Against Symbolizing with Antichrist in Ceremonies, Part 2 · Chapter 6 · Section 15
#Sect. 15. The practiſe of the prime Church retayning Rites to winne them that were without, and to content them that were lately converted, confuted.
I Come to a third replie obiected againſt vsus, Sect. 15.drawne frō the example of the primitiue church, which retayned rites to winne them that were without: and to content them that were lately converted. Firſt the prime Church tooke not this courſe ordinarilie, as hath been ſhewed, and may further appeare by Conſtantine, who firſt ſet vp the faith of Chriſt. He would not retaine the auncinet Labarum, which the Pagans were accuſtomed to adore, as the papiſtes hauehave been accuſtomed (we know) to adore the croſſe. But heaZozom. I…. cap. 4. chaunged it into a croſſe? true, becauſe then nothing more proper to chriſtian profeſſion, nothing more hated by the Pagans, nothing more ſeparating from the Gentiles, to which ende he cauſed it to bebNicepth or lib. 7. ca. 46 engrauen on their armour, vt frequenti hoc ſpectaculo in cZozom. ibid.deſuetudinem priſlinae ſuperſtitionis venirent. & vt ſenſim dNicap. ibidita pertraherentur ad Chriſti crucifixi religionem. As the Labarum was then aboliſhed (becauſe in former times adored by the Pagans) ſo ought the ſigne of the croſſe nowe, which the papiſtes hauehave made an idoll. And as the ſigne of Chriſtianitie was ſettled in roome thereof (to wit the croſſe) ſo nowe ſome contrarie ſigne to the croſſe ſhould rather be vſed, then the ſigne of the croſſe it ſelfe: it being become the marke of the beaſt, & Antichriſtes enſigne. From publique courſes of … firſt church, come we to private. A verieeCaeſar. Baton. Annal. … …n…. 256 papiſt him ſelfe will ſhewe vsus that be… Constantines dayes, the chriſtians had a care to leaue of, the verie mourning attier it ſelfe, which the pagans vſed in funeralls and in their common garments, whe… need ſo required, to diſtinguiſh them ſelues by wearing blacke in thoſe places where they wore white, and by wearing white in thoſe places where they wore blacke. This duetie was not forgotten, no not in the dayes of Innocentius the▪ who cōmaunded a like diſtinction betweene the Chriſtians and the Iewes, to wit, that the Chriſtians ſhould vſe one kinde offConcil Leteranen. cap. 68. habit, the Iewes an other, and when the Iewes came ouer to the fayth, that they ſhould not be permitted to continue any of their old cuſtomes,gIbid. ca. 70 Quia ſcriptū eſt, maledictus homo qui terram duabus vijs ingreditur, & indui veſtis non debet lino lana que contexta. Secondly, when any olde cuſtome of the pagans was retayned, it ſtayed not long: wherevponhBear. Rhenan. anno…at. in Ter…ul. de Co…on. milit. one ſpeaking of birth dayes, after the heatheniſh manner kept, hoc tames ſi ethnicum aliquando eccleſia tolerauit, Concilium Nicenum & ſequentia aperte damnant: opus a erat olim mulia Chriſtiants indulgere, quae plerumque iam ſenes ad noſtram religionem convertebantur difficulter ea relinquētes, quibus per omnem vitam aſſueuerant, ſecus est hodie. Thirdly, If the rites of the Pagans were continued in the church, they did hurt, to wit, by corrupting the chriſtians doctrine, and by confirming the pagans in their idolatrie. Here I feare not, the wonted inſtance of the croſſe it ſelfe retayned.lSocrat. hiſtor. Eccleſ. l. 5. c. 17. The Greeke T. which doeth beare ſome forme of the croſſe, was one of the hieroglificall letters which the Prieſtes of Serapis vſed: and it ſignified in their myſteries, vitam venturam, life to come. When Serapis was defaced, this letter of his ſcaped better thē his fellowes, becauſe the chriſtians changed, and turned it into a croſſe. whoſe example why ſhould we not followe (ſay ſome) now, and ſo change the popiſh croſſe into the croſſe which our Church vſeth? Firſt, if this courſe of the chriſtians be iuſtified, it is becauſe this hieroglificall letter retayned gaue teſtimonie of the chriſtian faith like themI…. altar at Althens; which doeth the ſigne of the croſſe now? No, it giveth witnes of the faith of Antichriſt rather, whoſe marke it is ſince become. Secondly, this courſe of borrowing a croſſe from Pagans, is by our writers often cenſured.nD. Fulk. ag Saund. de imag. c. 13. p. 663. thus one: The myſticall letter in the Temple of the Idoll Scrapis, could hauehave no relation to the croſſe of Chriſt, which the idolaters knew not: therefore the follie of thoſe eccleſiaſticall writers is bewrayed, that thought chriſtianitie much helped by ſuch heatheniſh and ſuperſtitious fancies. Thirdly, as anotheroCalfh. ag. Mart. in art. 5. fol. 129. writeth, though the Croſſe did good then amongeſt the Heathens that had before hande an high eſtimation of it, and might in like caſe doe good againe, yet amonge Chriſtians where Chriſt crucified is dayly preached, and ought to bee knowne without ſuch externall meanes, great follie it is to hauehave it. And ſo farre of the ſcandall which the ſigne of the croſſe giueth to the Papiſt.