such as violate the second commandment, and reputing them as haters of him, and whom he will judicially visit with great detestation?

For the exhibition of this point,-how the true church of God hath in all ages held close to the institutions of chaste and holy worship in spirit and truth, I might transcribe testimonies out of all the ancients, that were the luminaries and columns of the primitive church, down along till Gregory the Great; and after his time, also, many notable and pregnant instances, through the very depth of Popery, both of emperors and churchmen, that did stoutly resist that growing abomination in the world. I shall, to avoid prolixity, mention some of the councils that have determined against this point, and draw to an issue.

That of Elvira near Granada in Spain, celebrated A. D. 305, (as Baronius thinks,) is peremptory in the case; * and I shall desire to cite it out of Agobardus, because of that his ancient testimony, about the year 830, to the truth of this canon, which runs thus: Ab orthodoxis patribus definitum est picturas in ecclesiá fieri non debere: Nec quod colitur et adoratur in parietibus depingatur: "It is enjoined by the orthodox fathers, that pictures ought not to be in a church: Nor let that be painted on the walls which is to be worshipped and adored."" It were vain to spend time to show how Albaspinæus and others shift and shuffle about this canon. Let that good old bishop of Lyons, Agobardus, living so many hundred years nearer the time, give his sense upon it: "Let us keep the King's highway; the apostles, the masters (or teachers) of the church, they have taught it," &c. "Let God be adored, worshipped, reverenced let us sacrifice to him alone, either in the sacrament of the

body and blood, or of a contrite heart," &c.‡ "Let us look upon a picture as a picture, without life, sense, and reason. So, likewise, if we see winged angels painted, or the apostles preaching, or the martyrs suffering torments, we can hope for no help," &c. Wherefore, to avoid this superstition, the orthodox fathers did rightly determine," &c., in the canon aforesaid. § The very same is extant in Ivo, only ne put for nec; and so it is read in Sixtus Senensis and Burchardus. And [to show] that Agobardus understood this canon aright, against any religious worship to be given to pictures and images, he further adds, "Neither let their deceitful craftiness run to their old starting-holes, to say that they do not worship the images of the saints, but the saints themselves; (that is, by the images ;) "for God cries out, I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven images,'" &c.** Nay, further; so strict were the good fathers of that synod aforesaid, that they would not suffer any idols in their houses. To conclude: the authenticalness of this synod must not be questioned, since several of its decrees are recited by Gratian, whose whole work is confirmed by Eugenius III., and, by others succeeding, canonized for church-law and the government of ecclesiastical courts.++

But let their confirmation be how it will, it is a notable testimony annum 305, n. 39, &c. $ Page 253. || IvoSIXTI SENENSIS Biblioth. ** AGOBARDUs, p. 254. finally by Gregory XIII. in

• Concil. Elibertinum, can. 36 et 41; BARONIUS, ad † AGOBARDI Opera, Paris. 1605, p. 254. ↑ Pp. 251, 252. NIS CARNOTENSIS Decret. lib. iii. cap. 40, Lovan. 1561. lib. v. annot. 247; BURCHARDUS, lib. iii. cap. 35, p. 85, B. tt As TRITHEMIUS affirms De Script. Eccles. p. 73, A.; and bis Roman edition.

against them, even in that age: and however Sixtus Senensis and Albaspinæus would evade, as if it were decreed against the Heathens' images and pictures, as in the eleventh canon of the twelfth council of Toledo, that is but a weak shift; for, was it ever known that the Christians brought the pictures or statues of the heathen gods into their churches? No, no; the fear was of a new kind of imagery, and of worshipping of God and our Lord and saints and angels by representations and pictures; which at length obtained dreadfully, to the high dishonour of God, contempt of his commandments, the ruin of the eastern empire, and fearful judgments on the western.

It were too long to trace what direful stirs and commotions were in the east about the time of the second council of Nice; and what excellent testimony was given against it by the council of Frankfort, and the four books of the emperor Charles the Great, the synod Gentil. ac Parisiens., &c., and by the church of England, in an epistle written to Charles by Alcuinus in the name of the princes and bishops of our land, execrating that idolatry, as Hoveden and Simeon of Durham testify; * but, notwithstanding all opposition, how it prevailed in every age, till at last it was finally ratified at Trent; and what eminent witness hath been all along raised up by God against it. These things, being matter of fact and story, would rise to a just treatise and many things relating to it being amply handled by Rainolds, Usher, Mede, and Daillé,† &c., famous in their generations, who have skilfully handled the sword taken from behind the ephod; I shall come to a close of this paragraph; only recommend to your diligent reading those excellent Homilies of the church of England "against the Peril of Idolatry;" which, if well read and digested, I hope, by divine blessing, may prove a sovereign antidote against the creeping cancer of Romish idolatry. But, I suppose, this will be the subject of a complete position among these Exercises, and therefore at present shall enlarge no further.

:

COROLLARIES.

And now let us hasten to some inferences or conclusions flowing from this text and point,-of Christ being the only Foundation of his church, enduring throughout all ages, united to him by their most holy faith, and adhering to him by holy and pure worship.

COROLLARY I.

From what has been hitherto treated of, we may learn which is the true church of Christ; and where it hath subsisted and been preserved in all ages; and how to discern and know it, and the true members thereto belonging; namely, by its being built upon Christ alone, the firm rock and basis of its constitution.

Such are to be owned for living members, who acknowledge Christ, the Son of the living God, to be the true and only Head of the church: such as are built upon Christ, and the doctrine of the holy apostles and prophets (Eph. ii. 20:) such as adhere to the scriptures, and receive and refuse things as they are proved or rejected by scripture: • HOVEDENII Annales, p. 232, B., edit. Lond. 1596; and SIMEON DUNELMENSIS, col. 111. Lond. 1652 † RAINOLDUS De Idol. Eccles. Rom.; USHER'S "Answer to the Challenge in Ireland;" MEDE'S "Apostasy of the latter Times;" DALLEUS De Imaginibus.

to whom both Peter and Paul and James and all the apostles' writings are equally precious: that dare not advance human traditions into a parity of honour with the divine writings of scripture, dictated by the Spirit of God; which teaches by what notes and characters to discern the true church of God: (not like those abominable wretches who, finding Paul so directly levelled against them, thought of censuring his epistle as savouring of heresy, and the author for a hot-headed person :)* that tremble at such devices, and dare not try the church by glorious and pompous visibility, universality, and continual succession of bishops in one place, looking upon them as false and counterfeit notes; but by pure scripture-doctrine, by sacraments rightly administered, by adherence to Christ alone for righteousness and justification in the sight of God, by spiritual and scriptural worship, and such-like. We deny not, but firmly hold, that the true church of Christ hath been always in some measure visible; visibilis, licet non omnibus visa; † capable of being seen and known by such whose eyes are anointed by scripture eye-salve. Indeed, if that were true which we find in the Roman Catechism, set forth by the authority of Trent, concerning that article in the Creed about the church: Præcipuè in hoc articulo ecclesia bonorum simul et malorum multitudinem, &c., significat; ‡ that "the church' in this article doth principally signify the multitude both of good and evil:" then, indeed, there might be some tolerable plea for the splendour and perspicuity of the church in most ages. But when we consider the sharp persecutions raised against the apostles and the primitive church by the Jews, and against their successors by the Gentile, Pagan empire ;—so fierce and terrible that Diocletian doubted not to erect columns of triumph over Christianity among the Arevaca in Spain, (which some take to be remembered in Arevacco near Madrid,) with these inscriptions: Nomine Christianorum deleto; and, in another, Superstitione Christi ubique deletá: § namely, "The name of Christ being extinct ;" and, "The superstition of Christ being every where abolished;" reflect upon the Αριομανία, "the violence of the Arians " against the sincere embracers of the holy doctrine of Peter,—that Christ was the eternal Son of the living God, and so notably determined by the first council of Nice; or when we call to mind the astonishing tragedies acted by the Papal power for about twelve hundred years against such as have kept close to the same apostolical faith and purity of worship; we may well take up the threnodia or "lamentations" of the apostle concerning the church under the Syrian princes: "They wandered about in sheepskins and goat-skins," &c. " (of whom the world was not worthy :) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." (Heb. xi. 37, 38.) True is that of Hilary,-that the church did meet with the apostles intra cœnacula et secreta, || "in chambers and secret places;" who afterwards, sighing out his complaints against the Arians, [exclaims,] Malè ecclesiam Dei in tectis ædificiisque reveramini : "You do ill to reverence the church of God in stately buildings," &c.

or when we

Sir EDWIN SANDYS's "Survey of Religion in the West," p. 116, edit. Lond. 1637. "Visible, though not seen by all."-EDIT. 1 Catechism. Rom. p. 79, Antverp. 1591. SOCCONIS Numism. ad Heracl. 4to. Antverp. 1579. Contra Auxentium, p. 282.

HILARIUS

Montes mihi et sylvæ et lacus sunt tutiores: * "I count the mountains, woods, and marshes to be more safe." And as the Gloss cites him: Potiùs in cavernis ecclesiam delitescere, quàm in primariis sedibus emi

nere:

"That the church is rather to be found lying hid in secret caverns, than to be eminently conspicuous in principal sees."

But, not to heap up witnesses, the testimony of the church of England, in that notable Homily "against the Peril of Idolatry," may suffice once for all, out of Eusebius and Austin: "That when Christian religion was most pure and indeed golden, Christians had but low and poor conventicles, and simple oratories, and caves under ground, called crypto; where they (for fear of persecution) assembled secretly together." And so it hath continued more or less during the Papal dominion; according to the prophecy, that the woman, that is, the church, should recede into a wilderness-state for twelve hundred and sixty years from the taking up of Constantine into heaven. (Rev. xii. 6, 14.)

The true church of Christ, consisting of all its members, (the greater part whereof is triumphant in heaven, and the rest militant upon earth; on which account only is it to be genuinely called "catholic,")‡ cannot properly be styled "visible to the eye of sense," but, according to our ancient Creed, “to the eye of faith." We believe there is such a church, all whose true members are certainly and only known to God. (2 Tim. ii. 19.) For, what eagle-sighted angel can search the heart, and positively determine the truth of faith in that sealed fountain, whereby the heart flows out in streams of love unto Christ? Against such a soul, against a society composed of such heavenly members, against such a church, the gates of hell shall never prevail. But against a Catholic, external, visibly glorious church, the gates of hell have so far prevailed in many ages, that she hath been reduced into a very low and gloomy estate; as she was in the vision of Zechary, when the "man riding upon a red horse stood still among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom by night." (Zech. i. 8.) Our Lord promises the church's existency and its perennial duration throughout all ages, and his own presence among his myrtletrees in a dark bottom, and his walking among his golden candlesticks in the deep night of adversity; but not its glory and perspicuity, not triple crowns and eminencies. Peter never came forth shining with precious stones, and glistering in silks, and overlaid with gold, and prancing on a white palfrey, guarded with Switzers, and hemmed in with a crowd and noise of servants; as Bernard accosts Eugenius IV., telling him [that] in these he succeeded the imperial Constantine, and not Peter.§ Our Lord never promised such glory and splendour; those fine things become another kind of creature in the Revelation. (Rev. xviii. 16.)

The true church hath usually been as indigent of silver and gold as the true Peter; (Acts iii. 6 ;) yet hath been preserved in all ages from extremity and ruin. Some particular churches, some members of the true and invisible catholic church, whereof Christ is the Head, have been always marching along the howling wilderness of this world toward "Homily," part iii. p. 72, B. 4to. ↑ Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield's [MORTON]" Grand Imposture," p. 9. $ BERNARDUS De Cons, ad Eugen. lib. iv. fol. 142, B.

HILARIUS Contra Auxentium, p. 286.

Canaan. The church hath been most while in a troublous and desert estate; few Elims of palm-trees to sit under, or fountains in which to wash her sacred eyes: yet, as to purity of worship and the food of heavenly manna, she hath always enjoyed some Moseses, some pastors to feed her in the wilderness, such as have prophesied to her all along. (Rev. xii. 6; xi. 3.) Her faith in Christ, and chaste love to him, have been clearly discerned by none but his holy eye; especially in times of general defection from the truths of God, when, as to her secret communion in ordinances, none but such whose eyes are clarified in the crystal streams of holy scripture, have been able to discern her. But there have been some few times, when very Balaams, having climbed up into the mountain of contemplation and stood upon a prophetical rock, and looking toward this wilderness, have cried out in an ecstasy, upon a sight of the glorious beauty of the church, "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted, as cedar-trees beside the waters." (Num. xxiv. 1, 5, 6.) The church hath been always visible in se ["in itself"]: God hath left no age without a witness of the pure word dispensed, of the two sacraments duly administered, and of spiritual worship and order managed in a comely, apostolical manner, without the garish dresses of human fancies and institutions; which are the only proper notes, marks, and characters, where the true church hath been and is, and where the faithful pastors are to be found, who "stand in the counsel of God." (Jer. xxiii. 22.) But who can help, if blind men cry out [that] they see her not? or [if] such as want the optic-glass of scriptures, and call for a gay, splendid, sensual appearance of glittering and costly ceremonies,-whose ears [are] filled with temple-music, their eyes ravished with stately pictures and Babylonian images portrayed with vermilion, (Ezek. xxiii. 14,) and their nostrils perfumed with the rich odours of Arabia,-cry out, Templum Domini, "The temple of the Lord is here?"

Was not Nebuchadnezzar's image dedicated with great glory, set off with concerts of music, and attended with numerous worshippers? Alas! this universal consent, grand acclamations, copious assemblies, uninterrupted successions in mitred habits, splendour and pomp and grandeur, are not the tokens of His kingdom; which "cometh not with observation," (Luke xvii. 20,) or, as Agrippa and Bernice, μera woλans Pavraσιας, "with stately and splendid presence." (Acts xxv. 23.) Heathenism and Turcism may plead for a suffrage in such cases. Christ's flock is a "little flock." (Luke xii. 32.) "In this world ye shall have tribulation," says our Lord; (John xvi. 33;) and "in many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God." (Acts xiv. 22.)

Now here I might, out of several ancient records and monuments, show the succession of some parts of the true church of Christ in France, in the Alpine valleys, and in Britain, and elsewhere in the East; where true doctrine (and, for the main, true discipline and worship) hath been preserved all along, though secretly, for the most part, and not with. external glory and splendour: but that would infringe upon the dispatch of the remaining corollaries.