Against Symbolizing with Antichrist in Ceremonies, Part · Chapter 3 · Section 9
#Sect. 9. That the Croſſe is not a monitorium to the memorie, but defileth it with the hipocriſie of prepoſteration, with vacuitie of the remēbrance pretended, and with forgetfulnes of God, and of his word.
THE memorie which is the next power of the reaſonable ſoule receiueth great profit, men ſay, by the Croſſe, it being a monitorium of it. whereas in deede it wilbe found that the croſſe euen here (alſo) defileth like an Harpie whatſoeuer he toucheth with all his hipocriſies. Concerning prepoſteration. Firſt, whereas it is the meditation of the ſpirituall Croſſe of Chriſt that onelyonly pleaſeth him,aAuguſt. in Pſal 118. dum diligentiſsima pietate Christus ipſe crucifixus attenditur, quam intuentes ſalutiferam crucem omni calumniantium ſuperborum virus expellimus: the vſe of this ſigne poyzeth men downe to a carnall croſſing, and diveth (as it were) the ſpirit into the ſenſes channell: And it is too carnall a remembrance, to which this prepoſteration bindeth, and vnwarrantable by the worde. For the Croſſe cannot bee ſett vp for a remembrance…, but vponupon that popiſh ground,bConcil. Nicen. 1. ar 6 p. 177 Omne quod in recordationem Dei erigitur, acceptum illi eſſe conſtat. Which while our Writers refute by the worde, we approue by our practize of the croſſe. Hereby alſo we open a gappe to drawe in Lutheraniſme, whoſe Images ſerue for like memorialls: to drawe incInterun. Carol 5. in ca de ceremon. Adiaphoriſme, whoſe croſſes are for like monuments: at a worde to drawe in all Idolatrie. FordFulke ag. Rhem. in Philip. 2. ver. 10. if it be once lawfull for vsus to bring into Gods worſhip all memorialls we will our ſelues, all Idolatrie may be excuſed. And for the preſent wee are indaungered to a participation with the croſſes idolatrie preſent: for vnderunder what pretence is it worſhipped, ſaue this of remembring and putting vsus in minde of Chriſte? So the counterfeteAuguſt de viſit. infirmor. l 5 c 3 Auguſtine. SofDamaſc de fid orthod. li. 4 ca 12. Damaſcen. So thegCouncil. Nic. 2. act. 2.4 p. 69. Nicene Councill, whoſe doctrine a late papiſt thus expreſſeth:hAlphonſ. de Caſtr. lib. 8. in …ebi. & adorat. Non aliam ob cauſam veneramur Imagines quam quod nos venire faciunt in memoriam exemplaris & inde affectus nostros monent. To cleare our ſelues from all foreſaid guiltines, returne we to the auncient [tenent] of the proteſtantes, and to their reaſoning of old. The oldlZanch. de Imag. theſ. 1. fol 351. Ioſi. Simle… in Exod. D Bilſon. tenent is, that beſides the worde and the Sacraments, we are not to ſeeke to any further memorialls outward. The old reaſoning is this: The Croſſe is a memoriall not mFulk. ag. Rhem. in Luck. 24. ſect. vlt.ordayned by the Lord, therefore vnlawfull: choſen by our ſelues,nIdem in Philip. 2. verſ. 10. therefore vnlawfull. Forbidden by God, thereforeoIdem in reioynd. art. 1. pag. 209. vnlawfull.
The ſecond hipocriſie of the memorie by the croſſe occaſioned is the vacuitie of the remembrance which is pretended. Firſt, no memoriall is lively and powerfull for the ſanctifying of our remembrance but ſuch as God him ſelfe doeth bleſſe: which are ſuch as him ſelfe ordayned; to which when we adde the croſſepCalfh. ag. Mart. praefat. fol. 12. as wee put them out of their function, ſo robbe we our ſelues of the bleſſing annext: annexed I ſay and tyed to them, becauſe the ſpirit that bloweth where he will,qAnd. Wiiler. de bap. cap. 8. will only blowe vponupon his owne ordinance, & not to lackey after a croſſe or any meane elſe to which man preſumeth to tye him all in vayne. Secondly, outwarde ſignes hinder remembrance which ſhould be perpetuall asrHieron. ad Cela…tiam epi 14. c. 3. Hierome telleth vsus: Wee are now to keepe (ſaieth he) not a literall (by outward ſignes) but a ſpirituall memoriall of Gods law, which commaundeth, vt non tam frequenter recordanda ſint praecepta Domini, quam ſemper cogitanda. While we depende (ſaithsCalfh art. 9. fo. 174. one) on ſuch a memoriall as the croſſe, our remembrance vaniſheth with the croſſe; whereas by the meditation of the worde we may (as we are bounde) remember Chriſt alwayes without it. Hence Charles the great,tCaro. mag. de Imag. li. 4. cap. 2. infoelix memoria quae vt Christi memoretur qui nunquam à pectore iusti hominis recedere debet imaginariae viſionis est indiga. A third hipocriſie which in the memorie the croſſe occaſioneth is [pollution] through that forgetfulnes of God and his worde,uHoſpin. de imag. fo. 56 wherewith we charge papiſtes, when they ſet vp images for remembrancers, out of Iudges 3. Hoſe. 2. For what reaſon but that a croſſe ſhould cauſe ſuch forgetfulnes of him, aſwell as other images do, being as warrantleſſe by the worde of God as they. But it was vſed by thewPerck. problem. pag. 82. Fathers as a common Monitorium, whereof thus Cyrill, xCyril. cont Iulian. li. 6Haeo omnia recordari nos facit ſalutare ſignum: and counterfait Auguſtine thus,yAuguſtin. ſerm. 19. de ſanct. Crucem nobis reliquit Chriſtus in ſuae memoriam paſsionis. Our anſwer is the ſame which Caſſander and Martiall receyued: when the onezCaſſand. in conſult. pleaded the oyle cannot be lefte: the otheraMart. of the croſſe art. 5. that the ſigne of the croſſe cānot be diſvſed but we muſt needs diſhonor the Fathers: why may not the Croſſe be left as well as other of their Ceremonies without bD. Fulke reioynd. art. 5. pag. 177.iniurie to them? as their honny and their milke, yea their miniſtring of the communion vntounto infantes? Did not Hezechias aboliſh the monument of the brazen ſerpent without diſhonor vntounto Moſes that ſet it vp? ThecCouncil. Conſtantinop. 6. c…. 82. Vid. Caranz. ibid. Councill of Conſtantinople aboliſhed the Agnus in memoriall of Chriſt Ieſus, without diſhonour to their aunceſters? what that the abuſe of papiſtes hath made it naked of all former priviledge? For euendAlphonſ. de Caſt. in verb. imag. papiſtes them ſelues doe yeeld out of the example of the braſen ſerpent, that Croſſes and Images muſt bee aboliſhed, when the greater part abuſe them, and not our owne writerseIewel art. 14. in fine. onelyonly. As for our ſelues, howe can we thinke better of a Croſſe whichfHieron. in Mat. 23. Hierome himſelfe condemneth when it is borne in the boſome for Phariſaicall: then of a Phariſeis foreign. The Phariſeis added writings to their foreheads for memorialls, and aregIanſon. concord. Evangel. cap. 120. condemned by papiſts themſelues: and is not the croſſe of the forehead of the ſame ranke? When the Phariſeis did but enlarge their fringes which were Phylacteries & memorialls by God ordayned, we ſee our Lord reproueth them. InhIbid. Hieromes time they added ſharpe thornes, to put them ſelues in minde by their pricking when they walked and ſate downe. Our Reverend Fathers not onelyonly enlarge baptiſme with the croſſe, vnderunder pretence it is a Philacterie, that is a preſeruer of memorie, but alſo in inlarging it, diſgrace it, euen as the Phariſeis diſgraced the fringe of the Lordes ordayning with their inlargementes. What, that it is a thorne not in the Fringe of a Phariſeie only, Pr…veth. 26.9.to pricke him ſelfe for his owne remembrance, but in the hande, as it were of a violent man, to hurt others, and to vndoe them?