For the Marble stones be annoynted wyth it and a verse of the Psalme Psalm 45. song The Lord hath annoynted thée with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes O stony hearts To apply the words which the spirite of God properly spake of Salomon vnder Salomons person of Christ to a greasy stone that euery man doth treade on euery dog berayes Then doth the quire sing Erexit Iacob lapidem Genes 28. Psalm 67. Iacob reared vp a stone whereof they knowe not the signification Also they bleate out wyth wyde throtes Ibi est Beniamin adolesceÌ„tulus in mentis excessu There is little Beniamin out of hys wyttes as they translate it And thinke ye that they were well in their wittes which for Dominator eorum would put in Mentu excessu Wheras they should haue sayd There is little Beniamin their gouernoure To saye There is yong Beniamin rauished of his wittes But this is scripture of Church hallowing This is the purpose These be the textes The prayers are the same that Salomon vsed when he was commaunded to make the temple saue that they wyll haue a crop of Colocyntida to marre a whole pot full of pottage For they adde vnto these Inuocation of Saintes derogation to God abuse of hys creatures When thys is done the rotten bones and reliques are halowed with like ceremonies and soleÌ„nities as they had before And then they put on their masking coates come lyke blinde fooles with candels in their handes at none dayes and so procede to the holy masse with renting of throtes and tearing of notes chaÌ„ting of priests howliÌ„g of clarkes flinging of coales and piping of organes Thus they continue a long while in mirth and iolyty many mad partes be played But wheÌ„ the vice is come from the altare and the people shall haue no more sport they conclude theyr seruice with a true sentence Terribilis est locus iste This place is terrible And haue they not faire fysht think you to make such a doe to bryng in the diuel O blynde beastes O senselesse hipocrites whom God hath geuen ouer vnto themselues that they shall not sée their own folly yet bewray their shame to all the world beside And is not thys youre Church halowing that ye talke of Thys is it that youre Church hath ordayned Now that ye may proue in particularitie that which generally ye did auouch before The signe of the Crosse to be vsed in all Sacramentes ye come to an enumeration of them all And I dare say ye be glad to catch such occasion to treate of the vii Sacramentes yet dout I not but before I haue done with you I shall make ye contented to cut of .v. of them First as touching the vse of baptisme ye begyn with Dionisius Dionisius Areopagita Folio 52. b Euseb Eccl. Hist li. 3. ca. 4. lib. 4. cap. 21. to whom ye geue the surname of Areopagita and honorable title of Saint Paules scholer Eusebius in dede maketh mention of such a one and sayth that he was the first byshop of Athens and thys he speaketh of the report of an other Dionisius of Alexandria But as for any writing of hys he hath no worde at all And doutlesse if it had bene true which you affirme he would not haue suppressed it S. Hierome maketh mention of two In catal Scripit Eccles of that name One that was at Corynth in the raygne of Marcê° Antoninus verus and Lucius Commodus An other that was scholer somtyme to Origene and byshop afterwarde of Alexandria in the raygne of Galienus But not a worde yet among all their writings which he moste diligeÌ„tly doth rehearse eyther of the heauenly or ecclesiasticall hierarchie out of which ye cite all your authorities Wherfore it is a bastarde booke vniustly fathered vpon S. Paul his Dionise wheras the style it selfe and matter there intreated of do argue that it is of no such antiquitie For to go no further thaÌ„ to those wordes that you do alleage of hys Folio 52. hovv the bishop assigneth some man to be godfather to hym that is to be baptised here is a playne lye For the vse of godfathers was not inuented forty yeare after It is euident by consent of all men yea the decrée it selfe beareth witnesse with me De Cons Dist 4. Cap. In catechismo Platina in vita Higini that Hyginus was first founder of Godfathers and among all the receaued writers of that age ye shall not lightly reade of any gossipping But suppose it be true that our recordes haue that Hyginus hatched thys egge he lyued at the least an hundreth and forty yeare after Christ And how can S. Paul hys scholer whose lyfe your selfe can stretch no longer than to the .96 yeare after Christ speake of that which he neuer thought on In the names of the authors alleaged by Martiall whiche was so long deuised after But to the matter I know ryghte well that within CC. yeare after Christ there were crept into the Church many idle Ceremonies and the simplicity of Christ hys ordinaÌ„ce refused Eche maÌ„ as he had either credite or authority presumed of hymselfe to adde somewhat to Christes institution and the fleshe deliting in hir own deuises deliuered the same with as straight a charge as if that Christ hymselfe had taken order for it notwithstaÌ„ding if ought beside the authoritie of Scripture were so auncient in dede as I last spake of admitted at any time into God his seruice yet were we no more bouÌ„d to obserue the same thaÌ„ the fathers themselues haue yelded to it For if they haue repelled the traditions TraditioÌ„s no grouÌ„d of doctrine TraditioÌ„s vary of their elders and after established some other of their own their example proueth no vse Apostolique or necessitie to haue bene in the one their president authoryseth that we may as lawfully dysanull the other Enforce not therefore a doctrine of a custome traditions alwayes haue varyed and many such as Cyprian Tertullian Augustine with other haue thought to be necessary for saluation the Church of Rome it selfe hath not thought expedient to be vsed for instruction Christ gaue commaundemente Baptisme to be ministred Math. 28. in the name of the father and of the sonne and of the holy ghoste Actes 10. The Apostles continued in the same order Ceremonies or circumstances we reade of no more in Scripture saue only the water without all coniuratioÌ„ consecration Luc. 3. or insufflation the persons Baptised the preaching of God hys promises and fayth in Christ and prayer of the faythfull Nowe come ye bowne to Tertullians tyme and ye shall fynde many straunge inuentions Thrée dyppynges in the water Tasting of mylke and hony Lib. de Cormil Abstaynyng from all other washing for a seuen nyght after In Hieromes tyme Lib. 15. Com. in Esaiam Epist 72. Epi. ad Bonifacium De pec mer. remis cap. 20. there was no hony vsed but in
further in coÌ„futatioÌ„ of his Church halowing It coÌ„futeth it self with shame inough to you Only I maruell Folio 38. a. that as the Angel as you say ingraued vvith his finger in the square stones the signe of the Crosse further froÌ„ God coÌ„maunded theÌ„ to make such a signe in their foreheades coÌ„maunded not aswel which had ben more to purpose to make the like signes in other stones in dedicatioÌ„ of other Churches I would wishe in the next print it might be put in that your popish Church halowing wherof I wyl speake anone myght séeme to haue som presideÌ„t for it But for S. Bartholomew I haue said inough And the same answer may suffise for S. Philip as hys exaÌ„ple is out of the said Abdias brought For as S. Hierom sayth Super. 23. Math. touching the name of Zachary of whoÌ„ meÌ„tioÌ„ is made Math. 23. that some would haue him to haue ben the .xj. of the Prophets But some other to haue ben the father of S. Ihon baptist hoc quia de scripturis noÌ„ habet authoritateÌ„ eadeÌ„ facilitate coÌ„teÌ„nitur qua probatur This bicause it hath not authority of the Scripture is as easily contemned as proued So may I say for the wordes which ye father vpon S. Philip Folio 39. In the place vvhere Mars semeth to staÌ„d fast set vp the Crosse of my Lord Iesus Christ and adore the same bicause it is coÌ„trary to the Scripture is but the report of a lying legend I may with good cause reiect the authoritie For neither was the chaÌ„ge alowable to destroy one Idoll to make an other as in the first article I proued nor to adore it was in any wyse tollerable as afterwarde more at large appeareth Wherfore your reason being as it is absurde and foolishe we be not driuen to any such shifte as ye talke of to say that fayth should be fixt in a wall Wée know no such melodie to moue as you say harde stones or make brasen pillers to vnderstande though your magicall minstrelsie hath bene such that rotten stockes haue spoke at your pleasure spoken good reason as you haue estemed it Remember ye not the Roode of Winchester that cunningly decised a controuersie betwéene the Monkes and maryed priestes pronouncing in latine for he was better taught then hys masters the Monkes Non bene sentiunt qui fauent presbyteris They thinke not well that fauour the priestes Who was that Orpheus that wrought that vnderstanding there Dunstane or the Diuell or both It hath bene alwayes a Popishe practise to make Roodes Images to rolle their eyes to sweate and to speake wherof infinite examples might be brought But that of men professing the Gospell of protestants as ye call them there hath bene any such delusion is not in any writing of any age to be founde Wherfore ye doe vs wrong in burdening vs with such vntruthes vnlesse by remembrance of your owne follyes ye will force vs as it were to open and disclose your shame But let mee come to your counsels The first ye fetch from the recorde of Iuo Gratian alleaging a Synode kept at Orleance in Fraunce Ye doe right well to cite your authors otherwise I might haue suspected the authoritie For in all the Canons of the councell it selfe we reade not the words that make for your purpose But you do wysely not to passe the compasse of your owne profession and therfore say no more than the popishe decrées do teache you But if a man may be so bolde in your owne faculty to appose you how doe the woords of this your counsell proue that euery Church must haue the signe of the Crosse Folio 40. Forsoth say you bycause it is decreed that no man builde a Church before the Byshop of that diocesse come and set vp a Crosse By the same reason the ring of the church dore is a piece of Gods seruice too For as the fixing of a Crosse the pitching of a stake as it were in the grounde doth shewe that the Byshop hath limitted out the compasse of the Church so the other is a proufe of Induction of the Priest Yet as thys signe of possession taken is no parte of duety within the Church discharged so the other signe of authoritie to builde giuen is no parte of seruice within the building to be done And this is the poynte which in this article ye go about to proue that euery Church and Chappel must haue a Crosse erected in it to the honor and seruice of almighty God But this Crosse serueth an other turne to a ciuill pollicy no poynt of religion For least that men should presume to builde Churches without authoritie ecclesiasticall it was decréed that the byshop of the diocesse should viewe the place appoynte where the body of the Church should be leaue his mark behinde him Which marke might as wel haue bene his crosier as his Crosse but that the one was lesse chargeable than the other If ye credite not me turne ouer your Decree There shall ye finde that ordre is taken for thinges necessary before the Church be builded But we doe inquire what is necessary seruice in a Church hallowed Wherefore I sée not how that Councell prouinciall triginta trium Episcoporum of thrée and thyrty byshops as the boke doth tell vs can make any thing for you But if there were most playne determination for the Crosse in that or any other such like Councell I am no more bound to the authority therof than you will be to the English Synodes held in king Edwardes dayes and in the Quéenes Maiesties raygne that nowe is Yet the duety of a subiect if ye were honest might driue you to this wheras there is no cause that might enforce my consent to the other Nowe for your second at Tovvres whose Canon is this Vt corpus dnÌ„i in altari non in armario sed sub Crucis titulo coÌ„ponatur Which you do english after this sort Foli 40. b. That the body of our lord consecrated vpon the altar be not reposed set in the reuestry but vnder the Roode Where we may learne two schole poynts of you Fyrst that armariuÌ„ is latine for a Reuestry Then that titulus Crucis is latine for a Roode But if your schollers haue bene taught heretofore to translate no better a rod a rod had bene more méete for the vsher For armariuÌ„ may wel be taken for a librarie for a closet or almerie but no more for the reuestry than for the belfry Yet wil I not greatly in that word coÌ„tend with you Be it that their folish meaning was for a reuestry yet doubtlesse they were not so mad as to put titulê° Crucis for a Roode Titulus crucis is the title of the crosse And I maruel that you wold not rather expound it for a Pixe than a Roode being driuen by this to cary gods body sacred from the altar into the Roode loft We haue not heard
order Sainct Iames will haue all to be anoynted if they be sycke you onely anoynt in case of mortalitie and daunger of death when one foote is in the graue already If oyle be your sacrament the promise of grace be annexed to it The absurdities to heale both bodyly ghostly as you say then what harde heartes haue you that suffer so many to languish in extremitie that come not by your wils before the last gaspe S. Iames will haue the sick to be anoynted of many you wil admit but one alone with his head in his sleue muffled as an Ape with a bell before him as a batfowler for an owle S. Iames will haue the elders to be called to this office which were not onely of the ministerie but also of the lay sée You will haue a rable of shorne priestes and none but them S. Iames is content with simple oyle you will haue none but such as a byshoppe hallowed with many a stinking breath warmed with many a sorcerous word inchaunted with many a beck many a knée to the ground Idoled S. Iames wil haue vnction the signe of Gods spirit and prayer of the faythfull to concur together noting that it is not the oyle that healeth but good mennes prayers are alwayes auayleable you most blasphemously doe ascribe remission of sinnes vnto your oyle boxe Now brag of your vnction goe sell your kitchin stuffe Trye it and ye lose it It is to stale to make a sacramente It stinketh I tell you For where as in a sacrament two things be required first that it be a ceremonie instituted of God then that it haue a promise of grace in it In the first we respect that the ceremonie be deliuered vnto vs in the seconde that the promise also concerne vs. And for asmuch as neither the ceremonie was coÌ„maunded vs nor the promise appertayneth to vs both being temporall long agoe surceassed I may wel coÌ„clude that Extreme vnction is no sacrament What soeuer in the Councell of Florence or in the late Synode of Trent hath bene decréed to the contrary shall not preiudice my truth For I hauing reason and Scripture for me with the learned and sounde determinations of moe fathers of the Church than these will not be prescribed by conuenticles and conspiracies You pretende authoritie we bring the scripture You call vs heretiques we proue you no lesse And which shal take place Gods worde or mens willes A talke or a proufe If all the fat bulles of Basan did drawe together and the diuel their carter dyd dryue them to Trent there to fede and stande fast for their prouender shall the Lordes shepe therfore be starued shal hys worke be neglected If ten thousande of your affinitie bewitched with the sorcery of Romish Circe should holde a councell and cal al men to the trough of your own draffe should not I acknowledge and coÌ„fesse with Grillus in whoÌ„ bearing the figure of a reasonable creature inchauntmeÌ„t could take no place that reason and religion should be preferred to the belly What reason is in thys their sentence to holde who be the parties accused and yet iudges of the cause What religion is in thys that for filthy lucre mannes idle ordinaÌ„ce shall displace the coÌ„maundement of almighty God Wheresoeuer I sée thys shame and disorder as in al your popish councels it is I appeale from them 1. Cor. 4. I say with Paul Mihi pro minimo est vt à vobis iudicer I passe very little to be iudged of you As for the place of Hilariê° against Auxentius the Arrian how fitly it may be applyed vnto you and not to vs whom you would seme to touch al they that haue eyes do sée For you can say nothing Fol. 71. 72 but these nevve ministers are heretiques they are Caluinistes and therfore diuels Proufe bryng ye none but the same is reproued I trust therfore ye haue credite according But to you I say Ye be fallen with Auxentius ye do participate with Arrius heresy Who is the diuels Angel thaÌ„ Who is to be auoided Nor I am contented onely to say it as you do though in thys respect my worde were aswell to be accepted as yours but I proue it too For when ye make an Image of God the worde Creaturam facitis eum qui omnia creauit as Epiphanius sayeth Ye make a creature of hym Lib. 2. tom 2 Her 96. the created all thinges Wherfore if ye would assente to the decrées of the first Nicene councell and go no further these wordes neded not betwixte you and me Fol. 72. b But when ye take away the name of Nicene and put Florence or Trente in place therof ye are as true a maÌ„ as he that stale a goose and sticked down a feather For al couÌ„cels are not a lyke Nor al they that bragge of the holy ghost are by and by inspired with hys grace For Hilarius your own author whoÌ„ to no purpose ye brought forth last hath to good purpose thys Multi sunt qui simulantes fidem Hilarius Li. 8. de Trinit non subditi sunt fidei sibique fideÌ„ ipsi potius constituunt quam accipiunt sensu humanae inanitatis inflati dum quae volunt sapiunt nolunt sapere quae vera sunt cum sapientiae haec veritas sit ea interdum sapere quae nolis Sequitur vero hanc voluntatis sapientiaÌ„ sermo stulticiae Quia necesse est quod stulte sapitur stulte praedicetur Many there are sayth he which fayning a fayth are not subiecte to fayth and rather do appoynt themselues a fayth than receiue it puffed vp with the sence of mans vanitie whyle they vnderstande those thinges that they lust but wyll not vnderstande those thinges that be true whereas the truth of wisdome is sometyme to vnderstande those thynges that thou wouldest not But the talke of folly commeth after thys wyll wysedome for necessary it is that foolishly it be vttered that foolishly is vnderstode To the fifth Article ALthough ye bende your selfe in all thys Article and stretch euery vaine of your feble skyl to proue a matter which although it be in part vntrue yet beyng grauÌ„ted dyd not hurt my cause that the Apostles and fathers of the primitiue Churche blessed theÌ„selues vvith the signe of the Crosse Fol. 73. a. and counselled all ChristeÌ„ meÌ„ to do the same and that in those dayes the Crosse vvas set vp in euery place conuenient for it yet bicause ye styll appeare in your lykenesse and it is so requisite ye be knowen to the world a clouter of a patch of troth vpoÌ„ a whole cloke of lyes I wyll not disdayne to make an easy proufe of your thrée taglesse poyntes for any greater stresse they wil not abyde And first of all the terme of blessing is ill applyed to signing in the forehead For what it is to blesse To blesse I declared in the Article before to speake wel
may keepe vvithout offence For the multitude is easyly through ignoraunce abused hir Maiestie to vvell instructed for hir ovvne persone to fal into Popish error and Idolatrie Novv for that vvhich follovveth if ye vvere so good a subiecte as you oughte and framed your selfe to lyue according to the lavves ye should see and consider hovve good order is taken by Publique authoritie not Priuy suggestions that Roodes and Images should be remoued according to Gods lavve out of churches chappels and oratories and not so despitefully throvven dovvne in hie vvayes Folio 1. b. as you most coÌ„stantly do affirme the coÌ„trary vvherof as by our lavv is established so in effect is proued For vve doe see them in many places stand nor are at all offended thervvith And doe not you giue vs a good cause to credit you in the rest vvho in the first entrance of your matter make so lovvd a lie But that your impudeÌ„ce may be the more apparant ye stay not so ye stick not to father of the auncient fathers faith such falsehodes and absurdities as they neuer thought good man neuer gathered For vvhere ye say Folio 2. by their authoritie that euer since Christes death christen men haue had the signe of the crosse in churches chappels oratories priuate houses hie wayes and other places meete for the same it shall be euident by their ovvne vvritings such as none shal agaynsay that .400 yeare after Christ there vvas not in the place of Gods seruice any such signe erected By the vvay I report me to that vvhich Erasmus a gret stickler in the crosse quarrell vvriteth Vsque ad aetatem Hieronomi erant probatae religionis viri In Catechesi sua Cap. 6 qui in templis nullam ferebant imaginem nec pictam nec sculptam nec textam ac ne Christi quideÌ„ vt opinor propter Anthropomorphitas Vntil Hieroms time there were men of good religion vvhich is to be noted least ye say they vvere heretikes that suffred not in Churches any picture at all eyther painted or graued or wouen yea not so much as the picture of Christ bycause of the Anthropomorphites as I suppose Novv this vvas aboue .400 yeare after Christ In ê“aemio 3. Cement super Amos. for by Hieroms ovvn coÌ„putacion it must be after the syxt yeare of Arcadius Consulship vvhich falles out Anno .408 And Prosper Aquitanicê° maketh it to be .422 yeare after Christ But as much as this the Fathers themselues shal be vvitnesses of to disproue your vanity Folio 2. Then that they worshipped the signe of the crosse or counselled other to do the same is as true as the other yea a thing it vvas vvhen vse of such signes vvas receyued in deede most abhorred of them Ep. li. 7. Indict 2. Ep. â—9 I appeale to your Pope Gregory the great the first that euer defended Images He found fault vvith Serenus Byshop of Massilia for breaking the Images that he fouÌ„d in his church yet he condeÌ„neth your doctrine for vvorshipping them saying in one place Et quid zelum vos ne quid manu factum adorari possit habuisse laudauimus And truely we coÌ„mended you in that ye had a zeale that nothing made with hand should be worshipped Tua ergo fraternitas illas seruare ab earum adoratione populuÌ„ prohibere debuit Therfore your brotherhead should haue preserued them forbydden the people that they should not worship them And this Gregorie vvas 600. yeare after Christ VVhere then vvas the reuereÌ„ce done to the signe VVhere gaue they the counsell to creepe to the Crosse See you not hovve shamefully ye abuse the Prince vvith slaunders and vntruthes As for the third substancial ground vvherevpon ye builde the buttresse of your cause that no feare or mystrust of Idolatrie can be where the crosse is woorshipped that position and more than Paradoxe Folio 2. is as true as the reste 2. Reg. 18. Num. 21. Ioan. 9. as true as the Ievves could commit no Idolatrie in vvorshipping the brasen Serpent and yet that signe vvas coÌ„maunded once this signe to vs vvard vvas coÌ„mauÌ„ded neuer VVherfore since your vvare is no more vvorth M. Martial you like a pelting Pedler putting the best in your packe vppermost I see not vvhere ye may haue vtteraunce for it vnlesse it be to serue to sluttish vses And that ye should rest in any hope that the Queenes maiesty amidst hir great affaires should haue so much vacant time as to take a vievve of your vaine deuises is a miracle to me and makes your folly to appeare the more the more ye coÌ„ceiue a liking of your self The story that ye bring of Socrates report It is Socratis lib. 5. Cap. 10. not truly quoted for I think ye neuer red it maketh smal for your purpose VVhat though Sisinnius an heretike a Nouatian did giue aduise for appeasing of the Arrians heresy that the auncient fathers should be called to vvitnesse vvil you take example of one not vvell instructed nor vvise in this case as it appeared VVere the auncient fathers suffisaunt to appease the cause VVere they not enforced that notvvithstanding eche man to bring his opinioÌ„ in vvriting and stand to a furder iudgement and determinatioÌ„ Reade ye the place They neyther could nor can for imperfections that remayn amongst them content the conscience in doubtfull cases nor ought at any time to be iudges of our fayth S. Augustine contra MaximinuÌ„ Arrian Epis hath a goodly rule better to be follovved obserued than yours For vvhen in the like controuersie vvith the Arrians the counsell of Ariminum vvhere many Fathers vvere assembled made for the one parte and the Counsell of Nice confirmed the other Augustine to declare that vve ought not to depende vpon mans iudgement but vvholy solely vpon the truth of Gods vvord sayde Nec ego Nicenum nec tu debes Ariminense tanquam preiudicaturus proferre Concilium Epist. lib. 3. Cap. 14. Nec ego huius authoritate nec tu illius detineris Scripturarum authoritatibus non quorumque proprijs sed vtrisque communibus testibus res cum re causa cum causa ratio cum ratione concercet vvhich vvords in English be these Neither I muste bring forth the Counsell of Nice nor thou the Counsell of Ariminum as one to preiudice the other Neyther I am bounde to the authoritie of the one nor thou restrayned to the determination of the other But by the authorities of the Scriptures not peculiar witnesses vnto eyther of vs but common and indifferent vnto vs both let one matter with an other cause with cause reason contende wyth reason Then is it no outrage as it pleaseth your vvisedome to terme it to refuse your order Folio 3. since most of the fathers yea euery one of them haue had their errors as aftervvard more clerely shal appeare Yet for al your dotages vvherof peraduenture ye dreamed in some dronken frensy for al your absurdities I
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
aduersarie I will shewe what fathers and doctors of the Church Hireneis chaplens brought forth for thē First of all Augustine Who sayth Quid est Imago Dei Iconolatrae nisi vultus Dei in quo signatus est populus Dei What is the Image of God but the countenance of God in which the people of God is sealed Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere The Image of God is Christ his sōne Iconomachi according to Paul Qui est Imago Dei inuisibilis Which is the Image of the inuisible God And to apply that to a stocke or a stone which is peculiar vnto Christ is horrible Nor Augustines meaning was so but as it is euidente by his owne wordes Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Ca. 16 he speaking of Christ whome he calleth the Image and countenance of the father sayth that in him we be sealed Qui dedit pignus spiritus in cordibus nostris Which gaue the pledge of his spirite in our heartes whereby we are sealed into the right of his children against the day of redemption Then brought they forth an authoritie out of Gregorius Nyssenus to which the Synode answered Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Ca. 17 that in asmuch as his life and doctrine was vnknowen to them Car. Mag. Li. 2. cap. 17. they could not admitte his testimony for approuing of a thing in controuersie Car. Mag. Li. 2. cap. 20. They alleaged also Cyrill vppon Iohn but corrupting his sentence deprauing his sense that as the wordes were brought vnto them it was as hard to pick out construction as to finde a pynnes head in a cart loade of hey Car. Mag. Li. 3. cap. 20. Lykewise they dealt with Chrisostome alleaging that he shoulde say Vidi Angelum in Imagine I sawe an Angell in an Image Wherto was aunswered that it was nothing likely bycause Angels are inuisible Car. Mag. Li. 2. cap. 15. Nor otherwise with Ambrose Nam ipsius sententiam ordine sensu verbisque turbarunt For they troubled his sentēce both in the order the sense and the words Nor this is my priuate opinion The whole Counsell affirmed it so And the actes are euident to proue no lesse Car. Mag. Li. 2. cap. 13. As for the example that they brought of Siluester how he presented the Images of the Apostles to Constantinus it maketh nothing for them He shewed him peraduenture pictures to loke vpon no Images to adore Car. Mag. Li. 3. cap 31. But I must not forget how they brought an example of a certayne Abbot which made an othe to the Diuel that he would not worship the picture of Christ or of his mother But afterwarde he brake his othe saying that it was better for him to haunt all the Brothel houses in the city than to abstayne from worshipping of Images I nede not to rehearse the Counsels answere to it There is no such babe but seeth their heastlinesse Only their greatest reason that doth remayne is this The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Li. 4. cap. 25. Epiphanius discoursing vpon all the sectes of heretiques doth not accoumpte them for any that worshippe Images Therfore it is no heresie to worship Images The Aunsvvere Epiphanius discoursing vpon al the sectes of heretiques doth not accoumpte them for any that condemne Images Therfore it is no heresie to condemne Images But that the same Epiphanius did not only mislike with worshipping of Images but also with the hauing of thē shal appeare hereafter It suffiseth now that I haue set forth to you the best part of the actes of the noble Coūsel ye sée the learned reasons that they made the depe and profoūd iudgements the pyth the strength the marowbones of their matter wherwyth they dyd so begrease themselues that now they shine so glorious in your eyes If men had deuised matter to mocke them wythall I suppose they could not haue found any so absurde as they brought with them Yet these be they that represented the state of the vniuersal Church These be they that could not erre These be they that you onely depend on These be the thrée hundreth and fyfty byshops that condemned the thrée hundreth and eyght and thyrty that were before assembled at Constantinople These be the Iudges that gaue sentence agaynst the Counsell gathered in Spayne These be the worthy pillers that beare vp the Crosse Images And if a man considered by what spirite they were led when they came to Nice he neded not to maruel at the strange horrible successe of their doings For who then bare the sway Who did assēble them but that Athalia that Iesabel Irene which was so bewitched with superstition that al order al honesty al law of nature brokē she cared not what she did so she might haue hir Mawmots She burned hir fathers bones She murthered hir owne sonne She peruerted by violence al order of lawful Counsel that she might goe a whoring with hir Idols styll When Constantine the fift father to hir husbande Leo by mariage of whome she moste vnworthy came to hir estate had lien dead buried a good while in his graue she digged him vp she shewed hir crueltie on his carcase she cast his bones into the fier caused his ashes to be throwen into the sea This did the good daughter the defender of Images bycause hir father when as yet he liued had broken them in pieces affirming simplicity rather than sumpteousnesse to be moste sitting for the Church of Christ Thus raged she during the none age of Constantine hir sonne and made the palace of Constantinople a sinke of sectaries a follower of deformed Rome But when the Emperor himselfe hir sonne grew to discretion he trode in his fathers and grandfathers steps and did so much mislyke with his mothers Mawmetry that he began to brydle hir insolent affection he toke the sweard out of hir mad handes and threwe downe the monumentes of superstition which she with such diligence and coste had erected Wherevpon the malice of hir wicked breast was so incensed that she spared not to set on fier hir owne house to conspire the death of hir owne childe only to maintaine hir Images in the Church Therefore she not onely forgate hir duety to hir Prince hir loue to hir sonne but she ioyned with a sorte of cut throtes she vtterly cast of the nature and condition of a woman she became more sauage than a wild beast For beside that she craftely betrayed the Emperour she trayterously bereued him of his inheritance the crowne she most vnwomanly scratched out the eyes of the same hir owne sonne she most abhominably caste him into pryson most detestably at length she murthered him Thus was the liuing for the deade the Prince for a puppet the naturall childe destroyed for the naked vnnaturall vse of Imagry And to declare the wrath of God iustly deserued for this execrable facte Eutropius reporteth thus Obtenebratus est sol per dies septemdecim non
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
than nedefull proufe For if in any thing sure in religioÌ„ this sentence taketh place Non viuendum exemplis sed legibus We must not liue by examples but by lawes Yet here ye triumph maruellously God wote before the victorie before any blowe gyuen For when ye haue rehearsed the names of certayne which in their dayes did vse this ceremonie ye vehemently say Shal vve so far discredit and disauthorize these graue Folio 80. a. vertuous and learned men as though they knevv not the Scriptures and true interpretation of the same As though they knevve not light from darkenesse veritie from heresie true religoÌ„ from vayne superstition Alas God forbid Alas good man how fell you out with your self Who hath chased your charitie Be men discredited that be not in euery poynt followed hath your wisedome forgotten that the selfe same fathers which twice or thrice ye rehearse by tale both did and taught more ofte and more earnestly other things than that wherein your selfe refuse to followe them I will take paynes for your pleasure to runne them ouer agayne in such order as ye put them that ye shal not say but I deale faythfully wyth you Tertullian Tertullian Folio 79. b. De corona Militis is put in the first ranke he sayth When so euer vve goe forth and moue forvvarde vvhen so euer vve come in or goe oute vvhen so euer vve put on our apparell and dravve on our shooes vvhen vve vvashe vvhen vve syt dovvne at the table vvhen vve haue light brought in vvhen vve go to our chambers and syt dovvn vvhatsoeuer vve haue to do vve make the signe of the Crosse in our foreheades The very next sentence saue one before Tertullians traditions these wordes he hath also Die dominico ieiunium nefas ducimus vel de geniculis adorare EadeÌ„ immunitate à die Paschae in Pentecostem vsque gaudemus We think it a wickednesse to fast vpoÌ„ the Sunday or to serue God on our knées And the same immunitie we enioy from Easter day to Whitsontide And before that Oblationes pro natalitijs annua die facimus We make euery yeare an offring for our birth day we kepe the wakes And now M. Martial how chaunce that ye knéele at your Masse on Sunday why do you not offer vp a cake on munday Tertullian thought the one a wickednesse the other be commaunded as a necessary seruise Dare ye so discredit disauthorize Tertullian Alas God forbid Ye will rather neuer serue God at all neuer fast neuer knele but drink be merry and pipe vp Iohn taberer to morrovve shall be my fathers vvake These toyes such other as he borrowed of Montane notwithstanding afterward condemned by councell so you of conscience tender heart will follow thinking therein you are a good catholike The next in your aray is holy Ephrem Ephrem He sayth Let vs paynt in our gates and printe in oure foreheads faces breasts and all partes of our body the liuely signe In the same boke also de Poenitentia foure times together he calleth Christ Legislatorem a lawe maker De coÌ„puÌ„ctione cordis Lib. 1. Ca. 5. De laudibê° Mariae And is this Catholike Where haue ye redde the like He prayeth also to the virgin Mary saying Sub alis tuis custodi me Kepe me vnder thy wings What worde or sense of Scripture for this Dauid in foure or fyue places doth attribute the same to God Psalme xvj xxxv.lvj.lx.lxij But to none other And the whole course of Scripture is in dede against it Yet here ye will followe him Then what say you to this Diuers tymes he fayned hymselfe to be mad for feare least they should lay a bishoprike vpon him Will ye follow him in this I doubt your modestie Folio 78. Chrisostom Chrisostom you say doth couÌ„sell vs vvith great study earnest zeale to set in our foreheads and mindes the Crosse So doth he euery man to haue the bible in his house How like ye that Hom. 9. in Epis ad Coloss De Lazar. CoÌ„c 3 4. In cap. Mat 21. Hom. 69. Euery man and woman as wel and rather the lay fée than the cleargy to be conuersant in Scripture Admit ye that That whersoeuer the Bible lieth the diuel can haue no power there Beleue ye that That Monks had their minds voyd of al affectioÌ„s and their bodies like Adams before the fall wherein is denied originall sinne Confesse ye that If in these poyntes ye thinke it no shame to swarue froÌ„ Chrisostome think it no discredit to refuse the other Folio 78. Hieron in 3 Sopho. In Ezech. Ca. 16 coÌ„tra Iouin S. Hierom counsels vs to make the signe of the Crosse So doth he also to trust to the merits of the priest or else to think ther is no due sacrameÌ„t He saith that our soules as long as they are yong are without sinne that to marry twise is as il almost as to play the harlot If in these cases ye think he had the true interpretation of the Scripture I maruell not if ye truste him in the other Folio 78. August de pecc mer. remis libr. 1. Cap. 20. But if in these he was deceyued why doe ye so earnestly vrge him in the other Sainct Augustine commaundcth vs to make the signe of the Crosse So doth he also that infants should receyue the communion If ye discredite him in this who thought it as necessary for them to take the Lords supper as to be Christened wil ye think it so great a matter in such a trifle as the other is which without any worde without any binding vs to it he onely spake of a little to dissent Cyrillus ye name but cite no authoritie Folio 79. b. When we come to his place in the latter ende of the ninth Article you shall heare more newes of him Prudentius he sayth Prudentius Cathemeri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hymno ante cibuÌ„ Folio 79. that vvhen vve goe to sleepe vve must in our foreheades make the signe of the Crosse But in the same boke also he sayth that it was the woman that subdued the Serpent transferring the glory from Christ vnto Mary And as he doth inferre a reasoÌ„ for the Crosse bicause a minde earnestly fixed on that signe cannot be inconstant and vvauer So doth he for the dignity of Christes mother saying The virgin that deserued to bring forth God bringeth all poyson and yll povver vnto naught And the doctrine of the one is as true as the other Wherefore since it is not to be denyed but that euery one of the fathers of the Church whome I notwithstanding with all my heart doe reuereÌ„ce haue had their errors imperfections though not in like degrée al ye do vs wrong to say we discredit them if we do not clearly in al things follow them They themselues refused that honour and authoritie they must be trusted but yet as men As long
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
a spectacle vnto vs. And nowe to coÌ„clude with Constantine the great Folio 86. whose fact is such a defence vnto you that ye thinke your selfe full armed with it But without any schole play with a downe right blow ye may be toucht on the bare For although Constantinus Constantine not fully yet instructed in the fayth sometime defended his face vvith the signe of saluation sometime shevved forth the victorious banner sometime erected it in a paynted table somtime did hang it vp before the court gate yet we neuer redde that of so many Churches as you say he builded he brought the signe of the crosse into any of theÌ„ Then did he not repose any holinesse therein nor his doings otherwise are to be drawen to example vnlesse ye haue nede to retourne with him from Paganisme to the fayth and haue as large commission as he Wherefore sith your ignoraunce vnderstandeth not the Fathers writings sith your impudencie falsly corrupteth them sith presumptions haue alwayes cuÌ„bred the Church of god and traditions in euery age with euery sere byshop varied we are not to be thought otherwise than followers of the Apostles although we decline froÌ„ some thing that men haue called and in their conceytes reputed Apostolique Flatter not your selfe as if any were so mad hauing common sense to be persuaded with your glorious wordes which in euery leafe haue so good triall of your shamelesse lies Learne what the Church is then talke thereof be a member of the Church and I wil make more accoÌ„pt of you Be no preacher to other of their soule health vnlesse ye take better order for your owne To the sixth Article THat diuerse holy men and vvomen Martiall Fol. 88. got little pieces of the holye Crosse and inclosed them in golde or siluer and eyther left theÌ„ in Churches to be vvorshipped or hanged them about their neckes therby to be the better vvarded To which assertioÌ„ coÌ„sidering what in the Articles afore hath bene sayd and proued a short answere may serue For inasmuch as al your reasons be grounded on a false principle authoritie of men whiche in Gods matters can take no place ye spende in thys Article a greate many moe wordes than all the matter in your booke is worth Tertullian hymselfe Tertullian de virginibê° uelandis speakyng of a traditioÌ„ more reasonable than thys pretendeth not authoritie but sayth that he wyll proue Hoc exigere veritateÌ„ cui nemo praescribere potest non spacium temporum non patrocinia personarum non priuilegium regionum Ex hijs enim fere consuetudo initium ab aliqua ignoraÌ„tia vel simplicitate sortita in vsum per successionem corroboratur ita aduersus veritatem vindicatur Sed dominus noster Christus veritatem se non consuetudinem cognominauit Si semper Christus prior omnibus aequè veritas sempiterna antiqua res That the truth requireth this against the which no persoÌ„ no space of tyme no mastershyp of men no priuiledge of countries can prescribe For most commonly by the meane of these custome that began of some ignoraunce of simplicitie is by succession coÌ„firmed into an vse and so exception taken against the truthe But Christ our Lord called hymselfe the truth and not the custome If Christ be alwayes before al the truth it selfe is aswel eternal and of most auncienty Let theÌ„ coÌ„sider and marke wel thys who accompt it new that in it self is olde No nouelty but verity confoundeth heresy Whatsoeuer is against the truth the same is heresy yea the olde custom it self as sayth Tertullian Wherefore ye should not presume so much vpon the credit of Helena Paulinus Gregory that whatsoeuer they did should be a sufficient presideÌ„t for vs to do the lyke The fathers of the olde the new Testament are not to be drawen for exaÌ„ple alwaies For then why not Dauid defende an adulterer a lecherous captayn willing to dispatch hys trusty soldior why wer it any fault to abiure the faith or otherwise dissemble with God if the lyke facte in Peter myght be followed Aug. contra 2. Ep. Gauden lib. 2. Augustine very wysely sayth NoÌ„ debemus imitari semper aut probare quicquid probati homines egerunt sed iuditium scripturarum adhibere an illae probent ea facta We must not alwayes imitate or alow whatsoeuer allowed persons haue done but lay the iudgemeÌ„t of scriptures to it whether they alow the doing of it If theÌ„ I droue you vnto this issue that ye should proue by the word of God the alleaged exaÌ„ples good ye had néede to require a loÌ„ger terme and yet in the ende you would make a non suite For ye shal not fynd in al the scripture any piece of word or exaÌ„ple of any that can by force be wrested to the reseruatioÌ„ of little scraps of wood or reposing any hope or affiance in them Too vaine and heathenish is the obseruaÌ„ce too foule and horrible is that Idolatry Yet wyll I not deface those fornamed persons vpon whose authoritie ye grounde your selfe nor say that otherwise they wer vngodly though in this point no godlinesse appeared Rom. 10. Paul writeth of the Iewes in his time thus Testimonium illis perhibeo quod studium Dei habent sed non secundum scientiaÌ„ I beare them recorde that they haue the zeale of God but not according to knowledge And I doubt not but these whom you haue named had a zeale of their own thought to serue God yet seruing their fansy first they dyd offende against the maiestie of God and were occasion of fall to many that came after 2. Par. 17. The holy Chronicles report of Iehosaphat that he walked in the first wayes of hys father Dauid sought not Baalim but sought the lord god of hys father and walked in hys coÌ„maundementes not after the trade of Israel The like testimony also is giueÌ„ him in the .20 ch Iehosaphat walked in the way of Asa hys father and departed not therefrom doing that whiche was right in the sight of the Lord notwtstanding the hie places were not taken away Beside thys 2. Paral. 19. he made affinitie with Ahab loued them that hated the Lord dyd any maÌ„ therfore for those imperfections condeÌ„ne Iehosophat as a wycked Prince Or wyl any maÌ„ excuse hym for the same On lyke sort I wil not vtterly disproue your authors I thynke not the contrary but that they wer Gods childreÌ„ although in this matter for which theyr authoritie is preteÌ„ded ther is none with safe conscience that can lyke with them Iud. 8. Gideon among the iudges of Israell was the least stayned yet through deuotion as he estemed it he greuously synned against the lord For when as a mighty chaÌ„pion he returned home from coÌ„quest of Midiam the souldiers laden with goldeÌ„ prey he required their earinges to be geueÌ„ to hym Which amounting to a great sum he made an Ephod of it
had 15. a. Three reasons why Christ can haue no Image made of him 16. a. The follye to haue a picture of Christ 16. b. How Images are honoured coÌ„trary to the minde of Gregorie 17. a. A note how Martials allegations for the crosse are to be knoweÌ„ in this treatise 17. b. The Papists hope ib. Mart. lies in his preface 18. a. Comparison betwene Papistes true Christians 19. In the first Article MEn in gods matters not to be beleeued without the word Folio 21. b. seq What iudges ought to sit in coÌ„trouersies of religioÌ„ 23. a. Howe Martiall entreateth of that which is not applying to the signe the vertue propre to the thing it self 25. b. Chrisostome his praise of the Crosse answered 26. a. Thinges well receyued yll continued 26. b. The signe of the Crosse an heathenish obseruance ib. Chrisost mangled by M. 26. b Martialis a pretended disciple answered 27. a. Damascenê° answered 27. b. Crosse signe no weapon to fight agaynst Sathan 28. b. Athanasius answered 29. a. Necessary notes to be obserued in reading of the Fathers 29. b. 30. b. Origen aunswered for hys prayse of the Crosse 31. a. Cassiodore answered 33. a. Martials fond reason for necessity of a Crosse 33. a. Lact. Aug. answered 33. b. Martials comparison examined 34. 35. Iulians exaÌ„ple opened wherby he wil proue the crosse to driue away spirits 35. seq The like example of a Iewe out of Gregory 36. Siluester the secoÌ„d for al his Crosses in the very Masse tyme was torne in pieces by Diuels 37. b. Martials allegations wherby he will proue mention to be made of his Crosse in Scripture howe they are answered 37. 38. 39. seq In the .ij. Article MArtial goeth only about to proue a matter that he promysed he woulde not speake of Folio 41. a. It is declared that although the Crosse were prefigured by Moses and the prophets yet it folowes not that wee must needes haue the signe thereof 41. b. His allegations for the prefiguring of the crosse examined 42. seq Moses handes lifted lyke a Crosse 43. seq The letter Thau 44. b. se Constantines apparitioÌ„ answered 45. b. For good successe in the Crosse time 47. a. Iulians visions discussed 48 Diuers meanes that God hath miraculously vsed for deliuery of his 49. seq Howe Papistes deale wyth Gods booke 52. a. The end of ceremonies 52. b. What Christ in iudgement shal require of vs. 53. In the .iij. Article THe .iiij. reasons why euery Church and Chappell should haue the signe of the Crosse aunswered Folio 54. seq Abdias proued fabulous 51. a. The true maner of dedication of Churches 52. b. Barthelmewes dedycation 54. a. Philips dedication ibid. The councels by Martial alleaged answered 54. b. He bringeth the bare name of three Councels and nothing else 58. a. Three Councels which are playne agaynst Images The Councell of Constantinople vnder Leo Isauricus 58. a. seq The Councell of Granata called Elibertinum 68. a. The Councel of Frankford ibid. seq The beastly reasons of the second Councell of Nice confirming images answered 70. seq The wyckednesse of Irene president of that sixt Councell 78. seq The Doctors answered that seeme to commaunde the signe of a Crosse in Churches 79. a. Ambrose in that case considered 79. a. seq How a crosse on the steple saueth the Church from burning 80. b. Lactantius authoritie aunswered 81. a. Eusebius thought it strange to see an ymage stand in the Church 82. a. Arnobius a great enimie to Images ib. Augustine aunswered 82. b. What is a mysterie ibid. Augustine doth answere the same obiections which the Papists make in defence of Images 83. a. b. His places against Images 84. b. Paulinus of Nola answered and disproued 84. b. Iustinians lawes weyghed 85. a. Valens Theodosius enacted that no crosse should be vsed 85. a. The custome of Church considered 85. b. Siluesters lie concerning the Church of Constantinus 86. b. Augustins rule for custome 87. a. In the .iiij. Article A Proufe that although the signe of the crosse haue bene vsed yet doth it not folowe that it is lawful now Folio 88. The tale of Probianus disproued 89. a. Cyprians authoritie examined 90. Augustines authority discussed 92. a. The difference of Rite and Recte 92. b. The Cannon lawe condemneth Crossemaster Martiall 93. a. Chrisostome answered ib. Constantinus Church hallowing 93. b. Popishe Church hallowing 94. a. Dionisius dysproued not to be Areopagita 95. b. Traditions and ceremonies added to baptisme 96. seq Confirmation proued no sacrament 97. a. Papistes blasphemous doctrine touching Confirmation 97. seq The reasons agaynste Popish confirmation 99. seq Howe Papistes falsefie the Scripture 100. a. The absurditie of popish doctrine ib. seq The fathers opinioÌ„ touching the number of Sacramentes 101. Cyprians errour 102. b. The seaueÌ„folde grace of Papists 103. a. Orders proued to be no Sacrament 104. seq No due proufe can be made that a Crosse wyth a finger was or ought to be made in the Lordes Supper 106. seq Matrimony proued no sacrament 108. a. Martials reasoÌ„ to make Matrimony a sacrament 109. a. Absurdities in Popishe doctrine concerning Matrimonie 109. b. seq Martiall disproued for his sacrament of Penaunce 111. b. Vanitie of Papistes therein 112. b. Martiall confuted for his sacrament of Extreme vnction 113. The absurdities in Popishe doctrine for Extreme vnction 114. That all councels are not to be credited 115. In the .v. Article THat Martiall vnderstandeth not what blessing meaneth which applieth it to a signe in the foreheade Folio 116. a. Vnlawful authorities brought for blessing 116. b. Epiphaniê° authority which tare the vayle 117. seq What is to bee thoughte of traditions 119. seq Tertullians traditions not to be obserued ib. Ephrem not alway sounde 120. a. Chrisostome not in al things to be followed ib. Hierome sometime to be reproued ib. Augustin not alwayes to be admitted ib. b. Prudentius hath hys infirmities ib. The vnitie of Papistes and Christians 121. a. Howe Martiall doth corrupt Tertullian 123. a. In Custome what to be considered 124. a. Traditions threefolde ib. Traditions howe they varie 126. What lies Martiall maketh of Athanasius 127. a. That Roodes Crosses Images are countrefets of Serapis 128. a. The godlinesse and good religion of Papists 129. seq In the .vj. Article AVthorities vnlawfull alleaged by Martiall for confirming of the Crosse keping Folio 131. a. No authoritie of men to be grounded on in Gods matters 132. Hierome agaynste reseruing pieces of the Crosse 132. b. Chrisostomes saying for inclosure of the Crosse in gold answered 133. a. Chrisostome agaynst such superstition 133. b. Effects of the Crosse pieces thereof considered 135. seq In the .vij. Article THat Crosses at the fyrste were not vsed in Letanies Folio 138. Montanistes Arrians authours of procession 138. b. Letanies of two sortes and when deuised 139. a. Howe
as they bring their warrant for them God forbyd in dede but we should admit them If we established our traditions and destroyed theirs If we deuised a worship of our own despised theirs we wer to be blamed But when in respecte of Gods commaundement which no man ought on peril of his life transgresse we reiecte a custome and deuise of man we are not to bée burdened with pride or singularitie Folio 80. Your selues thinke it laweful to alter and innouate at your owne pleasures all traditions and ceremonies of elder time As taking away mylke and hony from Christenings contrary to Tertullian and denying infants the supper of the Lorde contrary to Augustine with an hundred moe that I could rehearse And wherewithall doe you supply them with your owne fansies your owne follies Yet you neyther discredite nor disauthorize the fathers We if we stande not to euery iote that any one of the fathers heretofore hath written and hath pleased the Pope of his power absolute to admit are compted heretiques schismatiques such as haue separated our selues from the Church In dede we professe a separation from you as our Apologie doth witnesse Folio 81. Apologie of the church of England and shewe good reason why Therein your finenesse doth cal vs patchers I wys all the packe of you hath not cloth in your shoppes to make the like But separating our selues from you the enimies of God and of his truth we ioyne as we ought with the church of Christ For what is the vnitie Vnitie of Papistes that you appoynt vs The humble obedience of the Church of Rome whome you wil haue to be the mother Church whō you doe call the boosome and the lappe that all men ought to runne vnto which will be numbred among Gods children You with this vnitie content your selues seking rather your selues ouer Christ than Christ ouer the flock to raigne compassing rather how your selues may dayntily liue in this world than howe the members of the Church may be brought to heauen But we must appoynte suche kinde of vnity Vnitie of Christiās as must not depend vpon one particular or priuate Church be it eyther of Antioch or of Hierusalem or of Rome it selfe but vpon the catholique and vniuersall Church which was not onely before Rome in antiquitie but shall continue when Rome is gone This muste we search out of the scriptures Rom. 12. Vnū corpus multi sumus in Christo sayth the Apostle We being many are one body in Christ Christ is the head and we be the members Howe doe the members and the head agrée With one flesh one bloud one spirite and one life As Christ is in the father and the father in Christ so we al by Christ are one in God If one spirite rule vs we must all thinke one thing If we be all one body we must not hate our owne fleshe As brotherly loue and charitie is necessary for vs to declare by the same that we be Christs disciples as peace quietnesse among vs all is a thing most expedient as a bande to knyt vs in the vnitie of the spirite so they which are thus vnited vnto Christ must not only be quickned with the same spirit but be cōforted maintained with the same fayth hope Wherfore if you wil haue vs to continue the vnity of your church with you then make it first a catholike Church of a sink of Idolatry a follower and furtherer of true religion It is not by by the vnitie of the church which coms vnder colour name of it Hierome a doctor of the Church writeth Sub rege Constantio Contra Luciferianos Eusebio Hippatio Consulibus nomine vnitatis et fidei infidelitas scripta est In the time of Constance the king Eusebius Hippatius being Consuls vnder the name of vnitie and fayth infidelity was written And such an vnitie do you deliuer vs not you alone I meane but all the rable of popish heretiques with you as consisteth of Idolatry false worshippings simony with a corrupt body and a coūterfet head euen Antichrist himself You say that the vnity of the church doth hang vpon obseruance of ceremonies olde rites customes We say that it standeth vpon fayth and spirite Ephesi 4. Which are the truer in this behalfe S. Paul byddeth vs to be carefull to kepe the vnitie of the spirit til we méete together in the vnitie of fayth Augustine intreating of the Sabboth fast Epist. 86. sayth Interminabilis est ista contentio generans lites nunquam fiaiens quaestiones This contention is endelesse stil ingendring strife neuer ceassing from doubtes And what I besech you do you that bragge of your vnitie dissent from all antiquitie not agrée with your selues contende about trifles damne the true fayth derogate all from Christes death and his passion and giuing it to your owne frée will and works The works that you cōmaunde be your owne deuises The works that God commaundes you haue nothing to doe withall Breake Gods cōmaundement and it is no matter Breake yours we dye for it It is a wonder how bolde you will be to pronounce heretiques to serue your turne Euseb ecclesiast hist. Lib. 5. Victor Bishop of Rome woulde excommunicate and condemne of heresie all the churches of Asia bicause they did kepe their Easter Quartadecima luna primi mensis when the Iewes swete bread is eaten not at the time that he kept it at Rome A sore point I promise you But you condemne vs of heresy for preaching of the Gospel against the traditions and precepts of men If they from whose ordinances we do depart had eyther thought their traditions necessary or shewed scripture wherevpon they grounded them we would not presume to withstande their authoritie or gaynesay their good reason But when they deliuer them as thinges indifferent and plainly professe that they haue no worde of the Lorde for them a hope of commoditie may cause vs to retayne them but an apparant mischief must driue vs to refuse thē Tertullian himself Tertulliā de corona militis when he had rehearsed a great sorte of traditions among which this was the last that we nowe doe speke of the manner of signing vvith the Crosse in the forehead immediately inferreth Harum aliarum eiusmodi disciplinarum si legem expostules scripturaerum nullam reperies If thou require a lawe of Scripture for these and such like orders of discipline thou shalt finde none Wherefore since they builde not vpon the Scripture they do not expounde vpon the word when these ioyes be taught we can not as you say dyscredite and dysauthorize them Folio 79. b. as though they knevv not the scriptures true interpretatiō of the lavv When you doe make a lye of your owne doe I discredite your knowledge in the lawe A lawyer may sometime be a liar as you proue vnto vs and yet not the lawe to wyte When the