they tearme rem Sacramenti the principall thing exhibited in the Sacrament Thus in the Lords Supper the outward thing which we see with our eyes is bread and wine the inward thing which wee apprehend by faith is the body and blood of Christ in the outward part of this mysticall action which reacheth to that which is Sacramentum onely we receiue this body and blood but sacramentally in the inward which containeth rem the thing it selfe in it wee receiue them really and consequently the presence of these in the one is relatiue and symbolicall in the other reall and substantiall To begin then with that which is symbolicall and relatiue we may obserue out of the Scripture which saith that Abraham receiued the signe of Circumcision a seale of the righteousnesse of the faith which hee had being vncircumcised that Sacraments haue a twofold relation to the things whereof they be Sacraments the one of a signe the other of a seale Signes wee knovv are relatiuely vnited vnto the things which they doe signifie and in this respect ate so neerly conioyned together that the name of the one is vsually communicated vnto the other This cup is the new Testament or the new Couenant saith our Sauiour in the institution of the holy Supper Luk. 22.20 This is my Couenant saith God in the institution of Circumcision in the old Testament Gen. 17.10 but how it was his Couenant hee explaneth in the verse immediatly following Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskinne and it shall be a SIGNE of the Couenant betwixt me and you So words being the signes of things no sooner is the sound of the word conueyed to our cares but the notion of the thing signified thereby is presented vnto our minde and thereupon in the speech of the Scripture nothing is more ordinary then by the terme of Word to note a thing We reade in the fourth of the first of Samuel that the Philistims were afraid and said God is come into the Campe vers 7. when the Israelites brought thither the Arke of the Couenant of the Lord of hosts which dwelleth betweene the Cherubims vers 4. and yet was that no other but this relatiue kinde of presence wherof now we speake in respect whereof also the shewbread is in the Hebrew named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bread of faces or the presence bread Wee see with vs the roome wherein the Kings câ—aire and other ensignes of State are placed is called the Chamber of presence although the King himselfe bee not there personally present and as the rude and vndutifull behauiour of any in that place or the offering of any dis-respect to the Kings pourtraicture or to the Armes Royall or to any other thing that hath relation to his Maiesty is taken as a dishonour done vnto the King himselfe so heere hee that eateth the bread and drinketh the cup of the Lord vnworthily is accounted guilty of offering indignity to the body and blood of the Lord. In this sort wee acknowledge Sacraments to be signes but bare signes we denie them to bee seales they are as vvell as signes of the Couenant of grace As it vvas therefore said of Iohn the Baptist that he vvas a Prophet and more then a Prophet so must vve say of Sacraments that they be signes and more then signes euen pledges and assurances of the interest vvhich vvee haue in the heauenly things that are represented by them He that hath in his chamber the picture of the French King hath but a bare signe vvhich possibly may make him thinke of that King vvhen hee looketh on it but shevveth not that hee hath any manner of interest in him It is othervvise vvith him that hath the Kings great Seale for the confirmation of the title that hee hath vnto all the lands and liuelihood which he doth inioy And as heere the waxe that is affixed to those letters Patents howsoeuer for substance it bee the very same with that which is to be found euery where yet being applyed to this vse is of more worth to the Patentee then all the waxe in the country beside so standeth it with the outward elements in the matter of the Sacrament The bread and wine are not changed in substance from being the same with that which is serued at ordinary tables but in respect of the sacred vse whereunto they are consecrated such a change is made that now they differ as much from common bread and wine as heauen from earth Neither are they to be accounted barely significatiue but truly exhibitiue also of those heauenly things whereto they haue relation as being appoynted by God to bee a meanes of conueying the same vnto vs and putting vs in actuall possession thereof So that in the vse of this holy ordinance as verily as a man with his bodily hand and mouth receiueth the earthly creatures so verily doth he with his spirituall hand and mouth if any such he haue receiue the body and blood of Christ. And this is that reall and substantiall presence which wee affirmed to be in the inward part of this sacred action For the better conceiuing of which mystery we are to inquire first what the thing is which wee doe heere receiue secondly how and in what manner we are made partakers of it Touching the first the truth which must be held is this that wee doe not here receiue onely the benefits that flow from Christ but the very body and blood of Christ that is Christ himselfe crucified For as none can bee made partaker of the vertue of the bread and wine to his bodily sustenance vnlesse he first doe receiue the substance of those creatures so neither can any participate in the benefits arising from Christ to his spirituall reliefe except he first haue communion with Christ himselfe We must haue the Sonne before wee haue life and therefore eate him we must as himselfe speaketh that is as truly bee made partakers of him as we are of our ordinary food if we will liue by him As there is a giuing of him on Gods part for vnto vs a Sonne is giuen so there must bee a receiuing of him on our part for as many as reciued him to them gaue hee power to become the sonnes of God And as wee are called by God vnto the communion of his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord so if we doe heare his voyce and not harden our hearts by vnbeliefe wee are indeed made partakers of Christ. This is that great mystery for so the Apostle termeth it of our vnion with Christ whereby we are made members of his body of his flesh and of his bones and this is that eating of the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinking of his blood which our Sauiour insisteth so much vpon in the sixth of Iohn Where if any man shall demand that I may now come vnto the second poynt of our inquiry How can this man giue
the Spirit of Christ the soule as it were of all the rest and that whereby the iust doth liue is Faith For we through the Spirit waite for the hope of righteousnesse by faith saith S. Paul to the Galatians And againe I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in me and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who loued me and gaue himselfe for me By faith it is that wee doe receiue Christ and so likewise Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith Faith therefore is that spirituall mouth in vs whereby wee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood that is as the Apostle expresseth it without the trope are made partakers of Christ he being by this meanes as truly and euery wayes as effectually made ours as the meate and drinke which we receiue into our naturall bodies But you will say If this be all the matter what doe we get by comming to the Sacrament seeing we haue faith and the quickening Spirit of Christ before wee come thither To this I answere that the Spirit is receiued in diuers measures and faith bestowed vpon vs in different degrees by reason whereof our coniunction with Christ may euery day bee made straiter and the hold which we take of him firmer To receiue the Spirit not by measure is the priuiledge of our Head we that receiue out of his fulnesse haue not our portion of grace deliuered vnto vs all at once but must daily looke for supply of the Spirit of Iesus Christ. So also while we are in this world the righteousnesse of God is reuealed vnto vs from faith to faith that is from one degree and measure of it to another and consequently we must still labour to perfect that which is lacking in our faith and euermore pray with the Apostles Lord increase our faith As wee haue therefore receiued Christ Iesus the Lord so must wee walke in him rooted and built vp in him and stablished in the faith that wee may grow vp into him in all things which is the Head And to this end God hath ordained publike officers in his Church for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the vnity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God vnto a perfect man vnto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ and hath accordingly made them able Ministers of the Spirit that quickeneth and Ministers by whom we should beleeue euen as the Lord shall giue to euery man When wee haue therefore receiued the Spirit and Faith and so spirituall life by their ministery we are not there to rest but as new borne babes we must desire the sincere milke of the Word that we may grow thereby and as growne men too wee must desire to be fed at the Lords Table that by the strength of that spirituall repast we may be inabled to doe the Lords worke and may continually be nourished vp thereby in the life of grace vnto the life of glory Neither must we heere with a fleshly eye looke vpon the meanenesse of the outward elements and haue this faithlesse thought in our hearts that there is no likelihood a bit of bread and a draught of wine should be able to produce such heauenly effects as these For so we should prooue our selues to be no wiser than Naaman the Syrian was who hauing receiued direction from the man of God that he should wash in Iordan seuen times to be cleansed of his Leprosie replied with indignation Are not Abana and Pharpar riuers of Damascus better then all the waters of Israel May I not wash in them and be cleane But as his seruāts did soberly aduise him then If the Prophet had bid thee doe some great thing wouldest thou not haue done it How much rather then when hee saith to thee Wash and be cleane So giue mee leaue to say vnto you now If the Lord had commanded vs to doe some great thing for the attaining of so high a good should not we willingly haue done it How much rather then when hee biddeth vs to eate the bread and drinke the wine that he hath prouided for vs at his owne Table that by his blessing thereupon wee may grow in grace and be preserued both in body and soule vnto euerlasting life True it is indeed these outward creatures haue no naturall power in them to effect so great a worke as this is no more then the water of Iordan had to recouer the Leper but the worke wrought by these meanes is supernaturall and God hath been pleased in the dispensation both of the Word and of the Sacraments so to ordaine it that these heauenly treasures should bee presented vnto vs in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power might be of God As therefore in the preaching of the Gospell the Minister doth not dare verba and beate the aire with a fruitlesse found but the words that hee speaketh vnto vs are Spirit and life God being pleased by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue them that beleeue so likewise in the administration of the Lords Supper he doth not feed vs with bare bread and wine but if we haue the life of faith in vs for still we must remember that this Table is prouided not for the dead but for the liuing and come worthily the Cup of blessing which he blesseth will be vnto vs the communion of the blood of Christ and the bread which hee breaketh the communion of the body of Christ of which precious body and blood wee being really made partakers that is in truth and indeed and not in imagination onely although in a spirituall and not a corporall manner the Lord doth grant vs according to the riches of his glory to bee strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man that we may bee filled with all the fulnesse of God For the Sacraments as well as the Word be a part of that ministration of the Spirit which is committed to the Ministers of the New Testament for as much as by one Spirit as before we haue heard from the Apostle wee haue been all baptized into one body and haue been all made to drinke into one Spirit And thus haue I finished the first part of my taske my Congregatio homogeneorum as I call it the knitting together of those that appertaine to the same body both with their fellovv-members and vvith their Head vvhich is the thing laid dovvne in the expresse vvords of my Text. It remaineth novv that I proceed to the Apostles application hereof vnto the argument hee hath in hand vvhich is Segregatio heterogeneorum a disseuering of those that bee not of the same communion that the faithfull may not partake
A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE COMMOS-HOVSE Of Parliament in Saint Margarets Church at Westminster the 18. of February 1620. By IAMES VSSHER Professor of Diuinitie in the Vniuersitie of Dublin in Ireland LONDON Printed by I. D. for Iohn Bartlett and are to be sould at the golden Cup in the Goldsmiths Rowe in Cheapside 1624. TO THE HONOVRABLE ASSEMBLY of the Commons House of Parliament IT pleased this Honourable Assembly to require my seruice in preaching at that late religious meeting of yours for the receiuing of the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper I was afterward also sent vnto by the like authority to publish that which according to my poore ability I then deliuered And although in respect of my selfe and of my want of time to prosecute such a subiect I could wish I had beene spared from such a taske yet rather then the expectation and expresse signification of the desire of the representatiue body of the whole Comminalty of the Kingdome should rest vnsatisfied I haue yeelded to commit this vnto the disposing and direction of them for whose sakes it was at first vndertaken Opprimi enim me onere officij malui quà m id quod mihi cum fide semel impositum fuit propter infirmitatem animi deponere The very words which then I vttered I am not able to present vnto you the substance of the matter I haue truly laid downe though in some places as it fell out somewhat contracted in others a little more inlarged Whatsoeuer it is I wholly submit it vnto your graue censures and so beseeching the Lord to giue you prosperous successe in all your worthy indeuours for the seruice of God his Maiesty and your Countrey I rest Yours in all Christian duty to be commanded IAMES VSSHER 1. Cor. 10. Vers. 17. Wee being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread OTher entrance I need not make vnto my speech at this time then that which the Apostle himselfe presenteth vnto mee in the verse next but one going before my Text I speake to wise men The more vnwise might I deeme my selfe to be who being so conscious vnto my selfe of my great weakenesse durst aduenture to discouer the same before so graue and iudicious an Auditory but that this consideration doth somewhat support me that no great blame can light herein vpon mee but some aspersion thereof must reflect vpon your selues who happened to make so euill a choyce the more facile I expect you to bee in a cause wherein you your selues are some wayes interested The speciall cause of your assembling at this time is first that you who professe the same truth may ioyne in one body and partake together of the same blessed Communion and then that such as adhere vnto false worship may bee discouered and auoyded You in your wisedome discerning this holy Sacrament to bee as it were ignis probationis which would both congregare homogenea and segregare heterogenea as in Philosophie wee vse to speake both conioyne those that be of the same and dis-ioyne such as bee of a differing kinde and disposition And to this purpose haue I made choyce of this present Text wherein the Apostle maketh our partaking of the Lords Table to bee a testimony not onely of the vnion and communion which wee haue betwixt our selues and with our Head which he doth in the expresse words which I haue read but also of our dis-vnion and separation from all idolatrous worship as appeareth by the application hereof vnto his maine drift and intendment laid downe in the 14. and 21. verses The effect therfore of that which Saint Paul in expresse termes heere deliuereth is the Communion of Saints which consisteth of two parts the fellowship which they haue with the Body laid downe in the beginning and the fellowship which they haue with the Head laid downe in the end of the verse both which are thus explained by Saint Iohn That which wee haue seene and heard declare we vnto you that ye also may haue fellowship with vs and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Iesus Christ 1. Ioh. 1.3 Let them therefore that walke in darknesse brag as much as they list of their good-fellowship this blessed Apostle assureth vs that such onely as doe walke in the light haue fellowship one with another euen as they haue fellowship with God and Iesus Christ his Sonne whose blood shall cleanse them from all sinne And to what better company can a man come than to the generall Assembly and Church of the first-borne which are inrolled in heauen and to God the Iudge of all and to the spirits of iust men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediator of the new Couenant and to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things then that of Abel No fellowship doubtlesse is comparable to this Communion of Saints To begin therefore with the first part thereof as the Apostle in the third to the Galatians maketh our being baptized into Christ to bee a testimony that wee are all one in Christ so doth hee heere make our partaking of that one bread to be an euidence that we also are all one bread and one body in him And to the same purpose in the twelfth Chapter following he propoundeth both our Baptisme and our drinking of the Lords Cup as seales of the spirituall coniunction of vs all into one mysticall body For as the body is one saith he and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body whether wee bee Iewes or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and haue been all made to drinke into one Spirit Afterwards hee addeth that wee are the body of Christ and members in particular and in another place also that We being many are one body in Christ and euery one members one of another Now the vse which hee teacheth vs to make of this wonderfull coniunction whereby wee are made members of Christ and members one of another is two-fold 1. That there should be no schisme in the body 2. That the members should haue the same care one for another 1. Cor. 12.25 For preuenting of Schisme hee exhorteth vs in the fourth to the Ephesians to keepe the vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and to make this bond the firmer hee putteth vs in minde of one Body one Spirit one Hope one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all who is aboue all and through all and in vs all by this multiplication of vnities declaring vnto vs that the knots whereby wee are tyed together are both in number more and of farre greater moment then that matters of smaller consequence should disseuer vs and therefore that wee should stand fast in one spirit with one minde striuing together for the faith of the Gospell and
their Images be no Idoles and as vainely also doe they spend time in curiously distinguishing the seuerall degrees of worship the highest point whereof which they call Latreia and acknowledge to be due onely vnto God they would be loth wee should thinke that they did communicate to any of their Images But here wee are to vnderstand first of all that Idolatry may be committed by giuing not the highest onely but also the lowest degree of religious adoration vnto Images and therefore in the words of the Commandement the very bowing downe vnto them which is one of the meanest degrees of worship is expresly forbidden Secondly that it is the receiued doctrine of Popish diuines that the Image should be honored with the same worship wherewith that thing is worshipped whose Image it is and therfore what adoration is due to Christ and the Trinity the same by this ground they are to giue vnto their Images Thirdly that in the Roman Pontificall published by the authority of Clement the VIII to omit other testimonies in this kinde it is concluded that the Crosse of the Popes Legate shal haue the right hand vpon this very reason quia debetur ei latria because the worship proper to God is due to it Now whether they commit Idolatry who communicate vnto a senselesse thing that worship which they themselues confesse to be due vnto God alone let all the world iudge They were best therefore from henceforth confesse themselues to be Idolaters and stand to it that euery kinde of Idolatry is not vnlawfull Their Iesuite Gregorius de Valentia will tell them for their comfort that it is no absurdity to thinke that Saint Peter when he deterreth the faithfull by name ab illicitis Idolorum cultibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saint Peter calleth them that is abominable Idolatries doth insinuate therby that some worship of Images is lawfull Iohn Monceye the Frenchman in his Aaron Purgatus dedicated to the late Pope Paul the fifth and in his twenty questions propounded to Visorius stretcheth yet a straine higher For howsoeuer hee cannot away with the name of Idols and Idolatry yet he liketh the thing it selfe so well that he vndertaketh to cleare Aaron from committing any error in setting vp the golden Calfe and laboureth to purge Laban and Micha and Ieroboam too from the imputation of Idolatry hauing found indeed that nothing had beene done by them in this kinde which is not agreeable to the practice of the Romane Church at this day And lest the poore people whom they haue so miserably abused should finde how farre they haue beene misled wee see that the masters of that Church doe in the Seruice books and Catechismes which come vnto the hāds of the vulgar generally leaue out the words of the second Commandement that make against the adoration of Images fearing lest by the light thereof the mystery of their iniquity should be discouered They pretend indeed that this Commandement is not excluded by them but included onely in the first whereas in truth they doe but craftily conceale it from the peoples eyes because they would not haue them to be ruled by it Nay Vasquez the Iesuite doth boldly acknowledge that it plainely appeareth by comparing the words of this Commandement with the place which hath beene alledged out of the 4. of Deuteronomy that the Scripture did not onely forbid the worshipping of an Image for God but also the adoration of the true God himselfe in an Image He confesseth further that he and his fellow Catholikes doe otherwise What saith hee then to the Commandement thinke you Because it will not be obeyed it must be repealed and not admitted to haue any place among the morall precepts of God It was saith he a positiue and ceremoniall Law and therefore ought to cease in the time of the Gospell And as if it had not beene enough for him to match the Scribes and Pharises in impiety who made the Commandement of God of none effect that they might keepe their owne tradition that he might fulfill the measure of his fathers and shew himselfe to be a true childe of her who beareth the name of being the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth he is yet more mad and sticketh not to maintaine that not onely a paynted Image but any other thing of the world whether it be without life and reason or whether it be a reasonable creature may in the nature of the thing and if the matter bee discreetly handled be adored vvith God as his Image yea and counteth it no absurdity at all that a very vvispe of stravv should be thus vvorshipped But let vs turne yet againe and vve shall see greater abominations then these We heard hovv this blessed Sacrament vvhich is here propounded by the Apostle as a bond to vnite Christians together in one body hath beene made the apple of strife and the occasion of most bitter breaches in the Church we may now obserue againe that the same holy Sacrament which by the same Apostle is here brought in as a principall inducement to make men flee from Idolatry is by our Aduersaries made the obiect of the grossest Idolatry that euer hath been practised by any For their constant doctrine is that in worshipping the Sacrament they should giue vnto it latriae cultum qui vero Deo debetur as the Councell of Trent hath determined that kinde of seruice which is due to the true God determining their worship in that very thing which the Priest doth hold betwixt his hands Their practice also runs accordingly for an instance whereof we neede goe no further then to Sanders booke of the Lords Supper before which he hath perfixed an Epistle Dedicatory superscribed in this manner To the Body and Blood of our Sauiour Iesus Christ vnder the formes of Bread and Wine all honour praise and thankes be giuen for euer Adding further in the processe of that blockish Epistle Howsoeuer it be with other men I adore thee my God and Lord really present vnder the formes of Bread and Wine after consecration deuly made Beseeching thee of pardon for my sinnes c. Now if the conceite which these men haue concerning the Sacrament should proue to bee false as indeed we know it to be most absurd and monstrous their owne Iesuite Coster doth freely confesse that they should be in such an error and Idolatry qualis in orbe terrarum nunquam vel visus vel auditus fuit as neuer was seene or heard of in this world For the error of them is more tolerable saith he who worship for God a Statue of gold or siluer or an Image of any other matter as the Gentiles adored their gods or a red cloth lifted vp vpon a speare as it is reported of the Lappians or liuing creatures as did sometime the Egyptians then of those that worship a piece of bread We therefore who are verily perswaded that the Papists doe
vvith Idolaters by countenancing or any vvay ioyning vvith them in their vngodly courses For that this is the maine scope at vvhich S. Paul aimeth in his treating here of the Sacrament is euident both by that vvhich goeth before in the 19. vers Wherefore my deareby beloued flee from Idolatry and that vvhich follovveth in the 21. Yee cannot drinke the Cup of the Lord and the cup of diuels ye cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and of the table of diuels Whereby vve may collect thus much that as the Lords Supper is a seale of our coniunction one vvith another and vvith Christ our Head so is it an euidence of our dis-iunction from Idolaters binding vs to dis-auovv all communion vvith them in their false vvorship And indeed the one must necessarily follovv vpon the other considering the nature of this hainous sinne of Idolatry is such that it can no wayes stand with the fellowship which a Christian man ought to haue both with the Head and with the body of the Church To this purpose in the sixth of the second to the Corinthians we reade thus What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols for ye are the Temple of the liuing God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walke in them and I will bee their God and they shall be my people Wherefore come out from among the be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the vncleane thing and I will receiue you And in the 2. Chap. of the Epistle to the Colossians Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seene vainely puft vp by his fleshly minde and not holding the head from which all the body by ioynts and bands hauing nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God In which words the Apostle sheweth vnto vs that such as vnder pretence of humility were drawne to the worshipping of Angels did not hold the Head and consequently could not retaine communion with the body which receiueth his whole growth from thence Answerably whereunto the Fathers assembled out of diuers prouinces of Asia in the Synode held at Laodicea not farre from the Colossians did solemnely conclude that Christians ought not to forsake the Church of God and goe and inuocate Angels and pronounced an anathema against any that should bee found to doe so because say they he hath forsaken our Lord Iesus Christ the Sonne of God and giuen himselfe to Idolatry declaring plainly that by this idolatrous inuocation of Angels a discession was made both from the Church of God as they note in the beginning and from Christ the Head of the Church as they obserue in the end of their Canon For the further vnderstanding of this particular it will not be amisse to consider what Theodoret a famous Bishop of the ancient Church hath written of this matter in his Commentary vpon the second to the Colossians They that defended the Law saith he induced thē also to worship the Angels saying that the Law was giuen by them And this vice continued in Phrygia and Pisidia for a long time for which cause also the Synod assembled in Laodicea the chiefe City of Phyrgia for bad them by a Law to pray vnto Angels And euen to this day among them and their borderers there are Oratories of Saint Michael to be seene This therefore did they counsell should be done vsing humility and saying that the God of all was inuisible and inaccessible and incomprehensible and that it was fit men should get Gods fauour by the meanes of Angels And this is it which the Apostle saith In humility and worshipping of Angels Thus farre Theodoret whom Cardinall Baronius discerning to come somwhat close vnto him and to touch the Idolatry of the Popish crue a little to the quicke leaueth the poore shifts wherewith his companions labour to obscure the light of this testimony and telleth vs plainely that Theodoret by his leaue did not well vnderstand the meaning of Pauls words and that those Oratories of Saint Michael were erected anciently by Catholicks and not by those Hereticks which were condemned in the Councell of Laodicea as he mistooke the matter As if any wise man would bee perswaded vpon his bare word that the memory of things done in Asia so long since should be more fresh in Rome at this day then in the time of Theodoret who liued twelue hundred yeeres agoe Yet must I needs confesse that hee sheweth a little more modesty heerein then Bellarmine his fellow-Cardinall doth who would make vs beleeue that the place in the nineteenth of the Reuelation where the Angell saith to Saint Iohn that would haue worshipped him See thou doe it not I am thy fellow-seruant Worship God maketh for them and demandeth very soberly why they should be reprehended who doe the same thing that Iohn did and whether the Caluinists knew better then Iohn whether Angels were to bee adored or no And as for inuocation of them he telleth vs that Saint Iacob plainly prayed vnto an Angell in the 48. of Genesis when in blessing the sonnes of Ioseph hee said The Angell which deliuered me from all euill blesse those children Whom for answere we remit to Saint Cyril in the first Chapter of the third booke of his Thesaurus and intreate him to tell vs how neere of kinne hee is here to those Hereticks of whom S. Cyril there speaketh His words bee these That hee doth not meane in that place Genes 48.16 an Angell as the HERETICKES vnderstand it but the Sonne of God is manifest by this that when hee had said The Angel he presently addeth who deliuered mee from all euils Which S. Cyril presupposeth no good Christian will ascribe to any but to God alone But to come more neere yet vnto that which is Idolatry most properly An Idoll we must vnderstand in the exact propriety of the terme doth signifie any Image but according to the Ecclesiasticall vse of the word it noteth such an Image as is set vp for religious adoration And in this later sence we charge the adherents of the Church of Rome with grosse Idolatry because that contrary to Gods expresse Commandement they are found to bee worshippers of Images Neither will it auaile them heere to say that the Idolatry forbidden in the Scripture is that onely which was vsed by Iewes and Pagans The Apostle indeed in this place dehorting Christians from Idolatry propoundeth the fall of the Iewes in this kinde before their eyes Neither be yee Idolaters saith he as some of them were And so doth hee also adde concerning another sinne in the verse following Neither let vs commit fornication as some of them committed As well then might one pleade that Iewish or Heathenish fornication were here onely reprehended as Iewish or Heathenish Idolatry But as the one is a foule sinne whether it bee