they shall represent God as a shadow doth the Sun God hath clearly reveal'd himself to us in his Holy Word and you have drawn a veil upon him by your Dysanalogical Images and Pictures you take from the People the Holy Scriptures and teach them by Pictures according to that memorable Saying of a Pope Pictures are Lay-mens Books But God is a Spirit saith our Blessed Savior and Men must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4. 24. And â—o by your Pictures of God you determine the Worship and the Imagination of deluded People to the shadow and representation of a Body And because Man is the most excellent of all bodily and visible Creatures you have favor'd God with an human shape whereas the Heathen vile wretches worship him under the shape of an Ox that eateth grass Phil. If God was pleased to manifest himself in an human shape as you have heard Why may not we represent him so to the People Theoph. First there is a great mistake in those Apparitions of God in the Old Testament you make use of them to represent God the Father in a human shape whereas the Fathers generally hold that God the Son assumed those appearances and therefore they call'd them Praeludia Incarnationis the Prologues of his future Incarnation and so they cannot warrant your Picturing of God the Father But to come more close to our present purpose such Visions of God which we read of were transient cited only to the present purpose as in that of Daniel concerning the ancient of days it represented Gods dreadful coming to Judgment as you may read at large the 9 th Chapter Now you would make a standing Representation of God thereby to all ends and purposes whatsoever And again when the Prophet had his Vision it was also revealed to him what it signified otherwise an old Man with white garments and the hair of his head like wool could not have represented God to the Prophet It was no Image that did bear any Analogy or Resemblance of the Divine Nature or of any Person of the Trinity and therefore cannot be made use of by it self to represent God a 3. Dist 9. Qu. 2. Durandus a great School-man tells us Such Forms wherein God appeared in the Old Testament were not assumed into one Person with the Divine Nature as was the Humane Nature of Christ and when the present design was over they were laid aside as we put off our clothes And you may as well make a suit of Clothes the Image of a Man as these Forms the Image of God Suppose any Man should converse with you a day or an hour under a Vizar would he like it if you should take his Picture and the standing copy of his countenance from the Vizar When the Holy Scriptures mention the Eye of the Lord and the Mouth of the Lord his right Hand and his Holy Arm will you take these parts and set them together and make the Image of a Man to represent God and bring these Autorities of Scripture for your warrant This is a ready way to make our People Anthropomorphites to create in them an Imagination that God consists of Parts and Members as a Man and that his Image after which God made Man was imprinted in the Body In the Gatechizing of Youth we find it an hard work to take their minds off from such conceits notwithstanding all the help of Holy Scriptures which expresly declare That God is a Spirit and not flesh invisible and not a Body When we tell them that in such Expressions of Gods Eye and Hand and Mouth c. the Holy Ghost descends to our capacity and speaks of God after the manner of Men That he seeth all things without Eyes he maketh all things without hands for he spake the word and all things were made and yet the Heavens are call'd his handy-work and so the whole Creation because Man performeth several Operations by several Organs of the body therefore for our better apprehension these Members figuratively and by a Trope are ascribed to God altho he worketh all things by himself by the Almighty Power of his will and pleasure Now when we labor to explain these things unto the People they hardly sink into their hearts to take them off from terrene Cogitations of God and much more would they be confirm'd in such low conceits of the Divine Nature if they should constantly behold God pictur'd and worship him under an humane shape Phil. For no other end do we represent God under an humane shape but to descend unto vulgar capacities and our Priests can instruct them as well as you that God is an invisible Spirit Theoph. Such Images which you make of God are not Tropes and Figures to represent him to the minds of Men but real Representations to the Eye and so are apt in undiscerning Persons to improve the imagination that God is like unto us in our Earthly Members and for this cause among others he hath forbid such Images and you transgress the Commandment of God and endanger the Souls of deluded People in making and expressing such Pictures unto public view and adoration And it is worthy Observation That altho God would borrow a visible shape to appear unto a discerning Patriarch and a Prophet yet he would not do so when he would manifest his prefence to the whole Congregation of Israel he descended upon Mount Sinai in a Cloud in the voice of Thunder and he expresly makes the Observation to the People when he prohibited any likeness of God to be made Take ye therefore good heed unto your selves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the Fire Deut. 4. 15. Phil. Your worthy Observations must not think to carry the cause against the Traditions and Determinations of the Church Theoph. I do not expect they should when the Commands of God do little move you However to keep others out of the snare we will not spare to represent the ill effects of your picturing God when you usually draw the Image of the Trinity after this manner An old reverend Man with a little Youth and a Dove to represent the Holy Ghost here you conceive you have given us the three Persons but where is the one Substance the one only true God These Images necessarily represent a diversity of Natures and of Substance as well as a distinction of Persons And when you make God the Father ancient and God the Son as an youth you sensibly confirm the Doctrine of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrius who maintain'd That Christ the Son of God was yonger then his Father and that there was a time when the Son of God was net And therefore Abulensis a Cap. 4. Deut. qu 5. Erroris inductivae sunt cum periculo Idolatriae Herefis c. peremtorily determins against making Images of God or of the Holy Trinity
Theophilus and Philodoxus OR SEVERAL CONFERENCES BETWEEN TWO FRIENDS The one A true Son of the Church of England The other Faln off to the Church of Rome Concerning 1. Praier in an unknown Tongue 2. The Half Communion 3. The Worshipping of Images 4. The Invocation of Saints By GILBERT COLES D. D. Fellow of Winchester College At the THEATER in Oxford MDCLXXIV Imprimatur RA. BATHVRST Vice-Cancel OXON Julii 10. 1674. TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD GEORGE Lord Bishop of WINCHESTER Right Reuerend and my very good Lord I Am bold to entitle these First-fruits unto your Lordships Favor and Protection as being conscious how much they need it to shield them from this Censorious Age wherein impotent Men who ought to learn and become Disciples and reap the Fruits of others Labors usurp the Chair and sit as Judges most severely to censure and condemn A Generation furnish'd only with Principles destructive to pull down and not to edifie to except against what is Written and superciliously smile at the Authors folly as they have concluded whil'st they are wise in their own Conceits and secure themselves from public Censure by doing nothing that would become a public Spirit thro detestable Ignorance or Idleness betraying the Truth unto their Industrious Adversaries yielding up a Righteous Cause to the Lusts of Men for want of Zeal or Courage to defend it Now we must needs acknowledg your Lordships great Example and Encouragement hath not bin wanting to the contrary Your Clergy of this Diocess might have learn'd from you to Preach and Speak boldly in the Defence of Truth to reason with and convince Gain-sayers And for mine own particular having had the favour somtimes to stand before you and hear your familiar Communications in great humility and condescention with such as were far inferior and subject to you I declare That from your Lordships occasional Intimation and Discourse I took the Cue and Invitation to write in the Defence of the Church of England against her Adversaries of Rome having reason to distrust my self in so great an Undertaking I was confident to commit these poor Endeavors unto your Censure and lo thro your Tenderness and Indulgence they are improv'd into a favorable acceptance and Approbation Whereupon I am encouraged to present them unto public view and humbly beg They may pass into the World under the Wing of your Autority and Veneration and then no doubt the malevolent will be sober That Almighty God would lengthen your date of Life to rule his Church and do much good in an evil Generation and finally Crown your Piety with Immortality and Glory is the Praier of Your Lordships Most humble and obedient Servant Gilbert Coles THE PREFACE To the READER I Make no other Apology Christian Reader for my committing these Papers to the Press but this The Love of Truth constreined me and a just indignation against those Emissaries of Rome who lately swarm'd among us and have not yet we fear taken their slight notwithstanding the Law hath banish'd them But the Laws of Princes oblige not them against the Mission of their Superiors hither they will come and here they will abide compassing Sea and Land to make Proselytes They flatter themselves or at least the simple with expectation of great Success of their Labors Observing our sad Divisions and great Corruptions they find good Fishing in Troubled Waters and conclude The general Debauchery of Mens lives will dispose them to entertain a Religion suited to their Vitious Inclinations wherein they may have Indulgencies and Pardons and perfect Absolution upon easie terms They well know That only our Sins can bring such a Judgment upon this Island which God avert as to let in Popery and as they see our Iniquities abound so their Hopes and Confidences improve to make us corrupt in our Religion as in our Lives But we hope better things from a Gracious God and Invincible Truth That the Church of England shall stand against all Vnderminers at home and abroad Only let such as love the Lord hate evil and let the Truths of God be more pretious in our Eyes then to be Sacrificed unto the Lusts of Men. And when we shall observe such Industrious Designs set on foot to bring in Errors Good God! How earnestly should we contend to keep them out Formerly we had Stout and Learned Champions of the Reformed Religion who put our Adversaries well-nigh to silence by the advantage of their Cause their indefatigable Industry and Piety But however it comes to pass the Scene is alter'd The Envious one sows his Tares and few appear to weed them out the Truths of God are contradicted and we are filent Since a Puritan Faction made the Schism disturbing the Peace of Church and State approving themselves better skil'd at their Weapons then their Arguments instead of Writing against their Adversaries Fighting against their Friends Since the Venerable Fathers of our Church were driven from their Habitations bereft of their Libraries and of their Lively-hoods forc'd to seek for succors many of them in Foreign Parts Since the Presbyterian and Independent Chaplains had learn'd the Merchandize of Plundred Books selling whole Libraries upon easie terms unto Popish Factors Since our Universities were Garrison'd and Reform'd All the Fellows and Students of Colleges thrust out to seek their Fortunes a Generation of Seekers and puny Discipies succeeding I say since the year 1642. there hath bin a sad long Vacation in England from studious Reading and Writing of Books and thereout our Adversaries of Rome have suck'd no small advantage They are bold in Challenges and Disputes and Controversial Pamphlets whereunto the true Sons of the Church of England could not rejoin for want of necessaries and Books the Presbyterians for want of Learning Since His Majesties miraculous and happy Return The Church hath had time to breath and all things move in their own Sphere But Learning and Judgment come not in per saltum the Intercision of twnety Years is sadly sensible and to be lamented Our old Divines thro desuetude and the infirmities of Age are indispos'd to enter into the List of Controversies our yong Divines are unfurnish'd with Materials Thirteen Years since His Majesty warm'd the drooping Genius of this Nation with his nearer Influence and Protection being too short a term for men to traverse the Cycle of the Arts and Sciences to revolve the Learned Volumes of the Fathers to be vers'd in the Councils and Histories of the Church and to wind themselves out of the Labyrinth of the Schools And there are very few of the middle sort For when the Glory of the Land was departed and the Virgin Daughter of Sion did sit in the dust our military Schismatics committed an horrible Rape upon Religion and Learning all things were prostituted to their Interests and Lusts our new model'd Universities studied nothing but Politics and Pamphlets compendious Systems of New Philosophy and Divinity so that the Institution of two
Patriarchs and Prelates Eutyches an Abbot and all these Broachers of Heresie And such Men of Learning and Reputation are likely to do much more mischief in seducing the People then some obscure and simple Phanatics And we have cause to fear that some Mercurial Wits beyond the Seas have laid the Scenes and come over Incognito in the mist of our Distractions and Troubles to act their parts and give Life and Motion to the Phlegmatic Humors of our Separatists who whil'st they dream of Popery and mightily declaim and fight against it are led by many of the Principals and Priests of the Church of Rome upon your account therefore wise Men should with-hold the Scripture rather from the Learned who are able to do most mischief then from the multitude But we affirm neither one nor the other That either Clerks or Pesants should be restrain'd from reading the Bible for their Instruction and Salvation out of a panic fear they should wrest and pervert them to their own destruction and others Every thing that is most useful may become pernicious Will you keep no Fire in your Chimney for fear you should burn your House Phil. a Loco praedict Bellarmine gives another considerable Argument That in the Holy Scriptures there are many seeming Contradictions which if the common People in reading should observe not knowing how to reconcile them they may be apt to question the Infallibility and Truth of the Scripture Theoph. These seeming Contradictions do not easily fall within the Observation of the vulgar but of the Learned and withal they ought to read the Holy Scriptures with veneration and due acknowledgment that they are the infallible Word of God and dictates of his Holy Spirit who cannot lye nor contradict himself and upon this ground when we apprehend any contradiction in Gods Word we must distrust our own Judgment and not question the truth of Holy Scripture in any place but our own apprehension and apply our selves to the Learned for reconciliation and better satisfaction But as to the other part of Bellarmines Assertion Is it possible any should conceive that the Holy Word of God should contribute to the corruption of Mens manners and debauch the Lives of such as study it Phil. Yes of the unwary Reader For he instanceth in that passage of the Canticles Cant. 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth And in another place Cant. 8. 3. His left hand should be under my head and his right hand should embrace me He instances in Davids Adultery and Thamars Incest in the Patriarchs Concubines Now the ruder sort may make ill use of such Expressions and Examples Theoph. And so may a carnal Priest Tit. 1. 15. For unto them that are defiled saith the Apostle nothing is pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled But unto the pure all things are pure And therefore in such cases evil unto him that thinks evil We ought to give unto Spiritual Songs a Spiritual sense and not a sensual Psal 51. Davids Adultery is recorded and his most signal Repentance the Vices of the Patriarchs together with their Virtues to shew they were Men of like Passions with us and subject to Infirmities And the whole design of Scripture tends unto our Sanctification and holiness of Life and therefore one would think may prove a sufficient Antidote against the Infection of such Examples and withal many who never read the Scripture may hear these Stories and not be so well fortified against them Bellarmine I know made himself mirth with a Story related as he saith by a credible Person a Loco cit supra audivi ab homine fide digno c. That a Calvinistical Minister of the Church of England reading the 25 th Chapter of Ecclesiasticus in the vulgar Tongue where much is spoken of the malice and wickedness of a Woman one of his hearers a Woman rose up and said Is this the word of God nay rather of the divel Whereunto I answer That perhaps the poor Wretch before the happy Reformation in England being kept more Romano in great ignorance of the Scriptures thought it strange to hear such passages against her Sex and was promted to Blaspheme whereas had she bin conversant in the Word of God she would have learn'd to Bless and nor Blaspheme to govern her Passion and rule her Tongue and to keep silence at the Church the Apostle not permitting her there to speak c Leo decimus qui dissolute respondit Cardinali Bembo Quantum nobis profuit haec fabula Christi satis est omnibus seculis notum Job Balaeus centuriâ 8 va illustrium scriptorum Britanniae pag 636. And withal the Pope who call'd the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ a Fable was the more notorious Blasphemer As for his taunt of a Calvinistical Minister of the Church of England he knew well that our worthy Reformers chose not Calvin for their Master We are bound to honor him for his great Learning and Labor in the Work of the Lord but not to subscribe in all Points unto his Doctrine or Discipline and yet without doubt John Calvin compar'd with Ignatius Loiola the Father of Bellarmines Order was a Saint Phil. These are Impertinencies to vent your spleen But what say you to Bellarmines next Consideration That if vulgar Translations be permitted they must be changed every Age with the Language of the Country and so there would never be an end of Translating and fit Men to undertake that great Work may probably be wanting Theoph. I say that Bellarmine wanted Modesty and Consideration to assert that which the Experience of all Ages contradicts namely That the vulgar Tongue of every Country changeth for the most part in the compass of an hundred Years whereas his most part must be contracted into some few Words and Phrases every Age refining but not changing or destroying the Language of a People Phil. The last Argument of Bellarmine is this That the Majesty of Divine Service and we may add of the Holy Scripture requires a more grave and venerable Language then is the vulgar And this part of his Argument I have already proposd but that which follows is considerable d Loco citato praesertim cum in Sacris Mysteriis multa sint quae fecreta esse debeant Especially seeing in Holy Mysteries many things there are which should be concel'd from vulgar apprehensions And this Pope Gregory the 7 th urgeth as a reason of his denial unto the request of the Duke of Bohemia that his Subjects might enjoy their public Service b Istudne est verbum Dei imo potius diaboli in the Sclavonian i. e. the vulgar Tongue a Ex hoc nempe saepe volventibus liquet non immerito sacram script omnipotenti Deo placuisse c. Bin. con Tom. 7. part 1. Ep. Greg. l. 7. Epist 11. Vpon due consideration saith he I have observ'd that Almighty God was pleased that the Holy
Distinctions not intelligible to the Hearer or Reader Phil. You will find the same Tertullian shews a Lib. 2. Contra Marcionem c. 22. Tanquam simplex ornamentum c. The end of the second Commandment was to prevent Idolatrous Worship of Images as it follows in the Commandment Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them And that God commanding the Cherubins to be made for Ornament and Furniture of the Tabernacle it was no contradiction to his Law having not in them the causes of Idolatry for which the making of Images were prohibited Such an answer he likewise gives for the brazen Serpent It was made for cure to heal the People who were stung with Fiery Serpents in the Wilderness and for a Type of Christ healing the Nations as our Savior himself hath applied it and a Type likewise of the Old Serpent the Devil hang'd and crucified upon Christs Cross These things therefore were not against the Commandment because they were not made to be ador'd and worshipp'd Theoph. You have led me whether I desir'd We do not conceive all Images or the making of them to be forbidden by the second Comment but only such as are made for Religious Worship b Non sit nobis religio humanorum operum cultus Let not the worship of things made with hands become any part of our Religion And again saith St. Augustin c Aug De vera Rel c. 5◠Tom. 〈◊〉 non sit nobis Rel. cultus hominum mortuorum Let it be no part of our Religion to worship Men that are dead for if they liv'd godly saith he they will never desire or seek after such honors d Honorandi sont propter Imitationem non Adorandi propter Religionem They are to be honor'd for our imitation not adored as to Religion But alas your Doctors have left the old innocent Plea for Images whether in Churches or other places That they may be useful for Ornament for Instruction for an honorable Commemoration of holy Persons and for Imitation All this will not suffice but you will have Veneration and Adoration and what not be given unto them and so you have given occasion of Scandal to the Godly and of great Superstition and Idolatry to the more ignorant sort among your selves who cannot perplex themselves with such nice Distinctions wherewith your Leaders think to fence themselves against the charge of Idolatry But we shall proceed to shew this by degrees Mean while least you should make too much use of my Concession concerning Images made for such innocent uses as have been mention'd That they are not against the second Commandment I must here put in a solemn caveat against your Images of God which against all Reason and Religion you make and adore Phil. a Bell. Tom. 2. l. 2. de Ecclesiâ triumph c. 8. Non esse tam cereum in Ecclesiâ an sunt fuciendae Imag. Dei c. Bellarmin doth acknowledge That it is not so certain in the Church whether the Image of God and of the Trinity should be made as whether the Image of Christ and of the Saints Theoph. And yet in the same Paragraph he asserts positively b Licere pi 〈…〉 ere etiam Imag Dei Fatris in ferm 〈…〉 is senis Spiritum Sanctum inf columbae That it is lawful to picture God the Father in the shape of an old Man and God the Holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove and cites many of your Doctors to confirm his Opinion and so your general practice doth maintain it Now I will first urge the Holy Scripture against this Doctrine and Practice of your Church and then leave you to defend it Moses gives a great charge unto the People of Israel Deut. 4 15 16 c. Take good heed unto your selves least ye corrupt and make you a graven Image the similitude of any figure the likeness of male or female the likeness of any beast or winged soul the likeness of any creeping thing upon the ground or of any fish in the waters and least thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven and when thou 〈◊〉 the host of heaven shouldst be driven to worship them and serve them Phil. This charge is level'd against the Idolatry of the Gentiles and those Nations whom God cast out of Canaan who did worship graven Images of Men and Women and Beasts and creeping things for Gods Theoph. The Clause and Parenthesis in the first Verse of this charge For ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb I say this Clause manifests That God gave the charge lest by any thing after mention'd they should attemt to represent him It is truth that the Heathen did represent their false Gods in and by such Shapes and Images and did worship them And the Almighty God by a full enumeration of Creatures forbids any similitude to be made to represent and to worship him under it And to this effect the Propher Isaiah expostulates with an Idolatrous People To whom will ye liken Gods or what likeness will ye compare unto him Isa 40. 18. The best Image of God is Man an Image of the Lords own making that this likeness and similitude of God consists in the Soul of Man with her noble Faculties of Free-will and Understanding and dominion over the Creatures in that original rectitude and holiness where with he was created but these things cannot be represented by the linea 〈…〉 of a P 〈…〉 or an Image which only represent the dimensions and features of a Body and therefore by the Image of a Man God cannot be represented and much less by any inferior Creature God is Infinite and Invisible and Spiritual and all Images are finite and material and terminated by visible dimensions and therefore one cannot resemble another Phil. To this Bellarmin answers a Vbi supra Tribus modis potest aliquid pingi c. That God cannot be represented essentially by an Image but Historically and Analogically he may Theoph. Your Doctors have vented new and dangerous Doctrines and you may observe what a fine Web they spin of nice and subtle Distinctions to catch the unwary People in the Snare What a rumbling noise this makes in a Country-mans ear enough to put him in a Sound God cannot be represented by an Image Essentially yet Historically and Analogically he may Phil. Our Church takes care that the Priests should instruct the ignorant People and explain these and the like distinctions to them and so doth Bellarmin explain himself in this Chapter Theoph. It were the nearer and far easier way of Instruction to leave the People to keep the Commandment without any worship of Images and without the labyrinth of your perplex'd Distinctions But I pray shew what Bellarmin means by the Historical and Analogical Pictures of God Phil. You know Gregory the Great call'd Pictures The Books of Lay-men Such as could not read or study the
hath troubled all your Doctors and they mightily labor to undermine the Testimony but if you have any thing considerable to say let us hear it Phil. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Damascen answers thus That which is rare and single gives no Law to the Church and one Swallow makes no Summer nor is one Mans judgment able to overthrow the Tradition of the Catholic Church thro-out the World Where you may take notice how he declares the Tradition of the Church thro-out the World for Images Theoph. Damascen was a great Proctor for Image worship for which Zeal Leo Isaurus put out his Eyes and we shall hereafter try how his Catholic Tradition can be made good However you find he acknowledgeth the Fact of Epiphanius who was a Learned Orthodox Bishop of the Primitive Church and his Zeal was so great against Pictures in Churches That in anothers Diocess he took upon him to reform Phil. Some conceive it was no Picture of Christ or any Saint but of an Heathen for Epiphanius speaks doubtfully a Picture * Quasi Christi aut Sancti cujusdam as suppose of Christ or some Saint Theoph. You catch at every Reed in a sinking cause Epiphanius in his Letter to the Bishop of Jerusalem saith Hee had forgot whose Picture it was but it may be of Christ or some other Saint which he could not say had it bin the Image of some prophane Person and that had bin the reason of his zeal and indignation against the Picture Phil. Many others with Bellarmin suspect this relation to be added to Epiphanius his Epistle in the close for there it is a Postscript by some ill affected to Images and urge Reasons first out of the second Council of Nice the sixth Session where Epiphanius a Deacon and Representative or Vicar of the Arch-Bishop of Sardinia in that Council undertakes to answer and confute the Definition of the Council of Constantinople against Images and shews that other Passages were falsly intitled to Epiphanius even an whole Book against Images That Epiphanius in his 80 Heresies which he publish'd includes not the Heresie of making and worshipping Images which doubtless he would have done a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. if he had thought it contrary to the rule of Christ That Epiphanius his Disciples after his decease erected a Temple in honor to him and set up his Image therein which they would not have done had they known his judgment to be against Images Theoph. This is the usual knack to suspect what doth not please but most of your Doctors acknowledg the Fact as you have heard of Damascen and Alphonsus de Castro reckons Epiphanius among the Image-breakers As for the Deacons asserting many passages of Epiphanius to be suppositious we have no reason to take his word unless his Reasons carry it and they are too weak to bear the burthen of his charge for Epiphanius in 79 th Heresie doth expresly speak against the Image of the Virgin Mary as against her worship And in truth he speaks against Images in general b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c The Divel creeping into the minds of Men under a righteous pretence sets before their eyes the Image of Men whom being dead they worship and their Images had never life and yet are worship'd likewise by adulterate minds withdrawn from the one-only true God If the Story be true that Epiphanius his Disciples did set up his Image in a Temple which they built and dedicated to his honor we answer It is no new thing for Disciples to swerve from their Masters Principles and Practice The Deacons Arguments therefore do not prove this and the other passages of Epiphanius against Images to be forg'd Phil. Bellarmin hath one or two Observations more to make this passage of Epiphanius suspected of cutting the Picture Because saith he the Adversaries of Images do not mention it Theoph. I suppose he means the Bishops in the Constantinople Council against Images Now they having cited other passages against Images out of Epipharius a Con◠Nic. 2. Act. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. declare expresly That they had not brought all his Testimonies but left them to the diligent inquiry of the Learned Phil. Bellarmin cites b Epistolarum l. 9. Epistola nona Nullum Episcoporumante Serenum fregisse Imag Christi aut Sanctorum Gregory the Great asserting That Serenus was the first Bishop who brake the Images of Christ and the Saints and therefore Epiphanius did not so before him Theoph. The Pope was not Infallible and perhaps might not read this passage of Epiphanius As this Orthodox Bishop shewed his zeal against Pictures so about the same time a pious Emperor Theodosius by an Edict did forbid even the Image of Christ c Petrus Crinitus de honestâ disciplinâ lib. 9. cap. 9. Cum sit nobis cura dillgens in rebus omnibus supremi numinis religionem tueri signum salvatoris nostri Christi nemini concedimus pingere sed quodcunque reperitur tolli jubemus Having a studious care in all things to desend the Religion of the most high God we permit none to carve or paint any Image of our Savior Christ in colours stone or any other matter and command such Pictures to be taken away wheresoever they are found resolving severely to punish all such as do contrary to our command And so we are led unto another Instance of Serenus Bishop of Marseils who brake down all the Images and Pictures in Churches thro-out his Diocess about the year 600. when Gregory the Great was Pope who writes an Epistle to Serenus reprehending the Fact as proceeding from inconsiderat zeal d Epistolarum l. 9. Epist nona Quid inconsiderato zelo succensus Sanctorum Imagines confregeris And whereas the Bishop made his Plea That he remov'd them out of Churches and brake the Images because the People were prone to worship them That he forbid the worship of them the Pope approves for it is written saith he Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve And at length he gives this advice e Si quis Imag. facere voluerit minime probibe c. If any destres to make or to have an Image forbid him not But by all means take care that no man worship them Phil. This Testimony of Gregory approves the Images of the Saints for History and Ornament altho he forbids the worship of them and we are not yet come to that point Your Instances from the Eliberitan Canon from Epiphanius and Serenus are against the Images themselves not their worship Theoph. Those Holy Bishops were offended with Pictures in Churches because they might be occasion of Idolatry the People inclining to give Religious worship to them as Serenus made his Plea Phil. Notwithstanding such panic fears you know as Bellarmin shews God placed the Cherubins in the Ark. Theoph. In the inward Tabernacle over the Mercy-seat where
among the vulgar sort of People in worshipping the Images of our Blessed Savior and the Virgin Mary and the Saints which were erected in their Temples and in the Streets he took a severe course and brake down the Images and commanded all that had such Images and Pictures under great penalties to bring them forth and burn'd them in the Market-place He sent likewise to Gregory the second Pope of Rome to desire his concurrence for a General Council of the Eastern and Western Bishops about this work of Reformation and in a sacred Epistle to the Pope he urg'd Arguments to justifie his course in taking away Images Whereunto the Pope returns an Answer a Bin. Edit Concil Tom. 5. pag. 501. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That whereas he had received frem him many sacred Letters within the first ten years of his Reign full of Piety and Wisdom together with an Orthodox Confession of his Faith denouncing a Curse upon those that should remove the Boundaries of Religion which the Fathers had set and for this cause he tells the Emperor That he had given ample Thanks to God for committing the Empire of the World unto so noble a Prince But now alas from his Epistle and from his practice he sadly perceiv'd how he was taken from the Truth and had given great scandal to the World And so he sets himself to give satisfaction unto some Particulars which the Emperor had mention'd in his Letter telling him before-hand That he would write to him dull and illiterate Things because thou thy self saith he art such And in truth the Pope is as good as his word for his Letter which he writes to the Emperor is blunt and desultory without any reason or consequence or good manners He saith That God did forbid Graven Images such as the Canaanites made and worship'd but he commanded Moses to make two Cherubins a Table and an Ark and these were similitudes made with hands for the glory of God He tells him That Moses prai'd and desired to see an Image of God that he might not err and the Lord answer'd That he could not see his face and live but his back parts he should see but under the Gospel he hath shew'd himself back and face That the Truth is made visible and Christ hath appear'd and dwel'd among us and where the carcass was that is Christ in the Body thither the Eagles came True Believers resorted to him and took his Picture and the Pictures of James the Brother of the Lord and of Stephen the first Martyr and so of all the Martyrs and forsaking the worship of Idols the whole World did worship these Images not with the worship due only to God but relatively a Distinction form'd to puzzle not to inform After this he tells him how our Blessed Savior sent a Copy of his Countenance in a Napkin to the King of Edessa 'T is truth saith he we do not Picture God because we know him not but if we had beheld him as we do his Son we would have made his Picture also and try whether you would call it an Idol The love of Christ knows saith he That when I go into the Temple of Peter the Prince of the Apostles and look upon his Image I am brought to compunction and as Rain out of the Clouds so do my Tears flow down Then he tells the Emperor how Christ restored sight to the blind but you put out the Eies of the People by removing Images You say we worship Stones and Tables not so but our memories must be rubb'd up and our dull and foolish and illiterate mind rais'd When we see the Picture of Christ we say Thou Son of God save us so when we see the Picture of the Holy Mother we say O holy Mother of God Mother of the Lord mediate unto thy Son to save our Souls and so to the other Saints and Martyrs He bids the Emperor go into the Grammar-Schools and tell the Boies I am he a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. b Epist 1. Greg. secund ad Leonem Isaurum Bin. Tom. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. who persecute and pull down Images and see saith he whether they will not hurl their Books at thy head When the Emperor reflected upon that passage of Hezekiah breaking in pieces the Brazen Serpent because the People did burn Incense to it 2 Kings 18. 4. How do you think he answers it Phil. I must confess it was very apposite to his purpose who pleaded the Peoples Superstition in worshipping Images as the cause of his removing them and therefore I desire to hear what satisfaction his Holiness the Pope gave unto that Objection Theoph. He tells the Emperor a Ib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Verily Ozias was thy Brother of like perswasions as thy self and he plaid the Tyrant among his People as thou dost Where you also observe how the Pope was so ignorant of the Holy Scriptures that he ascribes that memorable passage of breaking the Brazen Serpent to Vzziah and not to Hezekiah the King and in resembling the Emperor to Hezekiah in the fact of breaking Images he by a necessary consequence approves the one as the Holy Ghost in Scripture doth the other for his zeal for Reformation and Gods Honor. Phil. I did not expect such a precipitate Answer to so considerable an Argument Theoph. Give me leave to proceed He tells the Emperor and calls Christ to witness How mightily affected he was with sight of the glorious Images and Historical Pictures of the Holy Scriptures in the Churches and that it had been much better if the Emperor had bin an Heretic denying some fundamental Truth of the Gospel then a Persecuter of Images And gives his Reason Because Heretics err'd through ignorance and about things hard to be understood whereas thou errest in such things as are as clear as the Sun and therefore their Condemnation is not so great as thine It appears in his Sacred Epistle that the Emperor did write to the Pope concerning a General Council to determin the Controversie concerning Images Phil. That was the most likely way to settle the Truth and the minds of Men. Theoph. But the Pope answers No You did write to me for a General Council but it seems to me unprofitable Phil. I pray what reason did he give of his denial Theoph. He tells the Emperor He consults his Honor and that it were better for him not to have his crimepublish'd he was a desircier of Images if he would give over and be quiet the scandal would be taken away and there would be no need of a Council He calls God to witness how he had communicated the Emperors former sacred Epistles to the Princes of the West and had much commended him for his Piety and they all had him in great Honor but as soon as they heard of this Fact of Image-breaking they trampled his Lawrels under foot and invaded some of his