them vnto men as percell of religion and worshipping of God Christ vsing the ministerie of the Romaines so destroyed the temple that for these fiftene hundreth yeares they haue had no place no respite to repaire it And when they did attempt the matter they were as you alleaged by diuers meanes destroyed and disappoynted namely by the dreadfull apparition of a Crosse Whereof ye might haue gathered that God so misliked the superstitious ceremonies of the temple that he would not suffer the stones of it to stande The lyke plague shall ensue to all that hauing light wil follow darknesse that being frée will bring a slauery vpon them that being deliuered by Christ from these outwarde things and hauing Christ yet will be wedded to these outward things as if that God were pleased with them Wherefore remember Saul let no disguised cloke of a good intente couer an ill acte contrary to the worde Leuit. 10. Nadab and Abiu brought in straunge fyre not commaunded of the Lorde The fyre of the Lorde therefore consumed them 2. Sam. 6. Vzah when the Oxen did shake the Arke of a good intent did put his hand vnto it and was stricken deade for his offence Melior est obedientia quam Victimae sayde Samuell Better is obedience than sacrifice Better is a naked seruice with the worde than a a gorgeous solemnitie not cōmaunded by the worde Quicquid ego praecipio vobis Deut. 12. hoc tātum facite Whatsoeuer I do commaunde you sayth the Lorde doe that and that onely Non addes quicq̄ nec minues Thou shalt not adde any thing to it nor take away any thing from it When Christ shall appeare in brightnesse of his glory when he shall sytte as a iust iudge at his seconde comming to aske a straight accompt of all your life fayth and religion what can ye answere what wil ye say vnto him We haue garnished thy temple with golde and syluer we haue set vp candels vpon thine altares we haue sainsed thy saincts we haue erected estemed honored thy Crosse What shal he then reply to this Esay 1. Leuit. 26. Esay 52. 1. Cor. 6. 2. Cor. 6. The worde of his Prophete Esay Quis requisiuit ista de manibus vestris Who did require these thinges at your handes My temple ought your own heartes to be as I my selfe pronounced and my Apostle Paule bare witnesse with me This should haue bene adorned with chastitie simplicitie feare of my name loue of my mercies innocencie of lyfe integritie of fayth Such resting place and such ornaments therof haue I required but you haue them reiected No altare of squared stone haue I appointed my selfe on the altare of the Crosse abolished it I only ought to be the altare nowe wherevpon your sacrifice of prayse and thankesgiuing should be layd and light of your good workes shining to the world be set vpon But me and my death ye haue adnihilated to magnifie your owne imaginations my sainctes should haue bene paternes of holy lyfe and true fayth vnto you not haue vsurped my rowme and office to become mediators and be called vpon The swéete perfume of prayer shuld haue arisen from the saynsure of your heart to me and no flinging of coales about the Church to other But you haue sticked onely to the Iewish and hipocriticall obseruaunce The truth exhibited in time of grace ye haue not receyued The memory of my death by preaching of the worde and due administration of Sacramentes in the Church should haue bene continued according to my wyl The members of my body the liuely counterfets of myne owne person the poore the naked the comfortlesse christians should haue bene relieued clothed encouraged but by your Imagry you haue excluded my word by your Roodes Crosses and crucifixes vtterly as much as in you lieth defaced the glory of my death departe ye therefore away from me ye workers of iniquitie let nowe the God that you haue serued saue you Entre into euerlasting fier prepared for the Diuell and for you his Angels Thys when God shall lay vnto your charge this fine shall followe of it and when in the terrible conflict with Sathan ye shall call your consciences to accompte and sée those ydle toyes that you haue trusted to to be voyde of comforte what shall ye then doe but be dryuen to dispeire and say to the mountaines fall downe vpon vs. Luke 22. Wherefore if yet there be any place of repentaunce left for you if malice and obstinacy haue not vtterly secluded Gods grace from you take vp by times Séeke Christ in his worde forsake your will worshippings Set not your follies in the seruice of God agaynst the wysedome of the Almighty reuealed in his worde You thinke your holde is good God knowes it abydes no stresse Ye say ye séeke the Shepherd I proue ye finde the Foxe To the thirde Article FOr declaration and proufe of your thirde Article Folio 36. b. which is that euery Church Chappell and Oratory erected to the honor and seruise of God should haue the signe of the Crosse ye bring foure reasons whereof the two first be too vnreasonable grounded vpon folish fables The third is insufficient to confirme a doctrine The fourth is a custome of error not consonant to truth For the first ye alleage one of Abdias tales whome you affirme to haue sene Christ in the flesh Folio 38. b. to haue follovved Simon and Iude into Persia and to haue bene made Byshop of Babilon by the Apostles Abdias To speake somewhat of your famous father that he sawe Christ in the fleshe what maruell was it if he were one of the .72 disciples as you and Lazius that foūd the lying legend in his proface vpon Abdias witnesse Concerning his auncienty no maruel if ye cite him For if ye make accompt of his yeares by probable coniecture out of his boke ye shall finde him almost as olde as Mathusale He liued long after S. Iohns time for he citeth authorities out of his Gospell Ii 5. in fine diuers And speaking of a miracle done at S. Iohn his tombe how Manna sprang out of it he sayth Quam vsque hodie gignit locus iste that is to say Which Manna this place bringeth forth to this day Then if it were so strange a matter as he would haue it séeme many yeares were runne betwene the death of the Apostle and writing of his booke But Iohn himself was an hundreth yeare olde lacking two when he dyed For as your Abdias sayth Cum esset annorum nonaginta septem c. When he was foure score and seuentéene yeare olde Christ appeared to him and so forthe And Abdias if he were one of the .72 Disciples was called to hys ministery the selfe same yeare that Iohn was to his Apostleship So that by all likelyhoode hée was then as olde as Iohn and liuing long after Iohn How old was hée say you But a man of those yeares being broken
latter clause with you you would not haue attributed operation to the priest nor effect of sacraments to the signe of the Crosse nor haue bene layd ouer the forme for it But ye féele not the stripes I am very sory for that verely verely ye haue well deserued them For if S. Cyprian would not ascribe so much vertue to the name of God that it should be able to do all otherwise than called vpon which respecteth the fayth of the receyuer shall we thinke that he had a sory breaking of the ayre wherby the Crosse is made in such hie reuerence and admiration On a time the same father was demaunded his iudgement whether such as were baptised bedred were Christians Cyprianus Magno Epist. 64. or no wherto he answered Aestimamus in nullo mutilari debilitari posse beneficia diuina nec minus aliquid illic posse contingere vbi plena tota fide dantis sumētis accipitur quod de diuinis muneribus hauritur We thinke that the benefits of God can not in any thing be mangled and made the weaker nor any thing lesse can happē there where the grace that is drawē from the spring of Gods goodnesse is apprehended with ful and perfect fayth as wel on the giuers behalfe as on the receyuers If such as were baptized in their beds hauing but a little water sprinckled vpon thē wanting a great number of ceremonies which Cyprian thought Apostolique and necessary were in as good case as the rest Quia stant consummantur omnia as he sayth maiestate Domini fidei veritate Bicause all things do stand and be brought to perfection by the maiestie of God and sinceritie of fayth shall we thinke that the idle ceremony of a Crosse can giue effect to sacraments and sacramentes be imperfect without a Crosse Your owne doctor doth ouerthrow you But ye cite two authorities of S. Augustine to confirme your error For the first where he sayth Folio 49. b. With the mysterie of the Crosse the ignorant are instructed and taught the font of regeneration is hallovved c. I aunswere as I did before according to the true meaning of the word mysterie that the meaning of the crosse which we beleue and sée not for so Chrisostome Chrisos 1. ad Cor. cap. 2. Hom. 7. saith and not the visible and materiall Crosse worketh the effectes aforesayd For you wyll graunt me that the signe of the Crosse is but an accessory thing The substance of the sacrament may consist wythout it Augustine Aug. in Io. Tract 40. et de catacl cap. 3 sayth not Accedat Crucis signatio ad elementum fit Sacramentum Let the signe of the Crosse concurre with the elemente and it is a sacramente But let the worde come to the element and it is a sacramente And yet he doth not attribute so muche to the elemente it selfe or to the worde as you doe to the signe of the Crosse For of Baptisme he sayth Vnde ista tanta virtus aquae vt corpus tangat cor abluat nisi faciente verbo Non quia dicitur sed quia creditur Nam in ipso verbo aliud est sonus transiens aliud virtus manens Whence commeth this so great vertue of the water to touch the body and washe the soule but by the working of the worde not bycause the worde is spoken but bycause it is belieued For in the worde it selfe the sound that passeth is one thing and the vertue remayning another If onely fayth bring effecte to sacramentes if the worde it selfe be not auayleable wythout beliefe shall we thinke that S. Augustine made such accompt of the signe of a Crosse In déede he made great of the mysterie of the Crosse bicause on it onely dependeth fayth But the mysterie you haue nothing to doe withal For vnlesse it be a materiall Crosse or a Crosse made with a fynger in some part of the body ye professe that in thys treatise ye will speake of none Folio 24. And now to the seconde allegation out of Augustine As the maner of signing with the Crosse was in his time vsual so wold I wish for your own sake that ye could content your self with his significations and wade no further in so daungerous a puddle than he hath dypped his fote before you Wel doth he please himself in a subtile deuise of his when he wil referre the Apostles wordes Ephe. 3. to the figure of the Crosse meaning by the breadth that there is spoken of Charity by height Hope by length Pacience by depth Humilitie But these make no more for Paules meaning than the Geometricall proportion that Ambrose out of the same place gathereth Onely there is some edification in the wordes and though ye apply them to your most aduauntage Folio 48. b. yet can ye not inferre your purpose of them For you would haue it appeare that no Sacrament were made and perfected rightly wythout the signe of the Crosse Trac in Ioā 118. But Augustine goeth not so farre Onely he sayth Nihil eorum rite perficitur None of them is solemnly done and according to the receyued order For are you M. Lawyer ignoraunte of this common position among the Ciuilians Quod recte iusticiā causae rite solennitatem respicit That this terme recte hath respecte vnto the righteousnesse and truth of the cause but rite which is the word that Augustine vseth doth go no farther than to the order and solemnitie thereof So I graunt you well that in Augustines tyme if there wanted a Crosse there wanted a ceremony and yet were the sacraments perfect notwithstanding In our Church of England a Crosse is cōmaūded to be made in baptisme yet was it neuer thought of any wise or godly De Conscr Dist. 5. Cap. Nūquid nō that baptisme was insufficiēt without it Go to your Canon where order is taken Vt omnia Sacramenta Crucis signaculo perficiantur That all Sacraments shal be made perfect with the signe of the Crosse Yet in the glose vpon the same place ye shall finde twise in one leafe these words Non remouet quin aliter possint sanctificari valere ad remissionem sed refert factum nec aliter fit solennis baptismus He doth not take away this but that otherwise that is to say without the signe of the Crosse they may be sanctifyed and the thing be auayleable vnto remission But it is requisite that the thing be done that is to say the signe of the Crosse be made nor othervvise it is a solemne baptisme This is the Popes lawe and your gospell Wherefore I besech you good solemne sir be not so harde master to vs that for default of solemnity Folio 50. a we shal be defaulked of fruite of Sacramentes As for Chrisostome I haue answered you oft he speaketh of a Crosse that you haue nothing to doe withal It is to heauy for you to beare It is not to be séene
the prayer that God hath taught vs which is eyther thankes for benefites receyued or desiring helpe with trust to be relieued Their Crosses haue displaced Christ Their pictures haue defaced Scripture Their Lay mennes bokes haue abolished the lawe Their holinesse is to forbyd that which God ordayned to be receyued with thankes giuing as meate and Matrimony Their owne workes they mayntayne they let Gods decay Breake theirs and they persecute to the death Breake Gods and they eyther loke thorowe their fyngers or else giue a flappe wyth a Foxe tayle for a little money Then is it easy to be espied what they are Let them dysguise themselues neuer so closely yet by this examining of their natures and properties they wyll bewray themselues Chrisostome commenting vpon the seauenth of Mathewe sayth Si quis lupum cooperiat pelle ouina quomodo cognoscet eum nisi aut per vocem aut per actum Quis inclinata deorsum balat Lupus in aëra conuertit caput suum contra coelum sic vlulat Qui ergo secundum Deum vocem humilitatis confessionis emittit Ouis est Qui vero aduersus veritatem turpiter blasphemijs vlulat contra Deum Lupus est Which is thus in englishe If any man sayth he couer a wolfe with a shepes skin how shall he know him but by his voyce or by his doing The shepe bowes downe the head to the ground bleates The wolfe lifts vp his nose into the ayre barks Therfore whoso euer according to Gods word speaketh with the voyce of humblenesse and confession he is a shepe But he that contrary to the truth blatters out blasphemies agaynst God is a very wolfe That the Papistes are such as it doth sufficiently appeare already so shal it abundantly ere I haue done be proued Therefore I say Beware of Papists To the seauenth Article ALthough we ought not in discussing of a truth ruled ouer by the worde greatly contende what rytes and ceremonies haue of presumption or toleration bene brought into the Church yet that you may sée before your eyes what ill of such presidentes hath insued how one inch graunted to superstition a whole ell hath followed consider a while your Litanies processions Folio 93. b. The singing and saying of Letany you say is coÌ„monly called Procession but Litanies were receyued long before processions did come in place For Litanies what are they but humble prayers supplications vnto God to procure his fauour and turne away his wrath These haue bene receyued in the Church of olde and according to occasion diuersly vsed We reade that when Constantinus the Emperour had purchased peace vnto the Church of God about a thrée hundreth and thirty yeare after Christ then publiquely the Christians repayred together then were there in the congregations as Eusebius Euseb eccle Hist lib. 10. cap. 3. reporteth Orationes Psalmodiae sacrorum operationes mysteriorum participationes gratiarum actiones Prayers singing of Psalmes businesse about holy things participation of mysteries giuing of thankes And that which is worthy to be remeÌ„bred he writeth of the good Emperor on this sort CaÌ„tare primus incepit vná orauit De vita Const li. 4. A notable example of a Prince conciones stans reuerenter audijt adeo vt rogatus vt consideret respoÌ„derit fas non esse dogmata de Deo remisse ac segniter audire Himself began first to sing prayed with the rest reuerently heard the sermons standing on his féete so farre forth that when he was required to set him downe he aunswered that it was not lawfull to heare the precepts of God with slackenesse and with slouth Hilarius also .370 yeare after Christ writeth of the order of the Church in his time thus Hilarius in expos Psal 65. Audiat orantis populi consistens quis extra ecclâ—siam vocem spectet celebres hymnorum sonitus inter diuinorum quoque sacramentorum officia responsionem deuotae confessionis A man that standeth wythout the Church may heare the voyce of the people praying may beholde the solemne sound of hymnes and as the Sacramentes are a ministring the aunswere of a deuout confession Likewise Ambrose Ambros de voc gentiuÌ„ Cap. 4. Praecepit Apostolus fiers obsecrationes postulationes gratiarum actiones pro omnibus hominibus c. The Apostle commaundeth .1 Timoth. 2. supplications prayers intercessions and giuing of thanks to be made for al men Which rule and lawe sayth Ambrose all Priests faythfull people do so vniformely obserue that there is no part of the worlde wherein such prayers are not frequent So that it is euident that Litanies were then in vse although we reade not of any Processions Polidor de inuen Li. 5. Cap. 10. till the time of Agapetus Pope who as Platina reporteth did first ordayne them Anno. 533. although we reade the like of Leo the thirde about .810 yeare after Christ Surely whensoeuer Processions began they were taken of Gentilitie We reade ofte in Liuie that the Romaines in all their distresses would run to euery sere Idoll that they had would goe their circuites from thys place to that place and thinke they dyd acceptable seruice vnto God We reade in Arnobius Arnobius contra gent. Lib. 8. thus much of their folly Nudi cruda hyeme discurrunt alij incedunt pileati scuta vetera circumferunt pelles coedunt mendicantes vicatim Deos ducunt Quaedam fana semel anno adire permit tunt Quaedam in totum nefas visere est quaedam viro non licet non nulla absque foeminis sacra sunt etiam seruo quibusdam ceremonijs interesse piaculare flagitium est c. They gad about naked in the raw winter other haue their caps on they carry about with them old targets they beate their skins they leade their Gods a begging round about the streats They suffer some Chappels to be gone to once a yere some must not be séene at all some a man must not come vnto some other are holy ynough without women And for a seruant to be at some of them is a haynous offence So much Arnobius concerning the Romaines And thinke you not that our Processions with banners displayed and Idols in armes be liuely described here Certayenly amongst the Christened I neuer readde that any vsed Processions before the Montanistes and the Arrians Tertullian Tertullian li. 2. ad Vxorem maketh mention of the one and Eusebius Euseb eccle hist libro 6. Cap. 8. of the other Méete it is therefore that Papistes participating with their errors should also take parte of their idle ceremonies Concerning Litanies as of latter yeares they haue bene ordayned you must vnderstande that some be called Minores the lesse some Maiores the greater The lesse were instituted by Mamertus byshop of Vienna in the yere of our Lord. 469. as Sigibertus or .488 as Polichronicon reporteth The order of them was but a solemne asseÌ„blie of people vnto prayer at such time
be made betwene the assertions and mindes of men were they eyther Hillarie Ciprian Agrippine or any other and canon of the Scripture Non enim sic leguntur he sayth tanquam ita ex eis testimonium proferatur vt contra sentire non liceat Concio ad Adolesc sicubi forte aliter sapuerint quam veritas postulat In eo quippe numero sumus vt non dedignemur etiā nobis dictū ab Apostolo accipere Et si quid aliter sapitis id quoque deus vobis reuelabit For they are not so red as if a testimonie might be brought forth of them which it were not lawefull for any man to gaynesay if peraduenture they thought otherwise than the truth requireth For we are in the number of them that disdayne not to take this saying of the Apostle to vs If any of you be otherwise minded God shall reueale the same vnto you Wherefore with what iudgement the fathers of the church ought to be redde Basile setteth forth by a propre similitude Iuxta totum apium similitudinem orationum participes nos fieri conuenit Illae enim neque ad omnes flores consimiliter accedunt neque etiam eos ad quos volant totos auferre tentant sed quantū ipsis ad mellis opificiū commodū est accipientes reliquū valere sinunt Et nos sanè si sapiamus quantum sincerum est veritati cognatum ab ipsis adepti quod reliquum est transiliemus We must be partakers of other mennes sayings wholly after maner of the Bées for they flée not alike vnto all flowers nor where they syt they crop them quite away but snatching so much as shall suffise for their hony making take their leaue of the rest Euen so we if we be wise hauing got of other so much as is sound and agreable to truth wil leape ouer the rest Which rule if we kepe in reading and alleaging the fathers words we shall not swarue from our profession the scripture shall haue the soueraine place and yet the Doctours of the Church shall lose no parte of their due estimation None of the Fathers but haue erred There is not any of them that the world both most wonder at but haue had their affections nor I thinke that you aduersaries to vs and to the truth will in euery respecte admitte all that any one of the fathers wrote My selfe were able from the very first after the Apostles time to runne them ouer all and straightly examining their words and assertions finde imperfections in all But I would be loth by discrediting of other to séeme that I sought some prayse of skil or else be likened to Cham Noahs sōne that seing the nakednesse of the fathers Gen. 21. wil in contēpt vtter it But bycause in ceremonies and obseruances wherein they scant agreing with themselues euery one discording from other declined all from simplicity of the Gospell we are onely burdened with the name of fathers giue vs leaue somtime to vse a Regestion let vs haue the liberty toward other which Hierome graunteth against himselfe saying Certe vbicunque Scripturas non interpretor In Apo. pro lib. contra Iouin To. 2. liberè de meo sensu loquor arguat me cui lubet Truely whersoeuer I expound not the scriptures but freely speak of mine own sense let any man that lyst reproue me Not that I wil giue so large raynes to the headdinesse of some whiche either of affection or of singularity wil néedes dissent but that I wil not exempte any from their iuste defence Ioan. 4. from triall of the spirits whether they are of God We must followe the example of them of Berrhea which trusted not to Paule himselfe but searched the scriptures whether they were so Tvvo Iudges of cōtrouersies the vvorde and the spirite But where as this precept is generall all men to iudge all men to try what doctrine they receyue this iudgement and trial to be had by the word is somewhat in dede but yet not all that may be sayde in the matter I graunt the Scripture to be a good Iudge in deede But vnlesse the spirite of wisedome and knoweledge doe lighten our wyttes and vnderstanding it shal auayle vs little or nothing to haue at hand the worde of God whereof we knowe not the sense and meaning Golde is tryed by the touchstone and metalles in the fier yet onely of suche as are experte in the facultie For neyther the touchstone nor yet the fier can any thing further the ignoraunte and vnskilfull Wherefore to be méete and conuenient men to iudge of a truthe when we do reade or heare it by the holy Ghost we must be directed In this behalfe although I knowe that the giftes of God haue their degrées yet dare I say that none is vtterly so voide of grace It is possible to trie a truthe but hath so much conferred on him as shal be expedient for his owne behoofe vnlesse he be vtterly as a rotten member cut of from Christ Vaine it were to commaūd a thing that lies not in vs and vs to deny the possibillitie when we haue a promise of a thing that shall be doth argue our inconstancy and mysbelief Wherefore syth Christ and his Apostles saye often times Videte Cauete Probate which wordes be spoken in the commaunding mode byd vs Sée Beware and Proue I must néedes conclude that we shal not be destitute of the spirit of God so farre as shal be most néedefull for vs if we doe aske the same by fayth And whereas Christ doth affirme that we shal knowe 1. Ioan. 4. And S. Iohn in his epistle doth assure vs that 〈◊〉 doe knowe Spiritum veritatis Spiritum erroris the Spirit of veritie and Spirit of error we must acknowledge and confesse that the truth is not hidde from vs further than we lyst to shut it vp from our selues But here ariseth doubtfull case If euery man shall haue authoritie to giue his verdit vpon a controuersie Tvvo kindes of examination of doctrine Priuate which shall séeme and say that he hath the spirit no certain thing shal be decréed euery man shal haue his own way no stable opinion and iudgement to be rested on Hereto I aunswere againe that there be two kindes of examination of doctrine one priuate another publique Priuate wherby eche man doth settle his owne fayth to staye continually vppon one doctrine which he knoweth stedfastly to haue procéeded from God For consciences shall neuer haue any sure porte or refuge to runne vnto but only God He when he is called vpon will heare our prayers when he is desired wil graunt vs his spirit But he hath prescribed vs a way before hand to attayne the same if we bring vnder all senses of ours vnto his word Ioan. 8. Si patrem habetis Deum quomodo non agnoscitis loquelam meam If ye haue God to your father saith Christ how falleth it
order Sainct Iames will haue all to be anoynted if they be sycke you onely anoynt in case of mortalitie and daunger of death when one foote is in the graue already If oyle be your sacrament the promise of grace be annexed to it The absurdities to heale both bodyly ghostly as you say then what harde heartes haue you that suffer so many to languish in extremitie that come not by your wils before the last gaspe S. Iames will haue the sick to be anoynted of many you wil admit but one alone with his head in his sleue muffled as an Ape with a bell before him as a batfowler for an owle S. Iames will haue the elders to be called to this office which were not onely of the ministerie but also of the lay sée You will haue a rable of shorne priestes and none but them S. Iames is content with simple oyle you will haue none but such as a byshoppe hallowed with many a stinking breath warmed with many a sorcerous word inchaunted with many a beck many a knée to the ground Idoled S. Iames wil haue vnction the signe of Gods spirit and prayer of the faythfull to concur together noting that it is not the oyle that healeth but good mennes prayers are alwayes auayleable you most blasphemously doe ascribe remission of sinnes vnto your oyle boxe Now brag of your vnction goe sell your kitchin stuffe Trye it and ye lose it It is to stale to make a sacramente It stinketh I tell you For where as in a sacrament two things be required first that it be a ceremonie instituted of God then that it haue a promise of grace in it In the first we respect that the ceremonie be deliuered vnto vs in the seconde that the promise also concerne vs. And for asmuch as neither the ceremonie was coÌ„maunded vs nor the promise appertayneth to vs both being temporall long agoe surceassed I may wel coÌ„clude that Extreme vnction is no sacrament What soeuer in the Councell of Florence or in the late Synode of Trent hath bene decréed to the contrary shall not preiudice my truth For I hauing reason and Scripture for me with the learned and sounde determinations of moe fathers of the Church than these will not be prescribed by conuenticles and conspiracies You pretende authoritie we bring the scripture You call vs heretiques we proue you no lesse And which shal take place Gods worde or mens willes A talke or a proufe If all the fat bulles of Basan did drawe together and the diuel their carter dyd dryue them to Trent there to fede and stande fast for their prouender shall the Lordes shepe therfore be starued shal hys worke be neglected If ten thousande of your affinitie bewitched with the sorcery of Romish Circe should holde a councell and cal al men to the trough of your own draffe should not I acknowledge and coÌ„fesse with Grillus in whoÌ„ bearing the figure of a reasonable creature inchauntmeÌ„t could take no place that reason and religion should be preferred to the belly What reason is in thys their sentence to holde who be the parties accused and yet iudges of the cause What religion is in thys that for filthy lucre mannes idle ordinaÌ„ce shall displace the coÌ„maundement of almighty God Wheresoeuer I sée thys shame and disorder as in al your popish councels it is I appeale from them 1. Cor. 4. I say with Paul Mihi pro minimo est vt à vobis iudicer I passe very little to be iudged of you As for the place of Hilariê° against Auxentius the Arrian how fitly it may be applyed vnto you and not to vs whom you would seme to touch al they that haue eyes do sée For you can say nothing Fol. 71. 72 but these nevve ministers are heretiques they are Caluinistes and therfore diuels Proufe bryng ye none but the same is reproued I trust therfore ye haue credite according But to you I say Ye be fallen with Auxentius ye do participate with Arrius heresy Who is the diuels Angel thaÌ„ Who is to be auoided Nor I am contented onely to say it as you do though in thys respect my worde were aswell to be accepted as yours but I proue it too For when ye make an Image of God the worde Creaturam facitis eum qui omnia creauit as Epiphanius sayeth Ye make a creature of hym Lib. 2. tom 2 Her 96. the created all thinges Wherfore if ye would assente to the decrées of the first Nicene councell and go no further these wordes neded not betwixte you and me Fol. 72. b But when ye take away the name of Nicene and put Florence or Trente in place therof ye are as true a maÌ„ as he that stale a goose and sticked down a feather For al couÌ„cels are not a lyke Nor al they that bragge of the holy ghost are by and by inspired with hys grace For Hilarius your own author whoÌ„ to no purpose ye brought forth last hath to good purpose thys Multi sunt qui simulantes fidem Hilarius Li. 8. de Trinit non subditi sunt fidei sibique fideÌ„ ipsi potius constituunt quam accipiunt sensu humanae inanitatis inflati dum quae volunt sapiunt nolunt sapere quae vera sunt cum sapientiae haec veritas sit ea interdum sapere quae nolis Sequitur vero hanc voluntatis sapientiaÌ„ sermo stulticiae Quia necesse est quod stulte sapitur stulte praedicetur Many there are sayth he which fayning a fayth are not subiecte to fayth and rather do appoynt themselues a fayth than receiue it puffed vp with the sence of mans vanitie whyle they vnderstande those thinges that they lust but wyll not vnderstande those thinges that be true whereas the truth of wisdome is sometyme to vnderstande those thynges that thou wouldest not But the talke of folly commeth after thys wyll wysedome for necessary it is that foolishly it be vttered that foolishly is vnderstode To the fifth Article ALthough ye bende your selfe in all thys Article and stretch euery vaine of your feble skyl to proue a matter which although it be in part vntrue yet beyng grauÌ„ted dyd not hurt my cause that the Apostles and fathers of the primitiue Churche blessed theÌ„selues vvith the signe of the Crosse Fol. 73. a. and counselled all ChristeÌ„ meÌ„ to do the same and that in those dayes the Crosse vvas set vp in euery place conuenient for it yet bicause ye styll appeare in your lykenesse and it is so requisite ye be knowen to the world a clouter of a patch of troth vpoÌ„ a whole cloke of lyes I wyll not disdayne to make an easy proufe of your thrée taglesse poyntes for any greater stresse they wil not abyde And first of all the terme of blessing is ill applyed to signing in the forehead For what it is to blesse To blesse I declared in the Article before to speake wel
AN AVNSWERE TO THE TREATISE OF THE CROSSE wherin ye shal see by the plaine and vndoubted word of God the vanities of men disproued by the true and Godly Fathers of the Church the dreames and dotages of other controlled and by lavvfull Counsels conspiracies ouerthrowen Reade and Regarde Si quis diuersam sequitur doctrinam non acquiescit sanis sermonibus Iesu Christi et ei quae secundum pietatem est doctrinae is inflatus est nihil scit Paulê° 1. ad Tim. 6. If any man teach otherwyse and agreeth not to the holesome wordes of Iesus Christ to the doctrine which is according to Godlinesse he is puft vp knoweth nothing IMPRINTED AT LONdon by Henry Denham for Lucas Harryson Anno. 1565. To Iohn Martiall student in Diuinitie Iames Calfhill Bacheler of the same vvisheth the spirit of Truthe and modestie wyth increase of knowledge in the feare of God IT is not very long agoe since the famous report of your Martial affairs came vnto mine eares and treatise of defence vnto my handes In deede as a yong scholler for so ye say ye are and I by your vvorkmanship may vvell coÌ„iecture ye haue sayd for the Crosse so far as your skyl doth serue you or as the honestie of the cause deserueth I suppose it had bene more honesty for you and vvould haue furthered your purpose better if eyther your vveakenesse had vvrestled at the first on a better grouÌ„d or so vveak a cause had got some sturdier champion to defend it Novve that you fight more egerly than vvisely in a Crosse quarrell ye lie so open to be crossebytten that the cause it selfe and your poore credit go to the ground together For though ye vse to face men vvithal such termes and titles of estimacion as rather of some be gotten by continuaunce than giuen by desert as Bacheler of Lavve and student in Diuinitie yet if ye had ioyned more Logique vvith your Lavve your reasons should not haue runne so lavvlesse as they do or if you had remembred your olde humanitie you vvould not haue stayned your nevve diuinitie vvith such slaunders and lies such vaine supposals and idle tales as I am ashamed to heare of any that challengeth to himselfe the name of learning But mans lavve striketh so great a stroke vvith you that Goddes rule coÌ„science is excluded from you and being so depe in your popish diuinitie you haue forgotten al christian humanitie VVherefore the censure of S. Paul vvhich in the beginning I vsed as my vvorde may iustly be applied to you that in asmuch as ye giue no eare to the sounde doctrine 1. Tim. 6. nor coÌ„tent your self vvith that religion vvhich accordeth to pietie ye are but puft vp vvith vaine glorie ye seeke for praise of men vvhich of the vviser sorte ye shall neuer purchas Hovv vvell your poesy serueth against vs vvhom you vvold seeme to touch vvhen the Apostle inueyed against the enimies of the crosse of Christ vvhich you are and not vve shal aftervvarde be seene in the discourse But among you the vvilful vvanderers of one affection of one bringing vp the saying is verified vvhich Horace hath Horatius in Arte Poetica Scribimus indocti doctique PoeÌ„mata passim First came into our stage a gaye disguised gest a sodaine conuert and I feare me greatly least an Apostata M. Doctor Harding he bicause he is right vvorshipfull M. Doctor and hath othervvise some opinion of learning vvordes in deede at vvil he must needes be thought to say something But hovv this somthing in effect is nothing the Byshop of Salisburie aboundantly doth proue Next to the Master came the vvorthy Scholer and yet vvorthy Man he gaue but a Dor. VVe doe easly see in vvhose forge he vvas framed he sauours of the fier that flevve out before and yet neither of them both for all their heate of railing hath any vvarmth of religion His proues I passe to the reproufe published abrode already Onely I am sory M. Novvell had not a more learned aduersarie Then commes in M. Rastal and puts in his Reioynder All againste M. Ievvell Alas I pitie the poore soule he maketh his match so farre amisse Dares Entellum Nay Hinnului Leonem Yet he saith that he vvil but fight vvith a Penknife He vvill ouerthrovv vvith a breath if he can O noble courage He leaueth the bloudy launces and terrible halbardes for Hardy Harding and Doughty Dorman he himself vvil come after and blovve his enimies afore him If I should deale vvith this daungerous bugge I vvould for all that prouide my selfe of a longer svvorde for belike he hath a very strong breath and yet vvith a Bodkin he may be borne ouer I vvill not touch this proud pecockes taile I vvill leaue it at leasure to be pulled of an other To make vp the messe steps out M. Stapleton he vvil not stand by and be but a looker on hauing therefore neuer a vveapoÌ„ of his ovvne he runs to a Ruffian and borrovves his svvord He hath put on a nevv scabbard on it he hath varnished the hiltes The blade it self is al to be hackt It hath bene already in so many frayes and borne avvay so many blovves that it is novve scarcely able to scratch This yong man therefore vvil sight vvith the scabberde But if a man giue him a drie blovv or tvvo as for his vvilfulnesse he vvell deserueth vve shal see hereafter vvhat fence he hath for it There is none of all these but may vvith more ease make .xv. suche bookes as they cuÌ„ber the Printers of Antvverp vvithal than ansvvere xv leaues of sound doctrine The parties be knovven their skil their qualities vve are God vvote to vvell acquainted vvith to be novv abused by Dogs eloquence If your causes vvere better as vvorse they can not be forsoth you should finde of your olde acquaintance ynovve to match you and vnlesse ye vvere sounder to shame you to This aduauntage ye haue God be thancked for it that ye haue nothing else to do but coÌ„mit to vvriting your pieuish fansies and send them into England to set vs a vvorke vvithal VVe our selues are occupied othervvise as freÌ„ds to the flock of christ vvhich vve haue in charge thaÌ„ that vve can or vvill atteÌ„pre our doings to the levvd desert of our contemned enimies or mispende our time in ansvvering of that vvhich in the eares of al indifferent carieth a sufficient confutacion vvith it Notvvithstanding least some more simple than other may be deceued by you and you your selues be fooded in your folly through to much forbearing and silence of ours vve haue humbled oure selues beneath the honestie of our cause vve haue for charities sake vouchsaued to say more than the cause requireth or all the colledge of your coÌ„spiracy can vvith good reason ansvvere As for you good sir vvhich only come to make vp a number and seme to do something choosing to entreate of a plausible matter as your discretion doth
may keepe vvithout offence For the multitude is easyly through ignoraunce abused hir Maiestie to vvell instructed for hir ovvne persone to fal into Popish error and Idolatrie Novv for that vvhich follovveth if ye vvere so good a subiecte as you oughte and framed your selfe to lyue according to the lavves ye should see and consider hovve good order is taken by Publique authoritie not Priuy suggestions that Roodes and Images should be remoued according to Gods lavve out of churches chappels and oratories and not so despitefully throvven dovvne in hie vvayes Folio 1. b. as you most coÌ„stantly do affirme the coÌ„trary vvherof as by our lavv is established so in effect is proued For vve doe see them in many places stand nor are at all offended thervvith And doe not you giue vs a good cause to credit you in the rest vvho in the first entrance of your matter make so lovvd a lie But that your impudeÌ„ce may be the more apparant ye stay not so ye stick not to father of the auncient fathers faith such falsehodes and absurdities as they neuer thought good man neuer gathered For vvhere ye say Folio 2. by their authoritie that euer since Christes death christen men haue had the signe of the crosse in churches chappels oratories priuate houses hie wayes and other places meete for the same it shall be euident by their ovvne vvritings such as none shal agaynsay that .400 yeare after Christ there vvas not in the place of Gods seruice any such signe erected By the vvay I report me to that vvhich Erasmus a gret stickler in the crosse quarrell vvriteth Vsque ad aetatem Hieronomi erant probatae religionis viri In Catechesi sua Cap. 6 qui in templis nullam ferebant imaginem nec pictam nec sculptam nec textam ac ne Christi quideÌ„ vt opinor propter Anthropomorphitas Vntil Hieroms time there were men of good religion vvhich is to be noted least ye say they vvere heretikes that suffred not in Churches any picture at all eyther painted or graued or wouen yea not so much as the picture of Christ bycause of the Anthropomorphites as I suppose Novv this vvas aboue .400 yeare after Christ In ê“aemio 3. Cement super Amos. for by Hieroms ovvn coÌ„putacion it must be after the syxt yeare of Arcadius Consulship vvhich falles out Anno .408 And Prosper Aquitanicê° maketh it to be .422 yeare after Christ But as much as this the Fathers themselues shal be vvitnesses of to disproue your vanity Folio 2. Then that they worshipped the signe of the crosse or counselled other to do the same is as true as the other yea a thing it vvas vvhen vse of such signes vvas receyued in deede most abhorred of them Ep. li. 7. Indict 2. Ep. â—9 I appeale to your Pope Gregory the great the first that euer defended Images He found fault vvith Serenus Byshop of Massilia for breaking the Images that he fouÌ„d in his church yet he condeÌ„neth your doctrine for vvorshipping them saying in one place Et quid zelum vos ne quid manu factum adorari possit habuisse laudauimus And truely we coÌ„mended you in that ye had a zeale that nothing made with hand should be worshipped Tua ergo fraternitas illas seruare ab earum adoratione populuÌ„ prohibere debuit Therfore your brotherhead should haue preserued them forbydden the people that they should not worship them And this Gregorie vvas 600. yeare after Christ VVhere then vvas the reuereÌ„ce done to the signe VVhere gaue they the counsell to creepe to the Crosse See you not hovve shamefully ye abuse the Prince vvith slaunders and vntruthes As for the third substancial ground vvherevpon ye builde the buttresse of your cause that no feare or mystrust of Idolatrie can be where the crosse is woorshipped that position and more than Paradoxe Folio 2. is as true as the reste 2. Reg. 18. Num. 21. Ioan. 9. as true as the Ievves could commit no Idolatrie in vvorshipping the brasen Serpent and yet that signe vvas coÌ„maunded once this signe to vs vvard vvas coÌ„mauÌ„ded neuer VVherfore since your vvare is no more vvorth M. Martial you like a pelting Pedler putting the best in your packe vppermost I see not vvhere ye may haue vtteraunce for it vnlesse it be to serue to sluttish vses And that ye should rest in any hope that the Queenes maiesty amidst hir great affaires should haue so much vacant time as to take a vievve of your vaine deuises is a miracle to me and makes your folly to appeare the more the more ye coÌ„ceiue a liking of your self The story that ye bring of Socrates report It is Socratis lib. 5. Cap. 10. not truly quoted for I think ye neuer red it maketh smal for your purpose VVhat though Sisinnius an heretike a Nouatian did giue aduise for appeasing of the Arrians heresy that the auncient fathers should be called to vvitnesse vvil you take example of one not vvell instructed nor vvise in this case as it appeared VVere the auncient fathers suffisaunt to appease the cause VVere they not enforced that notvvithstanding eche man to bring his opinioÌ„ in vvriting and stand to a furder iudgement and determinatioÌ„ Reade ye the place They neyther could nor can for imperfections that remayn amongst them content the conscience in doubtfull cases nor ought at any time to be iudges of our fayth S. Augustine contra MaximinuÌ„ Arrian Epis hath a goodly rule better to be follovved obserued than yours For vvhen in the like controuersie vvith the Arrians the counsell of Ariminum vvhere many Fathers vvere assembled made for the one parte and the Counsell of Nice confirmed the other Augustine to declare that vve ought not to depende vpon mans iudgement but vvholy solely vpon the truth of Gods vvord sayde Nec ego Nicenum nec tu debes Ariminense tanquam preiudicaturus proferre Concilium Epist. lib. 3. Cap. 14. Nec ego huius authoritate nec tu illius detineris Scripturarum authoritatibus non quorumque proprijs sed vtrisque communibus testibus res cum re causa cum causa ratio cum ratione concercet vvhich vvords in English be these Neither I muste bring forth the Counsell of Nice nor thou the Counsell of Ariminum as one to preiudice the other Neyther I am bounde to the authoritie of the one nor thou restrayned to the determination of the other But by the authorities of the Scriptures not peculiar witnesses vnto eyther of vs but common and indifferent vnto vs both let one matter with an other cause with cause reason contende wyth reason Then is it no outrage as it pleaseth your vvisedome to terme it to refuse your order Folio 3. since most of the fathers yea euery one of them haue had their errors as aftervvard more clerely shal appeare Yet for al your dotages vvherof peraduenture ye dreamed in some dronken frensy for al your absurdities I
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
had bene abused by them yet in that terrible Interraigne of Antichrist a Pilgrimage in Wales was straight erected Faire fruite followed Much resort vnto it neuer any of the learned fathers opened once his mouth against it Such is the trust to men So ready and apt we are to followe as the Prophet sayth as I did alleage before the abhominations of our owne eies attempering Gods seruice vnto our outward senses Whereby it commes to passe as Lactantius doth say vt Relligio nulla sit De fal Rel 1.2 Cap. 19. vbi simulachrum est that no Relligion is there where an Image is And since to come néere to our present purpose Crosses in market places and not in Churches are as by good proufe we finde great stumbling stones not onely to the simple but also to such as wil séeme to be wyser impossible me think it is a Crosse to be erected in place of Gods seruice and him that hanged on the Crosse to be honored as he ought For the minde is rapt from heauenly consideration to the earthly creature from the soule to the substance from the heart to the eye Cause we can assigne none other but as the same Lactantius doth say Esse aliquam peruersam potestatē De fal Rel. li. 2. Cap. 1. qua veritatis sit semper inimica quae humanis erroribus gaudeat cui vnicum ac perpetuum sit opus offundere tenebras hominum caecare mentes ne lucem videant ne denique in caelum aspiciant ac naturā corporis sui seruent There is a certaine peruerse power which alwayes is enimie vnto the truth which taketh pleasure in mans error whose only and continuall work it is to ouercast cloudes and mistes of darkenesse to blinde the mindes of men that they sée not the light that they loke not vp into heauen and kepe the nature of their owne body For where as other liuing creatures in that they haue not receiued wit and reason bende groueling to the grounde but we haue an vpright state a countenaunce aloft from God our maker giuē vs it appeareth that the religion and seruice of God accordeth not vnto mens reason which bends and bowes the heauenly creature to worship to knéele to knocke to the earthly God would haue vs to loke vpon the heauens to séeke for our religion there in that place which is the seate of his glory to beholde him in heart whome with our eye we can neuer sée And is not this an extreme folly yea a mere madnesse to aduaunce the metal which is but corruptible to abase the minde which is eterne where as the shape and proportion of oure bodies doe teache vs no lesse but that our mindes should be lifted thither whetherward ye sée our heads erected yet hath our enimy so enchaunted vs that we haue for his sake forsaken our frend forgotten God and our selues to But he hath not done this at once and altogether by a lyttle and a lyttle he hath crept in vpon vs til at the length he hath wholly possessed vs. At the firste Images among Christen men were only kept in priuate houses paynted or grauen in story wise which had some meaning and signification in thē Afterward they crept into the Church by a zeale not according to knowledge as by Paulinus at Nola yet nothing lesse was meant than worship of them So that at the firste they séemed in some respecte to be tollerable as meanes to excite men to thankfulnesse and deuotion vntil the Diuel shewed himselfe in his likenesse and turned the glory of the immortall God to the seruice of a vile and earthly creature Yet if we had not séene that effect follow which in dede we haue to lamentably to the desperate destruction of many christen soules we might notwithstanding iustly condemne the whole faithlesse and fond inuention For it was but a wilworship a naughty seruice hauing no ground of the worde of God and onely spring of error and Gentilitie For according to the cōmaundement of the Almighty Deut. 12. Euery man must not do vvhat soeuer seemeth good in his ovvn eyes VVhat soeuer God hath cōmaunded vs vve must take heede to it neyther adding any thing vnto it nor taking any thing avvay from it Lykewise the Prophet Ieremie Ierem. 23. doth aduise vs Not to hearken to them that speake the vision of their ovvne heart and not out of the mouth of the Lorde For vvhat is chaffe to vvheate And the Apostle to the same effect Rom. 14. VVhat soeuer is not of faith is sinne faith is by hearing and hearing by the vvord of God Wherefore Tertullian doth well affirme quod nobis nihil licet de nostro arbitrio indulgere De pres aduers Heret sed nec eligere quod aliquis de arbitrio suo induxerit Apostolos domini habemus authores qui nec ipsi quidque de suo arbitrio quod inducerent elegerunt sed acceptam a Christo disciplinam fideliter nationibus assignarunt That it is not lawfull for vs to flatter our selues with any thing of our own iudgement and discretion nor to chose that which any man hath brought in of hys owne head we haue the paterne of the Apostles for vs which toke nothing to bring in after their own pleasure but faythfully assigned to the nations the doctrine that they had receiued of Christ Ciprian also Cecilio fratri Epis 6 8. Non hominis consuetudinem sequi oportet sed Dei veritatem cum per Esaiam Prophetam Deus loquatur dicat Sine causa autem colunt me mandata et doctrinas hominum docentes Et iterum Dominus in Euangelio hoc idem repetat dicens Reijcitis mandatum Dei vt traditionem vestram statuatis We muste not followe the custome of man but the truth of God in asmuch as he speaketh by his Prophet Esay and sayth They honor me in vayne teaching the doctrines and preceptes of men And agayne in the Gospel Christ himselfe repeateth the same saying Ye refuse the commaundement of God to establish your owne tradition And learned Austin doth teache vs no lesse wryting on this sorte Extat authoritas diuinarum Scripturarum De Trinita lib. 3. Cap. 11. vnde mens nostra deuiare non debet nec relicto solidamento diuini eloquij per suspicionum suarum abrupta praecipitari vbi nec sensus corporis regit nec perspicua ratio veritatis elucet There is extant wyth vs the authoritie of holy Scripture from the whiche our minde oughte not to swarue nor leauing the substantiall ground of Gods word runne hedlong on the perilles of our owne surmises where we neyther haue sense of body to rule vs nor apparant reason of truth to directe vs. Wherefore syth the scripture hath taught and Fathers confirmed that onely God is sufficient scholemaster and his worde prescribeth vs one certayne order Eche man by preaching to be instructed in the truthe What should we runne to
story annexed to the Alchoran sayth Picturas seu sculpturas omniū Imaginū sic abhorrent detestantur vt Christianos qui in hijs tantū delectantur Idololatras cultores Demonum vocent in veritate esse credant Vnde dum essem in Chio ambasiatoribus Turcorum pro recipiēdo tributo illuc venientibus introductis in Ecclesiam nostram vellem persuadere de Imaginibus nequaque acquiescentes sed omnibus rationibus refutatis hoc solum affirmabant Vos idola colitis Which words may thus be turned into English They so abhorre and detest all painting grauing of any Images that they call and verily beleue the Christians that onely delyte in them to be Idolaters and worshippers of Diuels Wherefore when I was in Chio would haue persuaded the embassators of the Turkes which came thither to receiue tribute after I had brought them into our Church as touching Images they would not agrée but refuting all reason this onely they affirmed You vvorship Idols And surely Iewes and Turkes will neuer come to our religion while these stumbling blockes of Images remaine amongst vs and lye in their way Nowe that I haue proued as well by the wordes of Scripture as by the true sense and meaning of it so vnderstode of all the faythful that it is a piece of infidelitie to haue an Image in place of Gods seruice it might suffise to decise the controuersie that is in hand But an Image can not be made of Christ vnlesse it be a lying Image as the Scripture peculiarly calleth Images lies as I proued before For Christ is God and man And since of the Godhead which is the most excellent parte no Image can be made it is falsly called the Image of Christ they that doe apply any honor to it are mere Idolaters making Christ thereby inferior to the Father cleauing onely to his humanity wher as we are by Christs own words cōmaūded that al should so honor the sonne as they honor the father Io. 5. But agaynst this a crafty Papist may reply and say that by the same reason it is not lawful to paynt a man for he consisteth of soule and body and the soule which is the chief part of him no arte or cunning is able to expresse But I answere to this that the reason is nothing like For the soule may be seuered from the body as dayly by death we sée experience nor it is impietie to think vpon or beholde the shape of a man without a soule But the Diuinitie of Christ can not be separate from his humanitie neyther is it lawful to imagine an humanitie without a Diuinitie least we fall into the heresie of Nestorius as in the third Article where I shall haue occasion to speake of the Counsell assembled by commaundement of Constantine the fifth at more large is opened And where as Christ hath caried his flesh vppe into heauen with him no more to be knowen according to the fleshe we fleshly creatures do fall from his will and make a counterfet of a mortall fleshe where as his is glorified Furthermore vnknowen it is what was the forme and countenaunce of Christ So many places so many Images and euery one of them as they affirme the true and liuely Image of Christ and yet neuer a one of them like to an other wherefore as sone as an Image of Christ is made by and by a lye is made which is forbiddē by Gods worde Wherefore since our Religion ought to be grounded vpon truth Images which can not be without lies ought not to be made or put to any vse of Religion Thus haue I declared the vnlawfulnesse of Images in which respect they are intollerable Now a word for the folly of them which among vs is nothing sufferable Oratione contra Idol Athanasius appoynteth two wayes to come to the knowledge of God Animam Opera the Soule of man which by the word may beholde the word and so enter into the priuy chambre of the Almighty and if that suffise not the workes of God whereby the inuisible things of his eterne vertue Diuinitie may be séene of vs. Rom. 1. Then vs to seke any new wayes since these are ordayned euer since the beginning creation of the worlde is to much foolishnesse If we seke for comparisons will haue one thing set forth by an other why shuld we not rather follow Christs institution than be addicted to our own deuises Christ in the Scripture hath resembled himselfe to many of his creatures which dayly hourely are before our eyes And can we not be contented with them but make newe creatures of our owne heads to put vs in minde of our bounden dueties We sée the light shining sunne and sée we not the power of Christ in it We see the wayes dores to our houses and sée we not Christ the ready path to heauen We sée the hennes clocking of their chickens sée we not Christ continually calling vs We sèe pore shepherds féeding of their shéepe and sée we not Christ the true feder of our soules We sée our selues the liuely Images perfect coūterfets of Christ himself shal Christ be forgottē vnlesse we haue a crucifix There is nothing I promise you but madnesse in this meaning Ther is nothing that can so liuely expresse the affects as I may terme them qualities of Christ as those things which he thought good to serue our vnderstanding Shal we then refuse the more euident argument fal to the darker signification Shal we contemne Christ and his order set so much store by a blinde picture Nero I remember was sometime so wanton vt gladiatorum pugnas spectaret in Smaragdo He had an Emeraud in his ring that would giue to the eye the resemblances of things that were before it Wherfore when the masters of defēce came to play their prises he would beholde thē in his ring I wis he might haue discerned them better if he had loked on their own selues and not haue footed in a stone to sée thē But nothing can content the curious the flesh delighteth in hir own deuises Thus is it proued that Images do not according to Gregories mind teach but in al respects be vaine foolish if they did teach yet by the scripture and word of God such scholemasters are forbidden to vs. Now that they are honoured contrary to his minde experience of long time hath proued and the Popish doctrine hath confirmed For In Pontificali order is taken how they shal be hallowed First with exorcisme of water of salte then with hypocriticall blasphemous prayer afterward with sensing anoynting kyssing erecting and an hūdreth other most vile obseruances Priuyleges and pardons be graunted to them Candels and tapers be lighted afore them Much golde and Iewels are bestowed on them And leaste authoritie shoulde want to error in all their sayings in all their writings and in
their generall Counsels they haue confirmed the worshipping of them as in the seconde at Nice and that which was assembled at Rome by Gregorie the thirde But of these Idolatrous déedes and doctrines I shall haue occasion hereafter to entreate Suffiseth now that I haue shewed how the Diuel abuseth the works of God to his own purpose how Images haue crept into the Church how necssarily they are naught both by the word of God authority of good men condemned And sith they teache not otherwise than lies are notwithstanding honored to the shame of vs and derogation of gods glory they ought in generall to be remoued from the place of perill the place of Gods seruice We must not giue place to our owne reason we must not measure God with the line of our fansies but builde according to the plat layed before vs shew our thankfulnesse by obedience If we once giue place to our enimy which dayly doth assault vs I confesse with Martiall that we giue occasion of our owne fall If we be not circumspect and wise in Christ we shall vnwares be set vpon betrayed We sée how he suborneth his ministers by al crafty meanes to seduce vs if he can They were wont to say There is smal store of Saincts vvhen the Diuell carieth the Crosse But we may iustely suspect that there is small goodnesse in the Crosse when it is caried by the Diuell and hys Sainctes Martial much like to Virgils Sinon of whom he toke a president to make an artificial lye for thrée leaues together in his Preface telleth vndoubted trothes to the ende that the falshodes which folishly God wote he doth inferre may haue the more credit Note And vvhensoeuer I bring any of Martials allegations I note in the margent the leafe of his boke vvhere ye shall finde it after this sorte Fol. vvith a. or b. for the first or second page bycause it vvere vayne to recite more of his idle vvords vvhich might vvell increase the volume but cumber to much and lothe the reader Fol. 3. b. He beginneth then with a long processe hath cowched all his eloquence together to tell a good tale of his master the Diuell He labours busily about the which no man contendes with him of There he forgat the rule of Logique de Reciprocatione that is an ill argumēt which serueth both partes I graunt that Sathan hath gone about first by persecution feare afterward by fayre promises to make the moe to hang vpon him We haue had experience of this in some of his owne sect D. Harding whome these two Doctors feare of Death and hope of Promotion within the space of a moneth instructed more than in seauen yeres he could learne before We sée the trial of this in euery one of the new Colligioners of Louain who could be contented with all their heartes to reforme themselues vnlesse in their M. the Diuels seruice they feared on the one side a newe reuolte and rage of Antichrist and on the other side hoped to be byshoppes when the worlde should turne Rusticus expectat dum distuat amnis They knowe what followeth Nowe to turne the weapon on their owne heads Bycause the prouidence and mercy of our God hath frustrate their hope in their opinion to long they haue thought it best to make open warre against God and al honesty to sende for their frendes and summon their dicts in the lowe countreyes Thence haue procéeded the popish practises The smoky styrres that were blowen in Scotland The fyry factions inflamed in Fraunce The Pholish treason condemned in England The Popishe conspiracy attempted in Ireland that as it hath bene the olde wont and all the Religion of Romishe fathers to mayntayne by the sworde that rayne of Romulus first gotten by murder to sette sometime the a Irene against Cōstantine the syxte mother agaynst the sonne The b Henry the .4 againste Henry the .3 Emperours sonne against the father the c In England againste King Iohn and Henry the secōd people against the Prince So they might set realmes together by the eares and arme the subiects agaynst the Quéene themselues to be maintained in their pride and hipocrisie When this hath not taken the desired effecte God giuing wonderfull and glad successe to the noble furtherer of his worde and glory they haue thought it most gaynefull for them to come in with a newe battaile a battaile of bokes whereof some already be come into oure sighte and they say that more doe lye in ambushe Thankes be to God they shead no bloude though they breath nothing else but sedition and lies If it haue pleased God at any time to raise more notable instrumentes in his Church as Luther Zvvinglius Caluin were as Knokes Latymer and Cranmer haue bene to beate downe the walles of the malignant Church most of them with their bloud to beare witnesse to the truth then are they condemned of the Antichristians and with al words of beastlinesse and reproch slaundered But nowe they haue vttered themselues so farre their malice and impudence is so apparant that their tong in déede is no slaunder at all They were wont to saye that a man should not béelye the Diuell What shame is it then for M. Martiall to béelye the Saints Folio 6. b. as that the reformation at Berna should be vnder Zvvinglius where he neuer preached or had ought to doe The alteration of the state in Heluetia should be in the time of Luther his abbettors where as it chaunced almost CC. yeres before they were borne sub Bonifacio octauo That knowledge of the Gospell in England began in Latimer and Cranmers dayes whereas in King Henry the thirde his raigne An. 1374. not onely VVickleife and many in his time but also the King himself began as good matter of reformation as the Chronicles reporte But they will styll be like themselues And nowe M. Martiall brags of his masters armes recognisance in hys forehead Fol. 7. b. What it is that his forehead hath more than vnshamefastnesse I sée not what his tong hath we may al be witnesses the forward and faythfull profession of his master Ille homicida erat ab initio Ioan. 8. in veritate non extitit quia veritas in illo non est He was a manqueller from the beginning and abode not in the truth bicause there is no truth in him Wherfore dearly beloued although this Ape come forth with ten Articles in imitation of ten Commaundements yet God be thanked they neyther be the Commaundements therfore to be folowed nor articles of our faith therefore to be beleued But rather as in the processe it shall well appere euery one as he consters them swarues from the faith and therefore by commaundement we ought to beware of them iudge you indifferently I appeale to the conscience of euery Christian whether we auoiding the occasion of Idolatrye tende anye whit to Paganisme as
the Papistes by their deuises doe or whether we by remouing al Images and consequently the Crosse to doe derogate from Christ and from his passion as they doe which hauing the materiall Crosse can not come to the knowledge and fayth of the crucified I confesse that I am more aspre in my writing than otherwise I woulde or modesty requireth But no such bitternesse is tasted in me as the beastlinesse of them with whome I haue to do deserueth Beare with mée therfore I beséeche you beare with a truth in plaine speeche vttered Bayarde hath forgot that hée is a Horse and therefore if I make the stumbling iades sydes to bléede blame mée not Impute not to malice impacience that which is grounded of hatred to the crime but loue to the persons which be toucht I hope by this meanes that seyng their own shame they will come to more honesty or hearing their owne euill doings surceasse at leaste wyse theire euill speaking They haue nothing so rife in their deprauing mouthes wherwithall to burden our ministerie in Englande as heaping togither all base occupations to shew Fol. 9. a. b. that the craftes men thereof be our preachers I wis I might aunswere iustify the same that as great a number of learned as euer were as auncient in standing and degrée as they supply the greatest roomes and places of most credite Wherefore they doe vs wrong to match the simplest of our syde with the best of theirs As for their famous writers Rascall Dorman Martiall Stapleton which now with such confidence make their challenges be knowen vnto vs what they are But they which at home be no more knowen than contemned as sone as euer they taste the good liquor of Louain they be great clarkes Bachelers of Diuinitie studentes of the same they must be magnified they muste be reuerenced as if Apollo sodainly had cast his cortayne about them But to graūt that the inferior sort of our ministers were such in déede as these men of spyte ymagine such as came from the shop from the forge from the whyrry from the loome should ye not think you finde more sincerity and learning in them than in al the rable of their Popish chaplens their massemongers their soulepriests I lament that ther are not so many good preachers as parishes I am sory that some to vnskilfull be preferred But I neuer saw that simple reader admitted in our church but in the time of Popery ye should haue found in euery diocesse forty six Iohns in euery respect worse I could exaggerate their case alike and proue it better how Bawdes Bastardes and beastly abused Boyes haue bene called to be Bishops among them Sorcerers Simoniakes Sodomites Pestilent Periured Poysoners haue bene aduaunced to be Popes among them Shal this derogate from their holy sée Yet none of oures of any calling or name amongst vs can of enuy it selfe be burdened with the like As for the Rascall of their religion what were they what are they Adulterous Blasphemous Couetous Desperate Extreme Folish Gluttons Harlots Ignoraunts and so go through the crosse rowe of letters and truly end it with Est Amen Therfore if they vrge vs any further with imperfectiō in our state thereby to bring vs into contempt and harred we wil descēd to particularities and detecte their filth to the whole worlde We are not deare Christians the men Folio 9. b that the aduersaries of the truth reporte vs we doe not leane to our owne wisedomes we preferre not our sayings before the decrées of auncient Fathers But after the aduise of the fathers themselues we preferre the Scriptures before mennes pleasures This may we do without offence I trust The Popes themselues haue permitted vs this Eleutherius the Pope writing to Lucius King of England sayd thus vnto him Petijstu a nobis leges Romanas Caesaris In the ancient recordes of London remayning in the Guild hall vobis transmitti quibus in regno Britanniae vti voluistis leges Romanas Caesaris semper reprobare posumus legem Dei nequaquam Suscepisti énim miseratione diuina in regnó Britanniae legem fidem Christi Habetis penes vos in regno vtranque paginam Ex illis per Dei gratiam per consilium regni vestri sume legem per illam Dei patientia vestrum rege Britanniae regnum Vicarius vero Dei esto in regno illo c. Ye haue required of vs to sende the Romane and Imperiall lawes vnto you to vse the same in your realme of England we maye alwayes reiecte the lawes of Rome and lawes of the Emperor but so can we not the lawe of God For ye haue receyued through the mercy of God the lawe and fayth of Christe into your kingdome You haue both the Testamentes in your realme Take out of them by the grace of God and aduise of your subiectes a lawe and by that lawe through Gods sufferaunce rule your realme But be you Gods Vicar in that kingdome And so forth If the Louanistes had but a mangled piece of suche a Presidente for the Pope as here is for euery Prince Lorde howe they would triumphe They would desiphre and by rethorique resolue euery letter of it But let that passe It is ynough for thys place to shewe the Popes owne decree that all mennes deuises be they neuer so worthied with the name of Fathers may iustly be repelled and ought to giue place to the lawe of God Wherefore if any of their owne imagination haue brought in any thing to Gods seruice not altogether consonant to the worde not we but the worde doth wipe it quite away Dist 11. cap. Consuetudinem For I thinke it méete according to the decretall taken out of Augustine Consuetudinem laudare quae tamen contra fidem Catholicam nihil vsurpare dinoscitur to prayse the custome whiche notwithstanding is knowen to vsurpe nothing against the catholique fayth If this fayth be retayned I wil not contende with any but the Fathers I will with all my heart reuerence The common place of our aduersaries is to exhorte the Prince and other to kepe the aunciente traditions of our Fathers And I beséech them wyth al my heart that they will defende and mayntayne those thinges which they receyued according to truthe If tyranny of men hath brought in any thing agaynst the Gospell let not the name of Fathers and vaine opinion of antiquitie bereue vs of the sacred and euerlastyng veritie What greater follie can there be than this to measure Gods matters with the deceitfull rule of mannes discretion where the pleasure of God reuealed in his word should only direct vs They that pleade at the barre in ciuile causes will not be ruled ouer by examples but by law Demosthenes sayd very well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not méete that things should be ordered as otherwise they haue often bene Much lesse should Gods wysedome be sette to schoole vnto mannes folly
Wherfore to conclude Folio 9. b. Ioan. 4. the only swete water to quench our thyrsts must be fet from the fountayne of Gods eternall wyl There is the well that springeth vp into euerlasting life Beware of the puddle of mens traditions it infecteth ofte féelde it refresheth We must not vse the pretexte of custome but enquire for that which is right and good Chrisost in Gen. cap. 20. Hom. 56. If any thing be good if it profyt and edify the church of Christ let it be receiued yea though it be straunge If any thing be hurtful and preiudiciall to the true simplicitie of the Gospell let it be abandoned though .xv. hundreth yeares custome haue confirmed it For my part I craue no further credit than the christian conscience groūded on the word of God shal of indifferency and good reason graunt me The Lorde directe your hearts in his loue and feare confound Sathan with all hys wickednesse and giue the glory onely to Christ His name be praysed for euer and euer So be it To the first Article HAuing to erecte the house of god wherto we ought to be fellow workers we are bound especially to sée to this that neyther we builde on an euill ground therby to lose both cost and trauail nor set to sale and cōmende to other a ruinous thing or anye waye infectious in steade of a strong defence or holesome place wherevpon to rest The Apostle commending his doctrine to the Corinthians sayth Vt sapiens architectus fundamentum posui 1. Corin. 3. As a skilfull masterbuilder I haue layde the foundation And other foundation can no man laye than that which is layde which is Christ Iesus Christ hath receyued of his father all things he hath conferred vpon vs no lesse he by his death hath made entrance into life for vs he is become our wysedome our righteousnesse our sanctification and redemption By his name we must onely be saued by hys doctrine we must only be directed vpon that rock that fayth of his we must substantially be grounded If any man teach other lessons than of that we must say with Paul Si Angelus è celo Gallath If an Angel from heauen teach otherwise than the Apostles haue preached to vs let him be accursed And with S. Iohn Quod audistis ab initio id in vobis permaneat Let that abide in you which you haue heard from the beginning so shal you continue both in the sonne and in the father And this is the promise that he hath promised vs 1. Ioan. euen eternall life If any man do not bring this doctrine with him do not so much as salute him Ioan. 14. Math. 15. neyther receiue him into your houses For he that loueth God heareth his voyce sayth Christ And they in vayne do worship him that teach the doctrine and preceptes of men Men in God his matters not to be beleued vvithout the vvord Men haue their errors and imperfections though they be the children of God yet they be not guided by his good spirit alwayes Euery man that hath an instrument in his hand can not play on the same nor euery man that hath learned the science can please the eare But if the strings be out of tune or frets disordered there wanteth the harmony that should delite So whensoeuer we swarue neuer so little from the right trade of Gods holy word we are not to be credited we ought not to please Wherefore sith the way is daungerous our féete slippery that we fall oft and are slyding euer no maruell if the best of vs sometime do halte It falleth oft that such as preach professe Christ builde sometime on him euill vnsound and corrupt doctrine Not that the word of God is occasion of heresies but that men lacke right vnderstanding and iudgement of the same which commeth only by the spirit of God And this it is that S. Paule sayth 1. Cor. 5. how some do builde vpon Christ the foundation golde siluer and precious stones But some other timber hay and stubble Yet must we not take the hope of Gods mercy from such euill carpenters as lay so rotten a couering vpon so sure a building where as otherwise they offending in trifles be sound inough in greater matters sticke to Christ the only substantiall and true foundation Yet such their errors and imperfections being brought to the fier of gods spirit De doctrin Christiana li. 2. ca. 9. sequentibus and tried by the word shal be consumed Augustine therfore when he would frame a perfecte preacher willeth him to conferre the places of Scripture together He sendes him not to the Doctours distinctions nor to the censure of the Church nor canons of the Popes nor traditions of the fathers but onely to quiet and content himselfe with the word of God Therfore in the primitiue Church when as yet the new Testament was not written al things were examined according to the sermons and wordes of the Apostles For which cause S. Iohn writeth Qui ex Deo est nos audit 1. Ioan. 4. He that is of of God heareth vs and he that heareth vs not is not of God So farre therfore as men accorde with the holy Scripture and shape their writings after the paterne that Christ hath left them I will not only my self estéeme them but wish them to be had in most renoune and reuerence Otherwise absolutely to trust to mē which may be deceiued gather out of the fathers writings whatsoeuer was wytnesse of their imperfection is neyther point of wisdome nor safety In euery age God raysed vp some worthy instrumētes in his church And yet in no age any was so perfect that a certaine truth was to be builded on him Which thing by example as wel vnder the law as in the time of grace god hath sufficiently by his worke declared Among the Iewes who was euer comparable vnto Aaron Aaron who fell so shamefully he assented for feare vnto the peoples Idolatry Among the ministers of the Gospell who had so great rare gifts as Peter who did offende so fleshely Peter for dreade of a girle he denied his master Which thing was not done without the prouidence of almighty God thereby to putte men in remembraunce of their frailty further to instruct them whence truth in doctrine must only be fetcht Trust not me Pro loco li. 3. de Trinita To. 3. sayth Augustine nor credit my writings as if they were the canonical scripture But whatsoeuer thou findest in the word although thou didst not beleue it before yet groūd thy fayth on it now And whatsoeuer thou readest of mine vnlesse thou knowest it certainly to be true giue thou no certaine assent to it Epist 48. ad Vincent de Vi coer her And in an other place reprouing suche as will bring forth cauils out of mens writings therby to confirme an error he saith that a difference should
out that ye do not vnderstand my talke Oues mea cognoscunt vocem meam non sequuntur alienum My shéepe sayth he knowe my voyce and followe no straunger Nor doubt it is but by the instinct of the holy Ghost we be made his shéepe which will not hearken to errors and heresies which are the voyces of straungers but followe the voyce of our master Christ which in the Scripture is crying to vs. If these reasons and allegations may not preuayle with some to driue them to a sure and safe ankerholde in Christ let them runne and they lyste Publique to the other kinde of examination of doctrine which is the cōmon consent of the Church For syth it is to be feared greately least their arise some phrenetike persons which will bragge and boast as well as the best that they be Prophetes they be endued with the spirt of truth and yet wil leade men into all errors this remedy is very necessary the faythfull to assemble themselues together and seke an vnitie of fayth godlynesse But when we haue runne as farre as we can The scriptures laste refuge we can goe no further than to the wall we must reuolte to the former principles and trye by the Scriptures which is the Church Wherfore in controuersies of our Religion if mennes deuises were lesse estéemed and the simple order of Gods wisedome followed lesse daunger fewer quarrels should arise amongst vs more truth more sinceritie should be retayned of vs. And to this ende I coulde haue wyshed that you M. Martiall should haue learned firste to frame your owne conscience according to the worde then haue ascribed suche authoritie thereto that we néeded not forsaking the fountaine to follow the infected streames nor hauing the vse of swéete sufficient corne féede vpon acornes still But I would that had bene the most fault of yours to haue attributed much vnto the fathers had not otherwise of malice wrested them and of mere ignoraunce sometime corrupted them The Scripture which in the title of your boke hath the first place in the rest of the discourse hath very little or no place at al and vnder name of Fathers and antiquitie fables and follies of newefangled men are obtruded to vs. To come to the instants Folio 18. First ye bring forth the significations of Crosse in Scripture Ye muster your men whose aide ye will vse in this sory skirmish And although they be very fewe yet ye number one moe than ye haue and like a couetous captaine wyll néedes indent for a dead pay Ye say that the scripture hath preferred to your bande .4 Souldiours Folio 24. The Crosse of affliction The passion of Christ The Crosse that he died on And the materiall or mysticall signe of the Crosse Material to be erected in the church Mystical to be made vvith the finger in some partes of the body These be not many ye wote ye might haue kept tale of them But the first and the second as the word of God commendeth in dede and be most necessary for our saluation so wil you not deale withall they be to cumbersome for your company the thirde ye confusely speake of of which notwithstanding small commendation in the Scripture is founde The fourth which ought to strike the greatest stroke is not extant at all For neyther the material nor mistical Crosse in that sense that ye take them to that ende that ye apply them be once mencioned in the worde of God Wherefore ye might blotte out of your boke Scripture and take to your selfe some other succours or fight with a shadowe I néeded not to trouble my selfe about your third Crosse which is the piece of wood wherevppon Christ died both for bycause we haue it not and also you your self do not take it incident into your purpose to treate of Yet bicause ye make many gloses theron and apply to the signe the vertue propre to the thing it self it is not amisse to examine your folly First ye cite a place of Chrisostome Folio 13.2 ex Demonstratione ad Gentiles and for .3 leaues together although ye do not tell vs so much ye write an other mans wordes as your owne to prayse your pregnante wit But ye patch them and piece them ilfauoredly whatso euer séemes to make against you ye leaue out fraudulētly This is no playne or honest dealing In dede Chrisostome stoppeth many a gappe with you The comfort of your Crosse doth most rest in Chrisostome Chrisostome But Chrisostome was not without his faultes His golden mouth wherein he passed other sometime had leaden words which yelded to the error abuse of other I am not ignorant that in his dayes many euill customes were crept into the Church which in his works he reproueth not He praiseth such as went to the sepulchres of Sainctes He maketh mention of prayer To. 4 ad pop 66. In. 1. Cor. 16. Hom. 41. for the deade Monkerie he cōmendeth aboue the Moone In his tract of Penaunce beside many other absurdities when he had rehearsed many wayes to obtayne remission of sinnes as Almes Weping Fasting and such other he maketh no mention at all of fayth In his cōmentaries vpon Paul he sayth that Concupiscence vnlesse it bring forth the externe worke is no sinne Wherefore if he had sayde so much for the Crosse as ye misconster and more than accordeth with the glory of Christ I might lappe it vp with other of his errours and hauing the Scripture for me Chrisostome should be no president against me But I will not goe this way to worke I admit his authoritie but marke M. Martiall what his meaning is In the place that ye alleage for the Crosse he dealt with the Gentiles The marke that he shot at was to proue to them Quod Christus Deus esset that Christ was God as in the title appeareth Now bicause this punishment to be hanged on the gallowes was maruellous offensiue vnto the heathen nor they could thinke him to be a God the was executed with so vile a death Chrisostome therfore goeth as far in the contrary prouing that that which was a token of curse was now become the signe of saluatiō And bycause that they spake so much shame of the Crosse derogating therfore from him that was crucified the Christians to testifie by their outward facte their inward profession would make in euery place the signe therof This was the occasion that the mysticall Crosse crepte into custome But here is no place to entreate of that though you taking styll Non causam pro causa that which is impertinente for proufe of your matter confounde the same Notwithstanding Things vvel receued il cōtinued howe thinges receyued to good purpose as to the iudgement of man séemeth may afterward growe to abuse this signe of the Crosse sheweth That which was at the first a testimony of Christianitie came to be made a Magical enchauntment That which
in form likenesse of the other then is it somwhat that you haue sayd But if it were the preaching of the word as most certain it is which did so work in the heartes of men the refusing their errors they became to be faythful then you are a falsefier of the word M. Martial Learne you of me that preaching is that hand of God that standard of his whereby that merciful effect is wrought as wel in vs as in al other to be brought to the truth from blindnesse ignorance And if ye thinke scorne to learne of me learne of God himselfe who in the text before sayth that his mouth is a sharp sweard and that preaching is a chosen shaft had in the quiuer of the almighty For the word in operation is as forcible as a sweard it moueth it rauisheth it renueth men it pearceth to the heart it searcheth the secret places it entreth through as S. Paul sayth Heb. 4 euen vnto the deuiding asūder of the soule and of the spirits of the ioynts of the marowe and is a discerner of the thoughtes and the intentes of the heart neyther is there any creature which is not manifeste in his sight but al things are naked and open vnto his eyes with whome we haue to do This two edged sweard which God hath put in the mouth of man doth trye the force of things set against it It cutteth the corrupt affections from the heart It openeth the festered sores the pestilent impostumes of our ill desires It ouerthroweth the kingdome of Sathan It slayes his host sinne death and hell And as an arrowe which is past the bowe of a cunning archer can not be stayed by hand before it haue his lighting place so doth the word hold stil his constant course it maketh way whersoeuer it goeth it falleth as he willeth which is the onely directer of it But fall where it will it falleth with effect nor any man can withstand the blowe that it giueth If you can iustly ascribe any such piece of operation to the Crosse in your fourth signification then will I gladly giue place vnto you But whereas it is certayn that no work of man can alter the heart or once regenerate it to true pietie the standard that Esay the Prophet speaketh of maketh nothing for your purpose But S. Hierome ye say taketh your part for vpon that place he noteth Fol. 23. b. Vndoubtedly there is meant the banner or signe of the Crosse In dede s Hierome hath these words Haud dubium quin vexillum crucis vt impleatur illud quod scriptum est Laudibus eius plena est terra Which is as much to say as this No doubt but it shal be the ensigne of the Crosse that it may be fulfilled which is written The earth is ful of his prayses Here Hierome doth explicate himself what he doth meane by the ensigne of the Crosse the setting forth of the prayse of God which is not by setting of a Crosse on the altar but by preaching the crucified Christ vnto people The place of Ieremy the .iiij. maketh no more for the Crosse thā it doth for the Candlesticks For when the Prophet had spoken to the inhabitants of Iuda Ierusalem to be circumcised to the Lorde Ieremie 4 and cut of the foreskinnes of their infected heartes ne egrederetur tanquam ignis furor eius et accēderetur nemo extingueret least his wrath should go forth as fier and should be kindled and no man quench it He commeth further to declare the obstinacy of mennes hearts that by no meanes can be brought to goodnesse but seke by al meanes to auoyd the rewarde and plague of wickednesse Wherefore by an Ironye he sayth vnto them Blowe the trumpet in the land crie and gather together and say Assemble your selues and let vs go into strong cities Set vp the standard in Sion c. As if that he had sayde I knowe what you will doe when the wrath of God shall fall vpon you when your ennimies shall oppresse you you will not consider the cause thereof but you wil run to your strong holdes you wil arme your selues and stand at your defence you wil set vp your standard in Sion and thinke that you shall be safe there But it will not be so sayth the Lord Quoniam ego malum accersam ab Aquilone Bicause I wil bring a plague from the North. And truely there is no cause why Hierome in this place should runne to his Allegorie whereas there is so playne and sound a sense in the letter But if his Allegorie should take place let all go togither and it maketh agaynst you For his words be these Ingrediamur ciuitates munitas Haereticorum bella consurgunt Christi monumenta nos teneant Leuate signum Crucis in sublimitate ecclesiae Let vs enter into the walled cities The battayles of the Heretiques doe arise Let the munitions of Christ holde vs Lift vp the signe of the Crosse in the height of the Church Let me nowe aske you this question whether we must runne agaynst heretiques with a Crosse in our hande as I remember a priest of your facultie beat all his parishe with the Crosse staffe If this artillerie beate not downe heresies thinke that S. Hierome meante another thing that it is to say The signe of the Crosse in the toppe of the Church The preaching of the vvord in the prelates of the Church Nowe as for the signe of the sonne of man Math. 24. vvhich shall before the iudgement appeare in heauen Forsoth there is no certayne proufe that it shall be a Crosse For Chrisostome in his second exposition vpon the .xxiiij. Chapiter of Mathewe Hom. 49. sayth Quidam putant Crucem Christi ostendendam esse in caelo Verius autem est ipsū Christū in corpore suo habentē testimonia passionis id est vulnera lanceae clauorum vt impleatur illud quod dictum est Et videbunt in quem pupugerunt Some sayth Chrisostome thinke that the Crosse of Christ shall be shewed in heauen But it is truer that Christ himselfe shall appeare hauing in his body the testimonies of his passion that is to say the wounds of the speare and nayles that it may be fulfilled which was sayd And they shall sée him whome they pearced Nor onely contente with his owne censure he bringeth after a proufe of Scripture that the wordes cannot be spoken of the Crosse but of the body of Christ himselfe bicause the rest of the Euangelistes writing of the same matter doe only say Videbunt filium hominis venientem They shall sée the sonne of man cōming Whervpon he concludeth that al the Euangelists do shewe Signum Christi esse ipsum corpus Christi qui in signo corporis sui cognoscendus est à quibus crucifixus est That the signe of Christ is the body of Christ himself who in the signe of his body shal be knowen of them of
the land was inhabited And of the doings at New-hauen what an honorable peace insewed contrary to the wish and will of the enimies of God and of their countrey the Papistes we doe nowe féele thankes be to God and you can not denie But in the Catholique time as you call it what successe had you when Calleis and Guines so hardly wonne so long kept with such glory and gaine to the English name defended was easely in one .iij. dayes with shame lost More will I not rehearse of our desperate losses in that tyrannous interraigne I retourne to your visions Iulian Folie 33. a. as you cyte oute of Sozomenus had a shovvre of rayne that ouertooke him and euery drop that fell eyther vpon hys coate or any other that accompanyed him made a signe of the Crosse Agayne When the saide Iulian counsayled the Ievves to repaire the Temple of Ierusalem destroyed by the Romaines God to make them desist from that vvicked purpose of theirs caused the ground vvhere they had digged a great trench for the foundation to be filled vvith earth rising out of a valley And vvhen this notvvithstanding they continued their vvorke God raysed a great tempest of vvinde and skattred all the lime and sande vvhich they had gathered and caused a great earthquake and killed al that vvere not baptised and sent a great fyre out of the foundation and burned many of the laborers And vvhen all this nothing discouraged them a bright glittering signe of the healthfull Crosse appered in the element and the Ievves apparell vvas filled vvith the signe of the Crosse The application of these two histories which for this purpose I set out at large that they may the better be considered will make you glad to scrape them out of your booke For ye fare as a foole that walks in a net or as the children whose head being hidde they thinke their bodies can not be séene Although ye cast some shadowes ouer you and think that your head is hidde in an hole yet your eares be so long that they do bewray you When thus ye haue heaped vp as many mysticall figures of the Crosse as you and your learned Counsell can ye gather a fine conclusion of them that God vvilleth all hys Folio 34. highly to esteeme the thing vvhich those figures signified and to beleue that as those figures vvrought temporall benifites to the Israelites so the truthe that is the Crosse it selfe shall vvorke vnto his electe and chosen Children beleuing in hys Sonne Iesus Christ and hauing his signe printed in our foreheads the lyke benifits effectes vertues spiritually and much more greater First who tolde you that the truth of these figures was the Crosse it selfe vnlesse by a figure ye take the Crosse for the crucified Then that those figures wrought temporall benifites how can you proue Sure if they were causes of any good that came they were Causae stolidae as Tully calleth them meane and instrumentall causes as the Axe is cause of the wood cleauing and not efficient Thirdely if ye would haue concluded well Distinguenda fuissent ambigua those wordes that diuerslye may be taken should haue bene seuered into their diuers significations that we might haue knowne how to haue vnderstoode your mastership When ye ioyne the truth and the Crosse togither what Crosse can I tell you speake of If it be according to your promise afore the Crosse in the fourth signification for thereof ye saide you woulde onely entreate then is not your Crosse the truth it selfe but a figure still wheras ye couple the belief in Christ and hys signe printed in our foreheads togither what signe is that the Crosse with a finger If ye meane it so ye make an vnméete comparison the one being necessarye the other ydle and vnlawfull too This am I sure your meaning is by couert spéech to deceiue the simple and cause them to deriue the glory from the truthe and transferre it to the figure to haue in reuerence your idle signe and let the thing signified be forgotten As for the figures of the olde law marke what Tertullian sayth and thereby shall you learne a better meaning of them than your meane skill considereth Aduersus Martio li. 3. for thus he sayth Sacramentum mortis figurari in praedicatione oportebat quanto incredibile tanto magis scandalo futurum si nudè praedicaretur quantoque magnificum tanto magis adumbrandum vt difficultas intellectus gratiam dei quareret It behoued the Sacrament of the death of Christ to be sigured in preaching For how much more it is incredible so much more offensiue should it be if nakedly it had bene preached and by howe much it was more glorious so muche the more it was to be shadowed that the hardnesse of vnderstanding myght séeke for the grace of God So farre Tertullian But how little grace of God you haue in sticking still to the easie letter and neuer seking the glory of the death is to wel séene by your doings The signe of the Crosse was shewed to Constantine he was not yet become a Christian It was expedient to haue a miracle We doe professe great skill and knowledge and shall we not beleue without a signe That which was once done shall it be asked euer That which was commaunded to one alone shall it be drawne a president for all Folio 34. The signe of the Crosse vvas shevved to Cōstantine in his great anxietie ye saye to instructe vs that in all anxietie of minde and pensiuenesse of heart the Crosse of Christe shall be our comforte So farre I graunt And the signe you say to be a meane to ouerthrovv our enimies Where finde ye that God hath moe meanes of comforte then one he deliuereth his that are in daunger by diuers wayes We reade that when Alexander the great Iosephus li. 11. Ca. 8. for deniall of Tribute to be paid vnto him was vtterly in minde to destroy Hierusalem and was marching thither with an huge army which no power of theirs was able to resist Iaddus which was the chief bishop then put all his pontifical attire vpon him and caused the rest of his cleargy to doe the like and went forthe to méete the tyraunt so Alexander no soner saw him but he lighted frō his horse fell flat on the ground before him The lusty roysters that were about him meruailing at this so sodaine chaunge from wrath to worshipping from force of armes to submission and praier specially to a Priest wheras the Prince vainly supposed himself to be a God and where he minded before in heat of his displeasure vtterly to haue destroyed them nowe to become contrary to his nature an humble suppliant to them Alexander made answer thus When I lodged in Dio a Citie of Macedon such a personage as this of like stature like apparell in all poynts appered to me and willed me to set vpon Asia promising that he would guide me in the voyage and in
of humaine wisdome but in the shewing of the spirite and power The droppes of rayne that fell vpon Iulian made a printe of the Crosse in his garment and the rests Therefore say you it is necessary for euery man to be signed marked vvith the crosse But the Crosse noted them to be persecutors Ergo it is necessary for vs to be noted as persecutors Ye sée howe your owne examples kill you there is nothing that ye bring but maketh against you Ecclesi hist lib. 5. Oap 1. In dede Sozomenus writeth that some did interprete the Crosses on that sorte Christianorum doctrinam esse caelestem oportere omnes Cruce signari That the doctrine of christians was heauenly and that all men ought to be signed with the Crosse But God forbyd we should haue such occasion to be so marked For none were marked but such as had reueged their fayth So that the Crosse doth not alwayes portende goodnesse nor is the signe peculiar vnto Christians If the signe had bene of such force as ye make it Iulian the Apostata would not haue gone forwarde with his attempted mischiefe But forwarde he went though the Crosse continued on his coate styll Wherefore the Crosse is no proufe of vertue Folio 35. The same may be confirmed by the story that followeth For the glittering signe of the Crosse in the element the crossing of the Iewes coates when they would haue reedified their Hierusalem was but a token of Gods wrath and vengeaunce and although it was Signum salutaris Crucis the signe of the healthfull Crosse yet was it not healthfull to them that ware it but rather a testimonie of Gods iust iudgement agaynst them Wherfore as God miraculously did worke and vsed this signe to contrary effectes sometime for comforte sometime to dispeire sometime for the godly sometime to the wicked So muste we not contrary to reason gather an vniuersall onely of the one side and contrary to his will abuse it at our pleasure If it had bene alwayes graunted to the godly and to none but them If it had bene alwayes a signe of succour and not of destruction your argumente then should haue had some apparance of troth or likelyhode Nowe by your owne examples where the wicked onely be signed with the Crosse where the Crosse doth worke nothing but confusion the groundwork of your cause is miserably shaken and you be turned ouer in your owne trip Of all your examples ye inferre your owne fansy what you do thinke Gods meaning was to shew such signes of the Crosse both vnder the law and in the time of grace but of your meaning ye bring no proufe at all eyther out of Scripture or Doctours that ye bragge of Onely for vs your ydle supposall as you thinke may serue Louain hath licenciate you Goddes vvord the ground of religion to make what lies ye lust The substantiall groūd that I spake of before whervpon we ought to builde our religion is the worde of God without the which no facte of man no particular example can proue any thing Then if ye would haue the signe of the Crosse receyued into Gods seruice ye should as well proue Gods will therein and bring his direct authoritie to vs. It suffiseth not to say This vvas once so but rather to shewe This vvas vvel so nor any one example can binde vs now without expresse cōmaundement in Gods boke for it extending to vs during for euer But you deale with gods boke as Epiphanius reporteth of heretiques Qui multos decipiunt Contra Her Lib. 1. To. 2. per malè compositam dominicorum verborum adaptatorum sapientiā Which deceiue many by the wisedome of the Lords words ilfauouredly applied As if a man should take an Image of some notable personage liuely set forth and adorned wyth pearle stone and afterward shuld deface the counterfet of a man in it make a dog or a fox of it Then if he should remoue the iewels and garnishing of the one to the picture of the other and say to them that loke vppon it This is the picture of suche a man or suche and for proufe thereof would bring the pearle and stone so cunningly cowched would ye not think him to be a crafty fellowe and yet beleue him neuer a whitte the soner Euen so fare you For in steade of the texte ye bring forth a contrary misseshapen glose and then ye apparell it with a fewe pearles of Scripture applyed as wel as a precious Diamond to the picture of a grinning dogge And yet a dogge is but a dogge although he had a byshops beste Myter on his heade no more are you but leude liars for all the patch of truth sowed on your cloke of fables Bleare not therefore the peoples eyes deceiue not your selues learne the true seruice of God out of his worde and goe no further The Crosse of Christ is necessary for vs his death and passion is onely our ioy and comforte our life and our redemption but the materiall or mysticall signe thereof is more than nedeth to daungerous to be vsed We haue the worde the ordinary meane to leade vs into all truth we must not beside the word séeke signes tokens We haue the bodies what grope we after shadowes The ende of Ceremonies Ceremonies were giuen vnto the Iewes to be a mound as it were betwene the Gentiles and them to seuer the people of God from other not onely by inward things but also by outward that the people of God should be with in that inclosure the other without and these outward rytes and obseruaunces were an assurance vnto the Iewes that they were lawefull heires of the promise and not the Gentiles But Christ came into the worlde to gather one Church of both peoples and therefore pulled downe the wall that was betwene them Decretae ceremonialia The Decrées of Ceremonies Christ followed herein the pollicy of Princes which if they will gather into societie of one kingdome as it were diuers peoples they will take away the thinges that made the difference before diuersities of coynes and lawes So Christ minding to make one people of the Iewes and Gentiles vtterly did abolish all legall ceremonies And Paul compareth them to a hande writing whereby we be bounde to God that we can not stand in argument agaynst him and deny our debt But by Christ this debte is so remitted that the obligation is cancelled that hand-writing is put out as the Apostle sayth now whē the instrumentes are cut in pieces the obligations cancelled Colos 2. the debter is set frée which we haue purchased by Christes death Wherefore we reade that the vayle of the temple tare to the ende the people might vnderstand therby that their sinnes were remitted and they discharged from burden of the lawe But when the wicked and faythles nation continued after Christes death to exercise in the temple ceremonies which had their ende before and would thrust
he doth call it Stolidam arrogantem Synodum A doltish and a proude Synode And the decrée there made touching the adoratiō of Images which you M. Martiall do teach so stoutly Impudentissimam traditionem A most impudent and shamelesse tradition I refer you to the foure bokes of Carolus in which at large is set forth not only the vanity of those reuerend Asses which went about to establish Images but also the effect of the Councel of Frankford not vtterly abolishing which was their imperfection but playnly condemning the adoration and worship of them But in this case where Councell is agaynst Councell and necessary it is that one of them be deceyued which must we trust to I knowe that the latter age hath receyued the worse the seauenth of Nice But we must not follow the authoritie of men were they neuer so many but the directiō of God his spirit truth reuealed in his holy word What moued the faythfull to refuse the second of Ephesus willingly embrace the Councell of Chalcedon but that examining their decrées by Scripture they founde Eutiches heresie confirmed in the one which the other condemned So when the manifeste worde of God shall try where the spirite of God doth rest there must the credite there onely be giuen And to the ende that al readers hereof may vnderstand and sée what vanity there was in the Prelats of Nicene Coūcell what more than vanity is in the magnifiers of so mad a cōpany I wil set forth the allegations of the Image worshippers and the confutation which the seruantes of God made that euery man thereby may iudge so as the spirit of God shall leade him Car. Mag. Li. 1. Cap. 20. To. 2. Cō Concil Nice 2. and as himself shal sée good cause Fyrst of al their generall position was That the Images of Christ the virgin Mary other Saincts were sacred and holy therfore to be worshipped Hereto the Synode answered That the Antecedent the former proposition was false in as much as they are neyther holy in respecte of the matter wherof they be made nor of the colours that be layd vpon them nor yet for any imposition of hands nor by any canonical consecratiō Therfore they be not at al holy much lesse therfore to be worshipped Thē noble Iohn the legate of the Esterlings brought forth another reason God made man after his owne Image likenesse therfore Images are to be worshipped Hereto the catholikes iustly replied that he made a false argument Abignoratione Elenchi by applying that to Imageworshipping which made nothing at all to purpose For both out of Ambrose Augustine they proued that man is called the Image of God not for his externe shape which Images wel ynough may represent but for the inwarde man the minde the reason the vnderstanding vertues consonant to the wyll of God For Ambrose sayth Quod secundum Imaginem est In Psal 118. Ser. 10. non est in corpore nec in materia sed in anima rationabili That which is according to the Image of God is not in the body nor in the matter but in the reasonable soule Likewise Augustine Accedit vtcunque anima humana interior In Psal 99. homò recreatus ad Imaginem Dei qui creatus est ad Imaginem Dei The inwarde soule of man the newe borne man which is made after the Image of God commeth after a sorte néere vnto God his Image But that wheresoeuer a similitude and lykenesse is spoken of there is also an Image to be meant Octog triū quest ca. 74 Augustine disproueth Vbi similitudo non continuo Imago non continuo aequalitas c. Where a similitude or lyknesse is not by and by an Image not by and by equalitie So that the folly of him was great to abuse the scripture to so impertinent a purpose But the Nice masters procéede and say That as Abraham worshipped the sonnes of Heth Gen. 25. Exod. 18. Moses Iethro the priest of Madian so must Images be worshipped of men Hereto the Councell as Charles the president thereof affirmeth answered Dementissimū est Lib. 1. Cap. 9. ab omni ratione seclusum hoc ad astruendā Imaginā adoratione in exemplū trabere quod Abrahā populum terre Moses Iethro sacerdotē Madiā leguntur adorasse It is a thing of most madnesse and vtterly seuered from all reason to bring for example to confirmation of Imageworshipping that Abraham is red to haue worshipped the people of the earth and Moses Iethro the priest of Madian The Sainctes of God in token of their obedience and humilitie sometime haue bowed themselues haue shewed some piece of curtesie to such as pleased them and had authoritie in the earth But what is this for the honour done to a deade stocke Why is this example made to be general extending to all both quicke and deade both good and badde where as the Sainctes themselues sometyme abhorred this worshippe to be gyuen them sometime refused to giue it vnto other Imagines verò nusquam nec tenuiter quidem adorare conati sunt But as for Images they neuer attēpted in any place or in any so slender wise to worshippe them De Doctri Christ Li. 1. Cap. 1. Let them learne of Augustine that Abraham and Moses doing as they did were examples of humilitie not paternes of impietie Let them learne that there is no lesse diuersity betwene the worshipping of an Image and worshipping of a man than is betwene a lyuing man and a man paynted vpon the wall Let them learne howe loue reuerence and charitie towardes men is in the Scripture commaunded ofte The bowing the knéeling the seruice to an Image is in euery place forbydden and accursed The Papistes figure to make the Scripture serue their purpose But a familiar figure the Papists haue to make the Scripture to serue their faustes Acyrologiam which you may call Abusion Impropre speaches As where so euer in the Hebrewe texte they reade any worde that betokeneth Bowing Saluting Blessing they doe full wisely tourne it vvorshipping And is this honeste and vpright dealing Yet howe they dally on this sorte both with the worlde and with the worde of God the nexte allegation of theirs declareth Iacob suscipiens à filijs suis vestem talarem Ioseph Carol. Mag. de Ima li. 1. ca. 12. osculatus est eam cum lachrimis imposuit oculis suis Ergo. c. Which wordes in english according to their translation be these Iacob receyuing of his sonnes Ioseph his long garmente he kyssed it and wyth teares layde it vpon his eyes And therefore Images are to be worshipped And is not this a reason that might haue bene fette out of a Christmas pye Wil any man hereafter finde fault wyth Papists deprauing of the Scripture since they take thē leaue to make what Scripture they lyst Where finde they this texte in all the Bible that Iacob kyssed his sonnes
Roode nor Crucifix nor yet of mysticall signe on the forehead which are the onely matters that you take in hande to proue Loth woulde we be to cite hym for our part inasmuch as we depeÌ„de not vpoÌ„ mens iudgementes vnlesse he spake consonant vnto the Scriptures and brought better reason for other matters wyth hym than you or any other alleage for the Crosse For the trueth of an history we admyt him as a witnesse for vs for establishing of an error we wyl not admyt hym or any other to be a iudge agaynst vs. It suffiseth you to vse the name of Iustinian how small soeuer the matter be to purpose But I wyll bryng you for one two that not in doutful speach but in playne termes and vnder greuous paine haue decréed in all their seigniories and couÌ„treis a direct coÌ„trary order vnto yours Not that there was no Crosse theÌ„ vsed which might wel answere Iustinians case but that there should not be vsed any Petrê° Crinitê° ex libris Augustalibê° De honesta disc lib. 9. cap. 9. Doth make meÌ„tion of the law the same which Valens and Theodosius concluded on His wordes be these Valens Theodosius Imperatores praefecto Praetorio ad hunc modum scripsere Cum sit nobis cura diligens in rebus omnibus superni numinis religionem tueri signam saluatoris Christi nemini quidem concedimus coloribus lapide aliáue materia fingere insculpere aut pingere sed quocuÌ„que loco reperitur tolli tubemus grauissima poena eos mulctaÌ„do qui coÌ„trarium decretis nostris imperio quicquam tentauerint Valens and Theodosius Emperors wrote on thys sorte to their lieftenant Wheras in al things we haue a diligeÌ„t care to maintaine the religioÌ„ of God aboue we grauÌ„t libertie to none to couÌ„terfet engraue or paint the signe of our Sauiour Christ in colors stone or any other matter but wheresoeuer any such be founde we coÌ„mauÌ„de it to be taken away most greuously punishing such as shal atteÌ„pt any thyng coÌ„trary to these our decrées coÌ„mauÌ„demeÌ„t Here is another maner of order taken than out of any wryting of receaued author caÌ„ iustly be alleaged for your part In Cathech suo So that with Erasmus I may iustly say that not so much as mans constitution doth bynde the Images should be in Churches Ye sée M. Martiall I haue not coÌ„celed any one of your authorities I haue omitted no piece of proufe of yours yet authoritie being rightly scaÌ„ned doth make so much against you that your proufes be to no purpose at al. Folio 46. a As for the vse of that which you cal the Church is in dede the Sinagoge of Satan I néede as little to cumber the readers with refuting of as you do meddle with approuing of it Only this wil I say that euer synce Siluesters tyme such filth of Idolatry and superstitioÌ„ hath flowed into the most partes of al Christendom out of the sinke of Rome that he neded in dede as many eyes as Argus that should haue espyed any piece of sinceritie vntyl the tyme that such as your worship wisdom according to your catholike custom when the scalding spirite of scolding comes vpon you cal heretikes nuscreaÌ„tes began to reforme the decaied state Folio 46. b and bryng things to the order of the Church primitiue Apostolike Decr. 1. parte dist 3. parag veritate Wherfore if ye sticke vpon a custom consider your decree Nemo consuetudinem rationi veritati praeponat quia coÌ„suetudineÌ„ ratio veritas semper excludit Let no man prefer custome before reason truth bicause reasoÌ„ truth alwaies excludeth custome Parag. qui contempta And in the same distinctioÌ„ out of Augustine is alleaged thys Qui coÌ„teÌ„pta veritate praesumit coÌ„suetudineÌ„ sequi aut circa fratres inuidus est malignê° quibus veritas reuelatur aut circa deum ingratê° est inspiratione cuius ecclesia eius instruitur NaÌ„ dominus in Euangelio Ego sum inquit veritas noÌ„ dixit Ego sum coÌ„suetudo Itaque veritate manifestata cedat consuetudo veritati quia petrus qui circuÌ„cidebat cessit Paulo veritatem praedicanti igitur cuÌ„ Christus veritas sit magis veritatem quam consuetudineÌ„ sequi dedemus quia consuetudinem ratio veritas semper excludit He that presumâ—â— sayth Augustine to folowe custome the truth contemned either is enuious hatefull agaynst hys brethren De baptis paruulorum to whom the truth is reueled or vnthankfull vnto God by whose inspiration hys Church is instructed For our Lord in the gospell sayd I am the truth He fayd not I am custome Therfore wheÌ„ the truth is opened let custome geue place to truth for euen Peter that circumcised gaue place to Paul when he preached a truth Wherfore since Christ is the truth we ought rather to folow truth than custome bicause reasoÌ„ and truth alwayes excludeth custome Then be not offeÌ„ded good sir I pray you if folowing better reason than you haue grace to coÌ„sider more truth thaÌ„ is yet reueled to you we refuse your catholike scisme impietie Be not spitefull to theÌ„ that know more than your self Be not ingrate to God that in these latter dayes to knowleage of hys word hath sent more aboundaÌ„ce of hys holy spirite dwel not vpon your custome Bring truth I wil thanke you Speake reason I wyl credite you NoÌ„ annoruÌ„ canities est laudanda sed moruÌ„ Ambros. in epi. ad Theo. valent Folio 64. b In orat funebri de chitu Theodo Lib. 5. ca. 20 nullus pudor est ad milior a transire Not the aucieÌ„ty of yeres but of maners is coÌ„meÌ„dable no shame it is to passe to better The tale of the superstitious whom you call vertuous lady Helena I shal speake more of in the eyght Article Certain it is the superstitious she was as is proued afterward in the eight Article who would gad on pilgrimage to visit sepulchres c. Likewise CoÌ„stantinus her sonne was not throughly reformed For as Theodorete Theodoretê° Lib. 5 ca. 20. reporteth after he came to Christianity fana non subuertit he ouerthrew not the places of Idol worshippinges Wherfore it is no meruaile if they building Churches should haue some piece of GeÌ„tilitie obserued a Crosse or a Roode loft Yet where mention is made that Helena dyd fynde the Crosse we fynde not at all that she worshipped the Crosse Ambros. de obitu Theodosij but rather the contrary For Ambrose sayth Inuenit titulum regem adorauit noÌ„ lignum vtique quia hic GeÌ„tilis est error vanitas impiorum She founde the title she worshipped the king not the wood pardie for thys is an error of GeÌ„tilite and vanitie of the wycked And where we reade Euse de vita Const lib. 4. that Constantinus the great for hys miraculous apparition and good successe did greatly estéeme the Crosse graued it in hys
rose of ceremony Notwithstanding they squared styll For when Polycarpus came to Rome Anicetus beyng byshop there many quarels there were betwixt them well afterwarde composed but of this poynte they could not agrée Neque enim Anicetus Policarpo persuadere poterat ne seruaret quae cuÌ„ Ioanne discipulo domini nostri ac reliquis Apostolis quibuscuÌ„ fuerat conuersatus semper seruauerat Nec Policarpus Aniceto suasit vt seruaret qui sibi presbyteroruÌ„ quibus successerat consuetudineÌ„ seruandam esse dicebat Et cum ista sic haberent coÌ„munioneÌ„ inter se habueruÌ„t For Anicetus could not as Eusebius sayth wyn Policarpus that he should not kepe those thinges which with Iohn the disciple of our Lorde For diuersity in traditioÌ„s and ceremonies men not to be condemned the rest of the Apostles with whome he was conuersaunt hitherto he had kept Not Policarpus could persuade Anicetus to yelde vnto them who sayd that the custome of the elders whom he had succeded was to be kept of hym And whereas things stoode on thys sorte yet had they a communion betwixt them A worthy example for thys our age wherin such Victorines as you M. Martiall wyl by and by condemne of schisme heresy whosoeuer in traditions do not agrée with you These holy fathers dissented in opinion of the meane actions yet in the ende they ioyned and by the way frendly communicated We bicause we do not in opinion agrée bicause we go not against our conscience and the worde of God are accompted heretiques Act. 24. But after the way which you call heresy we worship the God of our fathers beleuing all thinges which are written in the lawe and Prophetes If so great offence hang vpon transgressing of Tradition we shall condemne all faythfull before vs all congregations and Rome it selfe Policarpus TraditioÌ„s hovv they varie Ireneus contra Her lib. 5 cap. 3. For it was a Tradition in Policarpus tyme to kepe Easter day somtyme on one day sometime on another And Ireneus reporteth of hym Hic docuit semper quae ab Apostolis didicerat quae ecclesiae tradidit sola sunt vera He taughte alwayes those thyngs that he learned of the Apostles and those he deliuered vnto the Church and they onely be true Yet you obserue the Easter on one day euer the Sunday as you call it It was a tradition in TertulliaÌ„s tyme Tertul. de corona militis to giue milke hony to Infantes at their Christening and thys he helde Apostolique yet you kepe it not It was a traditioÌ„ in Augustines Augustinê° Cassulano tyme that meÌ„ should not fast froÌ„ Easter to Whytsontyde yet you decrée the contrary It was a tradition in Cyprians Cyprian de lapsis tyme which Augustine also confirmeth that the Supper of the Lord should be ministred to InfaÌ„tes this was thought necessary to saluatioÌ„ yet you declyne froÌ„ this It was a tradition in Epiphanius tyme Epiphaninê° aduersus Aerium that for .vj. dayes before Easter men should eate nothing but bread drink with a little salt yet you obserue not thys It was a tradition in Basiles Basilius de Spir. Sanct. tyme which also Tertullian doth recorde the no man should serue God with bowing of the knée on the Sabboth day nor yet all the tyme from Easter to Whitsontyde yet you mislike with thys Wherfore sith Traditions honored with the name of the Apostles accompted of the fathers and doctors necessary do notwithstanding so often vary and you your selues in no wyse admyt them what reason is it that we should be condemned for refusall of the lyke which with lesse reason more inconuenience it pleaseth your selues to confirme and stablish I haue hitherto had in hand your .ij. fyrst poynts and stretching them a little they be broken both For neyther haue you proued sufficiently that they of the primitiue church vsed the signe of the Crosse themselues and counselled other to doe the like nor if it had bene proued it were sufficient to driue me to assent Nowe to the thirde that the sayed Crosse vvas erected in euery place althoughe in the thirde Article I haue in part declared the contrarye yet to your further proufe I must aunswere something And so fyrst to your Martialis Martialis though he were last founde after xiiij huÌ„dreth yeares sléepe odde sodaynly astarted I say king Arthur was a noble king he had .xij. knightes of the rounde table and whether Launcelot du lake were one of theÌ„ I do not wel remeÌ„ber but he was a Martial man too he was a doughty knight he did many worthy feates as it followeth in the texte Are ye not ashamed to vouch him to be one of the seauenty and two disciples Fol. 83. b. whome neyther they of the Apostles time nor they that succéeded after euer mentioned or knewe Seke for thys about the begiÌ„ning of the first Article Shall he nowe by miracle be raked out of a donghyll where he hath lyen a stinking .xiiij. hundreth yeares Shall we nowe disproue Eusebius and al other writers to make your matter good Yet to say the truth hys wordes without wringing or wresting at all be taken of soberer wyttes than your owne to importe much lesse than you doe talke of For we may haue the Crosse in a signe according to the words of Christ in his laste supper Doe this as oft as ye doe it in remembraunce of me though we haue not the signe of the Crosse Therefore you be forsworne once For ye fayd Folio 83. b In good fayth it could not be so But what shal I séeke for any truth of you who shauing your crowne haue shaken all honestie and fayth from you You wysh with a sigh alack good heart that the readers should see hovv in the time of Athanasius Folio 84. b Athanasiê° ChristeÌ„ men made Crosses like vnto the Crosse of Christ and adored the same I should here passe the boundes of modestie and iustly offende the good readers eares if I should aunswere according to your professed impudencie and shamelesse deseruing Thought you that your writing should neuer come to scanning Was it not inough for you to béelie them that be most vnlike you the ministers of the Church of Christ now liuing but that you would styll falsefie the Scriptures and make lies of the fathers Remember your writings your wordes are these Folio 84. a. Novve that it stayd not here but vvas set vp and had in reuerence in other places and other ages it appeareth by Athanasius vvho asking the question vvhy all faythfull Christen meÌ„ make Crosses lyke vnto the Crosse of Christ and make nothing lyke to the speare rede or sponge being holy as the Crosse ansvvereth and sayeth Crucis certe figuram Martial maketh .3 lies of Athanasius together ex duobus lignis componentes adoramus c. We certes makyng the figure of the Crosse of ij peces of vvood
he deputed it to holy vses serued in the tabernacle By which meanes it came to passe that al Israel went a whoring after it and it was the destruction of Gidion hys house So that we sée by Dauid by Peter by Iehosophat by Gideon that men of singuler graces otherwise sometime do fal into great absurdities are not to be drawen to imitatioÌ„ Which thing I speake vnto thys ende that you shal not say I condeÌ„ne your fathers as infidels idolaters although vnaduisedly they gaue too iust occasioÌ„ of such offence to other Yet wer it no deadly synne if I called Nicephorus and Gregory fabulous Paulinus Helena superstitious which as I haue already in part proued so were it easy to be confirmed But I had rather as meÌ„ excuse theÌ„ then as Gods followe them The Pharises dyd weare their philacteries their scrolles of parchemente vpon their long robes wherin the coÌ„maundements of God were written A iuster pretence had they to coÌ„tynue the Ceremony the word of God coÌ„maunding them that the the law shuld neuer depart froÌ„ their eies theÌ„ euer any had for pieces of the Crosse notwtstanding Christ reproued their hipocrisie Mat. 25. Luke 11. pronounced vpon theÌ„ the heauy woe Shall not thys be done vnto al them that for a vayne glory deuise a wylworshyp and ascribe their defence to a rotten stycke that onely dependeth on the prouidence of God If ye thynk the comparisons are not lyke the wryting of the commaundemeÌ„ts on the coate and inclosing a piece of the Crosse in golde theÌ„ reade what Hierome sayeth lay down affection and to condemne your error speake out your conscience hys wordes are these NoÌ„ intelligeÌ„tibus pharisais quod haec in corde portaÌ„da suÌ„t Hierom. in â—â—â—â—lat noÌ„ in corpore alioquin armaria arce habent libros notitiam Dei noÌ„ habent Hoc apud nos superstitiosae milierculae in paruulis EuaÌ„gelijs in crucis ligno istiusmodi rebus quae habent quidem zelum del fèd non iuxta scientiam vsque hodie factitaÌ„t Culicem liquantes camelum glutientes Where the Pharisées vnderstoode not sayth S Hierome that the commaundementes are to be caryed in the heart and not in the body For otherwyse studies and chestes haue bokes and haue not the knowledge of God Thys do superstitious women to thys day with vs in little gospels and pieces of the Crosse and such other thynges which haue the zeale of God but not according to knoweleage strayning a gnat and swalowing a camell Here doth S. Hierome compare together the broade philacteries and little pieces of the Crosse he calleth them the pharisées hipocrisie and these to be wemens superstitious folly he grauntith theÌ„ both a zeale of God but neyther accordyng to knowledge And so lyttle dyd he esteme the reliques of the Crosse so fonde a thyng he thought it to be inclosed caryed or worshipped of any that he would not attribute the folly vnto meÌ„ which ought of congrueÌ„ce haue more discretioÌ„ but superstitiosis mulierculis to suche as your olde mother Maukins are And sith you vrge authoritie so much who is more to be credited Helena a silly woman or Hierome a learned maÌ„ Nicephorus a suspect writer or Hierom a receyued doctor of the Church Paulinus a bishop or Hierome as you say a Cardinall Gregory a Pope or Hierome a Sainct canonised They caryed they sent they reuerenced little pieces of the Crosse But he condemnes it as more than a womaÌ„nish superstition as strayning of a gnat and swalowing of a Camel And whereas ye cyte Chrysostome Fo. 90. b. Chrisostom in Dem. ad Gentiles that suche as could get any piece of the Crosse inclosed the same in golde as vvell men as vvomeÌ„ and made it mete for their neckes It is not to be thought that thys he spake as a prayse of the parties but a practise of the tyme. For Hierome and he liued both in one age and then wer men to much addicted to such idle toyes If ye aske me then why Chrisostome dyd not in the same place disproue the fact I answere that he had to do with the heathen which caught occasion of euery mans priuate doing to bring the religion of Christ in obloquy Therfore it was no wisdome for Chrisostome to haue reueled the shame of Christians Which myght haue hyndered hys cause very much and discouraged the other froÌ„ comming to the fayth My selfe if I should conuert an infidell would not vncouer the shame of Papistes but hyde it what I could assured of thys that there is no Turke nor Sarazin in the world that wyll forsake hys own Idolatry to fall into a worse of Popery So that it was not without good consideration the Chrisostome so cleanly dyd excuse the fact which he lyked not that he myght not offend theÌ„ whoÌ„ he sought to wyn Thynke you that a Iewe can be brought froÌ„ confideÌ„ce in hys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name of God writteÌ„ in foure letters if he chance to sée a sory piece of wood had in lyke reuerence They were wont to inclose that in gold euen so do you pieces of the Crosse They thought themselues safe froÌ„ all perils by it euen so do you by thys And is there any hope that the Iewes can thinke wel of the religion which coÌ„demneth their superstitioÌ„ about the name of God had in such reuerence among them that they dare not presume with tong to vtter it and vseth a worse about a piece of wood May we not suspect that there is some piece of truth more than we are ware of some piece of secret operatioÌ„ as Serenus Salmonicus doth write in the word of ABRACADABRA to heale one of the feuer if a splinter of a rotteÌ„ post against all kynd of mischief sufficiently may defende vs I maruell not now that your soule priest in the tower was founde with hostes hanging aboute hys necke in a silken purse Ad pop Antio Ho. 21. if a piece of wood haue such power to saue vs. I doubt not but shortly you wyll also bryng in aurea Alexandri numismata the golden coynes of Alexander of which Chrisostom speaketh to tye to your féete S. Iohns gospels to hang about your neckes These superstitions these witcraftes Chrisostomê° In caput Mat. 23. Hom. 43. and sorceries were vsed in Chrisostomes tyme and are not yet forsakeÌ„ of some But what Chrisostome thought of them and of such reliques as you do talke of appeareth in hys seconde exposition vpon Mathew Where he expostulateth with the priests for their philacteries and gospels saying Dic sacerdos insipiens nonne quotidie Euangelium in ecclesia legitur auditur ab hominibus Cui ergo in auribus posita euangelia nihil prosunt quomodo eum poteruÌ„t circa collum suspensa saluare Deinde vbi est virtus EuaÌ„gelij in figuris literarum aut in intellectu sensuum Si in figuris bene circa
Si angeli sacrificia sibi petant fieri adhibuerint signa ac è diuerso alij testeÌ„tur vni Deo sacrificaÌ„dum neque vlla miracula fecerint ijs vtique non illis credere oportet If Angels require sacrifice to be done vnto them and worke signes with all and contrary wyse some other testifie that Sacrifice must only be made to God and yet doe no miracles we must beleue these and not them And in an other place concerning the Maniches he sayth Signa vt vobis credatur nulla facitis Contra faustum quamuis si ea faceretis vobis credendum non esset Ye worke no miracles sayth Augustine to the Maniches whereby ye may induce vs to beleue you though if ye dyd worke such we ought not therefore to credit you And so say I to you M. Martiall you say the Crosse is able to doe thys and that we sée it not no miracles ye worke and yet if ye dyd so straunge thynges as ye talke of we were not bounde to beleue your doctrine For miracles alone are not sufficient Miracles alone no proufe of doctrine to coÌ„firme and stablish vs in a ryght fayth First of all by the lyne of Scripture we must examine the doctrine that is taught vs then if it do agrée to that we must beleue it yea though we haue no miracle at al but if miracles do come beside theÌ„ are the beleuers more established and such as yet do not beleue be made the more attente to heare and haue a way made for them to come to the fayth Wherfore in some condition they be like to Sacraments Miracles in some part lyke to Sacramentes For both are added as assurances to promises as seales to wrytinges And as Sacramentes do bryng no comfort vnlesse they be receiued by fayth so miracles do not auayle except we haue first a regarde to doctrine In this diuersity to make no difference is ouersight to commend the worse and omit the better is falshode Folio 99. a. You are you say in a great perplexitie vvhere ye shal begin as he that sytteth at a table furnished vvith many delicate dishes vvhereof he shal first taste And I maruell that you so fine a féeder will fall to your crambe Ye are come to a garden set rounde about vvith fresh fragrant flovvers yet ye gather but an handfull of nettels for vs to smell vnto Christ by the touch of his hand spettle of his mouth by a playster of dyrt as you call it healed the sicke opened the eares of the deafe restored the eyes of the blinde And why should not the dyrte of the streats be aswell honoured as the Crosse of the altare since the Scripture doth commende the dyrte but maketh no mention at all of the Crosse since better proufe we haue of miracle wrought by the one than euer can be made for the other If any external meanes Thre reasons vvhy miracles shuld not make for the crosse whereby strange wonders haue come to passe be to be had in admiratioÌ„ why not such as Christ and his Apostles vsed the Scripture mentioneth rather than the ydle deuise of man whereof there is no lawful president Agayne if your assertion were true that miracles vvere vvrought by the signe of the Crosse yet were they not only by the signe of the crosse and therefore the Crosse onely according to your treatise should not without the rest be magnified Last of all if it were true as ye shall neuer proue that such things as you alleage were done sometime by the signe of the Crosse yet this can be no reason why the Crosse shuld now be had in estimation vnlesse ye will haue all meanes and instruments of wonders heretofore wroughte as the hem of Christes garmente the spettle and the clay the shaddowe of Peter and napkin of Paule to be likewise honoured and estéemed of vs. But let me come to rehearsal of your miracles Among theÌ„ this is the fyrst And bycause I will haue your truth in allegations appeare I will put it downe as you haue written it Martiall worde for worde in order At vvhat time the vertuous Lady Helena vvilled as the story mentioneth by reuelation from God Euseb li. 10 Cap. 7. .8 Eccl. Histo. to seeke the Crosse of Christ in Hierusalem fouÌ„d after long digging in the mount of Caluary thre Crosses so confuse that neyther by the title that Pilate set vp in Hebrevve Greeke and Latine neyther by any other means they could discern vvhich vvas the Crosse that bare our sauiour Christ a noble vvoman of the city consumed and spent vvith long sickenesse did he at deathes dore c. Ye note for your credite in the margent the place whence ye haue the story and that you affirme to be out of Eusebiê° his ecclesiasticall historie the tenth boke the seauenth and eyght Chapters Martial belyeth Eusebius But this is a shamefull lye For Eusebiê° hath no such worde And this is a better proufe of the vanitie of your historie that where Eusebius in his third boke de vita Constantini maketh mention of Helena and the place it selfe of Christes sepulchre which by the Emperors commaundement was cleansed yet he speaketh not a word of this miraculous inuention of the Crosse Yet he liued at the same time and was more likely to knowe a truth than other Ye be to blame therfore to belye Eusebius In déede Ruffinus in his first boke seauenth Chapter hath the like that ye talke of But what may be iudged of the story shal afterward appeare And firste for the vertue of Ladye Helena thoughe I woulde be gladde to speake as much good of my countrey-woman as I can yet she was a concubine by your leaue to Constance as it apeareth in Catalogo Caesarum Cap. 1. which is inserted into the Ecclesiasticall history Likewise S. Ambrose Ambros de obitu Theodosij calleth hir StabulariaÌ„ a woman brought vp in an hostrie And as for hir superstition which in part I haue touched before it is too euident But whatsoeuer she was let vs goe to hir facte If she found the Crosse a time was when she found it and the same must be after hir conuersion when Siluester was byshop of Rome For otherwise she could not be so vertuous and religious as ye talke of And Nicephorus Nicephorus Li. 7. ca. 40. affirmeth that by Siluester she was conuerted to the fayth For which cause the author whose credite in this tale ye followe doth write the Inuention of the Crosse to haue bene in the raigne of Constantinus the greate But what sayth your Popeholy lawe to thys Reade your decrée In Decre de Consec di 3. Cap. Crucis Eusebius Papa Crucis Domini nostri Iesu Christi quae nuper nobis gubernacula sanctae Romanae ecclesiae tenentibus quinto nonas Maij inuenta est Eusebius the Pope The Crosse of our Lorde Iesus Christ which of late was
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