worde it was that he charged them wythall that was the treasure that being well bestowed Ioan. 4. Apoc. 22. Ioan. 6. Cantic 8. Psalm 119. Sap. 18. Naum. 2. Math. 16. 1. Cor. 10. Apoca. 15. should bring infinite pleasures with it For his worde is the lyuely water wherby the heates of our lusts are quenched the breade of lyfe to féede our hungry soules the pleasaunte wyne to cheare and make vs merry the lanterne to guide our steppes the sworde that ouerthroweth the enimies of the truth the fyrie shielde to defende vs agaynst our aduersaries the sure rocke wherevppon to builde the touch stone to try out doctrines what spirits are of God the key to open shut heauen gates the swete tuned instrumēt to passe away the tediousnesse of this our exile the medicine for all dyseases the ioy the iewell the only reliques of Christ departed hence which if we minde to knowe his will as it becommeth obedient children if we do loke to be heires with him as all men do make a rekening of then must we seke obserue and haue alwayes in reuerence For hence is the perfecte knowledge of all truth onely to be had and all other blessednesse in as ample wise as if that Christ were before our eyes ready to perfourme and pronounce the things Wherefore sith the Scripture is worthyed of these titles and none of them can iustly be applyed to the Crosse sith the worde is the ordinary and only meane that God now vseth for instruction of his the Crosse is a scholemaster of error and impietie let no man pleade ignorance for his excuse which may wel be increased but refourmed neuer by a beggerly boke of woode or stone As for the other percell of your aunswere that bycause all men can not so conuenientlie at all times heare a good preacher Folio 117. a. as they may see the signe of the Crosse therefore the Crosse must be had beside preaching I may tourne the argument on your owne heade that the more generall the matter is and more easily come by being in it selfe vnlawfull the more seriously it ought to be reproued the more iustly condemned For whereas Images doe but infecte the hearte are occasions of fall and nothing else it is a perillous matter the poyson to be more generall than the medicine the remedy to be harder than the offence to come by Bonum quo communius eo prastantius sayth Aristotle A good thing the more common it be the better it is The more vve may see a crosse the vvorse But a mischiefe the more it spreadeth the more it anoyeth And of all mischief an Image most For Images Crosses Crucifixes are euery mannes ware A good preacher is scarcely to be founde in a countrey Images continually doe preach Idolatry the preacher can not alwayes open his mouth against it Images are likely to seduce a multitude all men of nature being prone to Idolatry The preacher is able to persuade but a fewe fewe men inclined to credit sounde doctrine Wherfore the doctrine of a good preacher a gay puppet set vp in the church being direct contrary the lesse we may heare the preacher the more we may sée the puppet the lesse is our comforte in Christ our Lorde the more doe we stande in the Diuels daunger As for affectiō to be stirred by Imagery Leude affections stirred by Imagery I graūt they may be some but not such as they ought For impossible it is as in the preface is declared an Image to come in place of Gods seruice not allure to a wicked worship Experiēce hath taught vs examples doe proue the princes for their pleasure erecting Images haue bred the vile affection of Idolatry The booke of Wisedome is most euident therin Then if the picture of a liuing mā a mortall creature be of such force to crooke the soule what shall we thinke of Images of them that are reputed saincts of the Image of Christ our God and sauiour Luc. 10. Act. 14. Gala. 3. Whose names be written in the booke of lyfe they care not for their faces to be paynted on a post They that aliue abhorred any worship wyll not being dead prouoke so great offence Christ the as God wil be honored in truth must not to the world be set forth with a lye nec qui spiritu coeperūt carne consumādi nor they that began in the spirite must be made perfite in the fleshe The heathē the beleued not immortalitie of soule were altogither vainglorious and proude had a pleasure to haue their Images set vp their childrē reioyced in their parents folly but this must not be taken as president for vs Christians For they had no other rewarde of well deseruing we looke for an other maner of crowne of glorye 2. Tim. 4. 1. Petr. 5. which is layde vp in store for vs against a better daye They had no lawes to forbid such coūterfets yea the law it selfe to excite men to vertue decréed Statuas in foro Images in the market place Deu. 4.5.7 1. Ioh. 5. Car. Mag. Li. 3. ca. 15. We haue law inough from the maiestie of God to condemne Images in place of prayer Wherfore I may say with the good fathers of Franckeforde Si homines mortales proteruia vanitatis inflati c. If mortal men puffed vp with frowardnesse of their owne vanitie proude of worldly pompe bragging ambitious bicause they coulde not be in all places would be magnified in some place bicause they loked for no heauēly profit would therfore haue an earthly prayse Shal thys inforce vs to make a picture of our God who is in euery place can be contained in no place whose seate the heauens are whose fotestole is the earth who is wonderfull in all places can with the eye be discerned in no place Where hys vertue is so great hys glory so excellent hys myght so vnmeasurable he is not with coloures to be portrayed to be séen in temples made with mans hande to be honored or knowen in a beggerly picture but to be set forth in hys worthy workes soughte for in the heauens worshipped in heart the Prophet saying Adorate dominum in atrio sancto eius Psal 28. Ioh. 4. Worship the Lord in his holy Sanctuary And the Euangelist Deus spiritus est qui adorat deum in spiritu veritate oportet adorare God is a spirit and they that worship God must worship hym in spirite in truth Thus haue I proued that our affections to God warde nether ought nor cā be styrred vp by the vaine painters or caruers craft howsoeuer mens fansies are delited with them Yet to consider your own histories Whē Alexander the great was faire and finely painted Iulius Cesar beholding him was made more ambitious and he that otherwyse could haue bene contented with hys own estate was throughe a picture made a plague of the world Scipio the Aphricane by loking on hys
which in the nexte Article shall be proued damnable To the tenth Article The adoration and vvorshipping of the Crosse to be alovved by olde and auncient Fathers ALthough in the former Articles the folly and vnfaythfulnesse therof is shewed yet that the world may vnderstand vpon how weake a grouÌ„d ye stand howe ruinously ye builde I wil assay the force and sone ouerthrow the foundation of your cause Most reason it had bene if ye would haue proued an adoration and worship of a Crosse which appertayneth vnto God alone which to no creature can be applied ye shoulde haue brought some testimonie of the Scripture which in Gods matters only and sufficiently doth take an order But you sawe that Scripture is directe agaynst you therefore you would not alleage that should hinder you The Paynter that had drawen a cocke yl fauouredly commaunded hys boy to kepe the quicke cockes away so you that shamefully would confirme a lye reiect most wickedly the proufe of truth But I wil briefly note which you vtterly omit Gods playne euident commaundement to the contrary wherby ye may learne that if men in termes had ouershot them selues yet you shuld haue a better ayme than by following their gesse roue so farre from all godlinesse If you had proceded orderly according to the rule of skil you would haue shewed fyrst what Adoration and Worship is and then haue approued which you neuer shall the lawfull application of it vnto the Crosse If ye take it as the worde in Hebrew signifieth it is to how downe or prostrate your selfe The Gretians come very néere vnto the same and expresse it by bowing of the knée or putting off the cap. c. Nor I doubt but you in this interpretatioÌ„ agrée with me Notwithstanding that in no sense it can be giuen vnto an Image or otherwise to a senselesse and deade creature shall appeare anone Exod. 20. In Exodus when God had spoken of all similitudes and likenesses of thinges in heauen or in earth he added Thou shalt not bowe downe to them nor serue them The Gréeke is the same which signifieth Worship and Adoration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Also the Prophet in Gods person speaketh Is there no knowledge nor vnderstanding to say Esay 44. I haue burnt halfe of it euen in the flet haue baked bread vpon the coales therof I haue rosted flesh eaten of it And shall I make the residue an abhomination shal I bow to the stock of a trée And with a great indignatioÌ„ in another place he sayth Esay 2. They worshipped the worke of their own hands that which their own fingers made A maÌ„ bowed himself a man humbled himself therefore spare them not Many other places I could heape hereon which euidently conuince all AdoratioÌ„ to other thaÌ„ to God to be accursed Only when you wil vs after the example of your master the diuel to fall downe and worship a siluer crosse or a woodden trée I wil answere with Christ Auoyd Sathan It is written Math. 4. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serue Now worship and seruise so ioyntly do concur togither that the one caÌ„not be without the other If only we must serue god him only we must worship In the Epistle to the Hebrues Heb. 1. S. Paul proueth Christ more excellent than the Angels bycause they worship Christ but are not worshipped agayne If Angels haue not this adoration shal a vile stock or a cold cankerd corrupte piece of metall haue it In the Actes of the Apostles it is writteÌ„ how Cornelius the Centurion Act. 10. fel down at Peters féete worshipped him But the Apostle toke him vp and reproued him saying Stand vp for I my self am a man If so great a sainct as Sainct Peter was be not to be worshipped so fowle a block as a Roode is much lesse is to be set by In the Reuelation Apoc. 14. an Angel from Heauen gaue a charge on this wise Feare God and giue him the glory for the houre of his iudgement is come and worshippe him Which worship that it ought not to be giuen to another in the same boke good president we finde For when the Euangelistes fell downe at the Aungels féete Apoc. 19. to worshippe him he aunswered Sée thou doe it not I am thy fellowe seruant and one of thy brethren which haue the testimony of Iesus Worship God Likewise about the latter ende this witnesse ye haue Apoc. 22. When I had heard and séene sayth Iohn I fell downe to worship before the féete of the Angel But he sayd vnto me Sée thou do it not for I am thy fellowe seruant and of thy brethren the Prophetes and of them which kepe the wordes of this boke Worship God If the Angels of Heauen refused worship and adoration alleaging wythall that they were but seruaunts and therfore would nor derogate from their master ascribing to themselues that which is onely due vnto God Shalt we thinke that an Image a picture or a post forbydden to be made accursed to be vsed may as a dumbe God or a deade Diuell lawfully be thus honored I will not cumber you any more wyth Scriptures for that I thinke you are not so farre past shame Fol. 124. a. Fol. 126. Fol. 125. â— but that ye acknowledge that they are agaynst you Let vs come to the doctors Ye only cite Chrisostome and so as it pleaseth Frier Perionie of Paris to make him speake Augustine in a worke that is none of his as here a little before I proued Athanasius corrupted as in the fift Article I shewed Lactantius vtterly agaynst himselfe as shall anone be iustified And as for Paulinus Damascene and the canon cited as out of the sixt councell generall I haue heretofore in sundry places aunswered Here are but seauen authorities in all if they were admitted as they are not to be true But if I should runne ouer all the auncient fathers that euer wrote and truly alleage them as you do not they would all confirme you a lier and Idolatrer For proufe I will bring you for seauen seauentene beâ—â—â— counsels generall and among them the selfs same authours which you truste vnto that your blinde ignoraunce or wilfull obstinacy may the more appeare I wil cite them in order as in auncientie they stande Clement not passe .80 yeares after Christ in the worke that you doe ascribe vnto him sayth that when Peter had spoken much agaynst the Egyptians superstitious Idolatrie which honored an Oxe and a Goate a Fish and a Serpent wyth other sluttish and vncleanly things Cloacas crepituÌ„ ventris and that the hearers began to laugh thereat he burste out into these wordes Clemens Recog ad Iac frat Do. Lib. 5. Rideus vt alibrâ—m dedecora quia longaâ—â—â—â— suetudine propria non videtis Num Egypciorum quid on stuâ—itiam merito ridetis qui muta animalia ipsi cum sint
conuersation of the Saincts not in pictures but in vertues to imitate their fayth not in fayned Imagrie but in sincere good workes The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 21. Iesus naue duodecim lapides statuit in Dei memoriam Ergo licet adorare statuas Iosue did set vp .xij. stones for a remembrance of God Therefore it is lawful to worship stocks and stones The Aunsvvere Iconomachi Iosue meant nothing lesse than to teach the Israelites to worship stones but to put them in minde that they were the stones of the riuer that was dried for them The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 22. Nathan adorauit Dauidem Ergo nos Imagines Nathan did worship Dauid therefore we may Images The Aunsvvere Nathan did not worshippe Dauid set forth in coloures or painted on a wall but a liuing creature Iconomachi set in the throne of Iustice supplying the rowme of God Wherefore there is no comparison betwixt them The Reason Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui Domine Item Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 23. Psal 4. Vultum tuum requiram Ergo Imagines sunt adorandae Thy couÌ„tenance O Lord is signed vpon vs. And. Thy countenance I wyll séeke after Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere If these words of Dauid did any thing appertayne to Images Iconomachi we might iustely enquire what countenaunce they haue how this countenaunce may be signed in vs. The countenance of God is Christ his sonne to the knowledge of whome we must aspire by scripture and not by picture Wherefore sith the countenance of God can not be séene in material Images which haue no eyes it is to fonde to apply it to Images In the same Psalme the Prophete hath He that desireth life will sée good dayes what shall he do Pore vpon pictures seke after Images No. Declinet a malo et faciat bonuÌ„ Let him refrayne from euil do the thing that is good The Reason Vultum tuum deprecabuntur omnes diuites plebis Ergo Iconolatrae Psal 44. Car. Mag. Lib. 1. ca. 24. Imagines sunt adorande Al the rich of the people shal make their homage before thy face Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere Homage is done before the face of such Iconomachi as can both heare haue vnderstaÌ„ding Since neither of these is in an Image it can not be that by the face of God is meant an Image The Reason Dilexi decorem domus tuae Sed Imagines pertinent ad decorem templorum Ergo Imagines sunt diligendae Iconolatrae Psal 26. Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 28. I haue loued sayth Dauid the beauty of thy house But Images pertayne to the beauty of Churches Therefore Images are to be loued The Aunsvvere Iconomachi The house of God is not the materiall church of lime and stone but the congregation of faythfull people in whose hearts he dwelleth nor the beauty hereof consisteth in outward garnishing but spiritual vertues not in Imagry but in pietie They which renounced the world and withdrewe themselues from the sight of euill had no Images to decke their houses They dwelt in simple and vile cotages And yet they loued the beauty of Gods house wherefore the beauty thereof doth not consist in Images The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. ca. 30. Psal 48. Sicut audiuimus ita vidimus Ergo Imagines sunt adorandae As we haue heard so haue we séene sayth Dauid Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere Iconomachi The promises of God to them that feare him to be their refuge helpe and deliuerance were the thinges that they had heard foretolde by the Prophetes and séene in themselues And if they had not felt a stronger effecte of Gods power than a sory picture could haue brought vnto them they should haue continued all the dayes of their life in body slaues in soule ignorant The Reason Iconolatrae Psal 74. Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Cap. 1. Damnantur inimici qui malignantur in sanctis Dei Ergo Imagines contemnentes damnantur Those enimies that doe worke euill to the sainctes of God are condemned Therefore such as despise Images are condemned The Aunsvvere Iconomachi To omit the phrase of Malignantur for Malum inferunt What a grosse ignoraunce was this to put the Sainctes of God for the Sanctuarie it selfe Wherefore the Synode aunswered The Psalme entreateth of such as had spoyled the temple of Hierusalem had taken away the furniture thereof which God had commaunded What is that to Images He neyther speaketh of the Sainctes of God nor Images are the Sainctes of God The Reason In ciuitate tua Imagines ipsorum ad nihilum rediges Ergo Iconolatrae Psal 72. Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Ca. 3. Imagines sunt adorandae Thou shalt bring their Images in thy City to naught Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere The city of God sometime is taken for the soule of man Iconomachi inhabited of God Sometime for his congregation vppon earth Sometime also for the heauenly Hierusalem Augustinê° Tom. 8. in Psal 72. As in this place That as they haue defiled the Image of God vpon earth So their owne Images shall not appeare in heauen but be reserued in euerlasting payne The Reason Scriptum est Exaltate dominum deum nostrum Iconolatrae Psal 99. Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Ca. 5. adorate scabellum peduÌ„ eius quoniam sanctus est Ergo Imagines sunt adoraÌ„dae It is written Exalt the Lorde our god and fall downe before his fotestole for he is holy Therfore we must fal downe to Images The Aunsvvere It is no proufe that Images should be worshipped Iconomachi bycause it is written that we should fal downe before the fotestole of God For we must not esteme his fotestole according to the vse of men nor déeme that God is circumscript with quantity or nedeth a thing to beare vp his féete withal We must not think that any thing is to be worshipped but onely God the same God that telleth what his fotestole is saying Caelum mihi sedes terra autem scabellum Psal 66. Act. 7. Heauen is my seate and the earth my fotestole But shall we worship the earth which is the creature of God No but as Ambrose sayth by the earth is the flesh of Christ signified which he toke froÌ„ the earth It is therfore leudly applied to Images which appertayneth to the mystical seruice of our Lord Christ The Reason Iconolatrae Psal 98. Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Ca. 6. Scriptum est Adorate in monte sancto eius Ergo Imagines adorande It is written Worship him in his holy hill Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere Iconomachi The Prophet sayth not The hill is to be worshipped but God to be worshipped in his holy hyll And if he had sayde worship the hill yet wise men wold haue constred it for God and not
Tvvo kindes of Idolatrie when a man by peruerse opiniō corrupteth the spiritual worshipping of God The second when the honor peculiar vnto god is transferred to a creature In both these ye Papists most haynously do offend For ye think that God which is a spirite is delited with your masking externe pomp wherin consisteth al Romish religion and so by your owne text ye be proued false worshippers Also by your knocking holding vp of hands before an Image ye shew your selues whose seruātes you are abasing your estate seruing a creature For the proufe whereof bicause it more nerely concerneth our question let vs inquite what bonde we be entred in wyth God to serue him as we ought So shall we sée whether any outward bodily fact may wel induce vs to say or think any man an Idolatrer The eternall God requireth at our hands that his name be glorfied both in our spirite and in our body bycause that both be his And if the commaundement did not extende so farre yet reason doth conuince no lesse For in asmuch as our bodies also be redéemed with the precious bloudshed of Christ what a shame is it to haue them subiect stil vnto the Diuels seruise Our soules to be Gods our bodies to be the Diuels Whereas our bodies ought to be the temples of the holy ghost what absurditie is this to defile them with sacriledge Whereas our bodies are foreapointed to immortality and partaking of the glory of God what wickednesse is this to attaynt them with Idolatrie Paule when he doth inuey agaynst fornication vseth this argument Whereas our bodies are the members of Christ 1. Cor. 6. is it méete to make them the members of an harlot And on like sort I may answere you Whereas our bodies be the members of Christ shall we cut them of from that body of his shall we prophanate them wyth vnlawfull worshipping 1. Reg. 10. Rom. 11. God when he would expresse the peculiar note of his faythful seruaunts sayth of them that they bowed not the knée to Baall nor with their mouth kissed him He might as wel haue said that they were not polluted with superstition they did not accompt Baall for a God But to intimate vnto vs that the inwarde affecte in this case suffiseth not he expresseth by name the outward gesture as altogether impious Wherefore howsoeuer we flatter our selues with an hidden opinion so secret that our selues féele it not yet the euident and apparaunt worke of capping knocking bowing and knéeling may disproue our hearte to be well affected and we by outwarde adoration trie and discerne a méere Idolatrer When God by his Prophete would describe his magnificence and honor due to him Esay 45. he sayd Viuo ego mihi flectetur omne genu omnis lingua iurabit mihi I liue sayth the Lord Euery knée shal bowe to me and euery tong shall sweare to me Thus the holy ghost by bowing of the knée by profession of the mouth describeth true worshipping But you M. Martiall wyll haue neither good nor bad worshipping to be iudged by gesture A proper shift ye haue when ye adore an Image créepe to the Crosse saying You knowe that to be but a piece of metal you make not your prayers to that but vnto God alone whome in spirite you worship though your face peraduenture be turned to the Image The selfe same pretexte had the Corinthians For they resorted to the feastes of Idols not of superstition They were to well instructed And Paule in their person bringeth forth an excuse for them 1. Cor. 8. Scimus quod Idolum nihil est We knowe that an Idoll is nothing We knowe that one God one Lorde and sauiour Iesus Christ is to be honoured and serued of vs. But did this satisfy S. Paule Nay But he affirmed rather that their inward persuasion and pretended excuse was nothing in asmuch as their example moued the weake to commit Idolatrie For if any man sayth the Apostle sée thée which hast knowledge sit at fable in the Idols temple shall not the conscience of him that is weake be boldned to eate those things which are sacrificed to Idoles And on like sorte you affirme that an Image or a Crosse is nothing But when ye giue the outward reuerence when ye adore it will not the simple déeme greate vertue in it shall not your knoweledge whatsoeuer it is be occasion of your brothers fall for whome Christ died Wherfore syth adoration is so offensiue better it were neuer to sée Image while the world standeth that our brother be not offended And this is S. Paules reason not mine As for your subtile and profound argument drawen out of the bowels of your professed lawe whereby ye make a wōderous demonstration Folio 130. a. that there can be no due prouf of Idolatrie in asmuch as Confession thereof is nothing credible Probation can not be made but by externall signes they do onely enforce a presumption and as for euidence of the facte it can not fall into effects of the minde where the abhomination of Idolatry lieth I answere that although we be very ingenious to finde out excuses for our owne offences yet the euidēce of the outward facte maketh sufficiēt probation of Idolatrie and is too good a witnesse of mysdemeaning minde For if the heart conceyued not the bodie would not doe if the body called the hart vnto accompt I am sure that at least in the court of Chauncerie where conscience is examined the heart should be first condemned of mysgouernement When Ezechias destroyed the brasen serpent the Iewes lacked such an aduocate as you that might haue called the King into the law and tried the case of iniustice agaynst him bycause he was not able to make proufe of any crime For they would not confesse their Idolatrie their knéeling to the Image made as you say but onely a presumption and no euidence could be fet frō the outward fact bycause ye suppose there is no Idolatrie but secrete in the heart But flatter your selues as you best can with your lurking affecte and priuy deuotion your apparant impietie shall not only to Godwarde but to the world condemne you If Daniels companions had féeyed such a counsellour such a lawyer as you they would not haue throwen themselues into such extremitie whereas they could not haue bene cōuinced of Idolatrie for al their knéeling before the Idol if in hart they retained the honor and seruise of the liuing God But they woulde not haue their bodies defiled with wicked worshippings nor of one temple make two Lordes the soule to be Gods the bodie to be Sathans S. Paule of the outwarde conuersation condemned the Corinthians as Idolatrers 1. Cor. 8. S. Peter also as is before rehearsed layde to his hearers charge that they were worse than the Egyptians bycause of the external signes God when he setteth forth the true seruise of himselfe maketh often