First, They make the having and use of images in the worship of God of indispensable necessity ; so that they anathematize and cast out of the communion of the church all tliat refuse to receive and use them according to their prescript. Yea, they proceed so far in their approbation of the confession of Theodosius, the bishop of Amraoria,
THE WORSHIP OF IMAGES. 431
as to denounce an anathema against them that do but doubt of their reception : To/j dfJi^ipiQoXov s^ovai r^v didvoiccv xa/ /myi va -^l/v^yjg o/ioXoyoDff/ 'rpoS'/.-uvsTv rag ffsTrdg sizovag avads/^a (so he closeth his confession, which they all approve as orthodox) ; — " Anathema to them that are am- biguous or doubtful in their minds, and do not confess with their hearts" (" ex animo") " that sacred images are to be worshipped;" wherein they, and you with them, add schism to their idolatry, cast- ing out of the churches those who offend neither against the gospel nor the determination of any general council of old ; making the rule of your communion to consist in a sony piece of will- worship of your own invention; which doubles the crime of your superstition, and lays an intolerable entanglement upon the consciences of men which are persuaded from the Scripture that they shall be accursed of God if they do receive images into his worship, after the manner of your prescription.
Secondly, They affinn, a hundred times over, that " images are reli- giously to be adored and woi'shipped ; " that is, with divine worship. So, in the confession of the same Theodosius: 'O/xoXoyu zai (S-jvrihiJ.ai ■Aai ds^o/jbaj xai do'--a^o,«<a/, xai Tpoexuvoj Tr,v sJxova, tou Kvpiou '/j/xwv 'I'/jcoD Xpiffrov, (and so of the rest) ; — " I confess, consent unto, receive, em- brace or salute, I worship or adore, the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the blessed Virgin, and of the apostles and martyrs." The same is affirmed in the epistle of Hadrian, recited in the second act of the synod, which they all approve, and afresh curse all them that dogmatize or teach any thing against that worship of images. And Gregory the monk, no small man amongst them, affirms that he hoped by his confession of this doctrine he believed, he " should obtain the forgiveness of his sins," act. 2. And John, who falsely pretended himself to be delegated from the oriental patriarchs, when he was sent only by a few ignorant monks of Palestine, prefers images above the word itself, act. 4: "ncre //.s/^wv tj sIxuv tou Xoyov — " An image is greater than the word." And again, 'laodvm/jLovgt ai T'l'jAai sixovsg ru suayyiXlw' — " Honourable images are equivalent to the gospel." And they prove the worship they intend to be divine by their wise explication of that text, " The Lord thy God shalt thou worship, and him only shalt thou serve." 'E-r/ /mv tou XaTpivffug Tpo-
Gi^YiZi TO IMOVOV, IrTl bs TOU '7rpO(j}CV\/'/j(jSig OuhaiJjOjg, (tl6Ti 'XpOCXUViTv fJ.iV 'it^iSTlj
7'.u,TpsUiv hi ohhaiMojg' — " Unto the words, 'Thou shalt serve,' ' only' is subjoined; but not unto the word ' worship:' so that it is lawful to worship (images), but not to serve them." A wise business! but it discovers sufficiently what is the worship which they ascribe unto images, e^ven the same that is given unto God ; for, if we may be- lieve them, other things are not excluded from communion with God in this matter of worship and adoration. Whence the council of
432 A VINDICATION OF THE ANIMADVERSIONS ON FIAT LUX.
Frankfort doth expressly cliarge them that they taught that images were to be adored with the honom- due to God, act. 4. And so much weight do they lay upon this devotion, that they approve the counsel given by Theodorus the abbot unto the monk whom the devil vexed with temptations for worshipping the image of Christ; Avho told him that " He had better resort to all the stews in the town than cease worshipping of Christ in his image ;" — ^v,'j,^spsi aoi i^n -Aara- XiTsTv ilg TTjv 'Ttokiv ravTYiv 'TTopvsi'ov sig o [ly^ iJciXO^g, x. r. X. It seems it was uncleanness that the devil tempted him unto, as well knowing that spiritual and corporeal fornication commonly go together.
Thirdly, In every session they instance in some particulars wherein the adoration of images which they professed did consist; as, in particular, in religious saluting of them, kissing of them, botu- ing before them, and so adoring of them. To this purpose their words are very express. Now all these were ever esteemed tokens, pledges, and expressions of religious or divine worship, and were the very ways whereby the heathen of old expressed their veneration of their images and idols. Job, intimating the way whereby they wor- shipped the sun, moon, and host of heaven, — which crime he denies hunself to be guilty of, — tells us, " that when he considered the sun and the moon, his heart did not seduce him that he should put his hand to his mouth;" that is, to salute them: "For this," saith he, " had been to deny God above," Job xxxi. 26-28. As Catulus, — " Constiteram, exorientem auroram forte salutans,
Quum subito a Isevd Eoscius exoritur." Cic. N. D., i. 28.
He stood saluting or worshipping the rising sun. And that also Avas their meaning in kissing of them, or kissing their hands in saluting of them. Hos. xiii. 2, " Let them kiss the calves;" that is, worship them, express their religious adoration of them, by that outward sign. As Cicero, in Verr. vi. 43 : " Herculis simulacrum non solum venerari, sed etiam osculari soliti fuerunt." So Minutius Felix tells us that his companion Coecilius coming where the image of Serapis was set up, " admovit manum ori et osculum labris pressit," — " put his hand to his mouth and kissed it," as worshipping of it. And for creeping, kneeling, or bowing, it is so certain an evidence of divine worship, that all worship, both false and idolatrous or true, is oftentimes ex- pressed therel)y. So the worshipping of Baal is called, " Bowing the knee to Baal." They that bowed the knee unto him or his image, in their so doing woi'shipped him, 1 Kings xix. 18; Rom. xi. 4. And where God promiseth to bring all nations to the worship of himself, he says, " They shall bow the knee to him," Rom. xiv. 11. So that these are all expressions of religious worship ; and they are all accursed over and over by the council, Avho do not by these means express their worship of images. This is the doctrine, this is the practice,