story annexed to the Alchoran sayth Picturas seu sculpturas omniū Imaginū sic abhorrent detestantur vt Christianos qui in hijs tantū delectantur Idololatras cultores Demonum vocent in veritate esse credant Vnde dum essem in Chio ambasiatoribus Turcorum pro recipiēdo tributo illuc venientibus introductis in Ecclesiam nostram vellem persuadere de Imaginibus nequaque acquiescentes sed omnibus rationibus refutatis hoc solum affirmabant Vos idola colitis Which words may thus be turned into English They so abhorre and detest all painting grauing of any Images that they call and verily beleue the Christians that onely delyte in them to be Idolaters and worshippers of Diuels Wherefore when I was in Chio would haue persuaded the embassators of the Turkes which came thither to receiue tribute after I had brought them into our Church as touching Images they would not agrée but refuting all reason this onely they affirmed You vvorship Idols And surely Iewes and Turkes will neuer come to our religion while these stumbling blockes of Images remaine amongst vs and lye in their way Nowe that I haue proued as well by the wordes of Scripture as by the true sense and meaning of it so vnderstode of all the faythful that it is a piece of infidelitie to haue an Image in place of Gods seruice it might suffise to decise the controuersie that is in hand But an Image can not be made of Christ vnlesse it be a lying Image as the Scripture peculiarly calleth Images lies as I proued before For Christ is God and man And since of the Godhead which is the most excellent parte no Image can be made it is falsly called the Image of Christ they that doe apply any honor to it are mere Idolaters making Christ thereby inferior to the Father cleauing onely to his humanity wher as we are by Christs own words cōmaūded that al should so honor the sonne as they honor the father Io. 5. But agaynst this a crafty Papist may reply and say that by the same reason it is not lawful to paynt a man for he consisteth of soule and body and the soule which is the chief part of him no arte or cunning is able to expresse But I answere to this that the reason is nothing like For the soule may be seuered from the body as dayly by death we sée experience nor it is impietie to think vpon or beholde the shape of a man without a soule But the Diuinitie of Christ can not be separate from his humanitie neyther is it lawful to imagine an humanitie without a Diuinitie least we fall into the heresie of Nestorius as in the third Article where I shall haue occasion to speake of the Counsell assembled by commaundement of Constantine the fifth at more large is opened And where as Christ hath caried his flesh vppe into heauen with him no more to be knowen according to the fleshe we fleshly creatures do fall from his will and make a counterfet of a mortall fleshe where as his is glorified Furthermore vnknowen it is what was the forme and countenaunce of Christ So many places so many Images and euery one of them as they affirme the true and liuely Image of Christ and yet neuer a one of them like to an other wherefore as sone as an Image of Christ is made by and by a lye is made which is forbiddē by Gods worde Wherefore since our Religion ought to be grounded vpon truth Images which can not be without lies ought not to be made or put to any vse of Religion Thus haue I declared the vnlawfulnesse of Images in which respect they are intollerable Now a word for the folly of them which among vs is nothing sufferable Oratione contra Idol Athanasius appoynteth two wayes to come to the knowledge of God Animam Opera the Soule of man which by the word may beholde the word and so enter into the priuy chambre of the Almighty and if that suffise not the workes of God whereby the inuisible things of his eterne vertue Diuinitie may be séene of vs. Rom. 1. Then vs to seke any new wayes since these are ordayned euer since the beginning creation of the worlde is to much foolishnesse If we seke for comparisons will haue one thing set forth by an other why shuld we not rather follow Christs institution than be addicted to our own deuises Christ in the Scripture hath resembled himselfe to many of his creatures which dayly hourely are before our eyes And can we not be contented with them but make newe creatures of our owne heads to put vs in minde of our bounden dueties We sée the light shining sunne and sée we not the power of Christ in it We see the wayes dores to our houses and sée we not Christ the ready path to heauen We sée the hennes clocking of their chickens sée we not Christ continually calling vs We sèe pore shepherds féeding of their shéepe and sée we not Christ the true feder of our soules We sée our selues the liuely Images perfect coūterfets of Christ himself shal Christ be forgottē vnlesse we haue a crucifix There is nothing I promise you but madnesse in this meaning Ther is nothing that can so liuely expresse the affects as I may terme them qualities of Christ as those things which he thought good to serue our vnderstanding Shal we then refuse the more euident argument fal to the darker signification Shal we contemne Christ and his order set so much store by a blinde picture Nero I remember was sometime so wanton vt gladiatorum pugnas spectaret in Smaragdo He had an Emeraud in his ring that would giue to the eye the resemblances of things that were before it Wherfore when the masters of defēce came to play their prises he would beholde thē in his ring I wis he might haue discerned them better if he had loked on their own selues and not haue footed in a stone to sée thē But nothing can content the curious the flesh delighteth in hir own deuises Thus is it proued that Images do not according to Gregories mind teach but in al respects be vaine foolish if they did teach yet by the scripture and word of God such scholemasters are forbidden to vs. Now that they are honoured contrary to his minde experience of long time hath proued and the Popish doctrine hath confirmed For In Pontificali order is taken how they shal be hallowed First with exorcisme of water of salte then with hypocriticall blasphemous prayer afterward with sensing anoynting kyssing erecting and an hūdreth other most vile obseruances Priuyleges and pardons be graunted to them Candels and tapers be lighted afore them Much golde and Iewels are bestowed on them And leaste authoritie shoulde want to error in all their sayings in all their writings and in
God sinnes are remitted not by the force of water but power of the spirit therefore the Diuell would haue his consecration of water and of salt De Consecr Dist. 3. qua cuncti sanctificentur ac purificentur aspersi as it is written in the Popes decrées that whosoeuer are sprinkled therewith are by and by sanctified purified made cleane and holy go no further than to their Portesses and you shal sée how they approue it Aqua benedicta deleantur tua delicta Aqua benedicta sit tibi salus vita By the holy vvater so be thy offences put the fro Let the holy vvater be saluation and life to thee These words were in their daily seruice But O blasphemous mouthes to attribute that to their inuentions which is the work of God alone the price of the bloud of Christ our sauiour Yet wil they haue as their father had when he came forth with Scriptum est the Scripture for them applied I promise you to as good a purpose as when the Witch by hir Pater noster made hir payle goe a milking For why should I not compare the Priests that consecrate Crosses and ashes water and salte oyle and creame bowes and bones stockes and stones that christen bels that hang in the stéeple that coniure wormes that créepe in the fielde that giue S. Iohns gospels to hang about mens neckes to the vilest Witches and Sorcerers of the earth Eche Prince hath his people deliuereth his lawes to be obserued of them which if they kepe they shew they are his And God that his seruants might be knowen to the world by walking according to his wil ordayned some works wherin he would haue vs to exercise our selues As the feare the faith the loue to Godwarde the repentance of our euils the profession of the Gospel the furtherance of the same praier thankesgiuing praise of God pacience perseuerance iustice charity and such other like What doth the diuell now To seale his seruants into league with him he deuiseth ordinaunces to make theÌ„ to be knowen by As strange attire difference of meates refusal of mariage rising at midnight shutting vp in a cloyster erecting of Images worshipping of saincts seruice in latin gadding on Pilgrimage making of vowes most wilful beggery most vile hipocrisy Hereby the simple haue bene so deluded that they thought gods seruice to consist herein and so the diuel for God was honored Hereby the diuels children haue so magnified themselues that Gods law neglected their beastly fansies haue ben had in reuerence For prouse whereof go no further than to this Sole life is not by God coÌ„mauÌ„ded The diuel doth exact it in his ministers Genes 26. Exod. 20. 1. Cor. 6. Heb. 13 Adultry is by god condemned The diuell in his ministers makes a trifle of it That filthy vice which by the testimony of the Apostle Paule doth quite exclude vs from the kingdome of heauen they make but a game of or a sinne veniall If ye credit me not read the the decrée of Alexander the .iij. of the name Cap. At si Clerici paragra de Adult there he affirmeth that as for adultery such other faults which he accompteth by expresse word crimina leuiora trifling offences the bishop may dispeÌ„se with And yet some good fellowes wil say that we preach liberty We or the Papists Iudge ye Dist. 24. cap. Fraternitatis Pelagiê° the Pope as we read in a certain decretal of his when I speake of decrees decretals think that I speake of no other matter than that which the papists haue in as souerain a price as the bible giues a worthy ceÌ„sure in the like case A man that had ben maried wold nedes after the decease of his wife become a priest sued for his orders The Prelates fell of examining the matter whether he were Bigamus or no that is to say whether his wife was a maid when he maried hir or whether he himselfe had maried a second wyfe For if eyther of these had bene found in hym he had bene vnméete to enter into orders But found he was to be an adulterer who after his wiues death had a childe by an other woman Nowe what sayth the holy father In as much as he is not found to be Bigamus but yet proued incontinent vve hope vvel of him let him haue his orders As for his lechery vve beare vvith him in respect of the vveaknesse of this our age Sée the religion of Poperie If it had bene his hap to haue maried a wydowe or the second time to haue entred into the holy state of matrimonie this man shuld haue had no orders Nowe that he is become a whoremaster he hath them Here coÌ„mes in place the famous iudgemeÌ„t of him that makes the gloze not in mockery but in good earnest Ecce casus vbi plus valet Luxuria quam Castitas Beholde a case where Incontinence hath a more priuilege than Chastitie Thus I suppose ye sée how the Diuel doth aduaunce his workes and by the ministerie of the Papists set vp himselfe in place of God Nowe that his religion should in all points to the worldes eye be as perfect as Gods and the men should not want helpes ynowe to hel As God appointed the prayers vnto him to be made through Christ our mediatour So when the Diuell will be serued best he deputeth sainctes to be intercessors and euery one of them hath his charge lymitted One to deliuer vs from the feuer Quartane another to preserue vs from the daunger of the sea One to restore the goods that we haue lost another to defeÌ„de our foldes from the Fox One for the plague another for the purse One for our selues another for our swyne And is not this mere Gentilitie Yet is it right Poperie As they had Iuno for womeÌ„ in childbed so we the blessed virgin in hir place with vs. As they had Esculapius to saue them from diseases so had we S. Roke to supply that rome As they had Mars to help them in warfare so had we S. George to make vs win the fielde Finally least there should want any thing to please the wanton world As God of his mercy did make man after the image and likenesse of himselfe so the Diuel hath put in the minde of man to make Images after the likenesse of God and so to transferre his honor vnto creatures The blockish Images the dead crosses haue bene crept to bene worshipped The liuely Images of Christ himselfe haue bene brought to the crosse and burned cruelly May I not therefore wyth Clement the Apostles successor say Quis est iste honor dei per lapideas ligneas formas discurrere atque exanimes figuras venerari Recog li. 5. hominem in quo vera Dei Imago est spernere What honor of God is this to runne about the counterfets of tymber and of stone to worship the shapes that are without soule and despise maÌ„ in
might haue cursed himselfe for leauing behinde him so leude a President But by the way to prosecute a little the two poyntes of Gregories determination First that they teach not according to his wil then that they be worshipped contrary to his wil If any instruction might be taken of them and there were no peril annexed to them God that omitted nothing necessary for our saluation and comforte would not so earnestly in scripture haue forbidden them I referre you to the places themselues most manifest in that behalf to many to be rehearsed But I haue quoted the Boke the Chapter and the sentence that you may easily finde them and I exhort you to reading of them Exod. 20.4 Leuit. 19.4 Numer 23.23 Deut. 4. from the first sentence to the .48 Psal 115.4 and so forth Psal 135.15 Sap. 13.14.15 Esay 40.18 and forward Esay 42.8 Esay 44.9 Ezechiel 6. Baruch 6. Act. 7.48 Act. 15.28 Rom. 1. 1. Cor. 5.10 1. Cor. 10.14 2. Cor. 6.14 Gal. 5.20 1. Iohn 5.21 And although there be none that thinke the golde and syluer the stocke or the stone to be God himselfe yet is it great preiudice great derogation from the glory of God to séeke so great a God after so base a sorte Yet seking it is not but rather forsaking whatsoeuer pretext or good intent go with it Iud. 17. Michah when he had stolne the .xj. C. Sicles of syluer from his mother being somewhat religious otherwise and fearing the curse that she layd vpon the théefe confessed the fact and brought the goods home agayne His mother was glad and as the story witnesseth did dedicate straight the syluer for hir sonne not to any idoll but to God himself made an image of it Whē this was don Michah set it vp in his own house builded a chapel made an altare prepared furniture appointed seruice for it the Ephod the Teraphin the Albe the Vestement the Leuite of Bethlehem the Priest deputed for it And say not here that I thinke Ephod to be Latin for an Albe and Teraphin for a Vestement But I know that by the names of Ephod Teraphin all superstitious attire is signified Thus they pretended to serue God with an Image Thus theft gaue occasion of superstitions Thus Idols brought in Oratories chapels and altares sacrifices vestementes and suche lyke which al be vtterly condemned of the Lord. For it followeth in the historie In those dayes there vvas no King in Israell but euery man did that vvhich vvas good in his ovvne eyes But in the lawe we reade commaunded the directe contrary No man shal doe that Deut. 12. vvhich semeth good in his ovvn eyes Wherfore in the same chapter a certaine place is prescribed where Gods seruice should be And afterward to the same intent first the tabernacle the one onely altare then the temple it selfe was builded by Salomon Nor the temple was soner reared than a certaine due forme of Gods seruice was appoynted from which if the people any deale swarued it was holden fornication And the Prophetes cryed out Dereliquistis dominum seruijstis Dijs alienis Iere. 2.5.11.13 Ye haue forsaken the Lord and serued strange Gods This as Michah did for deuotion Ieroboam afterward did for policy For when the kingdome of Israell was pityfully diuided by the worke of God for Idolatry sake and that onely the tribe of Iuda with a fewe of the Beniamites cleaued to the house of Dauid the rest of the ten tribes followed this wicked tirant He fearing greatly least by the doctrine of the Leuits the kingdome might growe agayne into one body if the people according to their auncient order went vp to Hierusalem to serue God to the ende he might estraunge the people both from the temple and discipline of the lawe partly for feare partly for ambition instituted a newe religion different from that which they had receyued another than that which God appoynted Wherefore he made them two golden Calues 1. Regū 12. not to be Idols but to represent the true God vnto them and this in effecte he sayd Ye haue long taken paynes to trauayle to Hierusalem I pity your vvery iourneyes I haue cōpassiō of your great expenses I haue prouided therefore that ye may serue God neerer home that at your ovvn dores ye may haue the religion vvhich is as acceptable vnto God as that Wel did the wise worldling foresee that without religion no pollicy could stande and therefore he would haue a cloke of that to couer his shame withall He bringeth forth Images He doth not vse any new sacrifice or solemnities vnto them But as the Israelites in the wildernesse cryed to their one Calfe These are thy Gods O Israell Exod. 32. that brought thee out of the land of Egipt So doe they now cry out to their two Calues These are thy Gods O Israell that brought thee out of the land of Egipt But as they before were not so diuelishe and beastly to think that Aarons Calfe deliuered them frō Pharao his bondage for Aaron himself at that time sayde Festum domini cras est To morrowe is the feaste of the Lorde not the feaste of the Calfe or of the Oxe so nowe Ieroboam taught not the people beléeued not that those molten thinges were Gods in déede but attributed to the signe the name peculiar to the thing that was signified although they directed their words to the Images yet they erected their hearts vnto God Nothwithstanding Abiah the Prophet sayd thus to Ieroboā Thou hast done euill aboue all that vvere before thee 1. Regū 14. for thou hast gone and made thee other Gods and molten images to prouoke me and hast cast me behinde thy backe For Augustine sayth Quisquis talem cogitat deum qualis non est deus Quest sup Ios lib. 6. Cap. 29. alienum deum vtique falsum in cogitatione portat Whosoeuer ymagineth God to be suche a one as he is not carieth in hys thought a strange and a false God True godlinesse telleth vs that we ought not otherwise to déeme of him than in hys worde he hath set forth vnto vs. Socrates was wonte to say Vnumquemque Deum sic coli oportere August de Cō Euan li. 1. cap. 18. quomodo seipsum colendum esse praecepisset Euery God was so to be honored as he him selfe had giuen in commaundement Wherefore as Michah and Ieroboam grieuously offended so who soeuer brings into Gods seruice any thing of his owne deuise he sinneth deadly But Images Crosses and Crucifixes are mennes deuises whereby they flatter themselues in pleasing God they ought therefore to be abhorred Erasmus Erasmus sayth in Cathechesi Vt imagines in templu sint nulla praecipit vel humana constitutio He maketh an argument from the lesse to the more saying that not so much as mans constitution doth binde that Images should be in Churches therefore much lesse the lawe of God For God seing
further in coÌ„futatioÌ„ of his Church halowing It coÌ„futeth it self with shame inough to you Only I maruell Folio 38. a. that as the Angel as you say ingraued vvith his finger in the square stones the signe of the Crosse further froÌ„ God coÌ„maunded theÌ„ to make such a signe in their foreheades coÌ„maunded not aswel which had ben more to purpose to make the like signes in other stones in dedicatioÌ„ of other Churches I would wishe in the next print it might be put in that your popish Church halowing wherof I wyl speake anone myght séeme to haue som presideÌ„t for it But for S. Bartholomew I haue said inough And the same answer may suffise for S. Philip as hys exaÌ„ple is out of the said Abdias brought For as S. Hierom sayth Super. 23. Math. touching the name of Zachary of whoÌ„ meÌ„tioÌ„ is made Math. 23. that some would haue him to haue ben the .xj. of the Prophets But some other to haue ben the father of S. Ihon baptist hoc quia de scripturis noÌ„ habet authoritateÌ„ eadeÌ„ facilitate coÌ„teÌ„nitur qua probatur This bicause it hath not authority of the Scripture is as easily contemned as proued So may I say for the wordes which ye father vpon S. Philip Folio 39. In the place vvhere Mars semeth to staÌ„d fast set vp the Crosse of my Lord Iesus Christ and adore the same bicause it is coÌ„trary to the Scripture is but the report of a lying legend I may with good cause reiect the authoritie For neither was the chaÌ„ge alowable to destroy one Idoll to make an other as in the first article I proued nor to adore it was in any wyse tollerable as afterwarde more at large appeareth Wherfore your reason being as it is absurde and foolishe we be not driuen to any such shifte as ye talke of to say that fayth should be fixt in a wall Wée know no such melodie to moue as you say harde stones or make brasen pillers to vnderstande though your magicall minstrelsie hath bene such that rotten stockes haue spoke at your pleasure spoken good reason as you haue estemed it Remember ye not the Roode of Winchester that cunningly decised a controuersie betwéene the Monkes and maryed priestes pronouncing in latine for he was better taught then hys masters the Monkes Non bene sentiunt qui fauent presbyteris They thinke not well that fauour the priestes Who was that Orpheus that wrought that vnderstanding there Dunstane or the Diuell or both It hath bene alwayes a Popishe practise to make Roodes Images to rolle their eyes to sweate and to speake wherof infinite examples might be brought But that of men professing the Gospell of protestants as ye call them there hath bene any such delusion is not in any writing of any age to be founde Wherfore ye doe vs wrong in burdening vs with such vntruthes vnlesse by remembrance of your owne follyes ye will force vs as it were to open and disclose your shame But let mee come to your counsels The first ye fetch from the recorde of Iuo Gratian alleaging a Synode kept at Orleance in Fraunce Ye doe right well to cite your authors otherwise I might haue suspected the authoritie For in all the Canons of the councell it selfe we reade not the words that make for your purpose But you do wysely not to passe the compasse of your owne profession and therfore say no more than the popishe decrées do teache you But if a man may be so bolde in your owne faculty to appose you how doe the woords of this your counsell proue that euery Church must haue the signe of the Crosse Folio 40. Forsoth say you bycause it is decreed that no man builde a Church before the Byshop of that diocesse come and set vp a Crosse By the same reason the ring of the church dore is a piece of Gods seruice too For as the fixing of a Crosse the pitching of a stake as it were in the grounde doth shewe that the Byshop hath limitted out the compasse of the Church so the other is a proufe of Induction of the Priest Yet as thys signe of possession taken is no parte of duety within the Church discharged so the other signe of authoritie to builde giuen is no parte of seruice within the building to be done And this is the poynte which in this article ye go about to proue that euery Church and Chappel must haue a Crosse erected in it to the honor and seruice of almighty God But this Crosse serueth an other turne to a ciuill pollicy no poynt of religion For least that men should presume to builde Churches without authoritie ecclesiasticall it was decréed that the byshop of the diocesse should viewe the place appoynte where the body of the Church should be leaue his mark behinde him Which marke might as wel haue bene his crosier as his Crosse but that the one was lesse chargeable than the other If ye credite not me turne ouer your Decree There shall ye finde that ordre is taken for thinges necessary before the Church be builded But we doe inquire what is necessary seruice in a Church hallowed Wherefore I sée not how that Councell prouinciall triginta trium Episcoporum of thrée and thyrty byshops as the boke doth tell vs can make any thing for you But if there were most playne determination for the Crosse in that or any other such like Councell I am no more bound to the authority therof than you will be to the English Synodes held in king Edwardes dayes and in the Quéenes Maiesties raygne that nowe is Yet the duety of a subiect if ye were honest might driue you to this wheras there is no cause that might enforce my consent to the other Nowe for your second at Tovvres whose Canon is this Vt corpus dnÌ„i in altari non in armario sed sub Crucis titulo coÌ„ponatur Which you do english after this sort Foli 40. b. That the body of our lord consecrated vpon the altar be not reposed set in the reuestry but vnder the Roode Where we may learne two schole poynts of you Fyrst that armariuÌ„ is latine for a Reuestry Then that titulus Crucis is latine for a Roode But if your schollers haue bene taught heretofore to translate no better a rod a rod had bene more méete for the vsher For armariuÌ„ may wel be taken for a librarie for a closet or almerie but no more for the reuestry than for the belfry Yet wil I not greatly in that word coÌ„tend with you Be it that their folish meaning was for a reuestry yet doubtlesse they were not so mad as to put titulê° Crucis for a Roode Titulus crucis is the title of the crosse And I maruel that you wold not rather expound it for a Pixe than a Roode being driuen by this to cary gods body sacred from the altar into the Roode loft We haue not heard
God and neuer taught the seruice of an Image Psal 111. Dauid sayth not He that feareth God worshippeth Images but he that feareth God greatly delighteth in his cōmaundementes So that the feare of God consisteth not in worshipping of Images but in obseruaunce of the lawe of God And if none feare God but the same worship Images what is become of the Saincts afore time which neuer had them The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 3 cap. 15. Imago Imperatoris est adoranda Ergo etiam Christi et sanctorū The Image of the Emperour is to be worshipped Therefore the Image of Christ and his sainctes The Aunsvvere Iconomachi By that which is of it selfe vnlawfull they go about to confirme a thing more vnlawful For it is not to be proued that the Image of mā is to be worshipped yet if that were graunted great oddes there is in the comparison The Emperour is locall and being in one place can not be in another But God is euery where And to comprise him within the compasse of a stone wall or a little table which is all in all and whole euery where whome the earth contayneth not nor heauens comprehende is too prophane a case cousyn to infidelitie The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 4. cap. 1. Qui adorat Imaginem dicit hoc est Christus non peccat Ergo Imagines adorandae He that worshippeth an Image sayth This is Christ sinneth not Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere Iconomachi He that maketh a lie sinneth But he that affirmeth so vile a thing as an Image is to be Christ himselfe maketh an impudent lye Therefore he that so sayeth sinneth The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Li. 2. cap. 29. Cap. 28. Cap. 30. Imagines sacris vasis Cruci dominicae libris Scripture diuine aequiparantur Ergo adorandae Images are comparable with the holy vessels with the Crosse of Christ bokes of holy Scripture therefore to be worshipped The Aunsvvere Iconomachi A sorte of leude comparisons For as for holy vessels they were commaunded So are not Images And yet not the vessels commaunded to be worshipped Therefore to gather a worshipping of Images by them is folly Then also the Crosse hath wrought miraculous and mercifull effectes to our saluation So can Images do none And yet by the way they playnly declare per Crucem Car. Mag. Li. 2. cap. 28. non lignum illud significari sed totum opus Christi afflictiones piorum that by the Crosse there is not signified the piece of wood but the whole worke of Christ and afflictions of the Godly The Scripture also by the inspiration of the holy ghost was deliuered to men and bringeth a most certayne commoditie with it Images as they sprong from error of Gentilitie so haue they no profite but peruerting in them The Reason Iacob erexit lapidem in titulum Ergo Imagines adorandae Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Li. 1. cap. 10. Gen. 31. Iacob toke a stone and set it vp as a piller Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere Although this be a lubberly reason Iconomachi to vse the terme of Charles the great who playnly called it Rem non mediocris socordiae yet somewhat will I say according to mine author to shew the difference betwene Iacobs fact their affection One thing it is the holy Patriarkes by some notable mark to foreshew things that were to come And another to haue an idle workman to make an image in remēbrance of things past One thing it is to be inspired wyth the holy Ghost and a farre other to haue the arte of caruing or grauing One thing it is to trust to Gods working and another to put an occupation in practise One thing it is that Iacob set vp a piller another that a workeman shall set vp an Image The Reason Iesus ad Abgarum Imaginem suam misit Ergo Iconolatrae Car Mag. Li. 4. cap. 10. Imagines adorandae Iesus sent his Image vnto Abgar Therfore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere It is no gospell that Iesus sent his picture vnto Abgar Iconomachi And Gelasius himselfe sometime Pope of Rome numbreth both the Epistle that Christ is sayd to haue sente vnto him and also the reporte of the picture inter Apocripha among the writings not receiued to be red publikely in the church nor seruing to proue any poynt of religion Wherefore the reason is insufficient The Reason Iconolatrae Car Mag. Lib 3. Ca. 25. Images did miracles and are comparable to the hem of Christes garment by the touching whereof the woman was healed of hir issue of bloud Therefore to be worshipped The Aunsvvere Iconomachi That Images did any miracles is a very lye Yet if miracles they had done it is not ynough to proue them to be worshipped The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 3. ca. 21. Cap. 26. et li. 4. ca. 12. That they did miracles is proued by examples The Image of Polemon preserued one from the act of Adultery The dreame of an Archdeacon whome an Angel in his slepe commaunded to worship an Image A Monke lighted a candell before the Image of our Lady and .v. or .vj. monethes after he found it burning The Aunsvvere Iconomachi For the first there is no reason to induce vs that the tale is true yet if it were true there is no lesse difference betwene the miracles of Christe and miracles of Polemon than is betwene the person of Christ person of Polemon For the seconde It is an vnwise and vnwonted thing to confirm by a dreame a doubtful case Whether he dreamed it or deuised it there is no proufe at all no witnesses of the matter And yet if he so dreamed in dede our doubt by good reason may be no lesse But it is wel inough a dronken deuise to be confirmed with a drowsy dreame As for the third The circumstance of the fact it self the person the place the time considered we may iustly derogate all credite from it For neyther we are assured of the honesty of him that tolde the tale nor it is reported where or when or after what sort it was done Wherfore it soūds so like a lye that a true man ought not to beleue it Yet if it were a moste certayne truth that a candell burned .v. or .vj. monethes together we ought not to ground thereof an adoration of a thing vnreasonable Balaams Asse Num. 22. opened his mouth to reproue his master preserued the children of God from cursing Shal then the tong of the Asse or his tayle be honored Thus haue ye heard howe the Nice Councell confirmed as they could by Scripture and by miracles not onely the hauing but worshipping of Images Ye haue hearde in it howe the learned fathers assembled at Franckforde aunswered their ydle and impudent allegations But leaste I should séeme to suppresse any thing that in apparaunce maketh for our
Idolatry as Augustyne playnly reporteth Yet were they nothing the lesse Idolatrers For thys he sayth of them In psa 113. Videntur autem sibi purgatioris esse religionis qui dicunt nec Simulachrum nec daemonium colo sed per effigieÌ„ corporalem eius rei signum intueor quam coiere debro They séeme to be of more pure religion which say I neyther worship the Image nor the power thereof but by the corporall lykenesse I beholde the signe of the thyng which I ought to worship Yet notwithstanding bicause they called their Idols by the names of Vulcanus and Venus as we our Images by the name of Christ and of our Lady bicause they dyd some outwarde reuerence to their Idols as we vnto our Images both for them and vs as Augustyne sayth Apostoli vna sententia poenam damnationemque testatur One sentence of the Apostle witnesseth our punishmente and condemnation And what sentence is that Qui transmutauerunt veritatem Dei in mendatium colürunt seruierunt creaturae potius quam creatori qui est benedictus Deus in secula Which turned the trueth of God into a lye and worshipped and serued the creature forsakyng the creator which is the blessed God for euermore But how is the truth turned to a lye and the creature rather serued than the creator It foloweth in the place alleaged Effigus à fabro factas appellando nominibus earum rerum quas fabricauit deus transmutaÌ„t veritatem Dei in meÌ„datium res autem ipsas pro dijs habeÌ„do venerando seruiunt creaturae potius quam creatori By calling the pictures made of the workeman by the name of those thinges which God hath made they change the truth of God into a lye And when they repute and worship the thynges themselues as Gods they serue the creature rather than the creator Wherefore Augustine noted very well that Paul priore parte sententiae simulachra daÌ„nauit posteriori autem interpretationes simulachrorum in the firste parte of hys sentence condemned Images and in the latter the interpretation and meaning of them So that if your cause be all one with the Gentiles and excuse one and yet both of them condemned by the Scripture and conuinced by authoritie It foloweth that no Roode nor Crucifixe in the Church oughte to be suffered for it is Idolatrye Of the same metall that the Crosse is made we haue the candlestickes we haue the censors yet they which most do thinke that God is serued with candlestickes censors attribute not that honor vnto them that they do to the Crosse What is the cause S. Augustine declareth Illa causa est maxima impietatis insanae quod plus valet in affectibus miseroruÌ„ similis viueÌ„ti forma quae sibi efficit supplicari quam quod eam manifestuÌ„ est noÌ„ esse uiuentem vt debeat à viuente contemni Plus enim valent simulachra ad curuaÌ„daÌ„ in foeliceÌ„ animaÌ„ quod os habeÌ„t oculos habent aures habent nares habeÌ„t manus habeÌ„t pedes habent quam ad corrigendaÌ„ quod non loquentur nón videhunt non audient noÌ„ odorabaÌ„t noÌ„ coÌ„trectabuut non ambulabunt Thys is the greatest cause sayeth he of thys mad impietie that the lyuely shape preuayleth more wyth the affections of miserable men to cause reuerence to be done vnto it than the playne sight that it is not liuing is able to worke that it be contemned of the lyuyng For Images are more of force to crooke an vnhappy soule in that they haue mouthes eyes eares nosthrels handes and feete Then otherwyse to strayghten and amende it in that they shall not speake they shall not sée they shall not heare they shall not smell they shall not handell they shall not walke And so farre Augustine Which wordes myght vtterly dehorte vs from Imagery and dryue both the Roode and the Crosse out of the Church Psa 134. if we were not such as the Prophete speaketh of become in most respect lyke them For with open and feling eyes but with closed and dead myndes we worship neither séeing nor liuing Images More could I cite aswel out of hym as out of the rest before alleaged for confirmation of thys trueth of myne I could sende you to the .4 boke of Aug. de ciuit Dei ca. 31. Where he commendeth the opinion of Varro that affirmed God myght be better serued wythout an Image than wyth one I coulde alleage hys boke de haeres ad Quod yult deuÌ„ Where he meÌ„tioneth one Marcellina whose heresy he accompteth to be thys that she honored the pictures of Christ and other I could referre you to hys boke de Con. Euan. Li. 1. Ca. 10. where he sayeth Omnino errare merueruÌ„t qui ChristuÌ„ noÌ„ in saÌ„ctis codicibus sed in pictis parietibus quaesicruÌ„t They haue béen worthy to be deceiued that haue sought Christ not in holy bokes but in paiÌ„ted walles These I say with diuerse other I could bring forth but that I thinke that thys suffiseth to proue that the fathers wer not so foÌ„dly in thys case affected as you would haue it appeare to other Folio 4 4. Concerning Paulinus I wyll not greatly contende wyth you but that in his dayes which was .448 yeare after Christ there was in some Churches the signe of the Crosse erected Epi. 3. ad Aprium But as I sayd before it suffiseth not to say Thys vvas once so But proued it must be that Thys was wel so Paulinê° coÌ„mendeth the woman that separated her selfe froÌ„ her own husbande without consent vnder cloke of religioÌ„ And hath the word of God the lesse force therefore which sayth Whom God hath coupled together Mat. 19. Ad Cithe rium let no maÌ„ put a suÌ„der Paulinus affirmeth that the boke of the Epistles which the Apostles wrote layd vnto diseases headeth them and shall we thynke that in vayne it is that the Lord hath created medicines of the earth Eccle. 38. He that is wyse wil not abhorre theÌ„ He that wyll folow whatsoeuer hath bene is a very foole I know that IustiniaÌ„ taketh order which is yet but politique that no man build a Church or monastery but as reasoÌ„ is by consent of the bishop and that the byshop shall set hys marke which by hys pleasure shoulde be a Crosse But what is thys say I to the Roode or Crucifix in places consecrate where God is serued The same answer that I made before to the Synod which was kept at Orleance may serue to thys Emperoures constitutioÌ„ although it be not preiudiciall to truthe if he that lyued by your wise computatioÌ„ a thousand yeare after Christ in dede fyue hundreth thirtie at the least in tyme of great ignoraunce and barbaritie In catalogo post prefationeÌ„ Folio 45. should enact a thyng contrary to a truthe Yet to say the truth I sée no cause why I should not admyt his graue authorite since he neyther speaketh of
collum suspendis si in intellectu ergo melius in corde posita prosunt quam circa collum suspensa Tell me thou foolish priest is not the gospell dayly read and heard of men in the Church Therfore who hath no profit by hearing of the gospel how can it saue him by hanging it about hys necke Furthermore wherin consisteth the vertue of the gospel in the proportiō of the letters or vnderstanding of the sense If in the letters wel doest thou hang them about thy neck but if in the vnderstanding thē would it profit more reposed in thy heart thā hāged about thy necke Thus much Chrisostom And least peraduenture ye should thinke that thys only superstition were reproued of hym he procedeth further and toucheth matter that doth more néerely concerne our case Alij qui sāctiores se ostēdere volunt hominibus partē fimbriae aut capillorū suorum alligant suspendunt O impietas maiorem sāctitatē in suis vestimentis volunt ostendere quam in corpore Christi vt qui corpus eius māducans sanatus non fuerit fimbriae eius sanctitate saluetur vt desperās de misericordia Dei cōfidat in veste hominis In english Some other which wil shew themselues holyer vnto mē do binde together hang vp a piece of the hem of Christes garment or hys heare O wyckednesse they wil shew more holinesse in the garments thā in the body of Christ that he which is not healed by eating of hys body shal be saued by the holinesse of hys garmente hem that he that dispaireth of the mercy of God shall put hys confidence in the garment of a man And thinke ye not that the coate of Christ which touched hys blessed body that the heare of Christ which grew vpon hys holy head is of as great vertue as a piece of the Crosse wherevpon he dyed Then if Chrisostome coumpted it impiety to haue such estimation of the coate or heare of our sauioure Christ shall we thynke that a piece of wood was in such price with him Would he inclose the Crosse in gold or coūsel other to do the same which held it wickednesse so to esteme a percel of his body Christ hath left vs hys body in dede for a memory of him for a cōfort of vs to be receiued and shal we seke for external meanes which neither haue part of promise nor be deuoyde of perill We reade in the gospel that after Christ was crucified Ioseph required the body and interred it the Maries were beholders of hys passiō and burial Mat. 27. Luk. 23. there was no sparing of cost for oyntmēt yet none of thē al cared for the crosse If it had bene such a iewell as you do make it they would haue brought it stolne it or spoken at the least wise of it Many other thynges of lesse importance than thys is by your supposall be mentioned in the Scripture as necessary or expedient Only more than that Symon of Cyrene caried it we reade nothing of the Crosse that he dyed on I remēber that it is a great argumēt of yours How God wyl not suffer hys Church to erre I remember ye alleaged in the Article before Foli 87 b. quod in hanc Apostoli plenissimè cōtulerūt omnia quae sūt veritatis That the Apostles most plentifully cōferred on the Church all thinges appertayning vnto the truthe as Ireneus doth truly say Lib. 3 ca 4. contr Her How chaunceth it then that thys truth of the Crosse for foure hūdreth yeares together was hydden from them From the death of Christ tyl the tyme of Helena no man or woman euer talked of it When she came she founde it .ij. hundreth yeares after it was vtterly consumed I thynke that such idle chaplenes such morowmasse priestes as you so slenderly furnished out of the store-house of fayth to fede the people would be glad to deale more of your popish plenty if thys at the first were gently accepted We should haue extolled S. Leonardes bolle S. Cornelis horne S. Georges colt S. Anthones pigge S. Fraunces cowle S. Persons bretche with a thousande reliques of superstition as well as thys For miracles haue bene done by these or els you lye nor authorite of mē doth wante to these Longolius a learned man and Charles the v. a noble Emperoure requested to be buryed in a friers cowle and so they were Therfore the friers coule must be honored Ye remember what the hoste in Chawcer sayd to-sir Thopas for hys leude ryme the same do I say to you bicause I haue to do with your Cantorbury tales for youre fayre reasons One thyng remaineth which I do you wrōg if I omit the singuler vertue that is not only in euery portion of the holy Crosse but also in euery signe thereof inasmuch as it onely driueth avvay all subtiltie and craftes of euill spirites destroyeth vvitchcraft Folio 92. 93. doth as much as the presence of Christ in earth pocedeth vvith like efficacie as the fyrst sampler Strange effectes I promise you But fyrst I maruel why you are offēded with vs for preaching onely fayth iustifyeth synce you do teach vs that the onely signe of the Crosse can do as much as it If onely woode if onely making an ouerthwart signe disappoynt the might of aduersarie powers he is but a foole that wil be troubled with sprites he is but a beast that will feare the Diuell Signo crucis tantū vtens homo omnes horū fallacias pellit Man vsing onely the signe of the Crosse putteth away all their subtiltie and craft If a piece of wood that wormes do bréed in that neuer God nor good man commended otherwise than wood haue such spirituall vvater flovving thereinto vvhich is knovven to be saluation of faythfull soules Folio 93. shal we be condemned for attributing the like effect to spirituall and liuely fayth which the word of God so ofte so earnestly with such promis of grace such assurance of safetie cōmendeth to vs If the signe of a Crosse drawen with a finger do the same that the presēce of Christ did in earth as is by you alleaged O men vnmercifull that suffer so many halte so many lame so many blinde so many sore to liue in misery and missecary with vs. Christ cured the like he by his presence brought health and comforte to all diseased why do not you my Crosse masters the like If these allegations be true as confidentely they be printed of you why ceasse your miracles Confirm vs in your folish faith When we sée the effectes we shall consider of the cause Thus haue I shewed you that in cases of religion as this is one no mens authority shuld prescribe vnto vs no time no custome preiudice a truth Examples be daungerous to be follo wed both bycause they be sometime but personall and are not alwayes of Gods good guiding spirite which if it be true in them of whose fayth and holynesse we haue in the
rationabiles colunt Audite tamen quomodo illi vos irrideant aiunt enim Nos viuentia colimus animalia licet moritura vos vero quae nunquam omnino vixere haec colitis adoratis Ye laugh at others shame bycause by long custome ye sée not your owne For wyth good cause ye may scorne the folly of the Egyptians which being reasonable creatures themselues worshippe dumbe beasts But heare how they do mocke you too for they say The vvorship of a Crosse vvorse than the Egiptians Idols We worship liuing creatures although die they shal But you doe worship and adore those things which neuer liued yet And thinke you not that he well describeth and condemneth your errour of the worshippe to be giuen to the Crosse Is it not a deade thing and therefore to be worshipped a great deale more Idolatrous than the beastes of Egypt They of an external worshippe iudged an vnlawfull acte and Peter doth approue them in it you wyll offende as haynously as that and yet wil not be iudged vnlawfully to doe Agayne he playnely proueth in the same place what spirit you haue when you speake for the crosse For his words be these Per alios item serpens ille proferrre verba huiusremodi solet Nos ad honorem inuisibilis Dei imagines visibiles adoramus Quod certissimè falsum est A diuelish excuse to say that to the honour of Christ they vvorship hys Crosse Si enim vere velitis Dei Imaginem colere homini benefacientes veram in eo Dei Imaginem coleretis The diuel sayth he by the mouth of other is wont to bring forth such words We to the worship of the inuisible God worshippe the visible Images And this is most certaynely false For if ye wil truly worship Gods Image ye should by being beneficiall vnto man worship the true Image of God in him Thus farre Clement where I besech you marke that he doth affirme it to procéede of suggestion of the Diuell that men for Gods honour wil worship Images Also that he sheweth howe and what Images may in déede be worshipped men the true Images of God helped Thus much Pope Clement Nowe another Clement of Alexandria Clemens Alexandr oratione ad gentes which was about .215 yeare after Christ for confutation of your beastly errour bringeth the assertion of Heraclitus the Ephesian An non prodigiosi sunt qui lapides adorant Be they not monstrous that worshippe stones And what your Crosse is better I sée not As it standeth it corrupteth When ye honour it ye most dysgrace it Sense it and ye sindge it or take the beauty from it Doubtlesse such Images beside the vse which is abhominable in their creation are worse than any liuing creature And therefore I may doubt with Clement Clement thinketh thē mad that vvorshippe a Crosse Quomodo quae sunt insensilia diuino sint honore affecta errantium vt pote miserorum misereri amentiae Howe it commeth to passe that things deuoyde of sense haue diuine honour and worshyp giuen them and worthily pity the madnesse of those miserable wretches so deceyued as they are For other creatures be they small be they great whatsoeuer they be haue eyther all senses or else some or if sense be denyed them yet life is graunted them they increase they grow But Images Crosses Crucifixes are altogither ydle voyde of good effect vtterly vnprofitable They be cast they be molten they be cut they be graued they be embossed they be burnished and last of all with nayles they be fastened that with knées they may be honoured Adorant autem hij non Deos Daemones mea quidem sententia sed terram artē quod quidem est Imagines But these folke do worship in my opinion sayth olde Clement not Gods nor Diuels but earth and workmanship which is the Images Wherfore he proueth that such haue fetched their religiō from proud Persians beastely Barbariens superstitious sorcerers Ignorantes Deum haec autem egena Infirma vt ait Apostolus que ad vsum hominum ministeriumque facta sunt elementa adorantes Where as they knowe not God but worshippe these beggerly and weake elementes as the Apostle calleth them which are made to the vse and seruise of men And further he proueth out of Goddes worde Exod. 20. that to make a Crosse is a kinde of crafte Nobis enim est aperte vetitum artē fallacem exercere Non facies enim inquit Propheta cuiusuis rei similitudinem c. For it is playnely forbydden vs to practise this deceytefull occupation in as much as the Prophete sayth Thou shalte not make the lykenesse of any thing Here you perceyue what this good father thought that it was a monstrous matter a madde parte worse than seruise of the Diuell to worshippe stockes or stones or any such thing as a Crosse is Ireneus Ireneus aduersus Her Li. 1. Ca. 24. reproueth the heresie of the Gnostici Qui Imagines quasdam depictas quasdam autem de reliqua materia fabricatas habent dicentes formam Christi factam à Pilato in illo tempore quo fuit Iesus cum hominibus Which had certayne Images some paynted some made of other matter saying that the forme and picture of Christ was made by Pilate at what time Iesus was conuersaunt wyth men Thus he that came néere vnto the Apostles tyme reputed it an heresie to haue to make to carry about wyth them the counterfet of Christ What would he haue done if they had honoured it Damned them to the Diuell Tertullian Tertull. aduers Mar. Lib. 2. not long after wryting agaynst Martion sheweth that the onely cause of forbydding Images and lykenesses of things was the Adoration worship of them Similitudinem vetans fieri omnium quae in coelo in terra in aquis ostendit causas Idololatriae scilicet quae substantiam cohibent Subijcit enim non adorabitis ea neque seruietis illis God forbidding the likenesse of any thing in Heauen in earth or in the water to be made shewed also the causes To vvorship the Crosse Idolatrie which do restrayne the substance And those causes are Idolatry for he inferreth after You shall not worship thē nor serue them Wherefore as he truly sayth to adore worship the likenesse of any thing as a Crosse is some thing is mere Idolatry agaynst which offence the holy Martyr Cyprian inueighing sée howe he describeth it Cyprian ad Demetrium Quid ante inepta simulachra figmenta terrena captiuum corpus incuruas Rectum te Deus fecit cum caetera animalia prona ad terram situ vergente depress a sint tibi sublimis status et ad coelū atque ad Deum tuum vultus erectus est Illuc intuere illuc oculos tuos erige in supernis Deum quaere vt carere Inferis possis ad alta coelestia suspensum pectus attolle Quid te in