of personage neither nobilitie nor fauour of the people no nor the fauour of the king him selfe can saue a rebel from due punishment God the king of al kinges being so offended with him that rather then he should lacke due execution for his treason euery tree by the way wyl be a gallous or gybbet vnto hym and the heere of his owne head wyl be vnto him insteade of an haulter to hang hym vp with rather then he shoulde lacke one A fearefull example of Gods punishment good people to consider Now Achitophel though otherwyse an exceedyng wyse man yet the mischeeuous counseller of Absolon in this wycked rebellion for lacke of an hangman a conuenient seruitour for suche a traytour went and hanged vp hym selfe a worthy end of al false rebelles who rather then they shoulde lacke due execution wyll by Gods iust iudgement become hangmen vnto them selues Thus happened it to the captaynes of that rebellion besyde fourtie thousande of rascall rebelles slayne in the feelde and in the chase Lykewyse is it to be seene in the holy scriptures how that great rebellion which the traytor Seba moued in Israel was sodenly appeased the head of the captayne traytor by the meanes of a seely woman beyng cut of And as the holy scriptures do shewe so doth daily experience proue that the counsels conspiracies and attemptes of rebelles neuer tooke effect neyther came to good but to most horrible ende For though God doth often tymes prosper iust and lawefull enemies which be no subiectes against their forraigne enemies yet dyd he neuer long prosper rebellious subiectes against their prince were they neuer so great in aucthority or so many in number Fiue princes or kynges for so the scripture tearmeth them with all their multitudes coulde not preuayle agaynst Chodorlaomor vnto whom they had promised loyaltie and obedience and had continued in the same certain yeres but they were all ouerthrowen and taken prisoners by him but Abraham with his familie and kynsfolkes an handefull of men in respect owyng no subiection vnto Chodorlaomor ouerthrēwe hym and all his hoast in battell and recouered the prisoners and delyuered them So that though warre be so dreadfull and cruell a thyng as it is yet doth God often prosper a fewe in lawefull warres with forraigne enemies agaynste manye thousandes but neuer yet prospered he subiectes beyng rebelles agaynst their naturall soueraigne were they neuer so great or noble so manye so stout so wittie and politike but alwayes they came by the ouerthrowe and to a shamefull ende so muche doth God abhorre rebellion more then other warres though otherwyse beyng so dreadfull and so great a destruction to mankynde Though not onlye great multitudes of the rude and rascall commons but sometyme also men of great wit nobilitie and aucthoritie haue moued rebellions agaynst their lawefull princes whereas true nobilitie shoulde moste abhorre suche vilanous and true wysedome shoulde moste detest suche frantike rebellion though they would pretende sundry causes as the redresse of the common wealth which rebelliō of all other mischeefes doth most destroy or reformation of religion whereas rebellion is most agaynst all true religion though they haue made a great shewe of holy meanyng by begynnyng their rebellions with a counterfet seruice of God as dyd wycked Absolon begyn his rebellion with sacrificing vnto God though they display and beare about ensignes and banners whiche are acceptable vnto the rude ignoraunt common people great multitudes of whom by such false pretences and shewes they do deceaue and draw vnto them yet were the multitudes of the rebels neuer so huge and great the captaines neuer so noble politike and wittie the pretences faigned to be neuer so good and holye yet the speedie ouerthrowe of all rebelles of what number state or condition so euer they were or what colour or cause soeuer they pretended is and euer hath ben suche that God thereby doth shewe that he alloweth neyther the dignitie of anye person nor the multitude of anye people nor the waight of any cause as sufficient for the whiche the subiectes may moue rebellion agaynste their princes Turne ouer and reade the histories of all nations looke ouer the Chronicles of our owne countrey call to mynde so manye rebellions of olde tyme and some yet freshe in memorie ye shall not fynde that God euer prospered anye rebellion agaynst their naturall and lawefull prince but contrarywyse that the rebelles were ouerthrowen and slayne and such as were taken prisoners dreadfullye executed Consyder the great noble families of Dukes Marquesses Earles and other Lordes whose names ye shall reade in our Chronicles now cleane extinguished and gone seeke out the causes of the decay you shall fynd that not lacke of issue heires male hath so muche wrought that decay and waste of noble blooddes and houses as hath rebellion And for so muche as the redresse of the common wealth hath of olde ben the vsual faigned pretence of rebels and religion nowe of late begynneth to be a colour of rebellion let all godlye and discreete subiectes consyder well of both and fyrste concerning religion If peaceable king Salomon was iudged of God to be more meete to buylde his Temple whereby the orderyng of religion is meant then his father kyng Dauid though otherwyse a moste godlye kyng for that Dauid was a great warryer and had shead muche blood though it were in his warres agaynste the enemies of God of this may all godly and reasonable subiects consyder that a peaceable prince specially our most peaceable and mercyfull Queene who hath hitherto shed no blood at all no not of her most deadly enemies is more lyke and farre meeter eyther to set vp or to mainteyne true religion then are bloody rebels who haue not shead the blood of Gods enemies as kyng Dauid had done but do seeke to shead the blood of Gods freendes of their owne countreymen and of their owne most deare freendes and kynsfolke yea the destruction of their moste gratious prince and naturall countrey for defence of whom they ought to be redy to shedde their blood if need should so requyre What a religion it is that such men and by suche meanes would restore may easily be iudged euen as good a religion surely as rebels be good men and obedient subiectes and as rebellion is a good meane of redresse and reformation beyng it selfe the greatest deformation of all that may possible be But as the trueth of the Gospel of our sauiour Christe beyng quietly and soberly taught though it do coste them their lyues that do teache it is able to maynteyne the true religion so hath a frantike religion neede of such furious maintenances as is rebellion and of suche patrones as are rebels beyng redy not to dye for the true religion but to kyll all that shall or dare speake agaynste their false superstition and wicked idolatrie Now concernyng pretences of any redresse of the common wealth made by rebels
knowen of all for daunger of heresie as they saye be shut vp and idolles and images not withstanding they be forbidden by God and not withstanding the daunger of idolatrie by them shall they yet be set vp suffered mainteyned in churches and temples O worldly and fleshely wysedome euer bent to maynteyne the inuentions and traditions of men by carnal reason and by the same to disanull or deface the holy ordinaunces lawes and honour of the eternall God who is to be honoured and praysed for euer Amen Nowe it remayneth for the conclusion of this treatie to declare aswell the abuse of churches temples by to costely and sumptuous deckyng and adourning of them as also the leude paintyng gylding and clothing of idols and images and so to conclude the whole treatie In Tertulians tyme an hundred and threescore yeares after Christe Christians had none other temples but commō houses whyther they for the most part secretely resorted And so farre of was it that they had before his tyme any goodly or gorgious declied temples that lawes were made in Antonius Verus and Commodus the Emperours times that no christians should dwell in houses come in publique bathes or be seene in streetes or any where abroade and that if they were once accused to be Christians they should by no meanes be suffred to escape As was practised in Apolonius a noble Senatour of Rome who being accused of his owne bondeman and slaue that he was a Christian coulde neyther by his defence and appologie learnedly and eloquentlie written and read publiquely in the Senate nor in respect that he was a ci 〈…〉 zen nor for the dignitie of his order nor for the vylenesse and vnlawfulnesse of his accuser being his owne slaue by lykelihoode of malice moued to forge lyes against his lorde nor for no other respect or helpe could be deliuered from death So that christians wer then driuen to dwel in caues and dennes so farre of was it that they had any publique temples adourned and decked as they now be Which is here rehearsed to the confutation of those impudent shamlesse lyers whiche reporte suche glorious glosed fables of the goodly and gorgious Temple that Saynt Peter Linus Cletus and those thirtie Bishoppes their successours had at Rome vntill the time of the Emperour Constantine and whiche saint Policarpe should haue in Asia or Ireneus in Fraunce by suche lyes contrarie to all true Histories to maynteyne the superfluous gylding and decking of Temples now a dayes wherein they put almost the whole summe and pith of our religion But in those tymes the worlde was wonne to Christendome not by gorgious gylted and paynted temples of christians which had scarsely houses to dwell in but by the godly and as it were golden mynds and fyrine fayth of suche as in al aduersitie persecution professed the trueth of our religion And after these tymes in Maximian and Constantius the Emperors proclamation the places wher Christians resorted to publique prayer were called conuenticles And in Galerius Maximinus the Emperors Epistle they are called Oratories and Dominica to saye places dedicate to the seruice of the Lorde And here by the waye it is to be noted that at that tyme there were no Churches or temples erected vnto any saint but to God onely as Saint Augustine also recordeth saying we buyld no temples vnto our martirs And Eusebius him selfe calleth Churches houses of prayer and sheweth that in Constantine the emperours tyme al men reioyced seeing in steade of lowe conuenticles whiche tyraunts had destroyed hygh temples to be buylded Loe vnto the tyme of Constantine by the space of aboue three hundred yeares after our sauiour Christ when christian religion was most pure and in deede golden Christians had but lowe and poore conuenticles and simple oratories yea caues vnder the groūd called Cryptae where they for feare of persecution assembled secretely together A sigure whereof remayneth in the vaultes whiche yet are buylded vnder great Churches to put vs in remembraunce of the old state of the primitiue church before Constantine where as in Constantines tyme and after him were buylded great and goodly temples for christians called Basilicae either for that the Grekes vsed to call all great and goodly places Basilicas or for that the hyghe and euerlasting kyng God and our Sauiour Christe was serued in them But although Constantine and other princes of good zeale to our religion did sumptuouslye decke and adourne Christians temples yet did they dedicate at that time all Churches and temples to God or our Sauiour Christe and to no saint for that abuse began long after in Iustinians tyme And that gorgeousnes then vsed as it was borne with as rysing of a good zeale so was it signified of the godly learned euen at that tyme that such coste might otherwyse haue ben better bestowed Let saint Jerome although otherwyse to great a lyker and a lower of externall and outwarde thinges be a proofe hereof who hath these wordes in his Epistle to Demetriades Let other sayeth saint Jerome buylde Churches couer walles with tables of marble carrye together huge pyllers and gylde their toppes or heades whiche do not feele or vnderstande their precious decking and adourning let them decke the doores with iuorie and siluer and set the golden Aulters with precious stones I blame it not let euerye man abounde in his owne sense and better is it so to do then carefullye to keepe their ryches layde vp in store But thou hast another waye appoynted thee to cloth Christ in the poore to visit him in the sicke feede him in the hungrie lodge him in those who do lacke harbour and specially suche as be of the householde of fayth And the same Saint Jerome toucheth the same matter some what more freelye in his treatie of the lyfe of Clarkes to Nepotian saying thus Many buylde walles and erect pyllers of Churches the smoothe marbles do glister the roofe shyneth with Golde the aulter is set with precious stone But of the ministers of Christe there is no election or choyce Neither let any man obiecte and aleage agaynst me the ryche temple that was in Jurie the table candlestickes incense shippes platters cuppes morters and other thinges all of golde Then were these thinges allowed of the Lorde when the Priestes offered sacrifices and the blood of beastes was accompted the redemption of sinnes Howbeit all these thinges went before in figure and they were written for vs vppon whom the ende of the worlde is come And nowe when that our Lorde beyng poore hath dedicate the pouertie of his house let vs remember his crosse and we shall esteeme ryches as myre ordongue What do wee maruell at that whiche Christe calleth wicked Mammon Whereto do we so hyghlye esteeme and loue that whiche saint Peter doth for a glorie testifie that he had not Nytherto saint Jerome Thus you see how saint Jerome teacheth the sumptuousnes amongst the Jewes to be
the same that they choose continually to abyde and dwell in sinne The thyrde sorte he calleth scorners that is a sorte of men whose heartes are so stuffed with mallyce that they are not contented to dwell in sinne and to leade their lyues in all kynde of wickednesse but also they do contempne and scorne in other all godlinesse true religion all honestie and vertue Of the two first sortes of men I will not say but they may take repentaunce and be conuerted vnto god Of the third sort I thinke I may without daunger of gods iudgement pronounce that neuer anye yet conuerted vnto God by repentaunce but continued on still in their abhominable wyckednesse heaping vp to them selues damnation agaynst the day of Gods ineuitable iudgement Examples of such scorners we reade in the seconde booke of Chronicles When the good kyng Ezechias in the beginnyng of his raygne had destroyed idolatrie purged the temple and refourmed religion in his Realme he sent messengers into euerye Citie to gather the people vnto Hierusalem to solemnize the feast of Easter in such sort as God had appoynted The postes went from citie to citie through the land of Ephraim and Manasses euen vnto Zabulon And what did the people thinke ye Did they laude and prayse the name of the Lorde whiche had geuen them so good a kinge so zelous a Prince to abolish idolatrie and to restore againe Gods true religion No no. The scripture sayeth The people laughed them to scorne and mocked the kynges messengers And in the laste Chapter of the same booke it is written that almyghtie God hauing compassion vppon his people sent his messengers the Prophetes vnto them to call them from their abhominable idolatrie and wicked kinde of liuing But they mocked his messengers they dispised his wordes misused his Prophetes vntill the wrathe of the Lord arose against his people and till there was no remedie For he gaue them vp into the hands of their enemies euen vnto Nabucodonozar kyng of Babilon who spoiled thē of their goods brent their citie and led them their wyues and their children captiues vnto Babylon The wicked people that were in the dayes of Noe made but a mocke at the worde of God when Noe tolde them that God woulde take vengeaunce vppon them for their sinnes The fludde therefore came sodainely vpon them and drowned them with the whole worlde Lot preached to the Sodomites that except they repented both they and their Citie shoulde be destroyed They thought his sayings impossible to be true they scorned and mocked his admonition and reputed him as an olde doting foole But when God by his holy angels had taken Lot his wyfe and two daughters from among them he raigned downe fyre and brymstone from heauen and brent vp those scorners and mockers of his holye worde And what estimation had Christes doctrine among the Scribes and Pharisees What rewarde had he among them The Gospell reporteth thus The Pharisees whiche were couetous did scorne him in his doctrine O then ye see that worldly riche men scorne the doctrine of their saluation The worldly wyse men scorne the doctrine of Christe as foolishenesse to their vnderstanding These scorners haue euer ben and euer shal be to the worldes ende For Saint Peter prophesied that suche scorners shoulde be in the worlde before the latter daye Take heede therefore my brethren take heede be ye not scorners of Gods most holy worde prouoke him not to powre out his wrath now vpon you as he did then vppon those gybers and mockers Be not wilfull murderers of your owne soules Turne vnto God whyle there is yet tyme of mercye ye shall els repent it in the worlde to come when it shal be to late for there shall be iudgement without mercy This might suffise to admonishe vs and cause vs henceforth to reuerence Gods holy scriptures but all men haue not faith This therfore shal not satisfy and content al mens mindes but as some are carnal so they will stil continue abuse the scriptures carnally to their greater dampnation The vnlearned and vnstable saith saint Peter paruerte the holy scriptures to their owne destruction Jesus Christ as saint Paul sayth is to the Jewes an offence to the Gentiles foolishnesse But to Gods children as wel of the Jewes as of the Gentiles he is the power and wisdome of god The holy man Simeon sayeth that he is set foorth for the fall and rysing againe of many in Israel As Christe Jesus is a fall to the reprobate which yet perishe through their owne default So is his worde yea the whole booke of God a cause of dampnation vnto them through their incredulitie And as he is a rysing vp to none other then those whiche are Gods children by adoption So is his worde yea the whole scripture the power of God to saluation to them onelye that do beleue it Christe him selfe the Prophetes before him the apostles after him all the true ministers of Gods holye worde yea euery worde in Gods booke is vnto the reprobate the sauour of death vnto death Christ Jesus the prophetes the apostles and all the true ministers of his worde yea euery iot and title in the holy scripture haue ben is and shal be for euermore the sauour of lyfe vnto eternall lyfe vnto all those whose heartes God hath purified by true fayth Let vs earnestlye take heede that we make no iesting stocke of the bookes of holy scriptures The more obscure and darke the sayinges be to our vnderstanding the further let vs thinke our selues to be from God and his holye spirite who was the aucthour of them Let vs with more reuerence endeuour our selues to searche out the wisdome hidden in the outwarde barke of the scripture If we can not vnderstand the sense and the reason of the saying yet let vs not be scorners iesters and deryders for that is the vttermost token and shewe of a reprobate of a playne enemie to God and his wysdome They be not ydle fables to iest at whiche God doth seriouslye pronounce and for serious matters let vs esteeme them And though in sundrye places of the scriptures be set out diuers rites and ceremonies oblations sacrifices let vs not thynke straunge of them but referre them to the tymes and people for whom they serued although yet to learned men they be not vnprofitable to be cōsydered but to be expounded as figures and shadowes of thinges and persons afterwarde openlye reuealed in the new Testament Though the rehearsall of the genealogies petegrees of the fathers be not to much edification of the playne ignoraunt people yet is there nothyng so impartinently vttered in all the whole booke of the Byble but may serue to spirituall purpose in some respecte to all suche as will bestowe theyr labours to searche out the meanynges These may not be condemned because they serue not to our vnderstandyng nor make not to our edification But let vs turne our labour to
Ierome the translatour of his Epistle and the wryter of the Historie tripartite but also all the learned and godly Byshops and Clarkes yea and the whole Churche of that age and so vpwarde to our sauiour Christes tyme by the space of about foure hundreth yeres consenting and agreeyng This is written the more largely of Epiphanius for that our image maynteyners nowe a dayes seeing them selues so pressed with this most playne and earnest act and wrytyng of Epiphanius a Byshop and doctour of suche antiquitie holynesse and aucthoritie labour by all meanes but in vayne agaynst the trueth eyther to proue that this Epistle was neyther of Epiphanius wrytyng nor saint Ieromes translation eyther yf it be say they it is of no great forte for this Epiphanius say they was a Iew and beyng conuerted to the Christian fayth and made a Byshoppe retayned the hatred whiche Iewes haue to images still in his mynde and so dyd and wrote agaynst them as a Iewe rather then as a Christian. O Iewishe impudencie and malice of suche deuisers it woulde be prooued and not sayd only that Epiphanius was a iewe Furthermore concernyng the reason they make I would admit it gladly For if Epiphanius iudgement agaynst images is not to be admitted for that he was borne of a Iewe an enemie to images whiche be Gods enemies conuerted to Christes religion then lykewyse foloweth it that no sentence in the old doctours and fathers soundyng for images ought to be of any aucthoritie for that in the primitiue Churche the most part of learned wryters as Tertulian Cipâ—ian Ambrose Austen and infinite others were of Gentiles whiche be fauourers and worshyppers if images conuerted to the Christian fayth and so let some what slyppe out of theyr pennes sounding for images rather as Gentiles then Christians as Eusebius in his History ecclesiasticall and saint Ierome sayth playnelye that images came firste from the Gentiles to vs Christians And much more doth it folowe that the opinion of all the rablement of the Popyshe Church mainteyning images ought to be esteemed of small or no aucthoritie for that it is no maruell that they whiche haue from their childhood ben brought vp amongst images idolles and haue drunke in idolatrie almost with theyr mothers mylke holde with images and idolles and speake and wryte for them But in deede it woulde not be so muche marked whether he were of a Jewe or a Gentile conuerted to Christes religion that wryteth as howe agreeably or contrarily to Gods worde he doth wryte and so to credite or discredite hym Nowe what gods worde sayth of idols and images and the worshyppyng of them you hearde at large in the first part of this Homilee Saint Ambrose in his treatie of the death of Theodosius the Emperour sayth Helene founde the crosse and the tytle on it Shee worshypped the kyng and not the wood surely for that is an ethnyshe errour and the vanitie of the wycked but she worshypped hym that hanged on the crosse and whose name was written in the title and so foorth See both the godly Empresse fact and saint Ambrose iudgement at once They thought it had ben an Heathenyshe errour and vanitie of the wycked to haue worshypped the crosse it selfe which was embrewed with our sauiour Christes owne precious blood And we fal downe before euery crosse peece of tymber whiche is but an image of that crosse Saint Augustine the best learned of al auncient doctours in his xliiii Epistle to Maximus sayth Knowe thou that none of the dead nor any thing that is made of God is worshipped as god of the catholique Christians of whom there is a Churche also in your towne Note that by Saint Augustine suche as worshypped the dead or creatures be no catholique Christians The same saint Augustine teacheth in the. xxii booke of the citie of God the tenth Chapter that neyther temples or Churches ought to be buylded or made for martyrs or saintes but to God alone and that there ought no priestes to be appoynted for martyr or saint but to God onlye The same saint Augustine in his booke of the maners of the catholique Churche hath these wordes I knowe that many be worshippers of tombes and pictures I know that there be manye that banquet moste ryotously ouer the graues of the dead and geuyng meate to dead carkases do bury them selues vppon the buried and attribute theyr gluttonye and drunkennesse to religion See he esteemeth worshyppyng of saintes tombes and pictures as good religion as gluttonie and drunkennesse and no bettter at all Saint Augustine greatlye alloweth Marcus Varro affirming that religion is moste pure without images and sayth hym selfe images be of more force to crooken an vnhappy soule then to teache and instruct it And sayth further Euery childe yea euery beast knoweth that it is not God that they see Wherefore then doth the holy ghost so often monyshe vs of that which all men knowe Whereunto saint Augustine hym selfe aunswereth thus For sayth he when images are placed in temples and set in honourable sublimitie and begyn once to be worshypped foorth with breedeth the moste vyle affection of errour This is saint Augustines iudgement of images in Churches that by and by they breede errour and idolatrie It would be to tedious to rehearse al other places whiche might be brought out of the auncient doctours against images and idolatrie Wherefore we shall holde our selfe contented with these fewe at this present Nowe as concernyng histories ecclesiasticall touchyng this matter that ye may knowe why and when and by whom images were first vsed priuately and afterwardes not only receaued into the Christians Churches and temples but in conclusion worshypped also and how the same was gaynesayde resisted and forbidden aswell by godly Bishoppes and learned doctours as also by sundry Christian princes I wil breefely collect into a compendious historie that whiche is at large and in sundrye places written by diuers auncient wryters and historiographers concernyng this matter As the Jewes hauyng moste plaine and expresse commaundement of God that they should neyther make nor worshyp any image as it is at large before declared dyd notwithstandyng by the example of the Gentyles or Heathen people that dwelt about them fall to the makyng of images and worshyppyng of them and so to the committyng of moste abominable idolatrie for the whiche God by his holy prophetes doth most sharpely reprooue and threaten them and afterwarde dyd accomplyshe his sayde threatnynges by extreme punyshyng of them as is also aboue specified Euen so some of the Christians in olde tyme whiche were conuerted from worshyppyng of idols and false Gods vnto the true liuyng GOD and to our sauiour Jesus Christe dyd of a certayne blynde zeale and as men long accustomed to images paynt or carue images of our sauiour Christe his mother Marie and of the Apostles thynkyng that this was a poynt of gratitude and kyndenesse towardes those by whom they had receaued the true knowledge of God and the doctrine
wretches heard ye neuer of this Hath it not ben preached to you since the beginning how by the creation of the worlde and the greatnesse of the worke they myght vnderstande the maiestie of God the Maker and Creatour of all to be greater then that it could be expressed or set foorth in any image or bodily similitude Thus farre the Prophet Esaias who from the. xliiii Chapter to the xlix intreateth in a maner of no other thyng And. S. Paul in the Actes of the Apostles euidentlye teacheth the same that no similitude can be made vnto God in golde siluer stone or anye other matter By these and many other places of scripture it is euideÌ„t that no image either ought or can be made vnto god For how can God a most pure spirite whom man neuer sawe be expressed by a grosse bodily and visible similitude How can the infinite maiestie greatnes of god incomprehensible to mans mynde muche more not able to be compassed with the sense be expressed in an infinite and litle image How can a dead and dombe image expresse the lyuyng God What can an image which when it is fallen can not ryse vp agayne which can neyther help his freendes nor hurte his enemies expresse of the moste puissaunt and myghtie God who alone is able to rewarde his freendes and to destroy his enemies euerlastyngly A man myght iustly crye with the prophet Habacus Shall suche images instruct or teach any thyng ryght of God or shall they become doctours Wherfore men that haue made an image of God wherby to honour hym haue therby dishonoured him most hyghly diminished his maiestie blemished his glorye and falsified his trueth And therefore saint Paul saith that suche as haue framed anye similitude or image of God lyke a mortall man or anye other lykenes in tymber stone or other matter haue chaunged his trueth into a lye For both they thought it to be no longer that whiche it was a stocke or a stone and toke it to be that which it was not as God or an image of god Wherfore an image of God is not onlye a lye but a double lye also But the deuill is a lyer and the father of lyes wherefore the lying images which be made of God to his great dishonour and horrible danger of his people came from the deuyll Wherefore they be conuict of foolishnesse and wickednesse in making of images of God or the Trinitie for that no image of God ought or can be made as by the scriptures and good reason euidently appeareth yea and once to desyre an image of God commeth of infidelitie thinking not God to be present except they myght see some signe or image of hym as appeareth by the Hebrues in the wyldernesse wyllyng Aaron to make them gods whom they might see go before them Where they obiect that seeyng in Esaias and Daniel be certayne descriptions of God as sittyng on a hygh seate c. why may not a paynter lykewyse set him foorth in colours to be seene as it were a iudge syttyng in a throne as well as he is described in wrytyng of the prophetes seing that scripture or wrytyng and picture differ but a litle Firste it is to be aunswered that thynges forbidden by Gods worde as payntyng of images of God and thynges permitted of God as such discriptions vsed of the prophets be not all one neyther ought nor can mans reason although it shewe neuer so goodly preuayle anye thyng agaynste Gods expresse worde and playne statute lawe as I may well tearme it Furthermore the scripture although it haue certayne discriptions of God yet if you reade on foorth it expoundeth it selfe declaring that God is a pure spirite infinite who replenisheth heauen and earth whiche the picture doth not nor expoundeth not it selfe but rather when it hath set God foorth in a bodily similitude 〈◊〉 a man there and wyll easyly bryng one into the heresie of the Anthropomorphites thinking God to haue handes and feete to sit as a man doth which they that do sayth saint Augustine in his booke de fide simbolo cap. 7. fall into that sacriledge which the apostle 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 who haue chaunged the glorye of the 〈◊〉 God into the similitude of a 〈◊〉 â—â—n For it is wyckednesse for a Christian to 〈◊〉 suche an image to God in a Temple and muche more wyckednesse to erecte suche a one in â—is heart by 〈◊〉 â—â—yng of it But to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that this reaâ—on notwithstandyng 〈◊〉 of Christe may be made for that he toke vppon him fleshe and became man It were well that they woulde firste graunt that they haue hytherto done moste wyckedlye in makyng and maynteyning of images of God and of the trinitie in euery place whereof they are by force of Gods word and good reason conuicted and then to discend to the tryall for other images Nowe concernyng their obiection that an image of Christe may be made the aunswere is easy For in Gods worde and religion it is not onlye requyred whether a thyng may be done or no but also whether it be lawfull and agreeable to Gods worde to be done or no. For al wyckednesse may be is dayly done which yet ought not to be done And the wordes of the reasons aboue alleaged out of the Scriptures are that images neither ought nor can be made vnto god Wherefore to reply that images of Christe maye be made excepte withall it be proued that it is lawfull for them to be made is rather then to holde ones peace to say somwhat but nothyng to the purpose And yet it appeareth that no image can be made of Christe but a lying image as the scripture peculierlye calleth images lyes For Christ is God and man Seing therefore that for the Godhead which is the most excellent parte no images can be made it is falsly called the image of Christe wherefore images of Christe be not onlye defectes but also lyes Which reason serueth also for the images of saintes whose soules the more excellent partes of them can by no images be represented and expressed Wherefore they be no images of saintes whose soules raigne in ioy with God but of the bodies of Saintes whiche as yet lye putrified in the graues Furthermore no true image can be made of Christes body for it is vnknowen nowe of what fourme and countenaunce he was And there be in Grece and at Rome and in other places dyuers images of Christe and none of them lyke to other and yet euerye of them affirmeth that theirs is the true and liuely image of Christ which can not possible be Wherefore as sone as an image of Christe is made by and by is a lye made of hym which by Gods word is forbidden Which also is true of the images of any Saintes of antiquitie for that it is vnknowen of what fourme and countenaunce they were Wherefore seeing that religion ought to be grounded vppon trueth images whiche can
women shortly after fell on heapes to worshyppyng of them And at the last the learned also were caryed away with the publique errour as with a violent streame or fludde And at the seconde counsell Nicene the Byshoppes and Cleargie decreed that images shoulde be worshypped and so by occasion of these stumblyng blockes not onlye the vnlearned and simple but the learned and wyse not the people onlye but the Byshoppes not the sheepe but also the shepheardes them selues who shoulde haue ben guydes in the ryght way and lyght to shyne in darkenesse beyng blynded by the be witching of images as blynde guydes of the blynde fell both into the pitte of damnable idolatrie In the whiche all the worlde as it were drowned contynued vntylourage by the space of aboue eight hundred yeres vnspoken agaynst in a maner And this successe had Gregories order whiche mischeefe had neuer come to passe had Byshoppe Serenus way ben taken and all idols and images ben vtterly destroyed and abolished for no man worshippeth that that is not And thus you see how from hauing of images priuately it came to publique settyng of them vp in Churches and Temples although without harme at the fyrste as was then of some wyse and learned men iudged and from simple hauing them there it came at the last to worshippyng of them Firste by the rude people who specially as the Scriptures teacheth are in daunger of superstition and idolatrie and afterwardes by the Byshoppes the learned and by the whole Cleargie So that laytie and Clearge learned and vnlearned all ages sectes and degrees of men women and children of whole Christendome an horrible and most dreadfull thyng to thynke haue ben at once drowned in abhominable idolatrie of all other vices most detested of God and moste damnable to man and that by the space of eight hundred yeres and more And to this end is come that beginning of settyng vp of images in Churches then iudged harmelesse in experience proued not onlye harmefull but exitious and pestilent and to the destruction and subuertion of all good religion vniuersaliye So that I conclude as it may be possible in some one Citie or litle Countrey to haue images set vp in temples and Churches and yet idolatrie by earnest and continual preachyng of Gods true worde and the sincere Gospel of our sauiour Christe may be kept away for a short tyme So is it impossible that images once set vp and suffred in temples and Churches any great countreys muche lesse the whole worlde can any long tyme be kepte from idolatrie And the godly wyll respect not onely their owne Citie Countrey and time and the health of men of their age but be carefull for all places and tymes and the saluation of men of all ages At the leaste they wyll not lay such stumblyng blockes and snares for the feete of other countreymen and ages whiche experience hath alredie proued to haue ben the ruine of the worlde Wherefore I make a generall conclusion of all that I haue hitherto sayde yf the stumblyng blockes and poysons of mens soules by settyng vp of images wyl be many yea infinite yf they be suffered and the warnynges of the same stumblyng blockes and remedies for the sayde poysons by preachyng but fewe as is alredy declared yf the stumblyng blockes be easy to be layde the poysons soone prouided and the warnynges and remedies harde to knowe or come by yf the stumblyng blockes lye continuallye in the way and poyson be redye at hand euery where and warnynges and remedies but seldome geuen and if all men be more redy of them selues to stumble and be offended then to be warned all men more redie to drynke of the poyson then to taste of the remedie as is before partly and shall hereafter more fully be declared and so in fine the poyson continually and deepely drunke of many the remedie seldome and fayntly tasted of a fewe Howe can it be but infinite of the weake and infirme shal be offended infinite by ruine shall breake their neckes infinite by deadly vâ—nome be poysoned in their soules And howe is the charitie of God or loue of our neyghbour in our heartes then if when we may remoue suche daungerous stumbling blockes suche pestilent poysons we wyll not remoue them What shall I saye of them whiche wyll laye stumbling blockes where before was none and set snares for the feete nay for the soules of weake and simple ones and worke the daunger of their eternal ruine for whom our Sauiour Christe shed his precious blood where better it were that the artes of painting playstering caruing grauing and foundyng had neuer ben founde nor vsed then one of them whose soules in the syght of God are so precious should by occasion of image or picture perishe and be loste And thus is it declared that preachyng can not possiblye stay idolatrie if images be set vp publiquely in Temples and Churches And as true is it that no other remedye as wrytyng agaynst idolatrie counsels assembled decrees made agaynste it seuere lawes lykewyse and proclamations of princes and Emperours neyther extreame punyshmentes and penalties nor anye other remedye coulde or can be possiblie deuised for the auoydyng of idolatrie if images be publiquely set vp and suffered For concernyng wrytyng agaynste images and idolatrie to them committed there hath ben alleaged vnto you in the second part of this treatise a great manye of places out of Tertulian Origene Lactantius S. Augustine Epiphanius S. Ambrose Clemens and diuers other learned holy byshops and doctours of the Churche And besides these all histories ecclesiasticall and bookes of other godlye and learned byshoppes and Doctours are full of notable examples and sentences agaynst images and the worshyppyng of them And as they haue moste earnestly wrytten so dyd they sincerely and most diligently in their time teache and preache accordyng to their wrytynges and examples For they were then preachyng Byshops and more often seene in pulpittes then in prynces palaces more often occupyed in his legacie who sayde go ye into the whole world and preache the Gospell to all men then in imbassages and affayres of princes of this worlde And as they were moste zealous and diligent so were they of excellent learnyng and godlynes of lyse and by both of great aucthoritie and credite with the people and so of more force and lykelyhood to perswade the people and the people more lyke to beleue and folowe their doctrine But if their preachynges coulde not helpe muche lesse could their writynges which do but come to the knowledge of a fewe that be learned in comparison to continuall preachyng whereof the whole multitude is partaker Neyther dyd the old fathers Byshoppes Doctours seuerallye onlye by preachyng and wrytyng but also together great numbers of them assembled in synodes and counsels make decrees and ecclesiasticall lawes agaynst images and the worshipping of them neyther dyd they so once or twyse but diuers times and in diuers ages and countreys
to be syght in Churches and Temples ye shall in vayne did them beware of images as saint John doth and flee idolatrie as all the scriptures warne vs ye shall in vayne preache and teache them against idolatrie For a number will notwithstanding fall headlonges vnto it what by the nature of images and by the inclination of their owne corrupt nature Wherefore as a man geuen to luste to sit downe by a strumpet is to tempt God So is it lykewyse to erect an idoll in this pronenesse of mans nature to idolatrie nothing but a tempting Nowe if any will saye that this similitude proueth nothing yet I pray them let the worde of God out of the whiche the similitude is taken proue something Doth not the woorde of God call idolatrie spirituall fornication Doth it not call a gilt or paynted idoll or image astrumpet with a paynted face Be not the spirituall wickednes of an idols intising like the flatteries of a wanton harlot Be not men women as prone to spirituall fornication I meane idolatrie as to carnall fornication It this be denied let all nations vpon the earth which haue ben idolaters as by all stories appeareth proue it true Let the Jewes the people of God whiche were so often and so earnestly warned so dreadfully threatned concerning images idolatrie and so extremely punished therefore and yet fel vnto it proue it to be true as in almost al the bookes of the old Testament namely the Kings the Cronicles and the Prophetes it appeareth most euidently Let all ages and times and men of all ages times of all degrees and conditions wise men learned men princes idiotes vnlearned and comminaltie proue it to be true If you require examples For wyse men ye haue the Egyptians and the Indian Gimnosophistes the wysest men of the worlde you haue Salomon the wysest of all other For learned men the Grekes and namely the Atheniens exceeding all other nations in superstition and idolatrie as in the historie of the Actes of the Apostles saint Paul chargeth them For princes and gouernours you haue the Romanes the rulers of the roste as they saye you haue the same forenamed king Salomon and al the kinges of Israel and Juda after him sauing Dauid Ezechias and Josias and one or two more All these I say and infinite others wyse learned princes and gouernours being all idolatours haue you for examples and a proofe of mens inclination to idolatrie That I may passe ouer with silence in the meane tyme infinite multitudes and millions of idiotes and vnlearned the ignorant and grosse people like vnto horses and moyles in whom is no vnderstāding whose perill and daunger to fall on heapes to idolatrie by occasion of images the Scriptures specially foreshe we and geue warning of And in deede howe should the vnlearned simple and foolishe scape the nettes and snares of idols and images in the whiche the wysest and best learned haue ben so entangled trapped and wrapped Wherfore the argument holdeth this groūd sure that men be as enclyned of their corrupt nature to spirituall fornication as to carnall which the wisedome of God foreseeing to the generall prohibition that none shoulde make to them selues anye image or similitude addeth a cause depending of mans corrupt nature Least sayth God thou being deceaued with errour honour and worship them And of this grounde of mans corrupt inclination as well to spirituall fornication as to carnall it must needs folow that as it is the dutie of the godlie Magistrate louing honestie and hating whoredome to remoue all Strumpets and harlots specially out of places notoriouslie suspected or resorted vnto of naughtie packes for the auoyding of carnall fornication So it is the dutie of the same godly magistrate after the examples of the godly Kynges Ezechias and Josias to dryue away all spirituall harlottes I meane idols and images specially out of suspected places churches temples daungerous for idolatrie to be committed to images placed there as it were in the appoynted place and height of honour and worship as saint Augustine sayth where the liuing god only and not dead stones and stoches is to be worshipped It is I say the office of godly magistrates lykewyse to auoyde images and Idolles out of Churches and Temples as spirituall harlottes out of suspected places for the auoyding of idolatrie whiche is spirituall fornication And as he were the enemie of all honestie that woulde bring strumpettes and harlottes out of their secrete comers into the publique market place there freely to dwel and occupie their filthy marchaundyse So is he the enemie of the true worshipping of God that bringeth idols and images into the Temple and Churche the house of God there openly to be worshipped and to spoile the zelous GOD of his honour who will not geue it to any other nor his glorie to caruen Jmages who is as muche forsaken and the bond of loue betwene man and him as muche broken by idolatrie whiche is spirituall fornication as is the knot and bonde of mariage broken by carnall fornication Let all this be taken as a lye if the worde of God enforce it not to be true Cursed be the man saith God in Deuteronomium that maketh a caruen or moulten Image and placeth it in a secrete corner and all the people shall say Amen Thus sayth God for at that time no man durst haue or worship images opēlye but in corners onely and the whole world being the great Temple of God he that in any corner thereof robbeth God of his glory and geueth it to stockes and stones is pronounced by Gods worde accursed Nowe he that will bring these spirituall harlottes out of their lurkyng corners into publique Churches and Temples that spirituall fornication maye there openlye of all men women without shame be committed with them no doubte that person is cursed of God and twyse cursed and all good and godlye men and women will say Amen their Amen will take effect also Yea and furthermore the madnesse of all men professing the religion of Christe nowe by the space of a sorte of hundred yeares and yet euen in our tyme in so great light of the Gospell verye manye running on heapes by sea and lande to the great losse of their tyme expence and waste of their goodes destitution of their wyues children and families and daunger of their own bodies and liues to Compostile Rome Hierusalem and other farre countries to visite dumbe and dead stockes and stones doth sufficiently proue the pronenesse of mans corrupt nature to the seeking of idolles once set vp and the worshipping of them And thus aswell by the origin and nature of Idolles and Images them selues as by the prouenesse and inclination of mans corrupt nature to idolatrie it is euident that neither images if they be publiquely set vp can be separated nor men if they see images in Temples and Churches can be stayd and kept from idolatrie
we be so myndful of our common base houses deputed to so lowe occupying And be forgetfull toward that house of God wherin be ministred the wordes of our eternall saluation wherein be intreated the Sacramentes and mysteries of our redemption The fountaine of our regeneration is there presented to vs the partaking of the body and blood of our Sauiour Christe is there offered vnto vs And shal we not esteeme the place where so heauenly thinges be handled Wherefore if ye haue any reuerence to the seruice of God if ye haue any common honestie if ye haue any conscience in keeping of necessary and godly ordinaunces kepe your churches in good repayre wherby ye shal not onely please God and deserue his manifolde blessinges but also deserue the good report of all godly people The seconde poynt whiche apparteyneth to the mayntenaunce of Gods house is to haue it well adourned comely cleane kept Whiche thinges maye be the more easylye perfourmed when the Churche is well repayred For lyke as men are wel refreshed and comforted when they fynde their houses hauing all thinges in good order and all corners cleane and sweete So when Gods house the Churche is well adourned with places conuenient to sit in with the pulpit for the preacher with the Lordes table for the ministration of his holy supper with the Fonte to Christen in and also is kept cleane comely and sweetely the people is the more desyrous and the more comforted to resort thyther and to tarrye there the whole tyme appoynted them With what earnestnesse with what vehement zeale did our Sauiour Christ driue the byers and sellers out of the temple of God and hurled downe the tables of the chaungers of mony and the seates of the doue sellers and could not abyde that any man should cary a vessel through the temple He tolde them that they had made his fathers house a denne of theeues partelye through their superstition hypocrisie false worship false doctrine and insatiable couetousnes and partly through contempt abusing that place with walking and talking with worldly matters without all feare of God and due reuerence to that place What dennes of theeues the Churches of Englande haue ben made by the blasphemous bying and selling the moste precious body and blood of Christe in the Masse as the worlde was made to beleue at Diriges at monthes myndes in trentalles in abbeyes and chauntries beside other horrible abuses Gods holy name be blessed for euer we no we see and vnderstande All these abominations they that supplie the roome of Christe haue cleansed and purged the Churches of Englande of takyng awaye all suche fulsumnesse and filthynesse as through blynde deuotion and ignoraunce hath crept into the Churche this manye hundred yeres Wherefore O ye good Christian people ye dearelye beloued in Christ Jesu ye that glory not in worldly and vaine religion in phantasticall adourning and decking but reioyce in heart to see the glory of God truelye set foorth and the Churches restored to their auncient and godly vse render your most harty thankes to the goodnesse of almightie God who hath in our dayes styrred vp the hearts not onely of his godly preachers and ministers but also of his faythfull and most Christian magistrates and gouernours to bring suche godly thinges to passe And forasmuche as your Churches are scoured and swept from the sinnefull and superstitious fylthynesse wherewith they were defiled and disfigured Do ye your partes good people to kepe your Churches comely and cleane suffer them not to be defyled with rayne and weather with dounge of doues and owles stares choughes and other filthinesse as it is soule and lamentable to beholde in many places of this countrey It is the house of prayer not the house of talking of walking of â—rawling of minstrelsie of hawkes of dogges Prouoke not the displeasure and plagues of God for despysing and abusing his holy house as the wicked Jewes did But haue God in your hart be obedient to his blessed wil bynde your selues euery man and woman to their power towarde the reparations and cleane keeping of your Church to the entent ye may be partakers of Gods manifolde blessings and that ye may be the better encouraged to resort to your parish churche there to learne your duties toward God and your neighbour there to be present and partakers of Christes holye sacramentes there to render thankes to your heauenly father for the manifolde benefites whiche he dayly powreth vppon you there to pray together and to call vppon Gods holye name whiche be blessed worlde without ende ⧠An Homilee of good workes And first of Fasting THE lyfe whiche we liue in this worlde good Christian people is of the free benefite of God lent vs yet not to vse it at our pleasure after our own fleshly wil but to trade ouer the same in those workes which are beseeming them that are become new creatures in christ These workes the Apostle calleth good workes saying We are Gods workemanship created in Christ Jesu to good workes which God hath ordained that we should walke in them And yet his meaning is not by these words to induce vs to haue any affiaunce or to put anye confidence in our workes as by the merite and deseruing of them to purchase to our selues and others remission of sinne so consequently euerlasting lyfe for that were mere blasphemie against Gods mercy and great derogation to the bloodshedding of our sauiour Jesus Christe For it is of the free grace mercy of God by the mediation of the blood of his sonne Jesus Christ without merite or deseruing on our part that our sinues are forgeuen vs that we are reconciled and brought agayne into his fauour and are made heyres of his heauenly kyngdome Grace sayth S. Augustine belongeth to God who doth call vs and then hath he good works whosoeuer receaued grace Good workes then bring not foorth grace but are brought foorth by grace The wheele sayeth he turneth rounde not to the ende that it maye be made rounde but because it is firste made rounde therefore it turneth round So no man doth good workes to receaue grace by his good workes but because he hath first receaued grace therefore consequentlye he doth good workes And in another place he sayth Good workes go not before in him whiche shall afterwarde be iustified but good workes do folow after when a man is first iustified Saynt Paule therefore teacheth that we must do good workes for dyuers respectes First to shewe our selues obedient children vnto our heauenly father who hath ordeyned them that we shoulde walke in them Secondly for that they are good declarations and testimonies of our iustification Thirdly that others seing our good workes may the rather by them be stirred vp and excited to glorifie our father which is in heauen Let vs not therefore be slacke to do good workes seyng it is the will of God that we should walke in them assuring
his holy worde hath left free to be taken and vsed of all men with thankes geuing in all places and at all times yet for that suche lawes of princes and other magistrates are not made to put holines in one kinde of meate drinke more then another to make one day more holye then another but are grounded merely vpon poliicie al subiectes are bound in conscience to kepe them by Gods commaundement who by the Apostle willeth all without exception to submit them selues vnto the aucthoritie of the higher powers And in this point concerning our dueties which be here dwelling in Englande enuironed with the sea as we be we haue great occasion in reason to take the commodities of the water which almightie God by his diuine prouidence hath layd so nye vnto vs whereby the encrease of victuals vppon the land may the better be spared cherished to the sooner reducing of victualles to a more moderate price to the better sustenaunce of the poore And doubtlesse he seemeth to be to daintie an English man which consydering the great commodities whiche may ensue wyll not forbeare some peece of his licentious appetite vpon the ordinaunce of his prince with the consent of the wyse of the Realme What good Englishe heart woulde not wishe the olde auncient glory should returne to the realme wherin it hath with great commendations excelled before our dayes in the furniture of the Nauie of the same What wyll more daunt the heartes of the aduersarie then to see vs as well fenced and armed on the sea as we be reported to be on the lande If the prince requested our obedience to forbeare one day from fleshe more then we do and to be contented with one meale in the same day shoulde not our owne commoditie thereby perswade vs to subiection But now that two meales be permitted on that day to be vsed whiche sometime our elders in very great numbers in the Realme dyd vse with one onlye spare meale and that in fishe onlye shall we thinke it so great a burthen that is prescribed Furthermore consyder the decay of the townes nye the seas whiche shoulde be most redy by the number of the people there to repulse the enemie and we whiche dwell further of vppon the lande hauing them as our buckler to defend vs should be the more in suretie If they be our neighbours why should we not wish them to prosper If they be our defence as nyest at hand to repell the enemie to kepe out the rage of the seas whiche els woulde breake vpon our faire pastures why should we not cherish them Neither do we vrge that in the ecclesiasticall pollicie prescribing a fourme of fasting to humble our selues in the sight of almightie God that that order whiche was vsed among the Jewes and practised by Christes Apostles after his ascention is of suche force and necessitie that that onlye ought to be vsed among Christians and none other for that were to binde Gods people vnto the yoke burthen of Moyses pollicie yea it were the verye way to bring vs whiche are set at libertie by the freedome of Christes Gospel into the bondage of the law againe which God forbid that any man shoulde attempt or purpose But to this ende it serueth to shewe howe farre the order of fasting nowe vsed in the Churche at this day differeth from that which then was vsed Gods Churche ought not neither may iâ— be so tied to that or any other order nowe made or hereafter to be made and deuised by thaucthoritie of man but that it may lawfully for iust causes alter chaunge or mitigate those ecclesiasticall decrees orders yea recede wholy from them breake them when they tende eyther to superstition or to impietie when they drawe the people from God rather then worke any edification in them This aucthoritie Christ him selfe vsed and left it vnto his Church He vsed it I say For the order or decree made by the elders for washing oft times which was diligently obserued of the Jewes yet tendyng to superstition our sauiour Christe altered and changed the same in his Church into a profitable sacrament the sacrament of our regeneration or newe birth This aucthoritie to mittigate lawes and decrees ecclesiasticall thapostles practised when they wryting from Hierusalem vnto the congregation that was at Antioche signified vnto them that they would not lay any further burthen vppon them but these necessaries That is that they shoulde abstayne from thinges offered vnto idols from blood from that whiche is strangled and from fornication notwithstandyng that Moyses law required many other obseruances This aucthoritie to chaunge the orders decrees and constitutions of the Churche was after the Apostles time vsed of the fathers about the maner of fasting as it appeareth in the Tripartite historie where it is thus written Touching fasting we finde that it was diuersly vsed in diuers places by diuers men For they at Rome fast three weekes together before Easter sauing vpon the Saterdayes and Sundayes whiche faste they call Lent. And after a fewe lines in the same place it foloweth They haue not all one vniforme order in fastyng For some do fast and abstayne both from fishe and fleshe Some when they fast eate nothyng but fishe Others there are which when they fast eate of all water foules as well as of fishe grounding themselues vpon Moyses that such foules haue their substaunce of the water as the fishes haue Some others when they fast wyll neither eate hearbes nor egges Some fasters there are that eate nothing but drye bread Others when they fast eate nothing at all no not so muche as drye bread Some fast from all maner of foode tyll nyght and then eate without makyng any choyse or difference of meates And a thousande such like diuers kindes of fasting may be founde in diuers places of the worlde of diuers men diuersly vsed And for all this great diuersitie in fasting yet charitie the very true bonde of Christian peace was not broken neyther dyd the diuersitie of fasting breake at anye time their agreement and concorde in fayth To abstaine sometime from certayne meates not because the meates are enill but because they are not necessarie This abstinence sayth Saint Augustine is not euill And to restraine the vse of meates when necessitie and time shall require this sayeth he doth properly parteyne to Christian men Thus ye haue hearde good people fyrst that Christian subiectes are bound euen in conscience to obey princes lawes whiche are not repugnaunt to the lawes of god Ye haue also hearde that Christes Churche is not so bounde to obserue any order lawe or decree made by man to prescribe a fourme in religion but that the Churche hath full power and aucthoritie from God to chaunge and aulter the same when nede shall require which hath ben shewed you by the example of our sauiour Christe by the practise of the apostles and of the fathers since that time Nowe
our selues that at the last daye euery man shall receaue of God for his labour done in true faith a greater rewarde then his workes haue deserued And because somewhat shall nowe be spoken of one particuler good woorke whose commendation is both in the lawe and in the Gospell thus muche is sayde in the beginning generally of all good workes First to remoue out of the way of the simple and vnlearned this daungerous stumbling blocke that anye man should go about to purchase or bye heauen with his workes Secondly to take away so nyghe as may be from enuious myndes and slaunderous tongues all iust occasion of slaunderous speaking as though good workes were reiected This good worke which now shall be entreated of is Fasting whiche is founde in the scriptures to be of two sortes The one outwarde parteyning to the body the other inward in the hart and mynde This outward fast is an abstinence from meate drinke and all naturall foode yea from al delicious pleasures delectations worldly When this outward fast parteyneth to one particuler man or to a few and not to the whole number of the people for causes whiche hereafter shal be declared then it is called a priuate fast But when the whole multitude of men women and children in a towneship of Citie yea though a whole countrey do faste it is called a publique fast Suche was that fast whiche the whole multitude of the children of Israel were commaunded to keepe the tenth daye of the seuenth moneth because almightie God appoynted that daye to be a clensing day a day of an atonement a tyme of reconciliation a day wherein the people were cleansed from their sinnes The order and maner how it was done is written in the xvi and. xxiii Chapter of Leuiticus That day the people did lament mourne weepe and bewayle their former sinnes And whosoeuer vpon that day did not humble his soule bewayling his sinnes as is sayd abstayning from all bodyly foode vntill the euening that soule sayeth almightie God should be destroyed from among his people We do not reade that Moyses ordayned by order of lawe any dayes of publique fast throughout the whole yere more then that one day The Jewes notwithstanding had more tymes of common fasting whiche the Prophete Zacharie reciteth to be the fast of the fourth the fast of the fifth the fast of the seuenth and the fast of the tenth moneth But for that it appeareth not in the leuiticall lawe when they were instituted it is to be iudged that those other times of fasting more then the fast of the seuenth moneth were ordeyned among the Jewes by the appoyntment of their gouernours rather of deuotion then by any open commaundement geuen from god Upon the ordinaunce of this general fast good men tooke occasion to appoynt to them selues priuate fastes at suche tymes as they did eyther earnestlye lament and bewayle their sinfull lyues or did addict them selues to more feruent prayer that it might please God to turne his wrath from them when eyther they were admonished and brought to the consideration therof by the preaching of the Prophetes or otherwise when they sawe present daunger to hange ouer their heades This sorowfulnes of heart ioyned with fasting they vttered sometyme by their outwade behauiour and gesture of body putting on sackcloth sprinckling them selues with ashes and dust and sitting or lying vppon the earth For when good men feele in them selues the heauy burden of sinne see dampnation to be the rewarde of it and beholde with the eye of their mynde the horrour of hell they tremble they quake and are inwardly touched with sorowfulnesse of heart for their offences and cannot but accuse them selues and open this their griefe vnto almyghtie God and call vnto him for mercye This being done seriously their mynde is so occupyed partly with sorrowe and heauinesse partly with an earnest desyre to be deliuered from this daunger of hell and damnation that all lust of meate and drinke is layde apart and lothsomnesse of all worldlye thinges and pleasures commeth in place so that nothing then liketh them more then to weepe to lament to mourne and both with wordes and behauiour of bodye to shewe them selues weary of this lyfe Thus did Dauid fast when he made intercession to almightie God for the chyldes lyfe begotten in adultrie of Bethsabe Vrias wyfe King Achab fasted after this sorte when it repented him of murdering of Naboth bewayling his owne sinfull doinges Suche was the Niniuites fast brought to repentaunce by Ionas preaching When fourtie thousande of the Israelites were slayne in battaile against the Beniamites the scripture sayeth All the children of Israel and the whole multitude of people went out to Bethel and sate there weeping before the Lord and fasted all that daye vntill nyght So did Daniel Hester Nehemias and many others in the olde testament fast But if anye man will saye it is true so they fasted in deede but we are not nowe vnder that yoke of the lawe we are set at libertie by the freedome of the Gospell therfore those rites and customes of the olde lawe bynde not vs except it can be shewed by the scriptures of the new Testament or by examples out of the same that fasting nowe vnder the Gospell is a restraint of meate drynke and all bodily foode and pleasures frō the body as before First that we ought to fast is a trueth more manifest then that it should here neede to be proued the scriptures whiche teache the same are euident The doubt therfore that is is whether when we fast we ought to withhold from our bodyes all meat and drinke duryng the time of our fast or no That we ought so to do may be well gathered vppon a question moued by the Pharisees to Christ and by his aunswere againe to the same Why say they do Johns Disciples fast often praye and we lykewyse but thy disciples eate and drinke and fast not at all In this smoothe question they coutch vp subtilly this argument or reason Who so fasteth not that man is not of god For fasting and prayer are workes bothe commended and commaunded of GOD in his scriptures and all good men from Moyses till this time as well the prophetes as others haue exercised them selues in these workes John also and his disciples at this daye do fast oft and pray muche and so do we the Pharisees in lyke maner But thy disciples fast not at all whiche if thou wilt denye we can easylye proue it For whosoeuer eateth and drinketh fasteth not Thy disciples eate and drinke therefore they fast not Of this we conclude say they necessaryly that neyther art thou nor yet the disciples of god Christe maketh aunswere saying Can ye make that the children of the weddyng shal fast while the brydegrome is with them The dayes shall come when the bridegrome shal be taken from them In those dayes shall they faste Our sauiour Christe like a good maister
defendeth the innocencie of his disciples agaynst the malice of the arrogant Pharisees and prooueth that his disciples are not gyltie of transgressyng any iot of Gods lawe although as then they tasted not and in his aunswere reproueth the Pharisees of superstition and ignoraunce Superstition because they put a religion in theyr doyngs and ascribed holynesse to the outward worke wrought not regardyng to what ende fastyng is ordayned Of ignoraunce for that they coulde not discerne betweene tyme and tyme They knewe not that there is a tyme of reioycyng and myrth and a tyme agayne of lamentation and mournyng whiche both he teacheth in his aunswere as shal be touched more largely hereafter when we shall shewe what tyme is moste fit to fast in But here beloued let vs note that our sauiour Christe in makyng his aunswere to theyr question denyed not but confessed that his disciples fasted not and therefore agreeth to the pharisees in this as vnto a manifest trueth that who so eateth and drynketh fasteth not Fastyng then euen by Christes assent is a with holdyng of meate drinke and all naturall foode from the body for the determined tyme of fastyng And that it was vsed in the primatiue Churche appeareth most euidently by the Chalcedon counsell one of the foure first generall counselles The fathers assembled there to the number of 630. consydering with them selues howe acceptable a thing fasting is to God when it is vsed accordyng to his worde Agayne hauing before theyr eyes also the great abuses of the same crept into the Churche at those dayes through the negligence of them whiche shoulde haue taught the people the right vse thereof and by vaine gloses deuised of men To refourme the sayde abuses and to restore this so good and godly a worke to the true vse therof decreed in that counsell that euery person aswell in his priuate as publique fast shoulde continue all the day without meate and drinke till after the Euenyng prayer And whosoeuer did eate or drinke before the Euening prayer was ended shoulde be accompted and reputed not to consyder the puritie of his fast This cannon teacheth so euidently howe fastyng was vsed in the primatiue Churche as by wordes it can not be more plainely expressed Fasting then by the decree of those sixe hundreth and thirtie fathers groundyng their determination in this matter vppon the sacred scriptures and long continued vsage or practise both of the prophetes and other godly persons before the comming of Christe and also of the apostles and other deuoute men in the newe Testament is a with holdyng of meate drinke and all naturall fodde from the body for the determined time of fastyng Thus muche is spoken hytherto to make playne vnto you what fastyng is Nowe hereafter shal be shewed the true and ryght vse of fastyng Good workes are not all of one sorte For some are of them selues and of their owne proper nature alwayes good as to loue God aboue all thinges to loue my neighbour as my selfe to honour father and mother to honour the higher powers to geue to euery man that which is his due and suche like Other workes there be whiche consydered in themselues without further respect are of their owne nature mere indifferent that is neither good nor euill but take their denomination of the vse or ende whereunto they serue Whiche workes hauing a good ende are called good workes and are so in deede but yet that commeth not of them selues but of the good ende wherevnto they are referred On the other side if the ende that they serue vnto be euill it can not then otherwyse be but that they must needes be euill also Of this sort of workes is fasting which of it selfe is a thing meerely indifferent But is made better or worse by the ende that it serueth vnto For when it respecteth a good ende it is a good worke but the ende beyng euill the worke it selfe is also euill To fast then with this perswasion of minde that our fasting and our good workes can make vs perfect and iust men and finally bring vs to heauen this is a deuelish perswasion and that fast so farre of from pleasing god that it refuseth his mercie and is altogether derogatorie to the merites of Christes death and his pretious blood shedding This doth the parable of the Pharisee and the Publicane teache Two men sayth Christe went vp together into the Temple to pray the one a Pharisee the other a Publicane The Pharisee stoode prayed thus within hym selfe I thanke thee O God that I am not as other men are extortioners vniust adulterers as this Publicane is I fast twise in the weeke I geue tithes of all that I possesse The Publicane stoode a farre of and woulde not lift vp his eyes to heauen but smote his brest and sayde God be mercifull to me a sinner In the person of this Pharisee our Sauiour Christ setteth out to the eye and to the iudgement of the worlde a perfect iust and righteous man suche one as is not spotted with those vices that men commonlye are infected with extortion briberie polling and pilling their neighbour robbers and spoylers of common weales craftie and subtile in chopping chaunging vsing false waightes and detestable periurie in their buying and selling fornicatours adulterers vicious liuers The Pharisee was no such man neyther faultie in any suche like notorious crime But where other transgressed by leauing thinges vndone whiche yet the lawe required this man dyd more then was requisite by lawe For he fasted twyse in the weeke and gaue tythes of all that he had What could the worlde then iustly blame in this man yea what outwarde thing more could be desired to be in him to make him a more perfect and a more iust man Truelye nothyng by mans iudgement And yet our Sauiour Christe preferreth the poore Puplicane without fasting before him with his fast The cause why he doth so is manifest For that Publicane hauing no good works at al to trust vnto yelded vp him selfe vnto God confessing his sinnes and hoped certainely to be saued by Gods free mercie only The Pharisee gloried trusted so much to his workes that he thought him selfe sure enough without mercie and that he should come to heauen by his fasting and other deedes To this ende serueth that parable For it is spoken to them that trusted in them selues that they were ryghteous and despised other Nowe because the Pharisee directed his worke to an euill ende seeking by them iustification whiche in deede is the proper worke of God without our merites his fasting twise in the weeke and all his other workes though they were neuer so many and seemed to the worlde neuer so good and holy yet in very deede before god they are altogether euil and abominable The marke also that the Hypocrites shoote at with their fast is to appeare holy in the eye of the worlde and so to winne commendation and prayse of men But our