meant in any condition of the pretenced or coloured Power of the Bishop of Rome For truly the Scripture of God alloweth no such Usurped Power full of Enormities Abusions and Blasphemies But the true meaning of these and such places be to extol and set forth God's true Ordinance and the Authority of God's Anointed Kings and of their Officers appointed under them And concerning the Usurped Power of the Bishop of Rome which he most wrongfully challengeth as the successor of Christ and Peter We may easily perceive how false feigned and forged it is not only in that it hath no sufficient ground in Holy Scripture but also by the Fruits and Doctrine thereof For our Saviour Christ and St. Peter teach most earnestly and agreeably Obedience to Kings as to the chief and Supreme Rulers in this world next under God But the Bishop of Rome teacheth that they that are under him are free from all burdens and charges of the Commonwealth and Obedience toward their Prince most clearly against Christ's Doctrine and St. Peters He ought therefore rather to be called Antichrist and the Successor of the Scribes and Pharises than Christ's Vicar and St. Peter's Successor Seeing that not only in this point but also in other weighty matters of Christian Religion in matters of Remission and Forgiveness of Sins and of Salvation he teacheth so directly against both St. Peter and against our Saviour Christ who not only taught Obedience to Kings but also practised Obedience in their Conversation and Living For we read that they both paid Tribute to the King And also we read that the Holy Virgin Mary Matth. 17. Mother to our Saviour Christ and Joseph who was taken for his Father at the Emperor's Commandment went to the City of David Luke 2. named Bethlehem to be taxed among other and to declare their Obedience to the Magistrates for God's Ordinances sake And here let us not forget the blessed Virgin Maries Obedience For although she was highly in God's Favour and and Christs natural Mother and was also great with Child at the same time and so nigh her Travail that she was delivered in her journey yet she gladly without any excuse or grudging for Conscience sake did take that cold and foul Winter journey being in the mean season so poor that she lay in a Stable and there she was Delivered of Christ And according to the same Lo how St. Peter agreeth writing by express words in his first Epistle 1 Pet. 2. Submit your selves and be Subject saith he unto Kings as unto the chief heads and unto rulers as unto them that are sent of him for the punishment of evil-doors and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God I need not to expound these words they be so plain of themselves St. Peter doth not say Submit your selves unto me as Supreme Head of the Church Neither saith he Submit your selves from time to time to my Successors in Rome But he saith Submit your selves unto your King your Supreme Head and unto those that he appointeth in Authority under him for that you shall so shew your Obedience it is the Will of God God will that you be in subjection to your Head and King This is God's Ordinance God's Commandment and God's Will that the whole Body of every Realm and all the Members and Parts of the same shall be subject to their Head their King and that as St. Peter writeth for the Lords sake 1 Pet. 2. Rom. 13. Matth. 22. And as St. Paul writeth for conscience sake and not for fear only Thus we learn by the word of God to yield to our King that is due to our King That is Honour Obedience payments of due Taxes Customs Tributes Subsidies Love and Fear Rom. 13. Thus we know partly our bounden Duties to common Authority now let us learn to accomplish the same And let us most instantly and heartily pray to God the only Author of all Authority for all them that be in Authority according as St. Paul willeth writing thus to Timothy in his first Epistle 1 Tim. 2. I exhort therefore that above all things Prayers Supplications Intercessions and giving of Thanks be done for all Men for Kings and for all that be in Authority that we may live a quiet and a peaceable life with all godliness and Honesty For that is good and accepted or allowable in the sight of God our Saviour Here St. Paul maketh an earnest and an especial Exhortation concerning Giving of Thanks and Prayer for Kings and Rulers saying Above all things as he might say in any wise principally and chiefly let prayer be made for Kings Let us heartily thank God for his great and excellent Benefit and Providence concerning the state of Kings Let us pray for them that they may have God's Favour and God's Protection Let us pray that they may ever in all things have God before their Eyes Let us pray that they may have Wisdom Strength Justice Clemency and Zeal to God's Glory to God's Verity to Christian Souls and to the Commonwealth Let us pray that they may rightly use their Sword and Authority for the maintenance and defence of the Catholick Faith contained in Holy Scripture and of their good and honest Subjects for the fear and punishment of the evil and vicious People Let us pray that they may most faithfully follow the Kings and Captains in the Bible David Ezekias Josias and Moses with such other And let us pray for ourselves that we may live Godlily in Holy and Christian Conversation So shall we have God on our side and then let us not fear what Man can do against us So we shall live in true Obedience both to our most merciful King in Heaven and to our most Christian King on Earth So shall we please God and have the exceeding Benefit peace of Conscience rest and quietness here in this World and after this life we shall enjoy a better Life Rest Peace and the everlasting Bliss of Heaven which he grant us all that was obedient for us all even to the death of the Cross Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory both now and ever Amen A SERMON Against Whoredom and Vncleanness ALthough there want not good Christian People great swarms of Vices worthy to be rebuked unto such decay is true Godliness and Virtuous living now come Yet above other Vices the outragious Seas of Adultery or breaking of Wedlock Whoredom Fornication and Uncleanness have not only burst in but also overflowed almost the whole World unto the great dishonour of God the exceeding Infamy of the Name of Christ the notable decay of true Religion and the utter destruction of the publick Wealth and that so abundantly that through the customable use thereof this Vice is grown unto such an height that in a manner among many it is counted no sin at all but rather a pastime a
of the First Part was promised that this Truth and Doctrine concerning the forbidding of Images and Worshipping of them taken out of the Holy Scriptures as well of the Old Testament as the New was believed and taught of the old Holy Fathers and most ancient Learned Doctors and received in the Old Primitive Church which was most uncorrupt and pure And this Declaration shall be made out of the said Holy Doctors own Writings and out of the ancient Histories Ecclesiastical to the same belonging Tertullian a most ancient Writer and Doctor of the Church who lived about One Hundred and Threescore years after the Death of our Saviour Christ both in sundry other places of his Works and specially in his Book Written against The manner of Crowning Lib. contra coronandi morem and in another little Treatise Entituled Of the Souldiers Crown or Garland doth most sharply and vehemently write and inveigh against Images or Idols And upon Saint John's words the First Epistle and Fifth Chapter saith thus Saint John saith he deeply considering the matter saith My little Children 1 John 5. keep yourselves from Images or Idols He saith not now keep yourselves from Idolatry as it were from the Service and Worshipping of them But from the Images or Idols themselves that is from the very shape and likeness of them For it were an unworthy thing that the Image of the living God should become the Image of a dead Idol Do you not think those Persons which place Images and Idols in Churches and Temples yea shrine them even over the Lords Table even as it were of purpose to the Worshipping and Honouring of them take good heed either to Saint John's Counsel or Tertullian's For so to place Images and Idols is it to keep themselves from them or else to receive and embrace them Origen in his Book against Celsus saith thus Christian Men and Jews when they hear these words of the Law Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and shalt not make any Image do not only abhor the Temples Altars and Images of the Gods but if need be will rather die than they should defile themselves with any impiety And shortly after he saith In the Common-Wealth of the Jews the Carver of Idols and Image-maker was cast far off and forbidden lest they should have any occasion to make Images which might pluck certain foolish Persons from God and turn the Eyes of their Souls to the Contemplation of Earthly Things And in another place of the same Book It is not only saith he a Mad and Frantick part to Worship Images but also once to dissemble or wink at it And a Man may know God and his only Son and those which have had such Honour given them by God that they be called Gods But it is not possible that any should by Worshipping of Images get any knowledge of God Athanasius in his Book against the Gentiles hath these Words Let them tell I pray you how God may be known by an Image If it be by the matter of an Image then there needeth no shape or form seeing that God hath appeared in all material Creatures which do testifie his Glory Now if they say he is known by the form or fashion Is he not better to be known by the living things themselves whose fashions the Images express For of surety the glory of God should be more evidently known if it were declared by reasonable and living Creatures rather than by dead and unmoveable Images Therefore when ye do Grave or Paint Images to the end to know God thereby surely ye do an unworthy and unfit thing And in another place of the same Book he saith The invention of Images came of no good but of evil and whatsoever hath an evil beginning can never in any thing be judged good seeing it is altogether naught Thus far Athanasius a very Ancient Holy and Learned Bishop and Doctor who judgeth both the first beginning and the end and altogether of Images or Idols to be naught Laclantius likewise an Old and Learned Writer in his Book of The Original of E rour hath these words God is above Man and is not placed beneath but is to be sought in the highest Region Wherefore there is no doubt but that no Religion is in that place wheresoever any Image is For if Religion stand in godly things and there is no godliness but in heavenly things then be Images without Religion Lib. 2. c. 16. These be Lactantius his words who was above Thirteen Hundred years ago and within Three Hundred years after our Saviour Christ Cyrillus an Old and Holy Doctor upon the Gospel of Saint John hath these words Many have left the Creator and have Worshipped the Creature neither have they been abashed to say unto a Stock Thou art my Father and to a Stone Thou begottest me For many yea almost all alas for Sorrow are fallen unto such folly that they have given the Glory of Deity or Godhead to things without Sense or Feeling Epiphanius Bishop of Salamine in Cyprus a very Holy and Learned Man who lived in Theodosius the Emperors time about Three Hundred and Ninety years after our Saviour Christs Ascension writeth thus to John Patriarch of Jerusalem I entred saith Epiphanius into a certain Church to pray I found there a Linen Cloth hanging in the Church Door Painted and having in it the Image of Christ as it were or of some other Saint for I remember not well whose Image it was therefore when I did see the Image of a Man hanging in the Church of Christ contrary to the Authority of the Sâ—â—â—ptures I did tear it and gave Counsel to the 〈◊〉 of the Church that they should wind a 〈…〉 â—hat was Dead in the said Cloth and 〈…〉 And 〈…〉 same Epiphanius sending another 〈…〉 for that Painted one which 〈◊〉 â—ad 〈…〉 said Patriarch writeth thus I pray you 〈…〉 Elders of that place to receive this Cloth which 〈…〉 sent by this bearer and Command them 〈◊〉 from henceforth no such Painted Cloths contrary to our Religion be hanged in the Church of Christ For it becometh your goodness rather to have this care that you take away such scrupulosity which is unfitting for the Church of Christ and offensive to the People committed to your charge And this Epistle as Worthy to be Read of many did Saint Jerome himself Translate into the Latin Tongue And that ye may know that Saint Jerome had this Holy and Learned Bishop Epiphanius in most high Estimation and therefore did Translate this Epistle as a Writing of Authority hear what a Testimony the said Saint Jerome giveth him in another place in his Treatise against the Errours of John Bishop of Jerusalem where he hath these words All notable Bishops were then called Popes Thou hast saith Saint Jerome Pope Epiphanius which doth openly in his Letters call thee an Heretick Surely thou art not to be preferred before him neither for Age nor Learning nor
Godliness of Life nor by the Testimony of the whole World And shortly after in the same Treatise saith Saint Jerome Bishop Epiphanius was ever of so great Veneration and Estimation that Valens the Emperor who was a great Persecutor did not once touch him For Hereticks being Princes thought it their shame if they should persecute such a notable Man And in the Tripartite Ecclesiastical History the Ninth Book and Forty Eighth Chapter is testified That Epiphanius being yet alive did work Miracles and that after his Death Devils Lib. 9. c. 48. being expelled at his Grave or Tomb did roar Thus you see what Authority Saint Jerome and that most ancient History give unto the Holy and Learned Bishop Epiphanius whose judgment of Images in Churches and Temples then beginning by stealth to creep in is worthy to be noted First he judged it contrary to Christian Religion and the Authority of the Scriptures to have any Images in Christs Church Secondly he rejected not only Carved Graven and Molten Images but also painted Images out of Christs Church Thirdly that he regarded not whether it were the Image of Christ or of any other Saint but being an Image would not suffer it in the Church Fourthly that he did not only remove it out of the Church but with a vehement zeal tare it in sunder and exhorted that a Corse should be wrapped and buried in it judging it meet for nothing but to rot in the Earth following herein the Example of the good King Ezechias who brake the brasen Serpent to pieces and burned it to Ashes for that Idolatry was committed to it Last of all that Epiphanius thinketh it the duty of Vigilant Bishops to be careful that no Images be permitted in the Church for that they be occasion of scruple and offence to the people committed to their charge Now whereas neither S. Jerome who did translate the same Epistle nor the Authors of that most ancient History Ecclesiastical Tripartite who do most highly commend Epiphanius as is aforesaid nor any other godly or learned Bishop at that time or shortly after have written any thing against Epiphanius his Judgment concerning Images It is an evident proof that in those days which were about four hundred years after our Saviour Christ there were no Images publickly used and received in the Church of Christ which was then much less corrupt and more pure than now it is And whereas Images began at that time secretly and by stealth to creep out of private Mens Houses into the Churches and that first in painted Cloths and Walls such Bishops as were godly and vigilant when they spyed them removed them away as unlawful and contrary to Christian Religion as did here Epiphanius to whose Judgment you have not only Saint Jerome the Translator of his Epistle and the Writer of the History Tripartite but also all the learned and godly Clerks yea and the whole Church of that Age and so upward to our Saviour Christs time by the space of about four hundred years consenting and agreeing This is written the more largely of Epiphanius for that our Image-maintainers now adays seeing themselves so pressed with this most plain and earnest act and writing of Epiphanius a Bishop and Doctor of such Antiquity and Authority labour by all means but in vain against the Truth either to prove that this Epistle was neither of Epiphanius's Writing nor Saint Jerome's Translation Either if it be say they it is of no great force For this Epiphanius say they was a Jew and being converted to the Christian Faith and made a Bishop retained the hatred which Jews have to Images still in his mind and so did and wrote against them as a Jew rather than as a Christian O Jewish Impudency and Malice of such Devisers it should be proved and not said only that Epiphanius was a Jew Furthermore concerning the reason they make I would admit it gladly For if Epiphanius his Judgment against Images is not to be admitted for that he was born of a Jew an Enemy to Images which be Gods Enemies converted to Christs Religion then likewise followeth it that no Sentence in the Old Doctors and Fathers sounding for Images ought to be of any Authority for that in the Primitive Church the most part of Learned Writers as Tertullian Cyprian Ambrose Austin and infinite others more were of Gentiles which be Favourers and Worshippers of Images converted to the Christian Faith and so let somwhat slip out of their Pens sounding for Images rather as Gentiles than Christians as Eusebius in his History Ecclesiastical and Saint Jerome saith plainly That Images came first from the Gentiles to us Christians And much more doth it follow that the opinion of all the Rablement of the Popish Church maintaining Images ought to be esteemed of small or no Authority for that it is no marvel that they which have from their Childhood been brought up amongst Images and Idols and have drunk in Idolatry almost with their Mothers Milk hold with Images and Idols and speak and write for them But indeed it would not be so much marked whether he were of a Jew or a Gentile converted unto Christ's Religion that writeth as how agreeable or contrary to Gods word he doth write and so to credit or discredit him Now what Gods word saith of Idols and Images and the Worshipping of them you heard at large in the First part of this Homily Saint Ambrose in his Treatise of the Death of Theodosius the Emperor saith Helene found the Cross and the Title on it She Worshipped the King and not the Wood surely for that is an Heathenish Errour and the Vanity of the wicked but she Worshipped him that hanged on the Cross and whose Name was Written in the Title and so forth See both the godly Empress her fact and Saint Ambrose's Judgment at once They thought it had been an Heathenish Errour and Vanity of the Wicked to have Worshipped the Cross itself which was embrued with our Saviour Christs own precious Blood And we fall down before every Cross piece of Timber which is but an Image of that Cross Saint Augustine the best Learned of all ancient Doctors in his Forty fourth Epistle to Maximus saith Know thou that none of the Dead nor any thing that is made of God is Worshipped as God of the Catholick Christians of whom there is a Church also in your Town Note that by Saint Augustine such as Worshipped the Dead or Creatures be not Catholick Christians The same Saint Augustine teacheth in the Twelfth Book of the City of God the Tenth Chapter That neither Temples or Churches ought to be builded or made for Martyrs or Saints but to God alone And that there ought no Priests to be appointed for Martyr or Saint but to God only The same Saint Augustine in his Book of The Manners of the Catholick Church hath these words I know that many be Worshippers of Tombs and Pictures I know that there be
many that Banquet most riotously over the Graves of the Dead and giving Meat to Dead Carkasses do bury themselves upon the buried and attribute their Gluttony and Drunkenness to Religion See he esteemeth Worshipping of Saints Tombs and Pictures as good Religion as Gluttony and Drunkenness and no better at all Saint Augustine greatly alloweth Marcus Varro affirming That Religion is most pure without Images and saith himself Images be of more force to crooken an unhappy Soul than to teach and instruct it And saith further Every Child yea every Beast knoweth that it is not God that they see Wherefore then doth the Holy Ghost so often admonish us of that which all Men know Whereunto Saint Augustine himself answereth thus For saith he Lib. de 〈◊〉 Dei cap 43. In Psal 36. 113 when Images are placed in Temples and set in Honourable Sublimity and begin once to be Worshipped forthwith breedeth the most vile affection of Errour This is Saint Augustine's Judgment of Images in Churches that by and by they breed Errour and Idolatry It would be tedious to rehearse all other places which might be brought out of the Ancient Doctors against Images and Idolatry Wherefore we shall hold ourselves contented with these few at this present Now as concerning Histories Ecclesiastical touching this matter that ye may know why and when and by whom Images were first used privately and afterwards not only received into Christian Churches and Temples but in conclusion Worshipped also and how the same was gain said resisted and forbidden as well by godly Bishops and Learned Doctors as also by sundry Christian Princes I will briefly collect into a Compenâ—â—â—s History that which is at large and â—â—â—â—ssariâ—y places Written by divers ancient Writers and Historiographers concerning this matter As the Jews having a most plain and express Commandment of God that they should neither make nor Worship any Image as it is at large before declared did notwithstanding by the Example of the Gentiles or Heathen People that dwelt about them fall to the Making of Images and Worshipping of them and so to the committing of most abominable Idolatry for the which God by his Holy Prophets doth most sharply reprove and threaten them and afterward did accomplish his said threatnings by extream punishing of them as is also above specified Even so some of the Christians in old time which were converted from Worshipping of Idols and false Gods unto the true living God and to our Saviour Jesus Christ did of a certain blind zeal as Men long accustomed to Images Paint or Carve Images of our Saviour Christ his Mother Mary and of the Apostles thinking that this was a point of Gratitude and Kindness towards those by whom they had received the true knowledge of God and the Doctrine of the Gospel But these Pictures or Images came not yet into Churches nor were yet Worshipped of a long time after And lest you should think that I do say this of mine own Head only without Authority I alledge for me Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea and the most Ancient Author of the Ecclesiastical History who lived about the Three Hundred and Thirtieth year of our Lord in Constantius Magnus his days and his Son Constantius Emperors in the Seventh Book of his History Ecclesiastical the Fourteenth Chapter and Saint Jerome upon the Tenth Chapter of the Prophet Jeremiah who both expresly say That the Errours of Images for so Saint Jerome calleth it have come in and passed to the Christians from the Gentiles by an Heathenish Use and Custom The cause and means Eusebius sheweth saying It is no marvel if they which being Gentiles before and did believe seemed to offer this as a gift to our Saviour for the benefits which they had received of him yea and we do see now that Images of Peter and Paul and of our Saviour himself be made and Tables to be Painted which I think to have been observed and kept indifferently by an Heathenish Custom For the Heathen are wont so to Honour them whom they judged Honour-Worthy for that some tokens of old Men should be kept For the Remembrance of Posterity is a token of their Honour that were before and the Love of those that come after Thus far I have rehearsed Eusebius his Words Where note ye that both Saint Jerome and He agree herein that these Images came in amongst Christian Men by such as were Gentiles and accustomed to Idols and being converted to the Faith of Christ retained yet some Remnants of Gentility not throughly purged For Saint Jerome calleth it an Errour manifestly And the like Example we see in the Acts of the Apostles of the Jews who when they were converted to Christ would have brought in their Circumcision whereunto they were so long accustomed with them into Christs Religion With whom the Apostles namely Saint Paul Act 15. had much ado for the staying of that matter But of Circumcision was less marvail for that it came first in by Gods Ordinance and Commandment A Man may most justly wonder of Images so directly against Gods Holy Word and strict Commandment how they should enter in But Images were not yet Worshipped in Eusebius his time nor publickly set up in Churches and Temples and they who privately had them did err of a certain Zeal and not by Malice But afterwards they crept out of private Houses into Churches and so bred first Superstition and last of all Idolatry amongst Christians as hereafter shall appear In the time of Theodosius and Martain Emperors who reigned about the year of our Lord 460. and 1117. years ago when the People of the City of Nola once a year did celebrate the Birth day of Saint Foelix in the Temple and used to banquet there sumptuously Pontius Paulinus Bishop of Nola caused the Walls of the Temple to be painted with Stories taken out of the Old Testament that the People beholding and considering those Pictures might the better abstain from too much surfeiting and riot And about the same time Aurelius Prudentius a very learned and Christian Poet declareth how he did see painted in a Church the History of the Passion of S. Cassian a Schoolmaster and Martyr whom his own Scholars at the Commandment of the Tyrant tormented with the pricking or stabbing in of their Pointels or Brazen Pens into his Body and so by a thousand Wounds and more as saith Prudentius most cruelly slew him And these were the first Paintings in Churches that were notable of Antiquity And so by this example came in Painting and afterward Images of Timber and Stone and other matter into the Churches of Christians Now if ye well consider this beginning Men are not so ready to worship a Picture on a Wall or in a Window as an embossed and gilt Image set with Pearl and Stone And a process of a Story painted with the Gestures and Actions of many Persons and commonly the sum of the Story written withal hath another use in it
than one dumb Idol or Image standing by itself But from learning by painted Stories it came by little and little to Idolatry Which when godly Men as well Emperors and learned Bishops as others perceived they commanded that such Pictures Images or Idols should be used no more And I will for a Declaration thereof begin with the Decree of the ancient Christian Emperors Valens and Theodosius the second who reigned about four hundred years after our Saviour Christ's Ascension who forbad that any Images should be made or painted privately For certain it is that there were none in Temples publickly in their time These Emperors did write unto the Captain of the Army attending on the Emperors after this sort Valens and Theodosius Emperors unto the Captain of the Army Whereas we have a diligent care to maintain the Religion of God above in all things we will grant to no Man to set forth grave carve or paint the Image of our Saviour Christ in Colours Stone or any other matter but in what place soever it shall be found we command that it be taken away and that all such as shall attempt any thing contrary to our Decrees or Commandments herein shall be most sharply punished This Decree is written in the Books named Libri Augustales the Imperial Books gathered by Tribonianus Basilides Theophilus Dioscorus and Satira Men of great Authority and Learning at the Commandment of the Emperor Justinian and is alledged by Petrus Crinitus a notable learned Man in the Ninth Book and Ninth Chapter of his Work intituled De honesta Disciplina that is to say Of honest Learning Here you see what Christian Princes of most ancient times decreed against Images which then began to creep in amongst the Christians For it is certain that by the space of three hundred years and more after the death of our Saviour Christ and before these godly Emperors reigned there were no Images publickly in Churches or Temples How would the Idolaters glory if they had so much Antiquity and Authority for them as is here against them Now shortly after these days the Goths Vandals Huns and other barbarous and wicked Nations burst into Italy and all parts of the West Countries of Europe with huge and mighty Armies spoiled all places destroyed Cities and burned Libraries so that Learning and true Religion went to wrack and decayed incredibly And so the Bishops of those later days being of less Learning and in the midst of the Wars taking less heed also than did the Bishops afore by ignorance of Gods Word and negligence of Bishops and especially barbarous Princes not rightly instructed in true Religion bearing the Rule Images came into the Church of Christ in the said West parts where these barbarous People ruled not now in painted Cloth only but embossed in Stone Timber Metal and other like matter and were not only set up but began to be worshipped also And therefore Serenus Bishop of Massile the head Town of Gallia Narbonensis now called the Province a godly and learned Man who was about six hundred years after our Saviour Christ seeing the People by occasion of Images fall to most abominable Idolatry brake to pieces all the Images of Christ and Saints which were in that City and was therefore complained upon to Gregory the first of that Name Bishop of Rome who was the first learned Bishop that did allow the open having of Images in Churches that can be known by any Writing or History of Antiquity And upon this Gregory do all Image-worshippers at this day ground their Defence But as all things that be amiss have from a tolerable beginning grown worse and worse till they at the last became intolerable So did this matter of Images First Men used privately Stories painted in Tables Cloths and Walls Afterwards gross and embossed Images privately in their own Houses Then afterwards Pictures first and after them embossed Images began to creep into Churches learned and godly Men ever speaking against them Then by use it was openly maintained That they might be in Churches but yet forbidden that they should be worshipped Of which Opinion was Gregory as by the said Gregory's Epistle to the forenamed Serenus Bishop of Massile plainly appeareth Which Epistle is to be found in the Book of Epistles of Gregory or Register in the tenth part of the fourth Epistle where he hath these words That thou didst forbid Images to be worshipped we praise altogether but that thou didst break them we blame For it is one thing to worship the Picture and another thing by the Picture of the Story to learn what is to be worshipped For that which Scripture is to them that read the same doth Picture perform unto Idiots or the unlearned beholding and so forth And after a few words Therefore it should not have been broken which was set up not to be worshipped in Churches but only to instruct the Minds of the ignorant And a little after Thus thou shouldst have said If you will have Images in the Church for that instruction wherefore they were made in old time I do permit that they may be made and that you may have them and shew them that not the sight of the Story which is opened by the Picture but that worshipping which was inconveniently given to the Pictures did mislike you And if any would make Images not to forbid them but avoid by all means to worship any Image By these Sentences taken here and there out of Gregory's Epistle to Serenus for it were too long to rehearse the whole ye may understand whereunto the matter was now come six hundred years after Christ That the having of Images or Pictures in the Churches were then maintained in the West part of the World for they were not so forward yet in the East Church but the worshipping of them was utterly forbidden And you may withal note That seeing there is no ground for worshipping of Images in Gregory's Writing but a plain condemnation thereof that such as do worship Images do unjustly alledge Gregory for them And further if Images in the Church do not teach Men according to Gregory's Mind but rather blind them It followeth that Images should not be in the Church by his sentence who only would they should be placed there to the end that they might teach the ignorant Wherefore if it be declared that Images have been and be worshipped and also that they teach nothing but Errours and Lyes which shall by God's Grace hereafter be done I trust that then by Gregory's own Determination all Images and Image-worshippers shall be overthrown But in the mean season Gregory's Authority was so great in all the West-Church that by his Incouragement Men set up Images in all places But their Judgment was not so good to consider why he would have them set up but they fell all on heaps to manifest Idolatry by worshipping of them which Bishop Serenus not without just cause feared would come to pass Now if
of the West would not acknowledg for their Emperor for they had already created them another And so there became two Emperors And the Empire which was before one was divided into two Parts upon occasion of Idols and Images and the worshipping of them Even as the Kingdom of the Israelites was in old time for the like cause of Idolatry divided in King Rehoboham's time And so the Bishop of Rome having the Favour of Charles the Great by this means assured to him was wondrously enhanced in Power and Authority and did in all the West Church especially in Italy what he list where Images were set up garnished and worshipped of all sorts of Men But Images were not so fast set up and so much honoured in Italy and the West but Nicephorus Emperor of Constantinople and his Successors Scauratius the two Michaels Leo Or Staurtius Theophorus and other Emperors their Successors in the Empire of Greece continually pulled them down brake them burned them and destroyed them as fast And when Theodorus the Emperor would at the Council of Lyons have agreed with the Bishop of Rome and have set up Images He was by the Nobles of the Empire of Greece deprived and another chosen in his place and so rose a jealousie suspicion grudge hatred and enmity between the Christians and Empires of the East Countries and West which could never be quenched nor pacified So that when the Sarazens first and afterward the Turks invaded the Christians the one part of Christendom would not help the other By reason whereof at the last the Noble Empire of Greece and the City Imperial Constantinople was lost and is come into the hands of the Infidels who now have overrun almost all Christendom and possessing past the middle of Hungary which is part of the West Empire do hang over all our heads to the utter danger of all Christendom Thus we see what a sea of mischiefs the maintenance of Images hath brought with it what an horrible Schism between the East and the West Church what an hatred between one Christian and another Councils agaist Councils Church against Church Christians against Christians Princes against Princes Rebellions Treasons unnatural and most cruel Murders the Daughter digging up and burning her Father the Emperor's Body the Mother for love of Idols most abominably murthering of her own Son being an Emperor at the last the tearing in sunder of Christendom and the Empire into two pieces till the Infidels Sarazens and Turks common Enemies to both parts have most cruelly vanquished destroyed and subdued the one part the whole Empire of Greece Asia the less Thracia Macedonia Epirus and many other great and goodly Countries and Provinces and have won a great piece of the other Empire and put the whole in dreadful fear and most horrible danger For it is not without a just and great cause to be dreaded lest as the Empire of Rome was even for the like cause of Images and the worshipping of them torn in pieces and divided as was for Idolatry the Kingdom of Israel in old time divided so like punishment as for the like offence fell upon the Jews will also light upon us that is lest the cruel Tyrant and Enemy of our Commonwealth and Religion the Turk by God's just vengeance should likewise partly Murder and partly lead away into Captivity us Christians as did the Assyrian and Babylonian Kings Murder and lead away the Israelites and lest the Empire of Rome and Christian Religion be so utteâ—ly brought under foot as was then the Kingdom of Israel and true Religion of God whereunto the matter already as I have declared shrewdly inclineth on our part the greater part of Christendom within less than three hundred years space being brought into Captivity and most miserable thraldom under the Turk and the Noble Empire of Greece clean everted Whereas if the Christians divided by these Image matters had holden together no Infidels and Miscreants could thus have prevailed against Christendom And all this mischief and misery which we have hitherto fallen into do we owe to our mighty gods of Gold and Silver Stock and Stone in whose help and defence where they cannot help themselves we have trusted so long until our enemies the Infidels have overcome and overrun us almost altogether A just reward for those that have left the mighty living God the Lord of Hosts and have stooped and given the Honour due to him to dead blocks and stocks who have Eies and see not Feet and cannot go and so forth and are cursed of God and all they that make them and that put their trust in them Thus you understand well-beloved in our Saviour Christ by the judgment of the old Learned and Godly Doctors of the Church and by ancient Histories Ecclesiastical agreeing to the verity of God's Word alledged out of the Old Testament and the New that Images and Image-worshipping were in the Primitive Church which was most pure and uncorrupt abhorred and detested as abominable and contrary to true Christian Religion And that when Images began to creep into the Church they were not only spoken and written against by Godly and Learned Bishops Doctors and Clerks but also condemned by whole Councils of Bishops and learned Men assembled together yea the said Images by many Christian Emperors and Bishops were defaced broken and destroyed and that above seven hundred and eight hundred years ago and that therefore it is not of late days as some would bear you in hand that Images and Image-worshipping have been spoken and written against Finally you have heard what mischief and misery hath by the occasion of the said Images fallen upon whole Christendom besides the loss of infinite Souls which is most horrible of all Wherefore let us beseech God that we being warned by his Holy Word forbidding all Idolatry and by the Writing of old Godly Doctors and Ecclesiastical Histories written and preserved by God's Ordinance for our admonition and warning may flee from all Idolatry and so escape the horrible punishment and plagues as well worldly as everlasting threatned for the same which God our Heavenly Father Grant us for our only Saviour and Mediator Jesus Christ's sake Amen The Third Part of the Homily against Images and the worshipping of them containing the confutation of the principal Arguments which are used to be made for the maintenance of Images Which part may serve to instruct the Curates themselves or Men of good understanding NOw ye have heard how plainly how vehemently and that in many places the Word of God speaketh against not only Idolatry and worshipping of Images but also against Idols and Images themselves I mean always thus herein in that we be stirred and provoked by them to worship them and not as though they were simply forbidden by the New Testament without such occasion and danger And ye have heard likewise out of Histories Ecclesiastical the beginning proceeding and success of Idolatry by Images and the
false gods and have not only worshipped their Images with the same Rites Ceremonies Superstition and all Circumstances as did the Gentiles Idolaters their Idols but in many points also have far exceeded them in all wickedness foolishness and madness And if this be not sufficient to prove them Image-worshippers that is to say Idolaters lo you shall hear their own open confession I mean not only the Decrees of the second Nicene Council under Irene the Roman Council under Gregory the Third in which as they teach that Images are to be honoured and worshipped as is before declared so yet do they it warily and fearfully in comparison to the blasphemous bold blazing of manifest Idolatry to be done to Images set forth of late even in these our days the light of Gods Truth so shining that above other abominable doings and writings a man would marvel most at their impudent shameless and most shameful blustring boldness who would not at the least have chosen them a time of more darkness as meeter to utter their horrible Blasphemies in but have now taken an Harlots face not purposed to blush in setting abroad the furniture of their Spiritual Whoredom And here the plain Blasphemy of the Reverend Father in God James Naclantus Bishop of Clugiâ—n written in his Exposition of St. Paâ—l's Epistle to the Romans and the first Chapter and put in Priâ—t now of late at Venice may stand instead of all whose words of Image-worshipping be these in Latin as he did write them not one syllable altered Ergo non solum fatendum est sideles in Ecclesiâ— adorare coram imagine ut nonnulli ad cautâ—lam fâ—â—tâ— loquuntur sed adorare imaginem sine quo â—olueris scrupulo quin eo illam venerantur cultu quo prototypon ejus propter quod si illud haâ—â—t adorare latria illa latria si dulia vel hyperdulia illa pariter ejusmodi cultu adoranda est The sense whereof in English is this Therefore it is not only to be confessed that the Faithful in the Church do worship before an Image as some peradventure do warily speak but also do worship the Image it self without any scruple or doubt at all Yea and they worship the Image with the same kind of worship wherewith they worship the copy of the Image or the thing whereafter the Image is made Wherefore if the Copy it self is to be worshipped with Divine Honour as is God the Father Christ and the Holy Ghost the Image of them is also to be worshipped with divine honour If the copy ought to be worshipped with inferiour Honour or higher Worship the Image also is to be worshipped with the same honour and worship Thus far hath Naclantus whose Blasphemies let Pope Gregorius the First confute Gregor and by his Authority damn them to Hell as his Successors have horribly thundred Epist ad Serenum â—â—â—â—sil For although Gregory permitteth Images to be had yet he forbiddeth them by any means to be worshipped and praiseth much Bishop Sâ—renas for the forbidding the worshipping of them and willeth him to teach the People to avoid by all means to worship any Image But Naclantus bloweth forth his Blasphemous Idolatry willing Images to be worshipped with the highest kind of Adoration and Worship and lest such wholsome Doctrine should lack Authority he groundeth it upon Aristotle in his Book de somno vigilia that is of sleeping and waking as by his printed Book noted in the Margin is to be seen whose impudent wickedness and idolatrous judgment I have therefore more largely set forth Of Image-worshipping that ye may as Virgil speaketh of Simon of one know all these Image-worshippers and Idolaters and understand to what point in conclusion the publick having of Images in Temples and Churches hath brought us comparing the times and writings of Gregory the First with our days the Blasphemies of such Idolaters as this Instrument of Belial named Naclantus is Wherefore now it is by the testimony of the Old godly Fathers and Doctors by the open confession of Bishops assembled in Councils by most evident signs and arguments opinions idolatrous acts deeds and worshipping done to their Images and by their own open Confession and Doctrine set forth in their Books declared and shewed that their Images have been and be commonly worshipped yea and that they ought so to be I will out of Gods Word make this general Argument against all such makers setters up and maintainers of Images in publick places And first of all I will begin with the words of our Saviour Christ Mat. 18. Wo be to that man by whom an offence is given wo be to him that offendeth one of these little ones or weak ones better were it for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the middle of the Sea and drowned Deut. 2â— than he should assend one of these little ones or weak ones And in Deuteronomy God himself denounceth him accursed that maketh the blind to wander in his way And in Leviticus Lev. 19. Thou shalt not lay a stumbling-block or stone before the blind But Images in Churches and Temples have been and be and as afterward shall be proved ever will be offences and stumbling-blocks specially to the weak simple and blind common People deceiving their hearts by the cunning of the Artificer as the Scripture expresly in sundry places doth testifie and so bringing them to Idolatry Sap. 13.12 Therefore wo be to the erecter setter up and maintainer of Images in Churches and Temples for a greater penalty remaineth for him than the death of the Body If answer be yet made that this offence may be taken away by diligent and sincere Doctrine and Preaching of Gods Word as by other means and that Images in Churches and Temples therefore be not things absolutely evil to all men although dangerous to some and therefore that it were to be holden that the publick having of them in Churches and Temples is not expedient as a thing perillous rather than unlawful and a thing utterly wicked Then followeth the third Article to be proved which is this That it is not possible if Images be suffered in Churches and Temples either by preaching of Gods Word or by any other means to keep the People from worshipping of them and so to avoid Idolatry And first concerning Preaching If it should be admitted that although Images were suffered in Churches yet might Idolatry by diligent and sincere preaching of Gods Word be avoided It should follow of necessity that sincere Doctrine might always be had and continue as well as Images and so that wheresoever to offence were exected an Image there also of reason a godly and sincere Preacher should and might be continually maintained For it is reason that the warning be as common as the stumbling-block the remedy as large as is the offence the medicine as general as the poison but that is not
Image or similitude addeth a cause depending of mans corrupt Nature Lest saith God thou being deceived with error Deut. 4. honour and worship them And of this ground of mans corrupt inclination as well to spiritual Fornication as to carnal it must needs follow That as it is the duty of the godly Magistrate loving Honesty and hating Whoredom to remove all Strumpets and Harlots specially out of places notoriously suspected or resorted unto of naughty packs for the avoiding of carnal Fornication so it is the duty of the same godly Magistrate after the examples of the godly Kings Ezechias and Josias to drive away all spiritual Harlots I mean Idols and Images especially out of suspected places Churches and Temples dangerous for Idolatry to be committed to Images placed there as it were in the appointed place and height of Honour and Worship as St. Augustine saith where the living God only and not dead stones and stocks is to be worshipped Augustin in Psal 36. 113. lib. 4. cap. 3. de civit Dei It is I say the office of godly Magistrates likewise to avoid Images and Idols out of Churches and Temples as spiritual Harlots out of suspected places for the avoiding of Idolatry which is spiritual Fornication And as he were the Enemy of all Honesty that should bring Strumpets and Harlots out of their secret corners into the Publick Market-place there freely to dwell and practice their filthy Merchandise So is he the Enemy of the true worshipping of God that bringeth Idols and Images into the Temple and Church the House of God there openly to be worshipped and to rob the zealous God of his Honour who will not give it to any other nor his Glory to carved Images who is as much forsaken and the bond of love between man and him as much broken by Idolatry which is spiritual Fornication as is the knot and bond of Marriage broken by carnal Fornication Let all this be taken as a lie if the Word of God enforce it not to be true Deut. 27. Cursed be the man saith God in Deuteronomy that maketh a carved or molten Image and placeth it in a secret corner and all the people shall say Amen Thus saith God for at that time no man durst have or worship Images openly but in corners only and the whole World being the great Temple of God he that in any corner thereof robbeth God of his glory and giveth it to stocks and stones is pronounced by Gods Word accursed Now he that will bring these spiritual Harlots out of their lurking corners into publick Churches and Temples that spiritual Fornication may there openly of all Men and Women without shame be committed with them no doubt that Person is cursed of God and twice cursed and all good and godly Men and Women will say Amen and their Amen will take effect also Yea and furthermore the madness of all men professing the Religion of Christ now by the space of a sort of hundred years and yet even in our time in so great light of the Gospel very many running on heaps by Sea and Land to the great loss of their time expence and waste of their Goods destitution of their Wives Children and Families and danger of their own Bodies and Lives to Compostella Rome Jerusalem and other far Countries to visit dumb and dead stocks and stones doth sufficiently prove the proneness of mans corrupt nature to the seeking of Idols once set up and the worshipping of them And thus as well by the origine and nature of Idols and Images themselves as by the proneness and inclination of mans corrupt nature to Idolatry it is evident that neither Images if they be publickly set up can be separated nor men if they see Images in Temples and Churches can be slaid and kept from Idolatry Now whereas they yet alledge that howsoever the People Princes Learned and Wise of Old time have fallen into Idolatry by occasion of Images that yet in our time the most part specially the learned and wise of any Authority take no hurt nor offence by Idols and Images neither do run into far Countries to them and worship them And that they know well what an Idol or Image is and how to be used and that therefore it followeth Images in Churches and Temples to be an indifferent thing as the which of some is not abused and that therefore they may justly hold as was in the beginning of this part by them alledged that it is not unlawful or wicked absolutely to have Images in Churches and Temples though it may for the danger of the simple sort seem to be not altogether expedient Whereunto may be well replyed that Solomon also the wisest of all men did well know what an Idol or Image was neither took any harm thereof a great while himself and also with his godly writings armed others against the danger of them But yet afterward the same Solomon suffering his wanton Paramours to bring their Idols into his Court and Palace was by carnal Harlots perswaded Sap. 13.14 and brought at the last to the committing of Spiritual Fornication with Idols and of the wisest and godliest Prince became the most foolish and wicked also Wherefore it is better even for the wisest to regard this warning He that loveth danger Eccl. 3. and 13. 1 Cor. 10. shall perish therein and Let him that standeth beware lest he fall rather than wittingly and willingly to lay such a stumbling-block for his own feet and others that may perhaps bring him at last to break neck The good King Ezechias did know well enough 4 Reg. 18. that the brasen Serpent was but a dead Image and therefore he took no hurt himself thereby through Idolatry to it Did he therefore let it stand because himself took no hurt thereof No not so but being a good King and therefore regarding the health of his silly Subjects deceived by that Image and committing Idolatry thereto he did not only take it down but also brake it to pieces and this he did to that Image that was set up by the Commandment of God in the presence whereof great Miracles were wrought as that which was a figure of our Saviour Christ to come who should deliver us from the mortal sting of the Old Serpent Satan Neither did he spare it in respect of the ancientness or antiquity of it which had continued above seven hundred years nor for that it had been suffered and preserved by so many godly Kings before his time How think you would that godly Prince if he were now living handle our Idols set up against Gods Commandment directly and being figures of nothing but folly and for Fools to gaze on till they become as wise as the blocks themselves which they stare on and so fall down as dared Larks in that gaze and being themselves alive worship a dead stock or stone gold or silver and so become Idolaters abominable and cursed before
Christians and none other for that were to bind Gods People unto the yoke and burthen of Moses his Policy yea it were the very way to bring us which are set at liberty by the freedom of Christs Gospel into the bondage of the Law again which God forbid that any man should attempt or purpose But to this end it serveth to shew how far the order of Fasting now used in the Church at this day differeth from that which was then used Gods Church ought not neither may it be so tyed to that or any other Order now made or hereafter to be made and devised by the Authority of Man but that it may lawfully for just causes alter change or mitigate those Ecclesiastical Decrees and Orders yea recede wholly from them and break them when they tend either to Superstition or to Impiety when they draw the People from God rather than work any edification in them This Authority Christ himself used and left it to his Church He used it I say for the Order or Decree made by the Elders for washing oft times which was diligently observed of the Jews yet tending to Superstition our Saviour Christ altered and changed the same in his Church into a profitable Sacrament the Sacrament of our Regeneration or New Birth This Authority to mitigate Laws and Decrees Ecclesiastical the Apostles practised when they writing from Jerusalem unto the Congregation that was at Antioch Acts 15. signified unto them that they would not lay any further burthen upon them but these necessaries that is that they should abstain from things offered unto Idols from blood from that which is strangled and from fornication notwithstanding that Moses Law required many other observances This Authority to change the Orders Decrees and Constitutions of the Church was after the Apostles time used of the Fathers about the manner of Fasting as it appeareth in the Tripartite History Tripart hist l. 9. c. 38. where it is thus written Touching Fasting we find that it was diversly used in divers places by divers men For they at Rome fast three weeks together before Easter saving upon the Saturdays and Sundays which Fast they call Lent And after a few lines in the same place it followeth They have not all one uniform Order in Fasting For some do fast and abstain both from fish and flesh Some when they fast eat nothing but fish Others there are which when they Fast eat of all water-fowls as well as of fish grounding themselves upon Moses that such Fowls have their substance of the Water as the Fishes have Some others when they Fast will neither eat Herbs nor Eggs. Some fasters there are that eat nothing but dry bread Others when they Fast eat nothing at all no not so much as dry bread Some fast from all manner of food till Night and then eat without making any choice or difference of meats And a thousand such like divers kinds of Fasting may be found in divers places of the World of divers men diversly used Euseb lib. 5. cap. 24. And for all this great diversity in Fasting yet Charity the very true bond of Christian Peace was not broken neither did the diversity of Fasting break at any time their agreement and concord in Faith To abstain sometimes from certain meats not because the meats are evil but because they are not necessary this abstinence saith St. Augustine is not evil Dogma Ecclesiast c. 66. And to restrain the use of meats when necessity and time shall require this saith he doth properly pertain to Christian men Thus ye have heard good People first that Christian Subjects are bound even in Conscience to obey Princes Laws which are not repugnant to the Laws of God Ye have also heard that Christs Church is not so bound to observe any Order Law or Decree made by Man to prescribe a form in Religion but that the Church hath full Power and Authority from God to change and alter the same when need shall require which hath been shewed you by the example of our Saviour Christ by the practice of the Apostles and of the Fathers since that time Now shall be shewed briefly what time is meet for Fasting for all times serve not for all things but as the Wise man saith Eccles 3. All things have their times There is a time to weep and a time again to laugh a time to mourn and a time to rejoyce c. Our Saviour Christ excused his Disciples and reproved the Pharisees because they neither regarded the use of Fasting nor considered what time was meet for the same Which both he teacheth in his answer Mat. 9. saying The children of the marriage cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them Their question was of Fasting his answer is of Mourning signifying unto them plainly that the outward Fast of the Body is no Fast before God except it be accompanied with the inward Fast which is a mourning and a lamentation of the Heart as is before declared Concerning the time of Fasting he saith The days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them in those days they shall fast By this it is manifest that it is no time of Fasting while the Marriage lasteth and the Bridegroom is there present But when the Marriage is ended Luke 5. Mat. 6. and the Bridegroom gone then is it a meet time to Fast Now to make plain unto you what is the sense and meaning of these words We are at the marriage and again The bridegroom is taken from us Ye shall note that so long as God revealeth his mercy unto us and giveth us of his benefits either Spiritual or Corporal we are said to be with the Bridegroom at the Marriage So was that good Old Father Jacob at the Marriage when he understood that his Son Joseph was alive and Ruled all Egypt under King Pharaoh So was David in the Marriage with the Bridegroom when he had gotten the Victory of great Goliath and had smitten off his Head Judith and all the People of Bethulia were the Children of the Wedding and had the Bridegroom with them when God had by the Hand of a Woman slain Holofernes the grand Captain of the Assyrians Host and discomfited all their Enemies Thus were the Apostles the Children of the Marriage while Christ was corporally present with them and defended them from all dangers both spiritual and corporal But the Marriage is said then to be ended and the Bridegroom to be gone when Almighty God smiteth us with Affliction and seemeth to leave us in the midst of a number of Adversities So God sometimes striketh private men privately with sundry adversities as trouble of Mind loss of Friends loss of Goods long and dangerous Sicknesses c. then is it a fit time for that man to humble himself to Almighty God by Fasting and to mourn and bewail his sins with a sorrowful heart and to Pray unfeignedly saying with the Prophet David Turn
simple Man of small wit and less knowledge one that was reputed among the Learned as an Ideot and he on Gods name would needs take in hand to dispute with this proud Philosopher The Bishops and other learned Men standing by were marvellously abashed at the matter thinking that by his doings they should be all confounded and put to open shame He notwithstanding goeth on and beginning in the Name of the Lord Jesus brought the Philosopher to such Point in the end contrary to all Mens expectation that he could not chuse but acknowledge the power of God in his Words and to give place to the Truth Was not this a miraculous Work that one silly Soul of no Learning should do that which many Bishops of great knowledge and understanding were never able to bring to pass So true is the saying of Bede Where the Holy Ghost doth instruct and teach there is no delay at all in learning Much more might here be spoken of the manifold gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost most excellent and wonderful in our eyes but to make a long Discourse through all the shortness of time will not serve And seeing ye have heard the chiefest ye may easily conceive and judge of the rest Now were it expedient to discuss this Question Whether all they which boast and brag that they have the Holy Ghost do truly challenge this unto themselves or no Which doubt because it is necessary and profitable shall God willing be dissolved in the next Part of this Homily In the mean season let us as we are most bound give hearty thanks to God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ for sending down his Comforter into the World humbly beseeching him so to work in our Hearts by the power of this Holy Spirit that we being Regenerate and newly Born again in all Goodness Righteousness Sobriety and Truth may in the end be made partakers of everlasting Life in his Heavenly Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen The Second Part of the Homily concerning the HOLY GHOST dissoâ—â—â—â—◠〈◊〉 doubt Whether all Men riâ—htly 〈…〉 themselves the HOLY GHOST or no â—ohn 14. â—5 OUr Saviour Christ departing out of the World unto his Father promised his Disciples to send down another Comforter that should continue with them for ever and direct them into all truth Which thing to be faithfully and truly performed the Scriptures do sufficiently bear witness Neither must we think that this Comforter was either promised or else given only to the Apostles but also to the Universal Church of Christ dispersed through the whole World For unless the Holy Ghost had been always present governing and preserving the Church from the beginning it could never have sustained so many and great brunts of Affliction and Persecution with so little damage and harm as it hath And the words of Christ are most plain in this behalf saying John 24. Mat. 21. That the Spirit of truth should abide with them for ever that he would be with them always he meaneth by Grace Vertue and Power even to the Worlds end Also in the Prayer that he made to his Father a little before his death he maketh intercession not only for himself and his Apostles but indifferently for all them that should believe in him through their words John 17. Rom. 8 that is to wit for his whole Church Again St. Paul saith If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is not his Also in the words following Ibidem We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Hereby then it is evident and plain to all Men that the Holy Ghost was given not only to the Apostles but also to the whole Body of Christs Congregation although not in like form and majesty as he came down at the Feast of Pentecost But now herein standeth the Controversie Whether all Men do justly arrogate to themselves the Holy Ghost or no The Bishops of Rome have for along time made a sore Challenge thereunto reasoning with themselves after this sort The Holy Ghost say they was promised to the Church and never forsaketh the Church But we are the chief Heads and the principal part of the Church therefore we have the Holy Ghost for ever and whatsoever things we decree are undoubted Verities and Oracles of the Holy Ghost That ye may perceive the weakness of this Argument it is needful to teach you First What the true Church of Christ is and then to confer the Church of Rome therewith to discern how well they agree together The true Church is an Universal Congregation or Fellowship of Gods faithful and elect People built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Ephes 2. Jesus Christ himself being the head Corner-stone And it hath always three Notes or Marks whereby it is known Pure and Sound Doctrin the Sacraments Ministred according to Christs holy Institution and the right use of Ecclesiastical Discipline This description of the Church is agreeable both to the Scriptures of God and also to the Doctrin of the Ancient Fathers so that none may Justly find fault therewith Now if you will compare this with the Church of Rome not as it was in the beginning but as it is at present and hath been for the space of Nine hundred Years and odd you shall well perceive the state thereof to be so far wide from the nature of the true Church that nothing can be more For neither are they built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets retaining the sound and pure Doctrin of Christ Jesu neither yet do they order the Sacraments or else the Ecclesiastical Keys in such sort as he did first Institute and Ordain them But have so intermingled their own Traditions and Inventions by chopping and changing by adding and plucking away that now they may seem to be converted into a new Guise Christ commended to his Church a Sacrament of his Body and Blood they have changed it into a Sacrifice for the Quick and the Dead Christ did Minister to his Apostles and the Apostles to other Men indifferently under both kinds They have robbed the Lay people of the Cup saying that for them one kind is sufficient Christ Ordained no other Element to be used in Baptism but only Water whereunto when the Word is joyned it is made as St. Augustine saith a full and perfect Sacrament Augustine They being wiser in their own conceit than Christ think it is not well nor orderly done unless they use Conjuration unless they Hallow the Water unless there be Oyl Salt Spittle Tapers and such other dumb Ceremonies serving to no use contrary to the plain Rule of St. Paul 1 Cor. 14. who willeth all things to be done in the Church to Edification Christ Ordained the Authority of the Keys to Excommunicate notorious sinners and to Absolve them which are truly Penitent They abuse this Power at their own pleasure as well in
that such moderation should not become a Man for they say that it is a token of Womanish cowardness and therefore they think that it is a Mans part to fume in anger to fight with Fist and Staff Howbeit Howsoever they imagine undoubtedly St. Peter doth better judge what should be seeming to a Man and what he should most reasonably perform for he saith Reasoning should be used and not Fighting Yea he saith more That the Woman ought to have a certain honor attributed to her that is to say she must be spared and born with the rather for that she is the weaker Vessel of a frail heart inconstant and with a word soon stirred to wrath And therefore considering these her Frailties she is to be the rather spared By this means thou shalt not only nourish Concord but shalt have her Heart in thy power and will for honest Natures will sooner be retained to do their Duties rather by gentle Words than by Stripes But he which will do all things with extremity and severity and doth use always rigor in Words and Stripes what will that avail in the conclusion Verily nothing but that he thereby setteth forward the Devils work he banisheth away Concord Charity and sweet Amity and bringeth in Dissention Hatred and Irksomness the greatest griefs that can be in the mutual love and fellowship of Mans Life Beyond all this it bringeth another evil therewith for it is the destruction and interruption of Prayer for in the time that the Mind is occupied with Dissention and Discord there can be no true Prayer used For the Lords Prayer hath not only a respect to particular Persons but to the whole Universal in the which we openly pronounce that we will forgive them which have offended against us even as we ask forgiveness of our sins of God which thing how can it be done rightly when their hearts be at dissention how can they pray each for other when they be at hate betwixt themselves Now if the aid of Prayer be taken away by what means can they sustain themselves in any comfort For they cannot otherwise either resist the Devil or yet have their hearts staid in stable comfort in all perils and necessities but by Prayer Thus all discommodities as well Worldly as Ghostly follow this froward testiness and cumbrous fierceness in manners which be more meet for brute Beasts than for reasonable Creatures St. Peter doth not allow these things but the Devil desireth them gladly wherefore take the more heed And yet a Man may be a Man although he doth not use such extremity yea although he should dissemble some things in his Wives manners And this is the part of a Christian Man which both pleaseth God and serveth also in good use to the comfort of their Marriage State Now as concerning the Wives Duty What shall become her Shall she abuse the gentleness and humanity of her Husband and at her pleasure turn all things upside down No surely for that is far repugnant against Gods Commandment For thus doth St. Peter preach to them Ye Wives 1 Pet. 2â— be ye in subjection to obey your own Husbands To obey is another thing than to controle or command which yet they may do to their Children and to their Family But as for their Husbands them must they obey and cease from commanding and perform subjection For this surely doth nourish Concord very much when the Wife is ready at hand at her Husbands commandment when she will apply her self to his Will when she endeavoreth her self to seek his contentation and to do him pleasure when she will eschew all things that might offend him For thus will most truly be verified the saying of the Poet A good Wife by obeying her Husband shall bear the Ruleâ— so that he shall have a delight and a gladness the sooner at all times to return home to her but on the contrary part When the Wives be stubborn froward and malepart their Husbands are compelled thereby to abhor and flee from their own Houses even as they should have Battle with their Enemies Howbeit It can scantly be but that some offences shall sometime chance betwixt them for no Man doth live without fault specially for that the Woman is the more frail Party Therefore let them beware that they stand not in their faults and wilfulness but rather let them acknowledge their Follies and say My Husband so it is that by my anger I was compelled to do this or that forgive it me and hereafter I will take better heed Thus ought the Woman more readily to do the more they be ready to offend And they shall not do this only to avoid Strife and debate but rather in the respect of the Commandment of God as St. Paul expresseth it in this form of words Let Women be subject to their Husbands as to the Lord Ephes 5. For the Husband is the Head of the Woman as Christ is the Head of the Church Here you understand that God hath commanded that ye should acknowledge the Authority of the Husband and refer to him the honor of Obedience And St. Peter saith in that place before rehearsed that holy Matrons did in former time deck themselves not with Gold and Silver but in putting their whole hope in God and in obeying their Husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord Whose Daughters ye be saith he if ye follow her Example This Sentence is very meet for Women to print in their remembrance Truth it is that they must specially feel the grief and pains of their Matrimony in that they relinquish the Liberty of their own Rule in the pain of their Travelling in the bringing up of their Children In which Offices they be in great Perils and be grieved with great Afflictions which they might be without if they lived out of Matrimony But St. Peter saith That this is the chief Ornament of holy Matrons in that they set their hope and trust in God that is to say in that they refused not from Marriage for the business thereof for the gifts and perils thereof but committed all such Adventures to God in most sure trust of help after that they have called upon his aid O Woman do thou the like and so shalt thou be most excellently beautified before God and all his Angels and Saints and thou needest not to seek further for doing any better works for obey thy Husband take regard of his Requests and give heed unto him to perceive what he requireth of thee and so shalt thou honor God and live peaceably in thy House And beyond all this God shall follow thee with his Benediction that all things shall well prosper both to thee and to thy Husband as the Psalm saith Blessed is the Man which feareth God and walketh in his ways thou shalt have the Fruit of thine own hands happy shalt thou be and well it shall go with thee Thy Wife shall be as a Vine plentifully spreading about