Of the institution of the sacrament of the blessed bodie and blood of Christ, (by some called) the masse of Christ eight bookes; discovering the superstitious, sacrilegious, and idolatrous abominations of the Romish masse. Together with the consequent obstinacies, overtures of perjuries, and the heresies discernable in the defenders thereof. By the R. Father in God Thomas L. Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.

Of the Romish manner of Adoration, in Comparison with the Heathen.

That the Romish Adoration; by your former Pretences, justifieth the vilest kinde of Idolatry among the Heathen.

SECT. I.

THere is a double kinde of Worship, the one is Di∣rect, and terminate, which pitcheth immediatly upon the Creature, without Relation to the Creator, whereof your Cardinall Alan hath re∣solved, saying; a The terminating and fixing of Divine Honour upon any Creature, is a notorious Idolatry. The second kinde is Relative Honour, having Relation to Christ; whereof your Cardinall Bellarmine hath determined, saying, b When [Latria] or divine worship is given to an Image, be∣cause of the Relation it hath to Christ, this is Idolatry, although it be given for Christ, or God, whether it be internall or else externall, as Sacrifice. So he. This we say, first to put you in minde of c Very many of your Romish People, who adore Images Idolatrously; which although you would cloake, yet the Complaints and out∣cries of your owne Romish Authors will not suffer it to be con∣cealed, One of them saying, that this your worship is more mani∣fest than can be denied; even immediatly and terminately given by your people to the thing it-selfe, which they see and adore, and which all Christian learning teacheth to be Heathenish, in an high Degree. And also note infinite numbers of your Worshippers, who adore Idolatrously, in the same manner of Relation, that which is here condemned by your Cardinall.

But to the point, your owne Iesuites d report that some Heathen

Idolaters did worship Idols, beleeving that They were inspired with a Divine Spirit; next that they had foure kinde of perswasions for this their Beleefe, to wit, the Instructions of their Paganish Priests, the Example of the whole world in their times, the power of Devils, speaking in the Images; and lastly, the humane shape, which was presented unto them: neverthelesse so, that they sometimes ho∣noured not the things themselves, but the Spirit which they thought them possessed withall. Will you permit us to compare this with that which you have called but your Materiall Ido∣latry? To this end, we are to try whether there hath beene any Pretence for justifying your Romish, which might not as truly ex∣cuse and warrant that Heathenish Worship; which notwithstan∣ding no Christian will deny to have beene most Formally, and properly Idolatrous.

Your Morall, and Conjecturall Certainty would be compared in the first place. This the Heathens might pretend by the Rea∣sons, by you already confessed, to wit, the Prescriptions of their Priests, their Idols speaking, and the Example of almost the whole vast world adoring them. Secondly, you please your selves with your Good Intent, that, in worshipping the Bread, you thinke to adore Christ; and the Pagans (which also the whole world of Idola∣ters professed of themselves, and you your selves have confessed of them) in their most Formall Idolatry, were perswaded they wor∣shipped a True God. Thirdly, you rely upon an Habituall Condition, namely, that although the thing which you adore, be Bread, yet your inward Resolution is not to give Divine Honour unto it, if you knew it were but Bread, and not Christ. But inquire you now into your owne Bibles, and you shall finde that the Heathen were not inferiour unto you in this Modification also; for in the History of Bel and the Dragon it is read, that the King of Babel, and other Babylonians worshipped Bel with Divine Honour, thinking it to live, untill such time as Daniel had discovered it to be but an Idoll: and no sooner had the King perceived the Delusion, but presently commanded it should be demolished. The Case then is plaine. He, and they, who abhorred, and utterly destroyed that Idol, as soone as they knew it not to be God, were therefore, before that, habitually in their hearts resolved not to honour it, if they could have beene perswaded it had not beene a God. In such just Equipage doe these your Romish, and those Heathenish walke together, that from these your owne Premisses, you may take your Conclusion out of the mouth of your owne Arch-Bishop, whom you have heard affirme, that If in the worship of this Sacrament (saith he) we may be deceived, in mistaking Bread, instead of Christ▪ then in this worship as madly Idolatrous as was that of the Heathen. So he. Which sheweth your Cause and theirs, in these Respects, to be all one. We proceed a step further.

Notes

• a

  Dicimus ad ple∣nam resolutionem, cùm cultus termina∣tur ad ipsas creatu∣ras, Idololatriam esse injustam. Alan. de Sa∣cram. in Gen. cap. 23.
• b

  Latria est cultus Deo proprius, nec per se deferendus imagini, ratione Re∣lationis, Bellarm. lib. 2. de Imag. cap. 24 §. Tertio.—Hic cultus, si exhibetur imagini propter se, est vera Idololatria. Ib. §. Di∣cet.—Si idem cul∣tus exhibetur imagi∣ni propter aliud, ut aequè colatur creatu∣ra atque Deus, certè est Idololatria: nam Idololatria est non solùm cum adoratur Idolum, relicto Deo, sed ctiam cùm adora∣tur simul cum Deo. Ibid. ••. Praetereà.—Imagini non conve∣nit cultus internus verus Latriae, nec externus proprius, qualis est Sacrificium. Ibid. §. Quarta.—Qui colebant imaginem Chri∣sti divinis honoribus, inter Haereticos numerantur ab Epiphanio, Augustino, & Damasceno. Atque isti cùm Christum colerent, sine dubio imaginem ejus propter ipsum colebant: non igitur imagines licet divinis honori∣bus colere, i. e. cultu latriae, etiamsi quis dicat, id esse facere propter Deum, vel Christum, non propter Imagines. Ibid. §. Sexta ratio. Haec Bellarminus.
• c

  Sunt benè multi, qui imagines colunt, non ut signa—sed magis eis fidunt quàm Christo. Polydor. Virgil. Invent. lib. 6. cap. 13.
• Manifestius est, quàm ut verbis explicari possit, cultum nimiùm invaluisse, ità ut ad summam Paganorū adorationem nil à nostris reliqui fit factum. Cassander Con∣sult. Art 21. Dici non potest, quan••a superstitio, ne dicam Idololatria alatur apud rudem plebem. Agrippa de vanit. cap. 57. Superstitiones in populo, dùm Imaginibus exhibent Latriae cultum. Gerson. de probat. Spir. lit. x.
• d

  Fu∣erunt ex Ethnicis, qui simulachra adorabant, quià ea animata esse credebant divinis spiritibus. Greg. Valent. lib. 1. de Idol. cap. 2. pag. 690. Idololatria quintuplex apud Gentiles: 1. Adoratio ipsorum simulachrorum materi••lium, vel Daemoniorum illis affixorum. 2. Aliarum Creaturarum, ut Coeli, Teriae, &c. 3. Hominum mortuorum▪ 4. Mundi, tanquàm animati. 5. Substantiarum immaterialium, etiam perse, ut Daemoniorum, sive malorum An∣gelorum. Lerin. Ies. Conc. in Act. 17. 20. Quatuor ob causas movebantur Ethnici crede••e Idôla esse Deos: 1. quià sic edocti à Pontificibus suis. 2. quià videnatur totus mundùs id credere. 3. quià operâ Diaboli Idola loqueban∣tur, & movebantur. 4. quià humana forma praediti essent. Bellarm. lib. 2. de Imag. cap. 13. §. Quartum.
• See above.
• (*) See above, Chap. 7. Sect. 2. at (a).