Against Symbolizing with Antichrist in Ceremonies, Part · Chapter 1 · Section 11
#Sect. 11. How the ayrye ſigne of the Croſſe is Idolized and worſhipped tho tranſcant.
THe ſecond ſort of our oppoſites graunt their wanteth no will in the Papiſt to Idolize the aereall Croſſe, howbeit he cannot worſhip it, neither make an Idoll of it, becauſe it is tranſeunt, while one part is, the other is not, wholy it doth neuer ſubſiſte; to be adored by him. And what letteth (then) to cry out, foreign I hauehave found. Howbeit, not what Archimedes once, but quod pueri in faba now. Indeed had not this triuiall ſhift appeared perſonally, when time was againſt a certaine preacher, and depriued him; and were it not that ſince I ſee it taken vp in the mouthes of many others, and that it is a common gigge to ſhift of all things brought againſt this filthie Idoll, by (Tuſhe, the aereall Croſſe is nothing.) I would hauehave ſcorned to hauehave looked on it, much more to hauehave anſwered it. But nowe, what matter is it, whether the obiect of Idolatrie be capable of pollution or no? Honor non eſt in honorato ſed in honorante, and asaAuguſt. cont. Fauſt. Manichae. lib. 21. cap. 22. S…per…i & imp… ſpiritus, non nidore ac funio ſacrificiorum ſicut nonnulls v…i opinantur, ſed hominum paſcuutu… erroribus, So it is not for any pollution in the Idoll it ſelfe, that we are commaunded to roote it out, but to cure the diſeaſe of their error that commit Idolatrie to him. Secondly, on how laine a legge doth this reioynder ſtand? Nothing can be made an Idoll, whoſe parts are tranſeunt and aereall, and preſently vaniſhing. Which if it be true, then the Idoll ofbHieron. comment. in Iſa. lib. 13. ca 46. Clem. recognit. ad Iacob. frat. dom. li. 5. Peluſium, which the Fathers condemne for the greateſt that euer was, was none at all. I know it cannot be vnknowne to the ordinary of this caſe, that the heathen adored thecAuguſt. ad publicol. epiſt. 154. winde and the ayre it ſelfe. For euen to the fluyd ayer vnderunder the name of Dius & Dia were there Temples without Rome, that were vncouered at the top. To omit the flood Nilus which the old Aegyptians worſhipped, & thedAgathias. Scholaſt. hiſtor. Iuſtinian. li. 1 fluminum lapſus which the Galli did adore. Now by this reaſon none of theſe were Idols. For what more aereal thē the wind and the ayre it ſelfe? & what more tranſeunt in the partes then riuers, falling down and running? And what will be anſwered to the name Ieſus (the name of him that is God bleſſed for euer?) more aereall then the Croſſe, becauſe a found? which thus deſcribeth it ſelfe in the Poet,
eIoh. Lauterb. oenigmat. 86.Corpore colliſo vel rupto naſcor in auras
Vaneſco, at que animam vix generatus ago.
Say we (then) the materiall Croſſe is an Idoll with the Papiſts, not the aereall? we may ſay as well the materiall name of Ieſus (as it is painted or engraued) is an Idoll with them, but not the aereall. Whereas vox Ieſus, velaudita vel viſa, is indifferently worſhipped by them.fAnton. de Corduba. lib. 1. qu. 5. dub. 4. art. 2. Dominie Soto de inſtit. li. 2. q. 4. art. 2. By ſome of them improperly, by othersgSuar. tom. 1. in thom. diſput. 54. ſect. 5. Vazq. de adorat. lib. 2. diſput. 8. cap. 10. properly: ſo that our writerers doe not erre who cenſure their bowings to thehFulk. annſ… … Rhem. in Phil. 2. ſect. 2. aereall name of Ieſus, for Idolatrous, to which alſo there is anlThe relat. of the relig. of the Weſterne &c. pag. indulgence annexed for pardon of ſinne. Thirdly, the reaſon why the aereall ſigne of the Croſſe is thought (though worſhipped by the Papiſts) to be made no Idoll by them, is the ſlender ſubſiſtence it hath, for which men ſay, it is a thing of nothing. Firſt here, how cannot the ſtomacke be moued to ſee God & the Church ſo mocked? The Church is mocked, becauſe commaunded to make a thing called a Croſſe, which is no Croſſe; becauſe Croſſe-wiſe neuer exiſting. God is more mocked by this opinion. For what hauehave we here brought into his ſeruice? to wit a Croſſe, not a Croſſe; a thing that is nothing, like Sphinxes riddle; a man, not a man: ſtanding, not ſtanding; vponupon a tree, not a tree? Secondly; the Croſſe had as little ſubſiſtence in the primatiue Church, as it hath in theſe late dayes. In theſe hath it ſo little being, that popiſh Idolatrie cannot diſcredit it? then was it ſuch a thing of nothing in thoſe times alſo, that the vſe of the Fathers could not credit it, and now it is ſo thinne a ſharke, that our own Church cannot countenance it neither, though commaund it moſt vnworthy. Thirdly, know we not that it was neuer denied to Bellarmine that foreign in neere ſenſe and ſignification, is amIoh. Reynold. de Idololat. lib. 2. cap. 7. ſect. 1. vaniſhing aereall ſhadow, like the vmbra of one dead in Euſtathius, which being true, the vaniſhing ayrenes of the Croſſe furthereth (indeed) but ſtayeth not the idolizing of it. So doth it further the guilt of it (likewiſe) Quaſi vero. &c. as if it were not better (ſaythnAuguſt cont. Fauſt. Manich. lib. 20. cap. 15. Auguſtine) to worſhip a ſtone which hath a being, then in the doting of our fancie, to adore that which hath no being? As if it were not better (ſay I) to adore a Croſſe of ſtone, then a Croſſe aereall, which our Oppoſites giuegive forth, is a thing of nothing. When the Septuagint ad to the Hebrew (Gods that are not.) oHieron. comment. in Iſa. li. 1… cap. 65.Hierome liketh the amplification well ynough in regard of [not being in ſubſiſtence] as hereſies are Idols ſo much the worſe (ſayth he) (and ſo by conſequent aereall Croſſes) becauſe in ſimilitudinem vmbrarum, tranſeunt & intereum; They vaniſh & paſſe away like ſhadowes. Fourthly, be the ſubſiſtence of the Croſſe outwardly neuer ſo tranſeunt, ſubſiſtence it hath in the mindes of men conſtant ynough, yea too conſtant as is ſeene by our oppoſites. What a thing is it, that they who talke ſo much of the [nothingnes] of the [vaniſhing] of the [not ſubſiſting] of this ſigne, ſhould make (notwithſtanding) ſo great a thing of it in their hearts, and giuegive it ſo permament ſubſiſtence there, that neither the teares of the poore, nor the ſuites of the rich, neither the ſcandall of religion, nor the dammage of the Church; neither the triumph of the Papiſt, nor the worſting of the Proteſtant, nor any thing elſe, by any meanes poſſible, can cauſe it to vaniſh away from thence? What though the Rayn-bow bee but a ſhadow of the ſunne, tranſeunt and vaniſhing, as ſingeth the Poet. Mille rapit varios aduer ſa luce colores? the minde for all that doth apprehend it, as a conſtantpHieron. in Comment. in Ezechi. lib. 1. ca. 2. ſigne of Gods couenant, which hath no ſhew nor ſhadowe of changing. Mulium differt, &c. there is great difference (ſaythqAuguſt. de ciuit. dei li. 11. c. 29. Auguſtine) betweene knowing a thing as it is made, and as it is in it ſelfe. as the ſtraitnes of a line, is knowne one way as it is conceaued in the vnderſtanding, an other way as it is written in the duſt. What then, though the Croſſe be tranſeunt, as he is made, yet he is permanent as he is conſidered in ſe ipſo, as a line is permanent in the minde, though not in the duſt, wherein hee is drawne. For therLudouic. viues ibid. Geometer draweth his lines in the duſt, that he may mende and marre as he liſt; daſh out and draw new, when (yet) in his vnderſtanding they are permanent, and in his minde, as we may ſee by Archimedes, whoſe lines if they had not bene deeper printed in his minde, then in his duſt, hee would not hauehave bene found poring on them, while Syracuſa was in ſurprizing. To be ſhort, that whichsAuguſt. confeſſ. li. 11. c. 27. Auguſtine ſayth of a ſound, though the parts of it be tranſeunt: Quod eius vti que peractum eſt ſonuit: Quod autem reſtat ſonabit. Yet it is totally & actually exiſting in the minde, that which is paſt in the memory; that which is to come in the intention, all of it together in the affection; that may be applied to the croſſe aereall. So that the vaniſhing ayrines of it, excuſeth it not frō being an Idol with the papiſts; condemneth it with vsus to our greater guilt, who though an aerie vaniſhing idol do yet nouriſh more thē a vaniſhing likening towards it in our harts