A vindication of the Animadversions on Fiat lux

And this they express in most places, in those very terms, that were used by the Pagans in the worship of their Idols, making indeed no distinction, but that whereas the Pagans worshipped the images of Jupiter and Minerva and the like, they in the like manner worshipped the Images of Christ and his Apostles. And therefore in the Indies, the Catholic Spaniards took away the Zemes or Images of their Idols, that the poor natives had before, and gave them the Images of Christ and his Mother in their stead.

And this they express in most places, in those very termes, that were used by the Pagans in the worship of their Idols, making indeed no distinction, but that whereas the Pagans worshipped the images of Jupiter and Minerva and the like, they in the like manner worshipped the Images of Christ and his Apostles. And therefore in the Indies, the Catholick Spaniards took away the Zemes or Images of their Idols, that the poor natives had before, and gave them the Images of Christ and his Mother in their stead.

This being the Doctrine of the Council it may not be amiss to consider a little how they proved and confirmed it. Two things they principally insisted on. 1. Testimonies of Scripture. 2. Miracles. Some sayings also they produced out of some ancient writers of the Church, but all of them either perverted or forged. The Scriptures they insisted on were all of them gathered together in the Epistle of Pope Hadrian, which was solemnly assented unto by the whole Council. And they were they these. God made man of the dust of the Earth after his own Image, Gen. 1. Abel by his own choice offered a Sacrifice unto God of the first lings of his flock, Gen. 4. Adam of his own mind called all the beasts of the field by their proper names, Gen. 2. Noah of his own accord built an altar unto the Lord, Gen. 8. Abraham of his own free will erected an altar to the Glory of God,