers bring an inuention of their owne do I otherwise deny them the right sense of scripture The fathers may haue sometime their fansies and yet besyde the word Then if their fansies be misliked is their exposition of the word condemned whereas they meddle not with the worde Apelles shoomaker was worthily checkt when he would be busy aboue the knée but that did not set but he might haue iudgement good ynough of the shooe Yet in a shooe made on anothers last the best shoomaker for al his skil may chaunce be deceyued In déede good cause we haue only to depend vpon the word of God and not be ruled ouer by time or custome bycause in matters of our religion as Christ hath taken perfecte order therein so hath he commaunded vs to go no further but him obey August de Consen Euā Li. 1. Cap. 18. Socrates was wont to say Vnumquemque Deum sic coli oportere quomodo seipsum colendum esse praecepisset That euery God was so to be serued as he himselfe had commaunded to be serued And this was the cause why the Romaines would neuer receyue the God of the Hebrewes For grounding vpon this foresayd principle they saw it necessary that eyther al their ydols shuld be excluded and onely the true God entertayned or he only not admitted the rest be honored For by the worde of God they found that they could not agrée together and cōtrary to his word they would not séeke to serue him If they had this affect as Augustine declareth gathered by morall reason and by no further insight of faith Shal we that professe more knowledge and perfection be folisher than they hearing continually Christ and his Apostles inueighing agaynst wilworshippers Therefore I say we aske for the worde you answere vs by wyl we cal for Scripture you reache vs custome Epig. lib. 6. Martiall a mery man a poet of your name a man of more learning and wit than you had some tyme to do with such a lawyer as you For a neighboure of hys had stolen .iij. goates The matter was called into the courte the party should come to proue the inditement He gat hym a counsailler to declare the case When the iudge was ready to heare it his counsailer fel a discoursing of the fight at Cannas the battayl wyth Mithridates the wrōges and iniuries sustayned by the Africanes Thus whē he had filled their eares a great whyle with dyn thūping on the barre and squekyng in hys smal pipes Martiall tenderyng hys own cause more than the babbling of his vaine aduocate at length pulled hym by the sléeue and sayd And please your worship I gaue ye my fée to talke of .iij. goates And thus had I néede to put you in remembrance For where ye appointed to speake of Gods seruice ye tell vs a tale of thys man and that man what he dyd and they dyd And yet not a worde what God hath commaunded Fol. 82. Ye call vs curious when we require Scripture We can get at your handes nothing else but custome And speakyng of custome accordyng to your custome ye make a lye and falsefie Tertulliā Martiall corrupteth Tertullian For these are your words We say vvith Tertullian that custome increser confirmer and obseruer of fayth taught thys vse of the Crosse c. As if the increase confirmatiō and obseruing of Fayth proceded of custom Hys wordes are otherwise For speakyng of hys traditions he sayth S. legem expostules scripturarū nullā reperies traditiō tibi praetendetur auctrix consuetudo confirmatrix fides obseruatrix If thou demaunde a law of Scripture for these thou shalt fynd none Traditione shal be pretēded to thée as increaser custom confirmer and faith obseruer of them Where you may sée that custome is not made increaser and confirmer of fayth but fayth obseruer of custome Notwithstanding I must still beare with you For ye be driuen to narrowe shyftes fayne would ye say something But it is a foule shyft to make a lye Thys custome ye proue came of tradition For as Tertulliā Tertulian de corona millitis sayth how can a thing be vsed if it were not first deliuered To graunt it a tradition I wil not sticke with you But Tertulliā wyll haue the same to be builded vpon reason or els he refuseth it He maketh the Antithesis not betwene written and vnwritten but betwene written and reasonable And so he thynketh a Tradition not writtē to be admitted so it be reasonable Therfore he sayth Rationem traditioni consuetudini fidei patrocinaturā perspicies Martial is still by his ovvne authors ouerthrovven Ye shall sée that reason wyll defende tradition custome and fayth And afterwarde Non differt scriptura an ratione consistat quando legem ratio commendet It is no matter whether custome consist of writing or of reason inasmuch as reason also commendeth law So that reasonable must be the tradition And how shall thys reasonable be defined Tertulliā hymselfe doth tel you limiting how a mā maye make a custome if he conceue decrée duntaxat quod Deo cōgruat quod disciplinae conducat quod saluti proficiat Only that is agreable to God furthering vnto discipline and profitable to saluation If the tradition of the Crosse signe may be proued to be such I wyll yelde vnto you with all my hart Consider the reasōs and the examples that the Doctor vseth First of the Lordes authorite who sayd Cur non a vobis ipsis quod iustū est iudicatis Vt nō de iuditio tantum sed de omni sētentia rerum examinandarum Why do you not of your selues iudge that that is rightuous that it be not onely vnderstode of iudgement but of euery sentence of things to be examined And it followeth Dicit Apostolus Si quid ignoratis Deus vobis reuelabit Solitus ipse cōsilium subministrare cum praeceptum domini non habebat quaedā edicere à semetipso sed ipse spiritū dei habens deductorē omnis veritatis Itaque consiliū edictū eius diuini iā praecepti instar obtinuit de rationis diuinae patrocinio Hanc nunc expostula saluo traditionis respectu quocunque traditore censetur necl authorem respicias sed authoritatem c. And the Apostle sayth If ye be ignoraunte of any thyng God shall reueale it to you He hymselfe when he had not a commaundemente from the Lorde was wonte to giue counsell and prescribe some thinges of hymselfe but as one that had the spirit of God directer of all trueth Wherefore hys counsell and edict hath now obtayned to be as it were the commaundement of God through supportation and defēce of the reason diuine Thys reason inquire for sauing the respect of tradition whosoeuer be the deliuerer therof nor respect the author but the authoritie So farre Tertulliā And in hys wordes In a custome maker the spirite of God In custōe commoditie and