God alone now will ye haue an inferiour reuerence And what is that Forsoth you can not tel But it hath bene declared of other I know what other in this behalfe haue babbled making their distinction betwene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They put .ij. horses into one stable to eate at one racke and reach to one manger yet they be not serued alike bycause they haue a barre betwixt them I could speake more of the absurditie hereof but that I must lay my finger on my line treads the onely steppes of you that full crookedly haue gone before me If you voutchsaue to tell me what that inferior reuerence shuld be which now by silence ye vtterly suppresse ye shal then know further of my minde It only remayneth that I aunswere your Paradox your straunge your incredible proposition Fol. 129. that there can be no mystruste nor feare of Idolatrie in Christen men vvorshipping and adoring the Crosse To come to Worship and Adore againe where the nexte line before ye would haue but an inferiour reuerence maketh me thinke that you be very fickle and not settled as yet on any certayne ground But worship a Gods name adore deifie say you for certayne it is there can be no perill of Idolatrie Ye do very wisely to put men in security for otherwise they would be very loth to vēture Greate is the leape and the water déepe But howe shall we passe Ye haue deuised a bridge as it were of a bulrush Your argument is this A strange proufe that no man may feare Idolatry in a Papist All that be Christiās are baptised And if they be baptised then haue they receyued the fayth of Christ and beleue in one God father almighty and so forth and haue learned that commaūdement of his Thou shalt haue no other Gods but me If then by baptisme they haue receyued the fayth of Christ and beleue in one God father almighty c. and haue learned that commaundement of his that they shall haue no other Goddes but him Then beleue they in no other God but in him then serue they no other God but him then make they to themselues no other God but him But vvhensoeuer they pray vvhersoeuer they knele vvhatsoeuer gestures they vse they giue all honour and prayse to God they haue their heartes and mindes fixed vpon him nor vve may iudge the cōtrary for they are Christians and so are vve also expresly forbed to iudge of other mens consciences or to be curious or suspitious of other mens doings To answere with modestie to so impudent an assertion is hard reasonably to deale with so vnreasonable a creature is more than couenant to vse many wordes where a wand is deserued is more a great deale than néedeth for your reason vnlesse ye were purged first For doubtlesse there is some mad humour raygning that bringeth forth so absurde reasoning Th' effect of Martials argument First ye haue proued that all Protestants be good Christians for they be baptised they haue receyued the fayth c. Then that your selfe are very much to blame in déeming amysse of them For in asmuch as they haue learned the commaundements they also of necessitie muste obey the commaundementes Thirdely that all subiectes in the realme of Englande all Christians beside are in right good ease for they can not synne This is your reason M. Martiall and not mine For thus ye say They haue learned the commaundement to haue no other God but him then beleue they no other God but him then serue they no other God but hym By the same reason I may reply The man that is baptised The absurdities thereof hath receyued the fayth doth knowe the commaundement Thou shalt not steale Thou shalt not committe adulterie Therfore there is none that is baptised that can be a théefe or adulterer The Iewes were circumcised they had the lawe they knewe that they ought to haue no other Goddes but him Therfore no Iewe that euer was Idolatrer But notwythstanding our Christendome and fayth receyued many be théeues and murtherers notwithstanding the lawe deliuered to the Israelites they worshipped some of them the brasen serpent and the scripture sayth they were Idolatrers therein Therefore notwithstanding that men outwardly professe one God yet do they not worship alway one God nor serue him on such sorte as they are cōmaunded So that it bydeth still for all your blinde reason that a man may feare Idolatrie in such as doe pretende a worshipping of God And we doe not offend in affirming you Idolatrers Folio 129. b. For althoughe as you saye one kinde of Idolatrie be beste knowen vnto God alone who searcheth the heart yet hath he left a way to try it a iudge to discerne it And therfore indefinitely and absolutely to say that Idolatrie is a sinne lurking and lying secret in the heart is an inconuenience Remembre howe Christ at the first entraunce into his schole gaue out this lesson Quemeunque puduerit mei coram hominibus Luc. 6. pudebit me illius coram patre meo et sanctis Angelis Whosoeuer shall be ashamed of me before men I wyll also be ashamed of him before my father and his holy Angels A profession of Christ is requisite in a Christian Rom. 10. So that God is not herewith contented if a man inwardly wyth hart acknowledge him but also seuerely doth exact that by our outward profession we testify to the world that his disciples we are For vpō none other condition but this he doth admit vs into the societie fellowship of his kingdome Truly doth Paul say Corde creditur ad iustitiam ore confessio fit ad salutem With heart we beleue to righteousnesse with mouth we confesse to saluatiō Out of which words it is playnly to be gathered that there is no true fayth before God but the same engēdreth a confession before men That euery man according to his calling grace giuen him do further by al meanes as occasiō is giuen him 1. Pet. 3. the glory of his God Therefore Peters precept is general to be ready alwayes to giue an answere to euery man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in vs. This reason ye refuse ye kepe a byrd in the bosome but it berayes the nest For impossible it is that a good cōscience in seruise of his God shal in apparance do one thing in effect another And although the seruise acceptable vnto god consist in spirit in truth Ioan. 4. as Christ himself pronounceth yet wil he not only be truly serued but also be knowē that he is so serued For which purpose these extern actions are right necessary to be witnesses to the world of our affecte within vs. Vnderstand ye therfore that as .ij. kindes of honor be due to God one spiritual resting in the heart another corporal consisting in outward gesture So are there also .ij. kindes of Idolatry The fyrst
mention of the outwarde reuerence Therfore as you cal it so is it in dede a poore iudgement of yours that bycause God is worshipped in spirite and in truth therefore men falling before a piece of wood knocking the breast and holding vp the handes may not in any wise be thought Idolatrers Enrich I beséech you this poore iudgement of yours with better reason or hold your tong for shame As touching your wisedome déepe discretion Folio 132. wherin ye wil not be so abased to be more brutish than beasts more simple than byrds more folish than davves but that ye knovv a deade Image from a liue man a still picture from a quicke creature I say that scripture sheweth presidents of the contrary in as wise men as you are And as for your owne part experience doth teach vs otherwise The iuggling of Papists with Roodes and Images hath sought by all meanes to plant an opinion of holinesse diuinitie to rest in dead things And howsoeuer you beleue of them yet damnable is the seruise that you commaund vnto them and the more ye knowe the vile condition and estate of them the more iust and terrible is your condemnation in exacting a worship adoration of them Therefore I say with Paule Bycause ye knowe God and glorify him not as God neyther are thankfull Rom. 1. but become vayne in your ymaginations and your foolish heart is ful of darkenesse when ye professe your selues to be wise ye be very fooles ⧠And thus haue I aunswered your Ten Articles vsing moe wordes in disprouf of them than the cause requireth or any man of indifferency would loke for at my handes Onely I would not be sayde to concele any piece of proufe that you bring for mayntenaunce of your errour Wherefore I haue turned ouer leafe by leafe as in the margent euery where appeareth perused eche lyne and word that had any reason in it annexing a sufficient and the same abundant confutation of it Your conclusion in déede I deale not withal for it contayneth more than was in the premisses more than you be able or go about to proue It is but an heape of lies and slaunders which impudentlie spokeÌ„ may be best answered wyth silence Nor any newes it is the professors of the truth to de depraued of you Paul was blasphemed as a teacher of heresie Act. 18. Sozomenus Li. 1. Cap. 18. as whose religion should be newe and straunge Constantine was accused as an innouater and peruerter of Gods order bycause he furthered and followed Christianitie The faythfull Fathers wanted not their Crosse they were alwayes reuiled with moste wordes of reproche and déemed of the worlde the vilest persons of the earth But as they did not contend in scolding Theodor. Li. 3. Cap. 5. but stode most stiffe in heresie reprouing So suffiseth me to haue detected your folly and disproued your vntruthes that the simple at leaste wyse be not abused by you The cause it self standeth to fast to be battred with such féeble assault of yours The honestie of men whome you would séeme to touch is not to be empaired with the running ouer of a rayling mouth If ye gather hereafter any sounder skill and riper discretion doe come vnto you ye will correcte your former follies and thanke me for the ministring occasion of amendment But if God hath vtterly resigned you to your selfe and wilfulnesse raygning in your witlesse head bréede a confideÌ„ce to put stil your more shame in print my self wil contemne so leude an aduersarie and giue place to other that with more fredome of speach and lesse derogation vnto their persons may answere you according to your shamelesse desertes FINIS Quae meliora tuis placitis hoc teÌ„pore noram Impartire tibi visum est hijs vtere mecum A Table by order of the Articles briefly contayning the effect of the whole Booke Herein is to be noted gentle Reader that by the letter a following the number is signified the first syde of the leafe and by the letter b is signified the seconde syde of the same In the Epistle WHat famous Clearkes be nowe a dayes become writers What is to be thoughte of Martiall What arguments he vseth Howe he trayterously taketh away the chiefe parte of the Queenes stile How she for hir clemencie is not gratious to Papists How folishly he flatters hir The Queenes pryuate doings no president to all Of euery facte not to iudge an affection How publique order hath taken away Roodes Images Howe Martiall doth lye in saying that Crosses are not suffered in high wayes Howe his three groundes of his cause be layed only vpon lyes Howe for the doctrine of the Crosse wee may stande to iudgement of the Fathers though scripture were not In the Preface THe Crosse a forged Ensigne of Christ Fol. 1. a. Sathans sleyght to dysplace God and his word ibid. The Diuell is the Ape of God ibid. All Gentilitie toke president of Gods seruice ib. b. Sacramentes of the Hebrewes couÌ„terfeted by the Heathen ib. b. Minos followed Moses ib. Hils and groues in imitation of the tabernacle 2. a. Witches and Sorcerers in steade of Prophetes Priestes ibid. The Poets paradise for christians Heauen ib. Their Purgatory for Hel. ib. Papistes herein the Diuels chiefe ministers 2. b. For Baptisme of Infantes Baptisme of Bels. ib. More solemnity in the diuels seruice than in Christs ib. Holy water deuised in despite of Baptisme ib. Ordinance of God and ordinance of the diuell 3. a. Sole life exacted in the Diuels ministers ib. Adulterie wyth Papistes a light tryfle ib. The diuel deputeth sainctes intercessors 3. b. As God made maÌ„ Image of himself so the diuel deuised Images of God 4. a. Gods bookes burned diuels bookes aduaunced ib. Macedonius his answere to Theodosiê° meÌ„ of war 4. b. Images came from Gentilitie and foolish zeale ib. Images can not be wythout abuse ib. How prone we are to superstition ib. How Lactantius affirmeth no religion to be where an Image is 5. b. How Images crept into the Church 6. b. 8. a. To haue an Image is a wil-worship and therefore vnlawfull 6. b. Proues that nothing in Gods seruise should be admitted besyde the word 7. a. Images teachers of lies ib. Howe Gods order is broken by Images ib. That Images came from Gentilitie is proued 7. b. That in Eusebius time 325. yeare after Christ no Images in Churches 8. a. Serenus byshop of Massilia brake all Images 8. b. Fruits of Images ibid. Places of scripture condemning Images 9. a. Papists deuotion like to Michah 9. b. Image mayntayners like to Ieroboam ib. Erasmê° opinion of Im. 10. b. Imag. be proued not to teach otherwise thaÌ„ wickedly 11. a That memory is holpen by the story is answered 12. a. That God can haue no Image made of him 12. b. That Christ neyther can nor ought haue an image made of him 14. a. seq Images not onely forbidden to be worshipped but also to be
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
of the Crosse is hoysed vp the iniquitie of the deuil is dryueÌ„ backe teÌ„pest of vvinde is calmed Wherupon I besech you doth he inferre the deuil doth disquiet vvinde squat it not vpon the mention of a ship wtout a mast whervpon dyd he talke of the Church Crosse or the ship Crosse If the mast of the ship dyd no more preserue and saue the vessel than the Crucifix on the altar or Crosse in the roodlofte can do the Church neyther should the ship be preserued in the water nor the Church at any tyme be consumed with the fyer We neded not to feare if your opinion were true the burning any more of Paules Make a Crosse on the steple and so it shal be safe But within these fewe yeares it had a Crosse and reliques in the bowle to boote yet they preuailed not yea the Crosse it self was fyred fyrst Wherfore S. Ambrose hys rule as you most fondly do take hym holdeth not If ye say that hys rule doth holde notwtstanding bicause Paules was burned in the tyme of schisme I answere that in your most catholike tyme the lyke plague happened twise within the compasse of .l. yeares and therfore S. Ambrose was not so foolysh to meane as you imagine As for LactaÌ„tius LactaÌ„tius whose verses ye bryng to confirm the vse of a Roode in the Church I myght say wyth Hierom. Vtinam tam nostra potuisset coÌ„firmare Ep ad Paulinum In HieremiaÌ„ 10. quam facile aliena destruxit I would to God he had ben able aswel to haue confirmed our doctrine and religion as he dyd easely ouerthrow the contrary For many errors and heresies he had among the which I myght reken thys flecte genu lignumque crucis venerabile adora bow down thy knée and do honor to the worshipfull wood of the Crosse For vpoÌ„ the word of the Prophet Hieremy Lignum de saltu pracidit He hath cut a trée out of the forrest S. Hierom taketh occasioÌ„ to speake of the Gentils Idols adorned with golde and siluer of whoÌ„ it is said Psal 113. A mouth they haue and speake not eares they haue and heare not And least it myght be thought that the making honoring of such appertayned peculiarly vnto the heathen he sayd Qui quidem error ad nos vsque transiuit Which error in dede hath come ouer vnto our age And theÌ„ inferreth thys Quicquid de Idolis diximus ad oiÌ„a dogmata quae sunt coÌ„traria veritati referri potest Et ipsi enim ingentia polliceÌ„tur simulachruÌ„ vani cultus de suo corde coÌ„fingunt Imperitorum obstringunt acteÌ„ à suis inuentoribus sublimantur In quibus nulla est vtilitas quoruÌ„ cultura propriè gentium est eorum qui ignorant deum Whyche wordes are in English these Whatsoeuer we haue spoken of Idols may be referred vnto al doctrines contrary to the truth For they also do promise great thynges and deuise an Image of vayne worship out of their own hart They blind the eye of the ignoraunt and by the inuenters of them are set a loft In which there is no profyt and the worshipping of which is an heathenish obseruaunce a maner of suche as know not God Wherfore the wordes alleaged by you as out of Lactantius suffised to discredit him bicause he wil haue a pece of wood to be worshipped Omitting al his other errors and that Gelasius the Pope in consideration of many hys imperfections rekeneth his bokes inter Apocripha such as may be read no doctrine be grouÌ„ded on But I wyl answere to you otherwyse disproue it if you can I veryly suppose that those verses were neuer written by Lactantius The causes that induce me to this are these In catalogo S. Hierom makyng mention of al hys wrytinges yea of many moe than are come vnto our handes maketh no mention of thys Agayn Churches in hys time were scarcely builded for he liued in the raigne of Dioclesian by whom he was called into Nicomedia as Hierom wryteth Afterwarde when he was very old he was scholemaster to Crispus CoÌ„stantinus soÌ„n and taught hym in Fraunce Now in the raigne of Dioclesian the poore ChristiaÌ„s had in no countrey any place at al whether they myght quietly resort and stande still a vvhile loking on the Roode Folio 43. vvith his armes stretched handes nayled feete fastened They had neither leisure nor liberty to be at such ydle cost They coÌ„tented theÌ„selues with poore cabanes wherto they secretly resorted yet notwtstanding had them pulled on their heades Eusebiê° writing of the persecutioÌ„ vnder DioclesiaÌ„ Lib. 8. ca. 2. sayth Oratoria à culmine ad pauimeÌ„tuÌ„ vsque vnà cum ipsis fuÌ„dameÌ„tis deijci diuinásque sacras scripturas in medio foro igni tradi ipsis oculis vidimus We saw with our eyes that the oratories he calleth theÌ„ not teÌ„ples for so thei wer not wer vtterly thrown down froÌ„ that top to the grouÌ„d yea with the very fouÌ„datioÌ„s of theÌ„ and that the sacred holy Scriptures in the mydst of the market place wer coÌ„mitted to the fier TheÌ„ was it no tyme for them to make Images of Christ whose fayth without perill they could not professe nor solemnly to set vp Roodes where priuatly they had no place therto And this was in the most florishing tyme of LactaÌ„tiê° Yea afterward in the beginning of CoÌ„staÌ„tinê° raigne Maximinê° gaue liceÌ„ce first the Christians might build Dominica oratoria The Lordes places of praier And the first teÌ„ple that CoÌ„staÌ„tinus built was at HierusaleÌ„ the .xxx. yeare of hys raigne wherfore me thinketh impossible it is that Lactantius should wryte Eus lib. 9. cap. 10. Sozom. li. 2. cap. 26. Quisquis ades medijque subis in limi na templi with the rest of the verses rehersed by you Then howe different the doctrine is both froÌ„ that which himselfe teacheth and generally was receaued in his daies the leud verse Flecte genu lignuÌ„que crucis venerabile adora sheweth for in hys boks he playnly affirmeth Diui. Insti li. 2. ca. 1. cap. 9. Diui. Inst lib. 2 ca 19. that no maÌ„ ought to worship any thynge on the earth And further he sayth that whosoeuer wyll retaine the nature and condition of a man must seke God aloft in heaueÌ„ not in earth in hart not in workmaÌ„ship of hand His argumeÌ„t is this Si religio ex diuinis rebus est diuini auteÌ„ nihil est nisi in celestibus rebui careÌ„t ergo religione simulachra quia nihil potest esse caeleste in ea re quae fit ex terra If religioÌ„ coÌ„sist of holy things and there be nothing holy but in heauenly thynges then Images are voyde of religion bicause in that thyng which is made of the earth ther caÌ„ be nothing heauenly You wil grauÌ„t me now that a Roode is made of some earthly matter of stone or tymber TheÌ„ doth LactaÌ„tiê° repute it vnholy to haue no religioÌ„
Idolatry as Augustyne playnly reporteth Yet were they nothing the lesse Idolatrers For thys he sayth of them In psa 113. Videntur autem sibi purgatioris esse religionis qui dicunt nec Simulachrum nec daemonium colo sed per effigieÌ„ corporalem eius rei signum intueor quam coiere debro They séeme to be of more pure religion which say I neyther worship the Image nor the power thereof but by the corporall lykenesse I beholde the signe of the thyng which I ought to worship Yet notwithstanding bicause they called their Idols by the names of Vulcanus and Venus as we our Images by the name of Christ and of our Lady bicause they dyd some outwarde reuerence to their Idols as we vnto our Images both for them and vs as Augustyne sayth Apostoli vna sententia poenam damnationemque testatur One sentence of the Apostle witnesseth our punishmente and condemnation And what sentence is that Qui transmutauerunt veritatem Dei in mendatium colürunt seruierunt creaturae potius quam creatori qui est benedictus Deus in secula Which turned the trueth of God into a lye and worshipped and serued the creature forsakyng the creator which is the blessed God for euermore But how is the truth turned to a lye and the creature rather serued than the creator It foloweth in the place alleaged Effigus à fabro factas appellando nominibus earum rerum quas fabricauit deus transmutaÌ„t veritatem Dei in meÌ„datium res autem ipsas pro dijs habeÌ„do venerando seruiunt creaturae potius quam creatori By calling the pictures made of the workeman by the name of those thinges which God hath made they change the truth of God into a lye And when they repute and worship the thynges themselues as Gods they serue the creature rather than the creator Wherefore Augustine noted very well that Paul priore parte sententiae simulachra daÌ„nauit posteriori autem interpretationes simulachrorum in the firste parte of hys sentence condemned Images and in the latter the interpretation and meaning of them So that if your cause be all one with the Gentiles and excuse one and yet both of them condemned by the Scripture and conuinced by authoritie It foloweth that no Roode nor Crucifixe in the Church oughte to be suffered for it is Idolatrye Of the same metall that the Crosse is made we haue the candlestickes we haue the censors yet they which most do thinke that God is serued with candlestickes censors attribute not that honor vnto them that they do to the Crosse What is the cause S. Augustine declareth Illa causa est maxima impietatis insanae quod plus valet in affectibus miseroruÌ„ similis viueÌ„ti forma quae sibi efficit supplicari quam quod eam manifestuÌ„ est noÌ„ esse uiuentem vt debeat à viuente contemni Plus enim valent simulachra ad curuaÌ„daÌ„ in foeliceÌ„ animaÌ„ quod os habeÌ„t oculos habent aures habent nares habeÌ„t manus habeÌ„t pedes habent quam ad corrigendaÌ„ quod non loquentur nón videhunt non audient noÌ„ odorabaÌ„t noÌ„ coÌ„trectabuut non ambulabunt Thys is the greatest cause sayeth he of thys mad impietie that the lyuely shape preuayleth more wyth the affections of miserable men to cause reuerence to be done vnto it than the playne sight that it is not liuing is able to worke that it be contemned of the lyuyng For Images are more of force to crooke an vnhappy soule in that they haue mouthes eyes eares nosthrels handes and feete Then otherwyse to strayghten and amende it in that they shall not speake they shall not sée they shall not heare they shall not smell they shall not handell they shall not walke And so farre Augustine Which wordes myght vtterly dehorte vs from Imagery and dryue both the Roode and the Crosse out of the Church Psa 134. if we were not such as the Prophete speaketh of become in most respect lyke them For with open and feling eyes but with closed and dead myndes we worship neither séeing nor liuing Images More could I cite aswel out of hym as out of the rest before alleaged for confirmation of thys trueth of myne I could sende you to the .4 boke of Aug. de ciuit Dei ca. 31. Where he commendeth the opinion of Varro that affirmed God myght be better serued wythout an Image than wyth one I coulde alleage hys boke de haeres ad Quod yult deuÌ„ Where he meÌ„tioneth one Marcellina whose heresy he accompteth to be thys that she honored the pictures of Christ and other I could referre you to hys boke de Con. Euan. Li. 1. Ca. 10. where he sayeth Omnino errare merueruÌ„t qui ChristuÌ„ noÌ„ in saÌ„ctis codicibus sed in pictis parietibus quaesicruÌ„t They haue béen worthy to be deceiued that haue sought Christ not in holy bokes but in paiÌ„ted walles These I say with diuerse other I could bring forth but that I thinke that thys suffiseth to proue that the fathers wer not so foÌ„dly in thys case affected as you would haue it appeare to other Folio 4 4. Concerning Paulinus I wyll not greatly contende wyth you but that in his dayes which was .448 yeare after Christ there was in some Churches the signe of the Crosse erected Epi. 3. ad Aprium But as I sayd before it suffiseth not to say Thys vvas once so But proued it must be that Thys was wel so Paulinê° coÌ„mendeth the woman that separated her selfe froÌ„ her own husbande without consent vnder cloke of religioÌ„ And hath the word of God the lesse force therefore which sayth Whom God hath coupled together Mat. 19. Ad Cithe rium let no maÌ„ put a suÌ„der Paulinus affirmeth that the boke of the Epistles which the Apostles wrote layd vnto diseases headeth them and shall we thynke that in vayne it is that the Lord hath created medicines of the earth Eccle. 38. He that is wyse wil not abhorre theÌ„ He that wyll folow whatsoeuer hath bene is a very foole I know that IustiniaÌ„ taketh order which is yet but politique that no man build a Church or monastery but as reasoÌ„ is by consent of the bishop and that the byshop shall set hys marke which by hys pleasure shoulde be a Crosse But what is thys say I to the Roode or Crucifix in places consecrate where God is serued The same answer that I made before to the Synod which was kept at Orleance may serue to thys Emperoures constitutioÌ„ although it be not preiudiciall to truthe if he that lyued by your wise computatioÌ„ a thousand yeare after Christ in dede fyue hundreth thirtie at the least in tyme of great ignoraunce and barbaritie In catalogo post prefationeÌ„ Folio 45. should enact a thyng contrary to a truthe Yet to say the truth I sée no cause why I should not admyt his graue authorite since he neyther speaketh of
Gospell to their mortall enimies the Saxons which condicions when they refused Ethelbert the king partely in Austins quarrel partly of an olde grudge of his owne stirred vp the rest of the Saxon kings to make war vpon thē So they came to Chester wherein the religious people had assembled themselues and when the City was taken there were twelue hundreth of the good men most cruelly slayne And where as their rage was not so quieted but néedes they would come to destroy Bangor the Britous confederates assembling themselues wythstode them and slewe ten thousand and thrée score of them Hist gene Aug lib. 2. Cap. 2. Hactenus Galfridus Which great murder can not be imputed to any thing so much as to the ambition of the Monke And although Beda reciteth the history somewhat otherwise yet his witnesse proueth that Augustine was much to blame which wold so seriously contend about trifles For what were the matters that he exacted Primo vt eodem quo Romana ecclesia tempore festum Paschatis celebrarēt Secūdo cōmunibus ritibus caeremonijs cū Romanis in Baptismi ministerio vterentur Tertio vt cōmunicata opera cōmunibus laboribus genti Angliae Euangelium praedicarēt that is to say Fyrste that they should celebrate the Easter feaste at the same time that the Church of Rome did Secondarily that they should vse in ministration of baptisme the selfe same ceremonies wyth the Romaines Thirdely that they should communicate their trauayles that ioyntly they should take paynes together in preaching of the Gospell to the englishe nation These conditions bycause they were not receyued the people as he sayth were plagued But in this behalfe the wonderfull iudgemente of almighty God is worthy to be considered that exercyseth his people with plagues among and although of his mercy sometime he graunt them Alcyonia tempora some little breathing whiles yet tempests do arise anone the crosse accompanieth true Christianitie which in this age of the Church wherein Gregorie by surname the great and Augustine of whome we last haue spoken liued may well be sene For after the flourishing time of Constantinus wherin most liberty was graunted Christians after the learned age of Augustine and Ambrose when all good knowledge was at the ripest sodaynely ensued a straunge and lamentable alteration when for light darkenesse for Gods seruice ceremonies for learning ignoraunce and barbaritie succeded That if ye passe syx hundreth yeare after Christ ye shall sée nothing but cloud of ceremonies darkening the sunne of eternall truth and a sorte of wilworships defacing the true honor of the almighty God And then might you séeke all Christendome and scarcely finde a learned father excepting Gregorie and Fulgentius These two were the best and almost the onely to be accompted of and yet these God wote shewed in what time they liued when euery man delited to haue a Gods seruice of his owne making Folio 96. a. And then was our hap to receyue this Popes Apostle from Rome Crucem pro vexillo ferens argenteam carying a siluer Crosse for his banner Hovv far vve differ from Augustin the Monk as vvell in ceremonies as in time and the Image of Christ paynted in a table Where by the way ye may obserue that ceremonies the elder they are do grow the more For where as Augustine brought in but a bare Crosse we haue receyued not onely a Crosse but also a crucifix graued thereon And whereas he caried a picture but paynted on a table we haue the same carued and embossed Augustine comming vnto them that neuer had heard of Christ politiquely deuised somewhat wherewithal fyrst he might féede their eyes that afterward lending him their eares he might instructe their hearts Wherefore if this facte of his might be excused by the state and condition of the countrey yet can not we in our Crosse carying haue the like pretence and therfore ought not to vse the like example Notwithstanding his Litanie was good and I maruell that the Romish church is not at this day contented with the like He came not in with Ora pro nobis he made no intercession to saincts for vs but onely song this swéete Litany Deprecamur te Domine in omni misericordia tua vt auferatur furor ira tua a ciuitate ista quia peccauimus In all thy mercy we besech thée O Lorde that thy indignation and fury may be taken away from this city bycause we haue synned Which Litanie of hys if it be compared with ours the selfe same thing shall be sene in both But the popish Litanie as it is different from this so is it Idolatrous Virgin Mary pray for vs Peter pray for vs Paule praye for vs. And so forth to Abbots Monks Hermits Nuns Friers al to pray for vs. I may say to you as Tertullian Tetullianus in Apologetico ca. 30 by an Irony sayd to the Gentiles Vos religiosi salutem quaeritis vbi non est petitis à quibus dari non potest praeterito eo in cuius est potestate Insuper eos Christianos debellatis qui eam sciunt petere qui etiam possunt impetrare dum sciūt petere Nos enim pro salute Imperatorum Deum vocamus aeternum Deum verum Deum viuum quem ipsi imperatores propitium sibi praeter ceteros malunt You deuoute persons sayde Tertullian seeke for saluation where it is not to be founde Ye aske it of them that can not giue it omitting hym in whose handes it is Nor contente with this ye beate downe those Christiās which know to aske health which also be able to obtayne it bycause they knowe howe to aske it For we for the Emperours good state and preseruation do pray to the eternall God the true God and liuing God whome the Emperors them selues had rather than all other to be mercifull vnto them This I say doe we for all magistrates and rulers for all thinges necessary for this life of oures Nor we think it necessary to obserue any other forme and ceremony in our praying than the same Tertullian setteth forth of Christians in his time wythout any Crosse at all Ad coelum sayth he suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis quia innocuis capite nudo quia non erubescimus denique sine monitore quia de pectore oramus precantes sumus omnes semper pro omnibus Imperatoribus vitam illis prolixam imperium securum domū tutā exercitus fortes senatū fidelem populū probū orbem quietū quaecunque hominis Caesaris vota sunt Haec ab alio orare non possū quam à quo scio me consecuturum quoniam ipse est qui solus praestat ego sum cui impetrare debetur famulus cius qui eum solum obseruo qui ei offero opimam maiorē hostiā quā ipse mandauit orationem de earne pudica de anima innocenti de spiritu sancto profectam We Christians loking vp to heauen
is conferred on an other Learne you by thys that the matter of the Crosse neuer had the vertue to worke such thinges as you reporte and therefore ought not of any to be worshipped God by hys Prophet in playne termes doth call it whoredom which you for your profit in speach of hipocrisie do cal Deuotiō Wherefore beware of the plage insuing deryue not the glory fed the crucified to the Crosse Lactan. li. 2 cap. 2. Viuū colite vt viuatis Moriature enim necesse est qui se suamque animā mortuis adiudicauit Worship the liuing God that you may lyue For nedes he must dye that hath adiudged hymselfe and hys soule vnto the dead To the ninth Article What commoditie euery Christen man hath or may haue by the signe of the Crosse AS the grounde it selfe chiefe buttresse of your cause is taken out of the seconde of Nice whose impudent vanities I haue sufficiently before declared so are not you ashamed sometime to alleage them wyth as small triall as they had truth But as S. Ambrose sayd of the councel helde at Ariminū Illud ego concilium exhorrea the councel I do vtterly abhorre so do I say of thys that with as good cause and with al my hart I refuse their authoritie condemne their doinges Li. Ep. 5. Epi. 31. Fol. 113 b. A vaine allegation it was of Germanus that the Images of holy men are a liuely description of their stoutenesse a representatiō of holy vertue a dispensation of grace giuen thē a vayne applycation it is of yours that euen so the Crosse Image of Christ crucified set before our eyes is a liuely descriptiō of his stoutnesse in bearing the blovves of the Ievves and so forth To speake first of other Images and so to descende to yours I besech you what stoutnesse and vertue is described what holynesse grace is dispēsed by them When the Saincts were alyue their vertues could not be discerned with eye they rested in the mynd their proper subiect And shall they nowe be séen in their dead Images which haue neyther mynde nor sense to hold them Thys is as iust as Germaines lips Whē I sée an Image gorgiously apparelled with speare or sword or boke in the hand an other with a box or a babe in hir armes what reason can tel me whether Mars or S. George Venus or the Virgin the mother of Christ be there erected If ye tell me that the superscriptiō discernes thē thou if it please the maker to remoue the title that which before was the Idoll Venus shal now become the blessed Virgin that which was Mercury shal anone be Paul so as it pleaseth the workeman to name it it shal be reuerenced and estemed But whereas they be called lay mens bokes impossible it is wtout a scholemaster to reade thē But whē they be red what lessons haue they Such as Cherea did learne in Terēce or such as Venus Cnidia did teache in Lucian For when they beholde straunge costly Images wonderously adored with coronets on their heds rynges on their fingers precious stones on their garmēts what may they thinke but that some stately Princes with their proude apparell disguised traine be come in presēce and then they fall down and worship the body or the garmēt the Idoll or the golde or peraduenture both The body is stiffe for it is a stone the garmentes as stiffe for they are of golde The shape inforceth an honor to the Image the furniture prouoketh a coueting of the goods So at one time two Idolatries be cōmitted If your maydes do loke vpon Mary Magdalen as in the Churches she is set forth with nice apparell and wanton lokes what can they behold in hir but the prankes of an harlot what can they learne of hir but lustes of vanitie Doubtlesse if Images must be admitted to set forth the Saincts the Saincts themselues shall not be honored but dishonored and we shall espye no example of sobrenesse of chastitie of contempt of richesse vanitie of the world but of excesse of wantonnesse of pride and couetousnesse For if the externall decking the trimming of the puppettes do lyuely describe any thyng it is not the nature of holy Sainctes but childish affection of old doting fooles which must haue suche babies to playe them withall The reasō of our tyme for Images But the play of folly doth ende in earnest of grosse Idolatry And although some affirme that in these dayes men be too wyse and learned to take any hurt or offence by Images they know what they are they gad not into farr countries after them the preachers otherwise informe thē and therfore as they suppose it is not vnlawful or wicked absolutely to haue Images in Churches though it maye for the daunger of the simpler sort seme to be not altogether expedient To thys I reply that none in these dayes in thys respect is better instructed in the feare of God than Ezechias was more zelously affected to the truthe than Iosias more endued with wisedome from aboue thā Salomon they knewe what an Idoll or Image was they were not likely for their own persōs to sustaine any harme or domage by them they armed other against the danger of them yet would not Ezechias suffer the brasen serpent the signe of Christ our Sauior to stande Iosias for al hys knowledge 2. Re. 18. 2. Re. 23. 1. Re. 11. which could not in that case be him selfe abused tooke awaye all occasion of ruine from hys people and vtterly remoued al Idols Salomon for all hys wisedome by suffering his wāton Paramoures to bryng their Idols into hys court and pallace was by carnall harlottes persuaded and brought at the last to the committing of spirituall fornication and of a most wise and godly Prince became a most folish and vile Idolater Then let Ezechias and Iosias teache vs vtterly to remoue all occasion of fal aswell from other as from our selues let Salomon also feare vs from suffering any such to stande least by transgression our wisedome be folly and vnderstanding error He that loueth daunger shall perishe therein Eccle. 13. 1. Cor. 10. and let hym that standeth beware he fall not I am sure there is no Prince of the world more furnished with skill than was the Salomon none haue more graces conferred on them and yet he was abused by Images by Images that he knew to be but stockes and stones For horrible it is to fall into the hands of the liuing God and who so turneth the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of the Image of a corruptible man Heb. 10. Rom. 1. whoso turneth the truthe of God into a lye worshippeth the creature forsaking the creator for this cause God giueth them vp to vile affections to theire hearts lustes to vncleannesse c. Then let all Princes all wise of the world beware that they procure not Gods indignatiō by breaking hys precept so
Tvvo kindes of Idolatrie when a man by peruerse opiniō corrupteth the spiritual worshipping of God The second when the honor peculiar vnto god is transferred to a creature In both these ye Papists most haynously do offend For ye think that God which is a spirite is delited with your masking externe pomp wherin consisteth al Romish religion and so by your owne text ye be proued false worshippers Also by your knocking holding vp of hands before an Image ye shew your selues whose seruātes you are abasing your estate seruing a creature For the proufe whereof bicause it more nerely concerneth our question let vs inquite what bonde we be entred in wyth God to serue him as we ought So shall we sée whether any outward bodily fact may wel induce vs to say or think any man an Idolatrer The eternall God requireth at our hands that his name be glorfied both in our spirite and in our body bycause that both be his And if the commaundement did not extende so farre yet reason doth conuince no lesse For in asmuch as our bodies also be redéemed with the precious bloudshed of Christ what a shame is it to haue them subiect stil vnto the Diuels seruise Our soules to be Gods our bodies to be the Diuels Whereas our bodies ought to be the temples of the holy ghost what absurditie is this to defile them with sacriledge Whereas our bodies are foreapointed to immortality and partaking of the glory of God what wickednesse is this to attaynt them with Idolatrie Paule when he doth inuey agaynst fornication vseth this argument Whereas our bodies are the members of Christ 1. Cor. 6. is it méete to make them the members of an harlot And on like sort I may answere you Whereas our bodies be the members of Christ shall we cut them of from that body of his shall we prophanate them wyth vnlawfull worshipping 1. Reg. 10. Rom. 11. God when he would expresse the peculiar note of his faythful seruaunts sayth of them that they bowed not the knée to Baall nor with their mouth kissed him He might as wel haue said that they were not polluted with superstition they did not accompt Baall for a God But to intimate vnto vs that the inwarde affecte in this case suffiseth not he expresseth by name the outward gesture as altogether impious Wherefore howsoeuer we flatter our selues with an hidden opinion so secret that our selues féele it not yet the euident and apparaunt worke of capping knocking bowing and knéeling may disproue our hearte to be well affected and we by outwarde adoration trie and discerne a méere Idolatrer When God by his Prophete would describe his magnificence and honor due to him Esay 45. he sayd Viuo ego mihi flectetur omne genu omnis lingua iurabit mihi I liue sayth the Lord Euery knée shal bowe to me and euery tong shall sweare to me Thus the holy ghost by bowing of the knée by profession of the mouth describeth true worshipping But you M. Martiall wyll haue neither good nor bad worshipping to be iudged by gesture A proper shift ye haue when ye adore an Image créepe to the Crosse saying You knowe that to be but a piece of metal you make not your prayers to that but vnto God alone whome in spirite you worship though your face peraduenture be turned to the Image The selfe same pretexte had the Corinthians For they resorted to the feastes of Idols not of superstition They were to well instructed And Paule in their person bringeth forth an excuse for them 1. Cor. 8. Scimus quod Idolum nihil est We knowe that an Idoll is nothing We knowe that one God one Lorde and sauiour Iesus Christ is to be honoured and serued of vs. But did this satisfy S. Paule Nay But he affirmed rather that their inward persuasion and pretended excuse was nothing in asmuch as their example moued the weake to commit Idolatrie For if any man sayth the Apostle sée thée which hast knowledge sit at fable in the Idols temple shall not the conscience of him that is weake be boldned to eate those things which are sacrificed to Idoles And on like sorte you affirme that an Image or a Crosse is nothing But when ye giue the outward reuerence when ye adore it will not the simple déeme greate vertue in it shall not your knoweledge whatsoeuer it is be occasion of your brothers fall for whome Christ died Wherfore syth adoration is so offensiue better it were neuer to sée Image while the world standeth that our brother be not offended And this is S. Paules reason not mine As for your subtile and profound argument drawen out of the bowels of your professed lawe whereby ye make a wōderous demonstration Folio 130. a. that there can be no due prouf of Idolatrie in asmuch as Confession thereof is nothing credible Probation can not be made but by externall signes they do onely enforce a presumption and as for euidence of the facte it can not fall into effects of the minde where the abhomination of Idolatry lieth I answere that although we be very ingenious to finde out excuses for our owne offences yet the euidēce of the outward facte maketh sufficiēt probation of Idolatrie and is too good a witnesse of mysdemeaning minde For if the heart conceyued not the bodie would not doe if the body called the hart vnto accompt I am sure that at least in the court of Chauncerie where conscience is examined the heart should be first condemned of mysgouernement When Ezechias destroyed the brasen serpent the Iewes lacked such an aduocate as you that might haue called the King into the law and tried the case of iniustice agaynst him bycause he was not able to make proufe of any crime For they would not confesse their Idolatrie their knéeling to the Image made as you say but onely a presumption and no euidence could be fet frō the outward fact bycause ye suppose there is no Idolatrie but secrete in the heart But flatter your selues as you best can with your lurking affecte and priuy deuotion your apparant impietie shall not only to Godwarde but to the world condemne you If Daniels companions had féeyed such a counsellour such a lawyer as you they would not haue throwen themselues into such extremitie whereas they could not haue bene cōuinced of Idolatrie for al their knéeling before the Idol if in hart they retained the honor and seruise of the liuing God But they woulde not haue their bodies defiled with wicked worshippings nor of one temple make two Lordes the soule to be Gods the bodie to be Sathans S. Paule of the outwarde conuersation condemned the Corinthians as Idolatrers 1. Cor. 8. S. Peter also as is before rehearsed layde to his hearers charge that they were worse than the Egyptians bycause of the external signes God when he setteth forth the true seruise of himselfe maketh often