the cause being taken away there remaines no more of the effect Last of all because it seemes that wee would haue no Images of the crucifixe nor the Cross we declare that we desire all our dayes Iesus Christ should be painted before oureyes in the same manner as S. Paule Gal. 3. ver 1. painted Iesus Christ before their eyes for the pensill wherwith God ought to be paiÌ„red is his word which himself calleth the word of truth where coÌ„trariwise all the doctrine of Images is but the doctrine of lying and vanity So then the Crosse of Iesus Christ is as the chaire wherout we purpose to preach on the one side the multitude and ennormity of our sinnes on the other the seuerity of Gods iustice and depth of his mercy The greatnesse of our sinnes is shewen vs in that they could not be borne nor abolished by any other then he who was very God and very man His iustice in that God who hateth iniquity did punish it with all extreamity His mercy in that himselfe gaue vs the price to acquit vs withall euen vs that were his vtter enemies for this is to vs a most certaine gaege of the merciful affection of our God discerned thorow the woundes of his onely Sonne And the liuely contemplating of those wounds is the balme to heale the hurts of our soules His feete and handes were pierced his side opened and thence issued the price of our redemption as also the washing away of our filthynesse bloud I say and water alwaies streaming to deface our sinnes past present and to come to the ende that hauing our harts washed from an euil conscience wee should goe by the fresh and liuing pathes towardesour God with certainty of faith and keep ing the confession of our hope Heb. 10. ver 22. 23. that is to say in following after Iesus Christ Which is nothing else saith S. Carill but renouncing the world for the loue of Christ preferring the goodes which we hope for by faith before all other in this bodily life In like manner saith S. Bernard The ioyfull hope and assuraunce is that which is affirmed by application to the death and passion of Christ For since the Father hath giuen vs his Sonne how shall he not with him giue vs all thinges also Rom. 8. ver 32. And bee is giu en vs of the Father to be our iustice wisedome redemption and sanctification 1 Cor. 1. v. 30. It is Iesus that iustifies the faulty it is Iesus that paies for the indepted that strengthens the weake illuminates the blinde bindes vp the hurtes of the wounded recalles home by-wanderers giues life to the dead in a word it is Iesus that destroies the workes of the deuill beateth downe Sathan vnder our feete Such is the memory which wee continually obserue of the perfect obedience which the Sonne of GOD deliuered vpon the Crosse to God his Father for vs poore miserable wretches and not the ridiculous and I dolatrous deuotion which the ignoraunt so gladly would make vs beleeue that they honour the death and passion of Iesus Christ in saying during their great weekes space before the crosse and beholding the face of the Crucifixe with handes eleuated and knees bended to wit On Palme Sunday thirty three Paters Aues the Munday the beades of our Lady the Tewsday forty Peters Aues the Wednesday thirty Paters and Aues the Thursday twelue Paters and Aues the Fryday sixty Paters and Aues the Satturday forty Paters and Aues on Easterday twelue Paters and Aues Likewise during their twelue white Fridayes the first three Paters and Aues the second seauen Paters and Aues the third sixty times Paters Aues in honor of the sixty thornes in the crowne the fourth forty Paters and Aues the fift forty Paters and Aues the sixt twelue Paters and Aues the seauenth thirty Paters and Aues in honour of Iudas his thirty pence the eight thirty Paters Aues the ninth fiue Paters and Aues the tenth three Paters and Aues in honor of the three nayles the eleuenth fiue Paters and Aues the twelft fifteene Paters Aues in honour of the fifteene horrible signes which shall come before the day of iudgement Such is the summary of the stile obserued in the booke by them called Houres But true worshippers indeed entreate of God that it may please him to make them feele the efficacy of the death and passion of Iesus Christ and desire to beare the Image of him to the end that as wee haue borne the Image of the earthlie Adam so we may carry the Image of the celestiall Adam in our hearts that the holy Ghost would be the Temple therof and so by this meanes we shall bee knowne by the same Iesus Christ at his great and last comming Truely it is thou Lord Iesus whome wee honour whome wee blesse and thanke because thou dying on thy Crosse hast thereby giuen vs assurance of life To thee be all honour and glory with the Father and the holy spirit Amen Jt is sweete to beare the Crosse with Christ and for Christ FINIS A Sonnet annexed to the former Treatise in French WE are vndone Sathan hath vs destroyde Sinne death and hell is our due portion Ah wretch recant for Christ his passion Sinne death and hell hath vtterly made voyde Thereby our first rights are to vs regainde Thereby health victory and life we holde Thereby we see the light so manifolde Thereby heauens highest secrets are attainde It is the death of death the hell of hell The steele that hath rebated Sathans steele Opening the gate where blessednes doth dwell Happy is he this death by faith doth fellc But he that worships wood or stone procures Those paines on him which euer more endures There is no deâ—eipt nor subtilty which Sathan hath not adâ—â—sedly studied thereby to make men commit Idolatry whereby his power is no way ruynated but established
when the woord of God marcheth not before vs. Nor need we demaund who hath done or said this heere or there but what hath Christ Iesus instituted what hath his Apostles saide and doone nor ought we so much seeke what is done as what is to be done Againe it is to be noted that our elders speaking of the death and passion of our redeemer haue most spoken of his Crosse and of the signe therof together neuer meaning what at this day is vnderstood by the woord signe but they likewise called it the Standard or Ensigne of the great King and Captaine who ouercame the deuill and hell in bringing thence the spoiles drinking of the torrent by the way and lifting vp his head as is said in the 110. Psalme So did Fortunatus take it in his Himne beginning thus Pange lingua gloriosi Praelium certaminis Et super Crucis trophaeum Dic triumphum nobilem That is to say Tongue declare the combate of a glorious fight And tell the noble tryumphes on the Crosse And Theodulphus Vexilla Regis prodeunt Fulget Crucis misterium That is The Standards of the King march foorth Shining with the misteries of the Crosse So that the Crosse then vsed was made in forme of a Standard or Banner By the signe then those reuerend predecessours of ours vnderstood the Crosse and passion it selfe but since ignoraunce hath deuised that that should be seperate which ought to bee conioyned setting the passion of Christ apart and the signe of the Crosse apart making small account of the one speaking the litle of the passion but enough of the signe witnesse the passion death and woundes of Christ which are dayly and hourely in the mouthes of blasphemers who thinke neuerthelesse to be warranted from all euill when they doe but make the signe of the Crosse Thus hath bin declared what our elders vnderstood by the signe of the Crosse to wit the exteriour testimony of the christian faith which euidently appeared in them who were conuerted from dumbe Idols to true seruice of the liuing God This may be discerned more clearely by the saiing of S. Cirill answerering the obiections of the Emperour Iulian sirnamed the Apostata in his sixt booke For Iulian magnifying the antiquity of the Pagane religion said that the Oracles were giuen by Jupiter as the escutchions or bucklers fell from heauen and Jupiters saddle which was giuen or sent to Numa and made this comparison that the Pagans kept the Armour which great Iupiter the Father of Mars had giuen them as a warranted gaege that he would alwaies haue a care of the Citty of Roome All this notwithstanding the Christians desisted from honouring and worshipping these thinges whereupon Iulian said that they honoured the wood of the Crosse and painted the Crosse on their foreheades and before their houses Whereto Cirill answered thus Albeit the Lord and Sauiour of all was not in shewe yet equall in all with his father and seated on the throne of his diuinitie neuerthelesse he was abased and tooke on himselfe the shape of a seruant despising allignomie bare the crosse to abolish the power of corruption and one onely dyed for all to the end that being raised againe from the dead he might deliuer all mankinde from the snares of death destroye the tyrannie of sinne ruling in vs appease the lawe which exercised his tyrannie in our members making vs spirituall woorshippers killing in vs the feelings of the fleshe that they might be made the sonnes of God which beleeued in him and were sanctified by his spirit so to despoile Sathan of his tyrannie the author of euils the mort all beast those wicked powers which our calumniator called the Prince of nations and Gods defenders The wholsome wood made vs remember all these things and aduised vs to thinke that as S. Paule saith Euen as one is dead for all so ought they to knowe that the liuing could liue no more by them selues but by him who dyed and rose againe Which answer shewes that the Christians painted the crosse not as attributing any vertue to the visible signe but to let the Pagans see how they hauing forsaken theyr Idolatries wherewith they hadbin before enchaunted imbraced Iesus Christ of whome the crosse which they placed before their houses was the true marke and publique ensigne And the same Cyrill expoundeth himselfe in his third booke of adoration made in spirit and trueth manifesting the vnbelecuers by this marke that they would neuer receiue the crosse that is to saye acknowledge Iesus Christ They saith he that haue no will to receiue the Crosse are vanquished and ouercome by the deuill and they are such as Christ spake to saying Verily verily J say vnto you if you will not beleeue that I am he you shall dye in your sinnes So that to receiue the Crosse is nothing else but to beleeue in Iesus Christ For so likewise Saint Cyril speaking of the comming of Christ shewes it by these wordes the comming of the Crosse vnderstanding by the word Crosse all that which the sonne of God did and suffered in the worlde for our saluation These things thus breefely touched may suffice to answer the allegations contained in the first placard Come we now to the second which is entituled How the Crosse ought to be honoured which likewise at this present wee must consider on How the Crosse ought to be honoured FIrst of al it is a matter most manifest that the punishment of the Crosse was not onely one of the cruellest but likewise the most ignominious of all them which was practised by any nation For it was called a death most infamous and accursed and for this reason our Lord Iesus Christ was put to the Crosse that he being made accursed we might bee deliuered from the cursse of the law Yet for all this it was not without great reason that himselfe speaking of this kinde of death calleth it his exaltation Iohn 8. verse 28. and 12. ver 32. for his Crosse is the great victory the trophee and glory which hee obtained against Sathan against death See now why we can neuer sufficiently honor the crosse death and passion of our Lorde Iesus Christ For it is the meanes whereby the Sonne of God drawes all men to him as himselfe saith in Saint Iohn 12. verse 32. But the manner how to honor it ought likwise to be learned from our Lord and maister himselfe He plainly expressed it when he taught vs that whosoeuer would be his disciple ought to take vp his crosse follow him for by this means being conformed to his sufferings we shall likewise be semblable to his glorie When he instituted his holye Supper saying Doe these things in remembrance of me how often so euer you doo them you shall shew the death of the Lorde euen vntill his comming This S. Paule sawe when hee writ to Timothe his 2. Epistle Chapter 2. ver 8. 12. Remember that Iesus Christ was raised from the dead
And that if wee dye with him we shall liue with him if we suffer with him we shall reigne with him So that the Sonne of God is highly honored wheÌ„ he is acknowledged to be the sole Sauiour and redeemer of men lost in Adam and who beeing sinners and destitute of the glory of God are reconciled in him and reestablished in farre greater glory then euer they had or could haue before But on the contrary part the great glory of Gods elect shineth in this that as S. Iohn sayth 3. ver 16. So God loued vs that he gaue his onely Sonne for vs to the end that whosoeuer beleeued in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life And the same S. Iohn saith in his first Epistle 3. ver 1. Beholde this loue hath the Father bestowed on vs that we are called the Sonnes of God So that each of vs may say this of himselfe the life which I haue at this present is by the faith I haue in the Sonne of God that he hath loued me and gaue himselfe for me adding withall that by the sufferings which my Lord Iesus Christ hath endured all misery and afflictions which can happen to mee are sanctified For whereas in their owne nature they were punishments by the death of Iesus Christ they are become visitations and testimonies of Gods fauour that hee looueth and enstructeth such as he correcteth We likewise honour the Crosse in this that we are crucified to the world and the world to vs so that dying with Christ Iesus we are raysed vp againe with him saith S. Paule Rom. 6. ver 8. For he hath giuen vs an example to follow his steps that being dead to sin we might liue againe to righteousnes being healed by his wounds saith S. Peter 1. Pet. 2. v. 21 24. And again The grace of God that bringeth saluation vnto all men hath appeared And teacheth vs that we should deny all vngodlynes and worldly lustes and that we should liue soberly and righteously and Godly in this present world Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the mighty God and of our Sauiour Iesus Christ Titus 2. ver 11. 12. 13. Beholde heere the true manner how to honor the crosse and death of Iesus Christ as the Apostles S. Peter S. Iohn and S. Paule hath raught vs in their writinges which themselues practised when they were in this world such hath bin the reuerence which the Primatiue Church made to the crosse For those signs which were made at the beginning were nothing but with the moouing of the hand applyed to the forehead or cast vp into the ayre hauing no subsistance in bodily matter of wood stone siluer golde or other such like The first that made any of some matter was Constantine who hauing obtained a notable victory against Maxentius made his Ensigne in forme of the crosse enriched with golde and precious stones Yet was it not after the fashion of the Crosse obserued now-adaies for the Historians haue thus described it At the end of a high staffe the Greeke letter P was represented vnder it the letter X which are the two first letters of christes name in Greeke Soone after a sayle was hanged ouerth wart this staffe without any figure in the saile and was in all respects as is here set downe And because hee was newely exalted to the imperiall dignitie by the consent of his warriours who preferred him after the declining of Dioclesian his predecessour hee considered that the meanes to maintaine him in this dignitie against all competitours and contenders was to make himselfe a friend with those Christians which Dioclesian had persecuted euen to his vttermost And for this cause hee made the crosse to be erected before himselfe became a Christian for hee was not Baptised till the seuenth yeere of his Empire and the victory before named hapned in the first yeere Now because the Christian historians speake of an apparition of the Crosse in the ayre with these words Thou shalt ouer come by this it is so that Zosimus a Pagane historian who liued at that time there and was a most exact searcher after the deedes of Constantine hath made no mention at all thereof Also it appeareth that the Ecclesiastical histories speake diuersly thereof For Eusebius saith that this visioÌ„ chanced at noone time of the day Sozomenus writes that it appeared in the night to Constantine sleeping Neuerthelesse God might permit this miracle as a helpe to the conuersion of this Prince beings as then a Pagane and that it might serue afterwardes for the further auauncement of Christes glory whatsoeuer affection himselfe should beare therto for some Authors haue noted great defectes and faultes in him He then made the ensignes and Armes of his souldiers to bee marked with the Crosse he caused it to be set vp in publique places as is to be read that hee made to bee erected his owne statue in brasse at Roome holding a Crosse of the same mettal in his hand Notwithstanding he neuer appointed it in any Temple but in a publique place for then the Romaine Temples had as yet the Paganes Idols in them But afterward when it was said that the true Crosse indeed was found by Helena mother to Constantine then a great number of Crosses were erected Nor shall we need in this search to enter so far whether this were a contriued inuention or a truth albeit Volaterranus and Fryer Oâ—uphrius Panuinus of the Augustines order in his notes vpon Platina in the life of Pope Eusebius 32. giues sufficiently to vnderstand that this was an vncertaine matter considering the diuersity found in Authours as touching the time of this inuention For if we shall credite some historians Helena was yet at that time an Infidell and Constantine himselfe not become a firme Christian not hauing then done any thing in Siria And some say that it was not found in the time of great Constantine but in his Sonne Constantines time heereto may we adde Eusebius who writ the life of Constantine and speakes of all which Helena did in Ierusalem yet speakes not one word of this inuention of the Crosse Neyther doth Saint Ambrose agree heerein with other writers for hee faith this Crosse was knowen by the tytle thereon and others say that it was by miraculous healing of a woman which the very touching of this Crosse brought to perfect health againe But howsoever it was there is no man I thinke but will holde for fabulous when hee reades that Adam being sicke sent his Sonne Seth to the gate of Paradise to haue some of the oyle of mercy wherewith hee might be annoynted and healed and how the Angell gaue him a bough of the tree whereof Adam had before eaten the fruite and so transgressed Gods commaundement But being returned he found his Father dead and therefore planted this bough on Adams graue which afterward grew to a goodly tree so that when Salomon caused the temple to be