Of idolatry a discourse, in which is endeavoured a declaration of, its distinction from superstition, its notion, cause, commencement, and progress, its practice charged on Gentiles, Jews, Mahometans, Gnosticks, Manichees Arians, Socinians, Romanists : as also, of the means which God hath vouchsafed towards the cure of it by the Shechinah of His Son / by Tho. Tenison ...

PART 8. Of the Usefulness of this Argument of Gods Shechinah, with relation to the Worship of Angels and Images.

FIrst, The Worshippers of Angels plead for their practice, from those places in the Old Testament, which seem to speak of high Veneration used towards them. T. G. a 1.1 argueth from the Prayer [which in∣deed is rather the wish] of Jacob, where he saith, The Angel who delivered me from all evils bless these Chil∣dren b 1.2. The Manual called the Abridgment of Chri∣stian Doctrine c 1.3 would prove the Worship of Dulia to belong to Angels, from the falling of Joshua flat to the ground when the Prince of the Host of God ap∣peared to him. The like proof is produced by the Ca∣techism of Trent d 1.4 from the blessing which Jacob ob∣tained of the Angel with whom he strugled. If Christ were considered as the Angel of the great Council ap∣pearing in cases of moment under the Old Testament, and receiving the veneration most due to him; the Worshippers of Angels would either change their wea∣pons, or quite lay them down.

Then touching the Worship of Images, this notion is very serviceable in that controverted point; as like∣wise in the point of making either Religious S•…•…atues or Pictures. If any thing of the Divinity be to be por∣traied, we learn from hence what it may be, not the

Godhead but the Shechinah: That is visible, and the expressing of it with the best lights and shadows of Art may therefore be not unlawful, though I know not whether I ought to plead for the expediency of it in common use. There was it seems in a Frontispiece of our Common-Prayer Books a 1.5 some such Embleme. The word Jehovah and a three corner'd radiant light and clouds, and Angels. He that took notice of this in Print, and might have observed the like before some of the great Church-Bibles, and somewhat worse, the picture of a Dove with rays of glory before the Biblia Polyglotta, did not well to call it a representing of God b 1.6, and to charge that upon the Church which was the fancy of the Engraver and Printer. I have al∣ready noted a much worse Frontispiece in each of the three parts of the Pontifical, where God is pictured as man. And in those days in which the Bishop of Rome ruled in England, there were Emblemes apt to suggest a very dangerous fancy to common brains; Pictures of the Trinity in three conjoined heads of human Figure. And so ordinary they were that they served as Signs to the Shops of Stationers, as now do the Heads of a King or a Bishop. And he that printed the Pupilla Oculi of de Burgo, was pleased to stamp his Sign in that manner on the Title-page of the Book. Nay, in the late Missal reprinted at Paris c 1.7 there is none of the best faces of an Old man pictured amongst Clouds and Angels over the Crucifix before the Canon of the Mass. And though I know not how to commend these things, yet I will not blame them as acts of their whole Church.

It does not any-where appear to me that the Jews of old pictured the Ark or the Temple, though now they make models of the whole. How near they come to the Original I cannot tell; but it is certain, that in picturing the Sanctuary above, we create a Phantasm,

which needs much to be helped by our Reason and Faith; it being in it self not equal in glory to those of the Sun and the Rainbow.

It is true that Pictures are but signs, and that words are so too; but it is not expedient to describe all things by the pencil which come from the voice. Words are Signs without Imagery in them, and they are tran∣sient a 1.8. Ye heard a voice only, but ye saw no similitude, saith God Almighty to the people, to whom he for∣bade Images b 1.9. Words are properly the symbols of the conceptions of the mind, and not of the external object. They are notes of memory, and helps of dis∣course. They are in themselves a kind of spiritual and immaterial marks. And though sometimes, especially in Poetick characters, they bring to the fancy some pre∣sent representation, yet they thereby fix a notion ra∣ther than a proper constant phantasm (unless where fancy is indulged); and they do not so grosly impress upon the brain the Image they convey, as a material Picture, which having also some tangible substance to sustain it, is apt to be transform'd into an object of worship, distinct from the Prototype, in dull and sen∣sitive minds. Besides, when by words we convey to the mind a representation of Heaven, or the Shechinah of God, we rest not there, but following the pattern of the Holy writers, we offer to the mind what the Pain∣ter cannot to the eye, this further document, that we have not by far reached the original, and that it is in∣deed beyond all expressions but those of admiration. When any such Pictures hang before us, we should in this manner exalt the phantasm into mental astonish∣ment, and not dwell on the mean portraict, but refine and exalt it by the assistance of the words of Scrip∣ture

which call the Shechinah, the excellent Glory, the Throne before which the Cherubims fall down

with vailed face, the light inaccessible in which God dwells, The Throne of the Lamb who is brighter than the Sun: words by which the Pen assisteth us beyond any Pencil of Angelo or Titian;

yet neither are their devotional pieces (where they mix not, as Angelo doth in his portraict of the Judgment, Hea∣ven and Christian Images; Charon and Christ) to be despis'd either as ornaments, or hints of memory.

In the Catechism of the Council of Trent, the Parish-Priest is required to take care a 1.10 that Images be made, Ad utrius{que} Testamenti cognoscendam Historiam, for procuring the knowledg of the History of the Bi∣ble. And well it had been if it had stayed there: but it proceeds in requiring the Priest to teach the people that Images of Saints are placed in Churches, ut Co∣lantur, that they may be worship'd: either the Images or the Saints by them. Better sure, it were, to re∣move Images quite out of the Church, than to leave them as such stumbling-blocks for the commonalty who are Children in understanding. When they see them only at a distance with their eye, they may sometimes instruct them, and afford them hints of very good meditations: but when they are directed to bow down before them, and to them also, though with di∣stinctions which the vulgar understand not, they, then, are, if Laymens Books, Books of Magick, rather than of Christian Piety.

God, you see, hath provided a better remedy for mankind. His Son hath taken our nature into unity of person, and he offers himself to us as an object shining with glory and power in the Heavens, though not there, in his Godhead, confined: and therefore to use any Image of him otherwise then to be a hint to us of his more glorious one at Gods right hand, is to direct our devotion to the light of rotten Wood, or

Gold, or Pearl, when we have the Sun in the Firma∣ment. If we worship Christs Image as apart from him, we do, in effect, divide Christ. If we worship it together with him, we, in effect, multiply Christ, joyning a second lifeless body to his glorious one; and by that means adoring it, as if it were in personal uni∣on with him. They are safe who say with S. Jerome, b 1.11 “We venerate only one Image [to wit Jesus Christ] the Image of the Invisible and Omnipotent God. When the Father brought this brightness of his glory a 1.12 and the express Image of his Person into the World, he said, let all the Angels of God worship him. And now he hath installed him as God-man and King of the world at his right hand, let us and all the world adore him. Let them worship him as God-man, and neither worship an undue Image on earth as joyned to his person, nor yet his heavenly body as a∣part by it self. That, as join'd in unity of person, and now in glory, is our object; and a Crucifix ought not to be looked upon in prayer, as the present Image of Christ: for he is in Heaven glorious, and not on the Cross. And though the Revelation of S. John speaks of him as in Garments roll'd in blood; it men∣tions them not as miserable apparel, but as the Purple of the King of Kings. The Capitular of Charles the Great b 1.13 would have the Picture of Christs Resur∣rection as frequent as that of his Cross: but by both of them we look back; and if any be proper, in helping us, not meerly in our preparation, as the Crucifix may be; but in our immediate Religious ad∣dresses, it is, surely, a picture of him in Glory, if that could be well made: but neither is this to be wor∣shipped, but made only an help to excite our mind; nor is the humanity or body of Christ to be adored by it self; yet in the manuals of the Roman Church I

find addresses to the very body; and I fear that upon the Festival of Corpus Christi, and in the object under the shews of bread (shews united in their act of de∣votion to Christs body), our Lord is divided. We have a form of Prayer to his body in the little French Manual c 1.14 called Petite Catechisme, and in the Lita∣nies of the Sacrament d 1.15. And the Learned Bishop Usher, in his Sermon before the Commons e 1.16, men∣tions the Epistle Dedicatory of the Book of Sanders concerning the Lords Supper, thus superscribed.

To the body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, under the forms of bread and wine, all honour, praise, and thanks, be given for ever.

A Judicious Christian would rather ascribe all praise and honour to Christ God-man. Whole Christ let us supplicate and honour, helping our Imagination by his Shechinah in Glory, and remembring the words of St. Austin, no∣ted as remarkable by Agobardus f 1.17 Arch-Bishop of Lyons, a man zealous in his Age against the corruptions of Image-worship, and ill requited in his memory by them, who, (as Baluzius noteth g 1.18) esteem him the less Catholick for it.

In the first Command∣ment (saith S. Austine) [that is in the whole of that, which himself, elsewhere, in his Questions of the Old and New-Testament, divides into first and second] each similitude of God is forbidden to be made by men; not because God hath no Image, but because no Image of his ought to be worshipped but that which is the same with himself, nor that, for him, but with him.

God assisting us with this Image, why should any religious Acts have any lower object total or partial? Images set up as any sort of objects of our inward or external devotion, are a sort of Anti-Arks. And we ought not to touch them; not because they are sa∣cred,

but because they are unhallowed objects. And worse still they are rendred, too often, by impious Art, which maketh the lifeless Image (as in the Rood of Bockley) by help of Wiers, and other instruments of Puppetry, to bend, to frown, to roll the eyes; to weep, to bleed; to exhibit signs of favour or displea∣sure. This indeed, is not the constitution, but 'tis the frequent practice of some in that Church: and hereby are framed so many snares for the people who turn such Images into Christs Shechinah. For if certain Monks (who were also shepheards, and people of low conception) became, through their rusticity, absurd An∣thropomorphites, by reading the bare words of Scrip∣ture, where it saith, that God created man in his own Image; how much more will mean people have cor∣rupt fancies begotten in them by false Images, which their eyes may see, and their hands may handle. Such will turn a common Chest into an Ark; and a wooden Engine into the Divine Shechinah.

Of the Sindon at Besanson, Chiffletius a Papist reporteth, That great numbers met twice a year on a Mountain nigh the City, to adore that cloth with Christs Image on it. Of it, he further saith, that it always shineth with a Divine presence [that is, in effect, that it is a She∣chinah of God], and that in great emergencies it is carried in procession like the Ark, being yet more holy than that Mosaic Vessel.

How shall the people not fall into Idolatry, when such false Shechinahs or Idols are layd in their way? How much more would it tend to edification to direct them to the Image of God, who sitteth in Glory at Gods right hand, and whom our minds the less behold in our devotions, the more our eye is fixed upon an Image of wood or stone. In the City or Church of God, described in the 21st chapter of S. Johns Revelation, There was no Temple

no material fixed place of Gods visible Shechinah [though there must be Synagogues or Places for pub∣lick Assemblies]; but Christ himself was the Light or Shechinah: and therefore to him, as to the only true Image of the invisible God, it is proper to direct our Cogitations and Prayers. And let not any man think that because the Shechinah is in Heaven, and not visi∣bly in a Church, as the Shechinah was in the Temple of the Jews; that therefore Christians have less assist∣ance than Gods ancient People: for they have that which is much more excellent. The Glory on the Ark was only a mixture of shapeless lights and shadows: and in the Temple, the people seldom saw it, but be∣ing assured of it, did view it in their imagination. And few of them had other apprehensions of it, than as of the presence of God the deliverer and Protector of that Commonwealth.

But Christians (a people under a more spiritual dis∣pensation than the Jews) though they see not the Shechinah with their eyes on earth, yet, from the words of Scripture, they can excite their minds to be∣hold it, even in the Sanctuary of Heaven. And they behold it in the figure of God-incarnate; an Image, not confused, but of a distinct person: an Image which brings to their mind the greatest and most com∣fortable mystery of the means of Salvation; aptest to encourage our Prayers, and to enflame our Zeal, and to raise our Admiration.

Some objects indeed, are, on earth, exposed to the eyes of Christians, by the Institution of our Lord; the elements of Bread and Wine. And the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or place on which they are consecrated is, at this day, called, in the Greek Church, a 1.19 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Propi∣tiatory or mercy-Seat. And a late Author b 1.20 re∣porteth of the Abassine Priests, upon the Authority of

Codignus, (though in Codignus I could never find it a 1.21) That they blessed a certain Shrine or Coffer of the Sacrament, understanding by it the Ark of the Covenant. But Christ hath ordained no Cherubims on this Ark: He hath not used any Images, but pledges of his dying love. These pledges, with safety, call his passion to remembrance without any Image on the Table, which the Gallican Church, of old, forbad, in the Council of Rhemes, even after some corruptions had crept in b 1.22. Neither should we detain our Fancy amongst those Pledges; but obey the sursum Corda of the Ancient Church. It seemeth incongru∣ous to rest on the Symbols, or to bow down to them; they being, as it were, the dishes in our sacred Com∣memoration, or Festival of Christ crucified; but it more becometh us to lift up our heart, and eyes, and hands, and faith, with humble reverence towards the Heavens, and to worship God-man in Glory: To a∣dore our great Master and Benefactour Jesus, not as suffering on Calvary, but as triumphing in the Sanctu∣ary not made with hands.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Cath. no Idol. p. 367.
• b 1.2

  Gen. 48. 16.
• c 1.3

  Pag 123. in Expos. of 1. Command.
• d 1.4

  Catech. ad Parochos, in 1. Praec. p. 390.
• a 1.5

  Lond. 1642.
• b 1.6

  T. G. Cath. no Idol. p. 59.
• c 1.7

  Miss. Rom. Par. 1660. p. 222.
• a 1.8

  Crell. Eth. p. 329. de Idol. minor est rerum auditarum aut lectarum, quam visarum vis.
• b 1.9

  Deut. 4. 12.
• a 1.10

  Cat. cont. Trid. in 1. al. 2. praec. p. 396.
• b 1.11

  S. Hieron. in Ezek. c. 16. p. 425. Nos au∣tem—unam v•…•…neramur Ima∣ginem. Quae est Imago invisibi∣lis & omnipo∣tentis Dei.
• a 1.12

  Heb. 1. 3, 6.
• b 1.13

  Cap. c. Mag∣ni. p. 767.
• c 1.14

  Pet. Cat. p. 119. Orais. de∣vote en Oyant la Messe.—ô Corps sacre de Jesus,—je∣vous adore avec tant de re∣verence qu'il est possible—&c.
• d 1.15

  Les. Litan. de S. Sacr. p. 295. Panis Omnipo∣tentis verbi verbo caro fa∣ctus miserere nobis.
• e 1.16

  Bp. ush. Ser. p. 38, 39.
• f 1.17

  Agobar. in libr. contra Eor. superstit. Qui Pict. & I∣magin. Sancto∣rum adorationis obsequium defe∣rendum puta∣runt. p. 221.
• g 1.18

  Baluz. not. ad Agobard. p. 88, 89.
• a 1.19

  See de statu Eccl. Grae. hod. p. 41, 44, 45.
• b 1.20

  Ogilby in Af∣frica. p. 654
• a 1.21

  See Codign. de Rebus Abas∣sin. l. 1. c. 35. de Sacram. A∣bass. p. 212, &c.
• b 1.22

  Regin. l. 1. de Eccl. Disc. Const. 60. p. 53. observan∣dum est ut men∣sa Christi, id est, altare ubi cor∣pus domini cum consecratur, &c. cum omni vene∣ratione [not cultu] honore∣tur, &c. nibil∣{que} saper eo po∣natur nisi capsae cum sanctorum Reliquiis, & Quatuor Evan∣gelia. Baluz. not. ad L•…•…c. Re∣gin. p. 549. videtur ergo prohibere ne I∣magines super altare ponantur in quo Corpus dominicum con∣secratur.