urable eye to the pompous bravery of the Romish whore, and have
deformed too much of that which was by them reformed, are to be detested
by all such as wish the eternal exile of idolatrous monuments out of the
Lord's land, yet let these Momus-like spirits understand that their
censorious verdicts do also reflect upon those ancient Christians of whom
we read,(538) that with their own hands they destroyed the temples of
idols, and upon Chrysostom, who stirred up some monks, and sent them into
Phoenicia, together with workmen, and sustained them on the expences and
charges of certain godly women, that they might destroy the temples of
idols, as the Magdeburgians(539) have marked out of Theodoret, likewise
upon them of the religion in France, of whom Thuanus recordeth, that
_templa confractis ac disjectis statuis et altaribus, expilaverant_,
lastly, upon foreign divines,(540) who teach, that not only _idola_, but
_idolia_ also, and _omnia idololatria instrumenta_ should be abolished.
Moreover, what was it else but reason's light which made Cambyses to fear
that the superstition of Egypt could not be well rooted out if the temples
wherein it was seated were not taken away; so that _offensus
superstitionibus AEgyptiorum, Apis coeterorumque Deorum oedes dirui jubet:
ad Ammonis quoque nobilissimum templum expugnandum, exercitum mittit_,
saith Justinus.(541) And is not the danger of retaining idolatrous
churches thus pointed at by P. Martyr: _Curavit_, &c. "Jehu (saith
he(542)) took care to have the temples of Baal overthrown, lest they
should return any more to their wonted use. Wherefore, it appears, that
many do not rightly, who, having embraced the gospel of the Son of God,
yet, notwithstanding, keep still the instruments of Popery. And they have
far better looked to piety who have taken care to have popish images,
statues and ornaments, utterly cut off; for, as we read in the
ecclesiastical histories, Constantine the Great, after he had given his
name to Christ, by an edict provided and took order that the temples of
the idols might be closed and shut up; but, because they did still remain,
Julian the Apostate did easily open and unlock them, and thereafter did
prostitute the idols of old superstition to be worshipped in them,--which
Theodosius, the best and commended prince, animadverting, commanded to
pull them down, lest they should again any more be restored." But because
I suppose no sober spirit will deny that sometimes,