left Vnto which he addeth these words Remembre deare children that ye bring no Images into the Church neyther place them in the sléeping places of the sainctes but sée that continually ye earye aboute in your heart the Lorde Neyther yet let them be suffered in a common house For it is not lawefull for a Christian to be holden in suspense by his eyes but by the contemplation of his minde The same father also in many other of hys sermons hath declared many things touching the ouerthrow of Images which the studious séeking for shall easely finde Likewyse also Gregorie the diuine saith in his verses It is a thing most abhominable to beleue in colours and not in heart For that which is in colours is easyly washed away but suche thinges as are in the depth of the minde those lyke I well Iohn Chrisostome also teacheth thus we through writing enioye the presence of the Sainctes although that we haue not the Images of their bodyes but of their soules for those things which are spoken by them are Images of theire soules Basilius also the great saith that the chiefest thing seruing to the outfinding of truthe is the meditation of the Scriptures giuen vnto vs by diuine inspiration For in these not onely arguments of things are founde but also the written liues of holy men are printed vnto vs as certaine liuely Images and that through the polityke imitation of their workes according to God Also Athanasius the light of Alexandria sayde howe are they not to be lamented which worship creatures that those that sée yeld seruice to those which are blind those that heare do pray and besech those which are altogether deafe For the creature shall neuer be saued of a creature Lykewise Amphilochius byshop of Iconium thus sayth We accompt it a matter of no estimation to counterfet in tables wyth colours the bodyly countenaunces of the Sainctes bycause that of these we haue no nede But we ought rather to be mindefull of the pollicy of their vertues Agreable also herevnto doth Theodorê° bishop of Ancyra teach in these wordes We iudge it nothing séemely at all to make the formes and shapes of holy men wyth materiall coloures but it is requisit that we often repayre make fresh their vertues which by writings are deliuered vnto vs euen as though it were certayne lyuely Images For by these we may come to the zelous following of the like Let those tell vs which set vp the same Images what profyte they haue by them whether they haue any kinde of remembrance by such special kinde of beholding them But it is most apparaÌ„t that euery such thought is vayne and an inuention of diuelish deceyt Likewise also Eusebius Pamphili signified after this sort to Constantia the Empresse crauing of him to sende the Image of Christ vnto hir For as much as ye haue wrytten to me of the Image of Christ that I should send it vnto you I would you shoulde shewe me what thing you thinke the Image of Christ to be whether that same true and vnchaungeable creature bearing the markes of the deitie or that which he assumpted for oure sakes taking on him the shape of a seruaunte But as touching the picture of the deitie I iudge ye be not very carefull in asmuch as ye haue bene taught of him that none hath knowen the Father but the Sonne and that none hath worthyly knowen the Sonne but the Father which begatte him And after other thinges but ye altogether desire the Image of the seruauntes shape and of the flesh which he toke on him for our sake but we haue learned that this is coupled with the glory of the Godheade and that the same suffred dyed And a little after Who can therfore counterfet by dead insensible colours by vayne shadowing Paynters arte the bright shining glistering of such hys glory whereas his holy disciples were not able to beholde the same in the mountayne Who therefore falling on their faces acknowledged they were not able to beholde such a syght If therefore the shape of fleshe receyued suche power of the Godhead dwelling within the same what shall we then say when as it hath now putte of mortalitie washing away corruption and hath chaunged the shape of a seruaunt into the glory of the Lorde and God What shall we say now after hys victorie ouer death after his ascending into heauen after his sytting in the kingly throne on the right hande of his Father after reste in the not vtterable secretes of the Father into the which he ascending and sytting the heauenly powers those blessed ones wyth voyces together do crye Ye Princes lyft vp your gates ye heauenly gates be ye opened and the King of glorie shall enter in These fewe testimonies therefore of Scriptures and Fathers out of many we haue placed here in this our determination auoyding in déede multitude least the matter should be too prolixe and abstayning of purpose from the residue which be infinite that those which luste may themselues séeke them Being therefore throughly persuaded by these Scriptures inspired from God and by the iudgementes of the blessed Fathers staying our féete vpon the rocke of the worshippe of God in spirite we which are girded wyth the dignitie of the priesthode being of one minde and iudgement assembled together in one place doe wyth one voyce determine in the name of the holy supersubstantiall and quickning Trinitie that euery Image made by Paynters wicked arte of any kinde of matter is to be remoued forth of the Church of Christians as that which is straunge and abhominable Let no man froÌ„ this time forward of what state soeuer he be followe any such kinde of wicked vncleane custome Whosoeuer therfore froÌ„ this day forward shall presume to prepare for himself any image or to worship it either to set it in a Church or in any priuate house or else to kepe it secretely if he be a Byshoppe or a Deacon let him be deposed but if he be a priuate person or of the laye fée lette him be accursed and subiecte to the Emperiall decrées as one which withstandeth the commaundementes of God and kepeth not his doctrine Wherevpon the Councels determination so farre as concerneth this case ensueth thus Si quis non confessus fuerit Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum post assumptionem animatae rationalis intellectualis carnis simul sedere cum Deo patre atque ita quoque rursus venturum cum paterna maiestate iudicaturum viuos mortuos non amplius quidem carnem neque in corporeum tamen vt videatur ab ijs à quibus compunctus est maneat Deus extra crassitudinem carnis anathema Si quis diuinam Dei verbi secundum incarnationem figuram materialibus coloribus studuerit effigiare non ex toto corde oculis intellectualibus ipsum sedentem à dextris patris super solis splendorem lucentem in throno gloriae adorare anathema Si quis
he doth call it Stolidam arrogantem Synodum A doltish and a proude Synode And the decrée there made touching the adoratiō of Images which you M. Martiall do teach so stoutly Impudentissimam traditionem A most impudent and shamelesse tradition I refer you to the foure bokes of Carolus in which at large is set forth not only the vanity of those reuerend Asses which went about to establish Images but also the effect of the Councel of Frankford not vtterly abolishing which was their imperfection but playnly condemning the adoration and worship of them But in this case where Councell is agaynst Councell and necessary it is that one of them be deceyued which must we trust to I knowe that the latter age hath receyued the worse the seauenth of Nice But we must not follow the authoritie of men were they neuer so many but the directiō of God his spirit truth reuealed in his holy word What moued the faythfull to refuse the second of Ephesus willingly embrace the Councell of Chalcedon but that examining their decrées by Scripture they founde Eutiches heresie confirmed in the one which the other condemned So when the manifeste worde of God shall try where the spirite of God doth rest there must the credite there onely be giuen And to the ende that al readers hereof may vnderstand and sée what vanity there was in the Prelats of Nicene Coūcell what more than vanity is in the magnifiers of so mad a cōpany I wil set forth the allegations of the Image worshippers and the confutation which the seruantes of God made that euery man thereby may iudge so as the spirit of God shall leade him Car. Mag. Li. 1. Cap. 20. To. 2. Cō Concil Nice 2. and as himself shal sée good cause Fyrst of al their generall position was That the Images of Christ the virgin Mary other Saincts were sacred and holy therfore to be worshipped Hereto the Synode answered That the Antecedent the former proposition was false in as much as they are neyther holy in respecte of the matter wherof they be made nor of the colours that be layd vpon them nor yet for any imposition of hands nor by any canonical consecratiō Therfore they be not at al holy much lesse therfore to be worshipped Thē noble Iohn the legate of the Esterlings brought forth another reason God made man after his owne Image likenesse therfore Images are to be worshipped Hereto the catholikes iustly replied that he made a false argument Abignoratione Elenchi by applying that to Imageworshipping which made nothing at all to purpose For both out of Ambrose Augustine they proued that man is called the Image of God not for his externe shape which Images wel ynough may represent but for the inwarde man the minde the reason the vnderstanding vertues consonant to the wyll of God For Ambrose sayth Quod secundum Imaginem est In Psal 118. Ser. 10. non est in corpore nec in materia sed in anima rationabili That which is according to the Image of God is not in the body nor in the matter but in the reasonable soule Likewise Augustine Accedit vtcunque anima humana interior In Psal 99. homò recreatus ad Imaginem Dei qui creatus est ad Imaginem Dei The inwarde soule of man the newe borne man which is made after the Image of God commeth after a sorte néere vnto God his Image But that wheresoeuer a similitude and lykenesse is spoken of there is also an Image to be meant Octog triū quest ca. 74 Augustine disproueth Vbi similitudo non continuo Imago non continuo aequalitas c. Where a similitude or lyknesse is not by and by an Image not by and by equalitie So that the folly of him was great to abuse the scripture to so impertinent a purpose But the Nice masters procéede and say That as Abraham worshipped the sonnes of Heth Gen. 25. Exod. 18. Moses Iethro the priest of Madian so must Images be worshipped of men Hereto the Councell as Charles the president thereof affirmeth answered Dementissimū est Lib. 1. Cap. 9. ab omni ratione seclusum hoc ad astruendā Imaginā adoratione in exemplū trabere quod Abrahā populum terre Moses Iethro sacerdotē Madiā leguntur adorasse It is a thing of most madnesse and vtterly seuered from all reason to bring for example to confirmation of Imageworshipping that Abraham is red to haue worshipped the people of the earth and Moses Iethro the priest of Madian The Sainctes of God in token of their obedience and humilitie sometime haue bowed themselues haue shewed some piece of curtesie to such as pleased them and had authoritie in the earth But what is this for the honour done to a deade stocke Why is this example made to be general extending to all both quicke and deade both good and badde where as the Sainctes themselues sometyme abhorred this worshippe to be gyuen them sometime refused to giue it vnto other Imagines verò nusquam nec tenuiter quidem adorare conati sunt But as for Images they neuer attēpted in any place or in any so slender wise to worshippe them De Doctri Christ Li. 1. Cap. 1. Let them learne of Augustine that Abraham and Moses doing as they did were examples of humilitie not paternes of impietie Let them learne that there is no lesse diuersity betwene the worshipping of an Image and worshipping of a man than is betwene a lyuing man and a man paynted vpon the wall Let them learne howe loue reuerence and charitie towardes men is in the Scripture commaunded ofte The bowing the knéeling the seruice to an Image is in euery place forbydden and accursed The Papistes figure to make the Scripture serue their purpose But a familiar figure the Papists haue to make the Scripture to serue their faustes Acyrologiam which you may call Abusion Impropre speaches As where so euer in the Hebrewe texte they reade any worde that betokeneth Bowing Saluting Blessing they doe full wisely tourne it vvorshipping And is this honeste and vpright dealing Yet howe they dally on this sorte both with the worlde and with the worde of God the nexte allegation of theirs declareth Iacob suscipiens à filijs suis vestem talarem Ioseph Carol. Mag. de Ima li. 1. ca. 12. osculatus est eam cum lachrimis imposuit oculis suis Ergo. c. Which wordes in english according to their translation be these Iacob receyuing of his sonnes Ioseph his long garmente he kyssed it and wyth teares layde it vpon his eyes And therefore Images are to be worshipped And is not this a reason that might haue bene fette out of a Christmas pye Wil any man hereafter finde fault wyth Papists deprauing of the Scripture since they take thē leaue to make what Scripture they lyst Where finde they this texte in all the Bible that Iacob kyssed his sonnes
garmente and layde it vpon his eyes The place is the .xxxvij. of Genesis where only we read that the sonnes of Iacob brought vnto their father Ioseph his party coloured coate sayd this haue we founde sée nowe whether it be thy sonnes coate or no. Then he knewe it and sayde It is my sonnes coate A wicked beast hath deuoured him Ioseph is surely torne in pieces And Iacob rent his clothes and put sacke cloth about his loynes and sorrowed for his sonne a long seasoÌ„ Where is the kissing of the coate laying it on his eyes But if kyssing had bene there what is that to worshipping But to kysse and to worship is all one with them They worshippe where they kysse let them kysse where they worshippe not Another worthy father of that sacred assemblie bycause he would haue a freshe deuise coyned out of hande another piece of Scripture saying Car. Mag. de Imag. Li. 1. ca. 13. Iacob summitatem virgae Ioseph adorauit Iacob worshipped the top of Iosephs rod. Therefore we may worshippe the picture of Christ Let me aske of his fatherhode where he fyndeth the place Let him put on his spectacles and poare on his Portasse If this be lawful that euery noddy that commeth to a Synode may chop and chaunge the word of God as he will what nede we to care for Moses writing or Esdras restoring or Septuagints translating or the Apostles handeling of the Scripture The great vertue profound knowledge of those Synodicall men may serue and suffise vs. And to prosecute the cause of Iacob another ryseth vp and puts in his verdite saying Benedixit Iacob Pharaonem Car. Mag. Li. 1. Cap. 14. sed non vt Deum benedixit adoramus nos Imaginem sed non vt Deum adoramus Iacob blessed Pharao but he blessed him not as God We worship an Image but we worship it not as God This man had wit without al reason he compared the blessing that the holy Patriark gaue vnto the king the bounden man to the well doseruer the subiect to the superior vnto the worshippe of a senslesse Image that standeth in the wall doth no more good But another brought in a sounder proufe and framed his argument after this sorte Cap. 15. Impitiatorium duos Cherubin aureos ariam testamenti iussi Dei Moses secit Ergo licet sacere et adorare Imagine Moses by the coÌ„maundement of God made the propitiatorie the two golden Cherubins and the arke of wytnesse Therefore it is lawfull to make and worship Images This fellowe began in good diuinitie but ended in foolish sophistry For in the conclusion he put more than was in the premisses Moses made this and that Therefore we may both make worship Where doth he reade that they were worshipped Yea how can those examples be applied vnto Images since they be set in the face of the people only to this ende to be gazed on but the arke of witnesse with the furniture therof was in the oracle of the house in the most holy place couered that it might not be séene without Num. 4. 2. Par. 5. Agayne the Cherubins were but a peculier ordinance of God and therefore could not preiudice an vniuersall lawe But to procéede it is written in the law say they Ecce vocaui ex nomine Beseleel filij Vr filij Hor de tribu Iuda repleui eum spiritu sapientiae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 16. Exod. 31. intelligentiae ad perficienduÌ„ opus ex auro argento Ergo licet adorare Imagines I haue called by name Bezaliell the sonne of Vri the sonne of Hur of the tribe of Iuda whome I haue fylled wyth the spirit of God in wisedome in vnderstanding and in knowledge and in al workmaÌ„ship to finde out curious works to make in gold siluer therfore it is lawfull to worship Images A reason as if it had bene of your making M. Martiall Ab ignoratione Elenchi Therefore the Synode aunswered that it was not onely an extreme folly but a mere madnesse to apply the figures of the olde lawe which onely were made as God deuised and had a secrete meaning in them to the Images of our time which euery caruer goldsmyth painter make as their fansy leadeth them to an ill example and to no good vse in the world But what shuld I stand in exaggerating of their folly I will truely reporte the reasons of the one parte and abridge what I can the aunsweres of the other Sicut Israeliticus populus serpentis aenei inspectione seruatus est Iconolatra Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 18. Sic nos sanctorum effigies inspicientes saluabimur As the people of Israel was preserued by the loking on the brasen serpent So we shall be saued by loking on the Images of Sainctes ê™ the Image worshippers The Aunsvvere They that repose their hope in Images Iconomachi Rom. 8. are condemned by the Apostle ê™ the fathers of Franckforde Councel Spes quae videtur non est spes That hope which is séene is no hope Furthermore the brasen serpent was not commaunded to be worshipped therefore the worshipping of an Image is falsly inferred of it Thirdely the brasen serpent was commauÌ„ded of God But no piece of Scripture doth beare with Images The Reason Si secundum Mosis traditionem praecipitur populo Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 17. purpura hyacinthina in fimbrijs in extremis vestimentis poni ad memoriaÌ„ custodiam praeceptorum multo magis nobis est per adsimulatam picturam sanctorum virorum videre exitum conuersationis eorum eorum imitari fidem secundum Apostolicam traditionem Which worde for worde in english is thus If according to Moses tradition a purple violet be commauÌ„ded to the people to be put in their purfles and skirtes of their garments for a memory and keping of the commaundements much more must we by the counterfet picture of holy men sée the ende of their conuersation and imitate their fayth according to the tradion Apostolique The Aunsvvere Iconomachi Eche part of this argument consists of vntruthes First by corrupting the Scripture in calling it a purple violet whereas purple is one colour and violet another Then by comparing things vnlike together wearing of a garment and worshipping of an Image Thirdely in alleaging a most vntruth of al that the conuersation of holy men is sene in an Image For fayth hope and charitie which be the chiefe vertues of Sainctes are thinges inuisible But Images and pictures are visible As for imitation what it ought to be 1. Cor. 4. the Apostle sheweth vs saying Imitatores mei estote sicut filij charissimi Be ye followers of me as most deare children 1. Cor. 11. And in another place Imitator s mei estote sicut ego Christi Be ye followers of me euen as I am of Christ Whereby it appeareth that the tradition of the Apostles is to behold the godly
herein applied vniustly vnto the priest the word Aspergam super vos aquam mundam Ezech. 36. I wil sprinckle cleane water on you which God peculiarly promiseth of himselfe Then also to inforce a necessity of oyle that baptisme can not cōsist without it whereas Christ did not appoint it nor Apostle vse it passed his cōmission Vt ne quid grauius But to attribute more vnto the oyle mans own inuention than to baptisme it self the ordinance of Christ I must nedes say was proud blasphemous Yet Cyprian so did for he sayde that vnlesse they were on his wyse annoynted they could not be true Christians To haue the annoynted of the father Iesus Christ within them was not ynough vnlesse a little oyle had also besmeared them A pitifull case that so good a father so faythful a martyr should haue so fowle a blotte to blemish his authoritie But as I sayd we must not gather out of the fathers writings what soeuer was witnesse of their imperfection Yet do I maruel most what mad conceyte ye had to bring this place for the vse of the Crosse in byshopping of children Onely S. Cyprian in all that Epistle and diuers other goeth aboute to proue that heretiques should be baptised And this is farre from Confirmation full little doth it confirme your crosse Agaynst the assertion of seuenfold grace Folio 57. a. Chapt. 11. Nowe to speake a worde of your Seuenfolde grace which you say is conferred at byshopping I besech you shew me the ground of your deuise I know that you delite in the odde number as al inchaunters haue done of olde And therfore vij sacraments vij kindes of graces of the holy ghost But wherefore .vij Bicause Esay numbreth but .vij And this is the reason of all the Papists that euer wrote But I might byd them tell them Esay 11. as Tom foole did his géese Esay numbreth but syx and the seauenth is their owne Therfore stil I proue that Papistes are falsefiers of the worde of God Papistes falsefiers of Scripture And yet if the Prophet had rehearsed seauē as it is of euery man to be sene he did not to gather out of that a seauēfold kinde of grace were to absurd in asmuch as other places attribute of diuerse effectes diuerse other titles to the holie ghost nor the faithful are only partakers of those that Esay doth speake of which are Wisdome Vnderstanding Counsel Strēgth Knowlege Feare of God but also of other as Chastity Sobriety Truth Holinesse which in like maner do flowe from the same spring Then also to thrust the power of Gods spirit into such a corner that it shall haue but seauen holes to start to is to straight a compasse can not contayne him But this I may excuse you as the Painter did himselfe who being reproued that he had left out a cōmaundement whereas he was bydden to write them all in a table answered There is more than ye will kepe So you in rehearsall of your seauenfolde grace speake of syxe more than you are partaker of Wherfore to make my Apostrophe to the readers as you do seing Dionisius is iustly disproued Folio 57. b. to be of no such authority and antiquity as the Papists pretend seing S. Augustine is depraued of them S. Cyprian alleaged where he defendeth an heresy The example of Christ and his Apostles most falsly drawen to proufe of Confirmation I trust you wil more esteme and better regarde the authoritie of auncient Fathers in dede whose playne assertions I haue brought to the contrary you wil more reuerence the word of God the bread of life by them abused to most impietie than the stinking leuen of these lying hipocrites who speake of scripture but esteme it not who lay the fathers for them but vnderstande them not who pretend antiquity but are caried about with euery winde and puffe of new doctrine being as S. Ciprian saith Epistola ad Nouatianos beginners of schismes authors of dissention destroyers of faith betrayers of the church Antichristes in dede who going about to deface the catholike religiō cōmanded by Christ taught by the Apostles continued in the church by the holy ghost haue defaced as it were the truth of Christs ordināce to place their own dreames deuises as it apeareth by the nūber of their sacraments by declining in al points from the order of Christ his Apostles by oyle creame salt spittle candels such like added vnto baptisme by preferring byshopping of children afore it by making oyle of their own addition of more effect vertue than the element of water sanctified by the word of God Finally ascribing perfection of Christianitie which consisteth in the spirit to the outward work of coniuring and Crossing Now M. Martial to come to your holy orders which among your sacraments ye put in the third place I maruell that ye are so barren in the ground which of it self is so fruitfull that wheras ye nūber but .vij. sacraments this one hath begotten by spiritual generation six moe For the master of the sentence whome ye and al your faction do follow maketh .vij. degrées of orders Lib. 4. Dist. 24. Cap. 1. Et hij ordines sacramenta dicuntur these orders saith he be called sacraments He saith not that they do al concur to make a sacrament So by this meanes we haue now .xiij. sacraments A plentiful increase And to set forth the more the dignity of their calling in euery one of these holy orders they haue Christ himself a cōpanion with them But whereas sacraments must haue a promise annexed to thē a promise immediatly from God if any of these orders or they altogether should make a Sacrament some piece of Scripture shuld be brought for proufe of it Neyther Angels nor men can make a sacrament Therfore they lie when they do cal their orders sacraments in as much as they which are called among thē ordines minores the inferior orders by their own cōfession were neuer knowē in the primitiue church but long deuised after In confess Polonica Cap. 51. Hosius himself out of whome you toke your authorities as well of Augustine as of Leo to proue your orders a Sacramente confesseth in the same place that of olde time Ordines ij minores inter sacros non numerabantur These inferior orders were not rekened among the holy ones But now they be holy all and Sacramentes al. If I should rehearse the ydle ceremonies that are obserued in euery one of them The Iewish disagrements of the doctors themselues when eche man hath a sere assertion of his owne defended with toth and nayle The clouted religion of olde patches of Iudaisme Paganisme and Christianitie together wherby they commend this their sacrament to the worlde I should cumber the readers to long with vnfruitfull matters and busy my selfe more a great deale than néeded to confute that which you M. Martiall such is your modesty are ashamed
Crosse and yet is the Sacramente made perfecte thus Nor in Christes institution we heare any mention of such a ceremony nor that Christ in hys own baptisme nor the Apostles in theirs were blessed with a finger Wherfore the Maior is falsly set Matrymony no Sacrament But the Minor is farther out of square For before Gregories tyme although euery man graunted Matrimony to be an holy ordinance of God yet who euer affirmed it to be a sacrament Forsoth say you Ambrose Augustine and Leo. So the same Ambrose calleth the wordes and workes of Christ wherby he shewed hys diuinitie hidden otherwyse in God a sacrament In ep ad Tim. 1. ca. 3. And Augustine hath nothing more familier in him thā Sacramenta scripturarum The sacramentes of the scriptures whereby he vnderstandeth the darke speches spirituall meaninges of the holy ghost So that if ye take a sacrament for that wherby any thyng is signified vnto vs then Matrimonye I graunt may be a sacrament But sée what absurditie ensues thereon As many parables as we haue in scripture so many sacramentes The graine of mustarde séede the goodwyfes leauen the dore of the house the shepehearde the giant the thefe for by all these the kyngdome of God and Christ are signified must be sacramentes So the washing of handes the shaking of dust from the Apostles féete and euery act of Christ may be a sacrament Then we shal not kepe vs within the number of seauē which you appoynt but ere we haue done we shall haue seuen score yea seuen hundred sacramentes But if ye take a sacrament for such a signe as God hath ordayned for vs to cōfirme our fayth seale the promise of hys grace wtin vs thē are you to farre wide For prouf of baptisme we haue Whosoeuer beleueth and is baptised shall be saued For the supper of the Lord we haue Mat. 26. Take eate thys is my body Drinke ye all of thys thys is my bloud which is shed for many for the remission of synnes And haue we the lyke for matrimonye Then take a wyfe and thou shalt be saued Then take a wyfe and thy synnes be forgiuen thée Thys is your doctrine M. Martiall thys is your Louain learning But ye say for your selfe Ephe. 5. that S. Paul called it a sacrament Ye forget your selfe he neyther vsed the terme nor applyed it to that purpose To admit that it were so as your ignorant and grosse translator hath wherof I wyll speake more anone yet your discretion and skyll myght haue cōsidered the correction that folowes when the Apostle sayth plainly that he speaketh not of the man and woman but of Christ and hys Church So that the sacrament is referred to them and not to Matrimony But the ignoraunce of the greke worde hath only bred thys error Where for a mystery it is translated a sacrament I meruayle greatlye that the name of sacrament should be so seriously vrged in thys place beyng otherwyse in all places of the scripture beside neglected For your sayd olde translator hath in the same Epistle to the Ephesians Ad Eph. 1. and .j. cha Vt notū faceret nobis sacramentum voluntatis suae that he myght notifie to vs the sacrament of hys wyll for the mystery of hys wyll By the same reason now the scripture it selfe whereby Gods will is reueled to vs shal be a sacrament And in the Epistle to Timothe ◠Timo. 3. your olde translator hath Magnum est pictatus sacramentum quod manifestatum est in carne Great is the sacrament of godlinesse for great is the mystery of godlinesse which is God is manifested in the flesh By whiche reason the incarnation of Christ should be also a sacramente Nor there shall be any ende of sacramentes if wheresoeuer we reade of mystery we shall vnderstande the sacramentes of the Church Your wisdome supposeth that bicause a mystery and a sacrament do not so farre differ but the that which is called a mystery may also be a sacrament Folio 87. a. therefore your grounde is good inough that matrimony is a sacrament Thys do ye proue Martials reason by a sad tale of old mother Maukin that thought her saint Edmund to be no minstrel bicause he vvas a minister vvhereas in these latter dayes a minstrell as you saye maye be a minister and serue bothe turnes for a nede But if mother Maukin had bene suche a daukin as to thinke euery minister to be a mynstrell as you do euery mystery to be a sacrament thou Martial and Maukin a dolt with a daukyn might marry together and the vicar of sainct fooles be both minstrell and minister simul semel to solemnize your sacrament Folio 67. b. But we must not dally with the signification of the worde with you but we must consider what is the definition and what is required in a sacrament and then we shall fynde nothing lack in matrimony that is or ought to be in any other sacramēt It is you say a uisible signe of inuisible grace But what is that grace Saluation iustifying or sanctification conferred vpon them that are partakers of it If it be so some thing it is that ye say But it is not so For he that is married is not in that respect more the childe of God than if he were vnmaryed He that is maryed hath no peculier promise that for hys mariage sake hys sinnes are remitted him And yet these thinges are requisite in a sacramēt that by the visible signe some such promise as thys maye be sealed in vs. I will bring against you for this point no other diuinitie but your own The master of the sentence sayeth Sacramenta non tantum significandi gratia instituta sunt Lib. 4. Dist 1. Cap. 2. sed etiam sanctificandi Quae enim significandi gratia tantum instituta sunt solum signa sunt non sacramenta sicut fuerunt sacrificia carnalia obseruantiae ceremoniales veteris legis c. Sacramētes are not only ordayned to signifie but also to sanctifie For those that are onely appoynted to signifie are onely signes and no sacraments like as the carnal sacrifices ceremonial obseruances of the old law wer So that he which otherwise defēdeth as many heresies as you ouerthrowes your reason which do make Matrimony to be a sacramēt bicause it is a signe of inuisible grace For so wer al the sacrifices so wer al the ceremonies of the old law And in dede he confesseth that they and such lyke are called sacramētes Licet minus propriè though not so properly And so do I graunt you that it may be called a sacrament Absurdities in popish doctrine concerning the Sacrament of Matrimony Decr. 2. parte Caus 27. Que. 2. in glo◠yet not such as we here speake of But marke how great how many absurdities folowe of your doctrine First where ye make wedlock a sacramēt ye goe against your selues and destroye the
oftē giuen so straghtly enioined Thou shalt make to thy self no likenesse of any thing Suppose they be so strengthened in fayth so assisted by grace that how great soeuer the daunger be yet they fall not in it they kepe themselues vncorrupt from Idolatry shall that be sufficient excuse for them if they leaue occasion of such offence to other Shal their learning and wysedome be cause of folly and deceyt to the simple Shal they haue such regard of their own fāsie which is to no purpose but only to gaze on wtout a cōmaundement as they thēselues confesse that the silly flocke shal be scattered therby and the more multitude being simple perish for whō Christ payed as deare a ransome as for the greatest the wisest the best learned of the earth The Scripture is cōmaunded to be knowen of al men Gather sayth Moses the people together Deute 31. men wemen children the straunger that is within thy gates that they may heare and that they may learne and feare the Lord your God kepe and obserue al the words of hys law Likewyse in the new testament the lyke cōmaundement is giuē by Christ to search the Scriptures Which words if any mā think Iohn 5. do appertaine only to the Iewes of the old tyme or to that Cleargy now by the same reasō as Augustine doth wel proue he may say the Christians ought not to know Christ De verb. Domini Ser. 45. nor be knowen of Christ Notwithstanding the Scriptures contrary to Gods wil haue bene for a policie forbidden to be red least the ignoraunt myght fal into error by thē And shal not the pictures forbidden banished out of Gods seruise breding a most vile affection of Idolatry be remoued rather out of the tēple aswel in respect of the precept as peril I haue shewed what these Images do describe pryde auarice wantonnesse and nothyng else If a man say thys Sainct in hys lyfe tyme despysed hys lyfe to lyue with God cōtinued in pouerty to be rich in Christ reiected the pleasures lustes of the fleshe to subdue the same to the good guiding spirite hys Image by by controls hym of a lye For he séeth a most chereful stately loke a gorgious rich attire an embracing in death of the which in lyfe he most abhorred Wherfore as Images generally describe a contrary effect to their first paternes as alway they worke a more wicked ende than in religiō is to be admitted so the Crosse it selfe doth not nor cannot leade as to the crucified but estrāgeth our harts frō god the creator to a vile creature And if the commoditie of Images in the Church or Crosses had bene such as you would haue it appeare I maruell the Christ our scholemaster that hys Apostles our teachers toke no order for them Rom. 15 Paul sayth not Quaecūque picta sunt sed quaecunque scriptae sunt ad nostram doctrinā scripta sunt c. Whatsoeuer thinges are painted but whatsoeuer thynges are written are written for our instructiō Not that by Images or gasing stockes 2. Tim. 3. but thorow pacience and cōfort of the Scriptures we may haue hope Nor he sayth All picture but Scripture inspired of God is profitable to teach to reproue to instruct that the mā of God may be perfect furnished to all good workes Then if the Scripture be a commended and commaunded way and the same sufficient to make vs perfect in all pointes I sée not to what vse an Image or a picture is Exo. 20. God gaue the lawe to Moses not set forth with colours but writtē in .ij. tables Iosue Iosu 23.2.4 deliuered the same vnto the people not in Imagery but in worde not glorious to the eye but gladsome to the eare comfortable to the hart so that the meane wherby they would the benefites of God to be kept in remēbrance was not to paint or graue the lykenesse of thē but by faythfull pen report the noble factes so print in the hart a thankfull memory Dauid intreating of the incarnatiō natiuitie passion death resurrection kyngdom of Christ our Sauior which are the proper effectes which you wyl haue set forth in Imagery sayth in the persō of Christ thus Psa 39. In capite libri scriptū est deme In the beginning of the boke it is writtē of me It is not graued in a piece of metal or painted on a wall The Euāgelist sayth Sicut scriptū est in libro Sermonū Esaiae Luke 3. As it is written in the boke of Esaies Esa 52. sermons He spake of sermons and not of signes of a boke and not of an Image The Apostles also of whome it is written beautifull are the fete of those that bryng tidinges of peace preach helth which wēt throwing their sedes with teares planting the fayth of Christ with afflictiō and shal returne agayne hauing their handfull Psa 125. with plentifull increase with ioy for gayne and successe of the gospell sent not a Crosse or history of the passion painted in a table to cities or to nations but their Epistles the certayne witnesses of their myndes their writinges Nor Christ that we reade of conferred on them the art of painting caruing or engrauing wherby they myght conuert the heathen to the fayth or leaue a remembraunce with their disciples after them Luk. 24. Sed aperuit illis dominus sensum scripturarum but the Lord opened the sense of Scripture to them S. Iohn banished into the Ilande Patmos to receyue the secrete and diuine reuelations heard at the Lordes handes Scribe haec in libro Apoc. 1. Wryte these in a boke and not worke thē in stone or metall Wherby we are giuen to vnderstande that the instruction of our fayth the only ayde of a Godly memory must be the Scripture The Crosse with a picture of a mā vpon it with armes stretched body pearced and fete nayled may peraduenture put me in mynde of a man so executed but who it was for what cause it was to what holesome ende and effect it was no picture in the world can tel me If preaching inspired by the grace of God working effectually in the hearts of hearers be not able to turne and conuert the obstinate If the lawful vse of Gods holy instrument pearcing the hearts and striking the conscience can not frame aright and reforme to pietie what shall we thynke of a dumbe senselesse vnlawfull thyng If I sée a fellon a théefe a murtherer hanged before myne eyes haue I not more to consider myne owne estate than if I behelde a wodden roode or siluer crucifix Suppose I know that that picture representeth Christ am I furthered any thyng towarde my saluation or are the mercies of Christ more effectual to me Ephe. 1. vnlesse I know that euen God the father hath also chosen me in Christ hys sonne before the foundations of the worlde were layd that I
declare me that without the which nothing is the image yea worse than nothing Will ye then haue vs to be put in minde of our estate and condition of oure redemption in Christ No picture can represent it no piece of metall can set out that which all the preaching all the wryting in the worlde is not able sufficiently to beate into oure dull and forgetfull heades ObiectioÌ„ But ofte we sée that by the Image or Storie our memorie is holpen Hereto I aunswere fyrste that it is an extraordinarie and therefore an vnlawfull meane condemning the negligence of them that should be perfecter and liuely remembrauncers and excluding as it were the worde of God from his proper function Then also there ought not any such forgetfulnesse to reste in vs Christ hath willed vs thereof to be mindefull euer we should not stand in néede of more outwarde helpes than he expert of our infirmities hath of his mercy prouided for vs. Consider this with your selues that if an Image be put it is an Image of God or an Image of man God is inuisible hath no body how can he then be portrayed Shal we giue a shape to him that hath no shape The Lorde spake vnto you sayth Moses out of the middle of fier Deut. 4. You heard the voice or souÌ„d of his vvords but you did see no form or shape at al. And by by followeth Take heede therefore diligently vnto your soules You savve no maner of Image in the day in the vvhich the Lorde spake vnto you in Horeb out of the middest of the fier least peraduenture you being deceiued should make to your selues any grauen Image or likenesse of man or vvoman And agayne in the same chapter Bevvare that thou forgette not the couenaunt of the Lorde thy God vvhich he made vvith them and so make to thy self any carued Image vvhich the Lord hath forbidden to be made For the Lord thy God is a consuming fier a ielous God Thus God doth earnestly and ofte call vpon vs to marke and take héede and that vppon the perill of our soules to the charge that he giueth vs. Then by a solemne and long rehearsall of all things in heauen in earth and in the water he forbiddeth any Image or likenesse of any thing to be made There followeth also the penalty the horrible destruction with a solemne inuocation of heauen and earth to recorde denounced and threatned to all transgressours of this commaundement Therefore in the olde lawe the myddle of the propitiatorie which represented Gods seate was empty least any should take occasion to make any similitude or likenesse of him Esay after he hath set forth the incomprehensible Maiestie of God he asketh Esay 40. To vvhom then vvil ye make God like or vvhat similitude vvil ye set vp vnto him Shall the caruer make him a carued image and shall the goldesmith couer it vvith golde or cast him into a forme of siluer plates And for the poore man shall the Image maker frame an Image of tymber that he may haue somevvhat to set vp also And after this he cryeth out O vvretches heard ye neuer of this hath it not bene preached to you sith the beginning hovve by the creation of the vvorld and the greatnesse of the vvork they might vnderstande the maiestie of God the maker and creator of all to be greater than that it could be expressed or set forth in any Image or bodyly similitude Thus farre the Prophet Esay who from the .44 Chapter to the .45 entreateth in a maner of no other thing Act. 17. And S. Paule euidently teacheth the same that no similitude can be made vnto God in gold siluer stone or any other matter By these and many other places of scripture it is euident that no Image eyther ought or can be made vnto God For howe can God a most pure spirit whome man neuer sawe Ioan. 1. be expressed by a grosse bodyly and visible similitude Howe can the infinite maiestie and greatnesse of God incomprehensible to mannes minde much more not able to be compassed with the sense be expressed in a finite and little Image How can a deade and a dumbe Image expresse the liuing God What can an Image which when it is fallen can not rise vp agayne which can neyther help his frends nor hurt his enimies expresse of the most puissant and mighty God who alone is able to rewarde his frends and destroy his enimies euerlastingly S. Paul sayth that such as haue framed any similitude of god Rom. 1. like a mortall man or any other Image of him in tymber stone or other matter haue chaunged his truthe into a lye Wherefore they that make any Image of God are playnly conuicte to be godlesse persons I may reason with them as Arnobius doth with the Gentiles Si certum est Lib. 6. paulo post princip apud vos Deos esse quos remini atque in summis caeli regionibus degere quae causa quae ratio est vt simulachra ista fingantur a vobis cum habeatis res certas quibus preces possitis effundere auxilium rebus in exigentibus postulare If you be assured sayeth he that they which you thinke be Goddes in déede and dwell in the high regions of Heauen what cause what reason is there that you make these Images whereas ye haue sure and certayne thinges whereto ye maye poure out your prayers and craue helpe when your néede requireth So if we haue a God in déede ObiectioÌ„ what doe we with his Image Forsoth bicause vve can not see God any othervvise vve must both see him and serue him on this sorte So sayde the Heathen and Idolaters Arn obius lib. 6. Quia Deos videre datum non est eos per simulachra colimus munia officiosa prestamus Bycause it is not graunted vs to sée the Goddes ê™ they therefore we honoure them by their Images and doe our dueties towardes them But what doth this aunciente father aunswere them The same that I doe to all our Imagemongers Hoc qui dicit asserit Deos esse non credit nec hahere conuincitur suis religionibus fidem cui opus est videre quod teneat ne inane forte sit quod obscurum non videtur He that sayth and affirmeth this beleueth that there is no God at all and is conuinced that he gyueth no credite to his owne religion in as muche as hée muste néedes sée that that hée must holde leaste happyly it fall out to be nothing which is not apparant to the eye to be something And leaste peraduenture ye saye that these wordes of Arnobius can not be applyed vnto our age bycause he speaketh of Goddes and wée acknowledge but one God althoughe I mighte aunswere that we hauing for the Image of our one GOD in specialtie the same excuse whiche they in generaltye had for all their Gods are proued to be in the same
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
out that ye do not vnderstand my talke Oues mea cognoscunt vocem meam non sequuntur alienum My shéepe sayth he knowe my voyce and followe no straunger Nor doubt it is but by the instinct of the holy Ghost we be made his shéepe which will not hearken to errors and heresies which are the voyces of straungers but followe the voyce of our master Christ which in the Scripture is crying to vs. If these reasons and allegations may not preuayle with some to driue them to a sure and safe ankerholde in Christ let them runne and they lyste Publique to the other kinde of examination of doctrine which is the cōmon consent of the Church For syth it is to be feared greately least their arise some phrenetike persons which will bragge and boast as well as the best that they be Prophetes they be endued with the spirt of truth and yet wil leade men into all errors this remedy is very necessary the faythfull to assemble themselues together and seke an vnitie of fayth godlynesse But when we haue runne as farre as we can The scriptures laste refuge we can goe no further than to the wall we must reuolte to the former principles and trye by the Scriptures which is the Church Wherfore in controuersies of our Religion if mennes deuises were lesse estéemed and the simple order of Gods wisedome followed lesse daunger fewer quarrels should arise amongst vs more truth more sinceritie should be retayned of vs. And to this ende I coulde haue wyshed that you M. Martiall should haue learned firste to frame your owne conscience according to the worde then haue ascribed suche authoritie thereto that we néeded not forsaking the fountaine to follow the infected streames nor hauing the vse of swéete sufficient corne féede vpon acornes still But I would that had bene the most fault of yours to haue attributed much vnto the fathers had not otherwise of malice wrested them and of mere ignoraunce sometime corrupted them The Scripture which in the title of your boke hath the first place in the rest of the discourse hath very little or no place at al and vnder name of Fathers and antiquitie fables and follies of newefangled men are obtruded to vs. To come to the instants Folio 18. First ye bring forth the significations of Crosse in Scripture Ye muster your men whose aide ye will vse in this sory skirmish And although they be very fewe yet ye number one moe than ye haue and like a couetous captaine wyll néedes indent for a dead pay Ye say that the scripture hath preferred to your bande .4 Souldiours Folio 24. The Crosse of affliction The passion of Christ The Crosse that he died on And the materiall or mysticall signe of the Crosse Material to be erected in the church Mystical to be made vvith the finger in some partes of the body These be not many ye wote ye might haue kept tale of them But the first and the second as the word of God commendeth in dede and be most necessary for our saluation so wil you not deale withall they be to cumbersome for your company the thirde ye confusely speake of of which notwithstanding small commendation in the Scripture is founde The fourth which ought to strike the greatest stroke is not extant at all For neyther the material nor mistical Crosse in that sense that ye take them to that ende that ye apply them be once mencioned in the worde of God Wherefore ye might blotte out of your boke Scripture and take to your selfe some other succours or fight with a shadowe I néeded not to trouble my selfe about your third Crosse which is the piece of wood wherevppon Christ died both for bycause we haue it not and also you your self do not take it incident into your purpose to treate of Yet bicause ye make many gloses theron and apply to the signe the vertue propre to the thing it self it is not amisse to examine your folly First ye cite a place of Chrisostome Folio 13.2 ex Demonstratione ad Gentiles and for .3 leaues together although ye do not tell vs so much ye write an other mans wordes as your owne to prayse your pregnante wit But ye patch them and piece them ilfauoredly whatso euer séemes to make against you ye leaue out fraudulētly This is no playne or honest dealing In dede Chrisostome stoppeth many a gappe with you The comfort of your Crosse doth most rest in Chrisostome Chrisostome But Chrisostome was not without his faultes His golden mouth wherein he passed other sometime had leaden words which yelded to the error abuse of other I am not ignorant that in his dayes many euill customes were crept into the Church which in his works he reproueth not He praiseth such as went to the sepulchres of Sainctes He maketh mention of prayer To. 4 ad pop 66. In. 1. Cor. 16. Hom. 41. for the deade Monkerie he cōmendeth aboue the Moone In his tract of Penaunce beside many other absurdities when he had rehearsed many wayes to obtayne remission of sinnes as Almes Weping Fasting and such other he maketh no mention at all of fayth In his cōmentaries vpon Paul he sayth that Concupiscence vnlesse it bring forth the externe worke is no sinne Wherefore if he had sayde so much for the Crosse as ye misconster and more than accordeth with the glory of Christ I might lappe it vp with other of his errours and hauing the Scripture for me Chrisostome should be no president against me But I will not goe this way to worke I admit his authoritie but marke M. Martiall what his meaning is In the place that ye alleage for the Crosse he dealt with the Gentiles The marke that he shot at was to proue to them Quod Christus Deus esset that Christ was God as in the title appeareth Now bicause this punishment to be hanged on the gallowes was maruellous offensiue vnto the heathen nor they could thinke him to be a God the was executed with so vile a death Chrisostome therfore goeth as far in the contrary prouing that that which was a token of curse was now become the signe of saluatiō And bycause that they spake so much shame of the Crosse derogating therfore from him that was crucified the Christians to testifie by their outward facte their inward profession would make in euery place the signe therof This was the occasion that the mysticall Crosse crepte into custome But here is no place to entreate of that though you taking styll Non causam pro causa that which is impertinente for proufe of your matter confounde the same Notwithstanding Things vvel receued il cōtinued howe thinges receyued to good purpose as to the iudgement of man séemeth may afterward growe to abuse this signe of the Crosse sheweth That which was at the first a testimony of Christianitie came to be made a Magical enchauntment That which
will word for word rehearse it in English Celsus doth say that we auoid the making of Altares and Images and Oratories bicause he thinketh that the fayth of our inuisible and inexplicable communion and charity is nothing else but a faction where as in the meane while he séeth not that insteade of Altares and Oratories with vs the mindes of the faithful are from which no doubt most swete sauours of incense are cast out prayers I meane and supplications from a pure conscience Whereof S. Iohn in his Reuelation speaketh on this sort Apocal. 8. The prayers of the Saincts are incense And the Psalmist Psalm 141 Let my prayer O Lord be in thy sight as incense Furthermore we haue Images and worthy offerings vnto God not such as be made by vncleane workemen but framed and fashioned by Gods word in vs wherby such vertues may rest in vs which shall imitate and resemble the first begotten of all creatures in whome examples are as well of Iustice continence and valiantnesse as otherwise of wisdome godlinesse and all vertues Therefore such Images are in al as haue by the word of God gotten them this temperance this righteousnesse this fortitude this wisedome and piety with all the frame of other vertues in which I thinke it méete the honor be giuen vnto him which is the paterne of all Images the Image of God inuisible so forth Whereby it appeareth as in playne wordes he speaketh after that all Images should be such as God himselfe commaunded such as should be within man and not without man such as consisted in the knoweledge of him after whose Image man himself was made Also his testimonie serueth for this No Images in Origens time but spirituall that in his time there were no material Images in temples There was no Roode no Crosse no likenesse of any thing saue onely spirituall of grace and vertues Consider I besech you howe in his fourth boke agaynst Celsus he commendeth the Iewes Nimirum apud quos praeter eum qui cūctis praesidet rebus pro Deo nihil vnquam sit habitum nec quisquam siue Imaginum fictor siue statuarum fabricator in eorum Republica fuerit vt quos procul lex ipsa abigeret vt ne qua hijs esset fabricandorū simulachrorum occasio quae stultos quosdam mortalium à Deo reuelleret ad contemplanda terrena animi oculos retorqueret That is to say Among whom nothing was euer accompted God beside him which ruleth all nor in their common wealth any caruer of Idols or Image maker was as whom the law it self droue away frō them to the intēt they shuld haue no occasion to make any Images which might pluck certayn folish persons from God turne the eyes of their soules to the contēplation of earthly things So much for Origen And if ye read his boke thorow ye shal see it proued in plain words a frentike part to worship Images a madnesse to say that any knowledge of God can be gottē by them Only this suffiseth here that your allegatiō maketh not to your purpose and your author alleaged maketh most agaynst you Then what should ye talke that in the primitiue Church Crosses were set vp in euery place that euery Church Chappel had the signe of the Crosse erected in it that sacraments could not be made without it that men deuoutly kept pieces of it c. Whereof Origen 280. yere after Christ Folio 9. a. knew nothing but rather by the law condēned such obseruances Wher now is the counsel that you haue learned of your elders Where is the aduertisemēt of graue fathers Where is the medicine that you cal soueraine taken frō the best Physitians of the church I wil not compare you to a Tapster a Tinker an Osteler but to a leude Apoticarie that vnderstandeth not his bil but giueth Quid pro Quo or else to Cooke Ruffian that marres good meate in the dressing But to procéede giue somewhat a further taste of your vnsauorie soppes ye bring forth Cassiodores Cassiodor Folio 19. b. authoritie which may be answered in a word that he meaneth nothing lesse than you doe ymagine For what though the signes of the heauenly Prince be prynted vpon the faythfull as the Image of the Emperour is in his coyne vvhereby the Diuell is expulsed from them c. What though the Crosse be the inuincible defēce of the hūble the ouerthrovve of the proud the victorie of Christ the vndoing of the Diuel the destruction of hel the confirmation of heauenly things the death of infidels the life of the iust Is a Roode or a Crucifix or wagging of a finger able to shew whose men we are as the print in that mony doth shew whose the coyne is Whersoeuer that Image and superscription is stāped there is it certayne who hath a right to the coyne But whosoeuer haue the signe or stampe of a Crosse vpon them shewe not thereby whose seruauntes they are Your Popes and your Prelates haue Crosses before them Crosses hanging vpon them Crosses in their Crownes Crosses in their garmentes And yet I feare me least ye wil not affirme them to be the best seruaunts of Christ You knowe sometime there be coynes of counterfets I know the most crossers are not the best Christians The signe of God printed in the faythfull is the beliefe in Christ The signe of God in the faythfull and grace to doe thereafter The Crosse that is their refuge their succour defence is the death of Christ and merits of his passion But sée what pieuishnesse is in Papists Pieuishnesse of Poperie Whersoeuer they reade of fier in the Scripture thence they kindle Purgatorie Wheresoeuer they heare a body mentioned there doe they teare it to Transubstantiation Wheresoeuer they sée thys word Crosse come in place they lift it vp to the Roodeloft or at the least to the forehead Me thinks M. Martial that you might haue remēbred your first diuision where ye made mētion of .iiij. significations of the Crosse and so applied as the troth is the sayings of your authors vnto the seconde But your wisdome foresaw this obiection of mine therefore ye graunt that nothing can auayle or profite man Fol. 20. a. b. vnlesse he hath a stedfast fayth in Christ faithful beliefe in the merits of his passion But Mary say you Mary is much beholding to you in dede she stands next to the Crosse as not euery simple bare naked fayth but such as vvorketh by charitie conquereth the vvorld so not euery fayth vvorketh to man the foresaid effects but faith assisted by the signe of the holy Crosse Then by your reason the signe of the Crosse is as necessary to concurre with our beliefe as charity to be with fayth But fayth without charitie is a Diuels fayth Therefore beliefe without a signe of the Crosse is also diuelish I am sure that no man endewed with cōmon sense howsoeuer he be
the Sentence Let fayth be taken Sine pro eo quo creditur siue pro eo quod creditur eyther for that wherby we beleue or else for that which is beleued certayne it is that the simplest of them both is better than a signe though it be of the Crosse For be it the latter fayth Quam Daemones et falsi Christiani habent as he saith which the Diuels false christians haue yet by the same Possunt credere deum et credere deo they can beleue that there is a God they can giue credit vnto his words But a bare Crosse can not do this Take me a man that neuer hearde of Christ and bring him to a Spanyard to beholde all his Crosses at the Mary Masse and he shall be as learned when he commeth away as the Ape is deuout when he hath eaten the hoste But if a man neyther did nor could euer heare at all this naked fayth were able to teach him without any further information that a God there is which the very Gentiles did vnderstande Agayne to compare a gifte of God which is in the minde to the work of man made with the hande is Canibus catulos coniungere matribus haedos To ioyne the whelpes and houndes the kiddes and goates together Nowe to your Iulian. Iulians example Folio 21. b. Ye say that when he had consulted with Sorcerers and they had made the Diuels solemnly to appeare He vvas stricken in a feare and forced to make the signe of the Crosse in his foreheade Then the Diuels loking backe and seing the figure of the Lordes banner and remembring their fall and ouerthrovv sodaynly vanished out of sight Thus much or so much as this ye cite out of Theodorete and Gregory Nazianzene For the truth of the historie I contende not with you But what I iudge of the experiment I will tell you Fyrst of al that wicked reprobate and godlesse persones can vse the signe of the Crosse as well as other Which proposition shal quite cōfute all your ninth Article For if such as Iulian can crosse themselues and notwithstanding haue neuer a whit the more fayth as your selfe confesse then how falles it out that the Crosse driueth out heresies Fol. 22. a. Contradictions in Martiall Fol. 94. b. that the signe of the Crosse conuerteth obstinate sinners Fol. 114. 115. that the signe of the Crosse maketh vvicked men to think vpon God that the Crosse is comfortable in desperation Fol. 116. Secondly this I note How sore the Diuel was hurt by the Crosse when it nothwithstanding he retayned the possession of whole Iulian both in body and soule Thyrdly that the diuell doth fayne himself to be afrayde of that which with all his heart he would haue men to vse For this is a generall rule that the Diuell is a lier and alwayes will séeme to be as he is not If there were no other matter in the worlde agaynst you this onely were sufficient to discredite you For what better reason is there that Crossing ought not to be vsed at al than that the Diuel did séeme to dread it If that indede he had bene afrayd of it he would haue doubled a point with you and not haue played so open play He runs from the Stéeple to dwell in the people He counterfets a flight from the holy water bucket and nestles himselfe in the bosome of the priest He séemeth to giue place to the charmers inchantment yet that sacrifice doth please him excedingly Ye confesse that Iulian had no hope in Christ no loue to god no faith and will ye not confesse that he was therby a desperate person a lyin of the Diuell The Diuell then shuld haue done him wrong if he had put him in any further danger But one thing I maruell at how you M. Martiall a bacheler of law sometime Vsher of Winchester now student in Diuinitie making a boke intitled to the Quéene perused by the Learned priuiledged by the King allowed by Cunner should fall into manifest contradictions scape vncontrolled I sée it is true quod mendacem memorem esse opertet a lier had nede haue a good remembrance Ye sayd in the leafe before Folio 21. The signe of the Crosse must concurre vvith fayth and fayth vvith the signe of the Crosse Nowe ye alowe the bare signe of the Crosse without any fayth to haue the force and power aforesayd If I thought ye were ignorant of Sathans practises I would shew you some of them to make you more circumspect But you haue bene brought vp in his schole a good while and therefore I thinke ye practise after him endeuouring your selfe of set purpose to deceiue For which like a Spider ye spinne a subtile webbe You sucke out of the Fathers the worst ioyce that you can that you may turne the same into your owne fylthy and infected nature Gregorie did well in abhorring the name of vniuersall Byshop But Gregories authoritie is not taken in that Gregorie sayde well when he tolde vs the tale of Speciosus a deacon that would rather forsake his benefice than his Wife But the president of that persuadeth you not Onely when Gregorie disgraceth himselfe wyth olde wiues tales and tryfling customes of his corrupted tyme then is he meate for your sawsy mouthes A Iewe sayth Gregorie vvithout truste confidence or fayth Folio 22. b. in Christes passion vvas preserued from Spirites by the signe of the Crosse I rehearse not the circumstaunce of the tale bycause I haue tolde you more than is true already For if he had no fayth in Christ the Scripture is playne that there could no spirite be worse than himselfe Heb. 11. Impossible it is to please God without fayth And shall God by the Crosse preserue them that please him not Who séeth not what a fable this is or rather a blasphemie if it be weyghed aright But Gregorie hath it A doctor of the Church So hath he more vntruthes than this Lib. Dial. 4. Cap. 55. As that for confirmation of sacrifice for the dead he bringeth forth a vision a dreame or a dotage such a one as I am ashamed to father vpō him or any one of the faythfull yet proufe good inough for such a matter of naught His tale is this A certayne priest that vsed the bathes went on a day into them and found a yong man whome he knewe not very obsequious and seruiseable vnto him he pulled of his shooes he toke his garmentes he did whatsoeuer might be comfortable for him When this he had often done one day the prieste going thitherwarde thought thus with himselfe I ought not to séeme vnthankfull vnto him which hath so deuoutly bene accustomed to serue me whensoeuer I washe me but néedes I must cary him somewhat for a reward Then toke he with him the tops of two loaues which had ben offered at seruice And as sone as euer he came vnto the place he founde his man he vsed
in form likenesse of the other then is it somwhat that you haue sayd But if it were the preaching of the word as most certain it is which did so work in the heartes of men the refusing their errors they became to be faythful then you are a falsefier of the word M. Martial Learne you of me that preaching is that hand of God that standard of his whereby that merciful effect is wrought as wel in vs as in al other to be brought to the truth from blindnesse ignorance And if ye thinke scorne to learne of me learne of God himselfe who in the text before sayth that his mouth is a sharp sweard and that preaching is a chosen shaft had in the quiuer of the almighty For the word in operation is as forcible as a sweard it moueth it rauisheth it renueth men it pearceth to the heart it searcheth the secret places it entreth through as S. Paul sayth Heb. 4 euen vnto the deuiding asūder of the soule and of the spirits of the ioynts of the marowe and is a discerner of the thoughtes and the intentes of the heart neyther is there any creature which is not manifeste in his sight but al things are naked and open vnto his eyes with whome we haue to do This two edged sweard which God hath put in the mouth of man doth trye the force of things set against it It cutteth the corrupt affections from the heart It openeth the festered sores the pestilent impostumes of our ill desires It ouerthroweth the kingdome of Sathan It slayes his host sinne death and hell And as an arrowe which is past the bowe of a cunning archer can not be stayed by hand before it haue his lighting place so doth the word hold stil his constant course it maketh way whersoeuer it goeth it falleth as he willeth which is the onely directer of it But fall where it will it falleth with effect nor any man can withstand the blowe that it giueth If you can iustly ascribe any such piece of operation to the Crosse in your fourth signification then will I gladly giue place vnto you But whereas it is certayn that no work of man can alter the heart or once regenerate it to true pietie the standard that Esay the Prophet speaketh of maketh nothing for your purpose But S. Hierome ye say taketh your part for vpon that place he noteth Fol. 23. b. Vndoubtedly there is meant the banner or signe of the Crosse In dede s Hierome hath these words Haud dubium quin vexillum crucis vt impleatur illud quod scriptum est Laudibus eius plena est terra Which is as much to say as this No doubt but it shal be the ensigne of the Crosse that it may be fulfilled which is written The earth is ful of his prayses Here Hierome doth explicate himself what he doth meane by the ensigne of the Crosse the setting forth of the prayse of God which is not by setting of a Crosse on the altar but by preaching the crucified Christ vnto people The place of Ieremy the .iiij. maketh no more for the Crosse thā it doth for the Candlesticks For when the Prophet had spoken to the inhabitants of Iuda Ierusalem to be circumcised to the Lorde Ieremie 4 and cut of the foreskinnes of their infected heartes ne egrederetur tanquam ignis furor eius et accēderetur nemo extingueret least his wrath should go forth as fier and should be kindled and no man quench it He commeth further to declare the obstinacy of mennes hearts that by no meanes can be brought to goodnesse but seke by al meanes to auoyd the rewarde and plague of wickednesse Wherefore by an Ironye he sayth vnto them Blowe the trumpet in the land crie and gather together and say Assemble your selues and let vs go into strong cities Set vp the standard in Sion c. As if that he had sayde I knowe what you will doe when the wrath of God shall fall vpon you when your ennimies shall oppresse you you will not consider the cause thereof but you wil run to your strong holdes you wil arme your selues and stand at your defence you wil set vp your standard in Sion and thinke that you shall be safe there But it will not be so sayth the Lord Quoniam ego malum accersam ab Aquilone Bicause I wil bring a plague from the North. And truely there is no cause why Hierome in this place should runne to his Allegorie whereas there is so playne and sound a sense in the letter But if his Allegorie should take place let all go togither and it maketh agaynst you For his words be these Ingrediamur ciuitates munitas Haereticorum bella consurgunt Christi monumenta nos teneant Leuate signum Crucis in sublimitate ecclesiae Let vs enter into the walled cities The battayles of the Heretiques doe arise Let the munitions of Christ holde vs Lift vp the signe of the Crosse in the height of the Church Let me nowe aske you this question whether we must runne agaynst heretiques with a Crosse in our hande as I remember a priest of your facultie beat all his parishe with the Crosse staffe If this artillerie beate not downe heresies thinke that S. Hierome meante another thing that it is to say The signe of the Crosse in the toppe of the Church The preaching of the vvord in the prelates of the Church Nowe as for the signe of the sonne of man Math. 24. vvhich shall before the iudgement appeare in heauen Forsoth there is no certayne proufe that it shall be a Crosse For Chrisostome in his second exposition vpon the .xxiiij. Chapiter of Mathewe Hom. 49. sayth Quidam putant Crucem Christi ostendendam esse in caelo Verius autem est ipsū Christū in corpore suo habentē testimonia passionis id est vulnera lanceae clauorum vt impleatur illud quod dictum est Et videbunt in quem pupugerunt Some sayth Chrisostome thinke that the Crosse of Christ shall be shewed in heauen But it is truer that Christ himselfe shall appeare hauing in his body the testimonies of his passion that is to say the wounds of the speare and nayles that it may be fulfilled which was sayd And they shall sée him whome they pearced Nor onely contente with his owne censure he bringeth after a proufe of Scripture that the wordes cannot be spoken of the Crosse but of the body of Christ himselfe bicause the rest of the Euangelistes writing of the same matter doe only say Videbunt filium hominis venientem They shall sée the sonne of man cōming Whervpon he concludeth that al the Euangelists do shewe Signum Christi esse ipsum corpus Christi qui in signo corporis sui cognoscendus est à quibus crucifixus est That the signe of Christ is the body of Christ himself who in the signe of his body shal be knowen of them of
that to your purpose What a consecution is this M. Martiall The Crucifixe is prefigured in Moses in the Prophetes and in the time of Christ Therefore no remedye but a Crucifixe must be had in the Church borne in procession and crept vnto on good Friday Then let me reason with you The treason of Iudas was foretolde by Prophecie Psal 108. Fiant dies eius pauci Episcopatum eius accipiat alter Let his dayes be shorte sayth Dauid and let another occupie his rome which to be vndestode of Iudas the Actes of the Apostles proue And in the tyme of grace there was no lesse foreshewed Ioan. 6. when Christ said Vnus ex vobis diabolus est One of you is a Deuil Ergo we muste reuerence the treason of Iudas yea some signe therof we must haue amongst vs. In psal 108. The maner of his death was also prefigured as Augustine affirmeth howe his belly should burst and he desperatelie die Therfore let vs haue one holyday of betraying another of bursting For if prefiguring in law of nature denouncing by the Prophetes foreshewing from Heauen in tyme of grace be able to enforce the necessary vse and estimation of any thing then why should not this and many other plagues of God be honored aswel as the signe of the Crosse Wherfore I wyll breiflyrunne ouer your authors and note by the way sometime how fondly ye applie them When men from a certaine reueled truth will runne to their owne fantasies and deuises no maruell if sometime they ouer shoote them selues and when they leaue the histories of the Scripture and séeke for Allegories more than néede they bréede oftentymes obscuritie and bring men in doubte further than before Yet I denye not but as Augustine sayth De Ciuitate dei Libro 13. Cap. 21. Gallath 4 1. Cori. 10. there may be a spirituall vnderstanding beside a sense litterall Otherwise the Apostle did not well in figuring the twoo Testamentes by the twoo Children one of the bonde woman an other of the frée Nor we coulde admitte his exposition of Moses Rocke to be Christ him selfe But in this case where euery man is lead by his owne sense his exposition is moste to be alowed who speaketh moste according to pietie Damascene Damascene doth resemble the trée of Lyfe in Paradise Folio 25. to the Crosse And as in one sense I condemne it not so in another I like it not for I sée that you be deceiued by it He shewyng howe Christ as a good Phisitian did cure by contraries made as it were oure lyfe to spring out of his death and therefore compared the tree of lyfe to the passion But the wordes that are inferred sauour not of the Scripture for ye saye Seing Death came in by the tree it vvas conueniente that Lyfe and Resurrection should be giuen agayne by a tree Paule speaketh otherwise Per vnum hominem intrauit mors per hominem resurrectio 1. Cor. 15. By one man sinne entred in and by one man resurrection Not by one trée though one death vpon a tree was a meane thereof Augustine in diuers places maketh the trée of life to be the wisdome of God as in his seconde booke de Gen. contra Manich. Cap. 9. And in his thyrtenth booke de Ciuitate Dei Ca. 21. Lykewyse as often he doth resemble it to Christ himselfe As in hys first boke and fiftenth Chapter contra aduersarios legis Proph. speaking of Paradise where Christ and the Théefe should méete sayth Esse ibi cū Christo est ibi esse cum vitae ligno To be there wyth Christ is to be there wyth the trée of life And whereas Cassiodore vpon the first Psalme doth refer the trée planted by the riuer syde vnto the Crosse that bare Christ howe much better Augustine on the same place expounds it of Christ himselfe Qui de aquis decurrentibus id est populis peccatoribus trahit eos in radice disciplinae suae Which of the running waters that is to say the sinfull people draweth men vnto him in the roote of his discipline For whereas Christ is the wisedome of the Father this exposition is consonant vnto Scripture which of that wisedome sayth Lignū vitae est amplectentibus eam She is the trée of life to them that lay holde on hir But if the woode of the Crosse be worthyly called The tree of life Folio 25. b. bicause our Lord Christ vvho is our life vvas hanged there why should not the Asse be the beast of life bicause our Lord Christ who is our life did ride vpon hir Ye will say peraduenture that the Asse was no instrument for his death but for his kingdome she was And why not the instrument of his kingdome as well as of hys priesthode be honored of vs I say it to this ende that if ye thinke the fathers of the Church speaking of the Crosse to be vnderstode so grosly as ye take them many fonde absurdities shal arise thereof They meant of the death of Christ that which you attribute to the materiall Crosse They by a figure did ascribe to the signe that which is propre to the signified thing I omit some authorities that you do alleage bycause they neyther doe make for you nor agaynste me Cyrillus sayth Folio 26. a. The holy Crosse brought vs vp to heauen And that the Crosse is that Arke of Noah by vvhich vve are saued from the floud of the vvater of sinne ouerflovving vs. c. I think there is none so senslesse as your selfe but consters his words otherwise than you To easy God wote is that way to heauen whereto we may be caried a pickbacke on a Roode To sone shal we fal from state of our felicitie if a rotten piece of woode or cancred metall must support vs in it To dreadful shall this drowning in our sinnes be if no better arke than of a Crosse material shal preserue vs from it Let the Doctors dally in figures as they fansy let vs not depart from the verity of the word If they speake one thing and meane another let vs take their meaning and let their wordes alone Great difference there is when a doctrine is playnely taught and when they descant vpon a texte Folio 26. b. Folio 27. a. Wherfore the standard of Abraham according to Ambrose The wood of the sacrifice according to Cyrill The blessing of Iacob atcording to Damascene The rod of Aaron according to Origen by which all is sayd the Crosse was prefigured I wittingly omit For what if a thousand things else were as men ymagined figures of a Crosse in which case a mannes inuention might haue scope ynough and finde in the scripture many moe such figures than they haue spoken of shall this bring such authority to the Crosse which is the thing that you do shoote at that the signe of the Crosse shall be in all places set vp and honored Folio 28. The
multis pauca Scripturae patrūque testimonia in hac definitione nostra parcentes sanè copiae ne in longum res protraheretur collocauimus Reliquis enim quae infinita sunt volētes supersedimus vt qui velint ipsi requirant Ex his igitur a Deo in spiratis scripturis beatorum patrum sententijs stabiliti super petram cultus diuini in spiritu pedes confirmantes in nomine sanctae supersubstātialis viuificantis Trinitatis vnanimes eiusdem sententiae nos qui sacerdotij dignitate succincti sumus simul existentes vna voce definimus omnem imaginem ex quacunque materia improba Pictorū arte factam ab Ecclesia Christianorū reijciendam veluti alienā abominabilē Nemo hominū qualiscunque tandē fuerit tale institutum impiū impurum posthac sectetur Qui vero ab hoc die Imaginem ausus fuerit sibi parare aut adorare aut in Ecclesia aut in priuata domo constituere aut clam habere si Episcopus fuerit aut Diaconus deponitor si vero solitarius aut laicus anathemate percellitor imperialibúsque constitutionibus subijcitor vt qui diuinis decretis impugnet dogmata non obseruet The English of which words is this The wicked calling of Images by a false name neither had his beginning by tradition from Christ nor of his Apostles or yet the auncient fathers neither had it any holye prayer where through to be sanctified but it remayneth prophane euen as it is wrought and finished of the Paynter But if certaine deliuered of that errour affirme that we haue Godlily and vprightly said in throwing downe the Image of Christ bicause of the inseparable and inconfusible substaunce of two natures ioyned in one person Yet notwithstanding some occasion of doubt remayneth in them as touching the Images of the virgin most glorious and vndefiled the mother of God of the Prophetes Apostles and Martirs seing that they be only men and no more neyther doe consist of two natures that is to say the diuine and humaine ioyned in one person as before we haue signified to be in Christ and the contrary therof practised in his Images There groweth in déede some matter of doubt as touching the Images of the most glorious and vndefiled mother of God of the Prophets Apostles Martirs seing that they were only men and not framed of two natures what they be able to say to any purpose with reason vnto these The former argumēt ouerthrowen certaynly they haue nothing at all in this case to say But what say we to ouerthrowing Images For as much as oure catholike Church being a meane betwene the Iudaisme and Gentilitie hath receyued neyther of the maner of sacrifices accustomed to thē but hath entred into a newe way and order of Godlinesse and mysticall constitution giuen and deliuered of God for it doth in no wise admit the bloudy sacrifice and burnt offrings of the Iewes it doth vtterly abhorre not only al Idolatry in sacrificing but also multitude of ymages of Gentility for this was the head first most abhominable deuiser of this arte which hauing no hope of resurrection inuented a toy worthy it self wherby alwayes the absent might be shewed as present therefore synce this practise smelleth not of any noueltie doubtlesse let it be remoued most farre of from the Church of Christ as a strange and forren deuise of men possessed with the Diuell Let the tongs then of al such surcesse which spewe forth wicked blasphemous things to the derogation of this our iudgement decrée most acceptable to god As for the holy men who pleased God which were honored by him with the dignity of holynesse although that they be departed hence yet that deade and hatefull practise shal neuer make them agayne alyue But whosoeuer poysoned with the error of the heathen shall attempt to sette vp Images to them he shall be adiudged as one that hath committed blasphemie And how dare the rascall occupation of Gentiles presume to paynt that most prayseworthy mother of God whome the fulnesse of the Godheade hath ouershadowed through whome hath shone vpon vs that lighte which can not be come vnto that mother I say higher than the Heauens holier than the Cherubins Againe why feare they not I say according to the arte of Ethnicks to counterfet them which shall raygne with Christ shall syt on seates wyth him to iudge the world conformed vnto him in glory of whome the world was vnworthy as the Godly miracles affirme Verily it is not lawful for Christians which belieue the resurrectiō to vse the order of worshipping of diuels Neyther yet doth it beseme by vile and deade kinde of matter to reproch them the which shal shine in so great passing glory As for vs we vse not to receyue of strangers demonstrations of our fayth neyther yet in Diuels to require testimony Furthermore our sentence searched and discussed both out of the scripture enspired frō aboue out of the effectuall testimonies of piked fathers agreing with vs and affirming our good intent we wyl exhibite in thys case our resolute determination which he shall not be able to gaynesay which laboreth to call these things in question As for him that is ignorant let him learne and be instructed that these things are takē out of the word of God Fyrst we place before the rest this sentence of gods voice saying God is a spirite whosoeuer wil worship God in spirite and truth let him worship And agayne No man at any time saw God neyther haue ye heard his voyce or séene his shape Blessed are those which haue not sene and yet belieued And in the olde Testament he sayd to Moses and the people Thou shalt not make to thy self any grauen Image neyther the likenesse of any thing in Heauen aboue or in the earth beneath For the which cause you hearde the voyce of his wordes in the mountayne in the middest of fyre but his shape ye saw not but onely heard his voyce And They haue chaunged the glory of the immortall God by an Image framed after the shape of a mortall man and they haue honored and worshipped the things which are created aboue him which hath created And againe For yf we haue knowen Christ according to the fleshe now we knowe hym not For we walke by faith and not by the outward appearance And this also which is moste plainlie spoken of the Apostle Therefore fayth commeth of hearing but hearing commeth by the worde of God For if we haue knowen Christ according to the fleshe nowe we knowe him not For we walke by fayth and not by outwarde appearaunce The very selfe same things our Godly Fathers the schollers and successours of the Apostles doe teache vs. For Epiphanius of Cypres most famous amongst the foremost thus sayth Take héede vnto your selues that ye kéepe the traditions which ye haue receyued Sée ye leane not neyther to the ryght hand nor to the
conuersation of the Saincts not in pictures but in vertues to imitate their fayth not in fayned Imagrie but in sincere good workes The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 21. Iesus naue duodecim lapides statuit in Dei memoriam Ergo licet adorare statuas Iosue did set vp .xij. stones for a remembrance of God Therefore it is lawful to worship stocks and stones The Aunsvvere Iconomachi Iosue meant nothing lesse than to teach the Israelites to worship stones but to put them in minde that they were the stones of the riuer that was dried for them The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 22. Nathan adorauit Dauidem Ergo nos Imagines Nathan did worship Dauid therefore we may Images The Aunsvvere Nathan did not worshippe Dauid set forth in coloures or painted on a wall but a liuing creature Iconomachi set in the throne of Iustice supplying the rowme of God Wherefore there is no comparison betwixt them The Reason Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui Domine Item Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 23. Psal 4. Vultum tuum requiram Ergo Imagines sunt adorandae Thy couÌ„tenance O Lord is signed vpon vs. And. Thy countenance I wyll séeke after Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere If these words of Dauid did any thing appertayne to Images Iconomachi we might iustely enquire what countenaunce they haue how this countenaunce may be signed in vs. The countenance of God is Christ his sonne to the knowledge of whome we must aspire by scripture and not by picture Wherefore sith the countenance of God can not be séene in material Images which haue no eyes it is to fonde to apply it to Images In the same Psalme the Prophete hath He that desireth life will sée good dayes what shall he do Pore vpon pictures seke after Images No. Declinet a malo et faciat bonuÌ„ Let him refrayne from euil do the thing that is good The Reason Vultum tuum deprecabuntur omnes diuites plebis Ergo Iconolatrae Psal 44. Car. Mag. Lib. 1. ca. 24. Imagines sunt adorande Al the rich of the people shal make their homage before thy face Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere Homage is done before the face of such Iconomachi as can both heare haue vnderstaÌ„ding Since neither of these is in an Image it can not be that by the face of God is meant an Image The Reason Dilexi decorem domus tuae Sed Imagines pertinent ad decorem templorum Ergo Imagines sunt diligendae Iconolatrae Psal 26. Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 28. I haue loued sayth Dauid the beauty of thy house But Images pertayne to the beauty of Churches Therefore Images are to be loued The Aunsvvere Iconomachi The house of God is not the materiall church of lime and stone but the congregation of faythfull people in whose hearts he dwelleth nor the beauty hereof consisteth in outward garnishing but spiritual vertues not in Imagry but in pietie They which renounced the world and withdrewe themselues from the sight of euill had no Images to decke their houses They dwelt in simple and vile cotages And yet they loued the beauty of Gods house wherefore the beauty thereof doth not consist in Images The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. ca. 30. Psal 48. Sicut audiuimus ita vidimus Ergo Imagines sunt adorandae As we haue heard so haue we séene sayth Dauid Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere Iconomachi The promises of God to them that feare him to be their refuge helpe and deliuerance were the thinges that they had heard foretolde by the Prophetes and séene in themselues And if they had not felt a stronger effecte of Gods power than a sory picture could haue brought vnto them they should haue continued all the dayes of their life in body slaues in soule ignorant The Reason Iconolatrae Psal 74. Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Cap. 1. Damnantur inimici qui malignantur in sanctis Dei Ergo Imagines contemnentes damnantur Those enimies that doe worke euill to the sainctes of God are condemned Therefore such as despise Images are condemned The Aunsvvere Iconomachi To omit the phrase of Malignantur for Malum inferunt What a grosse ignoraunce was this to put the Sainctes of God for the Sanctuarie it selfe Wherefore the Synode aunswered The Psalme entreateth of such as had spoyled the temple of Hierusalem had taken away the furniture thereof which God had commaunded What is that to Images He neyther speaketh of the Sainctes of God nor Images are the Sainctes of God The Reason In ciuitate tua Imagines ipsorum ad nihilum rediges Ergo Iconolatrae Psal 72. Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Ca. 3. Imagines sunt adorandae Thou shalt bring their Images in thy City to naught Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere The city of God sometime is taken for the soule of man Iconomachi inhabited of God Sometime for his congregation vppon earth Sometime also for the heauenly Hierusalem Augustinê° Tom. 8. in Psal 72. As in this place That as they haue defiled the Image of God vpon earth So their owne Images shall not appeare in heauen but be reserued in euerlasting payne The Reason Scriptum est Exaltate dominum deum nostrum Iconolatrae Psal 99. Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Ca. 5. adorate scabellum peduÌ„ eius quoniam sanctus est Ergo Imagines sunt adoraÌ„dae It is written Exalt the Lorde our god and fall downe before his fotestole for he is holy Therfore we must fal downe to Images The Aunsvvere It is no proufe that Images should be worshipped Iconomachi bycause it is written that we should fal downe before the fotestole of God For we must not esteme his fotestole according to the vse of men nor déeme that God is circumscript with quantity or nedeth a thing to beare vp his féete withal We must not think that any thing is to be worshipped but onely God the same God that telleth what his fotestole is saying Caelum mihi sedes terra autem scabellum Psal 66. Act. 7. Heauen is my seate and the earth my fotestole But shall we worship the earth which is the creature of God No but as Ambrose sayth by the earth is the flesh of Christ signified which he toke froÌ„ the earth It is therfore leudly applied to Images which appertayneth to the mystical seruice of our Lord Christ The Reason Iconolatrae Psal 98. Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Ca. 6. Scriptum est Adorate in monte sancto eius Ergo Imagines adorande It is written Worship him in his holy hill Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere Iconomachi The Prophet sayth not The hill is to be worshipped but God to be worshipped in his holy hyll And if he had sayde worship the hill yet wise men wold haue constred it for God and not
fathers bring an inuention of their owne do I otherwise deny them the right sense of scripture The fathers may haue sometime their fansies and yet besyde the word Then if their fansies be misliked is their exposition of the word condemned whereas they meddle not with the worde Apelles shoomaker was worthily checkt when he would be busy aboue the knée but that did not set but he might haue iudgement good ynough of the shooe Yet in a shooe made on anothers last the best shoomaker for al his skil may chaunce be deceyued In déede good cause we haue only to depend vpon the word of God and not be ruled ouer by time or custome bycause in matters of our religion as Christ hath taken perfecte order therein so hath he commaunded vs to go no further but him obey August de Consen Euā Li. 1. Cap. 18. Socrates was wont to say Vnumquemque Deum sic coli oportere quomodo seipsum colendum esse praecepisset That euery God was so to be serued as he himselfe had commaunded to be serued And this was the cause why the Romaines would neuer receyue the God of the Hebrewes For grounding vpon this foresayd principle they saw it necessary that eyther al their ydols shuld be excluded and onely the true God entertayned or he only not admitted the rest be honored For by the worde of God they found that they could not agrée together and cōtrary to his word they would not séeke to serue him If they had this affect as Augustine declareth gathered by morall reason and by no further insight of faith Shal we that professe more knowledge and perfection be folisher than they hearing continually Christ and his Apostles inueighing agaynst wilworshippers Therefore I say we aske for the worde you answere vs by wyl we cal for Scripture you reache vs custome Epig. lib. 6. Martiall a mery man a poet of your name a man of more learning and wit than you had some tyme to do with such a lawyer as you For a neighboure of hys had stolen .iij. goates The matter was called into the courte the party should come to proue the inditement He gat hym a counsailler to declare the case When the iudge was ready to heare it his counsailer fel a discoursing of the fight at Cannas the battayl wyth Mithridates the wrōges and iniuries sustayned by the Africanes Thus whē he had filled their eares a great whyle with dyn thūping on the barre and squekyng in hys smal pipes Martiall tenderyng hys own cause more than the babbling of his vaine aduocate at length pulled hym by the sléeue and sayd And please your worship I gaue ye my fée to talke of .iij. goates And thus had I néede to put you in remembrance For where ye appointed to speake of Gods seruice ye tell vs a tale of thys man and that man what he dyd and they dyd And yet not a worde what God hath commaunded Fol. 82. Ye call vs curious when we require Scripture We can get at your handes nothing else but custome And speakyng of custome accordyng to your custome ye make a lye and falsefie Tertulliā Martiall corrupteth Tertullian For these are your words We say vvith Tertullian that custome increser confirmer and obseruer of fayth taught thys vse of the Crosse c. As if the increase confirmatiō and obseruing of Fayth proceded of custom Hys wordes are otherwise For speakyng of hys traditions he sayth S. legem expostules scripturarū nullā reperies traditiō tibi praetendetur auctrix consuetudo confirmatrix fides obseruatrix If thou demaunde a law of Scripture for these thou shalt fynd none Traditione shal be pretēded to thée as increaser custom confirmer and faith obseruer of them Where you may sée that custome is not made increaser and confirmer of fayth but fayth obseruer of custome Notwithstanding I must still beare with you For ye be driuen to narrowe shyftes fayne would ye say something But it is a foule shyft to make a lye Thys custome ye proue came of tradition For as Tertulliā Tertulian de corona millitis sayth how can a thing be vsed if it were not first deliuered To graunt it a tradition I wil not sticke with you But Tertulliā wyll haue the same to be builded vpon reason or els he refuseth it He maketh the Antithesis not betwene written and vnwritten but betwene written and reasonable And so he thynketh a Tradition not writtē to be admitted so it be reasonable Therfore he sayth Rationem traditioni consuetudini fidei patrocinaturā perspicies Martial is still by his ovvne authors ouerthrovven Ye shall sée that reason wyll defende tradition custome and fayth And afterwarde Non differt scriptura an ratione consistat quando legem ratio commendet It is no matter whether custome consist of writing or of reason inasmuch as reason also commendeth law So that reasonable must be the tradition And how shall thys reasonable be defined Tertulliā hymselfe doth tel you limiting how a mā maye make a custome if he conceue decrée duntaxat quod Deo cōgruat quod disciplinae conducat quod saluti proficiat Only that is agreable to God furthering vnto discipline and profitable to saluation If the tradition of the Crosse signe may be proued to be such I wyll yelde vnto you with all my hart Consider the reasōs and the examples that the Doctor vseth First of the Lordes authorite who sayd Cur non a vobis ipsis quod iustū est iudicatis Vt nō de iuditio tantum sed de omni sētentia rerum examinandarum Why do you not of your selues iudge that that is rightuous that it be not onely vnderstode of iudgement but of euery sentence of things to be examined And it followeth Dicit Apostolus Si quid ignoratis Deus vobis reuelabit Solitus ipse cōsilium subministrare cum praeceptum domini non habebat quaedā edicere à semetipso sed ipse spiritū dei habens deductorē omnis veritatis Itaque consiliū edictū eius diuini iā praecepti instar obtinuit de rationis diuinae patrocinio Hanc nunc expostula saluo traditionis respectu quocunque traditore censetur necl authorem respicias sed authoritatem c. And the Apostle sayth If ye be ignoraunte of any thyng God shall reueale it to you He hymselfe when he had not a commaundemente from the Lorde was wonte to giue counsell and prescribe some thinges of hymselfe but as one that had the spirit of God directer of all trueth Wherefore hys counsell and edict hath now obtayned to be as it were the commaundement of God through supportation and defēce of the reason diuine Thys reason inquire for sauing the respect of tradition whosoeuer be the deliuerer therof nor respect the author but the authoritie So farre Tertulliā And in hys wordes In a custome maker the spirite of God In custōe commoditie and
agreablenesse to Scripture must be coÌ„sidered Folio 82. a. Basile many notable poyntes are to be obserued First that in all iudgementes and examinations of thinges we must follow that that is right and good TheÌ„ that no man presume to ordayne any thing in the Church vnlesse he haue the spirite of God to guide hym Thirdly that S. Paules tradition should not haue stode in force vnlesse it had bene consonaÌ„t vnto the Scripture Fourthly that in all customes we muste haue an eye vnto Gods lawe seke what accordeth to it hauing no respect to the custome maker but Scripture coÌ„firmer Thus ye myght haue learned howe to iudge of traditions Tertullian myghte haue taughte you But as soone as euer you had made a lye of hym there ye left hym To Basile who sayth If vve reiect and cast avvay customs vvhich are not vvritten as thyngs of no great valevv or price vve shall condemne before vve be vvare those thinges vvhiche in the gospel are accoÌ„pted necessary to saluation I answere that of Traditions there be thrée kyndes Three kyndes of tradition Some that necessarily are inferred of the Scripture such were the Apostles Traditions as that a woman in the congregation shoulde not be bare headed that in the congregation she should kepe silence That the poore should labor with their owne hands and get their liuing which all such other although they wer not expressely in the word yet consequently they folowed of the worde And therfore Paul dyd not obtrude them of hys authoritie but by the Scripture proue them These and the lyke I confesse to be necessarye and of all Christians to be retayned Proue ye the Crosse signe to be one of these and I wyll recant But there haue bene other thynges deliuered to the Church direct contrary to the worde As Latine seruise worshipping of Images vowing of chastitie communicating vnder one kinde and an infinite number of popysh prescriptioÌ„s These ought not in any wyse to be receyued but what preterte of antiquitie or authoritie soeuer they haue be vtterly refused The third kynd of TraditioÌ„s is of such as be indifferent neyther vtterly repugnant to the word of God nor necessarily inferred of it Herein we must follow the order of the Church and yet not absolutely but with a limitation In traditions indifferent vvhat to be obserued First we must sée that those obseruaÌ„ces be not set foorth as a piece of Gods seruice wherein some speciall point of holinesse or religion shall consist For they may be kept for order for pollicie for profit of the Church but otherwyse the Scripture it selfe hath Gods store and plentye of thynges expediente for hys honor and seruice our comfort and saluation Felix ecclesia sayeth Tertullian Tertul. de prescrip aduer Hereti cui totam doctrinaÌ„ Apostoli cuÌ„ sanguine profuderunt Happy is the Church to whom the Apostles poured out the whole doctrine together with their bloud There is no insufficiency no imperfection Therfore we must especially beware that in our traditions indiffereÌ„t of themselues we repose no holynesse or deuotion Then also that we thynke them not to be of such necessitie that at no tyme they may be remoued The Church must styll retayne her ryght to be iudge and determiner of such traditioÌ„s eyther to beare with theÌ„ or else abolish them as best may serue for edification Last of all thys must not be forgotten that the people of God sometyme be oppressed with traditions and Ceremonyes and for outwarde solemnities the inwarde true seruise of God is neglected As in the popish Churche on a hye day there are so many gaudes that there is no place for a preacher Wherfore the superfluitées The Churche had to many Ceremonies in Augustines tyme. the long trayne of Ceremonies must be cut of least they do hynder the course of godlynesse and by gay shew engeÌ„der a coÌ„fidence to be put in them S. Augustine in hys tyme complayned that the Church was to full of presumptions And of them that haue bene added since a man may make many large volumes Wherfore these prouisoes had the order of the Churche I meane not Rome for that is no member of it may be kepte in traditions which are indifferent But in thys number you cannot iustly compryse the Crosse And although of some fathers it hath bene accompted such yet must ye remember as I sayd before that they dyd not alway buylde golde siluer but sometyme hay and stubble vpon Christ Nor euery thyng that is pretended to be the fathers wrytinges must by and by be thought to be theirs Many bastarde babes haue bene put in the cradel eyther when there was no lawfull chylde or the same ouerlayed and stifeled by the nurse As for exaÌ„ple Fol. 84. a. Athanasiê° Euagrius Li. 3. cap. 31. Athanasius whome you cyte for proufe that the Crosse was vsed in hys tyme hath many thynges that be none of hys Euagrius in the ecclesiasticall history doth playnly say that many workes of Apollinariê° were ascribed vnto hym And as for the booke which you alleage Questionum ad Antiochium is euident to be an others Quest 23. For Athanasius hymselfe is cited in it The wordes are these Et haec quidem multum valens in diuina scriptura magnus Athanasius And these thyngs did great Athanasius a mighty one in the Scripture of God Would Athanasius haue reported thys of hymself Wherfore in the ye bring prescription of time and writinges of the fathers for you ye do both reasoÌ„ vpon an vncertaine principle fayle in your proufe For the principle I say and I doubt not but ye wyll subscribe vnto me that whatsoeuer hath bene deliuered and otherwyse estemed Apostolique is not to be followed and thought inuiolable To begyn wyth that whiche bred in the Church a miserable schisme for many yeares together the Easter fast Easter fast Reade Eusebius in the Eccle His the v. boke the xxiiii xxv and xxvi cha was it alwayes and in euery place vniformly obserued Nothing lesse All the Asianes dissented froÌ„ the Romaines and eche of them sayd they had a tradition yea from the Apostles The Asians would haue Easter day to be the .xiiij. of the moneth Nisan howsoeuer it fell were it eyther the first seconde thyrde fourth fyfth or sixt fery The Romaines would haue it only on that day whiche is called Dominicus the Sabboth The Asians wer the stronger part they had Philip the Apostle and hys daughters Iohn the Euangeliste and Polycarpus his scholer for theÌ„ The Romaynes had the whole succession of byshops from Peter forwarde Which of these partes wyl you approue Ye are a Romanist and therfore ye will holde with Anicetus rather following the custome that is of hym receyued But now ye must not condemne the other least ye be gilty of the same cryme that Ireneus dyd reproue in Victor For he helde it tyranny to throw the thunderbolt of excommunication for a little storme the
any man But that fayth alone without any Crosse is right auayleable the Scripture in euery place witnesseth Now where ye contende Fol. 117. a. that a Crosse is necessary notvvithstanding that men may haue Godly instructions by reading the Scriptures And hearing good preachers bycause euery man can not reade Scripture nor vnderstande it vvhen he readeth it euery man cannot at all times so conueniētly heare a good preacher as he may see the signe of the Crosse And things seene do moue more affection than those that be heard or red As your aunswere to this obiection agaynst your selfe contayneth thrée pretended causes so wyll I in order consider of them First that all men cannot reade Scripture or vnderstand it when they reade it I besech you be Images and Crosses such bookes as al men can reade vnderstand Images do speake doubtfully Did not I tell you how Stephen Gardiner a learned man made a false construction out of such a boke taking the Image of the king for S. George on horsebacke The countenance the proportion the apparel of them is as pleaseth the workman to deuise the vertue the power and the qualities of them is as pleaseth the lokers on to ymagine And let them reade in Images that lust They teach Diuelishly let them vnderstande as they may nothing doubtlesse is to be readde or vnderstode in them but the leude lessons of grosse Idolatrie penned by the diuell tending to damnation They be read vnlawfully And if there were not apparantly such perill in them the contrary whereof can not be auoyded yet were we bound not only to suspecte but also to refuse such scholemasters as they being not authorised by Gods commission but as I haue proued alwayes inhibited If Christ as the Gospell telleth vs twice in one place together be the only doctor and guide of his Math. 23. If God hath spoken in these last dayes by his sonne vnto vs in whose person all wonted wayes of instruction all reuelations doe ceasse Hebr. 1. we must nowe goe no further than to hys word we must seke no teacher but his holy spirite Ipse nos inducet in omnem veritatem that same wyll induce vs into all truth And although I knowe that the gyftes of God haue their degrées yet dare I say Ther can be no such ignorance as shall driue vs to seeke a knovveledge in an Image that none is vtterly so voyde of grace but hath for vnderstanding so much conferred on him as shall be expedient for his owne behoufe vnlesse he be vtterly as a rotten member cut of from Christ But if the skyll of reading or gyfte of vnderstanding be denyed vnto any shall he be driuen to séeke it where it is not Then shall he finde what he would not If our heauenly father refuse to teach vs a vile creature can not instruct vs. If God wythdrawe his decréed meane whereby he may win vs an extraordinary matter a stock or a stone cānot conuert vs. If God do not suffer vs a preaching parson the diuel doth send vs such dūb vicares If man be not worthied to direct vs in a truth an Image or a Crosse wil peruert vs with a lye Posuit thesaurum suum in vasis fictilibus He hath put his treasure in frayle vessels sayth S. Paule speaking of the worke of Gods exceding mercy in sending vs men of our owne nature by whome his wil may be reuealed to vs. But if your order assertion did holde then had he put his treasure in dumbe dead and senslesse creatures and shoulde stande to discretion of the Carpenter or smyth where he should best conferre his grace A strange case That vvhich al the creatures of God can not teach a Crosse can that where all the workes of God be insufficient to teach humilitie to persuade pacience to conuert from errour and comforte in despaire the vile worke of mannes wicked hande is able as you say to procure and compasse the same for vs. The worlde it selfe is a certayne spectacle of thinges inuisible for that the order and frame of it is a glasse to beholde the secrete working and hydden grace of God The heauenly creatures and spheres aboue haue a greater marke of his diuinitie more euident to the worlds eye than eyther can be vnknowen or dissembled Which thing S. Paule declareth to the Romains Rom. 1. saying that so much was opened vnto men as was requisite to be knowē of God in that his inuisible powers yea till ye come to his eterne vertue and diuinitie being vnderstode from the very beginning and creation of the world be dayly séene amongst vs. Notwithstanding such a knowledge as this being growen and gathered by such circumstaunces as be common vnto all alyke is naturall as it were and onely enforceth this that no excuse no cloke of ignoraunce can be pretended But to alter the heart to make a new minde to regenerate it to true pietie is the worke of another instrument and effecte of another cause For the principall and chiefe poynt wherevpon dependeth our health and saluation is not onely to know Gods absolute and vniuersall authoritie whereof both Heauen and earth is full and all the worlde is wytnesse but also to fynde out hys secrete counsayles to consyder his iudgementes to marke the mysteries of our saluation in Christ our Lorde which is hidden from the worlde Then if the maruellous workes of God be not sufficient to directe our wayes considering howe frayle we are and if it hap that through them sometime we fall into any deper consyderation of the heauenlie nature strayght wayes we are pulled from the thoughte thereof to our owne leudenesse and ymaginations slyding to the dotages and dreames of the fleshe whereby it commeth to passe that if perhappes any true instincte doe sparckle in vs it is out agayne before we can get any warmth of it What shall we thincke of a syllie Crosse that sorrie wormes and canker doth corrupte that neuer God nor good man deuised Shall we runne to so wicked and vnweldy succour shall we séeke so blinde a guide to bring vs out of darkenesse God neuer hath no not from the beginning dealt otherwise wyth hys electe but that he would strengthen and relieue their weakenesse with a stronger remedie For he hath vsed to their instruction the mysterie of his worde Illuminantis oculos Psal 18. intellectum dantis paruulis That lighteneth the eyes and giueth vnderstanding vnto the méeke Therefore the goodman and master of the house sayd in the Gospell Negotiemini donec veniam Occupy til I come Luke 19. When he intending to goe abrode himselfe gaue eche of his seruauntes his portion to bestowe What portion was it What was the talent What was the marchandize that they should trafficke with Not wyth the marchants of Tyrus to lade their shippes wyth precious wares nor with the Mariners of Ahasias séeke straunge countreyes to get golde But his
the Philosophers wer not ignoraÌ„t that there can be no lykenesse of God made and therefore not of Christe vnlesse we deny him to be God So that if a Crosse was vsed in his time yet was there no picture of Christe vpon it Last of all that places deputed vnto prayer were only called by the name of the which is the onely meane whereby we apprehende the promises of God and come to true knowledge of him If there were nothing els but Numa hys iudgement whome notwithstanding in all these pointes Cyrillê° doth allow he wer only sufficient to condeÌ„ne youre doctrine No Image of Christ to be made For if Christ be God God can haue no forme or shape what shall we thinke of the pictures of Christ in euery roodeloft and on euery crucifix Are they not things vtterly vnlawfull and suche as wherein Numa shall condemne you Peraduenture ye set a picture of Christ as of onely man but thereby ye runne into a damnable heresie separating his humanitie from his diuinite No Churche to be called by the name of a Sainct making him inferior vnto his father as is proued afore Againe the wisdome of that Romaine king condemneth the foolishe superstition of Christians in giuing worse names vnto their Churches than he did to the temples of his Idols For he called them al the temples of fayth giuing therby the glory vnto God wheras we doe cal them sainct Iohns Church S. Peters Church S. Maries Church and such other like To ioyne issue in the case whether memory be holpen by Imagery If ye speake of Gods matters it is an vngodlye memory that is holpeÌ„ by them Lib. 4. de Imag. ca. 2. Infoelix memoria quae vt Christi memoretur qui nunque à pectore iusti hominis recedere debet imaginariae visionis est indiga An vnhappy memory is the as Charles the great affirmeth which to remember Christ who neuer ought to departe out of the hart of the iust maÌ„ standeth in nede of a sightfull conceite Nor otherwise can haue the presence of Christe within hym vnlesse he haue hys Image paynted on the wall or expressed in some other matter Thys is not only sayd but a reason of the same is brought For sayeth he such a memory as is nourished and kepte by Images procedeth not of harty loue but necessitie of eye sight And sée by thys meanes how little God is beholden to vs. We remember hym as we remember the diuel for when we are not moued of conscience and good wyll A diuelish memory that must be holpen vvith a Crosse to thynke vpon Christe but onely as the eye by occasion is lead then is there no loue but a mere necessitie whiche maketh me remember so oft as I sée it any thing that I hate most So that who are these that must haue their memories quickened with a Crosse Such as if they were blinde belyke would not remember and beyng where no Crosse is wyll forget Christ And sure lyke inough For there are no worse lyuers in the worlde than likers of the Crosse Wherefore sith the minde of man ought so wholy to be desired on hym after whose Image it was firste made that by no creature it oughte to be estraunged from the truthe whiche is Christe DemeÌ„tissimum est eam interpositis materialibus Imaginibus ne eius obliuioneÌ„ patiatur admoneri debere cum videlicet hoc infirmitatis sit vitiuÌ„ non libertatis inditiuÌ„ Moste madnesse it is that oure myndes by the meane of materiall Images must be put in remembraunce leaste we fall to forget hym whereas thys is the faulte of infirmitie no signe of libertie The Apostle Paul sayth that oure conuersation muste be in heauen Philip. 3. Rom. 8. and hope reposed in heauenly thynges Spes enim quae videtur non est spes That hope which is sene is no hope God hath made many creatures of his own wherby his power may be knowen of vs they all notwtstanding in their degrée serue vs shal we now shape out a new creature serue it So dyd the Iewes whoÌ„ the Prophet bitterly reproueth saying To whom wil ye lyke God Esay 40. or what similitude wyl ye set vp vnto hym The workeman melteth an Image or the goldsmith beateth it oute in golde or the goldsmith maketh siluer plates Doth not the poore chose out a trée and so forth Whereby we are giueÌ„ to vnderstande that all Imagery so farre as coÌ„cerneth Gods seruice is condemned not only for the vse and adoration but also for the hauing and erecting of them For as yet he spake not of the worshipping of Images but only of worthying them any place among them To whom wyll ye lyken God sayth he as who shuld say Paint what ye wyll embosse and burnishe yet shal your workemanship haue nothing lyke with God Therefore to aspire vnto the knowledge of hym we muste not take counsell of oure owne folly but follow the wysdome of God herein and betake vs to hys worde whiche is the lyuely Image and perfect couÌ„terfet of himselfe If this suffyse not let vs cast our eyes about vpon hys creatures they wyl tel vs of hym yea the poore and hungry that styll be subiect vnto the Crosse wil leade vs straighter to Christ than any Crosse If you wyl seke for any further ayde I may say vnto you as followeth in the Prophete An nescitis an non audistis an non vobis annuÌ„ciatum est ab initio an non edocti estis a fundameÌ„tis terrae Know ye nothing haue ye not heard hath it not bene tolde you from the beginning haue ye not vnderstode by the foundations of the earth Marke I beseche you what scholemasters Esay doth appoynt vs when he had vsed the generall worde of knowing he inferred .ij. wayes that leade vs to knowledge First is the word which commeth by hearing The seconde is the world which without our workemanship is dayly to be séen If ye fynde any more it is more thaÌ„ the Prophet knewe of it is more then the spirite of God teacheth it is more than a Christien and godly man may vse Wherfore seyng nothyng is described by the Crosse auayleable for vs no piece of cause or effect of Christes passion is represented in it yea the person of Christ as much as in vs lieth disgraced by it and the maiestie of God dishonoured seing by the Scriptures and authority of the Godly such meane of remembraunce is both insufficient and vtterly vnlawfull condemning our selues of too deadly forgetfulnesse and contempte of the order that God hath set vs Finally séeing that it is such a sory scholemaster as speaketh doubtfully teacheth diuelishly is séene daungerously let the signe of the Crosse be cast out of the Church and the Crosse it selfe be preached symply least by suffering the signe of the Crosse to stande the sonne of God crucified be contemned and we fall to worshipping of a Crosse materiall
which in the nexte Article shall be proued damnable To the tenth Article The adoration and vvorshipping of the Crosse to be alovved by olde and auncient Fathers ALthough in the former Articles the folly and vnfaythfulnesse therof is shewed yet that the world may vnderstand vpon how weake a grouÌ„d ye stand howe ruinously ye builde I wil assay the force and sone ouerthrow the foundation of your cause Most reason it had bene if ye would haue proued an adoration and worship of a Crosse which appertayneth vnto God alone which to no creature can be applied ye shoulde haue brought some testimonie of the Scripture which in Gods matters only and sufficiently doth take an order But you sawe that Scripture is directe agaynst you therefore you would not alleage that should hinder you The Paynter that had drawen a cocke yl fauouredly commaunded hys boy to kepe the quicke cockes away so you that shamefully would confirme a lye reiect most wickedly the proufe of truth But I wil briefly note which you vtterly omit Gods playne euident commaundement to the contrary wherby ye may learne that if men in termes had ouershot them selues yet you shuld haue a better ayme than by following their gesse roue so farre from all godlinesse If you had proceded orderly according to the rule of skil you would haue shewed fyrst what Adoration and Worship is and then haue approued which you neuer shall the lawfull application of it vnto the Crosse If ye take it as the worde in Hebrew signifieth it is to how downe or prostrate your selfe The Gretians come very néere vnto the same and expresse it by bowing of the knée or putting off the cap. c. Nor I doubt but you in this interpretatioÌ„ agrée with me Notwithstanding that in no sense it can be giuen vnto an Image or otherwise to a senselesse and deade creature shall appeare anone Exod. 20. In Exodus when God had spoken of all similitudes and likenesses of thinges in heauen or in earth he added Thou shalt not bowe downe to them nor serue them The Gréeke is the same which signifieth Worship and Adoration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Also the Prophet in Gods person speaketh Is there no knowledge nor vnderstanding to say Esay 44. I haue burnt halfe of it euen in the flet haue baked bread vpon the coales therof I haue rosted flesh eaten of it And shall I make the residue an abhomination shal I bow to the stock of a trée And with a great indignatioÌ„ in another place he sayth Esay 2. They worshipped the worke of their own hands that which their own fingers made A maÌ„ bowed himself a man humbled himself therefore spare them not Many other places I could heape hereon which euidently conuince all AdoratioÌ„ to other thaÌ„ to God to be accursed Only when you wil vs after the example of your master the diuel to fall downe and worship a siluer crosse or a woodden trée I wil answere with Christ Auoyd Sathan It is written Math. 4. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serue Now worship and seruise so ioyntly do concur togither that the one caÌ„not be without the other If only we must serue god him only we must worship In the Epistle to the Hebrues Heb. 1. S. Paul proueth Christ more excellent than the Angels bycause they worship Christ but are not worshipped agayne If Angels haue not this adoration shal a vile stock or a cold cankerd corrupte piece of metall haue it In the Actes of the Apostles it is writteÌ„ how Cornelius the Centurion Act. 10. fel down at Peters féete worshipped him But the Apostle toke him vp and reproued him saying Stand vp for I my self am a man If so great a sainct as Sainct Peter was be not to be worshipped so fowle a block as a Roode is much lesse is to be set by In the Reuelation Apoc. 14. an Angel from Heauen gaue a charge on this wise Feare God and giue him the glory for the houre of his iudgement is come and worshippe him Which worship that it ought not to be giuen to another in the same boke good president we finde For when the Euangelistes fell downe at the Aungels féete Apoc. 19. to worshippe him he aunswered Sée thou doe it not I am thy fellowe seruant and one of thy brethren which haue the testimony of Iesus Worship God Likewise about the latter ende this witnesse ye haue Apoc. 22. When I had heard and séene sayth Iohn I fell downe to worship before the féete of the Angel But he sayd vnto me Sée thou do it not for I am thy fellowe seruant and of thy brethren the Prophetes and of them which kepe the wordes of this boke Worship God If the Angels of Heauen refused worship and adoration alleaging wythall that they were but seruaunts and therfore would nor derogate from their master ascribing to themselues that which is onely due vnto God Shalt we thinke that an Image a picture or a post forbydden to be made accursed to be vsed may as a dumbe God or a deade Diuell lawfully be thus honored I will not cumber you any more wyth Scriptures for that I thinke you are not so farre past shame Fol. 124. a. Fol. 126. Fol. 125. â— but that ye acknowledge that they are agaynst you Let vs come to the doctors Ye only cite Chrisostome and so as it pleaseth Frier Perionie of Paris to make him speake Augustine in a worke that is none of his as here a little before I proued Athanasius corrupted as in the fift Article I shewed Lactantius vtterly agaynst himselfe as shall anone be iustified And as for Paulinus Damascene and the canon cited as out of the sixt councell generall I haue heretofore in sundry places aunswered Here are but seauen authorities in all if they were admitted as they are not to be true But if I should runne ouer all the auncient fathers that euer wrote and truly alleage them as you do not they would all confirme you a lier and Idolatrer For proufe I will bring you for seauen seauentene beâ—â—â— counsels generall and among them the selfs same authours which you truste vnto that your blinde ignoraunce or wilfull obstinacy may the more appeare I wil cite them in order as in auncientie they stande Clement not passe .80 yeares after Christ in the worke that you doe ascribe vnto him sayth that when Peter had spoken much agaynst the Egyptians superstitious Idolatrie which honored an Oxe and a Goate a Fish and a Serpent wyth other sluttish and vncleanly things Cloacas crepituÌ„ ventris and that the hearers began to laugh thereat he burste out into these wordes Clemens Recog ad Iac frat Do. Lib. 5. Rideus vt alibrâ—m dedecora quia longaâ—â—â—â— suetudine propria non videtis Num Egypciorum quid on stuâ—itiam merito ridetis qui muta animalia ipsi cum sint
nor adoration oughte to be giuen to so vile a thyng as a Crosse is Augustine Augustin de vera Rel. cap 55. agréeth with hys fellowes sayeth Non sit nobis relligio humanorū operū culius Menores enim sunt ipsa artifices qui talia fabricantur quos tamen colere non debemus Let not vs haue a religiō in worshipping of mans works For the workemen themselues that make them be better whome notwithstanding we oughte not to worship Nor Chrysostome Chrysostome in any worke that is hys dissenteth frō the reste Vpon the .4 of Iohn 32. Hom these playne wordes he hath Adorare creaturae adorari non creature sed domini est To adore and worship belongeth to a creature but to be adored belongeth to no creature but onely to the Lorde Cyrill when he would proue the diuinitie of Christ that he is of the same substaunce with the father drewe an argument from adoration of the Angels And if that any but onely God maye be adored then is hys reason none Cyrill Thesauri Li. 2. cap. 1. The wordes be these Nemo ignorat nullà prorsus natura preterq̄ dei adorationem à scriotura contribui No man is ignoraunt that adoration in the Scripture is attributed to no kynde of nature saue onely to the nature of God And thus the elder fathers Now to come down to latter yeres Gregory Pope Epist li. 7. Indict 2. cap. 109. Gregory the Pope the first that euer maintained Images is so muche against the adoring of them that in euery sentence where he speaketh of them he seriously forbiddeth it Zelum vos ne quid manufactum adorari possit habuisse laudauimus Et iterum Ab earum adoratione populum prohibere debuit Et tertio vt populus in picture adoratione minimē peccaret In English We prayse it well that you had a zeale that nothing made with hande should be adored And agayne You oughte to haue forbidden the people from the adoring of them Thirdly that the people should not offend in adoratiō or worshipping of a picture If pictures generally be thus cōmended so much as cōcerneth adoration I leaue it to your discretiō to consider what is to be sayd of worshyp to be done to roodes or crucifixes Nor here I wyll omyt a proper workeman of your own occupation Iohannes Alfonsus de castro He in hys boke aduersus haereses reporteth that one Claudius by shop of Taurino forbad all in his iurisdiction the adoration and worshyp of our Lordes Crosse He was of priuye counsell to Charles the great A worthy Prelate for so wise a Prince What the opinion of Charles the greate was in thys behalfe Carolus Magnus I referre you to hys foure bokes de Imaginibus of purpose penned against the insolent and doltish cōspiracy dissembling at Nice If ye loke for coūcels to condemne your error I sende you backe to the thirde Article there ye shal fynde sufficient to confute you Thus haue I sleightly passed ouer not al that I could recite but as many as I thought expedient for cleare disproufe of your vngodly purpose Ye would haue it appeare that al the fathers wer in your fonde beliefe whereas ye rehearse but a very few and the same not onely corruptly wrested but maliciouslye in most partes falsefied I haue brought you the simple and playne wordes of theirs oute of their owne approued writinges such as I trust you wyll not gaynesay Now let the good readers iudge whether according to the false exposition of you or fonde meaning of a fewe the Crosse should be worshipped and adored or els according to the sounde censure of the moe A briefe rehersall of the doctors opinion touching the adoration of the Crosse of the Godly of the Scriptures themselues be cast out of the Churche and deputed to the vse that it deserueth As for the adoration S. Peter compared it with the Gentiles Idolatry condemned it as vnlawfull and yet saw not the hartes of the worshippers Clement of Alexandria calleth it a monstruous thyng a mad parte worse than the seruise of the diuell to worship stockes or stones yet we must crepe to the Crosse you saye Ireneus accompteth it heresy to cary about the true Image of Christ yet you will haue it catholyke to adore worship the false Crosse Tertullian sayth that it is Idolatrie to adore the lykenesse of any thyng Thē is there no great holinesse or safetie in the Crosse Cyprian affirmeth it to be contrary to nature against the dignitie of our creation and a wycked worship to fal down to a creature and shal we then adore the Crosse Origen wyll not admit any externall signe of honor howsoeuer the minde otherwise be affected to be giuen to the workemanship of mans hande but sayth that it is against the commaundement shall we crouch créepe to the Crosse Arnobius scorneth the esteming of the Crosse and to the condemnation of Ethnikes sayth Cruces nec colimus nec optaemus vos plane qui ligneos Deos consecratis Cruces ligneas vt Deorum vestrorum partes forsitā adoratis As for Crosses we neyther worship nor wysh for But you which consecrate ye woodden Gods peraduenture worship the woodden Crosses as percels of your Goddes This spake Arnobius in defence of the Christians Lib. 8. and reproufe of the Gentiles And shall we directe contrary to this both wish and worship Crosses worse than the Gentiles vnworthy name of Christians Lactantius in lyke sort condemneth the Gentiles for tooting vpon Images and willeth them to looke vp to Heauen And shall we still be poaring on so blinde a boke as a Crosse is Athanasius would not that the enimie should haue such aduauntage of him as to say that he or any other Christian worshipped the Crosse we must haue it a doctrine that euery man is bound to worship it Epiphanius tare the vaile that had the picture of Christ vpon it he affirmed the worshipping of the same to be fornication We must haue a poste wyth a mocke man vpon it and afterward do honour to it Ambrose accoumpted it an errour of Gentilitie a vanitie of peruerse to adore the Crosse And we must holde it a good catholike doctrine bycause Master Martiall doth teach it Hierome Augustine Chrisostome Cyrill Gregorie condemne as is before confirmed all adoration done to any creature and yet you thinke the same by testimonies of the fathers due to the signe of the Crosse If you had considered the fathers wel you would not so yll haue slaundered them You thinke you haue a good euasion when you say that vve must atrribute vnto it not any diuine honor due onely to God Folio 128. b. but as it hath bene right vvell declared before of others an inferiour kinde of reuerence I maruell that you are so inconstant M. Martiall Euen nowe you would nedes haue Adoration and Worship to the signe of the Crosse they be propre vnto