1r Nisi abundaverit justicia vestra plusquam scribarum et phariseorum non intrabitis in regnum coelorum [Matt. 5. 20].

For a conclusion in this first commaundment I do entend by the leave of oure Lord to speake of Non facies tibi sculptile, neque omnem similitudinem, que est in celo desuper, et que in terra deorsum, nec eorum que sunt in aquis sub terra. Non adorabis ea, neque col[e]s. [Exodus 20. 4-5]

In this part we be forbed to honor eny creature as oure God ather in hevyn or in the erthe or in the waters, or any likenes or ymage or any of them. And this precept I trust dothe appeare so reasonable to every true Christen man and woman that it nedith noo greate declaracion.

He were a verey mad man that knowyng he had a kyng and that all within his realme war his subjettes and servandes wold presume to take from the kyng his crowne and sett it on a servantes heade. And in like maner dothe he that knowyth there is one God that made all creatures of nought and will withdrawe from almighty God his honor and giff it unto a creature.

Bott here may be a dowte towching the seyntes ymages that we, Christen people, worship in the 1v chirches. Yf we shall engrave noon ymage nor lykenes of any creature, how do we not offend aganst this commaundment, sythe this commaundment generally forbiddith us to make any suche ymages?

Ymages be sufferd in the chirches to be set for divers consideracions. First, they be unto the people whiche have noo learnyng in the stede of bowkes, by the whiche they may learne the example of pacience, mekenes, chastite, cherite, and of all other vertewes. The people byholdyng thees ymages may conceyve by them and understand the holynes of saynctes whiles they lyved in this world, and for that commonly every saynt is paynted with a token convenyent to bryng into remembrance the greate perfeccion of this sayntes liff.

Herfore the ymage of seynt Andrew is paynted with his crosse in token that for the loff of Christ he dispysed all the joyes and pleasures of this world and sufferd the deathe of the crosse as dyd his Lorde and maister Christ Jhesu.

Seynt Paule is paynted with a sweard in that one hand, and a bowke in that other. He hathe a bowke in token of his greate preaching, wherby he convertid innumerable people to the faithe of Christ. He bearith a sweard in token that for the loff of Christ he was byheaded. Seynt Lawrence bearith a gredeyron in token that he was broilled upon the coles.

The ymage of seynt Kateryn is made with a whele 2r in token of the passion that she sufferd to kepe hir faithe and virginite hoole to Christ. Rather she wold be torne with iren wheles than to forsake the loff and faith of Christ. And so lykewise of other sayntes and ymages.

Second, ymages be set up in the chirches to the entent that the mysteryes of Christ, of his natyvyte, circumcision, e`pi´phany, myracles, poverte, gracious liffing, passion, death, resurreccion, and assension into hevyn, might the more oftyn be had in remembrance. For by suche payntyng and ymages the hole order of his liff may be oftyn renewed, and tho that well do marke thees ymages and oftyn vew them shall, when they be absent either at home or in the feldes, call them to remembrance, or elles tell and rehersse the liff of Jhesu Christ better by this payntyng unto other, or when they heare it rehersed may sey: ‘thus and thus I have sene it paynted’.

Thirdly, the ymages be set up in the chirches to stere the people to more devocion, to kyndell their hartes more in the loff of God, to quykken them more fervently in the service of God, when thay understond by thees ymages that wher thees blessid saynctes sufferd paynes, troubles, and adversites in this liff for the loff of Christ, now they be rewarded above in hevyn therfore with everlastyng joye. The paynes be past bot the pleasures now shall remayne 2v for ever. This thing shall stere in us also to take som payne heare in this world that we might be rewarded therfore in the world forto comme. We may not thynke that with reast and ease and pleasure heare we shall wyn the kyngdam of hevyn, noo, noo! Violenti rapiunt illud [Matt. 11. 12]. We must do som violence therfore to oure bodyes. Be oure bodyes more precious, more tender, more deare, then was the bodye of oure saviour Christ Jhesu, and of his blessid mother or of the other sayntes? We must therfore put oure bodyes to som straytenes, we must breake oure owne willes, we must put this wrecched flesshe of oures unto som payne as dyd thees blessed sayntes or elles we gett it not.

Bott specially we se the ymage of oure saviour Christ ho[n]ggyng of the crosse and the token of the wondes in his handes and feate made with nailles, and his hart lanced with a speare, whiche he for oure loff, for oure sake dyd indure. For thy sake, Christen man and Christen woman, the son of God, oure saviour Christ Jhesu, sufferd thees greate wondes and his most paynefull passion. This shold stere thyne hart agayne to loff hym and to put thy body to som payne for his sake.

Bott now to my purpose, for thees thre consideracions ymages be sufferd in the chirche. Nevertheles iij thinges herfore be to be marked: first that it shall be lefull for yow to honor the ymages, not for the ymages selff, bot for the seyntes that thay do represent, as in example, when thow commes bifore the ymage of seynt 3r Andrew, thow maist not thynke that this ymage is seynt Andrew, biware therof. For there is bot one seynt Andrew and he is above in hevyn. It shold have many seynt Andrewes, if every ymage of seynt Andrewe ware seynt Andrew. There is bot one seynt Andrew and he is above in hevyn, bot this ymage shall leade the to the remembrance of hym whom thow before that ymage shall worship as an holy saynt. And lyke honor as thow wold doo to seynt Andrewe thow maist do unto that ymage, not for itselff, bot for seynt Andrew and as to the ymage and representment of seynt Andrew, and so likewise of other seyntes ymages.

Whan thow commes to the ymage of oure blessid ladye, the mother of Christ, thow maist not thynke that that ymage is the mother of Christ, noo. For the blessid mother of Christ is above in hevyn, and hir that is above in hevyn worship there in the presence of that ymage.

Whan thow commes to the ymage of the crucifix, thow maist not thynke that that is verey Christ, noo. Christ Jhesu is above in hevyn and in the sacrament of the alter and nowher elles. Neverthelesse, that honor that thow wold do to Christ thow maist do before the crucifix and to the crucifix, not for itselff, bot for Christ whom it dothe represent.

First, I sey that the seyntes may be honored notwithstandyng this commaundment. For in another commaundment folowyng thow art commaunded to honor thy 3v father and thy mother. And if thow maist honor thy father and mother that be synners, moche rather thow maist honor the blessid sayntes that be in perfitt holynes withouten syn. Nevertheles, there is a difference bitwene the honor dew unto almighty God and to his blessed seyntes. Allbeit oure englissh worde callith bot honor, other langages hathe divers wordes therfore. Bott to know this difference I will use this example. Though a woman be pryncipally bound to loff hir husband above all other men, yet neverthelesse she may loff hir husbandes frendes, children, and servandes so far as is not aganst his loff.

Second,we must marke that there is a difference of honor to be giffen unto thees ymages. For ever[y] ymage is not in lyke honor to be honored, bot som more, som lesse. As in a greate cowrt another honor is giffen unto the kyng that is soverayne and to his mother, if she war aliff, and another yett unto the greate officers of his court. So likewise unto thees ymages that represent almighty God and that represent his blessed mother, and that represent the other sayntes, a dyvers honor must be giffen. The most hye and soverayne honor that can be giffen with all thy hart, sowle and mynde and power thow must giff to God and to the ymage that representith God, not for itself as I have said, bot for the representment. This hye honor is onely dew to God, and it may not in no wise be giffen from hym to nonne other, not unto his blessid mother. She neverthelesse must be honored more 4r hyely than any other saynt, so that there is thre maner of honors: one that is pryncipally dew to God, another that is secundarely dew unto the mother of God, and iijd -- that that is lowist -- is dew to the other seyntes. Thus moche for the first part.

Now com to the second part. The philosophers devyded the body of man in iij partes: the hede, the breast, and the belly. In the hede thay said was wisdam, in the breast covetenes, and in the belly the desire of the flessly concupiscence.

The first and the chiff part of man they said was the heade, whiche they said was like unto the hevyn. For as the hevyn is the [sic] round and hathe fixed in it the sonne and the mone and the other starres, so the heade of man is round and hathe fixed in it the ees and the other instrumentes of felyng. Secondly, as the hevyn hathe the preeminency in the hole world and hyest above all other, so the hede of man hathe the preemynency and is hyest above all other partes of man. Third, as all this world byneth is orderd by the movynges of the hevyn, by the heates and coldes and mosture and drynes that is sent from thens, so if the heade be temperate, all the other partes of the body be in better order; and if it be not in good temper bot myscorderd, all the body farith the worsse.

Of this hevyn, than, may be understanded thees wordes 4v to our purpos, Non facies tibi scultile neque omnem similitudinem que est in celo desuper. That is to sey, thow shalt engrave nor imprynt eny ymage or likenes that is `in´ the hevyn above forto honor it or to worship itt as thy God. Bot ye will aske me: ‘Sir, who dothe thus? Who engravyth thees ymages and make them idolles in this hevyn, and worshippith them as their goddes? This thing is hard for us to conceyve, we wott not what it meanyth’. Take hede, therfore, and ye shall se it by the grace of oure Lord more playne. For it is a thing moche necessary to be knowen and it also towchith us all.

He makes to hymselff an ydoll in this hevyn above, that is to sey in his heade, that trustith moche in his owne brayne, that magnifieth hymself of his owne wisdam, that hathe a vayne-glorye of his workes and reputes them as doyne by his owne witt, that bostith hymself and avantith hymselff of his good deades, that vaynely rejoysith hymselff of the gifftes that God hathe lent hym, dispisyng his other pore neybors that hathe not like gifftes. This is a greate ydolatrye, for fro the hyest unto the lowist few dothe escape this idolatrye.

Bott let us herof take an example owte of the holy gospell. In the gospell of Luke it is told of one Pharisew whiche had a confidence in his owne wisdam and in his workes and dispised other therby. The gospell tellith how that he came unto the temple forto make his prayer and stondyng in the temple he said: ‘My Lord God’, seith he, 5r ‘I thanke the that I am not as other men be, wrongdoers, extorcyoners, advowteres, suche one as this tol-gaderer is. I fast twes a weake. I paye my tythes truely of all thynges I have’

[Luke 18. 11-12]

. Who wold not thynke bot this man had meny faire vertewes?

First, he was to be praised that he came to the temple to make his prayer and honor God there. How meny Christen men kepe the ale-hous and tavernes when they shold comme to the chirche? How [meny] fynde them som other pastyme ather in the fildes or in other places whan they shold honor almighty God? How meny by bying and sellyng uppon the holy dayes when they shold be rather at their prayer in the chirche -- in so moche that the chirche so farr passith their temple, for in the chirche is present the blessid sacrament wherin is conteyned the precious body of our saviour Christ Jhesu, whiche the temple had not?

Second, considre how that this man dyd nonne injury to his neybor, he dyd noon oppression, nonne extorcion, noon advowtry, bot kept the lawes of God as he thought, and this is another greate thyng. How meny Christen men may sey that thay do no wrong unto their neybor, bot trewly kepe the lawes and commaundmentes of almighty God?

Third, considre how this man dyd chastice his body by fastyng twoo dayes every weeke, and this fastyng 5v was of a strayter maner then we use to fast. The Jwes war content with one sklender mele, and besides that thay toke no refresshyng of breade ne drynke. How many of us do fast thus, and twyse every weke? Skant we, Christen men, kepe one daye in the weeke trewly, alasse, and that daye that was generally observed and used a long season in the chirche of every trew Christen man -- and that for a remembrance of the bitter passion of oure saviour Christ, the whiche as this daye he dyd suffer deathe for our sakes -- this is now letill regarded with meny, bot generally broken and no remembrance had of that most blessid death by eny payne takyng of fastyng.

iiijth, decimas do omnium que possideo [Luke 18. 12]. That is to sey, of all thynges whiche I have increase of I paye tythes. Tithes be paid for a recognicion that all that we have we receyve it of almighty God, and this recognicion is de jure divino, as all doctors aggree. And if the Jew[s] war bound to recognyse the benifites of almighty God, moche rather the Christen man is.

vth, he gaff thankes to almighty God for all this. Gracias ago tibi, Deus [Luke 18. 11]. I thanke the, my Lord God, that I am in this condicion and that I do not breake thy commaundmentes. How meny of us may sey thus and thynke we sey well? Ye, and sey thus opynly that other may here us? And this man spake this bitwene God and hym secretely in his owne sowle that nonne hard 6r but he. Bot yet he had a pryde therof and magnified hymselff and made an ydoll of hymself, made an ydoll of his wisdam and workes, dispysyng and condemnyng his neybor that stode beside hym, wherby he grevosly displeasid almighty God.

How many, sittyng at taverne[s] or in the ale-hous, will reherss their good workes, will advaunt their good deades, will sey: ‘this and this I do’, and thanke God for so doyng? And this Jew in the temple secretely bitwene hym and God speakyng thees wordes ran therfore in the displeasure of God. Moche rather a Christen man or a woman, speaking this opynly bifore many parsones in the taverne or the ale-hous, he displeasith God and lesith the merit of tho workes that he or she that so dothe avaunt themselff of.

O Christen man, what hast thow to be prowde of that thow hast not receyved of almighty God? Take awaye his gifftis, and what difference is bitwene the and the most synfull creature liffing? Why shalt thow than be prowde of thees? Why shalt thow than ascribe the glory therof unto thyselff, as dyd this Jewe notwithstandyng that he thanked God therfore?

Thus ye understand how ye shall engrave nonne ydoll, noon ymage in this hevyn above, that is to sey in the hedd – now folowith in the ijd place – ‘nor in the earthe benethe'.

The ijd part of man is the breast wherin is his hart that is oftyn called in scripture ‘earthe’. In this earthe, man, thow maist not nowther engrave eny idoll. Thyne hart shuld 6v be occupied with almighty God and with his love and with his honor, and than it is hevynly. Bot thow doist ingrave an ydoll in it, a falss god in it, Mammona iniquitatis [Luke 16. 9], when thou doist occupie it with the muck of this world, when all thy study is forto get the thinges [of this] world, and all thy desire and enforssment is sett that waye, littill remembryng thy dewty to thy Lord God and to the weale of thyne owne sowle.

Alasse, man, this is a fowle ydolatrye, and as seynt Paule saith, it is Idolorum servitus [Galat. 5. 20], the verrey service of idolles and of falss goddes. Wherto makes thow all this gaderyng and heapyng togyder of this worldly goodes, as though thow shold alwaye liff in this world and never dye?

Remembre what scripture tellith in a certayne place, how that when the Jwes gaderd manna in the wildernes, he that gadered byyond his mesure more than was necessary forto kepe hym, if it war not kept for the holy day, it tornyd into wormes; bot if it war for the holy daye, it was preserved.

Considre what this meanyth. Who gaders for the holy day and who gaders for the work daye? All the dayes of this world be work dayes and dayes of labor, of troble, and of payne. The holy daye is the daye of reast, it betokyns the greate reastyng daye above in hevyn. He gaderith well that gaderes for that daye. He gaderes well that provydes aganst that tyme. Of this gaderyng oure saviour saithe: Thesaurisate vobis thesauros in celo [Matt. 6. 20], treasour `unto´ you riches above in hevyn. Make yow 7r frendes with this that ye have gadered heare. Depart therof unto the pore folkes. Send it bifore yow, and that shall remayne uncorrupt, unputrified, untowched with wormes. For this that thow gaderis heare for this world, it will corrupt and ingender wormes. Bot what wormes? Moughtes, peraventure, and mytes? Naye, I speake not of them, for thees wormes may be soyne slayne, and the bytyng of them shall litill deare the. Bott I meane the wormes that oure saviour speakith of Vermes eorum non morientur [Isaiah 66. 24]. I meane the wormes that never shall dye, bott perpetuelly teare and gnaw their consciences in hell. Wold to God that thes gaderers of corne wold marke this well that I sey, and specially they that have gadered togeder thees granes and have made therby the price of them arise to the greate harme of the pore people and hynderance of the common weale.

I have red of a greate riche man the whiche had heaped in his bernes and garners greate store of corne and wold not owt with itt, bot still kept itt to the entent that the price might arise and be greater. All other men had sold their corne, and there was almost noon lefft bot in this riche mans barnes. His baly came untill hym and moved hym to sell his corne and that for iij consideracions. ‘First, Sir’, saithe he, ‘many pore folkes dy for lak of corne, and that will make a greate owtcrye. Second, Sir’, saithe he, ‘ye may now have a greate advantage, for a seame of whete is xx shillinges that stode not yow passyng a noble. iijd, Sir’, saithe he, ‘there 7v is greate nombre of vermyn, rattes and myse, that it waistith dailly more and more, and therfore ye may do what ye will, bot verely my thynke ye war best to sell it’.

This riche man answered agayne skornefully unto his baly. ‘As for the myce’, saithe he, ‘lett them eate as moche as they will. I pray the’, saith he, ‘giff them a drynke. Bot trust me’, saithe he, ‘I will not sell my corne tyll I may have xxx shillinges for a quarter’. Alasse, this man nowther regarded the common weale nor the necessite of the pore people, bot rather wold lett the rattes and myce eate his corne than the people shold be releved. Bott what folowed within a few nyghtes after as he lay in his bedd? A greate multitude of devilles in likenes of myce cam uppon hym and he cryed for helpe, bot or ever helpe cowde com thay had torne hym in peaces, and so myserabely by the rightwis juggement of God he ended his liff.

Beware, therfore, this stroke of God, ye that be ingraters of corne, and study all-togeder your owne avantage with the harme of your pore neybors and sore hynderance of the common weale. Suffer not this idoll of averyce and covetyce to inprynte in your hartes, and cast this maumetrye fro yow, and make the pore people your frendes by whose prayers ye may the soner com to hevyn.

Com now to the iijd part of man whiche is his bely wher is the place of carnall concupisce[nce]. Here reigne the flessly pleasures most specially, and thees in scripture 8r be assembled unto the waters. In thees waters meny make them an ydoll, a falss god, as seynt Paule saithe: Quorum deus venter est [Philip. 3. 19], all tho that putt their felicite and pleasure in the desires of the belly, tho that spend their liff in gwillyng and drynkyng in gloteny and lechery. This ydoll of the belly was figured by the calff that the Jwes dyd honor as their god in the wildernes, wher towchyng this idolatrye iij thinges is to be notid.

First, the sacrifice to this ydoll. Sedit populus manducare, et bibere, et surrexerunt ludere [Exodus 32. 6]. That is to sey, the people sett them downe to eate and drynke and after rose to playe them. Syttyng is reast and idelnes, eatyng and drynkyng is gloteny, their playe is lechery. This is the verey sacrifice of this wanton calf of this carnall god of oure belly. To reast, and to eate and dry[n]ke, to playe, this is the belly joye. Of this sacrifice his mynisters be never wery of, bot all their joye and felicite is in this. All their liff is gwillyng and drynkyng and sport and play. Thay flee labor and payne. Thay loff idelnes and reast. Thay wold heare of no fastyng nor penance. Lent thay hate as a tyme most contrary unto their appetites, and Christynmas thay wold ever shold indure.

Second, it is to be notid that this people toke certayne jwelles of gold fro their wiffes, sons, and doughters, and all thees war molten, and so was facyened this idoll of this calff. How many spoyle their wiffes and their children 8v to maynetene this dyrty god, their belly? Now his wiffes gyrdelles, now masers, now spones, now the verray lond that his wiff and chyldren shold liff uppon is sold and maltyn awaye to maynetene the sacrifice of this wanton calff, of this stynkyng ydoll. This bottomles sachel of his belly devowryth all and consumes it to nought. All thees glotons can scrape thay putt into their bellys, and there it tornyth into corrupcion and to dyrt. See the farr differences of thees two sacrifices, that is to sey of the god of riches and of the belly god.

The covetos man scrapith of every syde to maynetene his god of riches, and so ny he scrapith from his own belly many tymes and will fare full hard rather than he will mynyssh his stok.

Bott he that makes his belly his god scrapith also of every syde bott contrary wise, for he forsith not to spend all that his wiff and children shold liff uppon, so that he may maynetene the sacrifice to his belly. And this hathe brought many a man to liff in mysery and povertee in his old dayes and his children to beggarye and other myschiff.

Third is to be notid that thees jwelles that this wanton calff was made of was taken specially from the eares of their wiffes and their children. The usage was emongest the Jewes to have hanggyng att their wiffes eares and children som littill jewell of gold in steade of an ornament to make them more goodly. This ornament had this mystery: it bitokened that thay war redy to heare all gracious cowncell and to avoyde the badd and evill cowncell, that thay war redy to heare all thynges perteynyng 9r to vertew and chastite, and to exchew all comunicacion of vice and rybaldrye.

Bott, alasse, suche men as make their bellys their goddes spoyle their wiffes and children of thees ornamentes of thees precious jewelles. Thay fill their eares almost with nothing elles than with suche lewde speche of rybaldrye or unclennes and of the most abhomynacion that thay can thynke or speake. Thay lett not to sey itt bifore their wiffes and children. And what mervale if afterward their chyldren and wiffes bothe do lewdely when thay heare noon other comunicacion than of suche lewdnes? Thay be norisshed and brought up in this ydolatrye, so moche that as the prophet Osee saithe, Non dabunt cogitaciones suas ut revertantur ad Deum suum quia spiritus fornicationis in medio eorum[Osee 5. 4]. Thay cannot sett their myndes to retorne agayne to their verey God, for the spiritt of lechery hathe suche domynacion over them.

O Christen man and woman, remember that thow hast a reasonable sowle and was dearely bought with the most precious blode of thy saviour Christ Jhesu. Never make this bestly god, this dyrty god, this stynkyng god, I meane thy belly, never make it thy god. Putt never thy felicite in thees corrupt waters, in thees stynkyng podelles of thy carnall concupiscence. Enprynt in them nonn idoll.

Towchyng this commaundment, then, som of all is this: that we shall have nonne other goddes bot one which is almighty God the father, the son, and the holy gost, iij parsones and one God whos wisdam we shall fastly byleve, in 9v whos power we must putt all oure trust, whos goodnes we must loff and that with all oure hart, sowle, and mynde. Other we may loff in order to hym as farr as may stand with his loff.

As a woman, though hir husband will be pryncipally beloffed of hir, yett she may loff his frendes and children and servantes. As farr as is not aganst his loff, so farr as the loff of any of them dothe not mynyssh the loff that she bearith unto hir husband bot rather forderith itt, so farr she may loff them. Bott if any of them be enymes unto hir husband, or if the loff of any of them withdraw hir loff from hir husband, than beware, then she must forbeare that loff.

In lyke maner it is of almighty God. Though every Christen sowle must loff hym pryncipally above all thyng as the most hye soverayne, yett nevertheless we may loff and honor other his creatures in order towardes hym, and suche wherby the loff and honour that we beare towardes hym is not empaired bot rather encreasyd.

As whan we loff and honor the blessid mother of Christ or his blessid angelles and sayntes, this stondes with his loff and with his honor. For as seynt Hierom saithe, the honor that we do unto the servand, we do it unto the Lord and maister. And so when we honor the ymages of seyntes -- not for themselff, bott for the seyntes of whom thay be ymages -- and when we loff the creatures of God here byneth in order towardes hym and as may stond with his loff and with his honour, all is well. Bott whan oure loff is mysorderd aganst the loff of God, or standes not with his honor, nor with his lawe, than biware. Or whan we loff his enymes, the wykked spirittes, and folow 10r their mocions aganst the pleasure of oure Lord God, or seche remedyes of them, or use other craftes, or giff faithe to their scriptures or to their mynisters, and generally whan we giff the loff or honor that is dew unto almighty God from hym unto thees wykked spirittes or unto any other creature, than breake we this commaundment.

I have now spokyn sithe I bigan of iij maner of parsones that dyd honor unto God, that is to sey the Samarytanes, the Jwes, and the Christen people. The Samarytanes honored hym for dreade onely. The Jwes honored hym for dreade and loff togeder. The Christen men honour hym for pure loff above all thyng bicause he is most singularly to be biloffed. This is the verray pure loff and the sure knot of loff that hard is forto breake.

About this text

Title: A sermon on Images.
Edition: Taylor edition
Series: Taylor Editions: Ex Scriptore
Editor: Transcribed by Anne Mouron, Regent’s Park College, Oxford.

Identification

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 119

Contents

This manuscript contains a single text.

Physical description

Materials: Paper

History

Origin

Middle of sixteenth-century ; written in English.

This text is possibly part of a longer work or of a series of sermons which have not been identified and may not have survived. The text begins: ‘Nisi abundaverit justicia vestra plusquam scribarum et phariseorum non intrabitis in regnum coelorum [Matt. 5. 20]. For a conclusion in this first commaundment I do entend by the leave of oure Lord to speake of Non facies tibi sculptile, neque omnem similitudinem, que est in celo desuper, et que in terra deorsum, nec eorum que sunt in aquis sub terra. Non adorabis ea neque col[e]s. [Exodus 20. 4-5]’, which suggests an ongoing discussion, our emphasis.

Error reporting

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About this edition

This is a facsimile and transcription of A sermon on Images . It is held by the Bodleian Library (shelf mark MS Bodley 119). Note that the text is not given a title in the manuscript, the latter has been supplied from the Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, vol. II, part 1, number 1981, p. 145.

The transcription was encoded in TEI P5 XML by Emma Huber.

The images were scanned by Special Collections staff at the Bodleian during Lockdown 2021.

Availability

Publication: Taylor Institution Library, one of the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford, 2021. XML files are available for download under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License . Images are available for download under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

Source edition

A sermon on Images. England, Middle of 16th century.

Editorial principles

Created by encoding transcription from manuscript.

The "brown large" rendering reflects the presence of larger letters in thicker brown ink in the manuscript.

The manuscript punctuation and layout have been retained whenever possible. Some obvious errors have been silently corrected.