THE ROCKES OF CHRISTIAN SHIPWRACKE Discouered by the holy Church of CHRIST to her beloued Children that they may keepe aloofe from them WRITTEN IN ITALIAN BY THE MOST REVEREND FATHER MARC ANT. DE DOMINIS Archb. of Spalato And thereout translated into English CITO LONGE NVNQVAM LONDON Printed by IOHN BILL M.DC.XVIII THE CHVRCH OF CHRIST TO HER MOST deare children wisheth sauing health and peace MY beloued children If the spirituall Wracke of Christian soules could in the approach be sensibly discerned it might of it selfe serue for a warning-marke and all both eminent Rocks and vnder-water shelfs would be discried and so shunned But so much the more dangerous and pernicious is that woefull shipwrack which swalloweth vp an infinite number of you my deare children in that those that vndergoe it neither know nor once all their life long heed this their owne ruine Can I then your dolorous Mother can I brooke this miserable losse can I suffer so many of my children to bee cast away Noe I cannot Needs must I impart the trueth vnto you I am resolued to hide nothing from you When in my yong first teeming daies I felt the wounds and torments of Heathenish persecutions very bitter alas was the anguish of my soule to behold on all sides streaming riuers of the blood of my tender children so impiously shed by most cruel Tyrants persecutors of the faith of IESVS CHRIST my Spouse and Lord. No sooner ceased these tyrannous persecutions but I was beset with other more dangerous afflictions of Heresies whereby the bitternes of my soule was more encreased In asmuchas that first kinde of persecution was onely outward slaying the bodies of my children but not hurting their soules nay rather much benefiting them But this latter pierced inward destroying the soules of many and wounded my very heart euen the faith of my Spouse At length the storme of heresies was hushed and so I sate me downe in peace enioying a faire and goodly calme whē behold Isa 38.17 my griefe was most bitter in peace Peace brought vpō me a greater bitternes then any of my former The persecutions of the Heathen and the mutinies of the Heretiques were indeed a bitter seruice to mee but yet they both had their sweetning For by the former I was made a more fruitfull mother Tertul. Apol. aduers gent. The blood of the Martyrs being the seed whereout more Christians grew and by occasion of the latter my Officers and Ministers became the more watchfull and furnished themselues with more store of knowledge of sound doctrine and pure faith and also fed my children with so much the more exact spirituall nourishment But the bitternes which mine owne Officers and seruants haue by reason of peace through their owne idlenes brought vpon me is become diuers ages since but in these dayes more then euer distastfull to me From these my Ministers comes this your shipwrack they haue set in your way all these Rocks Shelfes Quick-sands wherby so many of you are cast away Peace and idlenesse haue beene my bane As standing-water in wells ditches and puddles through want of motion quickly corrupteth and breedeth wormes toades snakes and other such vermine so peace and idlenesse hath bin to my chiefe Ministers Bishops Prelates the cause of putrefaction And so they following the crooked bent of corrupt nature and running a madding after their owne concupiscences haue first giuen ouer themselues in prey to Auarice Very large haue bin of old the almes and oblations of faithfull and very deuout people for the maintayning of their spirituall fathers After these followed the bounty of Emperours and other Christian Princes and benefactors they in their vnaduised deuotion heaping vpon me more and more riches haue I may say to you brought my Ministers to a good passe For my part I was at my highest and in best esteeme whilest I went in a thinne coate such as I was cladde withall when my Spouse Christ Iesus betroathed himselfe to me My most proper ornaments my truest greatnesse consisteth not in outward pompe nor superfluous worldly commodities but in spirituall and inward vertues My beloued Dauid wrote concerning me Psal 45.13 that the king's daughter is all-glorious within And my worthy sonne St. Hierome hath noted concerning me that Hiero. de vita Malchi after that I was entertained by Christian Princes I grew greater in state and wealth but abated much in vertue In thus saying alas the while hee came too neere the truth Yet this was none of my fault It was mine owne Ministers that haue brought this scar vpō me especially in that they without my allowance or weeting haue diuided among themselues that stocke of temporal goods which by my appointment for diuers ages remayned in common and whereout by the publique dispensers or stewards dayly or monethly portions were wont to bee allotted to euery of those my Ministers for their necessary maintenāce but afterward by their Auarice properly was brought in And I would to God they had there stayed and contented themselues with their parts so assigned to them then had that bene tolerable and now perhaps were necessary But as the guise of the couetous man is neuer to say hee hath enough they haue gone on inuenting new deuises of purchase though with the apparant danger of their owne their peoples my childrens soules and to the no small hinderance of all kind of spirituall gaine Hauing afforded some but neuer full content to Auarice they by the sway of naturall corruption cast themselues farther in prey to Ambition They saw themselues esteemed and exalted by me like fathers respected reuerenced and honored by my children whereupon forgetting that they were no other then my Ministers and seruants and that their office and charge was to serue my children rather then to command euen as they were taught by the example and precept of my Spouse their and my Lord and Master who came not to be ministred vnto Matth. 20.28 but to minister they began to think so highly of themselues and to swell so bigge with the conceit of their office that they pretended themselues to be Lords ouer my house and very Princes and so caried very small respect to me whose ministers and seruants they are After that this Infernall spirit of Ambition had entred into them they now not deigning any lōger to employ their ioynt paines in digging my vineyard which is the very office allotted thē by my Christ Iesus set themselues to contend with one another about Primacy Ancestry and one to domineere ouer the other and to play the commander as is well obserued and declared by my Eusebius Euseb histor lib. 8. cap. 1. These bee the two horrible wilde beasts these the two monsters namely Auarice and Ambition which haue cast my Officers headlong into very important errors so that putting away a good conscience they haue also made some shipwrack concerning the faith And that which is
And in regard of this spirituall effect of receiuing the body of Christ spiritually as often as the consecrated bread is worthylie receiued in the act of communicating the Fathers are wont to call that bread the body of Christ And in this sense Christ when he gaue the Communion to his Apostles in his last supper did call that bread which he deliuered to them his body So also must wee vnderstand the consecrated wine which beeing druncke corporally in the Sacrament the very blood of Christ is drunke but spiritually not corporally and so in the blessed Sacrament of bread and wine there is spiritually the true body and the true blood of Christ with their true and reall effects wrought in the soule of the worthy Communicant but there is neither the body nor the blood corporally and that which is there corporally is very bread and very wine imployed Sacramentally as I haue declared The like is to be vnderstood also of the water of holy Baptisme for that also before the inuocation of the most holy Trinity in the act of baptizing is no other then meere ordinary water but by that inuocation it is consecrated in the very act of Baptisme and so at one the same time both the water is consecrated and of ordinary becommeth Sacramental and withall there is performed the Sacrament of Baptisme with the inward effect of purging the soule whereas in the Eucharist the consecration goeth before whereby the bread and wine are made Sacramentall and afterwards follow the eating and drinking of them in which actions consisteth the very Sacrament and the body blood of Christ is giuen inwardly to him that worthylie eateth and drinketh this Sacramentall bread and wine but whosoeuer doth eat and drinke them vnworthylie without examining himselfe and first being clensed from sinne he doth not eat nor drinke any other thing then bread and wine For to those that are vnworthy Christ affordeth not spiritually his body nor his blood howsoeuer they doe eat and drinke the consecrated bread and wine which consecration hath this operation that it maketh the bread and wine Sacramentall vnto those that Sacramentally receiue them and are onely fit for them whereas the vnworthy receiue them not as a Sacrament Christ denying vnto them his body and blood and so to them this eating and drinking is no Sacrament and that by their own default This consecration therefore doth them no good at all but is the occasion that they eat and drinke not a Sacrament nor Christ's body 1. Cor. 11.29 and blood but iudgement condemnation as St. Paul denounceth because they doe not discerne the body of the Lord that is they put no difference betweene ordinary bread and this consecrated bread which in the Sacramentall eating doth spiritually exhibite the true body of Christ to the worthy receiuers they making no other preparation for it then if they were to receiue their common ordinary and meere corporall food So also if by any mischance in the time of communicating any vnreasonable creature should eat that consecrated bread it eateth no other then meere bread inasmuch as Christ doth not affoord his body with the consecrated bread but onely vnto those who are capeable of the Sacrament and are made worthy of it or at least doe not vnworthylie approach vnto it And because Christ performeth not this wonderfull worke of giuing his body and blood in such sort as I haue declared but onely by occasion of the Sacrament and forasmuch as likewise the Sacrament it selfe consisteth wholy in the actions of eating and drinking who seeth not that such consecrated bread whilest it is not imployed in those actions remayneth pure and ordinary bread for the consecrating of it serued only to make it Sacramental bread surely it is not Sacramentall otherwise then as it is to bee eaten Sacramentally in that spirituall banquet which then is in celebrating although the same should continue many houres or there were some sicke persons to communicate of it who lie in their beds at home euen though they were some ten miles distant thence in asmuch as this may bee held morally one banquet or Communion Whereupon you may easily perceiue the errour of those that terme by the name of the most holy Sacrament that consecrated bread which after the Communion finished is kept in Pyxes and cabinets where it is not to bee eaten by any but after certaine daies and weeks and moneths and perhaps not by men at all but by mice or other vermine and yet surely it is no Sacrament but onely in the act of eating therefore in these Pyxes and closets there is contained not onely no Sacrament but not so much as Sacramentall bread the force of consecration beeing already vanished inasmuch as that bread was consecrated onely to the end it might bee eaten in that meeting Sacramentally and therefore afterwards it becommeth ordinary bread which notwithstanding in reuerend regard that this very bread was consecrated to the Communion is to bee eaten by those that are in sacred function and not to bee brought vnto the common dining-table nor to be vsed as ordinary foode And yet alas euen to this bread thus reserued there are vsually prayers made and adoration performed as vnto the onely true God which is most expresse proper and formall Idolatry Consider also the grosse absurdities and manifest impossibilities which they are faine to maintaine who hold transubstantiation that the accidents of bread namely colour quantitie smell sauour and such like remaine without any subiect wherein they should inheare or substance whereby they should be supported Surely nothing can subsist in its actuall being whensoeuer it looseth its very essence and all Philosophie proclaimeth that Accidentis esse estinesse the being of an accident or qualitie consisteth in being supported by a substance or subiect So that by this reckoning these accidents are in being because they are seene and felt and yet are not in being because their owne being is denied them and that which essentially hath no being of it selfe but wholy dependeth of another it is vnpossible that it should exist without that by which it is that it is So euery accident in its owne essence is an appurtenance to another thing namely vnto substance and he that withdraweth substance and subject from an accident stealeth away the very essence thereof and so as I said these accidents are something because they are visible and palpable and yet are nifles because there is no substance left to support them and so they are appendants and no appendants And as for diuinitie that acknowledgeth that euen to God himselfe those things which imply contradiction are not feisible But what would they say concerning the power of nourishing which is alwayes to be found in the Eucharisticall bread Certainely he that should eate no other meat nor drinke no other liquor then these Sacramentall elements should finde himselfe nourished as much as with any ordinary bread and wine And being that
daughter the Church of Rome hauing bene courteously enterteined ennobled enriched and exalted by diuers deuout Emperours vsing the aduantages which by little and little she gained partly by temporall greatnesse which then shined faire vpon her partly for that I had often good vse of her helpe in the midst of my troubles and garboiles which heresies brought vpon me wherein she stood me in good stead by procuring mee fauour and countenance of Catholique Emperours as also by the credit and reputation she had abroad froÌ„ those great Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul which were her fosterers and breeders vp yet she I say impudently abusing all this did about a thousand yeeres agoe enter into a bold rebellion against me not vouchsafing to remaine still my daughter nor acknowledging me for her mother in any wise but seeking to make herselfe my mistresse and to domineere ouer me But most of all about 550. yeeres after since the times of that firebrand Hildebrand and since the totall ruine of the Romane Empire this daughter of mine being high-growne in greatnesse and pride as shee began to withdraw her necke from the yoke of a temporall Lord who with his rod might hold her in obedience to me so would she needs also abandon her due place which she held with me of being a member of my body from which she rent herselfe by an horrible schisme and disdeyning to bee a member of it would haue no nay but perke aboue me and make herselfe my Head by tyrannicall vsurpation And whereas first according to the appointment of my Spouse she should receiue life and vigor from me as euery member of the Body doeth from its coniunction with the whole as being a part thereof she by tearing herselfe off from being a member to put forward for the Headship hath instantly lost all that spirit and vigor which euery particular Church partaketh with and from mee Cypr. de vnit eccles euen as branches deriue their vigor from the roote streames from the fountaine and beames from the Sunne which is S. Cyprians comparison And moreouer she hath bene so bold with me as to dispoile me of my robes and ornaments and to rob me of my proper name and now shee she onely must be stiled the vniuersall Church the Catholique Church the mother of the faithfull the pillar of trueth the Spouse of Christ c. Behold therefore here an infamous and dreadfull rocke For whosoeuer abandoneth me to cleaue to her hee is out of the Arke of Noah he not hauing me to his mother Cypr. ibidem hath not God to his father Whosoeuer is a follower of that tyrant which vsurpeth my dignity and trampleth downe my authoritie he certainely followeth not Christ my true Spouse but Antichrist No Church can be vnder Christ vnlesse it be first vnited to me and all Churches that enioy the graces flowing from Christ doe partake them by my meanes and so farre forth as they are my daughters and limmes growing vnto me who am the Body of Christ Therefore the Romane Church inasmuch as a daughter or member she will not be and mother or Head which faine she would she cannot be betweene both sure she hath no part in me And whosoeuer danceth after such a schismatical and rebellious ring-leader must needs himselfe be a schismatique and rebel and who so followeth the vsurping Pope must engage himselfe to beleeue euery falshood and fiction that is thrust vpon him and so shall be sure to tumble downe headlong after such a guide Thus the Papacie sheweth it selfe to bee the grand and most dangerous rocke of all the rest against which so many poore Christian soules daily dash themselues And so much for this mother-Rocke The rest I shall passe ouer more briefly ¶ The second Rocke Temporall Power SO farre haue my Churchmen bene puffed vp with Ambition that they haue not onely claimed but also professed and exercised temporall power in many meerely ciuill and temporall affaires challenging to themselues as in my right a power ouer Clerkes to imprison and banish them and to inflict reall forfeits and corporall paines vpon them yet can none of my Prelats pretend for any power otherwise then as the same belongeth to mee And I for my part from my conscience confesse that I haue not receiued from my Spouse any the least temporall power concerning any temporall affaire whatsoeuer but all the power I haue is wholly and meerely Spirituall For the end whereto I am ordeined being wholly and onely spirituall namely to guide the soules of my children vnto eternall blessednes which is supernaturall and spirituall it followeth that all the meanes which I am to worke by must be of their owne nature Spirituall and supernaturall and therefore mine owne and proper power can extend it selfe no further then to things Spirituall onely My Lord Christ himselfe what other power did he exercise then meerely Spirituall Did hee euer thrust himselfe into any temporall affaire S. Paul saith that Those that are set ouer my children Heb. 13.17 are to watch ouer their soules and to render accompt of them My care therefore properly and wholly concerneth mens soules As for their bodies and bodily or ciuill affaires they haue other gouernours namely temporall Princes The same S. Paul saith also that No man 2. Tim. 2.4 that warreth vnto God entangleth himselfe with the affaires of this life Moreouer by the ioynt acknowledgement of my holy doctors it is manifest that my employment is wholly and onely in cure of soule which also is not denied by diuers the most renowmed Bishops of Rome as Hormisda Epist 21. Gelasius de Anath vinc Epist 10. Symmachus in Apologet. Nicolas the 1. Epist 8. And why I pray you is my power described ordinarily in holy writ by the name of a Chaire â—â—â—th 23.2 but that it consisteth in teaching and directing this power of mine being principally instructiue and doctrinall Christ said to his Apostles Luke 22.25 that The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship ouer them But ye shall not be so thereby inferring that it belongeth not to the officers of my family to exercise dominion or ciuill coactiue iurisdiction S. Hierome saith that Kings rule ouer men Hieron ep 3. will they nill they but the priest ruleth onely those that are willing to be subiect to him The reason is for that it is not in my reach to enforce any man S. Chrysostome very well saith of me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys hom 3. in Act. Apo. that I cannot impose any thing by authoritie that is in such maner as pretending power to compell others to obey me True it is that religious and deuout Princes to doe mee honour and for my sake to vouchsafe some priuiledge to my officers haue afforded mee the fauour to haue the exercise of a certaine ciuil and criminall Iurisdiction ouer my owne Ministers but such grants as these are at the courtesie and in the liberty of the
lesse defalked Christ hath instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the forme of a meale a banquet a refection for the increase of amitie and loue among the faithfull whose charitie is much imployed in these mutuall intertainements and feasts as also to signifie that he would hereby refresh and nourish our soules Now he that debarres drinke from his boord and feeds his guests with meate onely surely maketh but a dry feast and hee that feeds onely on meate without any drinke at all is but ill refreshed and very imperfectly nourished When therefore the faithfull come together to the Lord's Supper they ought euen in the outward action not onely to eate but also to drinke together to expresse in this compleat man̄er their mutual loue and vnion and if they onely eate together without drinking they cannot taste the entire signification of this spirituall Feast which consists in an entire and totall charitie And hee that outwardly receiueth meate onely without the Cup cannot thereby represent to his vnderstanding the inward receipt of a compleat spirituall refection They haue therefore done very ill to take away the vse of the Cup to the grieuous mayming of the Sacrament and robbing of you my deere children of a great part of the fruit of the Eucharist whilest they giue it you in this man̄er lame and dismembred And this reuerence which they pretend is a vaine excuse for such care and diligence as by men can bee performed in this behalfe is sufficient to preuent vndecent handling of those sacred misteries and there beeing no danger at all that the very body or the very blood of Christ should be materially trampled or trodden vnder foot but surely their keeping their Sacrament thus in boxes and shrines which is indeede no Sacrament whilest it is not thereto imployed is heereby exposed to danger of beeing gnawen and consumed by mice and wormes and in this their case of danger they are driuen to say that a mouse eating those species doth receiue into it selfe the very body of Christ and the entire Sacrament though it receiue not rem effectum Sacramenti the Sacramentall thing and effect thereof and whilest these species remaine in the belly of this mouse it must needes follow according to their doctrine that in the mouse's belly there is included the true and reall body of Christ. And is not this I pray you a greater absurdity then if some droppe of the sacred wine though it were indeede the very blood of Christ should be spilt vpon the earth whence it may either be gathered vp or wiped away without beeing trodden on at all In the meane while heere also they vse their ambitious tyrannie making themselues absolute Lords ouer holy things and mysteries ordayned by Christ himselfe whereof they ought to be dispenfers onely and not commanders nor masters to giue or deny what they please euen to those who are worthy receiuers of them And besides this fuell of their ambition whereby they mainetaine transubstantiation to make their Priests and Friars to bee more highly esteemed and reuerenced of the people as those who manage and handle Christ and cause him to come downe from heauen heereto is to be added also the part which coueteousnesse hath in this lot by squiesing your purses and drawing from you the larger offerings by this vaine fancie put in your heads selling their Masses at so much the higher rate which they see cannot haue the name of a propitiatory Sacrifice vnlesse the very body of Christ bee offered in them And thus you see these so high mysteries for the priuate ends of those that manage them enwrapped with grosse and palpable errors from which I aduise you to keepe aloofe as from most pernicious Rocks ¶ The second Rocke Auricular Confession ONe of the precious treasures which my Iesus Christ hath layd vp in his house and mine is the remission of sinnes which cannot bee had or found anywhere else then in my precincts This in most full man̄er is granted first in Baptisme vnto those who beeing of ripe vnderstanding doe seriously come to the holy lauer And you my children by reason of your corrupt nature cannot remaine any long while in this mortall life without falling into sinnes whereupon the true and generall remedy for remission of sinnes committed after Baptisme is Repentance But I would haue you be aduised that yee by no deede that you can doe though supported with God's grace can euer purchase or merit this Remission as if doing one or more good actions and presenting them to God ye might pretend that he is bound to pardon you especially concerning the act of Iustification wherein of an impious sinner remayning vnder God's wrath a man becommeth the sonne of God and is reconciled to him and accepted of him This is a grieuous errour and dangerous Rocke inasmuch as neither repentance nor Confession nor any other act done by a sinner can binde God to affoord him remission to whom onely it belongeth to remit sinnes And this remission hath my only Spouse your Lord and mine Iesus Christ purchased and merited with his bitter Passion by shedding of his most precious blood and dying vpon the balefull tree of the Crosse and the remission of your sinnes consisteth in this onely that God through his meere grace and mercy accepteth Christ's satisfaction instead of that satisfaction which a sinner ought to pay him for his sinnes by the euerlasting punishment of eternall damnation And so a sinner becommeth iust whilest God doth deriue vpon a sinner the iustice of his sonne and doth apply it vnto him with this onely condition that the sinner by faith doe vnite himselfe vnto Christ and beleeuing in him doe lay his whole confidence on him onely and not on any worke or merit of his owne For all your workes if they be meerely naturall are filthy of no worth to obtaine any supernaturall good and if they be done with faith and by the helpe of grace besides that they are alwayes full of imperfections and tainted with some spots they are not indeede to bee counted yours but to be attributed to God and his grace and are also a debt due vnto him in many respects for whose the tree is his also is the fruit that it beareth and to him that is master of a slaue belong also the children the worke and the purchase whatsoeuer the slaue getteth Yee can neuer therefore bring vnto God your workes as your owne free gift whereupon you might expect recompence of pardon and so much the more in that there is no proportion betweene your workes which are finite and of finite value if of any at all and the offence of infinite demerit Suffer not therefore your selues to bee deceiued by the couetousnesse of the Priests and Friars when they tell you that you may obtaine iustification and remission of your sinnes how heynous soeuer by your good workes especially by giuing almes Neither put you any confidence toward the remission of
to her Hayle Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee thou art blessed among women and shee saide Behold the handmaid of the Lord be it vnto me according to thy word Then the word was made flesh and dwelt among vs O thou that diddest beleeue this thou art surely blessed and blessed is the fruit of thy wombe Iesus O Lord God poure downe thy grace into our soules that wee which by the message of an Angell haue knowen the Incarnation of thy Son Iefus Christ may by his Crosse and Passion bee lead to the glory of his holy resurrection Amen ¶ The fift Rocke Images and Reliques PIctures and Statues in ancient times were vsed as in priuate houses so also in publique Churches onely for remembrance of sacred histories and for the benefit of them that could not or would not read bookes Wherein they beholding the representation of Christ vpon the Crosse of the martyrdomes and memorable actions of holy men might for their owne particular remember the benefit of their redemption and propound vnto themselues examples for imitation in the maintenance of our holy faith and the exercise of christian vertues Othervse of Images then this which is ciuill I was not acquainted with for many Ages But after that the couetousnesse of men did runne on inuenting and forging of myracles to draw on the peoples deuotion towards some Image and so their contributions vnder pretence of lampes ornaments and other materiall embellishments thence began they to teach that there was a certaine proper religious worship due to the Image it selfe and then my idle Ministers beganne to light lampes to them to burne incense to them to adore them to kneele downe and make their prayers before them Hence arose that abuse that none vnder the Papacie knoweth how to pray without he haue before him some pettie statue or picture either painted or printed especially of the Crucifix and of our Lady And the Church-men doe wilfully infuse true and proper Idolatrie into the mindes of the ignorant common people whilest they erect stately Churches curious Chappell 's with so many enclosures vesteries curtaines lampes torches indulgences whilest they carry them in Procession with such furniture and outward pompe beeing an externall religious worshippe which pertaineth vnto God they command and compell euery man to fall downe on his knees and adore them whereupon the silly people conceiueth a certaine diuinity to be in them and without any reflection at all ad prototypum to the principall copie they offer their vowes and their prayers to that stocke or stone to this cloth or tablet and expect immediately from that very Image the grace which they request euen of eternall life It is not to bee doubted but that the more part of the vulgar commits most proper and formall Idolatrie with some Images And the doctrine which some learned Papists doe teach namely that vnto Images as Images a proper religious worship is due must of necessity make euen the wise learned amongst them to Idolatrize formally A wodden Crucifixe representing Christ on the Crosse may awake the minde of a Christian to adore with his soule him that is represented namely true Christ but to teach a proper worship besides that which is due vnto the prototype and a proper adoration to bee due to a Crucifixe made of wood onely because it represents the true Christ this is to bring-in flat Idolatrie If they shall tell you that a certaine humane and ciuill reuerence is to bee giuen to the Images of Christ and also of the Virgin Mary and eminent Saints such as are canonized by holy Scripture such respect I say as is due to the Images of great Princes and Emperors and famous benefactors or of the progenitors of noble families publiquely aduanced or priuately respected in this there were no error nor any danger at all But whilest they will needs haue it to be religious and spirituall worship let them cloth it as cunningly as they can with the names of dulia or hyperdulia to balke the name of latria yet in the end it commeth to be a very latria diuine worship inasmuch as religious and spirituall worship is nor can be any other then latria which is the very adoration performed inwardly in the minde and spirit and outwardly by the body vnto the onely true God And why did God so seuerely command in the first table of his liuely and eternall law that his faithfull people should beware of making any Images of what sort soeuer to be vsed in any religious worship if not because hee knew that all such worshippe of them must needes be Idolatry Thinke you that the Idolatrous Gentiles did indeede worship those Statues of marble wood and mettall as thinking that they were the very gods whom they adored It is a folly so to deeme But in that they gaue honor and reuerence vnto those Statues as representing those men whom they held for gods nay otherwhile representing such beasts as they thought had a kinde of diuinity in them in this respect our sacred Scripture doth deride them Psal 115.5 saying The Idolls of the heathen are siluer and gold the worke of mens hands they haue mouthes but they speake not eyes haue they but they see not they haue eares but they heare not c. Whereby their Idolatry is reduced not onely to their adoring for gods very men or very beasts which is indeede the most proper Idolatry of all but also much more because they hauing made those their Statues Images did render vnto these very same Statues and Images a certaine proper worship as being the Statues and Images representing those whom they held for true Gods In like man̄er also whilest Christians doe yeelde vnto an Image a certaine proper religious worship though onely as it representeth the true Christ the holy Scripture by the same reason will say of them The Christians Images are wood or cloth the worke of mens hands they haue mouthes and speake not eyes and see not c. Neither doth it excuse the matter to say that in the Image the prototype or first paterne is adored For the action in it selfe is vnlawfull and directly importeth Idolatry and therefore it ought of it selfe and in its owne nature to be shunned as Idolatrous as long as religious worship is yeelded For otherwise it were not Idolatry to worship the very Idolls of the Gentiles made of any materiall stuffe beeing that in that very matter whatsoeuer there is the presence of the true God Nor will that excuse serue in saying I doe not adore the Statue or Image but God in them The action in it selfe is directly terminated vpon the Statue or Image neither doth it suffice for the preuenting of Idolatry that the intention is directed vnto God because there doth remaine at the least materiall and externall Idolatry euen in the iudicious and learned that know how to frame these abstract notions but in the vulgar ideots there will be