A vindication of the Animadversions on Fiat lux

In the mean time as to the coincidence you imagine between Idolatry and Heresy, I wish you would advise with your Angelical Doctor, who will show you how they are contradistinct evils, ⟨p. 56⟩which he therefore weighs in his scales, and determines which is the heaviest, 22ae q. 94. a. ad 4. The Church in the wilderness fell by its [Greek or Hebrew], its making and worshipping a golden Calf, as a representation of the presence of God. That they kept some parts of the Doctrine of Truth entire, is evident from their proclamation of a feast to Jehovah. Do any men in their wits use to say this fall was by Heresy, though all agree it was by Idolatry? so that your Church might fall by Idolatry and not fall formally by Heresy, according to the genuine importance of the word, the use of it in the Scriptures, or the definition given of it by the Schoolmen, or any sober Writer of what sort soever. And here I must desire you to stay a little, if you intend to take Protestants along with you: They constantly return this Answer unto you in the first place, and tell you, that your Church is fallen by Idolatry; It is fallen in the worship which you give unto the Consecrated Host, as you call it, wherein if the Scriptures which call it bread, and the Fathers who term it the figure of the body of Christ, if Reason, and all our senses deceive us not, you are as plainly Idolatrous as the poor wretches which fall down and worship a piece of Red Cloth: So your own Costerus assures us, Enchirid. cap. 8. Tolerabilior, saith he, est eorum error, qui pro Deo solunt statuam auream, aut argenteam, aut alterius materis imaginem, quomodo Gentiles Deos suos venerabantur, vel pannum rubrum in hastam elevatum, quod narratur de Lappis, vel viva animalia at quondam Aegyptii, quam eorum qui frustum panis colunt. Their error is more tolerable who worship a golden or silver Statue, or an Image of any other matter for a God, as the Gentiles worshipped their Gods, or a rag of Red Cloth lifted upon a spear, as it is reported of ⟨p. 57⟩the Laplanders, or living Creatures, as did the Egyptians of old, than theirs who worship a piece of bread. This is that which made Averroes cry out, seeing the Christians eat the God whom they worship, let my soul be among the Philosophers. You do the same in your worship of the Cross, which the chiefest among you maintain •o be the same that is due to Christ himself.