III. "be obscured in particularibus agendis. That even among CHAP. "the things to be believed, there are proposed to us not only those things to which reason cannot attain, but also "those to which it can." 66 17. In the four remaining parts of this book the Bishop proceeds, according to the method he had set down at the beginning, in special manner to repress the Wiclifists overblaming the Clergy, by answering the objections made by them, to the eleven governances or usages of the Church, with which they found fault, and making proof to the same eleven governances. Those of them which he here considers are these six. 1. The using of images in churches. 2. Pilgrimage. 3. The possessions of the Clergy. 4. Divers orders or degrees of Clergy. 5. The primacy of St. Peter and his successors. 6. The Religious. 47. ed. Lon 18. As to the first of these, Erasmus observed, that there was this difference betwixt the state of the Church in his time, and that of the primitive Church; "that Epistola, lib. xxxi. ep. "whereas for some ages it was thought an abominable thing for a painted or engraven image to be seen in the don. 1642. "churches of Christians; then the use of images was car"ried to that height, that it not only exceeded all bounds, "but was even far from being decent; since there were to "be seen in churches such unseemly paintings as were in "porticos and taverns. However by degrees it came to be "believed, that in these images there was a revelation of "the real presence of the saints whose images they were, "and that the saints assisted and were personally present 66 physically with them. Insomuch that in the second "Council of Nice, celebrated A. D. 787, it was decreed, "that an honorary worship was to be paid to the lifegiving cross of Christ, the images of the blessed Virgin, "of the angels, and saints, and that they ought to be ho 66 -Dicendum sit concessum deiparæ dominæ privilegium assistendi physice et realiter in aliquibus suis simulachris seu imaginibusquod in aliquibus simulachris, seu imaginibus insignibus ipsius, pie credatur assistere, adesseque personaliter physice et realiter- -ut in illis debitas adorationes recipiat a fidelibus cultoribus. R. P. Petri de Medrano, &c. Rosetum Theologicum, p. 311. Hispali Ann. 1702. III. A.D. 793. CHAP. "noured with kisses, and the offering of lights and in66 cense, though not with that true worship which pertains "to the divine nature alone." But how contrary this was to the faith and practice of the then Church of England, may be observed from the account given us of the sending this synodical decree into England, by our annalist Roger Annales, de Hoveden: Charles King of the Franks, says he, sent pars prior, A. D. 791. over into Britain a synodical book, directed to him from Matt.West. Constantinople; in which book were found many things inconsistent with and contrary to the true faith; but especially it was decreed by the unanimous consent of almost all the eastern Doctors, however of not less than 300 or more Bishops, that images ought to be adored, quod omnino Ecclesia Dei execratur, which the Church of God utAlcuinus. terly abominates. Matt. of Westminster adds, that Albinus wrote a wonderful letter against this decree of the Councils, and together with the synodical book which had been sent hither, carried to the French King in the names of the Bishops and Princes of the realm. This shews what a sense they had of this decree, and how resolved they were not to receive it. 19. When carved or graven images were first introduced Inett's Orig. into the churches of England, and honoured with a religious Anglicanæ, vol. i. p. worship, I am not certain. But by what has been observed 210, &c. of the French, and particularly of the Normans, that they were very fond of the worship of images, and therefore separated from their Bishops, because they were so far from indulging them in their humour of setting up more images in their churches, that they pulled down those which were already there; it seems, that though the English had int their churches the pictures of saints, and representations of the sacred history, they had no graven or molten images, nor paid any sort of adoration to them, till they were here Abp. Cran- introduced by the Normans after the Conquest: then incles of Visi- deed there were images set up in churches, and the people tation, &c. were taught to light candles before them, to creep to them, mer's Arti and kneel before them, to kiss and deck them with gay garments, and to pray and offer to them. They had images in the body of the church, and the image of the saint to III. Provinc. p. manuin. whom the church was dedicated, in the high chancel over CHAP. the high altar, besides the image of Christ on the cross called the roode, or the rood Mary and John, because, I Lynwood's suppose, of the carved images of the blessed Virgin and 252, 253. that disciple standing at the bottom of the cross, as they are commonly pictured. These images were solemnly blessed by a prayer to God, in which it was rehearsed, that, "he did not condemn the carving or painting the Rituale Ro"images of his saints; and he was prayed to bless and 66 sanctify that particular image, and to grant, that whoso66 ever shall humbly kneel before it, and desire to worship "and honour the saint represented by it, may by that "saint's merits and attainments obtain from him grace for "the present, and eternal glory for the future." After which the images were sprinkled with holy water. To History,&c. these images, their altars, and the lights burning before of the Isle them', legacies used to be left; these were sometimes in 31, 35, 41, money, viz. two pence, four pence, six pence, eight pence, 115. &c. sometimes wax, barley, &c. Legacies were likewise left to purchase palls for the several altars, and towels, &c. for the roode. To persuade the common people, that the saints were personally present with these their images, or however with some of them, the images were so contrived as to move their eyes, &c. and to seem to change their countenances, to weep, smile, &c. witness the crucifix commonly called the roode of grace, at Boxley in Kent, "which," according to Mr. Lambard's description of it, of Tenet, p. 45,62,100, tion of was able to bow down and lift up itself, to shake and Perambula❝stir the hands and feet, to nod the head, to roll the eyes, Kent, &c. "to wag the chops, to bend the brows, and finally to re- p. 228. k Item, paid a joiner in Canterbury for making the rood Mary and John, and painting the same s. d. xi 0 For setting up the rood Mary and John, and for paper and thread to trusse the same i 6 Church Book of Crundal in Kent. 1 Lego ymagini crucifixi ibidem 6d. Item, Altari beate Marie 6d. Item, ymagini Katherine ibidem 3d. Ult. Test. Alice Pococke de St. Nicolao in Taneto. 1396. CHAP. Rosetum Theologicum Scho lasticum, &c. Hispal. 1702. p. 311. proper 66 present to the 20. They had likewise images of the Holy Trinity, two of which I have represented in the adjoining plate, taken from the Salisbury Primer. All which the followers of Wiclif condemned as savouring of idolatry m. Thus they m In how great peril of idolatry the members of the Romish communion are, or they who join in the religious service of that corrupt Church, appears very plain from the following rubric, in the canon of the mass in the Manual after the use of Sarum, printed at Antwerp, 1542.-Hic erigat sacerdos manus 'et conjungat, et postea tergat digitos et elevet hostiam parumper; ita quod videatur a populo, et sic debet tenere quosque dixerit verba consecrationis; quia si ante consecrationem elevetur et populo ostendatur, sicut fatui sacerdotes, faciunt populum idololatrare adorando panem purum tanquam corpus Christi.But now the words of consecration are ordered to be pronounced secretly, so that it is impossible for the people to know whether the bread be consecrated or not. |