multis pauca Scripturae patrūque testimonia in hac definitione nostra parcentes sanè copiae ne in longum res protraheretur collocauimus Reliquis enim quae infinita sunt volētes supersedimus vt qui velint ipsi requirant Ex his igitur a Deo in spiratis scripturis beatorum patrum sententijs stabiliti super petram cultus diuini in spiritu pedes confirmantes in nomine sanctae supersubstātialis viuificantis Trinitatis vnanimes eiusdem sententiae nos qui sacerdotij dignitate succincti sumus simul existentes vna voce definimus omnem imaginem ex quacunque materia improba Pictorū arte factam ab Ecclesia Christianorū reijciendam veluti alienā abominabilē Nemo hominū qualiscunque tandē fuerit tale institutum impiū impurum posthac sectetur Qui vero ab hoc die Imaginem ausus fuerit sibi parare aut adorare aut in Ecclesia aut in priuata domo constituere aut clam habere si Episcopus fuerit aut Diaconus deponitor si vero solitarius aut laicus anathemate percellitor imperialibúsque constitutionibus subijcitor vt qui diuinis decretis impugnet dogmata non obseruet The English of which words is this The wicked calling of Images by a false name neither had his beginning by tradition from Christ nor of his Apostles or yet the auncient fathers neither had it any holye prayer where through to be sanctified but it remayneth prophane euen as it is wrought and finished of the Paynter But if certaine deliuered of that errour affirme that we haue Godlily and vprightly said in throwing downe the Image of Christ bicause of the inseparable and inconfusible substaunce of two natures ioyned in one person Yet notwithstanding some occasion of doubt remayneth in them as touching the Images of the virgin most glorious and vndefiled the mother of God of the Prophetes Apostles and Martirs seing that they be only men and no more neyther doe consist of two natures that is to say the diuine and humaine ioyned in one person as before we haue signified to be in Christ and the contrary therof practised in his Images There groweth in déede some matter of doubt as touching the Images of the most glorious and vndefiled mother of God of the Prophets Apostles Martirs seing that they were only men and not framed of two natures what they be able to say to any purpose with reason vnto these The former argumēt ouerthrowen certaynly they haue nothing at all in this case to say But what say we to ouerthrowing Images For as much as oure catholike Church being a meane betwene the Iudaisme and Gentilitie hath receyued neyther of the maner of sacrifices accustomed to thē but hath entred into a newe way and order of Godlinesse and mysticall constitution giuen and deliuered of God for it doth in no wise admit the bloudy sacrifice and burnt offrings of the Iewes it doth vtterly abhorre not only al Idolatry in sacrificing but also multitude of ymages of Gentility for this was the head first most abhominable deuiser of this arte which hauing no hope of resurrection inuented a toy worthy it self wherby alwayes the absent might be shewed as present therefore synce this practise smelleth not of any noueltie doubtlesse let it be remoued most farre of from the Church of Christ as a strange and forren deuise of men possessed with the Diuell Let the tongs then of al such surcesse which spewe forth wicked blasphemous things to the derogation of this our iudgement decrée most acceptable to god As for the holy men who pleased God which were honored by him with the dignity of holynesse although that they be departed hence yet that deade and hatefull practise shal neuer make them agayne alyue But whosoeuer poysoned with the error of the heathen shall attempt to sette vp Images to them he shall be adiudged as one that hath committed blasphemie And how dare the rascall occupation of Gentiles presume to paynt that most prayseworthy mother of God whome the fulnesse of the Godheade hath ouershadowed through whome hath shone vpon vs that lighte which can not be come vnto that mother I say higher than the Heauens holier than the Cherubins Againe why feare they not I say according to the arte of Ethnicks to counterfet them which shall raygne with Christ shall syt on seates wyth him to iudge the world conformed vnto him in glory of whome the world was vnworthy as the Godly miracles affirme Verily it is not lawful for Christians which belieue the resurrectiō to vse the order of worshipping of diuels Neyther yet doth it beseme by vile and deade kinde of matter to reproch them the which shal shine in so great passing glory As for vs we vse not to receyue of strangers demonstrations of our fayth neyther yet in Diuels to require testimony Furthermore our sentence searched and discussed both out of the scripture enspired frō aboue out of the effectuall testimonies of piked fathers agreing with vs and affirming our good intent we wyl exhibite in thys case our resolute determination which he shall not be able to gaynesay which laboreth to call these things in question As for him that is ignorant let him learne and be instructed that these things are takē out of the word of God Fyrst we place before the rest this sentence of gods voice saying God is a spirite whosoeuer wil worship God in spirite and truth let him worship And agayne No man at any time saw God neyther haue ye heard his voyce or séene his shape Blessed are those which haue not sene and yet belieued And in the olde Testament he sayd to Moses and the people Thou shalt not make to thy self any grauen Image neyther the likenesse of any thing in Heauen aboue or in the earth beneath For the which cause you hearde the voyce of his wordes in the mountayne in the middest of fyre but his shape ye saw not but onely heard his voyce And They haue chaunged the glory of the immortall God by an Image framed after the shape of a mortall man and they haue honored and worshipped the things which are created aboue him which hath created And againe For yf we haue knowen Christ according to the fleshe now we knowe hym not For we walke by faith and not by the outward appearance And this also which is moste plainlie spoken of the Apostle Therefore fayth commeth of hearing but hearing commeth by the worde of God For if we haue knowen Christ according to the fleshe nowe we knowe him not For we walke by fayth and not by outwarde appearaunce The very selfe same things our Godly Fathers the schollers and successours of the Apostles doe teache vs. For Epiphanius of Cypres most famous amongst the foremost thus sayth Take héede vnto your selues that ye kéepe the traditions which ye haue receyued Sée ye leane not neyther to the ryght hand nor to the
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
dare and vvil ioyn issue vvith you Let the doctrine of the receyued fathers for you make fathers of friers legēd lies lavves decise the cōtrouersy that is betvvixt vs. If I bring not more soūd antiquitie to cōfirme my truth than you cā auouch for maintenance of your error If the self same fathers direct me not in the right vvay vvhich you misconster for the crosse vvay Let our Theodosia deale as she lusteth vvith me the shame to be mine Othervvise if it be Gods vvill the amendment to be yours Amen THE PREFACE to the Readers IF neyther experience of elder age nor present authoritie of Scripture were to put vs in minde of the sleyghtes of Sathan howe he continuallie doth bend his force against the forte of our afflicted soules yet the subtile conspiracies of these yonger dayes the practise of the Papist that Martials now the Diuels hoste and marcheth forward with a forged Ensigne appearing outwardly to be the frend of Christ whose fayth religion he vtterly subuerteth may serue as a warning piece out of the watch tower to make vs runne to the walles of fayth betaking our selues eche man to his defence in the certaine truth of Gods eternal testamēt For if the groundwork be shaken once whervpon we builde our health and saluation which is the affiaunce in Christ our God and credite to his worde then enters our ennimy with banner displayed and beateth vs downe to the pit of damnation Wherefore he séeking to supplant Christ and pul our hearts from seruice of him cōpasseth by al meanes to winne him selfe some credite with vs and the knowledge of God reuealed in his worde by a little and a little to be taken frō vs. But he hath of him selfe to ill a name to be estéemed so and therefore vnder viser of that that he is not he winnes men to yelde to that that they should not He becommeth therefore in all his workes an Ape of God to imitate and resemble after his hellish maner to the vtter ouerthrowe and destruction of our soules that which our heauenly father hath prouided for our health saluation and blysse Herein hath he handled himself so workmanly that he lokes very narrowly that can discerne the difference Yea the eyes of his heart must be better cleared than by the light of reason or else he shal be blinded in the myst We sée that euen from the beginning after Gods spirit had moued Abell and the holy Patriarks to offer sacrifice vnto him that should be figures all of that one sacrifice which Christ according to the prefixed pleasure of the eterne Deitie should at his time on the Crosse perfourme The Diuel in worshipping of his Idols did come so néere the same that the self same did séeme to be doone in both Yea generally in all the superstitions and detestable rytes of the heathen folke he toke his paterne out of the ordinaunce of the Hebrewes and maners of the Christians Which thing Tertulian among the Latin writers the most auncient and chiefe right well declareth De Prescriptionibus ad uers Heret Ipsas quoque res Sacramentorum diuinorum in Idolorum mysterijs emulatur c. Yea the very matter and substance of the diuine Sacraments he counterfeyts in his Idol seruice He hath his baptisme whereby such as do beleue in him haue forgiuenesse promised them He marketh his men with signes in the forehead he hath his offrings his sacrificers his virgins and his votaries That if we loke on the supersticiōs of Numa Pompilius the badges the priuileges the offices of his priestes the vessels the ceremonies the furniture of his sacrifices we shal sée how the Diuell Morositatem illam as Tertullian termeth it Iudeae gentis imitatus est did imitate the fansies and selfe wilnesse of the Iewes As Moses went vp into the mount Syna and there receyued the Law tables whereof the author God him self should be So Minos afterward among the Grecians hyding him selfe a while in Iupiters caue came forth at length and gaue them lawes from mighty Ioue as he pretended And to the ende the people might the more be bounde in obedience the lyke practise had the Romaine King of whom I spake before saying that in the night time he had secrete conference with Aegeria and she deliuered him such holesome lawes as the mighty Gods had decréed on Whereby what other thing was attempted of the Diuell but that all credite should be denied to Moses in asmuch as Minos and Numa to did alleage the like authoritie for themselues yet it was euident they were but fables Will ye go to the circūstances of place and persons Then as God ordayned his seruice to be had first in the tabernacle then in the temple at Hierusalem so would the Diuell haue his hilles and groues As God did raise vp his holy men and Prophetes that being inspired with the holy Ghost might declare his will and by force of miracles winne the more credite So hath the Diuell his coniurers his witches his figure flingers and his sorcerers with the spirite of illusion to worke straunge effectes As we haue a place of eternall rest so haue they their heauen Elisios campos et amaena vireta fortunatorum nemorum the swéete pleasant Paradise and places of good hap As we haue hell euen so haue they that if we preach the blessednesse of the faythful by the merits and mercies of Christ our Sauiour then step the godlesse out take it as a tale of the Poets Paradise If we threaten vengeance to the misbeleuers and extreme torment of hell fier the Diuels limmes laugh vs to scorne againe and doe resemble it to Plato his Purgatorie or to the scalding of Pyriphlegeton a riuer so deuised by the heathen folke to burne in hell wyth flames vnquenchable Such sleights hath Sathan to put vs in securitie of any further payne to pull vs from the hope of perfecter estate that here we may liue as the Diuell would haue vs in the ende to receiue as the Diuel can rewarde vs. And he hath not wanted his instrumentes of olde He hath made himself ministers from time to time that in the worlds eye were most worthy reuerence and likelier than the rest to compasse his desire Among them all to the Diuels behoofe neuer so faythfull seruaunts to the destruction of the people neuer so pestilent instruments as the Papists are for what haue they not done to the vtter subuersion of al true religiō As Christ cōmaunded the beleuers in his name to be baptised So they in the Diuels name haue baptised Bels with the same ceremonies solēnities that they would vse in Infants christening saue that the Diuel would haue in his sacramēt a certaine more Maiesty than God in his Therfore the Papistes by the spirite of the Diuel ordained that a byshop must needes christen a Bell where as euery poore priest may christē a childe And bycause that through water consecrated by the word of
left Vnto which he addeth these words Remembre deare children that ye bring no Images into the Church neyther place them in the sléeping places of the sainctes but sée that continually ye earye aboute in your heart the Lorde Neyther yet let them be suffered in a common house For it is not lawefull for a Christian to be holden in suspense by his eyes but by the contemplation of his minde The same father also in many other of hys sermons hath declared many things touching the ouerthrow of Images which the studious séeking for shall easely finde Likewyse also Gregorie the diuine saith in his verses It is a thing most abhominable to beleue in colours and not in heart For that which is in colours is easyly washed away but suche thinges as are in the depth of the minde those lyke I well Iohn Chrisostome also teacheth thus we through writing enioye the presence of the Sainctes although that we haue not the Images of their bodyes but of their soules for those things which are spoken by them are Images of theire soules Basilius also the great saith that the chiefest thing seruing to the outfinding of truthe is the meditation of the Scriptures giuen vnto vs by diuine inspiration For in these not onely arguments of things are founde but also the written liues of holy men are printed vnto vs as certaine liuely Images and that through the polityke imitation of their workes according to God Also Athanasius the light of Alexandria sayde howe are they not to be lamented which worship creatures that those that sée yeld seruice to those which are blind those that heare do pray and besech those which are altogether deafe For the creature shall neuer be saued of a creature Lykewise Amphilochius byshop of Iconium thus sayth We accompt it a matter of no estimation to counterfet in tables wyth colours the bodyly countenaunces of the Sainctes bycause that of these we haue no nede But we ought rather to be mindefull of the pollicy of their vertues Agreable also herevnto doth Theodorê° bishop of Ancyra teach in these wordes We iudge it nothing séemely at all to make the formes and shapes of holy men wyth materiall coloures but it is requisit that we often repayre make fresh their vertues which by writings are deliuered vnto vs euen as though it were certayne lyuely Images For by these we may come to the zelous following of the like Let those tell vs which set vp the same Images what profyte they haue by them whether they haue any kinde of remembrance by such special kinde of beholding them But it is most apparaÌ„t that euery such thought is vayne and an inuention of diuelish deceyt Likewise also Eusebius Pamphili signified after this sort to Constantia the Empresse crauing of him to sende the Image of Christ vnto hir For as much as ye haue wrytten to me of the Image of Christ that I should send it vnto you I would you shoulde shewe me what thing you thinke the Image of Christ to be whether that same true and vnchaungeable creature bearing the markes of the deitie or that which he assumpted for oure sakes taking on him the shape of a seruaunte But as touching the picture of the deitie I iudge ye be not very carefull in asmuch as ye haue bene taught of him that none hath knowen the Father but the Sonne and that none hath worthyly knowen the Sonne but the Father which begatte him And after other thinges but ye altogether desire the Image of the seruauntes shape and of the flesh which he toke on him for our sake but we haue learned that this is coupled with the glory of the Godheade and that the same suffred dyed And a little after Who can therfore counterfet by dead insensible colours by vayne shadowing Paynters arte the bright shining glistering of such hys glory whereas his holy disciples were not able to beholde the same in the mountayne Who therefore falling on their faces acknowledged they were not able to beholde such a syght If therefore the shape of fleshe receyued suche power of the Godhead dwelling within the same what shall we then say when as it hath now putte of mortalitie washing away corruption and hath chaunged the shape of a seruaunt into the glory of the Lorde and God What shall we say now after hys victorie ouer death after his ascending into heauen after his sytting in the kingly throne on the right hande of his Father after reste in the not vtterable secretes of the Father into the which he ascending and sytting the heauenly powers those blessed ones wyth voyces together do crye Ye Princes lyft vp your gates ye heauenly gates be ye opened and the King of glorie shall enter in These fewe testimonies therefore of Scriptures and Fathers out of many we haue placed here in this our determination auoyding in déede multitude least the matter should be too prolixe and abstayning of purpose from the residue which be infinite that those which luste may themselues séeke them Being therefore throughly persuaded by these Scriptures inspired from God and by the iudgementes of the blessed Fathers staying our féete vpon the rocke of the worshippe of God in spirite we which are girded wyth the dignitie of the priesthode being of one minde and iudgement assembled together in one place doe wyth one voyce determine in the name of the holy supersubstantiall and quickning Trinitie that euery Image made by Paynters wicked arte of any kinde of matter is to be remoued forth of the Church of Christians as that which is straunge and abhominable Let no man froÌ„ this time forward of what state soeuer he be followe any such kinde of wicked vncleane custome Whosoeuer therfore froÌ„ this day forward shall presume to prepare for himself any image or to worship it either to set it in a Church or in any priuate house or else to kepe it secretely if he be a Byshoppe or a Deacon let him be deposed but if he be a priuate person or of the laye fée lette him be accursed and subiecte to the Emperiall decrées as one which withstandeth the commaundementes of God and kepeth not his doctrine Wherevpon the Councels determination so farre as concerneth this case ensueth thus Si quis non confessus fuerit Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum post assumptionem animatae rationalis intellectualis carnis simul sedere cum Deo patre atque ita quoque rursus venturum cum paterna maiestate iudicaturum viuos mortuos non amplius quidem carnem neque in corporeum tamen vt videatur ab ijs à quibus compunctus est maneat Deus extra crassitudinem carnis anathema Si quis diuinam Dei verbi secundum incarnationem figuram materialibus coloribus studuerit effigiare non ex toto corde oculis intellectualibus ipsum sedentem à dextris patris super solis splendorem lucentem in throno gloriae adorare anathema Si quis
garmente and layde it vpon his eyes The place is the .xxxvij. of Genesis where only we read that the sonnes of Iacob brought vnto their father Ioseph his party coloured coate sayd this haue we founde sée nowe whether it be thy sonnes coate or no. Then he knewe it and sayde It is my sonnes coate A wicked beast hath deuoured him Ioseph is surely torne in pieces And Iacob rent his clothes and put sacke cloth about his loynes and sorrowed for his sonne a long seasoÌ„ Where is the kissing of the coate laying it on his eyes But if kyssing had bene there what is that to worshipping But to kysse and to worship is all one with them They worshippe where they kysse let them kysse where they worshippe not Another worthy father of that sacred assemblie bycause he would haue a freshe deuise coyned out of hande another piece of Scripture saying Car. Mag. de Imag. Li. 1. ca. 13. Iacob summitatem virgae Ioseph adorauit Iacob worshipped the top of Iosephs rod. Therefore we may worshippe the picture of Christ Let me aske of his fatherhode where he fyndeth the place Let him put on his spectacles and poare on his Portasse If this be lawful that euery noddy that commeth to a Synode may chop and chaunge the word of God as he will what nede we to care for Moses writing or Esdras restoring or Septuagints translating or the Apostles handeling of the Scripture The great vertue profound knowledge of those Synodicall men may serue and suffise vs. And to prosecute the cause of Iacob another ryseth vp and puts in his verdite saying Benedixit Iacob Pharaonem Car. Mag. Li. 1. Cap. 14. sed non vt Deum benedixit adoramus nos Imaginem sed non vt Deum adoramus Iacob blessed Pharao but he blessed him not as God We worship an Image but we worship it not as God This man had wit without al reason he compared the blessing that the holy Patriark gaue vnto the king the bounden man to the well doseruer the subiect to the superior vnto the worshippe of a senslesse Image that standeth in the wall doth no more good But another brought in a sounder proufe and framed his argument after this sorte Cap. 15. Impitiatorium duos Cherubin aureos ariam testamenti iussi Dei Moses secit Ergo licet sacere et adorare Imagine Moses by the coÌ„maundement of God made the propitiatorie the two golden Cherubins and the arke of wytnesse Therefore it is lawfull to make and worship Images This fellowe began in good diuinitie but ended in foolish sophistry For in the conclusion he put more than was in the premisses Moses made this and that Therefore we may both make worship Where doth he reade that they were worshipped Yea how can those examples be applied vnto Images since they be set in the face of the people only to this ende to be gazed on but the arke of witnesse with the furniture therof was in the oracle of the house in the most holy place couered that it might not be séene without Num. 4. 2. Par. 5. Agayne the Cherubins were but a peculier ordinance of God and therefore could not preiudice an vniuersall lawe But to procéede it is written in the law say they Ecce vocaui ex nomine Beseleel filij Vr filij Hor de tribu Iuda repleui eum spiritu sapientiae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 16. Exod. 31. intelligentiae ad perficienduÌ„ opus ex auro argento Ergo licet adorare Imagines I haue called by name Bezaliell the sonne of Vri the sonne of Hur of the tribe of Iuda whome I haue fylled wyth the spirit of God in wisedome in vnderstanding and in knowledge and in al workmaÌ„ship to finde out curious works to make in gold siluer therfore it is lawfull to worship Images A reason as if it had bene of your making M. Martiall Ab ignoratione Elenchi Therefore the Synode aunswered that it was not onely an extreme folly but a mere madnesse to apply the figures of the olde lawe which onely were made as God deuised and had a secrete meaning in them to the Images of our time which euery caruer goldsmyth painter make as their fansy leadeth them to an ill example and to no good vse in the world But what shuld I stand in exaggerating of their folly I will truely reporte the reasons of the one parte and abridge what I can the aunsweres of the other Sicut Israeliticus populus serpentis aenei inspectione seruatus est Iconolatra Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 18. Sic nos sanctorum effigies inspicientes saluabimur As the people of Israel was preserued by the loking on the brasen serpent So we shall be saued by loking on the Images of Sainctes ê™ the Image worshippers The Aunsvvere They that repose their hope in Images Iconomachi Rom. 8. are condemned by the Apostle ê™ the fathers of Franckforde Councel Spes quae videtur non est spes That hope which is séene is no hope Furthermore the brasen serpent was not commaunded to be worshipped therefore the worshipping of an Image is falsly inferred of it Thirdely the brasen serpent was commauÌ„ded of God But no piece of Scripture doth beare with Images The Reason Si secundum Mosis traditionem praecipitur populo Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Lib. 1. Ca. 17. purpura hyacinthina in fimbrijs in extremis vestimentis poni ad memoriaÌ„ custodiam praeceptorum multo magis nobis est per adsimulatam picturam sanctorum virorum videre exitum conuersationis eorum eorum imitari fidem secundum Apostolicam traditionem Which worde for worde in english is thus If according to Moses tradition a purple violet be commauÌ„ded to the people to be put in their purfles and skirtes of their garments for a memory and keping of the commaundements much more must we by the counterfet picture of holy men sée the ende of their conuersation and imitate their fayth according to the tradion Apostolique The Aunsvvere Iconomachi Eche part of this argument consists of vntruthes First by corrupting the Scripture in calling it a purple violet whereas purple is one colour and violet another Then by comparing things vnlike together wearing of a garment and worshipping of an Image Thirdely in alleaging a most vntruth of al that the conuersation of holy men is sene in an Image For fayth hope and charitie which be the chiefe vertues of Sainctes are thinges inuisible But Images and pictures are visible As for imitation what it ought to be 1. Cor. 4. the Apostle sheweth vs saying Imitatores mei estote sicut filij charissimi Be ye followers of me as most deare children 1. Cor. 11. And in another place Imitator s mei estote sicut ego Christi Be ye followers of me euen as I am of Christ Whereby it appeareth that the tradition of the Apostles is to behold the godly
aduersarie I will shewe what fathers and doctors of the Church Hireneis chaplens brought forth for thē First of all Augustine Who sayth Quid est Imago Dei Iconolatrae nisi vultus Dei in quo signatus est populus Dei What is the Image of God but the countenance of God in which the people of God is sealed Therefore Images are to be worshipped The Aunsvvere The Image of God is Christ his sōne Iconomachi according to Paul Qui est Imago Dei inuisibilis Which is the Image of the inuisible God And to apply that to a stocke or a stone which is peculiar vnto Christ is horrible Nor Augustines meaning was so but as it is euidente by his owne wordes Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Ca. 16 he speaking of Christ whome he calleth the Image and countenance of the father sayth that in him we be sealed Qui dedit pignus spiritus in cordibus nostris Which gaue the pledge of his spirite in our heartes whereby we are sealed into the right of his children against the day of redemption Then brought they forth an authoritie out of Gregorius Nyssenus to which the Synode answered Car. Mag. Lib. 2. Ca. 17 that in asmuch as his life and doctrine was vnknowen to them Car. Mag. Li. 2. cap. 17. they could not admitte his testimony for approuing of a thing in controuersie Car. Mag. Li. 2. cap. 20. They alleaged also Cyrill vppon Iohn but corrupting his sentence deprauing his sense that as the wordes were brought vnto them it was as hard to pick out construction as to finde a pynnes head in a cart loade of hey Car. Mag. Li. 3. cap. 20. Lykewise they dealt with Chrisostome alleaging that he shoulde say Vidi Angelum in Imagine I sawe an Angell in an Image Wherto was aunswered that it was nothing likely bycause Angels are inuisible Car. Mag. Li. 2. cap. 15. Nor otherwise with Ambrose Nam ipsius sententiam ordine sensu verbisque turbarunt For they troubled his sentēce both in the order the sense and the words Nor this is my priuate opinion The whole Counsell affirmed it so And the actes are euident to proue no lesse Car. Mag. Li. 2. cap. 13. As for the example that they brought of Siluester how he presented the Images of the Apostles to Constantinus it maketh nothing for them He shewed him peraduenture pictures to loke vpon no Images to adore Car. Mag. Li. 3. cap 31. But I must not forget how they brought an example of a certayne Abbot which made an othe to the Diuel that he would not worship the picture of Christ or of his mother But afterwarde he brake his othe saying that it was better for him to haunt all the Brothel houses in the city than to abstayne from worshipping of Images I nede not to rehearse the Counsels answere to it There is no such babe but seeth their heastlinesse Only their greatest reason that doth remayne is this The Reason Iconolatrae Car. Mag. Li. 4. cap. 25. Epiphanius discoursing vpon all the sectes of heretiques doth not accoumpte them for any that worshippe Images Therfore it is no heresie to worship Images The Aunsvvere Epiphanius discoursing vpon al the sectes of heretiques doth not accoumpte them for any that condemne Images Therfore it is no heresie to condemne Images But that the same Epiphanius did not only mislike with worshipping of Images but also with the hauing of thē shal appeare hereafter It suffiseth now that I haue set forth to you the best part of the actes of the noble Coūsel ye sée the learned reasons that they made the depe and profoūd iudgements the pyth the strength the marowbones of their matter wherwyth they dyd so begrease themselues that now they shine so glorious in your eyes If men had deuised matter to mocke them wythall I suppose they could not haue found any so absurde as they brought with them Yet these be they that represented the state of the vniuersal Church These be they that could not erre These be they that you onely depend on These be the thrée hundreth and fyfty byshops that condemned the thrée hundreth and eyght and thyrty that were before assembled at Constantinople These be the Iudges that gaue sentence agaynst the Counsell gathered in Spayne These be the worthy pillers that beare vp the Crosse Images And if a man considered by what spirite they were led when they came to Nice he neded not to maruel at the strange horrible successe of their doings For who then bare the sway Who did assēble them but that Athalia that Iesabel Irene which was so bewitched with superstition that al order al honesty al law of nature brokē she cared not what she did so she might haue hir Mawmots She burned hir fathers bones She murthered hir owne sonne She peruerted by violence al order of lawful Counsel that she might goe a whoring with hir Idols styll When Constantine the fift father to hir husbande Leo by mariage of whome she moste vnworthy came to hir estate had lien dead buried a good while in his graue she digged him vp she shewed hir crueltie on his carcase she cast his bones into the fier caused his ashes to be throwen into the sea This did the good daughter the defender of Images bycause hir father when as yet he liued had broken them in pieces affirming simplicity rather than sumpteousnesse to be moste sitting for the Church of Christ Thus raged she during the none age of Constantine hir sonne and made the palace of Constantinople a sinke of sectaries a follower of deformed Rome But when the Emperor himselfe hir sonne grew to discretion he trode in his fathers and grandfathers steps and did so much mislyke with his mothers Mawmetry that he began to brydle hir insolent affection he toke the sweard out of hir mad handes and threwe downe the monumentes of superstition which she with such diligence and coste had erected Wherevpon the malice of hir wicked breast was so incensed that she spared not to set on fier hir owne house to conspire the death of hir owne childe only to maintaine hir Images in the Church Therefore she not onely forgate hir duety to hir Prince hir loue to hir sonne but she ioyned with a sorte of cut throtes she vtterly cast of the nature and condition of a woman she became more sauage than a wild beast For beside that she craftely betrayed the Emperour she trayterously bereued him of his inheritance the crowne she most vnwomanly scratched out the eyes of the same hir owne sonne she most abhominably caste him into pryson most detestably at length she murthered him Thus was the liuing for the deade the Prince for a puppet the naturall childe destroyed for the naked vnnaturall vse of Imagry And to declare the wrath of God iustly deserued for this execrable facte Eutropius reporteth thus Obtenebratus est sol per dies septemdecim non
holy ghost that in baptisme hath giuen fulnesse to innocencye in confirmation performeth increase to grace But let thē shewe me what warrant of God hys worde they haue for thys what promise of God is sealed in vs by this their new founde Sacrament Is Christianitie now to be fet oute of popery Is the truth of God contayned in the Scriptures insufficient to informe vs Is there no full Christiā vnlesse he be annointed Alas where are so many Apostles so many martyrs become that neuer wer annoynted Is baptisme insufficient wtout cōfirmatiō Is baptisme auaileable as the decrée hath only for them that should dye straight confirmation for them that shuld lyue longer Doth baptisme only regenerate vs to lyfe but confirmation furnishe vs vnto the fyght what is it thē the Paul hath We are buried with Christ by baptisme into hys death that lyke as Christ was raysed vp frō the dead by the glory of the father Rom. 6. so we also should walke in newnesse of lyfe Thys partaking of death and lyfe with Christ is nothing els but the mortifiing of our own flesh the quickening of the spirit in that the olde man is crucified Mar. 7. and we may walke in newnesse of lyfe But by this their deuise they take away halfe the effect of baptisme reiecting therein the commaūdemēt of God to establish their own tradition Wherfore I wil reasō with you as Christ did with the Pharises Mat. 21. Is the confirmation which you call a Sacrament ordained to be so from heauen Mat. 21. or of men If it be of men it is no Sacrament If it be of God then shew the worde Ye haue the example of the Apostles in the. cha 8. and .19 of the Actes Folio 54 a. Actes 8. But no exāple suffiseth for a Sacramēt The Apostles thēselues vsurped not so much But sée how well ye folow the example When the Apostles which were at Hierusalem heard say that Samaria had receaued the worde of God they sēt vnto them Peter and Iohn which when they were come down prayed for them that they myght receyue the holy ghost For as yet he was come down on none of them but they were baptised only in the name of the Lorde Iesus Then layd they their handes on them and they receyued the holy ghost Now are ye ignoraunt what here is ment by the holy ghost I wyl tel you The gift to speake in diuerse languages to worke miracles and other particuler graces of the holy spirite And although they had receyued the common grace of adoption regeneration through baptisme yet had they not these other qualities which in the beginning of the Church were graunted and now be denyed So that laying on of handes serued to good vse then when it pleased God at instance of the Apostles praiers to conferre the visible graces of hys spirite but now that there is no such ministery in the Church now that miracles be ceassed to what ende should we haue thys imposition of handes the signe without the thyng If a mā should now a dayes prostrate hymselfe vpon the bodyes of the dead bicause Helias and Paul vsed thys ceremony in raysing of their dead should he not be thought preposterously to doe So that it might well be a kynde of Sacramēt in the Apostles tyme but the cause ceassing what should the signe continue Yet ye content not your selues with the Apostles order ye wyll as I sayd before haue somewhat of your owne For neyther Peter nor Iohn annoynted the Samaritanes but you do besmere whomsoeuer you lay handes on Folio 54. a. Ye cal it Chrisma salutis the Chrisme of saluation But whosoeuer seketh saluation in the Chrismatory shal be sure to lose it in Christ Oyle for the belly and the belly for oyle but the Lord shall destroy both the one and the other Good Lorde what beast but a papist what papist but a diuell durst presume to say that saluation should be fet out of an oyle box The Apostle calleth vs from impotēt and beggerly things Gala. 4. Colos 2. and if we be dead with Christ he sayth we must not be burdened with traditions Wherfore ye take the matter all amisse that by the dooinges of S. Peter and S. Iohn in Samaria or els by the fact of S. Paul at Ephesus Act. 19. do grounde your Sacramente of Confirmation One reason ye haue heard Bicause the Ceremony of laying on of handes serued for particular graces whiche were but temporall and therfore now the thyng abolished the signe should not remayne An other I wyll bryng you The Apostles layed their handes but only vpon certayne persons euen such as the gyftes aforesayd were bestowed on Confirmation is extended vnto al gracious and gracelesse come who wil none is denyed it Who gaue you authoritie where is your commission to bestowe the indifferently vpon all persons which the Apostles gaue but vnto fewe In dede if it be so necessary to saluation as ye make it I can not greatly blame you But thē on the other side blame you I must that you are so negligent in bestowing it For this is your doctrine that without confirmatiō there can be no perfect Christian And I besech you how many be suffered to dye vnconfirmed vnlesse the bishop chaūce to passe by which is once peraduenture in seauen yeare all they that departe in the meane season are Iewes belyke or in state of damnation And can your charities suffer without remorse of conscience so many semi christians to passe you Thus euery way you cōfute your selues For if your Sacramēt of Confirmation Folio 55. a. be as you say such an oyntment vvith vvhose most holy perfection the gyft and grace of baptisme is made perfect If it be an oyntment altogether holy and diuine the perfection it selfe and sanctification the beginning the substance the perfecting vertue of al holinesse giuen vs from heauen Then are you wycked persons that take no order that the moe may haue it But if there be no such vertue in it then do ye lye the more Agayne yet further to note your absurditie Your decrée in case of Confirmation De consecr Dist 5. cap. Manus quoque is thys Manus quoque impositionis sacramentum magna veneratione tenendum est quod ab alijs perfici non potuit nisi a summis sacerdotibus nec tempore Apostolorum ab alijs quam ab ipsis Apostolis legitur aut scitur peractū esse nec ab alijs quam qui eorum tenent locum cuiquam perfici potest aut fieri debet Nam si aliter praesumptum fuerit irritum habeatur vacuum The Sacramente of laying on of handes must be helde with great worship which can not be made of any but only of the hye priestes nor it is red or knowen that in the Apostles tyme it was ministred by any but onely by themselues nor it can or ought to be done of any saue only such
as they bring their warrant for them God forbyd in dede but we should admit them If we established our traditions and destroyed theirs If we deuised a worship of our own despised theirs we wer to be blamed But when in respecte of Gods commaundement which no man ought on peril of his life transgresse we reiecte a custome and deuise of man we are not to bée burdened with pride or singularitie Folio 80. Your selues thinke it laweful to alter and innouate at your owne pleasures all traditions and ceremonies of elder time As taking away mylke and hony from Christenings contrary to Tertullian and denying infants the supper of the Lorde contrary to Augustine with an hundred moe that I could rehearse And wherewithall doe you supply them with your owne fansies your owne follies Yet you neyther discredite nor disauthorize the fathers We if we stande not to euery iote that any one of the fathers heretofore hath written and hath pleased the Pope of his power absolute to admit are compted heretiques schismatiques such as haue separated our selues from the Church In dede we professe a separation from you as our Apologie doth witnesse Folio 81. Apologie of the church of England and shewe good reason why Therein your finenesse doth cal vs patchers I wys all the packe of you hath not cloth in your shoppes to make the like But separating our selues from you the enimies of God and of his truth we ioyne as we ought with the church of Christ For what is the vnitie Vnitie of Papistes that you appoynt vs The humble obedience of the Church of Rome whome you wil haue to be the mother Church whō you doe call the boosome and the lappe that all men ought to runne vnto which will be numbred among Gods children You with this vnitie content your selues seking rather your selues ouer Christ than Christ ouer the flock to raigne compassing rather how your selues may dayntily liue in this world than howe the members of the Church may be brought to heauen But we must appoynte suche kinde of vnity Vnitie of Christiās as must not depend vpon one particular or priuate Church be it eyther of Antioch or of Hierusalem or of Rome it selfe but vpon the catholique and vniuersall Church which was not onely before Rome in antiquitie but shall continue when Rome is gone This muste we search out of the scriptures Rom. 12. Vnū corpus multi sumus in Christo sayth the Apostle We being many are one body in Christ Christ is the head and we be the members Howe doe the members and the head agrée With one flesh one bloud one spirite and one life As Christ is in the father and the father in Christ so we al by Christ are one in God If one spirite rule vs we must all thinke one thing If we be all one body we must not hate our owne fleshe As brotherly loue and charitie is necessary for vs to declare by the same that we be Christs disciples as peace quietnesse among vs all is a thing most expedient as a bande to knyt vs in the vnitie of the spirite so they which are thus vnited vnto Christ must not only be quickned with the same spirit but be cōforted maintained with the same fayth hope Wherfore if you wil haue vs to continue the vnity of your church with you then make it first a catholike Church of a sink of Idolatry a follower and furtherer of true religion It is not by by the vnitie of the church which coms vnder colour name of it Hierome a doctor of the Church writeth Sub rege Constantio Contra Luciferianos Eusebio Hippatio Consulibus nomine vnitatis et fidei infidelitas scripta est In the time of Constance the king Eusebius Hippatius being Consuls vnder the name of vnitie and fayth infidelity was written And such an vnitie do you deliuer vs not you alone I meane but all the rable of popish heretiques with you as consisteth of Idolatry false worshippings simony with a corrupt body and a coūterfet head euen Antichrist himself You say that the vnity of the church doth hang vpon obseruance of ceremonies olde rites customes We say that it standeth vpon fayth and spirite Ephesi 4. Which are the truer in this behalfe S. Paul byddeth vs to be carefull to kepe the vnitie of the spirit til we méete together in the vnitie of fayth Augustine intreating of the Sabboth fast Epist. 86. sayth Interminabilis est ista contentio generans lites nunquam fiaiens quaestiones This contention is endelesse stil ingendring strife neuer ceassing from doubtes And what I besech you do you that bragge of your vnitie dissent from all antiquitie not agrée with your selues contende about trifles damne the true fayth derogate all from Christes death and his passion and giuing it to your owne frée will and works The works that you cōmaunde be your owne deuises The works that God commaundes you haue nothing to doe withall Breake Gods cōmaundement and it is no matter Breake yours we dye for it It is a wonder how bolde you will be to pronounce heretiques to serue your turne Euseb ecclesiast hist. Lib. 5. Victor Bishop of Rome woulde excommunicate and condemne of heresie all the churches of Asia bicause they did kepe their Easter Quartadecima luna primi mensis when the Iewes swete bread is eaten not at the time that he kept it at Rome A sore point I promise you But you condemne vs of heresy for preaching of the Gospel against the traditions and precepts of men If they from whose ordinances we do depart had eyther thought their traditions necessary or shewed scripture wherevpon they grounded them we would not presume to withstande their authoritie or gaynesay their good reason But when they deliuer them as thinges indifferent and plainly professe that they haue no worde of the Lorde for them a hope of commoditie may cause vs to retayne them but an apparant mischief must driue vs to refuse thē Tertullian himself Tertulliā de corona militis when he had rehearsed a great sorte of traditions among which this was the last that we nowe doe speke of the manner of signing vvith the Crosse in the forehead immediately inferreth Harum aliarum eiusmodi disciplinarum si legem expostules scripturaerum nullam reperies If thou require a lawe of Scripture for these and such like orders of discipline thou shalt finde none Wherefore since they builde not vpon the Scripture they do not expounde vpon the word when these ioyes be taught we can not as you say dyscredite and dysauthorize them Folio 79. b. as though they knevv not the scriptures true interpretatiō of the lavv When you doe make a lye of your owne doe I discredite your knowledge in the lawe A lawyer may sometime be a liar as you proue vnto vs and yet not the lawe to wyte When the
signing them with a Crosse nowe is it not according to your position medicineable against al Coniuration Enchauntment Sorcerie and Witchcrafte but rather dayly vsed in all these Wherefore your proues be to weake your miracles to no purpose Your Doctoures much like your selfe The Heathen the nevv Indians the Ievve the Apostata Folio 108. These are desirous of the signe of a Crosse These signed themselues vvith a Crosse on the forehead Therefore the signe of the Crosse must be vsed and honoured As lyke as if I sayd These were Idolaters they knewe no true worship the diuel deluded them and therfore we must follow them May I not therfore wyth iuster cause than you complaine and say as you do O tempora O miserable daies O times too licentious when euery Erostratus may become famous by burning of Dianaes temple when euery insolent and ydle brayne if he can inuey agaynst the state of his countrey defame them that in learning and vertue be farre vnlike himselfe shal presume to write and be suffered to print his ignorant allegations and impudent vntruthes to deface the Gospell to set a gogge seditious and newe fangled heads You would haue men iudge no better of vs but that we go about to ouerthrovv the religiō of Christ take avvay the memory of his passiō Fol. 109 a. b. say that there is no Christ at al. This do ye set forth by an example of Andrew Lampugnā which gat an audacitie to slay the duke of Millain by striking ofte his Image and by a similitude of a chambre of presence wherein who so commeth and pulleth downe the cloth of estate or otherwise breaketh Princes armes in pieces he is no loyall and faythfull subiecte Let the world iudge betwixt you and vs who seke lesse the defacing of Christ and his Gospel who would more abolishe the memorie of his death We by continuall preaching of it or you by often paynting of it We by referring al glory vnto God or you by transferring all prayse vnto your selues We by setting forth our state of saluation so as Christ himself hath taught vs saying Search ye the scriptures or you by following the diuels doctrine and peruerting the word affirming That we dayly must gaze vpon pictures There be other meanes to remembre Christ as in the Preface I haue at large declared than by laying .ij. stickes a Crosse or breaking the ayre with a thumb on my forehead Papists deny Christ Nor they deny Christ which affirme him to be God and therefore in Heauen seke him but such as make an Image of him seuering thereby his diuinity from humanitie and only as man vpon earth honour him Wherfore your history is yll applyed Galeatius Maria as your owne authour sayth being duke of Millain Paradinus in symbolis was a wicked tirant a common rauisher of all honest women a violent oppressor of al his subiects therfore God stirred the heartes of some to conspire his death And for the same cause the worde of that armes is vel in ara that God in euery place yea to the altare it selfe pursueth the reuenge vpon the vngodly And therefore the man which otherwise stode in dreade of the Prince was by another meane heartened But God stirreth the hart of none to work any vengeance on Christ his sonne therefore the comparison is not like Agayne Lampugnā gat him the liuely Image of the duke we haue the Image I wote nere of whom sure the Image of Christ it is not but in respect of the abuse a damnable Idoll Then if the striking at the Image of Christ be signe that Christ himselfe is hated consider with your selfe who is more faulty who is more despitefully set herein You or we We pecke at a stone or a piece of wood which hath no likenesse in the world of Christ you burne and butcher the liuely members of Christs owne body the perfect counterfets of him departed hence We pull downe the dumbe and the deafe Idols the instruments of abuse you murder the saincts you destroy the Prophets you spite that any liueth honester than your selues Who nowe I beseche you be more enimies of Christ Who be more like to fall into Apostacie the ouerthrowers of Idols or destroyers of sainctes the myslikers of a dead stocke or stone or murtherers of quicke and liuing men You request me to tell you Folio 109. b. if a man come into a chambre of presence and plucke dovvne the cloth of estate and breake the Princes armes in pieces is it not his intent to haue the Prince deposed In déede sir if the Prince haue set it vp and giue commaundement that it shall there stande it is too great an offence to breake it But if the Prince haue proclaymed the contrary that none shall presume to drawe his armes or set vp any cloth of estate for him and yet notwithstanding some in despite or mockerie shall hang vp a beggerly and stinking clout or in steade of his royall armes erecte some monument of reproufe and shame if I came in place I would pull it downe and be the faythfuller subiecte for that And this is the very state of our cause Christ and his Apostles as I haue proued before haue vtterly forbidden Images there is no Crosse that hath any likenesse of our redemer on it Christ hath taken order onely by his worde to be set forth vnto vs. Therefore the Crosse of woode stone or metall may wythout offence be remoued of vs. For it is not the cloth of estate of his the armes and recognisance of his kingdome It is a wicked inuention of the Papistes a crafty delusion of the diuell to supplant Christ to take away the knowledge and true seruice of him Alexander as Horace sayth Edicto vetuit Episto lib. 1. ne quis se praeter Apellem pingeret aut alius Lysippo duceret aera fortis Alexandri vultum simulantiae gaue charge that but Apelles none in colours should him dresse Or but Lysippus should in brasse his countenance expresse Then if a simple botcher had attempted to draw him contrary to his commaundement should he not haue committed pety treason trowe you On like sorte Christ hath gyuen out his worde whereby he hath witnessed of himselfe Ioan. 4. he hath strayghtly enacted that whosoeuer worship him Ioan. 5. in spirite and veritie they shall worshippe they shall not more symplie conceyue of him than of the Maiestie of a God the seconde person in Trinitie wyth our fleshe caryed vp into Heauen with him Nowe commeth the workeman with his tooles and maketh a corporall and lying shape to bring an outwarde and earthly worship Alexander the Coppersmyth cryeth out for his aduauntage Rom. 1. Epi. 1. ca. 5. Simon Magus the Sorcerer contendeth for hys share S. Paul is against it S. Iohn condemneth it What shall we nowe doe goe to the lying Image and forsake the true forbyd the worde and bring in a picture haue our heartes here
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