their CourAls abridged. zo3 CHAP. IX. Councils called a&out Images and force others. § i.nOpe Gregory he id is the Man that muff fet up Image-worfhip againft all oppofition, rebel againff his lawful Sovereign , and con- federatewith other Princes toalienate the TVeftern Empire,when the Eafi was almoff ruined before, and fo to weaken the Chrif'ian Power , that the Turk might fhortly win the Empire. § t. To have recited all alongas we went on , what new Ceremonies, Formalities and Orders were invented andbrought in by the Popes,and how Doârine andPra& ice grew corrupted, being a thing done already by many others, would have been tedious here, and befides the defign of this writing, which is but to fhew how Prelates have ufed the Church by their conten- tions about JURISDICTION and HARD or AMBIGUOUS WORDS; and what hath been the workefpecially of General Councils. But wecan- not tell you well the work of the following Councils, without telling force- what of the occafion of the matter. The PrimitiveChriftians ufed not Images in the Worfhip of God, ( read Daleus de Imaginibus.) But the contempt of Chriftianity by the Heathens, oçcafioned many tooppofe their contemptby glorying in the Crofs ofChriff, and bymaking the tranfient fign of it with their fingers ; and thence they grew to ufe the fixedfign of it ; and thence to fpeak of and believe many Miracles wrought by it ; and thence to make the Imageof Chrift crucified, ( which yet Epiphanies condemned;) and thence by degrees to make the Images of theApoftles and Martyrs; and thence to make in their Churches the Imagesof their deceafed Bifhops, ( till an Excommunicater arofe of an- other Opinion, that pulled any of them down. ) And abundanceof Dreams, Vifions, Apparitions and Revelations werethe pretended Proofs that prevailed for many fuch Superffitions, but efpecially fork es, and Purgatory, and Prayers for the dead. Among others , an Dag*Monk, Egwin of Evefholme, chofen Bifhop of Torcefter, muff lead the way, bypretenceof a Vifion, (aDream, no doubt) fee Spelman's Con- ed. p. 2.09. in his own Chart Egwin faith, [That the Virgin Mary firft ap- peared toa certain Shepherd called Eoves, and afterward to himfelf with two Virgins, holding a Book in her hands, and told him in what placee fhe would have him build her a Monaftery. The crafty Dreamer divulged the Vifion, and force good Men oppofing it, thePope miff have the hearingof it. The Pope put it to the Oath of Egwin,whether ever he faw fuch a Vifion or not? Egwin fware it, and the matter was paff doubt, (juft as honeff Commenisu took.Daubritiras's Prophefies to be of God , becaufe the melancholyMan fware that they were true.) Hereupon Egwin is fent home, and a Council calledto takeEgwiso's words again that he had fuch .a Vifion, ( and in the D m end
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