Answer to a Popish Pamphlet Called the Touchstone of the Reformed Gospel, Part 2 · Subpart 49
49 THat it is not lawfull to reverence images or to give any honour to dead & inſenſible things.
VVHichWhich he ſayeth is contrarie to Exod. 3. 5. Where Moſes is commanded to put off his ſhoes before he drew neare to the burning buſh, becauſe the place whereon he ſtood was holie ground. To which I anſwere, 1. That it ſeemeth ſtrange to me, that for adoration of images, hee ſhould bring any ſcripture, ſeing their biſhop Melchior Canus ingenouſlie acknowledgeth (lib. 3. de Trad. cap. 3. fund. 3.)▪ That the worſhip of images is not contained in ſcripture, neither clearlie, nor obſcurelie. 2. As their Caſſander teſtifieth (conſult. 21.) the adoration of images was condemned in the Councell of Frankfoord, as contrarie to ſcripture. 3. This reverence that was done by Moſes by putting off his ſhoes was not to the ſenſ…es ground, called holy, becauſe of Gods holie preſence at that time there, but to the Lord himſelf, who was manifeſting himſelf ther both by voice & viſion, as Hugo de S. victore ſhoweth, and as their biſhop alſo Lipomanus in his catena upon Exod. and Cajetan whom he citeth doth there alſo teach.
The ſecond place which he bringeth, is pſal. 99. 5. Adore ye his footstoole, for it is holie. By which literallie is underſtood the Ark, which was worſhiped by the Iewes (ſaith he) in regard of the images that were ſet on it. To which I anſwer, 1. That he perverteth the Text, for the words are (as the originall, and their own interlinear hath) Adore yee at his footſtoole, for he is holie, ſo that it is God, & not his footſtoole that was to bee adored, 2. In the ſame pſalme v. 9. It is ſaid, worſhip yee at his holie hill, for the Lord our God is holie, which juſtifieth the former expoſition, and not, worſhip ye his holy hill. 3. his reaſon is both naughty & falſe. Firſt, naughtie, becauſe the Iewes (ſaith he) worſhiped the Ark, becauſe of the images, that wer ſet on it▪ whence it would follow that not only images thēſelves were to bee worſhiped, but alſo the places wherein, or wheron they are ſet. 2. Falſe, becauſe, as their Eſtius on Heb. 9. 5. teſtifieth That theſe images of the Cherubims were placed in the ſanctuarie or Ark, not to be worſhiped (ſayeth he) but for the ſignification of things to come, and wer not to be ſeene by the people. And 4. ſuppoſe it were, Adore ye his footſtoole, yet Auguſtin on that place, …elleth us, that thereby is meaned Chriſts humanitie, which being …nited to his Deitie in a perſonall union, is therefore to be adored, & this expoſition doth Lyra follow, as alſo Lombard, Carthuſian, Durand. in his rationale divin. lib. 4. p. 60. and the Doctours of Duay in their notes on this place likewiſe.
The third place is, Philip. 2. 10. At the Name of Ieſus everie knee ſhal …owe. whence he inferres, that ſeing words are repreſenting ſignes, or images to the eare, as other images are to the eye, therefore alſo they are to be worſhiped, aſwell as the former. To which I anſwere, that beſide O Ecumenius, Theophylect, Sedulius and Haymo, alſo their owne Aquinas, all of them teſtifie, that the name is put for himſelf who is named, and ſo likewiſe ſayth their late Eſtius And that by bowing the knee is ſignified by a metonomie, ſubjection (ſayeth he) therefore the meaning is, that all who are in any place, knowing that man who is called Ieſus to be the ſonne of God, and God himſelf trulie, they ſhall ſubmitt themſelves to him (ſayeth hee) as God and Lord over all.
The fourth place is Numb. 21. 8. Where the Lord ſayeth to Moſes, Make thee a firie ſerpent, and ſet it on a pole, and it ſhall some to paſs that every one that is bitt or ſtinged, when he looketh on it ſhall liue. Whence hee gathereth, that an image may not onlie be made and ſet up to be looked upon, but alſo reverenced or adored. To whom I anſwer 1. with Tertullian before cited, that for making and ſetting up that ſerpent to be looked upon for a miraculous cure, Moſes had an expreſſe divine precept, with a promiſe, which papiſts hauehave not for making their Idolatrous images of the Trinitie, and ſuch like, but a precept in the contrarie 2. For reverence or adoration, there is no ſuch thing in the Text, but on the contrarie wee ſee the unlawfulnes therof, by that practiſe of godly Hezekiah in breaking the ſame when it became to be adored. 2. King. 18. becauſe, as their owne Biel ſhoweth on the canon of the Maſſe lect. 47. This was groſſe idolatrie, and that this godly king by breaking the ſame removed the occaſion thereof, (ſayeth hee) 3. In his anſwere to the objection of this place 2. King. 18. he granteth that this worſhiping of that ſerpent was the abuſe thereof, and ſo contradicteth himſelf.
And as for fathers whom he cites, I cannot admire enough his impudencie, beſide his wreſting of ſcripture, ſeing their own Caſſander (cō ſult. art. 21.) fayth, How much the anciēt fathers of the primitive Church did abhore all veneration of images, Origen as one, declareth againſt Celſus lib. 7. (ſayeth he) Whence alſo it was, that in the ſecond Councell of Nice, under Conſtantine and Irene when ſome decrees were made concerning the adoration of images, and that a copy thereof was brought to the Emperour Charles, he indicted a Councell at Frank foord (anno 794.) at which the Popes legats were preſent, wherein by the unanimous conſent of all the weſterne Biſhops, the decree of that Nicen Councell was condemned, as being contrarie (remarke) both to ſcripture, and to the doctrine of the ancient Fathers as alſo to the cuſtome of the Romā Church (ſayeth he) neither did that ſubterfuge▪ then prevaile, which uſed to be alleadged by ſome, that they giuegive not the honour to the images thēſelves, but to them whom they repreſent, for this excuſe (ſaith he) was alſo given by pagans for their adoration of their Images, as wee may ſee in Arnobius, as alſo in Auguſtin on pſal. 113. 4. Or as wee reckon, pſal. 115. And yet he citeth Auguſtin & Gregorie, who in his epiſtle to Serenus, lib. 9. epiſt. 9. cōdemnes all worſhip of images, as Ambroſe doeth likewiſe in his oration on the death of Theodoſius, calling ſuch worſhip an heathniſh errour, Neither is any ſuch thing in Baſil or Chriſoſtome whom hee citeth, that maketh for the worſhip of images, and as for Damaſcen alleadging it to bee an Apoſtolicall tradition onelie. This maketh againſt him, who cited for image worſhip, teſtimonies of ſcripture, beſide, that Damaſcen is but late, & …ainted with groſſe errours, as the denying of the proceſſion of the holie Ghoſt, (lib. 1. orthod. fidei) And to what hight of groſſe idolatrie their worſhip of images is come, ſhall be evidenced, both by their doctrine, as likewiſe their practiſe, and both theſe onlie out of themſelves. And 1. for their doctrine, all the ſchoolmen [ſayth their Biſhop Pereſius de trad. p. 3.) D… teach that the images themſelves are to be worſhiped with that ſame worſhip as theſe whom they repreſent, & therfore that the Images of God and of Chriſt are to bee worſhiped with that higheſt ſort, which they call Latria, as Bellarmin alſo witneſſeth, lib. 2. de imag. cap. 20. §. 2. likewiſe ſayeth he cap. 21 That the images of Chriſt and of the ſaints are to be worſhiped, not onlie by accident or improperlie, but alſo for themſelves & properlie, ſo that themſelves terminateth the worſhip, as they are conſidered in themſelves, and not onlie as they ſupplie the place of them whom they repreſent, for if the image (ſayth he) were to be worſhiped but improperlie, to wit, becauſe before it, or in it, or by it, that which it repreſenteth is adored, then certainlie (ſayeth he) it might be denyed that images were to be worſhiped at all. So that for defēce of this their doctrine, they ar forced to uſe moſt ſubtile diſtinctions, which ſcarce themſelves understand, let be the unlearned people ſayeth Bellarmin. lib. 2. de imag. cap. 22. §. quarto.
Next, for their practiſe, It is more manifest than it can be by many words expreſt (ſayth their Caſſander (conſult. art. 21.) that the worſhip of Images is come to that hight as ever that adoration was, which was by Pagans given to their Id…ls. And they ſo dote upon them (ſayeth their Gabriel Biel in canone Miſſae, lect. 49…) That they belieue a certaine Deitie, grace or holineſſe to be in them, whereby they are able to work miracles, reſtore health and deliver from dangers, out of the confidence of the forenamed, being mo…ed to worſhip them, that they may obtaine ſome of the former things frō them, whence it is alſo (ſayth hee) that they vowe and obliege themſelves to undergo pilgramages, ſome to this & ſome to that Church, according as they respect the images, believing that this Image in ſuch a place is of greater vertue than that in another, and to be more famous for miracles & of greater power. And if at any time miracles bee wrought, upon men (ſayeth he) who hauehave recourſe unto them, this is not by the vertue of the image, but ſomtimes by the operation of the devill to deceiue ſuch idolatroꝰ worſhippers, God ſo permitting, and their infidelitie ſo deſerving (ſayeth he.)
And which idolatrous adoration of images (ſayeth that learned knight and great traveller, ſir Edmund Sandys in his ſpeculum Europae, p▪ 228. and 230.) is the greateſt ſcandall of al others, for which both Iewes & Turks calleth us idolatrous Chriſtians, and therfore the Iewes ſay, when they come to the Chriſtians ſermōs, that as long as they ſee the Preacher direct his ſpeeeh & prayer to the little wooden Crucifix which ſtandeth on the pulpit by him, & to call it his Lord & Saviour, to kneell to it, to embrace and kiſſe it & to weepe upon it (as the faſhion of Italie is) this is preaching ſufficient for them (ſay they) & perſwadeth thē more with the verie ſight thereof to hate Chriſtian religion, than any reaſone that the world can alleadge to louelove it.