Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gyles, Mascal
GYLES, MASCAL (d. 1652), polemic, was vicar of Ditchling, Sussex, from 1621 till about 1644. In 1648 he became vicar of Wartling, also in Sussex, as appears by an order of the House of Lords, 2 March of that year. Gyles was buried at Wartling 14 Aug. 1652. By Sarah his wife (d. 1640) he had a numerous family of sons and daughters. Gyle's was engaged in a controversy, carried on with the usual personalities and violent invective of the period, with Thomas Barton [q. v.], rector of Westmeston in Sussex, as to the propriety of bowing at the name of Jesus.
He wrote: 1. 'A Treatise against Superstitious Jesu-Worship. Wherein the true sense of Phil. ii. 9, 10, is opened, and from thence is plainly shewed, and by sundry arguments proved, that corporell bowing at the name Jesu is neither commanded, grounded, nor warranted thereupon,' &c., dedicated to Anthony Stapley, M.P. for Sussex, London, 1642, 4to, reprinted with Barton's reply, 1643. 2. 'A Defense of a Treatise against Superstitious Jesu-Worship, falsely called scandalous, against the truly scandalous Answer of the Parson of Westmenston [sic] in Sussex,' &c., dedicated to the House of Commons, London, 1643, 4to.
[Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. vi. 385; Brit. Mus. Cat.]