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A07116	A defence of priestes mariages stablysshed by the imperiall lawes of the realme of Englande, agaynst a ciuilian, namyng hym selfe Thomas Martin doctour of the ciuile lawes, goyng about to disproue the saide mariages, lawfull by the eternall worde of God, [and] by the hygh court of parliament, only forbydden by forayne lawes and canons of the Pope, coloured with the visour of the Churche. Whiche lawes [and] canons, were extynguyshed by the sayde parliament ...	Parker, Matthew, 1504-1575.; Morison, Richard, Sir, d. 1556, attributed name.; Ponet, John, 1516?-1556, attributed name.	1567 (1567)	STC 17519; ESTC S112350	311,635	404

¶ A DEFENCE of priestes mariages stablysshed by the imperiall lawes of the Realme of Englande agaynst a Ciuilian namyng hym selfe Thomas Martin doctour of the Ciuile lawes goyng about to disproue the saide mariages lawfull by the eternall worde of God by the hygh court of parliament only forbydden by forayne lawes and canons of the Pope coloured with the visour of the Churche Whiche lawes canons were extynguyshed by the sayde parliament and so abrogated by the conuocation in their Sinode by their subscriptions Herewith is expressed what moderations and dispensations haue ben vsed heretofore in the same cause other like the canons of the Churche standyng in full force Whereby is proued these constitutions to be but positiue lawes of man temporall Let Matrimonie be honorable in all persons But fornicatours and adulterers God shall iudge Hebre. xiij ¶ The contentes of this booke noted in the pagies of the same as in these titles folowyng 1 A moste humble supplication to the hygh and most myghtie princes the Kyng and Queenes excellent maiesties Fol. 1. 2 An humble suite to the ryght prudent and most honorable of their councell Fol. 2. facie 2. 3 A lowly request and obsecration to the reuerent fathers of the Churche Fol. 3. facie 2. 4 A tractation to the discrete iudgement of the worshipfull of the lower house of parliament and to the professours of the lawe Fol. 7. facie 2. c. 5 An admonition to the naturall subiectes of the Realme and certayne notes for their aduertisementes Fol. 8. facie 2. c. Fol. 9. facie 2. d. 6 An expostulation with certayne of the Clergie for lacke of charitable indifferencie Fol. 11. facie 2. 7 Generall considerations in the booke folowyng 8 That Saint Paules sentences for auoydyng of fornication let euery man haue his wyfe ▪ c. and yf they can not conteyne let them marry be generally spokē to al persons pag. 133. 136. c. 9 To seculer priestes and to votaries 140. b. 159. a. 10 And that continencie from mariage is a rare gyft 201. c. 204. a. 247. c. 251. 11 And that it is not lyke that the Apostles dyd enioyne the same to the Clergie seing they them selues and diuers other Bushoppes and priestes had wyues 32. b. 42. 156. d. 12 That it is only of mans constitutions for continencie to be annexed to orders 71. 72. 153. c. 13 And that seculer priestes votaries haue ben dispensed with to marrie 230. 14 And that our elders and the fathers of th● Churche haue thought it meete alwayes for lawes and canons to be restrayned remitted 41.85.175.179 c. 196. a. 197. b. 209. a. 210. d. 15 And that the same haue ben dispensed with in matters of greater importaūce then priestes mariages 204. a. 205. 267 a 16 And haue ben dispensed to kepe their wiues 222. a. 274. a. 17 That seculer priestes ordered in England be no votaries pag. 181. d. 181. c 184. a. 18 And myght marry after order as before 60.61.76.103.155 d. 253. d. 257.272 a 19 And that they haue ben before tyme maryed in the Realme Fol. 15. b i 20 And that it is no dishonour to the order nor burthen to the Realme for priestes to marry pag. 69. 70. 59. 21 That maryages of the Clergie made by force of the lawe of the Realme be good mariages ●69 238. b. 22 And that they lye not vpon the daunger of the canons to be impeached or dissolued 67.65.58.167.171 b. 200. d. 23 No more then the maryages of the laitie which were made in kyng Henry the .viii. his tyme by the act concernyng precontractes 170. d. 24 And that forayne positiue lawes with their paynes concernyng the same be abrogated not reuiued by the act of repeale 170. c. 25 That scripture ought to be iudge and is most certayne to be sticken vnto 73.74.98 b. 100. c. 245. b. 26 That D. Martin hath rigorously without all moderation expended the cause of these sayde parties iustly maryed by lawe 83.201 27 That D. Martin hath wrested misreported scriptures in the deprauyng of the sayde lawfull maryages 135. b. 147. a. 150 d 28 That D. Martin hath peruerted and falsified the scriptures stories councels aleaged by hym 53.54.105 b. 111. b 136. b. 144 a. 146 b. 148.155 a. 156 b 164.182 b. 221. b 238. d. 29 And doctours of the Church as Origen Ambrose 145. b. Austen 101. c. 104. a. 107. a. 150. b. Ierome 108. b Isodore 109. c Eusebius 144. Ignatius 118. c. Nicephorus 156. 106. a. 30 That D. Martin sclaundereth with euyll names aswel the matrimonie of the lay men as of priestes 66.82.163 a. 31 That D. Martin hath vsed to many lyes yf his cause were good insparsed in his booke part wherof be touched 43.44.45.50.51 52.53.54.55.56.107.115.136.145.151.157 c. 182. b. 216. c. ¶ A preface to the reader WHere by chaunce came into my handes of late a booke sent from beyonde the sea wherein was highly magnified a treatise written by one Thomas Martin doctour of the Ciuile lawe and there muche labour bestowed to disproue the lawfull matrimonies of Ecclesiasticall Ministers There came to my remembraunce a certayne wrytyng beyng in my custodie gathered together and written in the raigne of Kyng Philip Queene Marie wherin much of the treatise of this Ciuilian is reproued Which said booke was written by a learned man of that tyme who shortly after dyed meanyng yf God had lent hym longer lyfe to haue confuted more of the sandye groundes principles of the sayde Ciuilian And thynkyng it at these dayes not vnprofitable to be read for this controuersie I committed it to the Printer praying thee good reader to beare with the maner of the wrytyng in some partes therof beyng more meryly penned then some graue wryter would peraduēture alowe of In which fourme of wrytyng somewhat he foloweth as he sayth hym selfe thexample of Sir Thomas Moore knyght in his booke of Dialogues for purgatorie This wryter abstaynyng yet from vnchaste tales such as be in his 〈◊〉 booke ouermuch insparsed and partly being in aduersitie gaue himself to some solace to refreshe his minde with yet vsyng fewer insultations reprofes then the vnworthinesse of the said Ciuilian by his vnreasonable chalenge myght haue moued him to Now because I wold nether adde to another mans writing neither diminishe the same I haue presēted vnto thee good reader the whole booke as it is affirmyng this that thou shalt finde all his allegations truely aduouched by the writers that he doth name assuring thee also persuaded by the nature of the man whom I haue hearde wel reported that no malice or corrupt indignation moued hym to write as he doth but pure zeale to the trueth of Gods most holy worde to their instruction who woulde be taught in this trueth to the amendement of his aduersarie in his manifest vntruethes to the comfort of thē who loue God and his veritie and to admonishe all such as be eyther wylfully ignoraunt or malicious well to expende

Polidore Fabian   229 b 4 in the margent put dist 27.   243 c 6 innusde immunde   244 c 10 lenitie leuitie   247 b 3 emacultur emaculentur   248 a 4 chast chastitie   248 a 5 chastitie chaste   251 b 5 put out That   259 a 1 so not   267 c 1 in clementiā in elencho   274 a 1 priuatiue primatiue ¶ To the moste high moste noble and mightie Princes Philip and Marie by the grace and prouidence of God King and Queene of Englande Fraunce Naples Hierusalem and Irelande defendours of the faithe Princes of Spain ▪ and Cicill Archdukes of Austrige Dukes of Millen Burgon and Braband Coūties of Hasbrough Flanders and Tiroll Be all grace ioye and felicitie wished from GOD the father of our Lorde Iesus Christe AS almightie God the merueilous creatour of all the worlde and beūteous conseruer of the same moste noble princes hath graft naturall loue and amitie in the nature of his creatures of the one kinde to the other as chiefe succour one to the other And for that he willyng the same moste orderly to appere in mannes nature for his societie hath beside the benefite of reason at the verie first beginnyng by lawe prouided for the same euen so that auncient enemie that wilie ▪ serpent the deuill hath alwaie laied his engines and snares to disorder and to confounde the saied creation and institution of God with many and horrible kindes of deuises either to destroy it vtterly or els so to depraue the thing that was impossible for him to destroie with suche sinister cauillations that it should lose the estimation at the least and grace that almightie God willed it to be endued and adourned with The chief roote whence spryngeth the greatest part of mannes felicitie or infelicitie in this mortall life is wedlocke As out of this spryng haue been families and realmes begūne by it enlarged and finally florished and preserued by the same So haue the self same families and realmes once aduaūced to the heigth of their felicitie and perfection been brought downe againe to vtter ruine and deuastation for corrupting and peruerting that eternall lawe of God and decree of nature The more earnestlie should all suche as be endewed with any spercle of reuerence to Goddes honour of pietie to their countrey or of charitie to their neighbour praie and wishe moste instauntly that this state and societie might bee so honourablie begonne continued and ended in al degrées that the benefites therof might redounde throughout the horriblenes of the abuse might bee vtterly euery where banished And the more circumspectly should all suche as haue giftes of God for vtteraunce in excityng mannes decaied and corrupte nature with woorde and writyng to the preseruation thereof take hede that by their imprudent vtteraunce thei defame not that thyng that almightie God would haue in estimation and by his woorde hath pronounced honourable in all persones How be it moste gracious and godly soueraignes it hath chaunced otherwise in this your noble Realme and Dominions of late that witte and learnyng whereof nothing ought to haue been looked for but good witte and learnyng haue vttered euill will and ignoraunce in the deprauatiō of suche societies of part of your graces Clergie by iuste lawes of your realme enacted stablished and confirmed to be good and in quiete state so reposed straunge for a tyme by reason of the noueltie to diuerse but yet perceiued of many wisemen with some addition of discipline for the insolencie of some yonger then wiser that it might haue been the remedie of diuerse inconueniences before tyme lamented in the Clergie Of your vertuous entendiment moste gracious ladie no lesse maie be cōceiued but although to your graces cares it hath been oftecried vnto how vncomely these copulations were how againste God and his honour how againste the Churche decrees and discipline and how worthie to be dissolued againe Yet notwithstandyng this importunitie we read by the expresse wordes of your highnesse Commission comprised in articles and so addressed to your graces spirituall administers Bishops and your Commissaries that your graces will was thei should proceade accordyng to learnyng and discretion in this weightie matter And that thei should not put any other Canōs and constitutiōs of the Churche in exercise then suche as might stande with your graces Lawe of your Realme Yet for all this your graue and gracious aduertisement diuerse of the saied officers of what spirite Gods spirite can Iudge haue proceded so farre against learnyng discretion and lawes of your ▪ realme in moste places of your highnes dominions that your poore subiectes and oratours bee farre otherwise entreated then your grace would thinke likely for the trust whiche was committed to thē Surely farre otherwise then the graue of the realme can beleue your tender pitie and customable mercie your godlie Charitie and fauorable Iustice would haue so executed Whiche maner of doynges in all quarters of your realme as it hath stirred greate admirations emong the moste of your other subiectes in sundrie and diuerse considerations incidente and depending vpon suche procedynges So hath there risen a freshe as muche admiration againe of a certaine booke of late putte forthe by one Thomas Marten Doctor of Ciuill subornated belike God knoweth by whom to iustifie the saied sore doynges and to haue them taken in good part that is as he would haue it appere by learnyng confirmed to haue been doen by discretion In whiche booke to the furder accumulation of the heauie state of the saied ministers depriued is added moste slaunderous accusations and vntrue surmised matters againste them to your highnes and to all other states of your realme to bryng them to vtter rebuke and perill possible Whiche matters how vncharitably vntruely and vnlearnedly thei be framed and forged shall in some part appere hereafter And more sufficiently at other laisure shal bee proued and detected how he hath handled hymself pretendyng Goddes glorie whereby his entendement his woorde and institution is plainly euacuated pretendyng Chastitie but in conclusion the verie high waie to vnspeakeable whoredomes and filthinesse pretendyng antiquitie and aucthoritie yet in verie deede but counterfetted imitation of aucthoritie and beliyng antiquitie makyng a greate florishe in the matter to the reader at a sodain shewe but in effect● mere subtiltie without sub●●aunce witte without wisedome Zeale without knowledge and heate without charitie Onely this thyng in the name of the said ministers not in respect so muche of their persones as of their cause whiche ought of all maner of men that feare God to be waied with reason and iustice This thing I saie is moste humbly to be sued for at your moste gracious and vertuous consciences to peruse the moderacions that be to be expended in the circumstaunce of the cause as it standeth on their side by allowaunce of Gods Lawe and approbation of mannes lawe thereto in your highest courte of Parliamente The cause it self is Goddes It

to expende and to expound the lawes of the realme in suche preiudiciall maner as he doth I would faine knowe how he can glose that Acte of Parliamente made in the .xxxij. yere of that noble Kyng Henry the eighte whiche is not as yet repealed but confirmed a newe for some parte thereof concernyng the prohibitions of the Leuiticall Lawe and standeth in sure force at this very daie wherein is plainly expressed that no reseruation or prohibition Goddes Lawe except shall trouble or empeche any mariage without the saied Leuiticall degrees And that all suche bee lawfull persones to contracte whiche bee not prohibited by Gods lawe to marrie I thinke this man can not saye that priestes mariages bee within suche degrees Ergo thei ought not to be troubled or impeched as this Lawe commaundeth And where this doctor writeth in th ende of his .ix. Chapiter full learnedly bee ye suer R. ij specially for a greate maister of the Chauncerie that the two actes in Kyng Edwardes daies aucthorisyng priestes mariages doeth not take a waie the penalties of the Canon lawe whiche assertion for the like how far it may be extended let wise menne iudge But if thei did he saieth yet could not the priestes take any aduauntage by them longer then thei did continue And he addeth his reason because saith he the auncient lawes of the churche as sone as the saied two statutes were taken awaie came straight in force againe Further saieth he for that thei were neuer extinguished but only for a time shadowed and brought a slepe And this he saieth is the opinion of the chief Doctors of the Ciuill lawe Now Master Ciuilian if ye had alledged this opinion as of suche as be learned and beareth good hartes to their owne naturall lawe of the realme your saiyng had been better proued in my conceite And I doubt muche whether it bee true that ye saie that the beste Ciuilians agréeth with you I thinke if it were searched there might be found as good Ciuilians comparable with those whom ye note to bee the chief Doctors of the Ciuill that bee not in your iudgemente in this your gaye booke And whether ye haue any manne learned in the temporall lawe that will ioyne in this opinion with your chief doctors in the Ciuill Lawe I would yet wishe eu●n those though ye haue craftly trained them into suche opinion by the odiousnes of this cause of the poore priestes yet to aduise thē well for suche causes might arise to them selues in compasse of seuen yeares in the like cases that peraduenture thei would wishe not to haue it so vniuersally concluded as ye conclude it But sir yet let me aske you a question by the occasion offred of that Lawe of Kyng Henrie Anno. xxcij where it is determined in lawe wherof I thinke ye cannot shewe the like in this realme since Brute came first into England and ye knowe that it is a great wonder to your wit for thinges to come in law that fewe menne hath seen the like example before tymes I meane I saie for the nature of precontractes whiche by that statute bee vtterly voide if a second contract followeth and bee consummated with bodely knowledge Ye knowe that this acte for precontractes is repealed againe Anno secundo Edwardi sexti and restored to that force as once it was and so long before continued many hundreth yeres What do ye entend with such mariages as at this daie be a great meiny in Englande which began and were aduailable by force of that act seyng this act is now repealed Whether maie ye dissolue suche marriages and pronounce them nought seyng ye saie the ●orce of the olde Canons yea the force of a statute lawe too is in strength againe and debarryng euery man to vse that kinde of second contractyng for hereafter When ye haue well answered this one question I thinke suche as bée learned in the law could deuise more of suche kinde to set your gaie witte on worke And if ye list ye maie read that suche equitie was prouided for in the first yere of Kyng Edwarde the sixte in the .xj. Chapiter concernyng the peaceable enioiyng of mennes interestes geuen by acte before though afterward followeth a repeale by the Kynges letters patentes of the saied actes the parties might pleade the said actes repealed for there grauntes so enioyed by lawe I praie you cōsider whether these rules of the lawes folowing might not haue place in this cause where it is saied Factum legitimum retractari non debet licét casus postea eueniat quo nō potuit inchoari A facte that was once lawfull ought not to bee called into question againe although afterwardes there happen somethyng that myght hinder the beginnyng of it Et multa prohibentur fieri que facta tamen tenent Many thynges are prohibited to be doen whiche when thei once bée doone must yet stand Indultum a iure beneficium non est alicui auferendum A benefite graunted by law must be taken from no man If any cause might be reduced to the equitie of these lawes I thinke the cause of Matrimonie beyng Gods ordinaunce ought to bée indissoluble and not to be retracted Moreouer if these mariages aforesaied ought not to bee dissolued but muste enioye the benefite of that statute when it so stode though it be repealed for hereafterward why should that act of repeale made in the first yere of our soueraigne Ladie the Quéenes maiestie Quéene Marie takyng a waye only but the libertie for Priestes to marrie for hereafter impeache or hinder those lawfull mariages of priestes before aucthorised by as good lawe and as often tymes before these daies seen more then king Edwardes repeale cā or ought molest these mariages for their maner of contractyng Furthermore if vpon repeale of actes as ye do saie your slepyng Canons should therby be straight waie in force watching and wakyng to shewe their face to byte and barke as the ordinaries in some places would haue them I doubt whether al the Quéenes highnes subiectes should haue so quiet reste in their beddes as thei would wishe and as their forefathers before tyme prouided for them selues by kepyng this slepyng tye dogge in his kenell not to come to farre a broode for bityng And because this Ciuilian deliteth to skoure his wit in lawest I desire his resolution in one doubt rising by occasion of his forsaied determination whiche is that all Ecclesiasticall persons lieth open to the old Canons of the Churche by reason of this acte of repeale Kyng Edwarde in his first yere made a statute repealyng all maner actes before his tyme made for punishement of Heresies as well the acte of King Richarde the seconde made in his first yere the act of Henrie the .v. made in his second yere the actes of Kyng Henrie the eight made in his xxv yere the act of .vj. articles made in the .xxxj. yere one other act made in the .xxxv. yere concernyng qualification of the

maner of fastynges but mere hypocrisie yea worse then hypocrisie in such circumstaunces as ye haue many a daie vsed them dare pronoūce with Chrisostome inueiyng against the iewes fastyng that your fastinges be worse then very dronkennesse Thei call your filthie fained chastitie a bandie Sodomiticall carelesse liuing As the practise declareth to manifest to stande in to proue Thei call al suche as haue not the gifte by their yerely experience séeth the impossibilitée not frō chastitée but from filthines of brutishe buggery and boyly bestlynesse to mariage chastitée Ye neuer red or hard of any suche writers suche as ye would slaunder to the worlde I saie of the knowen and comonly approued writers out of Germanie But that dothe excite the readers in their bookes to Godly and oft prayour to pure abstinence from all excesses and to a christian mortification of all their vices and affections to continencie and soole liuyng if God will so haue them to serue hym in that state And if God by the experience of them selues vnfainedly calleth them to wedlocke as to a remedie of their infirmitie or a domesticall comfort in their hospitalitée thei counsel with all the doctours of the Churche to take the surest waie to saue their soules Although the saied old authors were the most part of them very vntreatable to remitte that discipline but when very necessitee moued conscience to remitte the rigour of their saied Canons In dede the old fathers and their Clergie had a greate oportunitie by the maner of their liuyng to bée further from daunger of temptatiōs to haue the more professors and kepers of their chastitée then the state of this world wil suffer Yea suche a Clergie as ye will frame here in the realme and for all their diligent discipline and calling on yet how oft do thei complaine of the nombers of them whiche liued to the slaunder of the rest In deede it can not be denied that thei had great zeale to liue in virginitee and soole life when the fathers in Nicene Counsaill and some other councels after that decreed that all suche as should geld naturally themselues should not be receiued into the Clergie Belike Paphnutius was moued in conscience vpon the knowledge he had of them that came single to the state of order whom the old traditions of the Churche charged so to liue not to agree to suche lawe where thei would haue constituted that married priestes should absteine from their wiues and so to ieopard a greater nomber in this fier of temptation he was contēt to saue yet some parte of the house from daunger of the fier though he could not saue the whoole Affirmyng that it was inough that thei whiche receiued orders before thei maried accordyng to the old traditions of the Churche should from thenceforth abstaine from mariage I doe not saie that his mynde was to moue the whole Clergie to mariage but counsailyng then all and singularly to soole life as more free to serue God in that vocation But yet not of suche straite mynde to prescribe Lawes of necessitie to force them to tarrie euen still will thei nill thei But left them to the rule of their owne conscience For what other thing was ment master Martine in the first decree either of Lucius if it be his or Siricius or vrban the second but to leaue that liberty yet to suche as was of the Clergie if thei would not or could not conteine to suffer them to liue in their Matrimony afterwarde taken if thei would not relinquishe their Ecclesiastical degrées And what ment the third Canon of the thirde Councell at Carthage the .v. Canon of the Councell at Tollet or the sixt Counsaile holden there when sainct Augustine was presente Or the thrée and thirtée Canon of the Councell called Elibertinū about Pope Siluesters daies Or the Councell holden in Grece before Siluesters daies called cōcilium Ancyranum with many other more where thei decreed that such as beyng subdeacons deacōs or Priestes that would chose to marry should not enioye their Ecclesiasticall liuynges But I doe not as yet reade that in all of those Counsailles thei were compelled from Matrimonie whether thei would or no or that thei were seperated from their wiues after thei were so depriued or their Matrimony called adulteries As of that Councell wherat sainct Augustine was present I thinke I dare boldly saie thei were not seing his iudgement is in his woorkes to the contrarie As for the sixt Councell holden at Constantinople permitted bothe wiues and liuinges too And in other Councelles their wiues and liuynges so thei would but in tyme of their ministration abstaine from their wiues But to contend with hym in suche causes of Councels Canons and Stories whiche he contorteth by all shift of wit to make them to plie to his gostly purpose were a long businesse But maruaile not gentle reader though he take so muche vpon hym in suche infinite and intricate Churche Lawes wherein he thinketh to leade thee in a mase as not readie for euery man to see and expend for thou maiest see his impudent boldnesse otherwhere For if ye note hym well ye maie finde hym hackyng at the Lawes of the Realme clippyng the Queenes coyne the best that her grace hath nexte to the worde of God for defence of her Princely estate the Actes of Parliamente I meane because he would be ready in seruice to her highnesse to the beste of his wit and power Note howe he trauerseth and wreasteth with his gloses an Acte of the very firste Parliament that her grace hath here caused to bee had since her raigne and coronation not so long since that it can so sone bee out of remembraunce nor the Actes so harde to come by but that all the worlde maie expende them I meane how he forceth and draweth the Acte of repeale in the cause of Priestes mariages not onely to importe to take awaie the libertee that was therein graunted for suche Priestes as vsed not the benefite thereof as at that tyme of whiche nūber though there wer a great sort more hasting a good pase thervnto and were half agréed as thei saie by wordes of the present time and present sute to yet be now many of them as hot against the state in open pretense as can be but also to inferre a plaine dissolution and reuocation of suche Mariages as were aucthorised by the saied Actes before Wherin the very originall of the Acte is plainly expressed in open wordes that the said Kyng Edwardes actes be repealed but for hereafter as other more in the said acte Is not he thinke you a trustie gloser to be so bolde in gloses not onely in his owne Lawes but thus to glose the Lawes of the Realme so lately made cleane otherwise then as wise men as he in the Realme doe construe them and by the practise of diuerse other thynges of like nature and condition in the like case appeareth Seyng this writer aduaunceth hym self so highly