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
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
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
his seruise as he was wont in all poynts Thus when he had washed and put on his clothes as he was going out he offered as a blessing vnto the man that had bene so diligent about him that which he brought with him requiring him curteously to accepte that which he offred him in the way of charitie But he mourning and afflicted answered Father what meanest thou to giue me these This breade is holy this can I not eate For I whome thou séest sometime was Lord of this place But for my sinnes nowe after my death am deputed hither But if thou wilt doe any thing for me offer this bread vnto almighty God for me to be a mediator for my sinnes And then know that god hath hard thy praier when thou shalt come hither to bathe thée finde me not So the next weke after the priest cōtinued in mourning for him euery day did offer the host for him and afterward when he came to the bath he found him not Herevpon father Gregory concludeth Qua ex re quantum prosit animabus immolatio sacrae oblationis ostenditur quando hanc ipsi mortuorum spiritus à viuentibus petunt signa indicant quibus per eam absoluti videantur In english this By which thing it is shewed how much the sacrifice of the holy oblatiō profiteth the soules when the spirites of the deade require this of the liuing shew signes wherby they may appeare to be deliuered by it And so far Gregory But is it not a pitiful case that of so weak a groūd so wicked a doctrine should be builded contrary to the manifest worde of God In the .xviij. of Deuteronomie Seke not to learne a truth of the deade And in the .viij. of the Prophete Esay Should not a people inquire at their God shal they depart from the liuing to the dead Howe soeuer the state of men is after this life no doctrine should be gathered of the talking of spirites And furthermore that dead men do serue in the bathes vpon the earth be losed out of the popish Purgatorie which they affirme to be subtus terram vnder the earth to become as it were Barbers apprentices vpon the earth may well be a legend for Plato his Purgatorie ioyned with the tale of Danaus daughters who poure in water into a bottomlesse tubbe Wherefore M. Martiall doubt ye not this but the wicked spirits which saw vas vacuum sed signatum an empty vessell but signed with the Crosse were bolde notwithstanding ad euitandum vacuum to enter into him As for the words of Lactantius which you bring forth Folio 23. Lib. 4. ca. 27. de vera Sap that vvhen they doe sacrifice to their Idols if there stande any man by that hath his forehead signed for that which you adde vvith the Crosse is more than ye finde in the texte then they offer vp no sacrifice neither their vvisserd is able to giue ansvver must rather be vnderstode of the faythfull christened than of any that were crossed For by the signed foreheade they signified baptisme and the fayth of Christ which they professed Otherwise if it be as you say Folio 23. that spirits can not abyde the signe of the Crosse nor continue in place vvhere any man is that hath the signe of the Crosse the beste counsell that I can giue men is to be marked to burne their fleshe with an hote yron and make a durable Crosse in their foreheades whereby they may be frée as long as they liue frō fearing of spirits without any more a do But I feare me least this be no sufficient defence For Serapis his priests were all to be Crossed and yet the Diuels daunced among them The Pope hath his Crosses yea double and treble yet is not the Diuell afrayde to come at him Siluester the .ij. as Platina reporteth was a practiser of naughty artes therein addict himselfe altogether vnto the cōmon enimy of mankinde And in dede first he gat the Archbyshoprike of Reme and afterward of Rauenna by Symony Last of all by the Diuels forwarding help he gat also the occupying of the Popes sée howbeit vnder this condition that when he departed this life he shuld be al wholly the Diuels by whose false deceyts he obtayned so high dignity Whervpon as thesame Platina the Popes owne Secretarie doth write When Siluester was not circumspect inough in being ware of the Diuels baytes he was killed all to pulled of the promoter of his the Diuel Yea when he was a Massing in the Church A strange case M. Martial that so many crosses as were in the church so many Crosses as were in the Masse could not saue the supreme head of the Church frō tearing in pieces by wicked spirits yea when he was at his holy Masse Wherefore the Crosse in your .iiij. signification Folio 23. is not the heauenly note and immortal signe It hath not that effect by cōtinual meditation of heauenly things the lyfe to come to make men heauenly and immortal Stil you do reason à non causa pro causa attributing that vnto the outward signe which is in dede the vertue of Christ Folio 23. b beliefe in his passion Ye say that the signe of the Crosse is spokē of by God himself in his Prophet Esay But it shall appeare by the very Scriptures that you alleage howe ignorantly and howe falsely you cite your authorities Esay 49. God by the mouth of his seruaunt witnessed how he would bring to passe that the Church which had cōtinued barren a long while shuld now be fruitfull and haue such store of children that she should wonder at hir owne increase saying Quis genuit mihi istos quum egosim sterilis solitaria relegata vaga Quis ergo educauit istos En ego sola relicta sum isti ergo vndenam sunt Who hath begotten me these séeing I am barren desolate a banisht person and a wanderer to fro And who hath nourished them Beholde I was left alone whence are these God to answere this case to shew that there shuld be a spiritual broode begottē through grace of adoptiō not by the cōmon course of nature but by the secret working of his spirit sayd Tollam ad gentes manum meam et ad populos signū meū erigam I wil lift vp my hand to the gentiles set vp my standard vnto the people Meaning that not only the Iewes but also the Gentiles should be brought to Christ which agreing in vnitie of one fayth together shuld be gathered as brethren into one mothers lap Now I besech you turn ouer your histories cōsult with your elders sée what it was that brought the Gentiles to christianite the Idolatrous nations to true religiō If it were the signe of the Crosse after your .iiij. signification Folio 24. a. made of some earthly matter to be set vp in Churches or made vvith mannes hand in the ayre
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
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