Clergy in their Synod at Paris and by almost all the rest of the Bishops of the Western Church against your pretended General Council of Nice wherein this Doctrine was first establish'd The Definitions of this Council being sent to the Emperour out of the East he transmitted a Copy of them into England Hereupon Alcuinus who had formerly been his School-master wrote an Answer to him in the Name of the Clergy of England to declare their dislike of this Doctrine and the account of which our ancient Histories give us in these words In the Year from the Incarnation of our Lord 792 Charles King of France sent to Britain a Synode Booke which was directed unto him from Constantinople Hoveden Annal ad Ann. 792. Simeon Dunelm Hist p. 111. Mat. West ad An. 793. Spelm. Conc. Tom. 1. p. 306. in the which Book alas many things unconvenient and contrarye to the true Fayth were found in especial that it was establyshed with a whole consent almost of all the Learned of the East no less than of three hundredth Bishops or more that Men ought to worship Images the whiche the Churche of God DOTH VTTERLYE ABHORRE Against the whiche Alcuine wrote an Epistle wonderouslye proved by the Authoritye of Holy Scripture and brought that Epistle with the same Booke and Names of our Byshops and Princes to the King of France And thus neither was this Doctrine nor Practice propagated down from Austin to King Henry the Eighth but on the contrary unknown to Austin and rejected as you see by the Church of England almost 200 Years after his first Conversion of it 35. Ibid. And this may suffice to shew both your Skill in Church-History and the little pretence you have for that vain and most false Assertion that your Religion was taught and practised by S. Austin and propagated down even to King Henry the Eighth 's time whereas indeed it is made up of such Corruptions as crept into it long after his Decease Your next business is to rail at King Henry the Eighth which you do very heartily See Thuanus tho let me tell you that better Men than you are even of your own Commuion and who were much more acquainted with the Affairs of those Times speak better things of him And had he been as bad as you are able to represent him yet I could send you to some of the Heads of your Church who have as far excell'd him in Wickedness as ever any of your Canonists have pretended they did in Authority But the Merits of Princes as well as ordinary Persons are measured by some Men not according to their real worth but as they have served their Interests or opposed the Usurpations And tho King Henry the Eighth be now such a Monster yet had he not thrown off the Pope's Supremacy you would have made no difficulty to have forgiven him all his other Sins whilst he lived and would have found out somewhat to justify his Memory now he is dead We know how one of the best Popes of this last thousand Years called Heaven and Earth to celebrate the Praises of a Traytor that had murder'd his Master and possess'd himself of his Empire And Cromwell himself tho a Usurper and Heretick yet wanted not his Panegyrists among those pretenders to Loyalty who now cannot afford a good word to the Honour of a Prince from whose Royal Line their present Sovereign at this day derives his Right to the Crown he wears 36. But however were the Vices of that Prince otherwise never so detestable yet I shall leave it to the World to judg who proceeded with the most Care and Sincerity in the Point you insist upon of his Divorce with Q. Catherine the King who consulted almost all the Learned Men as well as the most famous Vniversities of Europe and then acted according to their Determination Or the Pope who by his notorious jugling with him in the whole process of that Affair shew'd that he resolved to decide it not by any Laws of God or the Church but meerly as his greater Interests with the Emperor or the King should move him to do 37. Ibid. The next step you make is from King Henry to his Son King Edward the Sixth And here you tell us Reply p. 8. That as Schism is commonly follow'd with Heresy so now the Protector who was tainted with Zuinglianism a Reform from Luther endeavour'd to set it up here in England In which you again discover your Zeal against us but not according to Vnderstanding There is hardly any one that knows any thing of the beginning of this Reformation but will be able to tell you that the chief Instrument of it was one whom you have not once mentioned Arch-bishop Cranmer I will not deny but that the Protector concur'd with him in his design but whether he was Zuinglian or what else neither you nor I can tell Dr. Heylin See your Hist Coll. p. 103. who on this occasion is usually your Oracle seems rather to think he was a Lutheran tho easie to be moulded into any form But this I know that had you been so well vers'd in these things Hosp Hist Sacram par 2. p. 33. Lampadius par 3. p. 439. Scultetus Annal. ad An. 1616. as one who pretends to write Historical Remarks ought to be you would have spared that idle Reflection of Zuinglius's being a Reform from Luther it being evident to those who understand his History that neither himself nor the Cantons in which he preach'd were ever Lutherans But on the contrary whereas Luther appear'd but in the Year 1517 Zuinglius began to preach against the Corruptions of the Church of Rome some Years before when the very Name of Luther was not yet heard of And had several Conferences with Cardinal Matthews then in Switzerland to this purpose before ever the other appear'd in publick against them So unfortunate a thing is it for Men to pretend to be witty upon others without considering their own blind side But you go on 38. Ad pag. 9. Reply And from that time the Catholick Doctrine which had been taught by our first Apostles and propagated till then began to be rejected and accused as Erroneons Superstitious and Idolatrous and they who profess'd it persecuted Answ This is still of the same kind as false as it is malicious How false it is that the Doctrine you now profess was either planted here by our first Apostles or propagated till this time in the Church of England I have already shewn And for the Persecution you speak of methinks you should have been asham'd to mention that word being to name Q. Mary's Reign in the very next Line But what at last did this Persecution amount to Were any Roman Catholicks banish'd or put to death for their Religion Were the Laws turn'd against them or any Dragoons sent to convert them No Bonner and Fisher and two others Heath Bishop of Worcester and Day Bishop of Chichester
neither universally nor necessarily received Answ And this Book tho it produced not any manner of Authority for its Representations and was contrary in most Points to the Opinions of the chiefest Writers of your Church soon received an Answer in every particular There your Doctrine was truly stated from your own Authors his false Colours detected and to your shame never replied to For I suppose no one will be so far mistaken as to think that Triflle that came out against it deserves the Name of an Answer 57. Ad pag. 13. And whilst this Book yet subsists in its full force and that we have so effectually shewn you the Opinions of the most Eminent Divines of your Church the Practice of the Generality amongst you and the very words of your Councils and Liturgies to be utterly inconsistent with your new Representations that you are not able to make any reasonable Defence of the one and are forced utterly to reject after all the other What a Forehead must that Man have that can tell the World as you do That we CANNOT DENY what yet you complain of Me in this very Book for denying that all Catholicks do believe according to that Doctrine which the Representer expresses and which you in vain endeavour as I shall hereafter shew you to defend 58. Ad pag. 14. Reply During this Dispute two Books you say were publish'd with the same Intention The first The Acts of the Clergy of France in their General Assembly 1685. in which was shewn in one Column the Doctrine of your Church from the words of the Council of Trent in the other the Calumnies of Protestants against you from the very words of their Authors And this you think to have been so clear a Proof of what the Representer had said that you suppose his Adversaries would not think fit to contest it longer against such plain and ample Testimonies Answ And here you think you have found out somewhat to boast of A Wonder indeed not every day to be seen a Book never yet answered by us 'T is true I do not know of any one here at home that has taken the pains to examine the Clergy's Quotations as the Answer to Papists protesting against Protestant Popery has done for the Instances there offer'd by their Humble Imitator the Representer But then the discovery that was made by that worthy Author of the whole Cheat by distinguishing Matters of Dispute from Matters of Representation has abundantly confuted all their Pretences We charge you for Instance with Idolatry for worshipping of Images Praying to Saints and for adoring the Host. If you do not worship Images nor pray to Saints nor adore the Host then indeed we Misrepresent you But now for the other Point that therefore you commit Idolatry this is our Consequence which we draw from those Practices and must be put to the Trial betwixt us If our Reasons be good our Conclusion will be so too If they are not we are then mistaken in our Opinion and you may say we are in an Error but we do not therefore misrepresent you We never yet pretended that you thought Idolatry to be lawful or that you confess'd that you committed it We accuse you of it only as a thing which upon the Premises before mention'd we conclude you to be guilty of and in that certainly if we misrepresent any Body it must be our selves not you Now this one thing being observed the Book you mention is utterly overthrown and both the Artifice and the Evidence fall together 59. Ibid. The other Book you tell us you publish'd was the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition and what has been done on this occasion is very well known and I shall not need to give any account of it 60. Ad pag. 17. And thus have we done with the two Points to which I reduced the Sum of your Preface What farther remains is your Advice to the Readers of our Books what they are to take notice of and what to pass over in them You tell them that you will lay down the true State of the difference betwixt us and that whatever they find written by us that does not immediately oppose some of those Tenets they should pass it over tho never so plausible or pleasing 61. Now how Politick such an Advice as this may be to hinder the good effect of our Writing I will not dispute but sure I am it is highly unreasonable For what if the very Subject of the Controversie should be as indeed at this time it is whether those things which you here lay down be your Churches Doctrine or only your private Exposition of it Ought not the judicious Reader in this case to consider our Allegations and see whether we have not reason to say that you do endeavour to delude them by pretending that to be your Belief which in truth is not received by the Generality of your Church as such As for instance You positively deny that the Holy Cross is upon ANY ACCOVNT WHATSOEVER to be worshipped with DIVINE WORSHIP Now this we deny too and therefore as to this Point there can be no Dispute betwixt us But now what if I should undertake to shew that you here impose upon your Reader and that whatsoever you pretend yet your Church does teach that the Holy Cross IS TO BE WORSHIPPED with DIVINE WORSHIP and Practises accordingly Is not this think you fit to be considered by him Or is the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition become so far the Guide in Controversie in France and England that all other Expositions are to be look'd upon as superannuated and this only to contain the true Interpretation of your pretended Catholick Faith. 62. But indeed I do not wonder that you would perswade your Proselytes not to read our Books since you easily guess that those things may well stagger them which were not your Obstinacy or your Prejudices too strong for your Reason and Conscience to grapple with must long e're this have convinced as they have sufficiently confuted your own selves 63. Ad pag. 27. And because you are not willing to prolong Disputes you do here declare that if the Defender do meddle hereafter with such Points as those which are not of necessary Faith you shall not think your self obliged to answer him tho after that he may perhaps boast how he had the last Word Answ That is to say the great business of the Defender has been to discover your true Doctrine and yours to dissemble it Now if the Defender makes any Answer at all to your Reply it must be to maintain those Doctrines to be yours which he had laid to your Charge and which you deny And this if he does you here declare you will have done with him Which I think is plainly to confess that you have had enough of this Argument 64. But Sir the Defender has such a kindness for his Subject and such a respect for You that he is resolved not to part either
it from your Pontifical in its full length The Oath that is ordered by the Church of Rome to be administred to a New Convert Pontif. Rom. Ord. ad reconc Apost Schism vel Haeret. I. N. having found out the Snare of Division with which I was held after a long and diligent deliberation with my self am by the Grace of God return'd with a forward and ready Will to unity of the Apostolick See And lest I should be thought to have return'd not with a pure Mind but only in shew I do hereby promise under the pain of falling from my Order and under the Obligation of an Anathema to thee Bishop of such a Place and by thee to Peter Prince of the Apostles and to the most Holy Father in Christ our Lord N. Pope and to his Successors that I will never through the Perswasions of any Persons whatsoever or BY ANY OTHER MEANS return to that Schism from which by the Grace of our Redeemer freeing Me I am deliver'd But that I will always remain in all things in the Unity of the Catholick Church and in the Communion of the Bishop of Rome and therefore I do say upon my Oath by GOD ALMIGHTY and these SACRED GOSPELS that I will without wavering remain in the Unity and Communion aforesaid And if which God forbid I shall BY ANY OCCASION or ARGVMENT divide my self from this Vnity MAY I INCVRRING THE GVILT OF PERJVRY BE FOVND CONDEMN'D TO ETERNAL PVNISHMENT AND HAVE MY PORTION WITH THE AVTHOR OF SCHISM IN THE WORLD TO COME So help me God c. Thus do's your new Proselyte swear himself firm to your Party at least I 'me sure he is here required to do it And now you may as well expect that a fellow Conspirator should discover the Treason he is to commit as a Convert thus engaged to you though he should find it out expose your Villany AN ANSWER TO THE REPLY c. Being a further Defence of the EXPOSITION of the DOCTRINE of the Church of England INTRODUCTION IT was the Opinion of a late Author concerning a very short Treatise that he had publish'd upon most of the Points in Controversy between us and the Church of Rome that tho he had neither put himself to the expence of any new Arguments against us nor produced the Authority of either Ancient Fathers or even of Modern Writers to back his Assertions he had nevertheless answer'd in that one Treatise not only all those late Discourses that had just before been publish'd by our Divines on those Subjects but a great part of all the Books and Sermons that had ever been writ or preach'd against his Church Tho I am not very fond of following any Copy which that Author can set me and in this especially do think his Vanity so ridiculous that he is rather to be pitied than imitated yet being once more called upon for a farther Vindication of my self to another review of the most considerable Articles wherein we differ from those of the other Communion I cannot but observe that not only my present Adversary has not advanced in this new Attempt one jot beyond what I had before confuted but that in all their Books their whole Business is meerly to transcribe one another so that from the †See the Reply Pres p. vi Bishop of Condom's Exposition even to the * The Original whereof was first published in Spanish Anno 1616. Eye Catechism there is nothing new but the same Answer that is made to one do's really in effect overthrow them all 2. 'T is this has put me upon the troublesome design not only of resuming and collating the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition and the Vindication of it with the Reply that is now before me on every Article But to search all those other Treatises that have been publish'd since the Representer first broke the Peace with us To convince the World that Matters are now driven as far as they can go so that in reading any one of their Books they may really find as much as when they shall have taken the pains to consult them all If this will not engage them to produce something more than they have yet done to answer our Arguments it shall at least I hope excuse us if we from henceforth dispense with our selves the trouble of large Confutations so that instead of transcribing again our own Books as often as they shall please to furnish out a new Title to their old Objections we shall need only to direct them to those Replies that have been already made and in which their Pretensions have been confuted before they were publish'd St. Austin de Civit. Dei. lib. 2. c. 1. 3. It was the Complaint of S. Austin against such kind of Antagonists as these in his Time That whether out of too much blindness by which even the clearest things are not seen or out of an obstinate stubbornness whereby even those things which are seen are not endured they would defend their own unreasonable Notions after a full Answer had been given to them as if it were Reason and Truth it self that they maintain'd And therefore says he what End shall there be of Disputing what measure of speaking if we must always answer those that answer us For they who either cannot understand what is said or are so harden'd with a Spirit of Opposition that tho they did understand yet would they not submit they answer as it is written and they speak Iniquity and are indefatigably vain Whose contrary sayings if we should as often refute as they have resolved with an invincible Forehead not to care what they say so they do but by any means contradict our Disputations who do's not see how infinite and troublesome and fruitless this would be The ANSWER to the FIRST ARTICLE YOU will excuse Sir this little Address to my Reader I shall from henceforth keep close to your Reply Reply p. 1. and notwithstanding St. Austin's Insinuation to the contrary attend you once more whithersoever you shall please to lead Me. And to shew how exactly applicable what I have before said of your Books in general is to your Reply above any in particular the first Observation I have to make is that for what concerns the common Cause of Religion in this first Article you have entirely taken or rather indeed stollen it since I do not remember that you have once mention'd your Author out of T. G's Discourse against Dr. Stillingfleet and which that most Learned Man had fully answered some Years since And yet you neither take notice of his Answers nor offer any one thing to prevent the same Replies from being made by me to the same Objections 2. You begin your * Vindic. p. 22 Vindication with a scandalous Charge of Calumnies Misrepresentations c. This you persist in in your †Reply p. 2. Reply and so does ‖ T. G's first Answ Pres pag. 3. T. G. against his Adversary He
most celebrated Madonna 's are the Pictures of the Painters Whores set up in their Churches as Objects of the Peoples Veneration But this and other Excesses of the like kind I purposely forbear lest I should be thought to please my self in your Impieties which I heartily lament and earnestly be-beseech God to reform in you Nor should I have said thus much but only to shew how little Reason you had to enter on this new and most Impertinent Subject of the Benefit of Images and that were our Cause to be try'd by this alone we might even so expect to carry it against you And this to your first Pretence 15. The next thing you offer in favour of your Images is Reply § 20. That there is no now danger of Idolatry in this Practice seeing all Persons are taught that there is but one God to whom Adoration is only due and therefore that they cannot be capable of erring so grosly as to give Divine Honour to an Image or to think any Virtue annexed to them for which they ought to be adored In short it is you say by the subtilty of the Devil who hates any thing that excites Devotion that these helps to Piety are now branded with the horrid Note of Idolatry and Catholics represented as if they paid the Act of Adoration to the Images themselves 16. Answ That the Devil is an Enemy to Piety and to all those things that may any way serve to promote it I can easily believe but that it is He who upon this account stirs up us to oppose your Idolatry I shall hardly Credit tho you should give me as good an assurance of it as ever your Brother the old Monk did the second Council of Nice when he told them that the Devil himself had confess'd to him how much he hated your Holy and Venerable Images De Idololatria I am sure Tertullian was so far from this that he thought 't was the Devil that instigated Men to bring them into the World and not to help to cast them out But to overthrow at once both your Reflection and Argument together I do here roundly affirm That what you say is so far from being true That there is now no danger of Idolatry in the Worship of Images that on the contrary I will shew that in the Worship of them publickly authorized and practiced amongst you you do actually commit it And then every Body will see what Spirit it is that Acts us in opposition to this Service and who it is that blinds you so far as to make you contend for that which both the Holy Scripture condemns and the Primitive Christians neither knew nor would have endured And this brings me to my first Proposal wherein I am SECT II. To make good the Charge of Image-Worship against you and Answer those Evasions by which you endavour to clear your selves of it 17. NOW that you give Religious Worship to Images has been so fully proved in that Learned Book I have before refer'd you to in Answer to T. G. both from the Definitions of your Councils of Nice and Trent and from the unanimous Voice of almost all the great Men of your Church who have written any thing of this matter that I shall need say but very little here in Confirmation of it And therefore not to mustiply Quotations by transcribing what has been already collected as to this matter I shall content my self with this plain and I think unexceptionable manner of proceeding against you 1st I will propose to you the Voice of your Church in her Definitions 2dly I will give you the Interpretation of her Sense in these Definitions from Card. Capisucchi only and out of that Book to which Mons de Meaux himself appeals 3dly I will from both vindicate the Account I have given of the Practice of your Church in Conformity to these Principles 18. 1st For what concerns the first of these the Voice of your Church as to this Point the Council of Trent declares That the Images of Christ of the Blessed Virgin and of the Saints are more especially to be had and retained in Temples and that due Honour and Veneration is to be paid to them Not that it should be believed that there is any Divinity or Virtue in them for which they are to be Worshipped or that any thing is to be Asked of them or that any Trust is to be put in Images but because the Honour which is given to them is referr'd to the Proto-types which they Represent so that by the Images which you Kiss and before which you uncover your Heads and fall down you Adore Christ and Worship the Saints which they Represent 19. Thus that wary Synod Neither determining what Honour should be given to Images nor yet setting any bounds to any But then as it expresly allows them the external Marks of Divine Worship so by fixing the Grounds of this Honour to be the passing of it to the Proto-type not only Soto Turrian and Naclantus three great Divines concern'd in that Synod but also the Generality of those who have treated since of this matter have concluded that the same Adoration is to be paid to the Image and the Proto-type So that if Christ himself be worshipp'd with Divine Worship then must the Crucifix also be worshipp'd with the very same But this will better appear 19. 2dly From the Account I am to give of the Doctrine of your Church as to this Worship from Cardinal Capisucchi And to whose Book since Mons de Meaux has thought fit to Appeal I am content to submit the Decision of this Controversy to his Sentence and shall leave the World to judg whether I have M srepresented or whether the Bishop and You have not departed from the Doctrine of the Council of Trent 20. Now that we may know precisely what in his Opinion that due Honour and Veneration is which you pay to Images and which the Council so cautiously declined the telling us we will consider first of all what was thought to be so by them whose Opinions he rejects as not fully delivering your Churches Sense Such were Card. Capis Controv. p. 624 625. 21. First of all Durandus Who thought that properly speaking the Images are not to be Adored but because they resemble things worthy Adoration which by remembrance are Adored in Presence of the Images therefore the Images themselves improperly are and may be said to be Adored Now this he Rejects because says he in truth Ibid. 625. it takes away the Worship of Images and concludes it with another of your great Men Raphael de Tuire to be Dangerous Rash and savouring of Haeresy or as Ferdinandus Velosillus phrases it False Rash and Erroneous but especially since the Definition of the Council of Trent Card. Capis Ibid. par ii p. 625. 22. The next whose Opinion he Rejects is Vasquez Who taught that the Images themselves were no otherwise to be Adored
some kind of impropriety in the Speech and we must understand it so not as if Divine Worship were due to the Cross but to Christ crucified upon it A strange liberty of interpreting this which turns plain Affirmatives into downright Negatives and this contrary to the sense not only of your greatest Authors as I have shewn but in their opinion contrary to the sense of your Church too These all say with the Rubrick that a Divine Worship is due to the Cross you declare 't is no such thing No God forbid Such Worship is upon NO ACCOUNT WHATSOEVER to be given to the Cross but only to Christ represented by the Cross I will not desire you to consider what wise arguing you make of what your Pontifical here says That the Cross must take place of the Emperor's Sword because Christ is to be worship'd with Divine Worship It shall suffice me to leave you to the Censures of your own Learned Writers and Inquisitors who have already pronounced this Exposition to be false scandalous and savouring of Heresie Only let me once more caution you to remember the hard fate of poor Monsieur Imbert of Aegidius Magistralis and the French Traveller I just now mention'd For however it may be safe enough to dissemble with us here yet will it behove you to take great heed that you alter your tone if ever you should chance to fall into those Parts where the Old Popery Doctrine is still the measure of the Inquisitors Proceedings 36. My next Instance was from your form of blessing a New Cross To your Cavil about my omitting some words I have said enough heretofore but the dear Calumny must be continu'd tho not only those two words were added but so many more set down that you seem as much dissatisfied with my length here as you pretended to be with my brevity before 37. You pray That the Wood of the Cross which you bless may be a wholsome remedy to mankind a strengthner of Faith an increaser of Good Works the Redemption of Souls a Comfort Protection and Defence against the Cruel Darts of the Enemy You incense it you sprinkle it with Holy Water you sanctify it in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and then both the Bishop and People devoutly ADORE it and Kiss it 38. This is in short the sum of that Ceremony In which you desire to know what is Amiss I answer That take this whole Office together with the Ceremonies Prayers and other Circumstances of it and it is Superstitious and Idolatrous and I shall not doubt once more to repeat what before so much offended you That the Addresses you here make look more like Magical Incantations than Christian Prayers For 39. First If we enquire into the design of this Ceremony it is to Consecrate a piece of Wood or Stone that it may become a fit Object of Adoration which being directy contrary to the Second Commandment cannot be done without a very great Sin. 40. 2dly To this End secondly you pray that several benefits may proceed from this Wood of the Cross and if those words signify any thing whereby you beseech God that it may be a wholsome remedy to Mankind a strengthner of Faith c. We must then look upon it that you do believe that by this Consecration there is a Virtue if not residing in it for all these purposes yet at least proceeding from it which your Council of Trent confesses was one of the things that made the Worship of Images among the Heathens to be Idolatrous Nor will your little Evasion here stand you in any stead Reply p. 32. that you pray only that the Cross may be a means for the obtaining all these Benefits and that this is no more than a Preacher may desire for his Sermon or the Author of a good Book for what he is about to publish For 1. A piece of Wood or Stone carve it into what Figure or Shape you please is not certainly so proper a means for the conveying of such Benefits to men as a good Book or a good Sermon are And therefore what may be very naturally desired for the One cannot without great Superstition be applied to the Other I may and I heartily do pray that what I am now writing may be a saving remedy to you by correcting your Faith and encreasing your Charity because I am perswaded here are Arguments proper to such an End if it shall please God to dispose you impartially to consider them but now I believe you would think me very Extravagant should I pray to God to sanctify the Paper on which 't is printed or my Bookseller's Sign that sells it as you pray to God to sanctify the WOOD of the Cross that as often as you see the leaves of this Book or look upon the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard these good effects may be wrought in you 41. Again 2. As the thing it self is not a proper means of producing these Effects in us so the manner by which you pray it may be done renders it yet more Superstitious To get instruction by hearing or reading to have ones Faith confirm'd or Charity enlarged or Zeal heightned by pious Considerations or powerful Motives all this is very natural and we may therefore lawfully pray to God for to bless them to us in order to these Ends. But to pray to God that by bowing our selves down before a Cross we may find health of Soul and Body to sanctify a piece of Wood that by ITS MERITS it may free men from all the Sins they have committed this must be more than a natural Effect neither the thing nor action being proper to produce it and whether such Requests be not more like Magical Incantations than Christian Prayers I shall leave it to any indifferent person to consider 42. But 3dly That this which you pretend is not all that your Church designs by those Prayers is evident in that this Exposition cannot possibly be applied to several of those things which you ask of God in those Addresses For instance you pray That the blessing of the Wood upon which our Saviour hung may be in the Wood of the Cross which you consecrate and that by the Holiness of that he would Sanctify this that as by that Cross the World was delivered from Guilt so by the Merits of this the devout Souls who offer it may be free from all the Sins they have committed Now tell me in Conscience if you dare speak the truth Is not all this somewhat more than to pray that the Cross may accidentally become a means of working good Effects in you Reply p. 32 33. by putting you in mind of the price of your Redemption Do you not here see somewhat which your Council of Trent calls the Idolatry of the Gentiles viz. an encouragement to Worship the Cross as if some Divine Virtue were in it for which it ought to be Adored For so certainly
of Sevil of whom I have so often spoken was forced to retract as Heretical his denial of Supreme Divine Worship to the Cross Lud. de Par. de Orig. S. Inquis l. 2. tit 3. c. 8. n. 19. Ludovicus de Paramo tells us that the Fathers of the Inquisition convicted him of his Heresy especially by this Argument taken from your Good-Friday Service viz. That the Church on that solemn day did truly and properly Adore the Cross when it said We Adore thy CROSS O Lord. Reply p. 37 38. 59. And this may by the way suffice to shew how falsely you expound even those Words not to signifie the Cross of Christ but his Passion Which besides that it is foreign to the Ceremony of Worshipping the Cross which you are then about and not a little Nonsence into the bargin is here interpreted not only by me but by the Fathers of the Inquisition of the Cross properly so called and whose Authority I presume you will not care to despise Reply p. 38. And now I shall leave it to any Jury that you please to judg of my Translation and what Character you deserve for your little Reflection upon me And I do assure you withal that I will never from henceforward so far distrust my Reader 's Memory as to say the same things again tho you should give me the same occasion 60. For the other Point That this do's plainly shew that your Church Adores the Cross in the utmost propriety of the Phrase If you will allow those great Men I before quoted to understand the Sense of your Church in this Point then 't is plain that my Assertion must stand good You see they freely confess it nay what is more they pronounce you a Heretick for denying it As for your applying of this Worship to our Saviour Christ if you mean thereby to signify that Christ only is worshipp'd in this Ceremony exclusive to the Cross it is evidently false seeing the whole Action as well as Words shew that the Cross is at least worshipped together with him or rather to speak more precisely Christ is worshipped together with the Cross Nor will Cardinal Bellarmine to whom you direct me stand you in any stead For even he allows the Cross to be improperly and accidentally Worshipp'd with the same kind of Worship that Christ himself is And if you please to let me send you to another Cardinal Card. Capis ib. ub supr par XVI pag. 670. and who being both a great Schoolman himself and Master of the Sacred Palace may be presumed to know somewhat of your Churches Sense he will tell you that your Cardinal Bellarmin was too wary in his Distinctions And that he ought without any of those softning Limitations freely to have asserted That the Cross was truly and properly to be worshipped with Divine Adoration And that I think is much the same with what I said That you do Worship the Cross in the utmost propriety of the Phrase 61. But you have here two singular Arguments to excuse this Service from the charge of Idolatry and which ought not to be forgot For Reply First Reply p. 38. St. Paul you say lookt upon it to be no Superstition to fall on our Face in the assembly and Worship GOD 1 Cor. XIV 25. Answ Ergo ô Lepidum Caput If St. Paul may be Judg 't is no Idolatry in you to fall on your Faces in the Assembly and worship the CROSS What would T. G. have given to have met with such a Consequence in his Learned Adversary But indeed we needed not this Proof to convince us in that Gentleman's Phrase that you never look'd over Aristotle's Threshold however your ill Genius has prompted you to become a Controvertist 62. Well but if St. Paul wont do yet at least you are sure the Primitive Christians were on your side And you prove it by an Instance most fit to keep company with the foregoing Argument The Case in short is this Reply St. Athanasius relates how some Jews in his time Reply p. 38. in the City of Berthus Berytus in Syria used great Indignities to a Crucifix which a Christian had accidentally left behind him when he removed from his Lodgings And you desire your Antagonist to answer you this Question Whether I would have excused those Jews because they did those Actions to an inanimate Being or would not rather have interpreted their Intention as passing from the Cross to our Blessed Saviour 63. Answ This is indeed a most melting Argument and which as I remember set all the good Fathers of the second Council of Nice a crying But Sir be not you too much affected with it for I will venture to give you that Consolation which one of your * De la conformitè des merveilles anciens avec les moderns Par. 1. Ch. 25. P. 389. Brethren once did his Congregation in France when having preach'd in a most Tragical manner about the Passion not of a Crucifix but of our Blessed Saviour himself insomuch that the whole Assembly was in Tears at it the good Father bid them not weep for that after all it may be it was not true For 1st As to the Book which you cite for this goodly Story 't is certain it was written above 420 years after Athanasius was in his Grave and is of no manner of Credit among the Learned 2dly As to the Story It was invented in the time of Irene the Empress when all the World was set upon making and finding out Fables and Miracles for establishing the Worship of Images 3dly All the Authority we have that ever there was any such thing done and that it was not a meer Invention as were many others of the like kind at that time is that of Sigebert whose Chronicle besides that it was written yet another 400 years after this supposed Insult upon the Crucifix Bell. de Scrip. Eccles p. 283. was also an Author whom Bellarmin himself confesses is not to be credited in every thing he says And especially when in all probability he had no other Warrant for it than the Acts of the Council of Nice and the pretended Treatise of St. Athanasius which you quote for it So unlucky a thing is it for you to meddle with Church-History 64. But whether the Relation be Truth or Fable The Question is put and must be Answer'd Would I not have thought that these Jews hereby intended to affront our Saviour Christ I answer Yes No doubt they did And why then say you should I not in like manner interpret this Service of yours to terminate not upon the Crucifix but to tend to him who suffer'd upon the Cross I answer 1. That had you put your Question as you ought you should have ask'd Why then we do not look upon your Intention to be to Honour not the Cross but Him that suffered upon it Now there is a very great Difference between these two And however