Hierosolymis adorabitis Patrem Sed venit hora nunc est quando veri adoratores adorabunt in Spiritu Veritate Item Si locus facit ad Orationem cur Heremitae antiquitus in locis abditis habitantes Ecclesias non habebant Cur etiam Sacramenta effectum suum habent etsi non celebrantur in loco qui dicitur Ecclesia Item quid operantur Parietes ad supplicandum ei qui ubique est cum in uno loco non magis sit quam in alio Christum etiam in montibus locis desertis legimus orasse non in locis orationi dedicatis Item estne fructuosior oratio quae fit in Templo quam illa quae fit in agro si par fuerit devotio There be some who affirm that the Church is not a material Place but an holy Assembly of Believers for say they Place is not of any concern to Prayer because as God is every where so he may every where be worship'd and pray'd to This they endeavour to prove by the Authority of Christ saying to the Samaritan Woman Woman believe me the hour comes when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor at Jerusalem worship the Father but the hour comes and now is when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth Again If the Place be any furtherance to Prayer why had not the Hermits of old who liv'd in desert Places their Churches to pray in Or how can the Sacraments be of any efficacy when they are not celebrated in the Place call'd a Church Again What do Walls help us to pray to him who is every where and not more in one Place than he is in another We read also that Christ went aside to Mountains and desert Places to pray and not to Places appointed for Prayer Again Is the Prayer that is perform'd in the Church of more efficacy than that which is offer'd up in the Field supposing the Devotion of both to be alike Against the Prayers that are made to Saints they objected as follows Dicunt etiam Heretici quidam Orationes Sanctorum non prodesse vivis nec vivorum orationes mortuis probare etiam videntur quod Sancti non orant pro vivis qui sciunt qui sint salvandi vel damnandi pro illis autem quos sciunt salvandos non orant quia superflua esset eratio quia sive orent sive non salvabuntur Si vero orarent pro damnatis non assequerentur quod petunt ita beati non essent beatus enim est cui omnia optata succedunt Item Quilibet judicabitur secundum opera sua non aliena merita nec pro alienis meritis reddetur ei ideo orationes Sanctorum non prosunt vel quantum ad meritum vel quantum ad praemium quia non augent merita vel praemia Item Sancti non sunt in loco merendi sed recipiendi ergo orationibus nec aliis bonis merentur sibi vel aliis Item In Evangelio Lucae legitur Quod Abraham dixit animae Divitis quae erat in inferno Magnum Chaos firmatum est inter nos vos ubi Chaos nihil aliud vocavit nisi dissimilitudinem bonorum malorum tantam ut etiam sancti damnatis non compatiantur Si vero non compatiantur nec orant pro eis Some Hereticks also assert that the Prayers of Saints are of no use to the Living nor those of the Living to the Dead That the Saints do not pray for the Living they prove thus Because the Saints knowing who shall be saved and who damned they can not pray for those they know shall be saved since their Prayers would be superfluous seeing whether they pray or no they will be saved but should they pray for those that shall be damned they would not obtain what they pray for and so would not be happy for he is only happy who has all his Desires Again Every one shall be judged according to his Works and not according to the Merits of another neither shall any Man receive according to the Merits of other Men and therefore the Prayers of the Saints profit nothing either in regard of Merit or Reward because they cannot encrease either a Man's Merit or Reward Again The Saints are not in a Place where they can merit but only where they receive and therefore by their Prayers or other good Works can neither merit any Good for themselves or for others Again We read in the Gospel of St. Luke that Abraham said to the Soul of the rich Man that was in Hell There is a great Gulf fixed between us and you where by Gulf he means nothing else but the Disagreement there is between the Good and the Wicked which is so great that the Saints are neither sensible nor have any compassion for the Damned now if so neither can we suppose that they pray for them At last He attributes to some of them the Belief that it is unlawful to eat Flesh upon very ridiculous Grounds but such as have nothing common with the Doctrine of the Manichees It seems to me to be evident from this Book of Alanus 1 st That he owned there were several sorts of Hereticks in the Country of the Albigenses Manichees or Cathari who rejected the principal Articles of the Christian Religion 2 dly Another sort of People who renounced all the chief Doctrines of the Romish Religion which the Protestants rejected afterwards And since he quotes no Author in particular it is obvious to judg that he made but small Distinction of the Nature of the several Objections which he pretends to refute and which he had frequently assigned to the Albigenses in general which without doubt ought not to be attributed but to some of them and which possibly and very probably too was only taken up from the Mouths of the common People amongst them by those who had a Design to expose them CHAP. XVII The Calumnies raised against the Albigenses refuted by the Conference at Montreal THose who will reflect a little upon the Innocence of the Primitive Christians and the horrid Slanders cast upon them will not be much surpriz'd to see the Innocence of the Albigenses attack'd after the same manner The Devil having found this Method succeed in the first Beginnings of Christianity was not so careless of his Interest to forget to employ the same against those who opposed themselves to the Corruptions which he had introduced and which he was willing to substitute instead of the Religion of Jesus Christ He made use of the same Method against those of the Reformed Religion Whoever reads the Writings of the Jesuits shall find that they have accused our Reformers of the same Heresies which the Devil rais'd to put a stop to the progress of Christianity The Jesuit Gauthier alone may be a sufficient Witness hereof in his Chronological Table and we may well say that in this Point he hath at least equaliz'd the Impudence of
be given for you and this is my Blood which shall be shed for many for the Remission of Sins But it is plain that Charlemain understands by the Word Image a Prototype like the Shadows of the Law with respect to which it is true what many of the Fathers have said that the Sacraments of the New Testament are the Body and the Truth though otherwise considered as Sacraments they are sacred Signs which cannot be confounded with the things signified by them without renouncing the Light of common sense Moreover we are to observe that Charlemain never said that the Eucharist is properly the Body of Jesus Christ If he denies Jesus Christ to have said concerning the Eucharist this is the Image of my Body taking the Word as a Prototype and a Shadow of things to come yet he always holds that it is his Body in a Sacramental Sense for he never speaks of the Eucharist as the Body of our Lord without adding the Restriction of Sacrament or of Mystery If saith he he hears the Mystery of the Body and of the Blood once mentioned and twice together he hath bestowed upon us the Sacrament of his Body and of his Blood And lastly the Mystery of the Body and of the Blood cannot be called an Image Now the Word Mystery according to the constant Use of the Church properly signifies the Symbol the Figure the sacred Sign of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Lastly We ought to observe that though he says that the Sacrament is the Body of Jesus Christ yet he never saith that it ought to be adored Indeed he ought to have drawn up an Impeachment against these Worshippers of Images upon this Article and a very important one too because it is very evident that the Greek Worshippers of Images did not adore the Eucharist but gave only a simple Veneration to it like to that which they bestowed upon the Cross the Altar and the Gospel as one of their Authors tells us in a Book which they call An Invective of the Orthodox against the Opposers of Images printed at the Louvre in 1685. in the Collection of Authors who have writ since Theophanes CHAP. IX The Faith of the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon in the Ninth Century CHarlemain that great Man who lived till the Year 814. maintained the Spirit of Opposition against the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome that espoused the Interest of the Image-Worshippers by approving the second Council of Nice This Council having established the Authority of Tradition as being a necessary Principle to support the Worship of Images we find that the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon kept themselves firmly to the Authority of the Scriptures grounding their Faith thereon and regulating their Worship according to the same Of this we have an illustrious Example in the Council of Arles assembled in the Year 813 by the Order of Charlemain whereat the Arch-bishop of Narbon assisted with his Suffragans For the Fathers of this Council thought fit to begin it with a Profession of their Faith which is nothing but an Extract of that Creed which bears the Name of Athanasius and this is that which they ordain should be preached to the People for the Catholick Faith without so much as mentioning one Word of those Articles of Faith that the Church of Rome now imposeth Charlemain had ordered a Collection of Homilies to be made out of the Works of Origen St. Ambrose St. Chrysostom St. Jerom St. Augustin St. Leo St. Maximus St. Gregory and Bede which he caused to be published in these Diocesses as well as the rest of his Empire now these Homilies do so strongly oppose the most part of those Novelties which were then endeavoured to be introduced that this Book for a long time served as a Bar to hinder People from leaning too much towards those things that incline Men to Superstition There is no Protestant in the least versed in the Matters of Controversy who seeing the Names of those ancient Doctors comprized in this Collection will not remember how much these Fathers have opposed themselves to a Multitude of Corruptions which prevailed at last by the factious Endeavours of some of the latter Popes wherefore I may excuse my self from making an Extract of this Collection choosing rather to produce other Witnesses which the same Diocess affords us concerning the Faith of these Diocesses in the ninth Century I can only produce three or four but to recompense the smallness of their Number they are Men against whose Authority the most contentious Adversaries will have nothing to oppose In the first place it is certain that as the Bishops of Aquitain and Narbon had set themselves against the Superstition and Idolatry of the Greeks and the Pope in the matter of Images at the Council of Francfort so their Successors imitated their Zeal and Vigor in the Synod at Paris in 824 upon the same Question where they determin'd that Pope Adrian who had writ an Answer to the Book of Charlemain and therein undertaken the Defence of the second Council of Nice had made use of in the said Reply superstitious Testimonies and not at all to the purpose answering what he thought fit and not what was agreeable And besides they drew up a new Collection of great Numbers of Arguments against this superstitious Worship to recal Pope Paschal and those of his Party from their doating on Images We can shew further that the same Zeal was continued in this Diocess Baluzius hath acknowledged and so has Massonus before him that the Book of Agobardus Arch-bishop of Lions concerning Pictures expresseth no more than the general Opinions of the Bishops of France and Germany concerning this Point But it may not be amiss to quote it in particular not only to shew what were the Opinions of the Churches of Aquitain and Narbon because though he was born in Spain yet he had continued for a long time in Aquitain whither he was invited because of the general Esteem he had gained to be the Coadjutor to Leidradus Arch-bishop of Lions to whom he succeeded but also because it appears by his Works that the most illustrious Bishops of Gallia Narbonensis carefully consulted him in Matters of Difficulty as their Master being indeed a most famous Doctor able to instruct and inform them 1. He declares as St. Augustin did before him that we can never equalize the Authority of any Interpreter whatsoever to that of the Apostles Concerning Expositors also St. Austin hath delivered That we are to hold far otherwise than you do whom not only in his Book which he hath writ against Faustus the Manichee concerning those who have been blamed by the Doctors yea the best of them speaks thus which sort of Writings that is to say Expositions are not to be read with a Necessity of believing but with a Liberty of judging for those Books only that are of Divine Authority are to be read not with a Liberty of
dead Bodies to be unclean as if Christians still lived under the Law Whereas Vigilantius blamed the Custom of honouring them in the Churches because it was a piece of Superstition in a Place dedicated to religious Worship to bestow any Veneration upon Creatures though the most holy and most excellent that might be St. Jerom is forced to prevaricate upon this Charge his way of defending this matter is such as would never please the Palat of the Church of Rome Nos autem non dico Martyrum reliquias sed ne Solem quidem Lunam non Angelos non Archangelos non Cherubin non Seraphim omne nomen quod nominatur in praesenti saeculo in futuro colimus adoramus ne serviamus Creaturae potius quam Creatori qui est Benedictus in saecula Honoramus autem reliquias Martyrum ut cum cujus sunt Martyres adoremus honoramus servos ut honor servorum redundet ad Dominum qui ait qui vos suscipit me suscipit Ergo Petri Pauli immundae sunt Reliquiae ergo Moysi corpusculum immundum erit quod juxta Hebraicam veritatem ab ipso sepultum est Domino quotiescunque Apostolorum Prophetarum omnium Martyrum Basilicas ingredimur toties Idolorum templa veneramur accensique ante tumulos eorum cerei Idololatriae insignia sunt But we neither worship nor adore I do not say the Relicks of Martyrs but not so much as the Sun and Moon c. nor any Name that is named in this World or in that which is to come lest we should serve the Creature rather than God who is blessed for ever But we honour the Relicks of the Martyrs in worshipping him whose they are we honour the Servants that their Honour may redound to the Lord who saith He that receives you receives me What are the Relicks then of Peter and Paul unclean Is the Body of Moses unclean which according to the Hebrew Truth was buried by the Lord himself and as often as we enter the Churches of the Apostles Prophets and Martyrs do we worship the Temples of Idols and shall we say that the Tapers which burn before their Monuments are the Marks of Idolatry What a fine Application doth St. Jerom make here of that Passage He that receives you receives me and how solid an Answer doth he return to a solid Objection when he tells us We honour the Servants in worshipping him whose they are What a Consequence is this Is there any other Honour due to Relicks besides that of being interred Was not this the Custom used to the Christians of old before the time of Constantius It is well enough seen that the good Father skips over the Difficulty and under a general Protestation of worshipping nothing but God he endeavours to shelter a Custom which had been introduced after the Emperor Constantius's time that is to say about 60 Years before Vigilantius blamed the Custom which but a little before had been introduced of lighting Tapers before the Tombs of Martyrs and passing the Night by them in Prayer wherein he followed the Maxims of the Council of Elvira held under the Empire of Constantine about 90 Years before After what manner doth St. Jerom refute these Complaints of Vigilantius he tells us of the Presence of the Angels at the Grave of Jesus Christ he relies upon the Example of the Apostles who buried the Body of St. Stephen He produceth the Custom of Daniel and the Apostles who spent the Night in Prayer and all this without doubt extreamly to the purpose and the Protestants are much in the wrong to prefer the Opinions of Vigilantius to such solid Reasonings as these But it may be replied That St. Jerom disputed only slightly and for Argument's sake in his Epistle to Riparius not having then seen the Writing of Vigilantius and therefore handled the matter only as a Declaimer This indeed is the best Excuse that can be alledged to make the Reader digest the furious Transports and Invectives of this famous Monk who treats Vigilantius no otherwise than as another Julian the Apostate and seems very willing to have had him destroyed by the Law mentioned in the 13 th of Deuteronomy And after all this St. Jerom is the same in his Book against Vigilantius which follows this Epistle After a Preface which out-does all the Monsters that either the Scripture or Fables speak of he begins thus Exortus est subito Vigilantius seu verius Dormitantius qui immundo spiritu pugnet contra Christi spiritum Martyrum neget sepulcra veneranda damnandas dicat esse Vigilias nunquam nisi in Pascha Alleluja cantandum continentiam Haeresin Pudicitiam Libidinis seminarium quomodo Euphorbus in Pythagora renatus esse perhibetur sic in isto Joviniani mens prava surrexit ut in illo in hoc Diaboli respondere cogamur insidiis Here is suddenly started up one Vigilantius or rather Dormitantius who with an unclean Spirit fights against the Spirit of Christ and denies that any Veneration ought to be given to the Sepulchres of Martyrs condemns the Watchings at them affirms that Alleluja's ought to be sung at no time except Easter calls Continence Heresy and Chastity the Nursery of Lust so that as Euphorbus was said to be born again in Pythagoras in like manner in him seems to be revived Jovinianus's Wickedness in whom as we were forced to oppose our selves against the Wiles of the Devil so likewise are we now equally obliged to oppose this Man's Errors What Ciceronian Eloquence is this What a strange Account of things is here But there is something worse behind see what Stories he tells of Jovinian Ecclesiae Authoritate damnatus inter Phasides aves carnes suillas non tam emisit spiritum quam eructavit iste Caupo Callaguritanus in perversum propter nomen viculi mutus Quintilianus Miscet aquam vino de pristino artificio suae venena perfidiae Catholicae fidei sociare conatur impugnare virginitatem odisse pudicitiam in convivio saecularium contra sanctorum Azemia proclamare dum inter phialas philosophatur ad placentas liguriens Psalmorum modulatione mulcetur ut tantum inter Epulas David Idithum Asaph filiorum Core cantica audire dignetur Surely the good St. Jerom did not think of what he said so extreamly was he transported with an inconsiderate Zeal for Celibacy but however this Zeal of his had a reasonable Motive Prohnefas said he This is the first Heresy of Vigilantius he would have it allowed to Ministers to marry whereas in the ten Provinces subject to the Pope in the seventeen Provinces of the Jurisdiction of Ephesus and in the five Provinces of Egypt they followed a contrary Custom This without doubt was a crying Heresy and yet it appears from the Decretal of Pope to Hymerius Bishop of Tarracona that it had made so little Impression upon the Minds of Men that Innocent I. was fain to write
two things very clearly 1 st That at that time they kept the Bread of the Eucharist in a Casket or Coffer so far were they from making it an Object of their Adoration 2 d That the mingling only of the Bread that was consecrated before with the Wine that was not consecrated made them look upon the Wine though not consecrated by the Words of Jesus Christ as the Blood of Jesus Christ which is the most extravagant and sensless Notion in the World if we suppose that these Fathers were season'd with the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which attributes to the Words of Christ only the Virtue of changing the Substance of the Wine into the Substance of the Blood of Christ Allatius takes a great deal of pains to avoid this Argument which shews that the Greek Church that believes the same cannot be of the Faith of the Church of Rome In the mean time the thing is certain and Mabillon has ingenuously acknowledged that this is the true sense of that Canon And indeed there are many Proofs that make it evident that both the Greek and Latin Fathers were of this Opinion Salonius one of the most famous Bishops of Gallia Narbonensis owns no other Doctrine but that of the Old and New-Testament Drink Waters out of thine own Cistern and running Waters out of thine own Well S. By Cistern he means the Catholick Doctrine that is that of the Old and New-Testament and by the Well he understands the Depth and Height of the same Catholick Doctrine that is the various meanings of holy Scripture For in these Words he teacheth us to beware of the Doctrine of Hereticks and to attend to the reading of Holy Scripture He will have the Author 's Meaning and not Tradition to be the Explication of Scripture Do not remove the antient Land-marks or Bounds which thy Fathers have set S. By the antient Bounds he understands the Bounds of Truth and Faith which Catholick Doctors have plac'd from the beginning He would have no Man therefore receive the Truth of Holy Faith and Gospel-Doctrine any otherwise than it hath been handed down to them by the Holy Fathers and likewise commands that no Man interpret the Words of Holy Scripture otherwise than according to the Intention of each Writer He doth not own the Apocrypha How many Books did Solomon publish S. Three only according to the number of their Titles Proverbs Ecclesiastes and Canticles V. What doth Solomon say in the Proverbs or what doth he teach in Ecclesiastes and his Songs He assigns but two Places whither the Soul goes immediately For by the Tree Man is understood because every Man is as it were a Tree in the Wood of Mankind by the South which is a warm Wind is signified the Rest of Paradise and by the North which is cold is signified the Pain of Hell and the meaning of it is Wheresoever Man prepares a Place for his future abode if to the South when he falls that is dies he shall abide to all Eternity in the Rest of Paradise and the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven He makes it the greatest Absurdity that a Man should eat his own Flesh which yet follows from the Doctrine of Transubstantiation But that Expression He eats his own Flesh is spoke by an Hyperbole V. What is an Hyperbole S. When any thing is exprest that is incredible V. How is this exprest hyperbolically he eats his own Flesh S. Because it is incredible that any Man should eat his own Flesh but to aggravate the slothfulness of this Fool he saith that he eats his own Flesh to shew that a Fool rather desires his Flesh should waste by Hunger and be consumed by the Misery of Want than to support it by the labour of his Hands These are all Maxims concerning divers important Articles very different from the present Maxims of the Church of Rome I grant that Prosper who was a Native of Aquitain was no more than a Lay-man but he was in so great a Reputation that there were but few Bishops of his time that have shewn more Knowledg or exprest more Zeal for the defence of Truth than he did This Testimony is given of him by Cassiodorus Photius and Vasquez Wherefore his Testimony concerning the Faith of his Country must be of great weight with us Would we know the Opinion of the Church of this Diocess He tells us of a small part of the Body of Jesus Christ thereby meaning the Eucharist or the Sacrament which was given in little Bits And it is in the same sense that he speaks of a small part of the Sacrifice Expressions that are utterly inconsistent with the Notion of the Church of Rome concerning the carnal Presence And indeed it is plain in all his Writings that he follows the steps of St. Augustin in his Expressions and Judgments of things which are contrary to those of the Church of Rome This we may see in his Extract of the Sentences of St. Augustin where he repeats what that Father had said upon Psalm 33. upon occasion of these Words of the vulgar Version which says that David ferebatur in manibus suis in the presence of Achish Where it clearly appears that he understood those Words as well as St. Augustin did of the Sacrament of his Body which may be called his Body in some sense that is to say by way of Likeness as St. Augustin expresseth himself concerning it I cite nothing here from those other Works which are attributed to him because indeed they are none of his I shall only observe two things The first is that in his Epistle to Demetrius he plainly shews that he knew nothing of the Doctrine of the Church of Rome concerning the Necessity of the Ministers Intention for the Validity of the Sacraments for there he attributes all to the Work of God and not to that of the Minister according to the Doctrine of St. Augustin upon the Question of the Validity of Baptism conferred by Hereticks The other is that as he follows St. Augustin in the Matter of Free Grace as one may see in his Poems gathered from the Opinions of St. Augustin and his Sentences so he rejects the Doctrine of Merit and Works as a pure Pelagian Doctrine in several Places of his Writings Lastly We must join with these Authors Arnobius the Rhetorician since it is very probable that he lived in Gallia Narbonensis because he has dedicated some of his Works to Leontius Bishop of Arles to the Bishop of Narbonne and Faustus Bishop of Riez who died about the year 485. Arnobius explains his Belief in the Matter of the Eucharist after this manner We have received saith he upon the 4 th Psalm Wheat in the Body Wine in the Blood and Oil in Chrisme So likewise on Psal 104. he saith of Jesus Christ that he administers not only the species of Bread but also of Wine and Oil. Thus it is he describes the Eucharist and
dead with the triumph of Merits but they are not to be ador'd with Divine Worship for that very reason because it is Divine Worship Seeing therefore saith he that God alone is to be worshipp'd the Martyrs and all other Saints are rather to be venerated than worshipped as we have said before in this Book And the same thing we meet with also cap. 28. towards the end 6. It appears clearly from what he saith concerning the means whereby we obtain Remission of Sins that he own'd no other Sacraments of the Church besides Baptism and the Eucharist for indeed he mentions only these two 7. He was so far from owning either the Infallibility of the Pope or of a Council which the Pope hath approved that he maintains it was a piece of Folly to look upon the 2 d Council of Nice as universal and calls it a Council of one Part of the Church only and he afterwards censures the Fathers of that Council for giving it the Title of Universal whereas it had been conven'd without the Participation and Consent of many Catholick Churches This Remark made such an Impression upon the Learned Jesuit Sirmondus that he seems not to own the second Council of Nice as a general Council 8. The Fathers of the second Nicene Council having made a Comparison between the Eucharist and Images and used these following Expressions which are not to be found at present in the Copies of that Council As the Body of our Saviour passeth from the Fruits of the Earth into an excellent Mystery so Images formed by the Industry of Artificers pass to the Veneration of those Persons according to whose Likeness they have been wrought Charlemain doth censure those who had made a Parallel between Images and the Eucharist in such a manner as shews that he knew nothing of Romish Transubstantiation He saith That the Eucharist is made by the Hand of the Priest and by calling upon the Name of God both Priest and People joining their Prayers in the Consecration thereof whereas Images stand in no need of Consecration but are made at the Discretion of the Painter He saith that Melchizedeck did not present an Image as a Type of the Body and Blood but Bread and Wine that Moses commanded a Lamb to be eaten as a Type of our Saviour wholly rejecting the Custom of worshipping Images That the Psalmist who sang that Men should eat the Bread of Angels that is Jesus Christ hath also declared that the Makers of Images are like unto the Images they have made That the Sacrament is of Divine Institution whereas the insolent Use of Images is not only without Scripture but also directly contrary to the Writings of the Old and New Testament That our Saviour never instituted the Memory of his Suffering to be kept up by the Works of Artificers and worldly Arts but by the Consecration of his Body and Blood that he was not willing that his Faith and his Confession should be express'd by Pictures but by the Mouth and the Heart We are carefully to take notice that the Authors of this Book who desired to exalt the Sacrament of the Eucharist with all their Might never give the least hint that Jesus Christ had instituted it to make it an Object of Adoration They say that the Eucharist according to the Judgment of St. Paul is preferable almost to every other Sacrament that it is made invisibly by the Spirit of God and consecrated by the Priest who calls upon God that it is carried by the Hands of Angels and laid upon the Altar of God in Heaven that it can neither increase nor be diminished that it is confirmed by the Old and New Testament that it is the Life and Nourishment of Souls that by its Manducation it leads to the Entrance of the Heavenly Kingdom that it can never be abolished no not in the time of Persecution and that no body can be saved without receiving of it Whereas Images are visibly made by the Hand of the Workman painted by the Art of the Painter placed on the Walls by the Hands of Men that by them if Men inconsiderately abuse them Sins are increased that they can increase and diminish in Beauty according to the Ability of the Workman that Age spoils them that they only feed the Eye that they only bring to remembrance things past by looking upon them that they may be spoiled by taking wet that they who keep to the true Faith are saved without having any Regard to Images And to exaggerate the Folly of their Anathema's pronounced against those that did not worship them they conclude that this Anathema strikes at the Saints of old of whom we never read that they adored them that the same was levell'd at the Martyrs who from the Baptismal Font passed immediately to the Kingdom of Heaven without any Adoration of Images and lastly that it is darted against little Infants who cannot worship them and of whom notwithstanding the Son of God saith Suffer little Children to come to me c. I own that Charlemain censureth Gregory Bishop of Neocaesaria for giving to the Eucharist the Name of the true Image of Jesus Christ For after having made out that no Artificer can form a true Image of Jesus Christ he adds when he speaks of the Eucharist That Jesus Christ did not offer up to God the Father for us in Sacrifice any Image or Prototype but himself and that he who of old had been foretold by visible Resemblances under the Shadow of the Law in the Immolation of the Lamb and in some other things as being the Sacrifice that was to be offered by truly accomplishing the things that had been prophesied of him in the Oracles of the Prophets did offer up himself to God the Father for a saving Sacrifice and bestowed upon us the Shadows of the Law being past away not some imaginary Sign but the Sacrament of his Body and of his Blood For the Mystery of the Blood and Body of our Lord must not now be called an Image but the Truth not the Shadow but the Body not a Type of things to come but that whith had been prefigured by the Types of old For now according to the Song of Songs the Day is risen and the Shadows are gone now Jesus Christ the End of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believes is come he hath now fully accomplished the Law Now upon those who sat in the Region of the Shadow of Death a great Light is risen Now the Vail is taken off from the Face of Moses and the Vail of the Temple being rent hath opened to us all Secrets and Things hid Now the true Melchizedeck Christ the King of Righteousness and King of Peace hath bestowed upon us not Sacrifices of Beasts but the Sacrament of his Body and of his Blood and hath not said This is the Image of my Body and of my Blood but This is my Body which shall