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
of the Crosse is hoysed vp the iniquitie of the deuil is dryueÌ„ backe teÌ„pest of vvinde is calmed Wherupon I besech you doth he inferre the deuil doth disquiet vvinde squat it not vpon the mention of a ship wtout a mast whervpon dyd he talke of the Church Crosse or the ship Crosse If the mast of the ship dyd no more preserue and saue the vessel than the Crucifix on the altar or Crosse in the roodlofte can do the Church neyther should the ship be preserued in the water nor the Church at any tyme be consumed with the fyer We neded not to feare if your opinion were true the burning any more of Paules Make a Crosse on the steple and so it shal be safe But within these fewe yeares it had a Crosse and reliques in the bowle to boote yet they preuailed not yea the Crosse it self was fyred fyrst Wherfore S. Ambrose hys rule as you most fondly do take hym holdeth not If ye say that hys rule doth holde notwtstanding bicause Paules was burned in the tyme of schisme I answere that in your most catholike tyme the lyke plague happened twise within the compasse of .l. yeares and therfore S. Ambrose was not so foolysh to meane as you imagine As for LactaÌ„tius LactaÌ„tius whose verses ye bryng to confirm the vse of a Roode in the Church I myght say wyth Hierom. Vtinam tam nostra potuisset coÌ„firmare Ep ad Paulinum In HieremiaÌ„ 10. quam facile aliena destruxit I would to God he had ben able aswel to haue confirmed our doctrine and religion as he dyd easely ouerthrow the contrary For many errors and heresies he had among the which I myght reken thys flecte genu lignumque crucis venerabile adora bow down thy knée and do honor to the worshipfull wood of the Crosse For vpoÌ„ the word of the Prophet Hieremy Lignum de saltu pracidit He hath cut a trée out of the forrest S. Hierom taketh occasioÌ„ to speake of the Gentils Idols adorned with golde and siluer of whoÌ„ it is said Psal 113. A mouth they haue and speake not eares they haue and heare not And least it myght be thought that the making honoring of such appertayned peculiarly vnto the heathen he sayd Qui quidem error ad nos vsque transiuit Which error in dede hath come ouer vnto our age And theÌ„ inferreth thys Quicquid de Idolis diximus ad oiÌ„a dogmata quae sunt coÌ„traria veritati referri potest Et ipsi enim ingentia polliceÌ„tur simulachruÌ„ vani cultus de suo corde coÌ„fingunt Imperitorum obstringunt acteÌ„ à suis inuentoribus sublimantur In quibus nulla est vtilitas quoruÌ„ cultura propriè gentium est eorum qui ignorant deum Whyche wordes are in English these Whatsoeuer we haue spoken of Idols may be referred vnto al doctrines contrary to the truth For they also do promise great thynges and deuise an Image of vayne worship out of their own hart They blind the eye of the ignoraunt and by the inuenters of them are set a loft In which there is no profyt and the worshipping of which is an heathenish obseruaunce a maner of suche as know not God Wherfore the wordes alleaged by you as out of Lactantius suffised to discredit him bicause he wil haue a pece of wood to be worshipped Omitting al his other errors and that Gelasius the Pope in consideration of many hys imperfections rekeneth his bokes inter Apocripha such as may be read no doctrine be grouÌ„ded on But I wyl answere to you otherwyse disproue it if you can I veryly suppose that those verses were neuer written by Lactantius The causes that induce me to this are these In catalogo S. Hierom makyng mention of al hys wrytinges yea of many moe than are come vnto our handes maketh no mention of thys Agayn Churches in hys time were scarcely builded for he liued in the raigne of Dioclesian by whom he was called into Nicomedia as Hierom wryteth Afterwarde when he was very old he was scholemaster to Crispus CoÌ„stantinus soÌ„n and taught hym in Fraunce Now in the raigne of Dioclesian the poore ChristiaÌ„s had in no countrey any place at al whether they myght quietly resort and stande still a vvhile loking on the Roode Folio 43. vvith his armes stretched handes nayled feete fastened They had neither leisure nor liberty to be at such ydle cost They coÌ„tented theÌ„selues with poore cabanes wherto they secretly resorted yet notwtstanding had them pulled on their heades Eusebiê° writing of the persecutioÌ„ vnder DioclesiaÌ„ Lib. 8. ca. 2. sayth Oratoria à culmine ad pauimeÌ„tuÌ„ vsque vnà cum ipsis fuÌ„dameÌ„tis deijci diuinásque sacras scripturas in medio foro igni tradi ipsis oculis vidimus We saw with our eyes that the oratories he calleth theÌ„ not teÌ„ples for so thei wer not wer vtterly thrown down froÌ„ that top to the grouÌ„d yea with the very fouÌ„datioÌ„s of theÌ„ and that the sacred holy Scriptures in the mydst of the market place wer coÌ„mitted to the fier TheÌ„ was it no tyme for them to make Images of Christ whose fayth without perill they could not professe nor solemnly to set vp Roodes where priuatly they had no place therto And this was in the most florishing tyme of LactaÌ„tiê° Yea afterward in the beginning of CoÌ„staÌ„tinê° raigne Maximinê° gaue liceÌ„ce first the Christians might build Dominica oratoria The Lordes places of praier And the first teÌ„ple that CoÌ„staÌ„tinus built was at HierusaleÌ„ the .xxx. yeare of hys raigne wherfore me thinketh impossible it is that Lactantius should wryte Eus lib. 9. cap. 10. Sozom. li. 2. cap. 26. Quisquis ades medijque subis in limi na templi with the rest of the verses rehersed by you Then howe different the doctrine is both froÌ„ that which himselfe teacheth and generally was receaued in his daies the leud verse Flecte genu lignuÌ„que crucis venerabile adora sheweth for in hys boks he playnly affirmeth Diui. Insti li. 2. ca. 1. cap. 9. Diui. Inst lib. 2 ca 19. that no maÌ„ ought to worship any thynge on the earth And further he sayth that whosoeuer wyll retaine the nature and condition of a man must seke God aloft in heaueÌ„ not in earth in hart not in workmaÌ„ship of hand His argumeÌ„t is this Si religio ex diuinis rebus est diuini auteÌ„ nihil est nisi in celestibus rebui careÌ„t ergo religione simulachra quia nihil potest esse caeleste in ea re quae fit ex terra If religioÌ„ coÌ„sist of holy things and there be nothing holy but in heauenly thynges then Images are voyde of religion bicause in that thyng which is made of the earth ther caÌ„ be nothing heauenly You wil grauÌ„t me now that a Roode is made of some earthly matter of stone or tymber TheÌ„ doth LactaÌ„tiê° repute it vnholy to haue no religioÌ„
with handes stretched out bicause they are harmelesse bare headed bycause we are not ashamed without any prompter bycause we pray from the hearte alwayes do make our supplications for all Princes and rulers beseching God to send them a long life a quiet raigne an housholde in safetie and valeaunt souldiours counsellers faythfull and people vertuous a merry world and whatsoeuer themselues wish for besyde These things I can not pray for of any but of whome I knowe I shall obtayne bycause he it is that only perfourmeth and I am he that must obtaine his seruaunt which honour and esteme him onely which offer vnto him a fat and full Sacrifice which he hath commaunded me a prayer that procéedeth from a sobre chaste flesh an innocent soule and from the holy ghost In which wordes Tertullian declareth the order of Gods seruice in his time which consisted not in outwarde shewes but inwarde veritie nor in their distresses they called vpon any as you doe in your Litanies saue onely vpon him that only can and will rewarde his Wherefore your Litanies of late deuised Papists superstitious and vvhy be most vnlawfull and notwithstanding your Crosses you be most superstitious Superstitiosi enim vocantur as Lactantius sayth non qui filios suos superstites optant omnes enim optamus sed aut hij qui superstitē memoriā defunctorum colunt aut qui parentibus suis superstitibus colebant Imagines eorum domi tanquam Deos penates Nam qui nouos sibi ritus assumebant Lactantius diuin inst Li. 4. Ca. 28. vt in deorum vicem mortuos honorarent quos ex hominibus in coelum receptos putabant hos superstitiosos vocabant For they are called superstitious not that desire their children to be long liued for so we doe all but eyther such as haue the memorie of the deade fresh with them and estéeme the same or such as hauing their parents aliue did worship their Images at home as their housholde Gods For they that toke new fashions vnto them to honour the dead in steade of the Goddes which men they supposed to haue bene receyued out of earth into heauen them did they call superstitious And forasmuch as you M. Martial your fellowes be such which so diligently retaine the memory of the deade which call vpon the deade and make your prayers to them Lactantius sayth you be not religious but superstitious As for the ensigne of our master Christe vvhich you say vve labour to haue out of the fielde Folio 97. a. bycause we knowe the fight of our aduersary is vncessant without any truce or intermission vntill this soule of ours doe vnbody we carry this ensigne alwayes wyth vs we neuer suffer it to depart from the walles of our heart but sleping and waking eating and drinking at Church and at home we haue it alwayes afore vs. And this is in dede the Crosse of Christ not caried on a staffe not set vpō an altar but fixed in our harts with a ioiful remēbrance of his merits for vs. Hoc enim vexillo antiquus hostis non Imaginibus victus est Car. Mag. de Imag. lib 2. Cap. 28. hijs armis non colorum fucis Diabolus expugnatus est per hanc non per picturas inferni claustra destituta sunt per hanc non per illas humanum genus redemptum est In Cruce namque non in Imaginibus pretium mundi pependit Illa ad seruile supplicium non quaedam Imago ministra extitit Hoc est nostri regis insigne non quaedam pictura quod nostri exercitus indesinenter aspiciunt legiones Hoc est Signū nostri Imperatoris non compaginatio colorum quod ad praelium nostri sequūtur cohortes For by this ensigne saith Charles the great not by Images our auncient enimy is ouercome The materiall no ensign of Christ By this artillarie not by any counterfets of coloures the Diuel is vanquished By this not by pictures the dongeons of hell are emptied By this and not by them mankinde is al redemed For the price of the world hanged on a crosse and not in Images The Crosse and not an Image was the matter of a seruile punishment This and not a picture is the ensigne of our king which the bandes of our army continually doe loke on This and not a tempering of certaine colours is the signe and banner of our Emperor and captaine which our hostes of men do follow to the warres By which relation of contraries it apeareth playnly what the Crosse is that we ought to reuerence and what Christes banner that we ought to dysplay Not the Image the signe and picture but the memoriall of his death and passion Wherefore he concludeth Non quaedā materialis Imago sed dominicae crucis mysteriū vexillum est quod in campo duelli vt fortius confligamus sequi debemus It is not any material Image but the mysterie of the Crosse of Christ the death it selfe which is our ensigne The true ensigne of Christ that in the fielde of our conflict we ought to followe to the end we may more manfully fight And thus you sée that all authority and reason condemns you There is nothing in Gods seruise that you myslike in vs but rather ought to be reputed prayse The reliques Folio 97. b. For Reliques of Anastasius brought in with procession which ye also do bring to proue the vse of a Crosse shewe that you stande in great néede of good proues when you can be contented with so slender aydes I nede no more to aunswere but that a superstitious instrumente was méetest to serue a superstious effecte Num. 19. We reade in the olde testament that who soeuer touched the deade corps of any man and purged not himselfe defiled the tabernacle of the Lord and should be cut of from Israell And shall in the new testament the rotten bones of a deade carcase make men the holier If all the Scripture be readde ouer and writings of the fathers for CCC yere after Christ we shal finde no commaundement or example in the world of reliques kept or bones translated We reade of Moses the seruaunt of the Lord that he dyed in the land of Moab and the Angell of the Lord buried him in a valley Iosue 34. but no man knoweth of his Sepulchre vnto thys day Which thing was of purpose by the prouidence of God appoynted so that the Iewes might haue no occasion thereby to commit Idolatry But if the translating of dead bones had made eyther for the glory of God or commoditie of man the reliques of such a one as Moses was shuld not haue bene hydden For doubtlesse of al Prophetes he was the greatest by the testimony of God hymselfe Num. 12. Who called hym faythfull in all hys house to whome he spake mouth to mouth and by vision and not in darke wordes yet was not hys body shryned nor hys bones caried in procession nor any