lapsum mortis cum Serpente quem colis sternis What doest thou bowe thy captiue body before folish Images and earthly counterfets God hath made thée vpright and whereas all other beastes of the earth are depressed in shape bending down to the ground ward thou hast a lofty state to heauen and to thy God thy countenance is erected Then loke vp thither thither cast vp thine eyes seke God aboue That Hel thou mayst lack lifte vp thy doubtfull heart to high and heauenly thinges What doest thou throwe thy selfe wyth the Diuel whome thou seruest into the pit of death So farre S. Cyprian and by him it is playne that to bow to knéele to shew any signe of reuerence to an earthly counterfet to the work of mannes hande is contrary to nature agaynst the dignity of our creation and a wicked worship What Origens To vvorship the Crosse cōtrary to nature Origen opinion was in this behalfe I haue proued afore in the first Article and thither ye may resorte to finde it Onely thys will I adde that when he had rehearsed the commaundement of God Exod. 20. he put his owne censure and verdite therevnto saying Erat quidem legis mens ea vt singuliis in rebus vt veritas exigebat hij versarentur Lib. 4 cōtra Celsum nec preter verum effingerent aliqua quae prae se maris vel foeminae speciem praeseferrent c. The minde of the law quoth he was this that they should in all thinges so behaue themselues as the truth required nor that they should beside the truth counterfet any thing representing the shape of man or woman Wherefore the picture of Christ vpon the Crosse by Origens opinion is agaynst the lawe Beside this he telleth you what Adoration In Exod. and what worshippe is Aliud est colere aliud adorare Potest quis interdum inuitus adorare sicut nonnulli regibus adulantes cum eos ad huiuscemodi studia deditos viderint Hom. 8. cap. 20. adorare se simulant idola cum in corde ipsorum certum sit quia nihil est idolum Colere verò est toto hijs affectu studio mancipari Vtrumque ergo resecat sermo diuinus vt neque affectu colas neque specie adoras To worship is one thing and to adore another For a mā may sometyme against hys wyll adore as they that flatter Princes when they sée them addicte to suche studyes doe fayne themselues to worship Idols whereas in their heart they are assured that an Idol is nothing But to worship is to enter into a certaine seruitude and bondage with them and be addict vnto them with all affect and zeale Therfore the worde of God cutteth away both that neyther in heart thou worship nor in apparaunce adore Thus much suffiseth for Origene whereby it is playne that whatsoeuer our mynds are our bodyes must not bow to any Crosse or creature Arnobius Arnobius contra Gentes lib. 6. discoursing against the Gentiles who serued Idols and dyd Sacrifice vnto them had the same obiected hym that you do to vs. We worship the Gods sayd they by their Images And you By vvorshipping the Crosse vve serue Christ And may I not answere to you as he dyd to them Si hoc nō sit coli se Christus nesciat nec impaertiri à vobis vllum sibi honorem ex stanabit Per tramites ergò quosdam per quaedam fidei commissá vt dicitur vestras sumit atque accipit cultiones antequam sentiat cui illud debetur obsequium simulachro litatis prius velut reliquias quasdam aliena ad illum ex authoritate transmittitis If you had not thys Crosse should Christe be ignoraunt that he were serued of you wyll he thynke that there is no honor done hym Then doth he receiue your seruise and your worshippinges by certayne traynes by other put in trust vicars if ye wyll or commissaries and before he to whom the obsequy is due haue any felyng of the matter ye do your Sacrifice vnto the Image and sende hym but the scraps from another mans boorde Et quid fieri potest iniuriosius contumeliosius durius quam deum alterum scire rei alteri supplicare opem sperare de numine nullius senus ad effigiem deprecari Nonne illud est quaeso quod in vulgaribus sprouerbijs dicitur fabrum cadere cum ferias fullonem Et cum hominis cosilium quaer as ab asellis per culis agendarum rerum sententias postulare And what can be deuised fayth he more iniurious slaunderous vncurteous than to acknowledge one God make thy sute to another thing to hope for helpe of God and poure out thy prayers to a senselesse Image Is not thys as the Prouerbe hath to haue a quarell to Rowlande and fyght with Oliuer and where thou sekest for aduise of mē to aske the sētence first of porkelinges and of asses Again Non iste error esis non vt proprie dicatur amentia supplicare tremebundum fabricatae abs te rei Et cumscias certu◠sis tui esse operis digitorum artem pronū in faciem ruere c. Is not thys an error Is it not to speake properly a madnesse in trembling wise to make thy humble shute to a thing that thou madest thy selfe and whereas thou doest know and art assured that it is thyne own workemanship the fruite of thyne owne fingers to fall groueling vpō thy face before it I wyll no further deale with Arnobius All hys .viij. bokes contayne nothing else but confutation of your Image heresy and Crosse shame Lactantius his scholer beside many other places to the lyke effect whereof in the former treatise I haue touched dyuerse hath also thys Quae amentia est aut ea fingere quae ipsi postmodum timeant aut timere quae finxerint Lactantius de fals Rel. lib. 2. cap. 2. Non ipsa inquiunt timemus sed eos ad quorum imaginem sicta quorum nominibus consecrata sunt Nēpe ideo timetis quod eos esse in coelo arbitramins neque enim si dij sunt aliter fieri potest Cur igitur oculos in coelum non tollitis aduocatis deorum nominibus in aperto sacrificia celebratis Cur ad parietes ligna lapides potissimum quam ille spectatis vbi eos esse creditis What madnesse is thys eyther to frame those things which they may after feare or feare those thynges which they haue framed No forsoth say they we feare not that but them after whose Image they be made and to whose names they be consecrated why then ye feare them bicause ye suppose them to be in heauen For if they be Gods it can not otherwise be chosen But why do you not lyft vp your eyes to heauen and callyng vpon the Gods by name do your Sacrifices openly why do you rather loke to the walles to the stockes and stones than to that
them vnto men as percell of religion and worshipping of God Christ vsing the ministerie of the Romaines so destroyed the temple that for these fiftene hundreth yeares they haue had no place no respite to repaire it And when they did attempt the matter they were as you alleaged by diuers meanes destroyed and disappoynted namely by the dreadfull apparition of a Crosse Whereof ye might haue gathered that God so misliked the superstitious ceremonies of the temple that he would not suffer the stones of it to stande The lyke plague shall ensue to all that hauing light wil follow darknesse that being frée will bring a slauery vpon them that being deliuered by Christ from these outwarde things and hauing Christ yet will be wedded to these outward things as if that God were pleased with them Wherefore remember Saul let no disguised cloke of a good intente couer an ill acte contrary to the worde Leuit. 10. Nadab and Abiu brought in straunge fyre not commaunded of the Lorde The fyre of the Lorde therefore consumed them 2. Sam. 6. Vzah when the Oxen did shake the Arke of a good intent did put his hand vnto it and was stricken deade for his offence Melior est obedientia quam Victimae sayde Samuell Better is obedience than sacrifice Better is a naked seruice with the worde than a a gorgeous solemnitie not cōmaunded by the worde Quicquid ego praecipio vobis Deut. 12. hoc tātum facite Whatsoeuer I do commaunde you sayth the Lorde doe that and that onely Non addes quicq̄ nec minues Thou shalt not adde any thing to it nor take away any thing from it When Christ shall appeare in brightnesse of his glory when he shall sytte as a iust iudge at his seconde comming to aske a straight accompt of all your life fayth and religion what can ye answere what wil ye say vnto him We haue garnished thy temple with golde and syluer we haue set vp candels vpon thine altares we haue sainsed thy saincts we haue erected estemed honored thy Crosse What shal he then reply to this Esay 1. Leuit. 26. Esay 52. 1. Cor. 6. 2. Cor. 6. The worde of his Prophete Esay Quis requisiuit ista de manibus vestris Who did require these thinges at your handes My temple ought your own heartes to be as I my selfe pronounced and my Apostle Paule bare witnesse with me This should haue bene adorned with chastitie simplicitie feare of my name loue of my mercies innocencie of lyfe integritie of fayth Such resting place and such ornaments therof haue I required but you haue them reiected No altare of squared stone haue I appointed my selfe on the altare of the Crosse abolished it I only ought to be the altare nowe wherevpon your sacrifice of prayse and thankesgiuing should be layd and light of your good workes shining to the world be set vpon But me and my death ye haue adnihilated to magnifie your owne imaginations my sainctes should haue bene paternes of holy lyfe and true fayth vnto you not haue vsurped my rowme and office to become mediators and be called vpon The swéete perfume of prayer shuld haue arisen from the saynsure of your heart to me and no flinging of coales about the Church to other But you haue sticked onely to the Iewish and hipocriticall obseruaunce The truth exhibited in time of grace ye haue not receyued The memory of my death by preaching of the worde and due administration of Sacramentes in the Church should haue bene continued according to my wyl The members of my body the liuely counterfets of myne owne person the poore the naked the comfortlesse christians should haue bene relieued clothed encouraged but by your Imagry you haue excluded my word by your Roodes Crosses and crucifixes vtterly as much as in you lieth defaced the glory of my death departe ye therefore away from me ye workers of iniquitie let nowe the God that you haue serued saue you Entre into euerlasting fier prepared for the Diuell and for you his Angels Thys when God shall lay vnto your charge this fine shall followe of it and when in the terrible conflict with Sathan ye shall call your consciences to accompte and sée those ydle toyes that you haue trusted to to be voyde of comforte what shall ye then doe but be dryuen to dispeire and say to the mountaines fall downe vpon vs. Luke 22. Wherefore if yet there be any place of repentaunce left for you if malice and obstinacy haue not vtterly secluded Gods grace from you take vp by times Séeke Christ in his worde forsake your will worshippings Set not your follies in the seruice of God agaynst the wysedome of the Almighty reuealed in his worde You thinke your holde is good God knowes it abydes no stresse Ye say ye séeke the Shepherd I proue ye finde the Foxe To the thirde Article FOr declaration and proufe of your thirde Article Folio 36. b. which is that euery Church Chappell and Oratory erected to the honor and seruise of God should haue the signe of the Crosse ye bring foure reasons whereof the two first be too vnreasonable grounded vpon folish fables The third is insufficient to confirme a doctrine The fourth is a custome of error not consonant to truth For the first ye alleage one of Abdias tales whome you affirme to haue sene Christ in the flesh Folio 38. b. to haue follovved Simon and Iude into Persia and to haue bene made Byshop of Babilon by the Apostles Abdias To speake somewhat of your famous father that he sawe Christ in the fleshe what maruell was it if he were one of the .72 disciples as you and Lazius that foūd the lying legend in his proface vpon Abdias witnesse Concerning his auncienty no maruel if ye cite him For if ye make accompt of his yeares by probable coniecture out of his boke ye shall finde him almost as olde as Mathusale He liued long after S. Iohns time for he citeth authorities out of his Gospell Ii 5. in fine diuers And speaking of a miracle done at S. Iohn his tombe how Manna sprang out of it he sayth Quam vsque hodie gignit locus iste that is to say Which Manna this place bringeth forth to this day Then if it were so strange a matter as he would haue it séeme many yeares were runne betwene the death of the Apostle and writing of his booke But Iohn himself was an hundreth yeare olde lacking two when he dyed For as your Abdias sayth Cum esset annorum nonaginta septem c. When he was foure score and seuentéene yeare olde Christ appeared to him and so forthe And Abdias if he were one of the .72 Disciples was called to hys ministery the selfe same yeare that Iohn was to his Apostleship So that by all likelyhoode hée was then as olde as Iohn and liuing long after Iohn How old was hée say you But a man of those yeares being broken
was a reproufe to the enimies of the Crosse became in the ende a cause of conquest against the Christians Nor it is to be thought that whersoeuer a signe of a Crosse was were it eyther in mountaine or in valley in tauerne or in chambre in brute bodies or in reasonable there was by by a zeale of true deuotion but as well or rather an heathenish obseruaunce The signe of the Crosse an hethenish obseruāce a supersticion of them that neuer thought on Christ We reade that the Egiptians great Idoll Serapis had a Crosse in his breast and that signe was one of their holy letters Li. 2. Ca. 29 Sozom. li. 7. Cap. 15 Wherevppon Ruffinus reporteth that many of the learned among the Egiptians were the rather contented to embrace Christianitie bycause they sawe the Crosse estéemed which was before a great ceremonie of theirs And we may wel suppose that when they pulled downe the Images of Serapis out of their windowes and walles and placed in their steade the signe of the Crosse Act. 17. they imitated the fact of the Apostle Paul who of the Athenians superstition did take occasiō to preach a truth So these to win the Egiptians to the faith would retayne something of their olde obseruaunce but applied to another meaning than they before did vnderstande So the custome of running about the streates with fyrebrands in honor of Proserpina was turned with christians into Candelmasse day Candlemas day Crosse vveeke Con. Polō 12 Sigebertus in Chro. li. 13. Bonifac. 4. Alhallovven day The sacrifice of Ceres done in the fieldes with howling of women and crying of children was made a generall obseruance with vs in the Rogation wéeke The Images of Mercury set by the hie way sides were afterward conuerted to Crosses And where there was in Rome Templum Pantheon a temple wherein all the Gods of the worlde were honored the deuout fathers to take away this Idolatrie did consecrate a church in the same place vnto Alhallowes the that shuld now be conuerted vnto saincts that before was attributed vnto false Gods And yet whatsoeuer pretext of zeale they had this was no good chaunge no sounde reformation to take awaye many false Gods of true saincts to make many Diuels For so they are when they be honored I meane by that honor of Inuocation So that it is not straight waies allowable whatsoeuer is brought in vnder cloke of good intente nor whatsoeuer hath bene vpon good occasion receyued once as this was neuer must necessarily be retayned stil Stephanus the Pope hath this decrée Si non nulli ex praedecessoribus maioribus nostris fecerunt aliqua Dist. 63. cap Quia in paragr verum quae vllo tempore potuerunt esse sine culpa et postea vertuntur in errorem superstitionem sine tarditate aliqua cum magna authoritate à posteris destruantur If any of our predecessors elders haue done any thing which at any time could be without offence and afterward be turned into error and superstition let them without any more delay and with great authoritie be destroyed of thē that come after Then since this crossing hath bred such inconuenience that the externe action had stil in reuerence the inward fayth hath bene vntaught and that vertue attributed to the signe which only procedeth frō him which it signified the signe it selfe may well be lefte and the signified Christ be preached simply Lib. de Past cap. 8. For as Augustine sayth Noli putare te iniuriam facere montibus sanctis quando dixeru auxilium meum non in montibus sed in domino Think not that thou dost any iniurie to the holy hils when thou sayest my helpe is not in the hils but from the Lord So there is no wrong done to the Crosse of Christ if I say not the Crosse but the crucified is to be trusted to Which thing your own author meaneth in the selfe same place which is alleaged although it please you to suppresse the words For after he had sayd Sparsa est in parietibus domorum in culminibus in libris in ciuitatibus in vicis in locis quae habitantur et quae non habitantur which place you cite to shewe what vse what estimation of the Crosse was euery where the very next words that follow be these Vellem audire à Pagano vnde symbolum tam maledicta mortis ac supplicij omnibus tam desiderabile nisi magna crucifixi virtus I would heare of a Pagan how it commeth to passe that the signe of so cursed a death and punishment is so desired of al if it be not the great power of him that was crucified This ye leaue out and yet haue recourse agayne vnto the wordes that followe whereby ye would proue the signe it self to be a token of much blessing a vvall of all kinde of securitie For so Chrisostome sayth If agaynst my obiection ye do reply and say that the power of him which was hanged on the Crosse made the Crosse it selfe and the signe thereof to be of more vertue that this was not the minde of the Doctor the cōclusion of his tale conuinceth Folio 15. a. Hoc mortem fustulit saith he hoc Inferni aereas portas confregit This toke awaye death this broke the brasen gates of Hell c. But did there any material thing did the piece of wood did any signe worke this effecte was death and Hell conquered by it The articles of our fayth do teach vs otherwise and the phrase of Scripture is far differente Mat. 1. Ipse saluum faciet populum suum à peccatis suis It is he sayth Iohn it is Christ not the Crosse that shall saue the people from their offences Mat. 18. Luc. 19. Ioan. 3. Venit filius hominis quaerere seruare quod perierat The sonne of man came to séeke and saue that which was lost Misit Deus filium suum in inundum vt seruetur mundus per ipsum God sent his sonne into the world that by him by him the world might be saued As Moses lifted vp the Serpent in the wildernesse Ibidem so must the sonne of man be exalted that all that beleue in him perish not These titles of honor this work of mercy to sanctifie vs to purchase deliueraunce from death and hell as it is acknowledged of vs so is it attributed in Gods worde to Christ himselfe and not to his Crosse Et qui loquitur 1. Peter 4. loquatur tanquam eloquia Dei If any man speake let him speake as the wordes of God Yet euident it is that Chrisostome by a figure of Metonymia did speake of the Crosse that whiche was properly to be applyed to the passion From Chrisostome ye clime vp to Martialis Folio 15. a. Martialis whome ye doe make Sapientum octauum one of the .72 disciples Eusebius sayth Septuaginta discipulorum catologum nusquam reperiri Lib. 1.
quod dissimilis sit res sed is qui facit Ita ab vna eademque persona diuersis tēporibus tunc opartet aliquid fieri tunc non oportet non quod sui dissimilis sit qui facit sed quando facit It is not true that is sayd A thing that was once well done must in no wyse be altered For when the cause of the tyme is changed good reason doth require the wel done thyng afore so to be changed now That where they say it can not be wel if it be changed the truth on the other syde cryeth out that it can not be well if it be not changed For that which may chaunce at one tyme in diuersity of persons that one may do a thing without offēce which an other may not not that the matter is of it self vnlyke but the party that doth it so in respect of diuerse tymes of the selfe same person now may a thyng be done and now may it not be done not that he is differēt frō hymselfe that doth it but the tyme when he doth it Wherfore I like wel that counsell of Gregory which he gaue to Augustine the Monke whō he sent into Englande to plante a Religion Nouit fraternitas tua Dist 12 cap. Nouit saith he Romanae ecclesiae consuetudinem in qua se meminit esse nutrita sed mihi placet vt siue in Romana siue in Gallicorum siue in qualibet ecclesia inuenisti quod plus omnipotenti Deo possit placere sollicite eligas in Anglorum ecclesia quae adhuc in fide noua est in constitutione precipita quae de multis ecclesijs col ligere poteris infundas Non enim pro locis res sed pro rebus loca amāda sunt Ex singulis ergo quibus cūque ecclesijs quae pia quae religiosa quae recta sunt elige hac quasi in sasciculum collecta apud Anglorum mētes in consuetudinē depone Your brotherhode knoweth the custome of the Romish Church wherin ye remember ye haue bene brought vp But my pleasure is that whatsoeuer ye haue founde be it eyther in the Church of Rome or Frenche Church or any other that more may please almighty God ye carefully choose the same and the best constitutiōs that you can gather out of many Churches poure into the Church of Englande which is as yet raw in the fayth For the customes are not to be embraced for the countrey sake but rather the countrey for the custom sake Chose ye therfore out of al Churches whatsoeuer they are the thynges that are Godly religious and good and these beyng gathered into one bundel repose them as customes in the English mennes hartes So that of the wyse it hath bene alwayes reputed folly to sticke to prescriptiō of tyme or place Only the lawfulnesse of the vse hath brought more or lesse authoritie to the thing Wherfore ye haue no aduauntage of me in that I graunted the vse of Crossing to be auncient in the Church For if it had bene well in oure forefathers yet by Augustines rule it might be ill in vs and therfore to be altered And stifly to defende one certain custome without apparant commodity to the Church is by Pope Gregory hymselfe disproued Only I am sory that imperfections of wise men haue gyuen such president of error to the wilfull I am loth to saye that the fathers themselues were not so wel affected as they ought But ye driue me to lay my finger on thys sore and continually to scratch it The tale of Probianus which ye cyte out of Sozomene in the Tripartite history Folio 48. hath small apparance of truth in it For if he adored not the materiall Crosse he was the better Christian for that but if he beleued not the death of Christ then was he not conuerted vnto the fayth at al. For without Christ and the same crucified our fayth is all in vayne Wherfore whē it is sayd that he vvould not vvorship the cause of our saluation either the writer of this hystory doth il apply thys to the worde materiall or you do ill apply it to your purpose It shuld seme to be a tale framed out of Constantinus apparition when folish worshippers of the Crosse would styl haue moe miracles to cōfirme their Idolatry But as theues that haue robbed do leaue alway some marke behynde them wherby they may be knowen eyther what they were or which way they be gone so thys author of yours leaping ouer the pale hath left a piece of hys cloke behynde hym and ye may tracke hym by the foote For if he ment as your deuise that euer since the death of Christ vvhatsoeuer good hath ben vvrought to mankinde either by good men or holy Angels the same hath bene vvrought by the signe of the Crosse then Angels by lyke haue bodyes to beare it haue hādes to make it But Angels beyng ministring spirites Heb. 7. haue from the beginning wrought many vertues for mans behoufe haue bene by Gods prouidence a defence of the faythful and ouerthrowe of the wicked yet can they not make any materiall Crosse such as is set vp in Churches nor yet mysticall such as men vse to print in their foreheades wherfore eyther the collector of this tale was a lyer or you a fonde applyer Howsoeuer it falles out in ryme yet the reason is good But rather of the twoo I would excuse the author who by the Crosse ment Christ hys passion and lay you in the fault which vnderstode him not For doutlesse if there were such an apparitiō to Probianus as I am not yet persuaded of yet that the meaning of it should be such as you say to driue him to the vvorship of a Crosse in earth hath neyther religion nor reason in it Constantine hymselfe which was as newly cōuerted to the fayth neyther was commaunded to do the lyke nor euer dyd it Cyprian Augustine and Chrisostome intreating al of the passion of Christ do vse the terme of the Crosse as the Apostle hymselfe doth Folio 50. b 1. ad Cor. 1. ad Gal. 5. Vt cruxsit praedicatio de crucifixo That when they name the Crosse by a figure they meane the Crucified Notwithstanding I graūt that in ministration of sacramentes and some tyme otherwyse they séemed all to vse a certayne signe of Crosse not signe material Folio 49. but such as mē do prynt in their foreheades shall we therfore be restrayned to that whereof there is no precept in Scripture nor they thēselues yeld lawful cause But admit their authoritie Thynke you they dyd attribute so great vertue to the wagging of a finger That the holye ghost could be called downe the diuel dryuen away by it Thynke you they would haue neglected Churches refused Sacramentes doubted of their health if a priest had not broken the ayre first and wyth hys holy hande made an ouerthwart signe Learne more good ye Puiné than so fondly
the prayer that God hath taught vs which is eyther thankes for benefites receyued or desiring helpe with trust to be relieued Their Crosses haue displaced Christ Their pictures haue defaced Scripture Their Lay mennes bokes haue abolished the lawe Their holinesse is to forbyd that which God ordayned to be receyued with thankes giuing as meate and Matrimony Their owne workes they mayntayne they let Gods decay Breake theirs and they persecute to the death Breake Gods and they eyther loke thorowe their fyngers or else giue a flappe wyth a Foxe tayle for a little money Then is it easy to be espied what they are Let them dysguise themselues neuer so closely yet by this examining of their natures and properties they wyll bewray themselues Chrisostome commenting vpon the seauenth of Mathewe sayth Si quis lupum cooperiat pelle ouina quomodo cognoscet eum nisi aut per vocem aut per actum Quis inclinata deorsum balat Lupus in aëra conuertit caput suum contra coelum sic vlulat Qui ergo secundum Deum vocem humilitatis confessionis emittit Ouis est Qui vero aduersus veritatem turpiter blasphemijs vlulat contra Deum Lupus est Which is thus in englishe If any man sayth he couer a wolfe with a shepes skin how shall he know him but by his voyce or by his doing The shepe bowes downe the head to the ground bleates The wolfe lifts vp his nose into the ayre barks Therfore whoso euer according to Gods word speaketh with the voyce of humblenesse and confession he is a shepe But he that contrary to the truth blatters out blasphemies agaynst God is a very wolfe That the Papistes are such as it doth sufficiently appeare already so shal it abundantly ere I haue done be proued Therefore I say Beware of Papists To the seauenth Article ALthough we ought not in discussing of a truth ruled ouer by the worde greatly contende what rytes and ceremonies haue of presumption or toleration bene brought into the Church yet that you may sée before your eyes what ill of such presidentes hath insued how one inch graunted to superstition a whole ell hath followed consider a while your Litanies processions Folio 93. b. The singing and saying of Letany you say is coÌ„monly called Procession but Litanies were receyued long before processions did come in place For Litanies what are they but humble prayers supplications vnto God to procure his fauour and turne away his wrath These haue bene receyued in the Church of olde and according to occasion diuersly vsed We reade that when Constantinus the Emperour had purchased peace vnto the Church of God about a thrée hundreth and thirty yeare after Christ then publiquely the Christians repayred together then were there in the congregations as Eusebius Euseb eccle Hist lib. 10. cap. 3. reporteth Orationes Psalmodiae sacrorum operationes mysteriorum participationes gratiarum actiones Prayers singing of Psalmes businesse about holy things participation of mysteries giuing of thankes And that which is worthy to be remeÌ„bred he writeth of the good Emperor on this sort CaÌ„tare primus incepit vná orauit De vita Const li. 4. A notable example of a Prince conciones stans reuerenter audijt adeo vt rogatus vt consideret respoÌ„derit fas non esse dogmata de Deo remisse ac segniter audire Himself began first to sing prayed with the rest reuerently heard the sermons standing on his féete so farre forth that when he was required to set him downe he aunswered that it was not lawfull to heare the precepts of God with slackenesse and with slouth Hilarius also .370 yeare after Christ writeth of the order of the Church in his time thus Hilarius in expos Psal 65. Audiat orantis populi consistens quis extra ecclâ—siam vocem spectet celebres hymnorum sonitus inter diuinorum quoque sacramentorum officia responsionem deuotae confessionis A man that standeth wythout the Church may heare the voyce of the people praying may beholde the solemne sound of hymnes and as the Sacramentes are a ministring the aunswere of a deuout confession Likewise Ambrose Ambros de voc gentiuÌ„ Cap. 4. Praecepit Apostolus fiers obsecrationes postulationes gratiarum actiones pro omnibus hominibus c. The Apostle commaundeth .1 Timoth. 2. supplications prayers intercessions and giuing of thanks to be made for al men Which rule and lawe sayth Ambrose all Priests faythfull people do so vniformely obserue that there is no part of the worlde wherein such prayers are not frequent So that it is euident that Litanies were then in vse although we reade not of any Processions Polidor de inuen Li. 5. Cap. 10. till the time of Agapetus Pope who as Platina reporteth did first ordayne them Anno. 533. although we reade the like of Leo the thirde about .810 yeare after Christ Surely whensoeuer Processions began they were taken of Gentilitie We reade ofte in Liuie that the Romaines in all their distresses would run to euery sere Idoll that they had would goe their circuites from thys place to that place and thinke they dyd acceptable seruice vnto God We reade in Arnobius Arnobius contra gent. Lib. 8. thus much of their folly Nudi cruda hyeme discurrunt alij incedunt pileati scuta vetera circumferunt pelles coedunt mendicantes vicatim Deos ducunt Quaedam fana semel anno adire permit tunt Quaedam in totum nefas visere est quaedam viro non licet non nulla absque foeminis sacra sunt etiam seruo quibusdam ceremonijs interesse piaculare flagitium est c. They gad about naked in the raw winter other haue their caps on they carry about with them old targets they beate their skins they leade their Gods a begging round about the streats They suffer some Chappels to be gone to once a yere some must not be séene at all some a man must not come vnto some other are holy ynough without women And for a seruant to be at some of them is a haynous offence So much Arnobius concerning the Romaines And thinke you not that our Processions with banners displayed and Idols in armes be liuely described here Certayenly amongst the Christened I neuer readde that any vsed Processions before the Montanistes and the Arrians Tertullian Tertullian li. 2. ad Vxorem maketh mention of the one and Eusebius Euseb eccle hist libro 6. Cap. 8. of the other Méete it is therefore that Papistes participating with their errors should also take parte of their idle ceremonies Concerning Litanies as of latter yeares they haue bene ordayned you must vnderstande that some be called Minores the lesse some Maiores the greater The lesse were instituted by Mamertus byshop of Vienna in the yere of our Lord. 469. as Sigibertus or .488 as Polichronicon reporteth The order of them was but a solemne asseÌ„blie of people vnto prayer at such time
chapel erected for hym Ep. Iude. ◠In dede the diuel dyd attempt no lesse then to make it a matter of superstition for we reade that there was a stryfe betwixt hym and Michaell about Moses body but the Angell of the Lord withstode it And although peraduenture by some instructiō ye shall hap vpon the story of Ioseph Iosephes body who required hys brothers to cary hys bones into the lande of Canaan yet doth it not make for your reliques nother For who kneled euer to Iosephes tumbe who brought it euer into the sāctuary who lyghted euer any candell to it Only to assure them of hys fayth in Gods promises and to confirme them that the lande of promise they should enioy he wylled thē as a witnesse to take hys body with them Next vnto Moses amōg the Prophetes were Samuel and Elias Samuel 1. Samu. 25. dyed as the Scripture sayth and all Israell assēbled and mourned for hym and buried hym in hys own house more we haue not Elias was rapt in a fyry charet 2. Reg. 2. hys body was translated not into the Church but into heauen both to testifie the rewarde of immortalitie prepared for the faythful and to cut away occasion of mens Idolatry Furthermore Elisha dyed they buried him And certaine bandes of the Moabites came into the lande that yeare 2. Reg. 13. and as they were burying a man beholde they saw the soldiors therefore they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha and whē the mā was down and touched the bones of Elisha he reuiued and stode vpon hys féete Yet after so great a miracle hys bones were not trāslated there was no pilgrimage appointed to hym there was no chappel erected for hym Ecclesi 48. While he lyued sayeth Iesus the sonne of Syrach he was not moued for any prince neyther could anythyng bryng hym into subiection nothing could ouercome after hys death hys body prophecied he dyd wonders in hys lyfe and in death were hys workes meruellous Yet for al thys the people repented not So that thys miracle confirming the doctrine and calling of Elisha serued as a preaching of penāce to them and not to enforce a worshipping of the body For which cause it is plainly sayd hys body prophecied Whē zelous good Iosias 2. Reg. 23. had taken the bones of the false Prophetes out of their graues and burned them vpon the altare seeyng the sepulchre of the man of God he sayde let hym alone let none remoue hys bones Great cause in appearaunce why they shoulde haue bene remoued thence where so many wycked had lyen buried but suffered they were and honored they were not In the new testamente what shal we thynke the cause that so little mention is made eyther of the buriall or else assumptiō of the Virgin Mary whose vndefiled body was the worthy temple of the holye ghost but that the wysdome of God foresaw what michiefe and Idolatry would soone haue risen of it Mat. 14. Of Iohn Baptist we reade that after he was slayne hys disciples came and toke vp hys body Act. 8. and buryed it Likewise of Stephē whē he was stoned that certayne men that feared God caryed hym among them to be buryed and made great lamentation for hym but of their bones reseruing or bodies trāslating not a word at al. Doubtlesse if such reliques had bene thought profitable to the church of Christ there should not haue ben such silence of them Notwithstanding afterwarde vpon aboundaunce of zeale not onely the memories of the faythfull martyrs but also some parcels of their māgled bodyes began to be kept to little vse of them and ill example to their posteritie Wherefore me thynke they made a ryght good excuse that denying the body of Polycarpus to thē that sued for it sayd Ne Christo relicto hunc colere inciperent It should not be deliuered lest Christ forsaken Euse Eccel His Li. 4 cap. 16. they shoulde begin to serue hym None of the Saincts but haue left behynde them a better memoriall than a scull or a carcase in writing or in doing Let their writings thē be perused of vs the vertuous conuersatiō of their lyfe be followed and they no doubt wil be beste contented In Euchir can 5. Erasmus intreating of such superstitions as you do moste embrace sayde very wisely to the soldior of Christ Veneraris diuos gaudes eorum reliquias contingere sed contemnis quod illi reliquerunt optimum puta vitae purae exempla Nullus cultus gratior Mariae quam si Mariae humilitatem inuteris Nulla religio sanctis acceptior magisque propria quam si virtutem illorum exprimere labores Vis tibi demereri Petrum Paulum Alterius fidem alterius imitare charitatem plus feceris quam si decies Romam cursitaris That is to say Thou worshippest the Saintes thou arte glad to touche their reliques but the beste thyng that they haue lefte behynde them whiche is the examples of a pure lyfe thou contēnest No seruise more acceptable vnto Marye than if thou imitate the lowlinesse of Mary No religion more welcome and more proper vnto Saintes thā if thou study to expresse their vertue Wilt thou procure the fauor of Peter and of Paul follow and resemble the fayth of the one and charitie of the other and thou shalt do more than if thou shouldest gad ten tymes to Rome So much as touching Anastasius reliques Now that I haue proued the Crosse of Chrisostome to make nothing for you the lawes of Iustinian not to prescribe me the example of Augustine the Monke not to bynde me the trāslating of reliques not to be estemed of me it remayneth that your proufes for hauing of a Crosse at singing or saying Letany are insufficient I haue shewed you by the way whose deuyse were Letanyes whence came processyons howe farre we swarue both in the one and in the other from those wylworshippers that first inuented them I haue declared no lesse the fonde abuse of tapers and shameful superstition of Reliques in the Churche both by Gods worde and testimony of good men condemned Wherfore let vs forsakyng vanities of mens deuises seke God and seruyse of hym in Scripture Let vs walke before hym in innocency of lyfe let vs be followers of Sainctes as they were of Christ let vs in hūblenesse of our heart make our prayers vnto hym although we haue no Crosse in procession before vs. But for auoyding of the Crosse the plage of God due for our desertes let vs often vse our Godly Letanie let vs instantly alwayes say From the tyranny of the bishop of Rome and all hys detestable enormities from all false doctrine and heresie from hardnesse of hart frō contempt of thy worde and commaundement good Lord deliuer vs. To the eight Article That many straunge and vvonderfull miracles vvere vvrought by the signe of the Crosse IF signes and miracles which in these latter dayes haue
of humaine wisdome but in the shewing of the spirite and power The droppes of rayne that fell vpon Iulian made a printe of the Crosse in his garment and the rests Therefore say you it is necessary for euery man to be signed marked vvith the crosse But the Crosse noted them to be persecutors Ergo it is necessary for vs to be noted as persecutors Ye sée howe your owne examples kill you there is nothing that ye bring but maketh against you Ecclesi hist lib. 5. Oap 1. In dede Sozomenus writeth that some did interprete the Crosses on that sorte Christianorum doctrinam esse caelestem oportere omnes Cruce signari That the doctrine of christians was heauenly and that all men ought to be signed with the Crosse But God forbyd we should haue such occasion to be so marked For none were marked but such as had reueged their fayth So that the Crosse doth not alwayes portende goodnesse nor is the signe peculiar vnto Christians If the signe had bene of such force as ye make it Iulian the Apostata would not haue gone forwarde with his attempted mischiefe But forwarde he went though the Crosse continued on his coate styll Wherefore the Crosse is no proufe of vertue Folio 35. The same may be confirmed by the story that followeth For the glittering signe of the Crosse in the element the crossing of the Iewes coates when they would haue reedified their Hierusalem was but a token of Gods wrath and vengeaunce and although it was Signum salutaris Crucis the signe of the healthfull Crosse yet was it not healthfull to them that ware it but rather a testimonie of Gods iust iudgement agaynst them Wherfore as God miraculously did worke and vsed this signe to contrary effectes sometime for comforte sometime to dispeire sometime for the godly sometime to the wicked So muste we not contrary to reason gather an vniuersall onely of the one side and contrary to his will abuse it at our pleasure If it had bene alwayes graunted to the godly and to none but them If it had bene alwayes a signe of succour and not of destruction your argumente then should haue had some apparance of troth or likelyhode Nowe by your owne examples where the wicked onely be signed with the Crosse where the Crosse doth worke nothing but confusion the groundwork of your cause is miserably shaken and you be turned ouer in your owne trip Of all your examples ye inferre your owne fansy what you do thinke Gods meaning was to shew such signes of the Crosse both vnder the law and in the time of grace but of your meaning ye bring no proufe at all eyther out of Scripture or Doctours that ye bragge of Onely for vs your ydle supposall as you thinke may serue Louain hath licenciate you Goddes vvord the ground of religion to make what lies ye lust The substantiall groūd that I spake of before whervpon we ought to builde our religion is the worde of God without the which no facte of man no particular example can proue any thing Then if ye would haue the signe of the Crosse receyued into Gods seruice ye should as well proue Gods will therein and bring his direct authoritie to vs. It suffiseth not to say This vvas once so but rather to shewe This vvas vvel so nor any one example can binde vs now without expresse cōmaundement in Gods boke for it extending to vs during for euer But you deale with gods boke as Epiphanius reporteth of heretiques Qui multos decipiunt Contra Her Lib. 1. To. 2. per malè compositam dominicorum verborum adaptatorum sapientiā Which deceiue many by the wisedome of the Lords words ilfauouredly applied As if a man should take an Image of some notable personage liuely set forth and adorned wyth pearle stone and afterward shuld deface the counterfet of a man in it make a dog or a fox of it Then if he should remoue the iewels and garnishing of the one to the picture of the other and say to them that loke vppon it This is the picture of suche a man or suche and for proufe thereof would bring the pearle and stone so cunningly cowched would ye not think him to be a crafty fellowe and yet beleue him neuer a whitte the soner Euen so fare you For in steade of the texte ye bring forth a contrary misseshapen glose and then ye apparell it with a fewe pearles of Scripture applyed as wel as a precious Diamond to the picture of a grinning dogge And yet a dogge is but a dogge although he had a byshops beste Myter on his heade no more are you but leude liars for all the patch of truth sowed on your cloke of fables Bleare not therefore the peoples eyes deceiue not your selues learne the true seruice of God out of his worde and goe no further The Crosse of Christ is necessary for vs his death and passion is onely our ioy and comforte our life and our redemption but the materiall or mysticall signe thereof is more than nedeth to daungerous to be vsed We haue the worde the ordinary meane to leade vs into all truth we must not beside the word séeke signes tokens We haue the bodies what grope we after shadowes The ende of Ceremonies Ceremonies were giuen vnto the Iewes to be a mound as it were betwene the Gentiles and them to seuer the people of God from other not onely by inward things but also by outward that the people of God should be with in that inclosure the other without and these outward rytes and obseruaunces were an assurance vnto the Iewes that they were lawefull heires of the promise and not the Gentiles But Christ came into the worlde to gather one Church of both peoples and therefore pulled downe the wall that was betwene them Decretae ceremonialia The Decrées of Ceremonies Christ followed herein the pollicy of Princes which if they will gather into societie of one kingdome as it were diuers peoples they will take away the thinges that made the difference before diuersities of coynes and lawes So Christ minding to make one people of the Iewes and Gentiles vtterly did abolish all legall ceremonies And Paul compareth them to a hande writing whereby we be bounde to God that we can not stand in argument agaynst him and deny our debt But by Christ this debte is so remitted that the obligation is cancelled that hand-writing is put out as the Apostle sayth now whē the instrumentes are cut in pieces the obligations cancelled Colos 2. the debter is set frée which we haue purchased by Christes death Wherefore we reade that the vayle of the temple tare to the ende the people might vnderstand therby that their sinnes were remitted and they discharged from burden of the lawe But when the wicked and faythles nation continued after Christes death to exercise in the temple ceremonies which had their ende before and would thrust