assemble synodes and counsels and made seuere decrees agaynst images and worshyppyng of them as hath ben at large in the seconde parte of this Nomilee before declared But all their wrytyng preachyng assemblyng in counselles decreeyng and makyng of lawes ecclesiasticall coulde nothyng helpe eyther to pull downe images to whom idolatrie was committed or agaynst idolatrie whilest images stood For those blynde bookes and dumbe Scholemaisters I meane images and idols for they call them laye mens bookes and Scholemaisters by their carued and paynted wrytynges teachyng and preachyng idolatrie preuayled agaynst all their wrytten bookes and preachyng with lyuely voyce as they call it Well if preachyng and wrytyng could not keepe men from worshyppyng of images and idolatrie if pennes and wordes coulde not do it you woulde thynke that penaltie and swordes myght do it I meane that prynces by seuere lawes and punishmentes myght stay this vnbridled affection of al men to idolatrie though images were set vp and suffered But experience proueth that this can no more help agaynst idolatrie then wrytyng and preachyng For Christian Emperours whose aucthoritie ought of reason and by Gods law to be greatest aboue eight in number and sixe of them successiuelye raigning one after another as is in the histories before rehearsed makyng moste seuere lawes and proclamations agaynst idols and idolatrie images and the worshipping of images and executing most greeuous punishmentes yea the penaltie of death vpon the mainteiners of images and vppon idolaters and image worshyppers could not bryng to passe that either images once set vp myght throughly be destroyed or that men shoulde refrayne from the worshyppyng of them beyng set vp And what thynke you then wyll come to passe yf men of learnyng shoulde teache the people to make them and shoulde maynteyne the settyng vp of them as thynges necessarie in religion To conclude it appeareth euidently by all stories and wrytynges and experience of tymes past that neither preaching neyther wrytyng neyther the consent of the learned nor aucthoritie of the godly nor the decrees of counsels neyther the lawes of prynces nor extreame punyshmentes of the offendours in that behalfe nor no other remedy or meanes can help agaynst idolatrie if images be suffered publiquelye And it is truely sayde that tymes past are scholemaisters of wysedome to vs that folow and lyue after Therefore in tymes past the vertuest and best learned the moste diligent also and in number almoste infinite auncient fathers Byshops and Doctours with their wrytyng preachyng industrie earnestnes aucthoritie assembles and counselles coulde do nothyng agaynst images idolatrie to images once set vp What can we neyther in learning nor holinesse of lyfe neither in diligence neither aucthoritie to be compared with them but men in contempt and of no estimation as the world goeth now a fewe also in number in so great a multitude malice of men What can we do I say or bryng to passe to the stay of idolatrie or worshippyng of images if they be alowed to stand publiquely in temples and Churches And if so many so mightie Emperours by so seuere lawes and proclamations so rigorous and extreame punishmentes and executions coulde not stay the people from settyng vp and worshypppng of images what wyll ensue thynke you when men shall commend them as necessarie bookes of the lay men Let vs therefore of these latter dayes learne this lessen of the experience of the auncient antiquitie that idolatrie can not possiblie be separated from images anye long tyme but that as an vnseparable accident or as a shadowe foloweth the body when the sunne shyneth so idolatrie foloweth and cleaueth to the publique hauing of images in Temples and Churches And finally as idolatrie is to be abhorred and auoyded so are images whiche can not be long without idolatrie to be put away and destroyed Besides the whiche experimentes and proofes of tymes before the very nature and origine of images them selues draweth to idolatrie most violently and mans nature and inclination also is bent to idolatrie so vehemently that it is not possible to seuer or parte images nor to kepe men from idolatrie if images be suffred publiquely That I speake of the nature and origin of images is this Euen as the fyrste intention of them is naught no good can come of that whiche had an euyll begynnyng for they be altogether naught as Athanasius in his boke against the gentiles declareth and saint Jerome also vppon the prophet Jeremie the. vi Chapter and Eusebius the seuenth booke of his ecclesiasticall historie the. xviii Chapter testifieth that as they first came from the Gentiles which were idolaters and worshippers of images vnto vs and as the inuention of them was the beginning of spirituall fornication as the worde of God testifieth Sap. 14. So will they naturally as it were and of necessitie turne to their origine from whence they came and draw vs with them most violently to idolatrie abominable to God and all godly men For if the origine of images and worshipping of them as it is recorded in the eight chapter of the booke of wysedome began of a blynde loue of a fonde father framing for his comfort an image of his soÌ„ne being dead and so at the last men fel to the worshiping of the image of him whom they did know to be deade Howe much more will men women fall to the worshipping of the images of God our sauiour Christ his saintes if they be suffered to stande in churches temples publiquely For the greater thoppinion is of the maiestie holines of the person to whom an image is made the sooner will the people fall to the worshipping of the sayd images Wherfore the images of God our sauiour Christ the blessed virgin Mary the apostels martirs and other of notable holinesse are of all other images most daungerous for the peril of idolatrie and therefore greatest heede to be taken that none of them be suffered to stande publiquely in Churches and temples For there is no great dread least any should fall to the worshipping of the images of Annas Cayphas Pilat or Iudas the traytour if they were set vp But to the other it is alredy at full proued that idolatrie hath benâ— is and is most lyke continually to be committed Nowe as was before touched and is here more largely to be declared the nature of man is none otherwyse bent to worshipping of images if he maye haue them and see them then it is bent to whoredome and adultrie in â—he company of harlots And as vnto a man geuen to the lust of the fleshe seyng a wanton harlot sitting by her and imbracing her it profiteth little for one to saye be ware of fornication God will condempne fornicatours and adulterers For neyther will he being ouercome with greater enticementes of the strumpet geue eare or take heede to suche godlye admonitions and when he is left afterwardes alone with the harlot nothing can follow but wickednes Euen so suffer images
women shortly after fell on heapes to worshyppyng of them And at the last the learned also were caryed away with the publique errour as with a violent streame or fludde And at the seconde counsell Nicene the Byshoppes and Cleargie decreed that images shoulde be worshypped and so by occasion of these stumblyng blockes not onlye the vnlearned and simple but the learned and wyse not the people onlye but the Byshoppes not the sheepe but also the shepheardes them selues who shoulde haue ben guydes in the ryght way and lyght to shyne in darkenesse beyng blynded by the be witching of images as blynde guydes of the blynde fell both into the pitte of damnable idolatrie In the whiche all the worlde as it were drowned contynued vntylourage by the space of aboue eight hundred yeres vnspoken agaynst in a maner And this successe had Gregories order whiche mischeefe had neuer come to passe had Byshoppe Serenus way ben taken and all idols and images ben vtterly destroyed and abolished for no man worshippeth that that is not And thus you see how from hauing of images priuately it came to publique settyng of them vp in Churches and Temples although without harme at the fyrste as was then of some wyse and learned men iudged and from simple hauing them there it came at the last to worshippyng of them Firste by the rude people who specially as the Scriptures teacheth are in daunger of superstition and idolatrie and afterwardes by the Byshoppes the learned and by the whole Cleargie So that laytie and Clearge learned and vnlearned all ages sectes and degrees of men women and children of whole Christendome an horrible and most dreadfull thyng to thynke haue ben at once drowned in abhominable idolatrie of all other vices most detested of God and moste damnable to man and that by the space of eight hundred yeres and more And to this end is come that beginning of settyng vp of images in Churches then iudged harmelesse in experience proued not onlye harmefull but exitious and pestilent and to the destruction and subuertion of all good religion vniuersaliye So that I conclude as it may be possible in some one Citie or litle Countrey to haue images set vp in temples and Churches and yet idolatrie by earnest and continual preachyng of Gods true worde and the sincere Gospel of our sauiour Christe may be kept away for a short tyme So is it impossible that images once set vp and suffred in temples and Churches any great countreys muche lesse the whole worlde can any long tyme be kepte from idolatrie And the godly wyll respect not onely their owne Citie Countrey and time and the health of men of their age but be carefull for all places and tymes and the saluation of men of all ages At the leaste they wyll not lay such stumblyng blockes and snares for the feete of other countreymen and ages whiche experience hath alredie proued to haue ben the ruine of the worlde Wherefore I make a generall conclusion of all that I haue hitherto sayde yf the stumblyng blockes and poysons of mens soules by settyng vp of images wyl be many yea infinite yf they be suffered and the warnynges of the same stumblyng blockes and remedies for the sayde poysons by preachyng but fewe as is alredy declared yf the stumblyng blockes be easy to be layde the poysons soone prouided and the warnynges and remedies harde to knowe or come by yf the stumblyng blockes lye continuallye in the way and poyson be redye at hand euery where and warnynges and remedies but seldome geuen and if all men be more redy of them selues to stumble and be offended then to be warned all men more redie to drynke of the poyson then to taste of the remedie as is before partly and shall hereafter more fully be declared and so in fine the poyson continually and deepely drunke of many the remedie seldome and fayntly tasted of a fewe Howe can it be but infinite of the weake and infirme shal be offended infinite by ruine shall breake their neckes infinite by deadly vâ—nome be poysoned in their soules And howe is the charitie of God or loue of our neyghbour in our heartes then if when we may remoue suche daungerous stumbling blockes suche pestilent poysons we wyll not remoue them What shall I saye of them whiche wyll laye stumbling blockes where before was none and set snares for the feete nay for the soules of weake and simple ones and worke the daunger of their eternal ruine for whom our Sauiour Christe shed his precious blood where better it were that the artes of painting playstering caruing grauing and foundyng had neuer ben founde nor vsed then one of them whose soules in the syght of God are so precious should by occasion of image or picture perishe and be loste And thus is it declared that preachyng can not possiblye stay idolatrie if images be set vp publiquely in Temples and Churches And as true is it that no other remedye as wrytyng agaynst idolatrie counsels assembled decrees made agaynste it seuere lawes lykewyse and proclamations of princes and Emperours neyther extreame punyshmentes and penalties nor anye other remedye coulde or can be possiblie deuised for the auoydyng of idolatrie if images be publiquely set vp and suffered For concernyng wrytyng agaynste images and idolatrie to them committed there hath ben alleaged vnto you in the second part of this treatise a great manye of places out of Tertulian Origene Lactantius S. Augustine Epiphanius S. Ambrose Clemens and diuers other learned holy byshops and doctours of the Churche And besides these all histories ecclesiasticall and bookes of other godlye and learned byshoppes and Doctours are full of notable examples and sentences agaynst images and the worshyppyng of them And as they haue moste earnestly wrytten so dyd they sincerely and most diligently in their time teache and preache accordyng to their wrytynges and examples For they were then preachyng Byshops and more often seene in pulpittes then in prynces palaces more often occupyed in his legacie who sayde go ye into the whole world and preache the Gospell to all men then in imbassages and affayres of princes of this worlde And as they were moste zealous and diligent so were they of excellent learnyng and godlynes of lyse and by both of great aucthoritie and credite with the people and so of more force and lykelyhood to perswade the people and the people more lyke to beleue and folowe their doctrine But if their preachynges coulde not helpe muche lesse could their writynges which do but come to the knowledge of a fewe that be learned in comparison to continuall preachyng whereof the whole multitude is partaker Neyther dyd the old fathers Byshoppes Doctours seuerallye onlye by preachyng and wrytyng but also together great numbers of them assembled in synodes and counsels make decrees and ecclesiasticall lawes agaynst images and the worshipping of them neyther dyd they so once or twyse but diuers times and in diuers ages and countreys
the world assembled a counsell of Germans at Frankford and there procured the spanishe councel against images afore mentioned to be condemned by the name of the Foelician heresie for that Foelix Bishop of Aquitania was chiefe in that councell obteyned that the actes of the second Nicene counsel asâ—eÌ„bled by Hyrene the holie Empresse whom ye hearde of before and the sentence of the bishop of Rome for images might be receaued For much after this sort do the papistes report of the historie of the councell of Frankforde Notwithstanding the booke of Carolus magnus his owne writing as the tytle sheweth whiche is nowe put in print and commonly in mens handes sheweth the iudgement of that prince and of the whole councel of Frankforde also to be against images against the second councell of Nice assembled by Hyrene for images and calleth it an arrogant foolishe and vngodly councel and declareth the assemble of the councell of Frankforde to haue ben directly made and gathered against that Nicene councell the errours of the same So that it must needes folow that either there were in one princes time two councels assembled at Frankforde one contrarie to another whiche by no historie doth appeare or els that after their custome the Popes and Papistes haue most shamefully corrupted that councell as their manner is to handle not onely councels but also all histories and wrytinges of the olde Doctours falsifiyng and corrupting them for the mayntenaunce of their wicked and vngodlie purposes as hath in tymes of late come to lyght and doeth in our dayes more and more continuallye appeare most euidentlie Let the forged gyft of Constantine and the notable attempt to falsifie the first Nicene councell for the Popes supremacie practised by Popes in Saynte Augustines tyme be a witnes hereof which practise in deede had then taken effect had not the diligence and wisedome of saynt Augustine and other learned and godly bishoppes in A 〈…〉 rike by their great labour and charges also resisted and stopped the same Nowe to come towardes an ende of this historie and to shewe you the principall poynte that came to passe by the maintenaunce of images Where as from Constantinus Magnus tyme vntil that day al aucthoritie imperiall princely dominion of the empire of Rome remayned coÌ„tinually in the right and possession of the Emperours who had their continuaunce and seat imperiall at Constantinople the citie royall Leo the third then Bishop of Rome seing the Greeke Emperours so vent agaynst his Gods of golde and syluer tymber and stone and hauyng the kyng of the Francons or Frenchemen named Charles whose power was exceeding great in the west countries very appliable to his mynde for causes here after appearing vnder the pretence that they of Constantinople were for that matter of images vnder the Popes ban curse and therefore vnworthy to be emperours or to beare rule and for that the emperours of Grece being farre of were not redye at a beche to defende the Pope agaynst the Lumbardes his enemies and other with whom he had variaunce This Leo the thirde I saye attempted a thyng exceeding straunge and vnhearde of before and of incredible boldnesse and presumption For he by his papall aucthoritie doth translate the gouernement of the Empire and the crowne and name imperiall from the Greekes and geueth it vnto Charles the great kyng of the Francons not with out the coÌ„sent of the forenamed Hyrene empresse of Grece who also sought to be ioyned in mariage with the said Charles For the which cause the sayd Hyrene was by the Lordes of Grece deposed and banished as one that had betrayed the empire as ye before haue heard And the said princes of Grece did after the depriuation of the sayde Hyrene by common consent elect and create as they alwayes had done an Emperour named Nycaephorus whom the Bishop of Rome and they of the west would not acknowledge for their Emperour for they had alredy created them another and so there became two Emperours And the empire whiche was before one was diuided into two partes vppon occasion of idols images and the worshipping of them Euen as the kingdome of the Israelites was in olde tyme for the lyke cause of Idolatrie diuided in King Roboam his tyme And so the Byshoppe of Rome hauing the fauour of Charles the great by this meanes assured to him was wonderously enhaunced in poweâ— and aucthoritie and did in all the west Church specially in Italie what he lust where images were set vp garnished and worshipped of al sorts of men But images were not so fast set vp and so much honoured in Italie and the west but Nycaephorus emperour of Constantinople and his successours Scauratius the two Michaels Leo Theophilus and other emperours their successours in the empire of Grece continually pulled them downe brake them burned them and destroyed them as fast And when Theodorus Emperour would at the councel of Lions haue agreed with the Bishop of Rome and haue set vp images he was by the nobles of the empire of Grece depriued and another chosen in his place and so rose agelousie suspition grudge hatred and enmitie betwene the christians and empires of the East countries and west which could neuer be quenched nor pacified So that when the Sarasens first and afterwarde the Turkes inuaded the Christians the one part of christendome would not helpe the other By reasoÌ„ wherof at the last the noble empire of Grece and the citie imperial Constantinople was lost and is come into the hands of the infidels who now haue ouerrunne almost all christendome and possessing past the middle of Hungarie whiche is part of the west empire do hang ouer all our heades to the vtter daunger of all christendome Thus we see what a sea of mischiefes the maintenaunce of images hath brought with it what an horrible scisme betweene the east and the west Churche what an hatred betwene one christian and another councels agaynst councels churche agaynst church christians agaynst christians princes against princes rebellions treasons vnnaturall and most cruell murders the daughter digging vp and burning her father the Emperours bodye the mother for loue of idols most abominably murdering her owne sonne being an Emperour at the last the tearing in sunder of Christendome and the empire into two peeces till the Infidels Sarasens and Turkes common enemies to bothe partes haue most cruellye vanquished destroyed and subdued the one parte the whole empire of Grece Asia the lesse Thrasia Macedonia Epirus and manye other great and goodlye countries and prouinces and haue wonne a great peece of the other empire and put the whole in dreadfull feare and most horrible daunger For it is not without a iust and great cause to be dread leaste as the Empire of Rome was euen for the lyke cause of images and the worshyppyng of them torne in peeces and diuided as was for Idolatry the kyngdome of Israel in olde tyme diuided so lyke