he that he who from the beginning made them said vnto them For this cause shall a man leaue father and mother and shall cleaue to his wife and they shal be two in one flesh Whom God therefore hath ioined togither let not man separate By these words the former lawe of God is repeated and newlie established And if so be that Christ would not suffer that the first wife being put awaie an other should be married how lesse credible is it that he would suffer anie man to haue manie wiues at one time Naie rather he speaketh more sharplie that He which marrieth an other committeth adulterie Neither is the matter which some here obiect of anie great force that Marke saith He committeth adulterie against hir Ibidem 11. as though he were not an absolute adulterer but onelie that he dooth iniurie to his first wife Yes trulie he committeth double sinne first bicause he is an adulterer secondlie for that he dooth iniurie to his wife Ierom in manie places dooth ponder these words Gen. 2 23. The shall be two in one flesh They shall be two in one flesh Against Iouinian he saith It is written In one flesh not in two or thrée And he addeth that Lamech was a naughtie man which diuided one rib into two but saith he he suffered the punishment of his naughtinesse in the flood The same thing he saith in an epistle vnto Saluina Although I must néeds grant this that these reasons prooue not Ieroms purpose for vnto Saluina and Geruntia he inueiheth against second marriages Into the which error Tertullian also fell when as he erred with the Montanists Neuerthelesse these reasons doo verie well serue vs in this place But Ierom addeth And he shall cleaue vnto his wife Not vnto wiues saith he I verelie when I ponder with my selfe these words In one flesh I perceiue a great emphasis or force in them For One flesh is either by colligation as when all the members be knit one with an other or else by continuation Both the waies make that all the parts of the bodie doo serue one an other So the hand dooth his indeuour vnto the mouth the mouth vnto the bellie the bellie vnto the whole bodie as it is more at large described by Galen De vsu partium Such kind of flesh is not possible to be cōmunicated so as it cannot passe from one liuing creature to an other liuing creature We sée therefore that by the force of these words both adulterie and polygamie are taken awaie An obiection But thou wilt obiect Whie then in a diuorse by reason of adulterie is it permitted to haue an other marriage I answer for that the cause of the vnitie is taken awaie and that is the fastening togither In what cases married parties be free Wherefore it is said And he shall cleaue vnto his wife and they shal be two in one flesh But he which committeth adulterie cleaueth not vnto his wife and so he is not one flesh with hir The verie same is to be iudged if a faithfull wife for hir faith sake be cast off hir husband being an infidell for there also is their cleauing togither taken awaie that is to wit the cause of vnitie Wherefore Paule saith 1. Cor. 7 15. The Lord hath not called vs to bondage Neither must it be anie let vnto vs that the name of Two is not expressed in Genesis it is sufficient that Christ hath added that word And the same must be fullie supplied in Genesis sith when those things were spoken there were onelie two Adam and Eue. An other obieccion But héere is a great doubt put for if that reason concerning vnitie of flesh should be of force it will also be of force in fornication and adulterie so as it should not be lawfull for a lewd man to be plucked from hir with whom he hath committed fornication Looke par ◠pla 1. art 4. In so much as Paule when he disputed against fornication saith 1. Cor. 6 15 Shall I take the member of Christ and make it the member of an harlot For it is written saith he They shall be two in one flesh Now is that reason either firme or not firme if it be firme it shall also be of force in fornication if it be not of force neither shall it be firme in matrimonie Some answer that Paule saith that indéed the flesh of them which commit fornication togither is all one yet not perpetuallie but for a time onelie Howbeit this is nothing for Paule citeth the same place out of Genesis Neither dooth he speake of one houre or another but absolutelie It séemeth that a better answer may be made on this wise that so far as belongeth to the nature of the thing it selfe the flesh is altogither one but séeing that whooremongers come not togither according to the Lords institution that coniunction is not firme but may be dissolued Indéed they are made one and the same flesh as concerning the fact as they vse to saie howbeit by stealth not lawfullie But in matrimonie both are good as well the coniunction as the prescript of the Lord. That did Paule laie hold of bicause he sawe it made to the purpose for this hath whooredome common with matrimonie Which hereby appéereth for that through such a conuersation with harlots there ariseth an affinitie so as it may not be lawfull afterward to contract matrimonie with the parents or children or brethren of such a one as thou hast before vnlawfullie kept companie with This is euident by the scriptures 2. Sam. 20 3 for when Absolom had kept vnlawfull companie with the wiues of his father Dauid when he was afterward restored would not receiue them vnto him bicause he did perceiue that by reason of that ill companie there was now some affinitie contracted Howbeit no lawe is by that meanes procured whereby the whooremonger may compell the harlot to remaine with him The fourth argument 7 Paule vnto the Corinthians writeth verie well of this matter For first he saith 1. Cor. 7 2. Let euerie man for auoiding fornication haue his owne wife and euerie woman haue hir owne husband But Hir owne is contrarie vnto Him that is common to another Againe if the husband haue manie wiues the wife of necessitie must haue a husband common to others and not proper to hir selfe The Logicians haue verie well defined that to be proper which alwaies and onlie agréeth vnto one alone Paule addeth verse 5. I would not haue you to defraud one another But in polygamie one or other must of necessitie be defrauded for the husband cannot kéepe companie with them all at once Wherefore Iacob was constreined so to decide the matter as he by turnes was sometime with Rachel Gen. 30 15. and sometime with Lea séeing hereof there arise perpetuall contentions and bralles betwixt women For we sée no liuing creature that is so void of courage but both in
sée that God altogither would that his people should be increased Further albeit I doubt not but that those fathers were not void of sin yet where they may be well defended I would not charge them ouer-much Yet Ambrose writeth somwhat of this matter which I sée not how it may be allowed What Ambrose and Augustine iudged herof For he excuseth Abraham first for issue sake secondlie for the shadowing of things to come lastlie bicause he comming out of Chaldaea reteined some gentilisme This latter reason is not of anie great force for Abraham had absteined a great while neither did he ioine Agar to himselfe of his owne accord but was prouoked therevnto by his wife Sara Yet dooth Ierom vnto Geruntia report the same of Iacob He saith it is obiected that Iacob had two wiues Indéed saith he he had but that was in Mesopotamia and vnder Laban But what answer will he make of Abraham For he vndoubtedlie was not in Mesopotamia What will he saie of Dauid Sith he had his wiues in the middest of Iewrie The licence that the forefathers had must not be transferred vnto vs. Matth. 19. 13 And as touching the third part of that we purposed to speake of namelie whether that libertie may be also transferred vnto vs I answer that it is in no wise lawfull For now hath Christ made manifest that lawe of God and hath called it backe to the first institution Wherefore he that now transgresseth the same dooth against the plaine word of God Moreouer the cause being taken awaie the effect must néeds be taken awaie And the cause was the increase of posteritie wherof there is now no néed séeing God hath now those that worship him ouer all the world But before it behooued that the worshipping of God should be reteined among one people vntill the comming of Christ And it was verie profitable that the same lawe should be expounded by Christ Christ altered not the lawe but reduced sole marriage to the first institution for when as Adam was the first man that had one wife it was méet that Christ the second Adam of whom the same first was a figure should ordeine the marriage of one alone But thou wilt saie that Christ came not to make lawes but to preach the Gospell and to redéeme mankind that therefore it behooued him to leaue matrimonie in the state it was in as well as the sunne the stars and other outward things I answer that Christ made no new lawe but onelie reuoked the old For he onelie declared the will of his father and taught nothing anew Further he tooke awaie sacrifices so that now he is a wicked man that will kill anie beast for sacrifice He also brake the strength of the iudiciall lawes so as no man that is of sound iudgement will vrge magistrates to execute those laws against their wils Neither only did Christ this by himselfe but also by his apostle Paule 1. Cor. 7 2. Also he reuoked wholie that matter concerning diuorsement so that if anie man depart from his wife marrie another he committeth adulterie But thou wilt obiect How the forefathers may seeme to be adulterers By this meanes the forefathers may séeme to be adulterers I answer as I haue said before that God dispensed with his lawe and that therefore they sinned not neuerthelesse the matter being now expounded and declared he that shall doo otherwise dooth gréeuouslie sinne And reuoking hath a respect alwaies to the time to come and not to that which is past séeing such is the condition of all lawes otherwise as concerning the nature of the fact the same vndoubtedlie did apperteine vnto adulterie For the ten commandements haue the same respect to vertues and vices as the ten predicaments haue towards all kind of things insomuch as there is nothing but may be reduced to some predicament or other so there is not anie vertue nor anie vice which may not be reduced to some precept Now then if we stand vnto that second opinion which we haue expounded that there was some vice in polygamie the same must néeds be adulterie And although in plaine reason it were not sinne as in the former opinion I declared yet was it some reuolting from perfection Panormitanus in the title of diuorsements in the chapter Gaudemus saith that The forefathers when they had giuen a bill of diuorsement and had married another were sufficientlie excused of adulterie bicause adulterie cannot be committed but by collusion or by couine And this he declareth by two lawes the one ecclesiasticall and the other ciuill The ecclesiasticall is out of the Triburien Councell as we read it in the 34. cause question the second in the chapter In lectum A man had a wife and she a sister all in one house When the wife was absent that same sister went to his bed Afterward came the husband and thinking it had béene his wife had the companie of hir The Councell absolued the man vpon condition that he did it not fraudulentlie but he was constreined to sweare that he did that wicked act ignorantlie and vnwittinglie And it is called a wicked act not bicause it was so in verie déed but bicause the matter perteined to wickednes Thus the fathers are excused bicause they married not their second wife by collusion for they perceiued that the same was accustomed and vsuall among all The other lawe ciuill is in the Digests Ad legem Iuliam de adulterio in the last lawe but one A certeine man put his wife frō him but gaue hir not a iust bill of diuorsement An other man married hir that was put awaie he was accused of adulterie but he was excused bicause he knew not that there was anie thing lacking vnto a iust diuorse This I speake least it should séeme vnto anie man that Christ accused the fathers of adulterie But if God for propagation sake dispensed with the forefathers as touching his lawe whie wilt thou saie may not the same be doone at this time to them which professe the Gospell séeing if they be compared with the Papists Atheists they be but few in number Howbeit the reason is not all alike bicause it behooued the religion of GOD vntill the comming of Christ to be reteined in one nation onlie Now the succession of godlines is not sought for out of one stocke or line but is spread ouer the whole world The fathers opinion heereof Chrysost 14 To this opinion of mine doo all the fathers agrée For Chrysostome in his 56. homilie on Matth. saith We must not iudge of the fathers according to our owne reason for at that time it was lawfull now it is not lawfull And he addeth that Christ came to the end he might bring vs to the state of angels For now he granteth vs one till we come to that place where they are neither married nor yet marrie wiues The same father in his oration De libello repudij saith
40 But he therefore speaketh of the commandement of Christ to mitigate the sharpenesse of his spéech for it séemeth intollerable to the flesh that matrimonie cannot be dissolued It is euen as much as if Paule had said I set not before you strange or new things and such as haue not béene heard of before my time this the Lord hath commanded Else both this and those things which the apostle wrote before are firme and full of authoritie But this is the difference that these things the Lord spake by his owne selfe and repeateth them by Paule but those other he would to be vttered by the apostle onelie And touching his sentence that matrimonie should not be dissolued A reason of Christ why matrimonie must not be dissolued Gen. 2 24. Christ allowed it by a testimonie out of the booke of Genesis where it is said For this cause a man shall leaue his father and mother and shall cleaue vnto his wife Two néere fréendships are laid togither in these words the one is betwéene parents and their children the other betwéene the husband and the wife And séeing the bond of the father or of the children is such as it cannot be sundered and shaken off by anie meanes much lesse this bond betwéene man and wife And as the bond of amitie betwéene the child and the parents endureth perpetuallie so dooth the coniunction betwéene the husband and the wife This is Christs interpretation of that place and the reason that he bringeth thereof but yet he will haue the cause of adulterie to be excepted And Paule by whom Christ speaketh excepteth another thing namelie if one of the married persons in that he is an infidell will not dwell with the other being faithfull as it shall be declared in place conuenient 54 But as touching the cause of adulterie Whether onelie the cause of adulterie doo make a diuorse which Christ excepted some doubt whether that be the onelie cause and they are bold to saie that Christs meaning was to comprehend therin all other wickednesse which is either equall or more heinous than adulterie and they saie that the maner of the holie scriptures is that in one cause rehearsed they include others like vnto it Euen as we read in Deuteronomie Deut. 19 5. of man-slaughter which is committed by chance and against a mans will where one onelie reason is described namelie when the hatchet flieth off the helme But what Shall we not iudge the verie same if in building or carrieng of anie thing one man shall kill an other vnwillinglie Euen so saie they there are presentlie manie faults equall and perhaps more gréeuous than adulterie so as they iudge that those offenses doo also make a cause of diuorsement Lawes of the emperours for causes of diuorse Which meaning perhaps caused manie emperours otherwise godlie and studious of Christianitis to expresse manie crimes in their lawes for the which it should be lawfull to make a diuorse bicause they iudged them to be no lesse than adulterie And that other causes also besides the crime of adulterie are to be admitted héereby it may appéere 1. Cor. 7 15 for that Paule added as touching the vnfaithfull spouse which will not dwell with the other being faithfull which case Christ spake not of Coldnesse a cause of diuorse Yea and at this daie if a coldnesse as they terme it or other like impediment be perceiued in the parties which be alreadie married a iust diuorse is permitted And yet neuertheles Christ excepted onelie the cause of adulterie Yea and if we will throughlie consider what licence the bishops of Rome haue giuen to themselues héerein we shall perceiue that they haue openlie arrogated vnto themselues the power to dissolue matrimonie alreadie contracted so that there followed not copulation as they call it Yea moreouer it is reported that there hath béene a Popes dispensation séene which hath taken awaie matrimonie not onelie contracted but as they saie finished Note a licence of Pope Zacharie And Pope Zacharie as it is written in the fourth booke of sentences when a certeine man had committed adulterie with his wiues sister wrote thus vnto him Séeing thou hast committed this horrible act thou shalt haue neither of them to wife both thou and she whom thou hast defiled with adulterie shall remaine without hope of marriage and thine owne wife shall marrie in the Lord with whom she will In which case thou séest it manifestlie iudged by this bishop that a diuorsement made for the cause of adulterie dooth admit a marriage afterward They will that a mistaking of the person dissolueth matrimonie They will moreouer haue matrimonie dissolued if there be an error or a mistaking of the person or condition as if a woman shall thinke that she hath a certeine husband and shall afterward prooue the same to be an other than she ment to haue or else if she had taken him to be a frée man and of an honest stocke whom she findeth to be a bondman There is added also the cause of the degrée of kindred euen of the degrée not forbidden by the lawe of God when they would haue the matrimonie that is contracted to be cut off So it appéereth that it was not so straitlie iudged that the same onlie cause which Christ dooth expresse maketh a diuorse Otherwise séeing Christ expressed one onlie cause how commeth it to passe that emperours being christians and men also which be of the church haue added so manie other causes Certeinlie it was euen this that they thought that in that one onlie cause Christ ment to be conteined both the offenses which be equall and those which be more gréeuous Erasmus Erasmus who treated héereof at large added When the Lord commandeth that thou sweare not that thou be not angrie that thou saie not Racha Matt. 5. if a man shall strike thée vpon the one chéeke turne vnto him the other if one will take awaie thy cloke giue him also thy cote and such like we admit interpretations that we may vnderstand these things to be spoken oftentimes of the preparation of the mind to wit that it be not doone rashlie or lightlie nor without a iust cause and shall we be héere so hard and precise that we cannot admit anie interpretation or exposition 55 And the reason whie Christ did expresse but one onelie cause of adulterie séemeth to be Why Christ expressed onelie the cause of adulterie Gen. 2 24. for that there is nothing so great an enimie vnto matrimonie as this mischéefe is They shall saith the scripture be one flesh But he that committeth whoredome dooth so ioine himselfe to other flesh as he is plucked awaie from his owne wife for 1. Cor. 6 15. Shall I saith Paule take the member of Christ and make it the member of an harlot This as I haue declared is the opinion of some which although it be not wicked and perhaps it cannot easilie be confuted
writeth God gaue a bill of diuorsement vnto the people of Israel Esaie 50 1. and by reason of their sinnes he reiected them from his companie 64 A slender reason also is it that Innocentius brought for by the like and the same reason might anie man faine himselfe to be a seruant when otherwise he were frée to the intent he might vndoo the matrimonie contracted and procure himselfe an other wife And if that the error of their state were so great a matter to them that it dissolued matrimonie whie should not that be of more force which Christ himselfe and the apostle did except Neither dooth that greatlie trouble vs which they vttered in the last place namelie that it is not mans part to separate them whom GOD hath put togither For when such causes as these be doo happen it is God which diuideth and not men forsomuch as he by his word hath giuen this power Vndoubtedlie men should then separate if for euerie cause not expressed by God they should attempt to vndoo matrimonie And Paule when he said 1. Cor. 7 11. Let hir remaine vnmarried speaketh of them which being led by light causes departed from their husbands It was a custome among the Hebrues to giue a bill of diuorsement vpon anie cause And diuorsements were so common and vsuall vnto the Ethniks as Iuuenal said So are there eight husbands made fiue for the haruest time c. Wherefore not without cause the apostle writeth these things vnto the Corinthians The Romans were not so readie to put awaie their wiues For the first which made a diuorse was Spurius Seruilius and that bicause of barrennesse of the wife in the two hundred and thirtie yeare after the building of the citie as Plutarch mentioneth in the life of Romulus Paule therefore speaketh not of the cause of fornication for as touching that he disagréeth not from Christ who as we haue prooued did grant there a iust diuorse Paule alloweth not these departings Neither must the apostle be vnderstood as though he allowed those departings of married folkes one from an other verelie he condemneth them and would not haue them so rashlie and vpon such trifeling causes to depart one from an other But as a good minister he prouideth least perhaps if they fall into this vice they may commit an other more gréeuous namelie to be married vnto an other Let hir saith he remaine vnmarried or else let hir be reconciled vnto hir husband And he séemeth in this place not so greatlie to reprooue blame the crime of departing one from an other as it deserueth For he sawe that sometimes it happeneth that women be not separated of their owne accord but cast foorth by their husbands in such sort as if they would returne yet is there no present meanes for them to doo it Howbeit the magistrate ought to prouide for such afflicted soules by approoued and good lawes 65 But now I thought good to weigh and examine certeine things which be spoken by Augustine in his two little bookes De adulterinis coniugijs vnto Pollentius Augustin De adulterinis coniugijs according as I shall iudge them to serue vnto the purpose of this place He thought in verie déed that it was not lawfull for him that should put awaie his wife for the cause of adulterie to marrie an other Matt. 5 32. But whereas in Matthew that cause is excepted he answereth that either of them both is an adulterer as well he which for adulterie sake as he that without that cause putteth his wife from him and marrieth an other And he saith that Matthew expresseth onelie one of them to note him which committeth the greater sinne Both of them doo commit adulterie by putting awaie their wife and marrieng of an other but he more gréeuouslie that shall doo this without cause of fornication And so he would that the same exception should onelie be of force to moderate the crime of adulterie but not to this effect that it should be quite taken awaie And this he thinketh that he can shew by the word of God for Luke and Marke vttered the same sentence absolutelie and without anie exception Mark 10 4. Luke 16 18 They saie Euerie man which shall put awaie his wife and marrie another committeth adulterie therefore he concludeth generallie that the saieng of Christ must be vnderstood as Luke and Marke wrote But Matthew saith he noteth him that shall doo it for fornication sake that it may be vnderstood he sinneth the lesse But certeinlie I would iudge this kind of argument to be most weake Matthew vseth to explicate that which Marke and Luke spake more obscurelie for it séemeth wée should rather saie that Luke and Marke wrote not the perfect or compleat sentence of she Lord which we ought to gather out of Matthew and to vnderstand it definitelie Which rule he himselfe vseth and that not once in his booke De consensu euangelistarum where he plainelie saith that Verie oftentimes in the other euangelists some things are spoken not verie plainelie and perfectlie The which ought more perfectlie to be gathered out of Matthew And it is to be woondered at how he can alwaies séeme to vnderstand that departure whereof the apostle speaketh for that which may be lawfull séeing the apostle plainelie said 1. Cor. 7 10. Let not the wife be separated from hir husband So as it is manifest that the apostle speaketh of that departing which is not lawfull séeing he forbiddeth the same Whereby it easilie appéereth that héere is no spéech touching the cause of fornication But in that case the apostle would not command that the wife should not depart from hir husband for that were to nourish brothelrie if adulterie should be suffered the wife being present and abiding with hir husband Wherfore Paule commandeth that she should not depart for these small causes séeing that is not lawfull And if perhaps she doo depart hée commandeth that she should remaine vnmarried or else that she be reconciled vnto hir husband Euerie one is bound to put awaie euill from among his owne familie How should a husband but exclude his wife when he findeth hir in adulterie Ibidem 11. And yet the apostle saith Let not a man put awaie his wife Ought he therefore to harbour hir adulterie Hereby is sufficientlie shewed of what maner of departing and eiection these things be ment Chrysostom seemeth to interpret this place as we doo And in this place thou hast Chrysostome who is of our opinion for he saith Sometimes they depart one from another by reason of contentions or faint courage or else for continencie or for other pretenses neither dooth he make anie mention of adulterie Tertullian in his fourth booke against Martion saith Tertullian admitteth iust diuorsements that Iustice hath the Lord to be a defender of diuorse By which words he sheweth that Christ did confirme diuorse and that he tooke it not vtterlie awaie
wicked desire of fornication So that both of them as well touching the mind as the bodie are defiled But here in marriages of contrarie religion they are not coupled togither in respect of faith but in bodies onelie and Paule testifieth that from the bodie of the infidell vncleannesse is taken awaie that the other partie may not be contaminated In the meane time faith remaineth sound and the mind pure in the partie sanctified which faith hath no place in committing of whoredome The last doubt is if a Christian husband dwell with an idolatrous and an vnbeléeuing wife and that he ought not rashlie to depart and yet may depart from an adulteresse it séemeth to follow that adulterie is a more gréeuous sinne and more intollerable than idolatrie is Chrysostome answereth Chrysost that God is so verie good as sometime he preferreth our commodities before his owne for he willeth that the sacrifice be left at the altar Matth. 5 32 and before we doo offer sacrifice a reconciliation is to be made with our neighbours He sometime forbeareth to haue a debt paid vnto him and forgiueth the same but vs he will not absolue vnlesse we satisfie our neighbour Wherefore the argument is but féeble wherein thou didest gather that idolatrie is a lesser sinne than adulterie bicause the spouse is permitted to tarrie with the idolatrous wife and from adulterie he may depart But it appeareth that we may make a more perfect answer Idolatrie a greater sin than adulterie that in verie déed idolatrie in his owne nature is a more gréeuous sinne than adulterie but that adulterie is more repugnant to wedlocke than idolatrie Adulterie more against wedlocke than idolatrie wherein man and wife should be one flesh and by adulterie be drawne one from an other It is true indéed that idolatrie is more repugnant vnto God than adulterie is but adulterie is a greater enimie to marriage than idolatrie Which dooth héereby appeare for that marriages are had betwéene idolaters and Mahumets 72 But whether Dauid did well in taking of the Synamite to wife In 7. Kin. 1. at the beginning it appeareth doubtfull vnto some For those that are cold of nature when they marrie wiues they séeme not to doo the part of a married man bicause according to humane laws such marriages be not firme for cold persons doo inforce themselues to performe that which they are not able Whether matrimonie is to be cut off for the impotencie of the man Certeinlie there haue béene manie things decréed touching this matter as well by the Ciuill as by the Canon lawes First they decrée that if there be a continuall defect those which be contracted ought to be separated so that the partie which sueth for separation had no foreknowledge of that disease For if the woman contracting with a man in ill state did know therof before she cannot for that cause step backe from hir husband There is a lawe had concerning spousages in the lawe Mulier which ordeined in this wise If before matrimonie contracted the wife knew of the infamie or the impotencie of the man let hir impute it to hir owne selfe she cannot séeke for diuorse In the Digests Ad legem Iuliam de adulterijs in the lawe Si vxor about the end it is said If anie man knowe that a woman hath committed adulterie and shall afterward marrie hir he cannot accuse hir of adulterie for séeing he tooke hir to wife and had knowledge of it he séemed to allow of hir conditions The same hath the Canon lawe determined as in the 33. cause question 1. in the chapter Requisisti the Glosse saith If the woman knew the impediment of the man and contract with him she cannot step backe But admit she knew it not shall the matrimonie be firme Gregorie in the Canon alledged did counsell that they should dwell togither to the intent the woman if she cannot be a wife may be a sister But this he speaketh by counsell not by commandment For if she denie with lowd voice and saie that she would be a mother and beare children she is heard Howbeit they make a condition namelie that she shall gaine-saie it within the space of two moneths as appeareth in the Extrauagants De frigidis maleficiatis in the first Canon séeing if she abide long she séemeth by hir owne consent to haue confirmed the marriage But the rigor of this lawe is not obserued at this daie but a longer space of time is appointed and that iustlie for he perhaps may séeme cold at the beginning which will not be so afterward What shall be doone then if she gaine-saie it and yet allow it If the husband will stand at deniall he must be credited but if he confesse it they shall be separated and leaue is giuen vnto the woman to prouide an other marriage Which neuerthelesse ought not to be doone ouer hastilie for they will haue the space of thrée yeares to be expected to the end a longer and a more sure experience may be had The same haue the ciuill lawes iudged Iustinian De repudijs in the lawe In causis first assigneth two yeares but there in the Paraph Sed bodie he assigneth thrée yeares and it dooth verie well agrée with the Popes Canons The same he hath in the Authentikes in Collatione 4. in the Paraph Per occasionem namelie that thrée yeares be giuen Howbeit this must be vnderstood on this wise Vnlesse a plaine proofe therof can be had before bicause it ought not then to be deferred But some men saie that It is possible that iudges may be deceiued that the disease may somtime be cured and that the space of thrée yeares séemeth not to be sufficient that he might marrie with an other and haue children that in conuersation they might both of them sometimes confesse their coldnesse bicause they might find the meanes to be separated If this should happen they would that the man being afterward found fit for procreation should renew his former marriage But this is not obserued The same doo they affirme of them which be hindered by diuelish practises But bicause the diuell dooth sometimes hinder so as a man is able to vse the companie of one woman and not of another therefore matrimonie is assigned to be with hir from whom he is not lett These things are said touching women If the husband were ignorant before of his coldnes he may require a diuorse 73 But if the man doo either knowe or be ignorant that he is cold what then shal be doon If he be ignorant of it he is after a sort excused it is lawfull for him to aske a diuorse whereby he may be eased of the charges of marriage But if he knowe before that he had the disease of coldnesse he is compelled to find and mainteine his wife whom he deceiued The Popes canons decrée that he should marrie no more as it is read in the place a little before
that that woman was not counted for the wife of that brother which remained aliue but of the husband which was dead and that the name of the first husband whas giuen to the children which were borne of hir So as the brother which remained aliue was not properlie hir husband but onelie had accesse vnto hir that he might raise vp issue vnto hir To the seuenth We should haue fewer diuorsements and whooredomes Neither of them is true for they which hate their wiues will shut them out of their house as they which cannot once abide the sight of them Nor yet was that the cause why God permitted a man to haue more wiues than one And as touching whoordome certeinlie Dauid when he had manie yet he could not temper himselfe from Bersabe Greater would the fruitfulnesse be To the eight I grant it and therefore God dispensed with his lawe Howbeit now when as religion is not tied to one nation onelie but is dispersed ouer all the world there is no néed of such fruitfulnesse séeing now the church hath hir resting places of receipt although not alwaies in one place yet wheresoeuer God hath offered occasion But the marriages of the fathers might séeme to be adulteries No forsooth To the ninth séeing God either gaue licence or bare with it For as we said out of Panormitane adulterie is not committed but with collusion And that he prooued by two lawes the one ciuill and the other ecclesiasticall Vndoubtedlie marriages they were although not so perfect as that of one man to one woman But what shall become of that nobilitie of the Iewes To the tenth It shall firmelie abide in his owne state insomuch as those old patriarchs were borne of lawfull wedlocke For Zilpha and Bilha although they were but in the state of seruants and might be called concubins yet in verie déed they were wiues howbeit they were not mistresses of the house nor yet were handfasted with Iacob Neither did that nobilitie depend of the mothers but of the blessing and promise of God Valentinian had two wiues Admit he had To the 11. neuerthelesse we must sée whether he had them rightlie or no for although he were a good emperour yet was he not such a one as could not sinne Claudius Caesar when he perceiued that by the lawes it was not lawfull for him to marrie his brothers daughter made a lawe that it might be lawfull but scarselie was there anie one clawe-backe to be found which would followe that fact Now both these lawes are vtterlie extinct and forgotten séeing they be neither in the Pandect in the Digests nor yet in the Code Neuerthelesse the fathers reprooued not this in Valentinian How canst thou tell that To the 12. Surelie as I haue declared they haue sufficientlie set forth in their writings what their meaning was But let vs consider the euent Iustina that second wife became an Arrian and did gréeuouslie vex Ambrose The yoonger Valentinian which was borne of Galla the daughter of Iustina followed the religion of his grandmother and did vehementlie oppresse the churches and he laie miserablie slaine in his litter Chrysostome saith 1. Tim. 3 2. that Paule added The husband of one wife bicause of them which hauing manie wiues were conuerted from Iudaisme vnto Christ And therof it appéereth that polygamie also was borne withall euen in the church I answer that the same was therefore borne with To the 13 bicause that declaration of the lawe of Christ was of force for the time to come and not for the time past Howbeit it was borne with as a certeine infirmitie bicause with a good conscience they agréed among themselues Yet doo I otherwise vnderstand that place of Paule for him doo I thinke that Paule called the husband of one wife who liueth chastlie with his owne and followeth not the wiues of other men but is altogither of perfect and good fame And I am led so to thinke bicause the same Paule saith that Widowes should be chosen which had been the wiues of one husband But it was neuer lawfull for a woman by anie lawes to haue two husbands Paule would haue hir to be a widowe which should be chast and well reported of If the Turke at this daie with his two wiues should be conuerted vnto Christ might that polygamie be suffered in christian religion Surelie it might be suffered for a time To the 14. for they with a good conscience agréed betwéene themselues Neither must iniurie be doone vnto those wiues for euerie of them hath right in hir husband And that lawe which Christ made must be of force as we haue said for the time to come That which now is doone with a good conscience and in probable ignorance cannot be vndoone Howbeit an other kind of answer is made héerof in the Decrées of diuorsements in the last lawe If the first wife will dwell togither with hir husband she shall be counted for the wife and the rest to be dismissed if the first will not the next must be had in that place and so of the rest I doo not héere contend But yet I woonder at these men for in the same title the said Innocentius being asked his counsell of a Iew which in matrimonie had his brothers wife Answereth that she may be kept still after that they be contracted in good faith If this be lawfull why is not that other lawfull séeing Christ tooke awaie both But they might peraduenture answer that the Iewes had an expresse lawe for marrieng of the brothers wife but none at all for polygamie Or else that the Romane lawes would not suffer more wiues than one but one they would suffer although she did not so rightlie marrie Fruitfulnes is the blessing of God Be it so but now as I haue often said the same is not so néedfull To the 15. Indéed it is a blessing but yet not so that he is curssed which hath not children Augustine saith that it was neither against the custome nor against the lawe nor yet against nature To the 16. and yet it is now against the lawe and against custome Those things which were alledged concerning leapres and them which be far distant To the 17. make nothing to this purpose For neither doo we speake héere of him which at one time dwelleth and is conuersant togither with manie wiues A wife dismissed was married to an other when as in the meane time the bond of matrimonie was not vndoone I answer To the 18. that a bill of diuorsement did sufficientlie excuse hir from adulterie especiallie when she did it of probable ignorance Gen. 4. 19. To the 19. Lamech is commended by Chrysostome Doubtlesse it is not for polygamie but for repentance Yet for what cause so euer it were others doo not so praise him A wife To the 20. if she will may yéeld of hir owne right Howbeit this is not to depart from hir owne
men in déed might giue certeine gifts vnto their wiues Iointures called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the marriages which were called iointures as some certeiye recompensings of the dowrie Yet neuerthelesse when they were once married togither the Romane lawes permitted not that they should giue gifts one to an other Plutarch Whereof Plutarch also hath made mention out of whom neuerthelesse is brought an other reason than that which I declared to be taken of the verie laws These be the words in the 35. and 36. precept of matrimonie Certeine bodies are said to consist of seuered things as an armie and a nauie other bodies of things ioined togither as a house and a ship and other some are vnited and compact togither as all liuing creatures are Wherefore matrimonie which consisteth of liuing creatures is vnited and compact but the matrimonie which is made either for dowrie sake or for children belongeth to bodies ioined togither And that which consisteth for pleasure or carnall copulation thou maist number among the seuered bodies for there man and wife may be said to dwell togither but not to liue togither And as in liuing creatures the temperatures of humors runne through all parts so marriage must mingle bodies monie friends and kinsfolke togither And the maker of the Romane lawes forbad persons coupled in matrimonie to take or to giue gifts one to an other not to the intent they should not be partakers of anie one thing but that they should thinke all things to be common Howbeit these things are to be vnderstood of frée gifts and not of dowries Dowries of maides giuen out of the common treasurie which otherwise were both lawfull and much vsed in the Romane publike we le For the daughters of Scipio Curius and Cincinnatus had dowries out of the treasurie bicause of the pouertie of their parents to the intent they should not be married without dowries The councell of Arls made a false decree Yea and the generall Councell of Arls as it is rehearsed in the thirtie question the fift chapter Nullum sine decréed that no matrimonie should be contracted without a dowrie Let the dowrie saith it be according to the abilitie neither let anie woman presume to take a husband or anie husband a wife without publike marriage This canon I willinglie allow in that it condemneth secret marriages but where it decréeth that marriages cannot be contracted without a dowrie séeing that is not confirmed by the testimonie of Gods word I cannot admit For there are and haue béene verie manie which haue married wiues altogither without dowrie yea and these men of so great honestie and authoritie as it should séeme a rash part to condemne their dooing séeing the holie scriptures are not against it Neither doo I iudge that matrimonie should by anie meanes be denied to those women which are without a dowrie if marriage be necessarie for them Moreouer Paule testifieth Ephes 5 23. that matrimonie dooth shadowe the coniunction that Christ hath with his church Wherfore if the truth of the matter be well considered the church had nothing to offer vnto Christ in the name of a dowrie naie rather as Ezechiel teacheth the same was found wrapped in bloud and mire Ezec. 16 30 Also the fathers in the old testament séeme sometimes to haue had wiues without dowries So then it séemeth méet to be decréed that men may and that it is lawfull to receiue dowries when they are giuen and that the same custome is honest so that a iust measure be not excéeded and that he which marrieth be not allured therevnto through the name of the dowrie as being the principall cause The maners and godlinesse of the wife ought chéeflie to be regarded Neither ought anie man foorthwith to persuade himselfe If I shall marrie a wife without a dowrie I shall therefore haue hir the better and the more at quiet Ierom. sith as Ierom declareth in his first booke against Iouinian Cato Censorius had Actoria Paula to wife The wife of Cato borne of a base kindred who was poore also and without a dowrie and yet neuerthelesse she was a droonkard impotent and behaued hir selfe proudlie toward Cato Of Diuorsements and putting awaie of wiues In 1. Cor. 7 verse 10. 52 Vnto the Hebrues and Ethniks it was but a light matter to put away their wiues and it was lawfull vpon euerie occasion but vnto the Christians it ought not so to be This hath Christ declared in the 5. and 19. of Matthew Matth. 5 31 and 19 7. There when he saith Moses gaue you a bill of diuorsement it ought not so to be vnderstood as though Moses did this of himselfe without the commandement of God for he was most faithfull Heb. 3 2. as GOD beareth record of him And that which is decréed in the lawe Deut. 24 1. touching diuorsement afterward is commanded in Malachie to wit Mal. 2 16. If thou hate thy wife put hir awale For the Lord would not that hatred and enimitie should be reteined in so néere fréendship Wherfore Christ calleth vs hom vnto the first institution in the new testament Christ calleth vs home vnto the first institution For insomuch as now the spirit is more plentifull and grace more abundant men ought to vse greater patience and charitie towards their wiues and not so to deale against them as they should reiect them for euerie cause In like maner there is required of the wiues a greater obedience and modestie 53 Here thou wilt saie vnto me What if thou shalt find at this daie among Christians such as be so hard-harted and so obstinate in reteining of hatred and enimitie in wedlocke as they be not onelie equall to the Iewes but also go beyond them therein Séeing then the disease is all one why is not the same remedie left Vnto whom we answer that they which be of such sort be strangers from Christ wherfore we commit them to the Common-weale to determine of them as it shall séeme most expedient For when they cannot be amended by the church let vs count them for Ethniks and Publicans let vs deale with them by the ciuill lawes Why Paule intermitteth the exception of adulterie 1. Cor. 7. We haue it plainelie enough declared by the word of Christ that a diuorse ought not to be doone vnlesse it be for the cause of adulterie The which exception if it be intermitted by Paule it is no maruell for when Paule saith that he speketh not these things but the Lord he sendeth vs to the Lords owne words neither dooth he plucke anie thing awaie from his commandement And when he saith that he commandeth not but the Lord he maketh not those things of small force which he taught before when they are not read to be expresselie spoken of Christ sith euen those things are of the Lord for he saith And I thinke that I also haue the spirit of God 1. Cor. 7
dissolued and we might saie that those things which make against vs in the fathers were thrust in by heretiks Howbeit the same Ambrose afterward giueth the scope of new marriages vnto women also Ambrose if the vnbeléeuer will not dwell togither with hir Which in verie déed standeth me in stéed of a reason to prooue that the libertie of both is alike For if the cause which the apostle sheweth extend it selfe vnto both the man and wife it shall no lesse be granted in the cause of fornication which Christ expressed Moreouer that which is permitted vnto the man shall no otherwise be but that matrimonie is dissolued bicause of fornication But if so be it be dissolued and the woman loosed from the same why shall it not also be lawfull for hir to be married vnto another Last of all we sée that the lawes of the bishops doo grant vnto a woman hir diuorse if she prooue that hir husband is verie cruell vnto hir Which séeing they doo as touching hir diuorse how dare they denie that it may not be doone in a man In the old lawe it was not lawfull for wiues to giue a bill of diuorsement bicause it was giuen for euerie cause And séeing women be inconstant it is not méet that they should depart from men for euerie cause But now if the certeine causes were limited we might easilie be rid of that inconuenience I will also adde that the time is not easie to be knowne wherin it began among the Romans to be lawfull for women to put awaie their husbands vnlesse it be in those questions mixed togither of the old and new testament Augustine which are intituled to Augustine In the question 115. it is written that vnder Iulian this began to be lawfull for them For then leaue was giuen vnto women that they might put awaie their husbands Notwithstanding who this Iulian was it appéereth not séeing we read of two emperours of that name 62 But these were woont to be counted the causes why the fathers would The causes why they would admit no new marriages after diuorse in case of adulterie that new marriages should not be lawfull after a diuorse was made for fornicatiō sake First for that it might séeme that the husband lusting after a new wife would inuent a feigned crime of adulterie against the first Further for that it might séeme no wise mans part that when it hapned ill with him before he would trie the same lucke againe after a sort séeke the same infelicitie Besides these there are brought in the places as well to the Romans as to the Corinthians Rom. 7 2. 2. Cor. 7 11. where the apostle séemeth to be of that mind that a wife so long as hir husband shall liue is bound to his lawe The latter writers also doo cauill that matrimonie is a sacrament and that therefore it cannot be made void And Innocentius when he decréed that it is not lawfull for the one partie married to enter into new matrimonie if the other shall be fallen into heresie addeth this reason that There would be a doore open vnto great inconuenience for anie man would soone feine himselfe to be an heretike that he might be deliuered of his wife and obteine another Further they be woont to vrge this saieng Matt. 19 6. 1. Cor. 7 8. That which God hath coupled togither let no man separate These reasons Erasmus dooth plainelie confute Touching the first Erasmus If a seuere iudgement be appointed by bishops and magistrates false reports might easilie be preuented neither will there be anie leaue giuen of diuorse vnlesse that fornication shall plainlie and euidentlie be prooued Of the other reason it is said That which is obiected is verie ridiculous séeing we oftentimes sée that those which haue sailed once without good successe and haue abidden shipwracke doo returne againe to shipping And the partie which is innocent while he endureth prickings and burnings and cannot easilie kéepe himselfe chast what maruell is it if he cast in his mind to marrie againe Touching the place to the Romans it may easilie be answered The apostle did not there dispute whether diuorsements might be by anie meanes admitted but it sufficed him that he shewed vnto the beléeuing Iewes and to them which were conuerted to our religion that it was now lawfull to marrie againe in Christ after that death was come which is the certeine and vndoubted cause of dissoluing matrimonie wherein although there were a singular coniunction and peace betwéen man and wife yet by death the same is dissolued Verie wiselie therefore did Paule in that place put onelie that cause of dissoluing matrimonie which of necessitie he was to grant although no other cause had hapned in the meane while So vnto the Corinthians he would shew that it was lawfull for a widowe to contract new marriages if she would bicause hir first husband was dead He reasoneth not there whether a diuorse may be made for anie other cause but onelie sheweth that there is no cause whie second marriages be not lawfull when either the husband or the wife happen to die Whether matrimonie be a sacrament Looke par 3 pla 8. art 15 63 But whether matrimonie be a sacrament or no it is not hard to be answered If thou vnderstand the name of a sacrament generallie and at large for euerie such thing as signifieth some holie thing we will not denie but that matrimonie may be a sacrament séeing it resembleth vnto vs the coniunction of Christ with his church whereof we haue a testimonie in the epistle to the Ephesians Ephe. 5 32. But after this maner thou art forced to appoint not onelie seuen but an infinite number of sacraments such as are the washing of féete the shaking of dust from the féete the imbrasing of yong children in armes and in a maner all the actions of Christ But if thou wilt drawe the name of a sacrament to those things which not onelie betoken spirituall things but also are vsed to be doone by certeine words and of which there is a commandement extant that they should be doone in this sense thou canst not appoint matrimonie to be a sacrament Dionysius I passe ouer that Dionysius in his treatise De ecclesiastica Hierarchia reckoneth it not among the rest of the sacraments Iouinian Neither would Iouinian haue escaped this argument which left not anie small thing vntouched whereby he might extoll matrimonie Further what sort of sacrament soeuer this be the reason furthereth not the purpose of our aduersaries For Christ whom they would signifie to be ioined vnto the church hath made a diuorse from the synagog and hath coupled our church vnto him But if peraduenture they shall saie that this is not doone but by his death I will answer that the diuine nature in Christ for the which this matrimonie is especiallie agréeable vnto him neither died nor yet possiblie can die And yet as Esaie
this mischéefe to escape vnpunished If we giue credit to Strabo in the 16. booke of his Geographie the Arabians made it death In Arabia where spices growe the same punishment was prouided for adulterers Of the Arabians as Eusebius saith in his sixt booke eight chapter De praeparatione euangelica Of the Aegyptians The Aegyptians as Diodorus Siculus reporteth in the first booke of his Bibliotheca did cut off the nose of an adulteresse that the face of hir which was so pleasing might be deformed The adulterer was beaten with a thousand stripes euen well néere vnto death Aelianus in his historie of Varietie the 13. booke writeth Of them of Locris that Zeleucus the lawe-maker of Locris ordeined that an adulterer should haue both his eies put out The same was thought to be a hard lawe Within a while after it happened that his owne sonne was taken in adulterie the people would haue released him from punishment but the father would not And to the intent the same lawe might after some sort be kept he willed that one of his sonnes eies and another of his owne should be pulled out There were a people which Suidas calleth Laciadae Of the Laciade and others Placiadae among whom adulterers were tormented with punishments and ignominies about the secret parts Of the Germans Also the Germans if we beléeue Cornelius Tacitus were most seuere punishers of adulteries For the adulteresse being taken with the maner was set naked in the sight of hir kindred the haire of hir head was cut off and after that she was by hir husband beaten through the towne with a cudgell Of the Gortinei Plutarch in his Problems writeth that the Gortinaei when they had apprehended an adulterer they brought him foorth openlie and crowned him with wooll whereby they might shew him to be a wanton and effeminate person After which time he liued in perpetuall infamie among them Of the Cumei The people called Cumaei set an adulteresse in the market place vpon an infamous stone and there of the people was put to shame then being set vpon an asse she was carried through the citie Afterward in waie of ignominie it was said vnto hir 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saletus a citizen of Croton as Lucianus writeth of them Of the men of Croton which being hired serue for reward made a lawe that adulterers should be burned aliue Within a while after he himselfe was taken in adulterie with his brothers wife he being accused made an oration wherein he so defended himselfe that all men bent their minds to pardon him But he considering with himselfe how shamefull an offense he had committed leapt of his owne accord into the fire And among the philosophers Plato Platos lawe in his eight booke De legibus saith that Adulterie is a great horrible offense when the husband goeth to another than his owne wife and the wife vnto another than hir owne husband Further that we ought to kéepe our bodies chast and not to bestowe them vpon strumpets and harlots They saith he that shall doo that are in perpetuall infamie Aristotle in his seuenth booke of Politiks Of Aristotle in the last chapter saue one writeth thus If anie man shall haue carnall copulation with hir that is not his owne or anie woman with him that is not hir owne let that be counted among most shamefull things So as they noted adulterers both men and women to be infamous Diogenes the Cynik was of another mind For it happened that a certeine man called Didymus was taken in adulterie Of Diogenes and Diogenes being demanded what should become of him answered that according to his owne name he ought to be hanged For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Graecians be the stones of a man or of a beast In old time among the Atheniens Of the Atheniens adulterie was a capitall crime as Pausanias in his Boetiks sheweth He citeth the lawe of Draco And it was lawfull among the Atheniens to slaie an adulterer that was taken with the déed dooing And euen this dooth the oration of Lysias testifie wherin it is spoken of the death of Eratosthenes the adulterer The adulteresse was not strait waie put to death but it was not lawfull for hir to come into holie assemblies Otherwise she might haue all maner of ignominie doone vnto hir by anie person onelie the punishment of death excepted not for that they did take pitie of hir but that they might giue hir the longer torment Which may be gathered by the oration of Demosthenes against Neaera if the same be his Polybius in the second booke of his historie If an adulterer be slaine saith he let the executioner go frée He séemeth to speake this by the lawes of the Graecians for he was a Graecian borne How greatlie the Graecians were moued for the adulterie and violent taking awaie of Helene all men knowe Of the Greekes which haue anie small skill of the poets Of Mahumet Mahumet as appéereth by his owne lawes would haue adulterers to be whipped in a maner to death The Goths made a lawe of death against adulterers Of the Goths as it is read in the first booke of Procopius De bello Gothico Manie things of sundrie nations might be recited but these for this time shall suffice 24 I come now to the Romane lawes The Roman lawes touching adulteris Dionysius Halicarnassaeus commendeth Romulus the first king of the Romans for that he would haue by his lawes matrimonie to be inuiolate and yet so farre as we can find he made not adulterie to be punishable by death Diuorse was permitted for the cause of adulterie Yea and afterward for the suspicion of adulterie a putting awaie of the adulteresse was admitted And so did Caesar for he put awaie his wife Pompeia finding hir with Clodius in the house of the head bishop But he being afterward bidden to declare against hir some witnesse of adulterie he would not and being demanded wherfore he had then put hir awaie he answered that his house should not onlie be frée from the filthinesse of adulterie but also from the verie suspicion thereof The lawes of the twelue tables By the lawes of the twelue tables an adulterer was put to death But in so much as belongeth to publike punishments it séemeth that in those former ages they were more easie Tacitus in his second booke declareth Other old lawes of this thing that a certeine man was accused of treason and of adulterie in the time of Tiberius Caesar And touthing adulterie it séemed that it was warilie enough prouided for by the lawe Iulia. But Tiberius who about the beginning of his reigne was gentle did by intreatie put awaie those great punishments and said After the maner of our ancestors let the adulteresse be remooued two hundred miles from the citie and the adulterer be banished both out of Italie and Aphrica We read in
Dauid required to haue hir againe Also Iustinian did moderate that austeritie for when the adulteresse had béene thrust into a monasterie the husband might demand hir againe within the space of two yéeres But thou wilt tell me Augustine saith She is not woorthie to be my wife she is vnpure and polluted Why doost thou cast hir vnpure which hath repented hir selfe She is restored vnto the kingdome of heauen by the keies and may she not be restored to thy bed Wouldest thou haue thy selfe to be so serued On this wise did the Councell of Arles determine which we read in the Extrauagants De adulterijs in the chapter Si vir sciens The words of the Councell be these If an adulteresse be penitent the man ought to take hir againe The glosse saith Is it the part of honestie or of necessitie He saith of honestie I infer If it be of honestie in respect of godlinesse it is also of necessitie For we must doo all things which apperteine to honestie as we haue in the fourth chapter to the Philippians Phil. 4 8. Whatsoeuer things be true whatsoeuer things be honest whatsoeuer things be iust thinke vpon them He saith that it is not of necessitie bicause he cannot be compelled thereto by an outward lawe It is added But not often That séemeth saith the Glosse to be repugnant to the Gospell when it saith Seuentie times seuen He answereth that he may forgiue hir so often as he will but the church will not often put it selfe to be a meane for the obteining of this reconciliation least it should séeme to open a windowe vnto wickednesse Moreouer the church thinketh that it should be but feigned repentance if this should be often doone He addeth Peraduenture these things are spoken for terror sake But if so be she doo not repent hir she ought not to continue in matrimonie for then the husband might séeme to be the mainteiner of adulterie And in the Councell of Arles it is said he should séeme to be a partaker of iniquitie Ierom vpon the 19. chapter of Matthew writeth She that hath diuided one flesh into an other ought not to be kept least the husband should be vnder the cursse For he that reteineth an adulteresse with him wanteth wisdome If he be vniust which accuseth an innocent he séemeth vnwise that reteineth an offender But these things must be vnderstood with this exception Whether the husband hauing dismissed his wife may accuse hir of adulterie that vnlesse repentance be had Moreouer it is demanded whether the husband shall accuse his wife of adulterie when she is dismissed Some thinke that of charitie she ought not to be accused if she repent But others saie that the crime is not to be forborne and that priuate magistrates should put to their helping hand to the rooting out of wickednesse and that publike weales cannot stand vnlesse that great offenses be punished Deut. 13. 5. also that the lawe of God would haue euill to be rid from amongst men It is certeine in déed that if adulterie should continue still the adulterer ought to be accused that at the least wise by that meanes he might be made the better if other conuenient remedies were vsed before as if he had warning giuen him by his fréends But admit that the partie which sinned doo repent ought he notwithstanding to be accused Surelie if the crime were openlie knowne and the partie innocent receiue the adulteresse into fauour by reason of repentance he shall séeme to mainteine sinne Men knowe of the adulterie but of the repentance they knowe not they will thinke that he vseth brothelrie If he accuse hir he shall at the least wise purge himselfe and auoid the blame of infamie Admit that the crime be not so commonlie knowne and that the partie in fault be repentant but she hath conceiued and is to be deliuered of a child if the husband accuse hir not the issue shall be his supposed heire it shall not be lawfull for him to disherit him there will be an iniurie doone vnto his lawfull begotten children What shall be doone in this case In these two latter cases namelie if the crime be openlie knowne and the child conceiued counsell is giuen of the more learned sort that the husband shall not go vnto the magistrate to desire the punishment to be executed on hir which is penitent but that for the auoiding of his owne infamie he shall repaire to the church and signifie the cause whereby they may vnderstand that the partie dooth repent Also if the case be shewed to certeine persons not for punishment sake but to the intent they may knowe that the fruit is conceiued by an adulterer which afterward also he might disherit there is found a remedie for these euils Ioseph Matt. 1 19 when he sawe his wife Marie to be great with child not by him was troubled he would not defame hir and yet was he a iust man On the one part he saw it belonged vnto iustice to accuse hir on the other part he was troubled in himselfe not without the speciall prouidence of God While he was in a perplexitie which waie to take GOD was at hand with him So will he likewise doo vnto the godlie in these cases he will be present with them and will comfort them These questions we fall into by reason that adulterie is not punished by death 29 Thus haue we séene what the fathers haue disallowed in the ciuill lawes Now Ecclesiasticall punishments of adulterie héereafter let vs sée what maner of ecclesiasticall punishments they haue béene accustomed to laie vpon adulterous persons Cyprian in the fourth booke and second epistle vnto Antonianus writeth that There were certeine bishops which gaue no peace vnto adulterers that is they admitted them not to the communion but would haue them perpetuallie to be excluded Others gaue them peace but yet after a certeine time Cyprian thinketh that a moderation must be vsed least they be vtterlie excluded from Christ and cast awaie all loue of religion He saith also that there must be a triall made of their repentance for a certeine time the space of time he appointeth not The Synod of Ancyra in the 19. chapter appointed seuen yeares which space of time the Eliberine Councell abbridged vnto fiue years Whereby it may appéere that it was in the choise of the prelats of the church The Councell of Neocaesaria decréed concerning Clergie men that If the wife of a Clergie man fall into adulterie he is at his choise whether he will straitwaie refuse hir or else depart from the ministerie They séeme to admit no reconciliation in the clergie I thinke the cause séemeth to be Reconciliation not admitted in the clergie for that the familie of the minister ought to be of good report Moreouer they added that a laie-man whose wife was fallen into adulterie should not be admitted into the ministerie I thinke the cause to be this for that he first
ought to haue gouerned well in his owne house 1. Tim. 3 4. But there was a suspicion of negligence séeing his wife did fall into adulterie If a clergie man had not reiected his wife when she fell into adulterie the Eliberine Councell gaue him no peace or fellowship with others during his life The Councell of Toledo decréed otherwise as we haue it in the Decrées 32. cause question the sixt in the chapter Placuit to wit that A clergie man whose wife did fall into adulterie might kéepe hir at home howbeit tied for certeine yéeres with a fasting that should serue to kéepe hir in health but not that should make hir to die In the Decrées the 81. distinction in the chapter Romanus the chapter Presbyter and the chapter Diaconus Adulterous ministers be vtterlie remooued from the ministerie And the Eliberine Councell did giue no peace vnto bishops priests or deacons being fallen into adulterie no not when they should die no more also did they to the common sort of men which had committed adulterie more than once or twise They found also another kind of remedie but that was in cases of suspicion In the Extrauagants De iudicijs in the chapter Significasti If a minister were suspected of adulterie and the crime could not be prooued Canonicall purgation they vsed the canonicall purgation namelie that he should find out other fiue ministers which would affirme by oth that they could not beléeue this of him But such it behooued these ministers to be as they might be sure would not forsweare themselues They vsed also another thing namelie that an adulterer should not contract matrimonie with the adulteresse if hir first husband had béene dead But this they vnderstood conditionallie if so be they had contracted while the other spouse were aliue or had conspired the death of the husband A decree of Iustinian There resteth to declare what we are to thinke of the decrée of Iustinian As touching that that a woman after she were beaten should be driuen into a monasterie and not be punished with death as an adulterer I perceiue not by what reason that might be prooued The crime belongeth vnto both as well to the man as to the woman why then is the punishment vnlike The sinne of the woman dooth no lesse staine the familie than the sinne of the man yea and that more Perhaps it will be said that she is weake but if that reason should take place no woman ought to be punished with death Wherefore vnder correction of so notable a man the inequalitie of the punishment can hardlie be allowed but I thinke he did this in fauour of the bishops Moreouer he is blamed insomuch as he ordeined that If a husband shall not demand his wife againe within two yéeres or else that he die she should be constreined to liue continuallie in the monasterie without marriage Vndoubtedlie that is against the holie scriptures What if she be incontinent as she gaue a token thereof by reason of the crime of adulterie If so be that the magistrate grant life vnto a malefactor he ought also to grant those things which perteine to a godlie life Otherwise what profit commeth by putting hir awaie vnlesse it be to make hir woorse I haue declared what I thinke concerning the decrée of Iustinian 30 Now let vs come vnto the other question namelie Whether women doo sinne in adulterie more greeuouslie than men whether a man and a woman doo sinne the one as gréeuouslie as the other in the case of adulterie and whether they both are to be driuen vnto one punishment so that in all respects they should be in all things equall Vnto verie manie it hath not so séemed good and that verelie for diuers causes They would haue the case to be more gréeuous touching women than touching men and the causes which lead them thereto are these First bicause they perceiued that the ciuill lawes doo admit no accusation of the husband against his wife or of the father against his daughter but not so of the woman although she take hir husband with the shamefull act and haue witnesses of the same as we haue in the Code within the title Ad legem Iuliam de adulterijs in the first lawe Wherefore they in old time accounted the fault to be more gréeuous in the woman Also they weigh this that a woman being taken is straitwaie infamous but a man must be first accused and condemned before that he be stained with infamie Thirdlie it was sometime lawfull before the lawe Iulia for husbands to kill their wiues as Cato testifieth in the place aboue recited The lawe saith he is to slaie hir that is taken But it is not lawfull for hir to touch thée once with hir finger if she perceiue thée to commit adulterie Herevnto Plautus pleasantlie alluded in the comedie Mercator In verie déed women are here bound to ouer-streict a lawe as Plutarch vpon the life of Romulus reporteth that it was lawfull for the husband to put awaie his wife for adulterie but not so on the contraie part Which lawe séemed also to like Constantine as we read in the Theodosian Code De adulterijs in the chapter Placuit Let the husband saith he put awaie his wife for adulterie but let not hir doo the same vnto hir husband though he be an effeminate person or a muliercularian For this terme he vseth Also they héerby consider of an inequalitie for that the woman if she kept ill companie with an other mans bond-man she was made a bond-woman but it is not taught that it was so doone vnto men if they sinned against bond-women Moreouer they saie that lust is alwaies counted to be more shamefull in women and that therfore the crime should be more gréeuous in them Further they suppose that a man although he liue in matrimonie if he kéepe ill companie with others being loose or single women as they call them he committeth not adulterie when as on the contrarie part a woman being married may haue fellowship with no man but she falleth into adulterie And they alledge that which Suetonius writeth vpon the life of Vespasian that he caused the Senate to decrée that a frée-woman which ioined hir selfe with bond-men should be constrained to bondage but decréed not so touching men Howbeit this and the fift argument is all one There is an other argument taken Ex Orificiano out of the Code in the lawe Illustris that It is a farre more shamefull thing for a woman to haue bastards that is by one which is not a lawfull husband than it is for a man to haue bastards Ecclesiasticus is alledged which in the 7. 24. 26. chapters verse 26. verse 13. speaketh manie things of the custodie which the father ought to haue of his daughters for the conseruation of their chastitie but speaketh nothing of his men children They also consider this that A woman being taken in adulterie looseth hir dowrie and
donation granted in respect of marriage whereas the adulterer susteineth no losse In the Extrauagants De donationibus inter virum vxorem in the chapter Plerúnque in the end Adam and Eue being found to be in one kind of sinne haue not both one punishment Eue is punished more gréeuouslie That adulterous men sinne more greeuouslie than the women 31 On the other side the causes séeme to be verie great which persuade otherwise The first is that a woman is more weake and vnperfect than a man she wanteth vnderstanding and iudgement These things séeme to serue for diminishing the fault And manie lawes persuade vs that in punishing we should haue a consideration of the sex Some of the lawes I will recite In the Digests Ad legem Iuliam peculatus it is said that In punishment there must be consideration had of the sex the lawe beginneth Sacrilegij poenam Also Ad legem Iuliam de adulterijs in the lawe Si adulterum in the Paraph Fratres and in the Paraph Iacestam they would haue a difference to be considered of in the sex bicause women are not forced to be skilfull in the lawes sometimes they be deceiued they thinke that to be lawfull which is not lawfull Also the Ecclesiasticall lawes teach that there ought to be a consideration had of the sex In the Extrauagants De homicidio in the chapter Si dignum in the Code Ad legem Iuliam maiestatis in the lawe Quisquis in the Paraph Filias There is more fauour shewed to the daughters of conspirators than vnto their sonnes In the Decrées cause 32. question 6 the chapter Indignatur there is consideration had of women euen in the selfe same cause of adulterie There be saiengs also of most excellent men which be agréeable to this sentence Augustine in his treatise De adulterinis coniugijs ad Pollentium citeth the letters written by Antonius Pius which we may read in the Gregorian Code that It is verie vniust that men should require that faith of women which themselues will not shew In the Digests De adulterio in the lawe Si vxor in the Paraph Si iudex It is commanded that if the iudge haue knowledge of the adulterie let him looke whether the husband haue liued chastlie And so the fault of the woman is mitigated bicause the men themselues by their ill liuing be causes of their vncleane life Whervpon Seneca in his 94. epistle vnto Lucillus saith that It is a most vniust thing for men to exact faithfulnes of women when as they themselues be the corrupters of other mens wiues Neither did Augustine put this matter in silence who saith that Vir that is to saie Man hath his name of Virtus that is Vertue and that therefore he ought to excell the wife in all vertues and chastitie In his litle booke De decem chordis and it is also read in the 32. cause question 5. in the chapter Non moechaberis saith that The husband is the head of his wife if the head fall into adulterie and the wife be chast he is a man turned vpside downe the head is vnder the féet It hapneth ofttimes that the adulteries of the wife are reuengements of an adulterous husband It is said of Clytemnestra that she gaue the power of hir bodie to Aegistus bicause she heard that Agamemnō preferred Chrysis before hir That such a punishment is brought by the iudgement of God it appéereth that Iob vnderstood who in the 31. cha saith verse 9. If my hart hath been carried aside to a strange woman and if I haue lien in wait at my neighbors doore then let my wife grind vnto an other man and let hir yeeld hir bodie to other men So then there be reasons to be made on both parts What shall we saie If credit be giuen to the Schoole-diuines An vnfolding of the question the distinction must be made which is mentioned in the fourth booke of sentences in the 35. distinction If the faith of wedlocke be considered the sinne is equall on both parts either is bound vnto other whether the woman giue hir selfe to another or else the man commit adulterie If the condition of the person be respected séeing man is the more perfect he hath the firmer iudgement and ought to excell his wife his sinne is more gréeuous than hirs Howbeit if we note the confusion of things the supposed heires and the shame of the familie the woman is more gréeuouslie charged But as touching the verie lawe it selfe of wedlocke they saie well that the bond is all alike that sinne is committed as well by the one as by the other they must be brought to an equalitie Equalitie we prooue out of the holie scriptures Vnto one Adam the Lord gaue one Eue and to one Eue he gaue one Adam and he said Gen. 2 24. They shall be two in one flesh Paule when he treateth of these things in the first to the Corinthians the seuenth chapter saith that The wife hath not power ouer hir owne bodie verse 4. but the husband And on the other side he maketh this lawe equall to the one and the other Neither dooth he speake vnto the one partie of rendering due beneuolence but vnto them both And if they shall thinke good to seuer themselues for praier sake he willeth that the same be doone by both their consents In case of religion if they will not dwell togither ech partie is set at libertie The same is also spoken there concerning the vnbeléeuing husband The lawe of God commandeth that both as well the adulterer as the adulteresse should be slaine Séeing therefore he maketh this equalitie we also ought to followe the same An answer vnto the contrarie arguments 32 Now it remaineth that we answer to the arguments It was said that a woman must not be heard This lawe is ciuill and refused of the Ecclesiasticall writers and that iustlie To the first Ierom in his epistle to Oceanus vpon the death of Fabiola wrote a verie excellent sentence Those things which in the holie scriptures are commanded vnto men doo redound vnto women Wherefore if it be lawfull for a man to start from his wife for the cause of adulterie it is also lawfull vnto the wife Among vs there is the same libertie and the same bondage vnto both parties to correct after a sort the ciuill lawes Both parties must be heard Touching infamie also To the second it is mans ordinance Euen as praise is called the celebration of other mens vertues so infamie is to dispraise that which is in another And it may be they will speake more of women than of men But with God this fame is of no importance There is more spoken of the women by reason of the harme which they bring and bicause they make a confusion in families To the third As concerning that it hath béene lawfull for men to kill their wiues and not for the wiues their husbands
your selues doo and repent Iudges must not spare to punish others though themselues he guiltie of that sinne This also must Iudges be warned of that in the thing wherein they condemne others they be not guiltie themselues But therefore it is not said If your selues haue sinned spare yée others For they should sinne two waies as well for that themselues were guiltie of heinous offenses as also bicause they punished not others which were guiltie in the same This that belonged vnto himselfe Looke part 4 plac 14 art 19. he gaue them warning of and in the same sort he did afterward vnto the woman Go thy waies saith he and sinne no more Therefore he discharged hir for he said Seeing no man hath condemned thee neither doo I condemne thee He sawe hir penitent hart After what sort did he acquite hir Not from the punishment of death for that he left to the Common-weale But he accused hir not That might not Christ doo not in that respect that he was a minister of the church but bicause he had not séene hir nor taken hir with the maner he could not be a witnesse neither came he into this world for that purpose Notwithstanding some man will saie She neuerthelesse scaped awaie by reason of the words of Christ This was indirectlie not in respect of Christs iudgment Christs dealing was otherwise This was the Scribes fault who might not abide to heare Christs preaching of repentance They euerie one departed one after another and left hir there alone Neither is this a good consequent Christ at his first comming condemned not an adulteresse Therefore he punisheth not adulteries He punisheth them oftentimes when the magistrates sword is still he dooth and he will doo his office Neither is it a good reason to saie The church hath not the sword it dooth not punish adulterie with death Therefore neither ought the ciuill magistrate to doo it The church letteth not the ciuill magistrate but that he may doo his office More slender is the argument taken of Ioseph Of Ioseph for certeinlie he was deliuered to the chéefe iustice of capitall crimes The crime therefore was of death they which were put in that prison were appointed to be put to death euen as that Baker was But the iudgement of Iosephs cause was deferred besides this he was not accused that he had committed adulterie but that he would haue doone the same And let these things suffice for those obiections 38 Now I conclude that I speake not this The conclusion of this place to the intent I would abolish the authoritie of magistrates I knowe that crimes are to be punished this is appointed by the lawe of God but the maner of punishing is committed vnto magistrates neither ought those lawes to be of force I knowe also that those ciuill lawes giuen by Moses doo no more bind vs than the ceremoniall doo The ceremoniall lawes are abolished The ceremonies tooke effect till the comming of Christ The ciuill lawes had their vse so long as the Common-weale did last they were conuenient for that people But I dare take vpon me to saie that it were conuenient that the iustice which is to be séene in those lawes should not be neglected but should be imbraced of magistrates as a profitable thing As touching the ecclesiasticall punishments in my iudgement such regard ought to be had that adulterers which be conuicted and are not penitent might in such sort be handled as at the least-wise they ought not to scape so frée in the church from punishment as they should be partakers of the sacraments for the crime is most gréeuous they wound the conscience of the godlie sort And how gréeuous it is it is set foorth vnto vs to behold in the fall of Dauid But what is the cause why Dauid was not condemned We answer Why Dauid was not condemned that there was not tribunall seaâ—e aboue his owne he had none aboue him but God who pardoned him of life but yet that the same should be full of manie crosses so as he séemed rather to be reserued vnto miseries than to liue in happinesse Of the reconciliation of man and wife after adulterie committed 39 The ciuill lawes are verie much against the reconciliation of the husband and the wife In Iudges 19 vers 10. after adulterie is committed The ciuill lawes are against reconciliation after adulterie For in the Code Ad legem Iuliam de adulterijs in the lawe that beginneth Castitati nostrorum temporum it is â—ecréed that If a man shall bring home againe his wife being condemned of adulterie he dooth incur the crime of brothelrie Looke before art 27. and 28. And in the title of the lawe Crimen we read that he which shall reteine in matrimonie his wife being an adulteresse he may not accuse hir of adulterie Notwithstanding it was afterward by a new lawe otherwise prouided Neither was it a light matter for one to be condemned of brothelrie but it was euen as heinous as if a man should be condemned of adulterie Yea and if so be that a man reteine with him a woman condemned of adulterie he himselfe without an accuser maie be condemned of adulterie And if a man shall bring hir home againe whom he hath put away he cannot accuse hir of the adulterie which she had before committed But of an other adulterie he may sith in bringing of hir home againe it séemeth that he allowed of hir conditions And if anie woman be condemned of adulterie none may take hir to his wife Wherefore the ciuill lawes doo vtterlie mislike of reconciliation after adulterie committed so that it be conuicted and condemned For if there should be but onelie a suspicion thereof it may be lawfull for the husband to reteine hir with him and to accuse hir being suspected And if he shall afterward perceiue that he was led with vaine suspicion to accuse hir he may desist from his purpose so that he first obteine a discharge from the iudge Ierom vpon the 19. chapter of Matthew may séeme to hold with the ciuill lawes for he writeth that she which hath diuided one flesh to an other man or other men must not be reteined least the husband become vnder the cursse For as it is written in the 28. chap. of the Prouerbs He that keepeth an adulteresse with him verse 23. is vngodlie and foolish So indéed the 70. interpretors did expound it but the truth of the Hebrue text hath it not The same Ierom saith If there happen anie sinne to be it dooth not staine matrimonie but if adulterie happen now is not the wife lawfull And in the 32. cause question the 1. the words of Chrysostome are recited If a man haue the companie of an adulterous wife let him repent The same father vpon the 26. chapter of Matthew Euen as he is vniust which accuseth an innocent so he is a foole which reteineth an adulteresse And the verie same
and Schismes Dissimulation Dissimulation of two sortes 2 541 b Not remoued from deceipt guile 2 534 b 535 a Whether it be allowable for the preseruation of the Church 2 321 b In Gods seruice it is vtterly to be shunned 2 316. 317. 318. 319. 320. The Dissimulation of the Priscillianistes 4 299 b 300a of Iulian. 2 541 a Constantius the first 4 242 a Of Iehu 2 539 b 536 a Of Dauid 2 384a 3 291. 292. 293. 294. 2 535 b Of Christ and others and whether they were sinne 2 541 b Distinctions What kinde of Distinctions are to be receiued 4 134 a Diuill The Diuell doeth imitate God howe 1 91 b 4 113 a Hee is no creator or maker of thinges but a minister seruing vnto nature 1 86 a Whether it were Samuell or the Diuell that came at the witches call 1 73 b 72 ab By naturall causes he can worke strange things 1 66 a What reasons some vse to prooue that for the working of myracles they may vse his helpe 1 66 b A rehearsall of diuers illusions doone by him 1 85 b 86 ab 87 a He sometime speaketh trueth though he be a lier proued 1 74b He can moue driue forward some things 1 86 b He mocketh beguileth simple men and how 1 91 b How tyrannously he dealeth with his Prophets 1 21 ab Hee is deceiued through his owne malice and pride 1 83 b Whether hee can appeare and giue answeres 1 77 a His double meaning dealing noted 1 83 a He doth oftentimes put on the person of God 1 76 b Hee can hurt no further than God permitteth and of his crueltie 1 90 b 85 b What knowledge hee had of Christ 1 83 a He vexeth the godlie and vngodlie after a sundrie and differing fashion 1 65 b 66 a Why he is said to be bound sith it séemeth otherwise 3 396 ab What hinderance he procureth to our callinges 4 9 b He hath power ouer the saints 4 330 a Whether he bee indued with a true faith 3 173 b He is deceiued by ambition 1 83 a He hath no faith 3 62 b Diuels The Diuels faine themselues to be the soules of men 4 131 a In what points or respects the vse of their helpe doth consist 1 91 a Of casting them out 4 129b 130 ab Why it is not lawful to vse their helpe 1 91 a Whose scholers they are counted 4 130 b Women and men sorceres in their sléepe receiued manie pleasures of of the Diuels 1 90 a ¶ Looke Spirits Diuination The word Diuination is alwaies taken in the worser part in the scripture saith Ierom. 1 61 b Romane lawes against that of dreames 1 38 b Ciceroes maner of reasoning against that of the Ethniks 2 276b 277 ab Naturall and artificiall with Ciceroes iudgement of the same 1 62 a What kinde is not forbidden in scriptures 1 61 b Two thinges are required in the Diuination of any thing by visions or dreames sent of God 1 36 a Diuinitie For what causes Diuinitie is called an actuall knowledge by some 1 17 b 2 301 ab How one thing is otherwise taught by it than it is by Philosophie 1 303 a 1 17 a Artius denied Christes Diuinitie 2 601 b Tokens thereof 3 358 a 2 600 b 601. 602. ¶ Looke Christ Diuorsement In what spiritual cause Diuorsement is permitted 2 464 b 465 a Suco for and graunted for impotencie and coldnes of the man 2 466 ab 467 a From bed but not from matrimoniall bond 2 494 b 445 446 ab What is to be done in such a case whē the lawes will not giue libertie to marrie a second person 2 459 a All meanes must be attempted before it be made 2 465 a Three causes thereof alleaged by Ambrose betweene husband wife 2 460 a Why by Moses lawe a wise after Diuorsement should neuer returne to her former husband 2 497 a Christ meant such a one wherein newe marriage was licenced 2 459 b In what cases it is lawfull betweene marryed parties 2 422 b The Magistrate must be intreated to determine in such a case 2 458 b 459 a Christ reuoked wholy the case thereof vsed in the time of the lawe 2 427 b Whether onelie the cause of adulterie doe make it 2 457 b Lawes of Emperours touching the causes thereof 2 458 a Being made for adulterie admitteth a marriage afterward 2 458 a Why Christ talking thereof mentioned adulterie onely 2 458 b Who gaue a bill of Diuorsement to his wife first in Rome 2 462 b Causes why the fathers would admit no marriages after it in a case of adulterie 2 461 b 462 b In what cases a free Diuorsement is graunted betwéene an heretike and a true professour 2 446 b Ambroses error touching Diuorsement 3 243 b No men of praise or renowme mentioned in holy scripture that gaue a bill of Diuorsement to their wiues 2 464 a Women in the time of the law gaue none to their husbands 2 460 b 461 a Diuorsements What kinde of Diuorsements Paul alloweth not 2 462 b 463 a Chrysostome and Tertullian admit iust ones 2 463 ab Why God would that in the time of the lawe they should be permitted 2 457 a 463 b 515 b How it commeth to passe that Magistrates at this day doe doubt to determine of them 2 459 b What the Church Fathers determined of them and newe marriages of the parties separated 2 459 b 460 ab Christ is not against his father for not admitting them for euerie cause 2 463 b At what time it began to bee lawfull for women to giue billes of Diuorsements to their husbands 2 461 a Do. Doctors Difference betweene Prophets and Doctors 4 6b Doctrine Doctrine is to be examined 3 240. 241. Not rashlie to be beleeued looke the place 4 52 ab The faith thereof 3 132a Christ grounded his vpon scriptures 3 340 b It is no sufficient triall therof to work myracles but this must be doone by the scriptures 1 67 b Of the antiquitie of the same and dissenting there about 1 99 a Signified by building 3 239 240. 241 242. Foure things necessarie therein 4 48 b Whether it bee lawfull to auouch one false Doctrine to supplant another 1 157 a Causes why ill Doctrine dooth long lie hid 3 240 b 241 a Mahomets soone spread and why 4 6 a A comparison betweene Papisticall and true 3 262 a Howe farre foorth that of Iudas receiued of Christ did perfect him 1 15a The perfect comming by true Doctrine 1 14b Howe the Papists haue corrupted it 4 70 a The authors thereof compared to pretious things 3 239 b 240 a Doctrines Offensiue Doctrines of two sorts 3 163 a Artes and Doctrines desire good of their owne nature 1 3 b Of diuerse papisticall Doctrines which haue no ground of Scripture to warrant them 1 99 a Doubt A Doubt whether the ende of Phisicke be health 1 7 a Why Aristotle appointed two kinds of
miraculouslie put himselfe betwéene them and their destruction and did hinder the cause but this could not the diuell foresée For God sometime preserueth those that be his and sometime he leaueth them so that they die and so doth it oftentimes come to passe in things that may happen either this waie or that waie For although the experience of spirits be verie great yet is it not so great but that they maie be deceiued Vndoubtedlie the nimblenes of spirits is verie great so that they can easilie perceiue and report what is doone in regions verie farre distant one from another God reuoketh decred purposes but yet oftentimes God reuoketh his purposed decrées And if perhaps God command the diuell to wast and destroie some region and the people in the meane time doo repent if the diuell foretell that the destruction shall come vpon them it must néeds be that he maketh a lie for oftentimes when men begin to repent from their hart God forgetteth all his threatenings These spirits doubtlesse doo sée and knowe the predictions of the prophets but yet those purposes which God doth reueale by his prophets may sometimes be mitigated or changed Esaie prophesied that Ezechias should die Esai 38 1 and 5. but yet when he humbled himselfe and earnestlie repented his life was prolonged for 15. yéeres but that this should come to passe the diuell could neuer haue suspected Wherefore they may be deceiued partlie bicause they knowe not the will of God and partlie also bicause they cannot throughlie looke into our minds But the good angels are not deceiued bicause they referre all things to the will of God The diuell deceiued by ambition Besides this also the diuell is oftentimes deceiued through ambition for he will séeme to be ignorant of nothing therefore he doubteth not to foreshew those things which are far beyond his reach For which cause he mingleth therewith colorable deceits wiles that whatsoeuer should happen he might séeme to haue spoken the truth For he is a craftie and double dealing fellowe as appeareth by these two oracles of his The diuels double meaning I saie that thou Aeacides the Romans conquer may Againe Craesus being past ouer Halis floud shall bring great riches vnto naught Rightlie therefore said Esaie in the 41. chapter Let them tell vs what shall happen we will saie that they be gods not as though they tell not the truth sometimes but bicause they are oftentimes deceiued Wherefore this doth Esaie saie Let them answere vs certeinelie and truelie and alwaies and without error what shall come to passe and we will account them for gods But how fowlie the diuell may be deceiued it chéefelie appeareth in Christ our sauiour Augustine in the ninth booke De ciuitate Dei The knowledge that the diuell had of Christ the 21. chapter saith that The diuell knew and sawe manie things to be woondered at in Christ but he knew not with that holsome and quickening light wherewith reasonable spirits are clensed but onlie by certeine experiments and temporall signes yet did he know him far better than men did For he sawe better and more néerelie than any sight of man can discerne how much the acts of Christ did surpasse the power of nature And yet that knowledge in the diuell did God represse and darken when it pleased him And therefore the diuell doubted not to tempt Christ which certeinlie he would not haue doone Matth. 4 3. if he had knowne Christ indéed For that knowledge depended vpon certeine temporall signes which oftentimes may trouble a man 1. Cor. 2 8. Therefore Paule said If they had knowne the Lord of glorie they would neuer haue crucified him But these words you will saie were spoken of Pilate and of the chéefe préests But that maketh no matter for they were the organs and instruments of the diuell And Iohn saith that The diuell put into Iudas hart to betraie Christ Luke 22 3. But what did let him you wil say that he might not perceiue the Godhead of Christ I will tell you Euen manie things which in Christ séemed to be but poore abiect and vile For he suspected that he which suffered such infamous things could not be God and so it was but a suspicion and not a knowledge But wherefore then did he persecute Christ vnto death Bicause he did not think that his kingdome should by that meanes haue a fall yet on the other side when he saw that his tyrannie began to decline that his ouerthrowe was at hand he thought to preuent it in time and for that cause he sent those dreames vnto Pilats wife Mat. 27 19. The dreams of Pilats wife bicause he now suspected that it was Christ I might shew by other examples how the diuell is woont to be deceiued but I thought this one to be sufficient for our purpose at this time In déed he knoweth naturall things redilie inough vnlesse perhaps God will sometimes blind him and turne him awaie For though he be stubborne and rebellious yet is he in the hand and power of God Moreouer he is manie times let The diuell deceiued through his owne malice and pride through hatred enuie malice and pride And we haue experience in our owne selues how much reason is woont to be obscured by such troublesom affections Herevnto also may be added the greatnes of torments and the sharpenes of punishments wherwith he is vexed wherefore the angels are lesse deceiued bicause they sée al things with a quiet mind 18 But you will demand Whether the spirits see the cogitations of men whether they sée the thoughts and cogitations of men Here they that answere are woont to make a double distinction If we vnderstand the mind to be as it sheweth it selfe by signes and by some moouing gesture of the bodie so diuels can sée the minds of men For they which be in an anger are hot they which are afraid are cold and pale And Augustine saith that All the cogitations of the mind haue some impressions in the bodie by them the diuell can make his cōiecture what we cast in our mind Now our eies are not so sharp sighted that they can sée these things yet the same Augustine in his booke of retractations dooth after a sort moderate this sentence and denieth that anie impressions arise in the bodie by quiet cogitations But if we vnderstand the verie mind as it is of it selfe the diuel cannot reach so far as that he can vnderstand what we desire or thinke But you will saie Séeing mans vnderstanding dependeth of phantasies and forms cannot the diuell perceiue them Yes verelie but whether our vnderstanding be occupied in them that he cannot sée much lesse can he sée what the will dooth determine of them For the will dooth not followe those forms figures but it followeth the vnderstanding Now if we will aske counsell of the holie scriptures they answere most
onelie séeke whether they ought to be called voluntarie or not voluntarie And there is a great difference betwéene wicked men which either to flatter tyrants or else bicause they be delighted in shamefull and euill works offer themselues of their owne accord to doo these things and betwéene others which for honestie sake cannot be induced to commit these things vnlesse there be laid before their eies great and most gréeuous calamities or else great rewards And thou maist heare of some which hauing proposed some great good vnto themselues will saie that for the obteining thereof they are constrained to attempt anie thing And on the other part it is also said of manie that whereas they cruellie oppresse the people and beare rule for their owne sakes onelie they are constrained by tyrants to doo that which is wicked And at this daie there be a great sort which fall awaie from the christian truth being constrained by the most cruell persecution of tyrants There is also brought a similitude of the casting foorth of things from a ship which is doone when the tempest of weather constraineth not that this serueth anie thing at all vnto maners but that by the euidence of the matter that which is now in question may the better appéere 45 These actions which we haue rehearsed are mixed actions That some actions be both voluntarie and not voluntarie for in respect that they may be omitted and are not of such necessitie as they must in anie wise be doone they séeme to be Voluntarie but in respect no man could choose them for themselues they séeme Not voluntarie but rather drawe néere to the nature of those things that be voluntarie bicause in them is a certeine comparison of euill things Two euils are proposed to wit either pouertie with the losse of goods or else with those goods a present death the will chooseth the lesse euill and coueteth to auoid the greater Therefore when the will doth his part in those actions these things cannot choose but be called voluntarie Besides this Aristotle in his Rhetoriks admonished that the lesse euill hath the consideration of the good and is greatlie to be wished for since that which is desired is good and there is no doubt but it is the will that chooseth the end But the end of these actions whereof we dispute is applied to the consideration of the time For since the safetie which the mariners wish cannot be had except by casting their goods into the sea the will doth choose that casting of them awaie Wherefore the time in all this matter must be considered I meane not that time which is past or to come for before that chance no man would choose these doings afterward when the mariners haue escaped they are sorie and discontented in their mind for those things which were cast awaie but the matter must be iudged of according to the present time while it is doone And therefore since there is then made a choise and that the matter is called into deliberation and that the originall of the dooing is in the dooer of it who either may doo it or maie not doo it those things are said to be voluntarie As touching the action we cannot iudge in generall but we must haue a respect to the circumstance of the time And yet simplie these things are called Not voluntarie bicause for themselues no man would desire them but neuerthelesse since they be not considered simplie but are to be desired in this respect and he that desireth them is not without knowledge for he knoweth what he doth and his will or desire wherby he chooseth these things is present therfore be they actions Voluntarie For all things must be iudged of according as they be doone and doone they cannot be but at a certeine time and therefore they must be iudged according to that time and not as they are apprehended by reason for so are they Not voluntarie For while they be considered of simplie they are set aside from the consideration of time Neither is it to be doubted but that herein commeth the consent of the will for those things would not be doone vnles the will would giue hir assent True indéed it is that no man would those things for their owne sakes but for some other thing but yet this causeth not but that they be Voluntarie If they were violent the dooer would not inferre anie inforcement therevnto but the originall of the doing and of the assenting therevnto is in him that is the dooer and therefore may choose whither he will doo it or no. Séeing therfore these be called relatiues and are referred vnto the will they must not be iudged of simplie but according to the respect they haue vnto the will Wherfore since the will as hath béene declared hath place in those things they must be called Voluntarie 46 By two reasons haue these mingled actions béene prooued hitherto to be voluntarie That the actions called mixed be voluntarie bicause for them we are praised or dispraised First bicause they must be estéemed according to the nature of the time present wherin they be doone secondlie for that they be in the power of the dooer For vnlesse the will should mooue the instrumentall parts in verie déed they would not be doone There is a third reason taken from praise and dispraise Bicause men are somtime praised and sometime dispraised in the suffering of these vile and shamefull things Therefore dooth this appéere to be voluntarie for praise and dispraise speaketh not but of things voluntarie And Aristotle saith that Men are sometime praised or dispraised herein bicause they are not so alwaies as we shall perceiue for otherwhile praise is not giuen to these men but pardon is granted them but on the other side saith he they be dispraised That same particle On the other side signifieth two things either men will not abide reprochfull things for the loue of great and excellent things or else they suffer indéed such things but yet for light and vnworthie causes in which causes they are reprehended Aristotle onelie mentioned one of these the other he kept in silence For which good things hard mishaps must be abidden These great good and honest things for the which men must indure gréeuous and hard haps are iudged to be our countrie our parents children wife iustice and such like Zopyrus the Persian as Herodotus reporteth mangled his owne nose his eares and his lips that he might betraie the citie of Babylon vnto his king Darius Vlysses as it is said of Homer suffered his bodie to be beaten and to be deformed with stripes and apparelled himselfe in vile clothes and in that habit as if he had béene a runnagate seruant went vnto the Troians and entring into the citie throughlie spied out the same But on the other side all men dispraise Dolo bicause he reuealed the secrets of his owne countrie that he might not be constrained to abide anie torments What
legitimate yea and the children borne of a concubine were not in the iurisdiction of the father But when of a concubine she was made a wife then it was necessarie that there should be tables of matrimonie If we will reteine the Romane lawe a handmaiden cannot be made a concubine séeing by that lawe a handmaiden could not be made a wife For the coniunction of a frée man with a handmaiden the Romane lawes called Contubernium a kind of fellowship neither did they account it for a iust matrimonie Howbeit by handmaidens the Romans vnderstood not hired seruants but such as they had bought Which I therfore speake bicause our hired handmaidens be frée persons so as it is lawfull to contract iust matrimonie with them 3 But now let vs consider the lawe of the Hebrues Looke vpon Gen 16. at the end and 25. at the beginning and what is to be thought of the concubins of the fathers In verie déed they were wiues although oftentimes they were handmaidens as Agar Bala Zilpa and the concubins of Gedeon In the plea of court and as touching the ciuill affaires of the places in the which those fathers dwelt it séemeth that frée men might not enter matrimonie with them and therfore perhaps in the holie scriptures they were called concubins But yet before GOD that is by the lawe of matrimonie instituted by him they were wiues Wherefore in the booke of Genesis Gen. 16 3. Agar which is called a concubine is called a wife also So then there were two differences betwéene the Hebrue lawes and the Romane lawes bicause with them the hauing of concubines was no matrimonie but with the Iewes it was matrimonie before God although perhaps in the court of plea and in ciuill reason bicause of the seruile condition of the woman she was not acknowledged for a wife Further héerein they differ bicause the Iewes had handmaidens to their concubines and the same was not lawfull to the Romans if we followe that lawe that she should be a concubine which may be made a wife séeing the Romane lawes counted not that for matrimonie which was contracted with a handmaiden Neuerthelesse this ciuill lawe was not in Ieroms time reteined in the empire of Rome either bicause the ecclesiasticall lawes had mitigated it Ierom. or else for some other cause For in an epistle vnto Oceanus he speaketh of certeine which had their handmaidens in stéed of wiues and forbare the name of a wife bicause they would auoid burthens and charges who notwithstanding if they became rich made their handmaidens wiues But we must further consider that where concubines séeme to be allowed and permitted in the decrées the same should be vnderstood of those which are in verie déed wiues although by the Romane lawes and in place of pleading they were counted concubines bicause that woman was not solemnelie married notwithstanding that there was betwéene them a mutuall consent of matrimonie This which I haue alledged is read in the 34. distinction in the chapter Is qui Christiano Whereof the first is the decrée of the Councell of Toledo the other is the testimonie of Isidorus in his book De distantia noui veteris testamenti But when in the decrées there is mention made of concubins Looke In Gen. 16. at the end and 21. at the beginning which in verie déed are not wiues they are generallie prohibited and that is when either partie will not alwaie dwell togither nor yet acknowledge one an other as man and wife Of Polygamie or the hauing of more wiues than one In 1. Sam. 25 42. 4 Héere haue I matter somewhat hard to be explaned touching polygamie This place commeth oftentimes to hand in the holie scriptures therefore it shal be verie well once to vnderstand what we are to iudge of the same I vndoubtedlie will declare as in a matter obscure what may séeme good vnto me not prescribing anie thing in the meane time to anie man that can alledge anie better Polygamie of two sorts Polygamie is two maner of waies to be considered of The first is that when the first wife is dead a second or a third is married as touching this bicause there is at this daie no doubt I will saie nothing The other is when two or more wiues be kept in matrimonie But whether it be lawfull for one woman to haue two husbands at once I thinke it néedlesse to inquire for certeine it is that it was neuer lawfull by anie good laws This matter may be considered either simplie and absolutelie or else according to the nature of the time and place The diuision of this question First therefore we will inquire whether polygamie may be simplie and absolutelie prooued Secondlie by what right the same was vsed among the fathers in the old lawe of Moses Lastlie whether the same libertie may be also transferred vnto vs. Arguments for polygamie 5 As concerning the first there séeme to be arguments strong enough for the proofe of either part First I will bring foorth their arguments which would haue polygamie to be lawfull Secondlie I will shew what may be said on the other part After that I will confute the former arguments First therefore they saie that they haue examples not of the common sort of men but of the most holie men Abraham Iacob Helcana and Dauid them saie they we followe in other things and whie should it not be lawfull in this matter also Further if they sinned héerin it is not likelie that God would haue dissembled that sinne 2. Sam. 12 1 Ibid. 24 12. for he sent Nathan vnto Dauid to reprehend him of adulterie and Gad that should blame him for numbering the people And other offenses of the people were euer reprooued by the prophets Moreouer it is not read that the fathers did repent for such kind of polygamie wherefore if it were a sinne they died without repentance Besides this when Nathan reprooued Dauid he thus vsed his spéech to him vnder the person of God Ibid. 12 7. I haue annointed thee king and giuen thee the house of thy lord the wiues of thy lord into thy bosome He ment Egla and Rispha the wiues of Saule and more were promised him if these might not séeme sufficient Besides this Exod. 21. 27 28 29. when God in Exodus gaue expresse warning of a goring oxe of a tooth smitten out of euerie small matter he neuer forbad polygamie naie contrariwise by supposition it may be perceiued that he did permit polygamie For in the 21. chapter of Deutero he made this lawe If anie man haue two wiues verse 15. the one that he loueth the other that he hateth let him not preferre the sonne of the beloued before the sonne of hir that he hateth Howbeit this place prooueth not greatlie for it might be that the one wife was diuorsed Furthermore if a man die without children God commandeth Deut. 25 5. that
the brother of him shuld marrie his wife neither is there anie exception added namelie that vnlesse the same brother haue his owne wife before Wherefore God not onelie permitteth but also commandeth that there should be polygamie If polygamie were permitted so often diuorcements would not be vsed for husbands doo therefore refuse their first wiues bicause they may marrie others Also the fruitfulnesse which is chéeflie regarded in matrimonie would be greater by manie wiues than by one And by this reason the Turks at this daie doo defend polygamie bicause they haue a singular respect vnto propagation and issue of children Againe what account shall we make of those ancient patriarchs vnto whom the Iewes haue alwaies attributed so much Surelie vnlesse we accept of polygamie they were begotten either in whoordome or in adulterie sith lawfull matrimonie it cannot appéere to be And by that meanes should the fathers and authors of the stocke and name of the Iewes be bastards Where shall then become that nobilitie so often bosted of For onelie Rachel was the lawfull wife of Iacob and of hir onelie two were brought foorth Ioseph and Beniamin And of Ioseph were Ephraim and Manasses borne For indéed Lea was a wife but yet a supposed wife that is a concubine or rather a harlot than a wife Wherfore all the other patriarchs were bastards Besides this Valentinian the elder a godlie emperour and a christian had two wiues togither as Socrates affirmeth in his fourth booke For when as Seuera his wife had verie much commended vnto him the fauour and beautie of the yoong maid Iustina whom she had in hir traine the emperour therewith inflamed was wholie determined to take hir to wife Yet did he not put awaie Seuera from him séeing of hir he begat Gratianus which afterward did reigne Howbeit none of the fathers which liued in that time although they were franke of spéech and excellent men reprehend him for so dooing Yea and of this second matrimonie was Valentinian the second borne and Galla who afterward married Theodosius the emperour And this also is affirmed by some touching Charles the great although others write that he put awaie the daughter of Desiderius king of the Lombards without publication of the cause and that after the same he tooke to wife a maiden of Sueuia a damsell of a noble house Howsoeuer the matter be yet all men grant that he besides his wiues had foure concubins Chrysostome vpon that place of Paule The husband of one wife saith 1. Tim. 3 2. that Paule added this for their sakes which came from Iudaisme vnto Christ For to them it was lawfull to haue manie wiues Yet saith he Paule gaue warning that a bishop should not be chosen from among the number of such And Ierom likewise followed the same opinion Wherefore in those daies they that had more wiues than one were suffered among the christians And at this daie if a Turke or a Iew should come vnto Christ with his two wiues what should be doone as touching them To plucke either the one or the other awaie against hir will were crueltie But should we permit them both Moreouer séeing barrennesse is a cursse of God if a man cannot by his first wife haue issue shall he so remaine curssed or not rather marrie another Augustine Augustine in his 22. booke against Faustus the Manichei when as he dealt in this matter he so diuided sinne Sinne diuided as he said one is against nature another against custome and another against lawe He saith that polygamie is not against nature for it is a furtherance vnto fruitfulnesse neither against custome bicause it was now openlie receiued neither against the lawe séeing there was no caution made by the lawes concerning the same wherfore he concludeth that polygamie was lawfull The lawe also of marrieng another wife was granted if anie mans wife became a lepre Likewise there is licence granted vnto those wiues whose husbands are wandered into far countries or be fled touching whom it cannot be knowne or heard either by letters or yet by messengers for a certeine space of time what was become of them And yet the bond of matrimonie rested in both for if the first husband that was far absent returne home he is compelled to take his owne wife although she be married to another And after this sort polygamie is permitted Howbeit this dooth not much make for the matter séeing we speake here of those which vse two wiues both togither Furthermore if a woman for anie cause shall be refused by hir husband the bond of matrimonie remaineth vndissolued but she can not returne to hir husband from whom she is compelled to depart for she is now become prophane vnto him yet may she be married to another In this sort a wife may haue two husbands Men are woont to refer the originall of polygamie vnto Lamech but touching him Gen. 4 19. whatsoeuer others doo thinke Chrysostome saith he was a good man and a godlie It séemeth also to agrée with reason that whosoeuer will may yéeld as concerning his right Why then should not this be lawfull in matrimonie if the wife be willing to permit it vnto hir husband séeing by that means there is no iniurie doone vnto anie For so Sara permitted Agar vnto Abraham and not onelie she tooke not that fact of hir husband in ill part but also she did of hir owne accord prouoke him thervnto Also Caietane vpon Genesis saith Let the godlie reader consider that in expresse words there is no lawe written as touching polygamie Arguments against polygamie 6 But on the contrarie part to speake plainlie of the thing it selfe I saie that polygamie is not lawfull And to prooue this I will reason first from the verie institution of matrimonie For if we will knowe the forme or reason of anie thing we must haue recourse vnto the beginnings God at the verie beginning created not thrée or foure but two and by the mouth of Adam himselfe pronounced the lawe of marriage Gen. 2 23. This is now bone of my bones for this cause shall a man leaue father and mother and shall cleaue to his wife and they shal be two in one flesh that is They shall be so vnited togither as they may be one flesh If we perceiue anie thing hath happened otherwise in matrimonie the same must be reuoked to this originall forme An obiection But if thou wilt saie that the latter lawes as the lawiers terme it doo ouer-rule the former I answer that if anie things were brought in or vsurped afterward the same be humane inuentions and that the first institution is the lawe of God An other obiection verse 4. 5. And if thou wilt likewise contend about the time the same is also in time the latter for Christ in the 19. of Matthew and in the tenth of Marke called home the same as it were by a kind of recouerie Knowe ye not saith
seduced hir ought to giue hir a dowrie and to take hir to wife But it is added If the father will Otherwise he shall onelie giue a dowrie neither shall he haue the maiden to wife against the fathers will And in the booke of Numbers the thirtie chapter verse 4. If a maiden vow a vow and the father heare it and letteth it not the vow shall be firme but if he gainsaie it it shall be in vaine And what is a vow A promise made vnto God Howbeit matrimonie is a promise which is made vnto man If God permit a vow made vnto him to the iudgement of the father much more will he permit matrimonie vnto him séeing it is a promise made betwéene men 2. Sa. 13 13. In the second booke of Samuel Thamar answered vnto hir brother Ammon If thou desire me at my fathers hand he will not denie me vnto thee The custome was then that the daughters were desired of the parents Héere I dispute not whether it were lawfull for Dauid to giue to Ammon his sister to wife Ephe. 6 1. Further Paule saith to the Ephesians Children obeie your parents in all things He excepteth nothing when he writeth so but saith In all things namelie which they command not against the word of God And in his first epistle to the Corinthians the seuenth chapter verse 36. is most manifestlie declared that it belongeth to the parents to giue their daughters in marriage to husbands And that was knowne not onelie by the lawe of God but also by the light of nature Which euen the Comedies of Terence and Plautus manifestlie declare Euripides And in Euripides a maiden answereth Of my marriages my father will haue care séeing these things are not in me to determine Which verse certeinlie so liked Ambrose Ambrose as he placed it in his booke of the patriarchs Further it serueth verie well for domesticall peace for the daughter in lawe ought to be to the father in lawe in stéed of a daughter Contrariwise of rash marriages rise great discords at home And for so much as the father ought to helpe his sonne with his goods it is méete againe that the sonne should obeie his father in contracting of matrimonie In other ciuill contracts the sonne can doo nothing without the consent of his father as appéereth in the Digests De mutuo ad senatusconsultum Macedonianum Wherfore it is méet that the iudgement of the father should be tarried for in so weightie a matter The ciuill lawes touching this point The selfe-same thing haue the ciuill lawes decréed Iustinian in his institutions in the title De nuptijs will not that marriages should be firme without the consent of the parents And in the Digests De statu hominum in the law Paulus If a sonne marrie a wife against the will of his parents the child which shal be borne of those parents shall not be legitimate And in the Code De nuptijs in the lawe Si proponis the case is diligentlie to be marked The daughter marrieth by consent of hir father she afterward being agréeued at hir husband departeth from him after that he returneth into fauour and she marrieth him againe against hir fathers will It is answered that that matrimonie is not lawfull Héereby it appéereth how much those lawes estéemed the authoritie of a father Againe in the lawe Si furiosi children if perhaps their parents be mad or béerest of their wits séeing they cannot vse the consent of them in contracting of matrimonie they shall vse the consent of their tutors 18 So then it séemeth maruellous that christians at this daie determine that marriages are lawfull without consent of the parents What the Canons determine hereof And to couer this they alledge the Canons of the which I thinke it good bréefelie to declare some And first I will make mention of the better Canons which were the more ancient for the later they were decréed the more corrupt they were In the Decrées cause 30. question 5. chapter Aliter Matrimonies are then lawfull when the maidens are desired at the parents hands and deliuered openlie otherwise they are not matrimonies but whoredomes dishonest companings adulteries and fornications Thus decréed Euaristus Nicolaus also at the consultation of the Bulgars Euaristus Nicolaus cause 30. question 5. chapter Nostrates Those matrimonies are firme which be knit by the consent of them which contract them and of those in whose power they are Leo. Leo also the first in the 30. cause question 5. chapter Qualis Then it is to be counted matrimonie when the maiden is by hir parents deliuered vnto hir husband And in the 31. cause question 2. chapter Non omnis A woman which marrieth by the consent of hir father is without blame if anie man shall afterward find fault withall And thus Gratianus concludeth that place Gratian. that he saith In contracting of matrimonie the consent of the parents is alwaies to be required Further Ambrose Ambrose intreating of the place in Genesis where it is written that the seruant of Abraham came into Mesopotamia Gen. 24 47. and found a wife for his masters sonne the parents of the maid when they indeuoured to reteine him longer and he would not tarrie they called the maide and asked hir whether she would go with him After this maner he saith as also it is declared in the 23. cause question 2. chapter Honorandum They asked not hir of the wedding but onelie of the iornieng with him For it perteineth not saith he to maidenlie shamefastnesse to choose vnto hir selfe a husband And the same he affirmed of widows which be yong Although to saie the truth I cannot héerein agrée vnto Ambrose that the maiden was not demanded the question whether she would marrie him Neither doo I doubt but she was demanded as touching both maters For in the 30 cause question 2. chapter Vbi non est we read that There can be no matrimonie where is not the consent of those which contract yea euen in the marriages of the children which are but seuen yeares of age And séeing at that age they are thought to vnderstand somewhat of matrimonie necessarie is the consent of them which contract And bicause there is mention made of spousages we thinke good to note this by the waie that children so contracting ought to be seuen yeares of age for otherwise the parents can promise nothing for them Those children if they afterward being of more yeares shall contract another matrimonie the same is of effect and not the former espousals which yet must be vnderstood if the parents consent to the second matrimonie Moreouer in the 31. cause question the second chapter Tua Hormisdas answereth that children when they contract after this maner ought to stand to the will of their parents And in the Extrauagants De sponsatione impuberum in the chapter Tua it is ordeined that children when they come to ripe age
ought to obeie their parents forsomuch as they also gaue their faith and consented The Councels concerning this thing 19 I thought it good also to bring foorth somwhat of the Councels The Councell of Toledo the fourth cause question 21. chapter Hoc sanctum decréeth If widowes will not professe chastitie let them marrie to whom they will And the same it decréeth of a maiden but it addeth So that it be not against the will of the parents or hir owne Such an addition we sée that Nicolaus the second added as we find in the 27. cause question second chapter Sufficiat where he writeth after this maner To ioine matrimonie the consent of those which contract is sufficient and it followeth According to the lawes Which is added bicause the matrimonies of children be not acknowledged if they be made without the consent of the parents Yet the glose referreth not those words vnto the ciuill lawes but to the canons bicause as the Canonists saie the ciuill lawes are sometimes corrected by the canons But oftentimes it happeneth that those canons are in verie déed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Rules without rule as in the Extrauagants De coniugijs seruorum chapter the first If bond-men contract yea against the will of their lords such matrimonies shall be ratified Behold saith the glose the canons amend the ciuill lawes A disagreement betweene the canons and ciuill lawes touching the matrimonie of seruants for in them it is forbidden that a bond-man should marrie a wife against the will of his lord Yea if a frée man haue verie often recourse vnto another mans bond-woman he is made a bond-man And a frée woman if she haue much accesse vnto another mans bond-man she also looseth hir fréedome The glose saith moreouer that more is attributed vnto matrimonie than vnto holie orders bicause it is not lawfull to bring a strange bond-man into orders but it is lawfull to contract matrimonie with him Wherefore it manifestlie appéereth that the latter canons were corrupted and depraued which tooke awaie from marriages the consent of parents as a thing not necessarie But now let vs sée what reasons they pretend In the Extrauagants De sponsalibus in the chapter Cùm locum it is said that in contracting of matrimonie there ought to be a full libertie And in the same place in the chapter Veniens If anie feare happen therein the matrimonie should be void And there is giuen a reason bicause she cannot long please him of whom she is hated and bicause such contracts haue oftentimes vnhappie successe and that thing is easilie contemned which is not beloued Yea it séemeth that the canons haue so loued libertie in contracting of matrimonie that the Councell of Paris as we find in the 30. cause question the second decréed that it is not lawfull to desire a wife by the rescript of the king although the same be also ordeined in the Code De nuptijs lawe the first chapter Si nuptias ex rescripto The reason is Marriages by the letter of a king not to be liked and why bicause the rescripts of princes are in a maner imperious commandements Neither doo I disallow that although I doo not a little maruell that the canons haue procéeded so farre that matrimonie may be contracted betwéen him that stealeth awaie a maid and hir that is stolen Marriage with a stolen maid In the Extrauagants De raptoribus incendiarijs in the chapter Cùm causa A maiden that was stolen awaie out of the house of hir father and contracted matrimonie with him that did steale hir the father withstood the marriage Here the good Pope answereth Forsomuch as the maiden consenteth she cannot séeme to be stolen Wherefore he decréed that matrimonie to be good And in the next chapter Accedens If anie man had stolen awaie a maiden not onelie against the will of hir parents but also against hir owne will which maiden neuertheles if she afterward agréed with him that stole hir he decréed that firme matrimonie might be contracted betwéene them The same séemeth to be decréed in the 36. cause question the second chapter In summa where is intreated of the stealer and hir that is stolen And it is decréed If she that is stolen shall consent with him that stealeth matrimonie may be contracted betwéene them but yet in such sort that first they doo some penance But bicause some canons doo make against this decrée therefore they moderate the matter thus That wheresoeuer they read that matrimonie cannot be contracted betwéene such persons that they vnderstand to be said for some one of these thrée causes either bicause she that is stolen did not consent or else bicause she was betrothed before to another by words as they vse to speake it of the present tense for I saie not of the future tense bicause the husband was not bound to marrie one defiled either else for that she was not marriable 20 But in the Code it is far otherwise decréed touching the stealing of virgins namelie that matrimonie betwéene these persons may by no maner of meanes be contracted no not although the father giue his consent vnto hir that is stolen And Iustinian also in his Authentiks collation the ninth in the title Quae raptoribus nubunt decréeth the same to the detestation of so great a crime But our Canonists forsooth thinke matrimonies to be lawfull euen against the fathers will Wherefore in the 32. cause question 2. chapter Mulâ—er the glose saith that the authoritie of the father is vndoone as touching an oth and matrimonie when ripe age commeth which saieng the Schoole-men haue also followed Of this matter they dispute in the fourth chapter of sentences distinction 28. where they define that a man euen the sonne of the goodman of the house hath a certeine dominion ouer his owne bodie neither is so bound to his parents but that he may at his owne libertie dispose it as touching matrimonie And when they read in the Canons that the consent of the parents is required for the contracting of matrimonie they by their interpretation corrupt them How the papists vnto matrimonie require a consent of parents and saie that Euaristus Nicolaus Leo when they so decréed did iudge that the consent of the parents is required touching the honestie of matrimonie but not in respect of the necessitie Which peraduenture they drew out of the glose in the Extrauagants De sponsalibus impuberum in the lawe Tua which is after this sort that The good will of the parents must be required yet rather for the honestie of marriage than for necessitie sake So that if the parents will not assent yet are the children frée and may contract matrimonie at their owne libertie Peter Lombard Yea and the Master of sentences in the 28. distinction saith that The consent of parents serueth for the comlinesse and honestie of marriages and not for necessitie And he bringeth the words of Euaristus
contrarie religion if there ought to be so great a libertie in marriage as they feigne to be But they adde Children for feare of their parents will saie that that matrimonie pleaseth them which pleaseth them not Neuertheles the sonne is not compelled so to saie nothing letteth but that he may answer that the same wife pleaseth him not and that such a matrimonie will not be agréeable to his mind And indéed vnlesse his consent be had matrimonie may in no wise be contracted In the Digests De ritu nuptiarum in the lawe Non cogitur we read that the sonne cannot be compelled to marrie a wife And De sponsalibus in the lawe Sed ea If a daughter hold hir peace she séemeth to consent vnto the father And there are two causes alledged wherefore the daughter may gainesaie hir father if either the father offer hir a husband that is wicked or that is deformed Otherwise if none of these causes be it is required of hir that she loue him whom the father hath chosen But if she will not assent when the husband is neither deformed nor euill manered she incurreth the crime of ingratitude The punishment of ingratitude which is so great as the father may disherit hir for it And in the title De ritu nuptiarum in the lawe Si cogente patre Although the sonne haue assented for feare of the father yet bicause he had rather assent than offend the father such a matrimonie ought to be firme and ratified Vnto the former causes I would adde a third If the father offer a husband which is of a contrarie religion And I would euer counsell the parents to doo that which should be agréeable to their children vnlesse they should perceiue them to be verie obstinate vniust But when the parents behaue themselues tyrannouslie towards their children and force them to marrie wiues which they cannot abide the matter must be brought before the magistrate A remedie against the harder sort of parents It is his part to heare the cause and to deliuer the sonne from iniurie if he be ouer sharpelie oppressed Then if the sonne marrie a wife by the authoritie of the magistrate The magistrate is the father of the countrie although it be against the will of the father it cannot séeme that he hath married vtterlie without the parents consent For the magistrate is the father of the countrie The same séemeth to be decréed De ritu nuptiarum in the lawe Qui liberos And me thinketh the Schoole-men haue not well said that the children of the houshold haue power ouer their owne bodie forsomuch as they owe vnto their parents euen for the verie being which they haue They ought not to be compelled vnto marriages against their will but that they should marrie without the consent of the parents it cannot be allowed them And whereas libertie is so manie times obtruded vnto vs and the power of the bodie vaunted of let vs againe replie vpon them with the answer of God The daughters of Zalphead Num. 36 6. as touching the daughters of Zalphead who saith of them Let them haue heritage among their brethren but let them marrie in their owne tribe These women are compelled to marrie the nighest of their kinne neither hated they that libertie which these men imagine Deut. 25 5. And the brother sometimes was compelled to marrie the wife of his brother being dead neither could she marrie otherwise Therefore so great libertie is not necessarie in marriages as these men pretend Parents had leaue to sell their children And by the ciuill lawe so great is the authoritie of the father ouer his sonne that he may sell him if he fall into gréeuous necessitie And least it séeme to anie man to be a barbarous point it is permitted by the lawe of God Exod. 21 7. in Exodus the 21. chapter but yet adding certeine cautions which I thinke not good héere to repeate Wherefore they did not rightlie argue when they said that matrimonie is a kind of seruitude which the sonne ought not to take vpon him at the appointment of his father 24 And whereas they saie that the consent of parents is required for the honestie of matrimonie and not vpon necessitie it is vaine and friuolous For what greater necessitie can there be than that which the lawe and commandement of God dooth import Exo. 20 12. Ephe. 6 1. Children are commanded to honor father and mother Also Paule the apostle prescribeth them to obeie their parents in all things And the same thing writeth he vnto the Philippians verse 8. the fourth chapter That which remaineth brethren whatsoeuer things are true whatsoeuer are honest whatsoeuer iust whatsoeuer pure whatsoeuer profitable whatsoeuer things are of good report doo ye By these words appeareth that the things which be honest must not be separated from the cōmandements of God So then looke how necessarie it is to obey Gods cōmandements so necessarie it is not to marrie without the consent of the parents And whereas they ad that the consent of the parents is indéed required but yet if they will not consent the matrimonie may be firme that is nothing else but to deride the parents For what reproch is it for the sonne so to desire the consent of his father as though he be against it and gainesaie it yet neuerthelesse he will abide in his purpose and go through with the same It were much better not to desire it than to desire it with that mind This also séemeth a woonder to me that the Maister so peruerteth the words of Euaristus that when he saith that matrimonies contracted without the consent of the parents are whoredoms and fornications and not matrimonie he dare expound that the matter is not so indéed but bicause they so come togither as whormongers and adulterers vse to doo But the saieng of Euaristus is manifest They are not saith he matrimonies And indéed he addeth what they are namelie fornications adulteries and whoredomes And he saieth not that they séem to be these things but that they are so 25 There be others Gen. 28 8. The marriage of Esau which obiect the booke of Genesis where it is written that Esau married the wiues of the Chanaanits which his parents tooke in verie ill part for he had married them contrarie to their commandement and yet the scripture calleth them wiues Wherefore it séemeth that matrimonie may be contracted euen against the parents will I grant indéed that in the holie scriptures they be called wiues but yet therfore bicause he so counted them and bicause the nations among whom they dwelt so reputed them Notwithstanding it is not gathered héereby that the scriptures doo confirme such a matrimonie The same forme of speaking vsed Paule in the first to the Corinthians the eight chapter Euen as there be manie gods verse 5. and manie lords He saith that there be manie gods not that there are so
but of kin some other waie And therefore she might be called his sister after the ancient maner of speaking as though she were of some kindred vnto him but yet not so néere of kinne but that they might marrie togither And in like maner they saie of the kindred of Amram and Iochabed Howbeit I will omit these things séeing the whole matter may be made plaine by these two kind of answers before alledged Why God by his laws established matrimonies 42 It might also be demanded that if the precepts of matrimonies be morall and doo apperteine to the lawe of nature why God would also establish them in his lawes Bicause the light of nature was come to that point that it was not sufficient The brightnesse thereof was dailie more and more defaced in the harts of men Which dooth manifestlie appéere The ten commandements were obscured in the harts of men before the lawe not onelie in these but also in the tenne commandements where it is commanded that men should absteine from theft and murther And yet we read in the histories that robbing on the sea and also on the land preuailed in such sort as they might séeme to be full of honour and dignitie Plato Plato in his first booke of lawes thought that concerning procreation of children we should absteine from mothers grandmothers and the degrées aboue them againe from daughters néeces and degrées beneath them but as for other persons he made frée Ierom against Iouinian in his second booke testifieth that the Scots in his time had no certeine marriages but accompanied with their women as they lusted themselues euen with such as came first to hand He saith moreouer that the Meds Indians Aethiopians and Persians confusedlie contracted matrimonies with their mothers sisters daughters and néeces Which séemeth neuerthelesse to disagrée with that which Herodotus writeth of the Persians For Cambyses as he testifieth desired to marrie his sister for the which he asked counsell of the lawiers and wise men and demanded of them whether that matrimonie were lawfull or no. To whom they answered that they indéed had no lawe for the brother to marrie his sister but yet they had another lawe among them whereby it was lawfull for the king of the Persians to doo whatsoeuer himselfe lusted Surelie they answered well in the first part of their answer but in the latter part they most shamefullie flattered the tyrant Howbeit the things which be written by this historiographer though sometimes fabulous and those that Ierom bringeth varie not For the common sort being now corrupted with shamefull and wicked custome contracted such matrimonies howbeit the wiser sort in whom the lawe of nature did shine perceiued that those matrimonies were not lawfull although being ouercome with couetousnesse they would not forbeare them Whom Paule to the Romans hath sharpelie reprooued saieng Rom. 1 32. Which men notwithstanding that they knowe the righteousnesse of God they not onelie doo such things but also they consent vnto those which doo them And these matrimonies are knowne as it were in their owne nature to be so vnlawfull as they which heare relation made of such things be striken with an excéeding great horror Yea and they themselues which haue committed such things in the heate of their lust séeme to detest those whom they haue defiled The poets make mention of Cynara and Myrrha his daughter Cynara and Myrrha with whom hir father perceiuing that he had vnwares kept vnlawfull companie he so hated hir that he persecuted hir all that euer he might 2. Sa. 13 15. Amnon began so to hate his sister whom he had dishonested that he commanded hir to be violentlie thrust out of his sight Incests haue in a maner alwaies had vnhappie ends Ptolome Thou shalt also neuer in a maner find if thou looke into histories that incestuous marriages or carnall copulations came to good end Ptolome king of Aegypt tooke to wife by fraud and guile his sister Euridice What ill successe came therof the histories and speciallie Iustine haue plainlie set foorth Antonius Caracalla Anthonie Caracalla Nero. who married his stepmother and Nero that committed abhomination with his mother not onlie came to a most vnhappie end but according to their deserts were woonderfullie hated of the people and were openlie called monsters of mankind Wherefore we grant both that these commandements which doo prohibit those sins perteine to the lawe of nature and also that they were for iust cause renewed by God in his morall lawes 43 It may also be plainelie enough declared by another reason that incestuous marriages are forbidden by the light of nature The Romane laws forbad to marrie the brothers séeing that they were earnestlie forbidden by the Romane lawes which were counted among the most excellent and honest lawes and those marriages were speciallie named wherein anie man had married his néece by the brothers side Although Claudius Caesar when he would marrie his brothers daughter Agrippina caused the first lawe to be abrogated and to be decréed that it might be lawfull for euerie man to haue his brothers daughter to wife but there was none at Rome except it were one or two that would followe his example But the first lawe which was the best was obserued among the Romans Howbeit we must vnderstand that there were certeine persons prohibited by the laws of the Romans whereof Gods laws made no mention and yet their prohibition was not without reason So as the citizens of Rome were bound to obserue them although by the light of nature they could sée no cause why they should so doo Which kind of lawes was woont to be called peculiar bicause it séemeth to be a thing priuate vnto certeine persons I will make the thing more plaine by examples The Romans as may be séene in the Code would not that matrimonies should be made betwéene the gardian the pupill The gardian might not marrie his pupill bicause they sawe it would easilie come to passe thereby that the gardian which had consumed the goods of his pupill least he should be constrained after the time of his tutelship to render an account of those goods would sollicit the maiden to marriage which being obteined he should be frée from rendering an account of hir goods Surelie the lawe was good but yet it was not perfectlie obserued Cicero Cicero otherwise a graue man was ill reported of for the same cause for being farre in other mens debt when he had forsaken his wife Terentia he married his pupill of whose goods and affaires he had the charge as gardian Also the Romans decréed that no president of anie prouince should take to wife either to himselfe or to anie of his anie woman within the same prouince wherein he gouerned For they knew right well that it might so happen that the Pretor Proconsull or President in a prouince hauing affiance in the families and kinsfolkes comming to him by his wife might
of the Decemuiri The Decemuiri of Rome decréed also by the lawes of Solon that a woman should be without a dowrie and should bring from hir fathers house onelie thrée garments and also certeine vessels of small price bicause they would declare that the fellowship of marriage is not confirmed by riches but through the loue of children Certeinlie these things doo verie well agrée with that which is written by Paulus and Vlpianus in the Pandects as concerning the frée gift betwéene the husband and wife A custome of the Aegyptians It is written also of the Aegyptians that if they receiued dowrie of their wiues they should then be counted as their wiues bond-men Which custome did sufficientlie teach that it séemeth both infamous and vnprofitable to séeke a dowrie of our wiues when as nothing is more noble than libertie And nature hath ordeined that the husband should rule the wife A custome of the Spaniards And it is written that the Spaniards had a custome that the wiues should bring to their husbands a distaffe woond with flar in stéed of a dowrie I might reherse a great manie besides to signifie that all the men in old time allowed not that husbands should haue dowries giuen them when they married their wiues But in verie déed the lawes of GOD make mention verie often of dowrie And yet I am assured that the same was some-where vsed before the lawe In Exodus he which had defiled a virgine was bound to marrie hir so that hir father were content but if he would not marrie hir then he was forced to giue hir a dowrie euen as the lawe appointeth the dowrie of virgins to be Moreouer in the first booke of Kings the ninth chapter Pharao gaue for a dowrie vnto Salomon who had married his daughter the citie Gazar which he had taken from the Chanaanites Beside this the Romane lawes which otherwise be most indifferent of all other doo make verie much mention of dowries and haue manie whole titles wherein this matter onelie is treated The definition of a dowrie 50 But séeing we are now come thus far it séemeth méete to define a dowrie that thereby we may the easilier knowe how much must be attributed thereto by godlie men in the contracting of matrimonies A dowrie is a right to vse things which are giuen to the husband by his wife or by others in hir name to susteine the burthens of matrimonie And although a dowrie be properlie said a right of vsing yet notwithstanding those things which are giuen vnto the man are oftentimes called by this name dowrie Howbeit the end is chéeflie to be noted in this definition namelie to susteine the burthens of matrimonie It séemeth also that séeing the husband bestoweth verie much in nourishing of his wife and in the honest maintenance of hir iustice and equitie would that somwhat in like maner be yéelded vnto him Then séeing a dowrie hath this foundation of iustice there is no doubt but that it is a thing lawfull Neuerthelesse therein is an error not to be suffered bicause some are not ashamed to saie that by a dowrie concord betwéene man and wife is easilie obteined This An error touching dowrie both reason and experience teacheth to be most false Who is ignorant that that kind of fréendship which hath respect onelie vnto profit and which is grounded onelie vpon pleasure is verie fraile and transitorie Moreouer experience teacheth that mariages which be so contracted as there is no other consideration had therein but onlie the wiues beautie and hir dowrie haue verie ill successe Wherfore these are reprooued by the common prouerbe Qui vxores oculis digitis ducunt Such as marrie wiues with their eies and fingers that is which are mooued onelie with beautie and monie Dowries must be giuen with moderation and reason So then it behooueth iust lawes not altogither to take dowries awaie but rather streictlie to prouide that they be not ouer-much increased nor doone without right or reason And for this cause the Romane lawes commanded those dowries to be cut off which were greater than the abilitie of the giuer might beare as we read in the Digests De iure dotium And contrariewise we must take héed that neither parents nor tutors being ouercome with couetousnesse giue lesse than honestie requireth as it is written in the title De dote inofficiosa And bicause dowries be giuen to susteine the charges of matrimonie those cannot be excused which hauing receiued them of their wiues afterward dare vse their wiues miserablie Besides that they be vniust bicause they violate the lawe of God whereby they ought to loue their wiues as themselues and as their owne proper bodie when as they will not conuenientlie helpe them with their owne goods Yea there be some which if they were not lett by publike lawes would consume sell and vtterlie alienate their wiues dowries And that this might not be the lawes especiallie of the Romans haue carefullie prouided For they decrée that the state or title of the dowrie should remaine with the wiues although the husbands had the fruit and vse thereof so long as the marriage should last But what I praie you shall we saie of them which suffer so gréeuous and intollerable burdens of matrimonie to be dailie augmented while they too much flatter and cocker their wiues Surelie they sinne verie gréeuouslie forsomuch as now neither their owne patrimonie neither their wiues dowries can be sufficient bicause they excéed so much in sumptuous attire Certeinlie among godlie husbands and good wiues all things ought to be vsed with moderation and temperance But wherefore thinke we haue the lawes ordeined so manie things and by so manie waies concerning dowries Euen bicause they would kéepe the citizens without hurt or damage when as they marrie and are ioined togither in matrimonie Why the dowrie should remaine whole to the wife For it is expedient for the weale publike that if the husband die the dowrie should remain whole vnto the wife wherewith if she will she may marrie againe or if the wife die first that the dowrie should serue to nourish apparell and bring vp the children which are begotten in matrimonie 51 Notwithstanding thou wilt demand Whie are dowries said to be giuen vnder this title of susteining the burdens of matrimonie Euen least the same dowrie should be counted a price A dowrie is no price of marriage as though wiues and marriages were things to be sold For the which cause in the Digests gifts betwéene husband and wife are prohibited to wit that in matrimonies contracts gifts betwéene man wife be neither giuen nor receiued Furthermore when as diuorsements were giuen in manie places by that ciuill lawe if gifts betwéene man and wife had béene lawfull marriages would verie easilie haue béene dissolued Séeing if one of the married parties would not giue vnto the other so much as he demanded that partie should foorthwith haue béene refused The
yet for my part as I with all my hart imbrase those causes which be expressed in the scriptures so can I hardlie indure that diuorsement should stretch beyond these bonds And in verie déed as touching such crimes as the scripture speaketh of if a magistrate being a Christian should vse the seueritie which both the diuine lawes and the Romane lawes haue decréed to be most iust Naturall lets whereby matrimonie can no longer consist we shuld not be troubled with these discommodities I speake not now of the impediments of nature which may happen so to be and be sent in such sort by God as matrimonie cannot anie longer consist That which I haue declared I would haue it to be vnderstood onelie as touching wicked acts which of manie are thought to make matrimonie void Those things I saie cannot in my iudgement be easilie knowne otherwise than by the holie scriptures 56 Yea moreouer and in those things which the scripture hath expressed I thinke that nothing ought to be aduentured except the magistrate doo ratifie the same For matrimonie although it be ordeined by God yet as touching the circumstances it hath manie things belonging vnto the ciuill lawes and customes Wherefore they which contrarie vnto the magistrates mind and against the common lawes doo contract new matrimonies the first wife being dismissed doo incur excéeding great dangers They giue the children which be borne of the latter matrimonie such a blemish of infamie as they be commonlie taken for bastards and vnto such a shame doo they deliuer the wife whom they haue married as she is accounted an adulteresse and an harlot and doo cause that they themselues also are noted with the same dishonestie We must praie therefore The magistrate must be intreated to determin of this thing and by all meanes intreat the magistrate that he being faithfull will determine herof and that he will applie his lawes to the word of God And it must be foreséene that it be so determined as a windowe be not set open to horrible offenses whereby matrimonies are in manie places rashlie dissolued And on the other part they must take héed least while they will defend a diuorsement so made whereof the holie scriptures neuer giue anie testimonie that the bond of wedlocke still remaineth the husband and the wife being seuered and so seuered as they cannot dwell togither I saie héed must be taken that no occasion be giuen vnto fraile lusts and companie of harlots And if so be that anie for fornication sake or bicause that he will not by anie meanes that his wife should dwell with him as Paule writeth of the infidell is constreined to abide sole 1. Cor. 7 15. and liue continuallie without a wife he remaining in a doubt and not knowing what he ought to doo when the lawes will giue him no libertie to marrie a second person certeinlie there are but two remedies which he must haue recourse vnto that either when he is driuen to this streict he may now thinke that he is called vnto this single life by God whom by continuall praiers he ought to mooue and sollicit that he will be present with him whereby he may liue chastlie and purelie and when he perceiueth that iniurie is doone vnto him by the lawes let him commend his cause vnto God for that he did not wilfullie and of his owne accord cast himselfe into this state but being vrged of necessitie is constreined to reteine this lot But and if he shall altogither perceiue that he is not able to liue a chast and continent life and that he cannot be persuaded in his mind to liue single and without a wife and thinketh it expedient for him to vse the libertie which God hath appointed least he should doo it against the will of his owne magistrate and against the common lawes let him depart and get himselfe into other countries where this may be lawfull there let him marrie and addict himselfe vnto that Common-weale by whose lawes it is permitted him These things are in such sort taught by me as I am readie alwaies to heare and admit that counsell which shall be better and more perfect 57 But of this I maruell oftentimes with my selfe how it came to passe that Valentinian Theodosius and Iustinian otherwise most christian princes partlie made lawes themselues of diuorsements and partlie by their authoritie confirmed them which were made of old and that such lawes were not openlie withstood by the most godlie bishops which liued in those daies séeing otherwise Ambrose procured Theodosius to make a new lawe Ambrose procured Theodosius to make a lawe of deferring the punishment of death for certeine daies and found meanes by his authoritie that the decrées which Symmachus would haue established tooke no place Séeing therefore that those princes which were verie godlie durst ordeine such things by their lawes and that the church withstood not the same how commeth it to passe that magistrates at this daie doo stand in doubt to determine hereof Peraduenture they would saie that there would then be great store of diuorsements Which is not verie likelie séeing among the Hebrues Graecians and Romans where diuorsements were lawfull we read not that there was anie great number But and if so be they thinke that our men be woorse in these daies than either the Hebrues or Ethniks were in old time both they doo iniurie vnto the name of christianitie and by this means are brought that they the rather condescend vnto diuorsement bicause it was permitted as a remedie of wickednesse For who will haue a medicine to be taken awaie while he perceiueth the disease still to reigne 58 This moreouer ought to be certeine Christ ment such a diuorse wherin might be licence of new marriage that Christ when he excepted the cause of adulterie ment not a diuorse wherewith the wife and the husband should be separated onelie as they saie from the bed and boord and that the bond of wedlocke should still remaine The Lord spake vnto the Hebrues wherefore his words are to be vnderstood of the vsuall diuorse amongst that people Also the Ethniks Such and no other diuorse had the Romans and Grecians as well Romans as Graecians had onelie this sort of diuorse knowne among them that the one married person was so loosed from the other as new marriages might be lawfull And if so be that Christ had otherwise ment it he should haue séemed not to haue answered vnto the question propounded vnto him for they reasoned then of that kind of diuorse for the which a bill of putting awaie a mans wife was granted by the lawe The disputation was of that wherefore the words of Christ ought so to be vnderstood For whether is it more likelie that the Iewes inquired of the diuorse which they were ignorant of or rather of that which Moses had granted to them in the lawe I thinke that no man is doubtfull whether they asked of the thing which
was vsuall among them 59 What also the ancient fathers in the church haue iudged hereof it is no difficult thing to perceiue Origin granteth Origin that some bishops gaue leaue vnto wiues being separated from their husbands to marrie others which fact of theirs he saith was against the scriptures and yet he excuseth the bishops that they did it not without consideration Of the same mind shalt thou find Ierom to be in the Epitaph of Fabiola which was married to an other while hir former husband yet liued Ierom. Ierom there confesseth that she did not well therein but yet in the meane time he excuseth hir fact by sundrie and manifold reasons And it appéereth manifestlie that the other marriage of this woman was not quite cut off The bishops therefore of those times did not giue counsell to haue new marriages but it séemeth that they did bear with those which happened in the meane time Albeit as we haue recited out of Origin some of them gaue licence to marrie againe But we are to beléeue that the greater part did rather suffer than persuade A Canon of the councell of Neocesaria Wherefore I vnderstand the Canon of the councell of Neocaesaria wherin ministers of the church are forbidden to be present to blesse the second marriages to be ment as touching this sort and not of those which are renewed after the death of the other spouse forsomuch as these marriages are good and godlie and are commanded by Paule vnto whom so euer they shall be néedfull séeing he saith vnto Timothie that he would haue The yonger widowes to marrie and to bring foorth children 1. Tim. 5 14. But those other marriages in so much as the other married partie was liuing were taken for suspected although they were borne withall and therefore the ecclesiasticall blessing was not giuen to to them And this dooth the reason shew which is added to the Canon The foresaid Canon expounded for it is said For how can they inioine repentance for these marriages Whereas it is not read that euer anie repentance was inioined for second marriages after the death of the husband or wife as though they had béene sinne But for matrimonie which hath béene doone the husband being yet aliue it is manifestlie shewed in the epistle of Ierom which we euen now spake of There was repentance inioined to Fabiola although as I haue said we read that that matrimonie was neither dissolued neither yet counted vnlawfull for that woman was with the latter husband so long as he liued Ambrose admitteth three causes for a wife to depart from hir husband 60 And as concerning Ambrose how little he misliked second marriages the one partie being aliue his exposition vpon the second to the Corinthians the seuenth chapter dooth plainelie testifie where he vnderstandeth that the wife may depart from hir husband for thrée causes The one if he be an adulterer another if he be a backe-slider from the true religion the third if he would abuse his wife through lust contrarie vnto the iust vse and custome of nature for these causes saith he let a woman depart but let hir remaine vnmarried sith that is not lawfull to hir which is lawfull to the husband For if the husband put awaie his wife for fornication sake he may marrie an other And he saith verie plainlie that the mans cause in this respect is better than the womans and the reason he allegeth bicause Man is the womans head 1. Cor. 11 3. and that therefore it is not méet he should be tied by such streict lawes Peraduenture besides this reason which he brought he had respect vnto the lawe of the old testament Deut. 24. 1. where it séemeth to haue béene lawfull onlie vnto the men to giue a bill of diuorsement Which héereby is prooued bicause at no time in the scriptures there is anie mention made of women that they should giue a bill of diuorsement vnto their husbands And in the prophet Malachie Mal. 2. 16. It is confirmed by the prophet Malachie when God dooth complaine of the crueltie of husbands towards their wiues which dailie lamented in the temple and wept in their praiers making relation what they indured at their husbands hands he commandeth that he which hateth his wife should giue hir licence to depart But and if so be it had béene permitted vnto women to giue vnto their husbands a bill of diuorsement they would not haue indured such crueltie and so hard a state of life They would haue departed of themselues and would not haue waited for an admonition from the Lord which should saie by his prophet If thou hate thy wife put hir awaie And vndoubtedlie God séemeth in the old testament for sinnes sake to haue subiected the woman vnto the man by a certeine kind of seruitude so as hir state in manie things should be woorse than the state of man Num. 5 12 It was lawfull vnto the husband if he had béen gelous to make triall of hir by publike and solemne ceremonie which was not lawfull for women against their husbands Polygamie or to haue more wiues than one was sometime granted vnto men which was not permitted vnto women And we might reckon vp manie such like things which notwithstanding were not without consideration appointed by the law of GOD which would be now ouerlong to rehearse Yea and among the Romans Among the Romans also it was more lawfull to the men than to the women there was no such punishment of lusts vsed against men as was against women The woman was condemned of adulterie with what man so euer she had kept vnlawfull companie but there was no punishment vsed against the man except when he had plaid the harlot in a strange bed or had rauished those which were honest and frée borne but if he had doone wickedlie in harlots houses or against his owne handmaids there was no punishment for him 61 But Ierom in the epistle to Oceanus hath otherwise and he saith Ierom. that That which the holie scripture commandeth the man the same dooth also redound to the woman and he will haue the like decrée of both Further as touching the Romane lawes he saith In one sort speaketh Caesar and in another sort Christ one waie Paule and another waie Papinianus For my part although I cannot denie but in the lawe of Moses the condition of women and men was vnlike in respect of manie things yet in this cause as the state of our time standeth I would not subscribe vnto Ambrose against whom also Augustine is Augustine is who in the second booke and eight chapter to Pollentius De adulterinis coniugijs maketh both their states alike Notwithstanding that A vaine deuise of the Maister of the sentences which the Maister of the sentences bringeth is most vaine whose iudgement is that these things are pact into Ambrose his books by heretiks But so might all controuersies be easilie
the intent it should neuer be lawfull for man and wife to be one from an other either by occasion of sicknesse or else for other great and vrgent necessities but that married folkes may vnderstand that there should be no let in them to dwell togither and that they should not shunne to liue one with an other Thou wilt demand perhaps If the vnbeléeuing partie be prooued altogither an Atheist an Epicure which hath no regard of religion so as there is despaire of his saluation whether in that case the partie that beléeueth ought to remaine in wedlocke We answer Certeinlie when the partie married is past all hope of saluation a separation may be made for the effect being remooued there is left no place for the cause All the reason of abiding togither was for charitie sake that the faithfull man might win his wife vnto Christ But bicause it is not lawfull to despaire of anie man while he liueth We ought to despaire of no man while he liueth and he that this daie is an Atheist an Epicure and contemner of religion to morrowe perhaps will not be so séeing God hath the hearts of men in his hands therefore vnlesse there happen to be a manifest and speciall reuelation of the condemnation of such a one there ought not to be a departing But if the same partie in the meane time shal be a blasphemer and a cursser of Christ so as the beléeuer cannot remaine in matrimonie without the contumelie of Christ for perhaps the husband cannot abide to be reprehended of blasphemie or else that the truth of Christ must be defended by confession is it lawfull then to depart Yea verelie for he which honoreth Christ if he doo not deliuer his name from contumelie if he may or at the least-wise passeth not whether he séeme to consent vnto the iniurie doone vnto him he sinneth gréeuouslie and in vaine taketh himselfe to be a christian Wherefore prudentlie dooth the apostle write If the vnbeleeuer will dwell togither with the beleeuer bicause he is not iudged to be willing which dooth detest the religion of his spouse who dooth reuile his GOD with blasphemies and suffereth not that his conscience may rest in tranquillitie and quietnesse This is not to dwell togither but to torment the other partie to raise vp strife and vtterlie to ouerthrowe all domesticall peace 70 Also if it happen that the faithfull partie be weake and perceiueth him selfe by meanes of that matrimonie to fall awaie by little and little from christian religion so that he is almost led awaie from the faith and readie to fall headlong into idolatrie by being with idolaters what shall he then doo He ought not to abide for that sentence must stand sure and vnshaken We must not doo euill Rom. 3 8. that good may come thereof Neither is there anie hope then remaining that the vnbeléeuing partie can be conuerted which was the cause of reteining matrimonie naie rather it now happened contrariwise that the beléeuing partie shuld be put in ieopardie of inclining to infidelitie And this was the reason why God in the old testament appointed matrimonie which was contracted with infidels Esdr 10 11. to be dissolued by Esdras bicause men were by that meanes stirred vp vnto such worshippings as were forbidden so far off were they from winning their wiues vnto the Iewes religion Augustine Augustine in the place now cited reasoneth on this wise For this cause Paule wrote these things for that it was to be feared that if through the Gospell begun the matrimonies contracted should be made void christian religion would be condemned as though it troubled the Common-weales and did cut in sunder honest and lawfull contracts And there was added another discommoditie namelie that the vnbeléeuing partie suffering a repulse of hir husband for religion sake intangled hirselfe with new marriages whereby hir mind might be the more vehementlie hardened in infidelitie and more and more become strange vnto christian religion Which would not haue happened if the faithfull wife had tarried with him All meanes must be attempted before a diuorse be made So as it séemeth good that all meanes be attempted before a departure be had Hereby therefore we sée that Paule dooth giue leaue to depart not for religion sake onelie but in case that the vnbeléeuing partie will not dwell togither with the beléeuer So as he maketh the obstinate will to be the cause of departing rather than vnlikenes of religion séeing he teacheth that the same after a sort might be abidden And it appéereth that the sentence of Christ wherein he onelie excepteth whooredome Matth. 5 32 was not compleat séeing the apostle here added another Three gret doubts 71 Here arise thrée great doubts First it séemeth that Paule laieth open the partie that beléeueth vnto great perill for he persuadeth him to remaine with an infidell whereby he perhaps might fall into idolatrie for it is an easie matter to be seduced of the vnbeléeuing partie But it is answered that it is not so for God being then mooued by praiers will helpe the faithfull partie when he perceiueth him to followe his vocation and that he did not willinglie and of his owne accord procure those dangers Which had béene as much as to tempt God who séeth that he abideth not in this kind of marriage by his owne will or for his owne commoditie sake but that he may obeie the commandement of God and therfore will helpe him Moreouer if it happen that the beléeuer being weake perceiueth himselfe to be led from Christ he hath leaue to depart as we haue instructed before The second doubt is for that in committing of whooredome we therefore sinne bicause we take the member of Christ and make the same the member of an harlot How happeneth it here that sinne is not committed when as we make the member of Christ I meane the partie that beléeueth to be a member of idolatrie 1. Cor. 6 15. It is soone answered that we doo it not he was the member of his wife before Onlie this must be holden that there should be no parting for the Gospell sake There is no leaue giuen to him which alreadie is the member of Christ that he should become the member of an idolatrous woman to marrie with one that is an infidell but it is onelie said that he should not rashlie depart But in committing of fornication we which alreadie be the members of Christ are pulled from him and make our selues the members of an harlot Thou séest that the reason is vnlike Furthermore it commeth to passe that in coupling with an harlot either partie is vnpure as well the harlot as he which hath the companie of hir So is it not in marriage of persons of vnsemblable religion where the one partie namelie the beléeuer is pure For he which committeth whoordome is not onlie mingled in bodie with an harlot but also he consenteth with hir in the
promote If the church shall haue a great néed and he excell in vertues the maner of his birth shall be no let vnto him 1. Tim. 3 2. Titus 1 6. For Paule in his epistles to Timothie and to Titus when he diligentlie writeth of the election of bishops and priests did forbid none of this kind of men But thou wilt saie that in the old lawe bastards were excluded from the ministerie I grant it neuertheles we are not now bound to that law it was made onlie for the detestation of adulterie Yet now if they be able to profit the church greatlie their election must not be forbidden A vaine difference put by the Decretals And it is vaine which is written in the Decretals that legitimates maie be chosen but bastards ought to be reiected except with dispensation as we haue in the title De electionibus For these counterfeit colours and deceits the Romane bishops haue inuented to amplifie their dominion But the iudgement which I haue allowed agréeth with charitie and we may gather the like of it out of the ciuill lawe where it treateth De decurionibus that is of capteines ouer ten soldiers sith these were ciuill iudges for priuate cities and townes Wherefore it is decréed Bastards might be made decuriones that bastards might be made Decuriones if necessitie so required In the Digests De decurionibus in the lawe Generaliter in Paraph Debet enim The lawe therfore would haue that order namelie of Decuriones to be full Howbeit if another borne legitimate were a suter togither for the same he should be preferred before the bastard So thinke I that we must doo in the church that if anie man be as good and as apt for the ministerie being a legitimate borne let consideration be had to him before the bastard who must giue place in that case vnto him that is legitimate It is added in the lawe If they be honest and good the blemish of birth shall nothing hinder them in the same title in the lawe Spurios and in the lawe following These things haue I therefore mentioned that we might vnderstand by what right Ieptha was by his brethren thrust out and that the agréement of the ciuill lawes with the lawe of God might be perceiued Of Adulterie 17 Doublesse adulterie is a gréeuous sinne In 2. Sam. 11. 26. How greeuous a sin adultrie is Looke at the beginning of the same chapter and how gréeuous it is as Tertullian gathereth in his booke De monogamia we may perceiue by the contrarie in comparing the same vnto matrimonie Let vs consider wherein matrimonie consisteth God made man and woman he ioined them togither in one flesh wherein matrimonie dooth stand And if so be that one flesh be rent and pulled awaie so as an other is mingled and set in place adulterie is committed This heinous crime hath béene forbidden euer since the first originall of mankind as manie of the fathers haue prooued God made man and woman not men and women to the intent that euerie man should be content with his owne wife and euerie wife with hir owne husband if now then a man be not content with his owne wife he shall not haue one wife but manie Man shall leaue his father mother Gen. 2 24. and cleaue to his wife if he be pulled awaie doubtlesse he cleaueth not to hir Chrysostome vpon the 51. psalme in the first homilie saith that The fruit of adulterie is murther and poisoning In his 42. homilie vpon Matthew he saith that Adulterous women verie oftentimes practise murther and that not of one man onelie but of all them also vnto whom they thinke that their infamie may come as did Herodia Ierom against Iouinian toward the end of the first booke Whatsoeuer tumults saith he are in tragedies is the spite that is betwéene married wiues and their husbands harlots Moreouer Agamemnon was slaine by the adulterer Aegistus Atreus and Thiestes by reason of adulterie tooke in hand those cruell enterprises The rauishing of Helen stirred vp the most cruell war of Troie In this is a certeine sinke of all euill Cyprian in the second epistle of his fourth booke to Antonius writeth that In the first times there were such bishops as would neuer let adulterers to rest in the church but there were other bishops that after a good space of time if they shewed foorth anie fruit of penance would reconcile them after a sort Augustine in his 42. epistle to Vincentius the Donatist alledgeth this epistle and saith that This diuersitie of custome the bishops had and yet they kept the vnitie of the church Christ willeth that matrimonies should not be broken off and yet he so accounted of adulterie as he made it the cause why matrimonie should be vndoone By adulterie the houshold is disquieted the bed it selfe is dishonoured great iniurie is doone vnto the children for either they be bastards or else taken for bastards Bartholus Ad legem Iuliam de adulterijs in the Pandects writeth about the title of the same booke that Adulterie is the most gréeuous crime of all other except treason to wit as concerning ciuill regiment Thales Milesius iudged that periurie is not a more gréeuous sin than adulterie For a certeine adulterer was readie to take his oth that he committed not adulterie and periurie saith he is not woorse than adulterie Whether adulterie be a more greeuous sinne than idolatrie Chrysostome in his 62. homilie vpon Iohn was bold to write that adulterie is a more gréeuous sinne than idolatrie And he alloweth two reasons both which neuerthelesse are deriued from matrimonie and the nature therof Which is written by Paule in the first to the Corinthians 2. Cor. 7 12. where he decréed that A beleeuing husband may dwell with his vnbeleeuing wife but he granteth not that an adulterer may dwell togither with an adulteresse wherefore that the same is a more gréeuous fault Another reason is The beléeuing wife is not defiled with the companie of hir idolatrous husband but an adulteresse is alwaies polluted A false argument if she be ioined with an adulterer therefore he concludeth that adulterie is a thing more gréeuous than idolatrie But vnder correction of so notable a man I may saie that the arguments be weake We must not compare matrimonie with idolatrie but matrimonie and adulterie must be compared betwéene themselues These two are in such sort as the one of them in his owne nature and by the appointment of God is good and the other is sinne And whereas in matrimonie the one part is sometime an vnbeléeuer that happeneth by accident But the greatnesse of sinne must not be iudged by those things which come by chance or as they speake in the Schooles which happen by accident A beléeuing wife may dwell with an vnbeléeuing husband so he be willing therevnto For matrimonie is a good thing it is not so polluted with the idolatrie of the other partie
vnto the Corinthians 1. Co. 11 10 commandeth women to haue their head couered in the holie congregation at the least-wise bicause of the angels And euen as women ought to shadowe their face that they be not séene so on the other side men ought to temper themselues that they doo not ouer-curiouslie behold them Of which matter Tertullian wrot manie things verie well in a little booke intituled De virginibus velandis And Solomon thus wiselie admonished Lust not after hir beautie Prou. 6 25. Also Gregorie the first They saith he which abuse the outward eie be worthie to haue the inward eie shadowed Iob. 31 1. I haue made a couenant saith Iob with mine eie that I will not thinke vpon a virgine He saith not onelie that I would not looke vpon but that I would not admit into my mind an imagination of hir This séeing Dauid did not he cast himselfe into the danger which all godlie men ought to take héed of Of the punishments of Adulterie In 2. Sam. 12 14. 22 Somewhat we will declare in this place of the punishments of adulterie And this I thinke to be necessarie for me for by the gréeuousnesse of punishments we know the weightinesse of sinnes By rewards and punishments Common-weales are preserued But punishments must be applied according to the heauinesse of offenses It is verie well written in the 24. cause question 1. in the chapter Non afferamus which words be ascribed vnto Ierom but rather they are the words of Augustine The greeuousnesse of Schisme How gréeuous a sinne is Schisme or to be diuided from the church it is perceiued by the punishments laid vpon men for other gréeuous sinnes The idolatrie doone vnto the molten calfe Exo. 22 27. Iere. 36 29. God punished by a kind of death Bicause Zedechias burned the booke of the prophet God did reuenge it with captiuitie But the rebellion done against Moses and Aaron he punished more gréeuouslie Num. 16 he sent a fire wherewith those which conspired with Chore were consumed and the earth swallowed vp the seditious persons A diuision of this place We will first then consider the punishments of adulterie that we may vnderstand how heinous a sinne it is Secondlie we will sée whether the adulterer and the adulteresse should haue equall punishments and whether they be bound to like punishments and whether of them is the greater sinner Thirdlie what euils maie come by reason that these punishments are either neglected or vtterlie taken awai◠As touching the first we must search in the holie scriptures what may be found touching the punishments of adulterie after that we will descend to the reckoning vp of punishments of diuers nations then will we come to the Romane lawes and last of all vnto the ecclestiasticall and Canon lawes Of the first we must vnderstand that the diuine scriptures teach vs that The wages of sin is death Rom. 6 23. Séeing therefore that death is due vnto sinnes foorthwith after a man hath transgressed he might be put to death by the iustice of the lawe But God is not so strict an exactor he granteth as yet some space vnto life the which neuerthelesse is somtime broken off by the sword of magistrates if gréeuous crimes be committed which can by no meanes be suffered But there are other sinnes of lesse weight for which it is not lawfull to put men to death Further we will sée whether adulterie may be reckoned among those sinnes wherevnto death is due Certeinlie it was a sinne wherevnto death belonged as the holie scriptures declare vnto vs and that for good cause For by this wickednesse is hurt that societie from whence is deriued the fountaine of all friendship among men Gen. 26 11 In the booke of Genesis when Abimelech the king of Gerar had séene Isaac plaieng somewhat familiarlie with Rebecca he perceiued him to be hir husband and not hir brother Death for adulterie before the lawe Gen. 39 20. So then he charged that none vpon the paine of death should touch that woman Therefore we sée that before the law of Moses adulterie was by the Ethniks punished with death Ioseph after that it had béene laid to his charge in Aegypt that he committed adulterie with his mistresse was deliuered to the head officer of capitall crimes and was cast into prison Thamar Gen. 38 24. when she had buried two husbands and waited for the third vnto whom she was betrothed did commit adulterie and was iudged to be burnt And vndoubtedlie when a woman that is betrothed dooth abuse hir selfe she committeth adulterie For although it be not a full marriage yet is there such hope of marriage as it ought not to be polluted This did the emperour Seuerus perceiue The lawe may be read Ad legem Iuliam de adulterio in the Digests the lawe Sivxor in the Paraph Dinus In the 22. chapter of Deuteronomie Deut. 22 22 Leuit. 20 10 and in the 20. of Leuiticus by the lawe that is there giuen the adulterer adulteresse are commanded to be put to death Which sentence God in the 16. chapter of Ezechiel confirmeth verse 38. where he saith that he would bring punishment vpon the adulterous Israelits The same lawe is confirmed in the eight chapter of Iohn When the Scribes and Pharisies had brought vnto Christ a woman which was taken in adulterie they said Moses commanded vs in the lawe verse 5. that such a woman should be stoned c. So greatlie did God estéeme chastitie and vnspotted wedlocke as he would not haue so much as a suspicion to remaine betwéene them which were man and wife For in the booke of Numbers Num. 5 14. The lawe of gelousie there is ordeined a lawe touching gelousie She which was suspected of adulterie was brought vnto the priest cursses were denounced a drinke was giuen hir and straitwaie it was knowne whether she was an adulteresse or no. And if a man had married a wife and had béene able to gather and prooue by certeine signes that she was not a virgine she was punished Punishments for abusing a maid betrothed If a maiden betrothed to a husband had béene forced by anie abroad in the field the rauisher should haue béene punished with death if in the citie the damsell should also haue had the same punishment Deuteronomie 22. So then great seueritie was vsed héerein verse 13 25 Howbeit the reuenge was not committed to priuate persons the husband killed not his wife nor the father his daughter but the matter was brought before a iudge verse 27. So read we to be doone in Susanna although that historie be Apocryphall In the prophet Ieremie we read that Nabuchadne-zar rosted Zedechias and Achabus Iere. 29 22. two vnchast priests These things we haue in the holie scriptures especiallie of the old testament The Ethniks lawes for punishment of adulterie 23 The lawes of the Gentils also suffered not
the tenth booke of Titus Liuius that one Fabius Gurges which was Censor had condemned manie matrons of adulterie The amercement that they paid was monie of the which monie he afterward builded a temple vnto Venus Out of the oration of M. Cato which is rehearsed by Aulus Gellius in the tenth booke Aulus Gellius and the title is De dote we may perceiue that before the lawe Iulia was made it was lawfull to slaie both the adulterer and the adulteresse Augustine in the third booke and fift chapter De ciuitate Dei saith Women buried quicke for whooredome that The ancient Romans vsed to burie the vestall virgins aliue if they had committed whooredome but that they did not deale so seuearelie in punishing of adulterers He saith that they rather protected the temples of their idols than their owne wedlocke And no maruell it is for they worshipped adulterous gods Iupiter Mars and Venus After that time was the lawe Iulia made whereof there is mention in the Digests and in the Code Manie did falselie imagine that the same lawe had béene made by Iulius Caesar It was made by Augustus who was also called Iulius for so much as he was the adopted sonne and heire of Iulius Caesar Suetonius saith that he made this lawe and he made it vpon iust cause for his daughter Iulia and a néece that he had were most licentious monsters The emperour vsed to call them his rotten impostems When he had made the lawe there was brought vnto him a yong man taken in adulterie with his daughter Iulia. The which the emperour tooke in so euill part as he flue at him with his fists The yong man with a lowd voice cried out Thou Caesar onelie hast set downe this lawe Caesar for that he was blamed as if he had béene an inconstant man would not eate his supper for sorrowe By this Iulian lawe where first When the power of killing the adulterers was taken from the husband in the time of Cato it had bin lawfull to thrust through both the adulterer and the adulteresse then was this power taken from the husband and it was lawfull to kill the adulterer onelie In the Digests Ad legem Iuliam in the lawe Marito and in the Code in the same title in the lawe Gracchus Yet I read in Suetonius that Claudius Caesar killed Messalina vnder the name of adulterie but for so much as he was an emperour he did what he would It was lawfull for an husband to kill the adulterer although not absolutelie but when he should be taken with the maner and in his owne house Neither might he doo it to euerie one but to one of the common sort for if it had béene a noble man vnto whom he ought a reuerence it was not lawfull yet might he kéepe him shut vp in his house 24. houres vntill he did bring witnesses We sée that there was some exception of persons Why leaue was taken awaie from the husband to kill his wife a reason may be giuen Husbands doo somtime beare hatred vnto their wiues when they be contentious or deformed They might couet to gaine a dowrie and to marrie an other woman therefore the lawe would not condescend that the wife should be slaine Howbeit it was lawfull for the father of the adulteresse to slaie both as well in his owne house as in the house of his sonne in lawe as may be séene in the Digests Ad legem Iuliam But it was not lawfull for him to kill the adulterer vnlesse he also killed his daughter the reason was this that Nature teacheth the parents to loue their children hartilie whereby it is probable that he would not slaie his daughter vnlesse she were taken in adulterie 25 Seneca in his first Declamation Seneca séemeth to affirme that it should be lawfull to kill them both For he put this case A certeine soldier which had lost his hands in war found his wife to haue fellowship with an adulterer euen while the act was committed he called his sonne to slaie them The sonne refused to obeie wherefore the father reiected his sonne it is demanded whether he did this iustlie or no But perhaps Seneca had respect vnto the time of Cato But if so be the husband when he was in a furie had killed his wife being an adulteresse he by the Romane lawes should haue easier punishment than if he had béen an absolute murtherâ—e For he fell not into the danger of the lawe Cornelia of murtherers his punishment was erile Which is to be séene in the Pandects Ad legem Corneliam de sicarijs in the first and third lawes Whervpon when it is said by the Canonists the 33. cause question the second in the chapter Inter haec that Sometime it was lawfull by the Romane lawes to kill a wife being taken in adulterie not by the Ecclesiasticall lawes ye must vnderstand that the matter is not altogither so but bicause the punishment was light after a sort it was said to be lawfull Or else perhaps they which made those canons had respect vnto the lawes of Lombardie in the which that was lawfull Let vs also adde that the husband might by the Romane lawes slaie the adulterer not onelie when he tooke him at home with the maner so as he could not denie it but also out of the house when the case were so that he was suspected and that the husband could bring testimonie that he had giuen him warning once twise thrise that he should not haue communication with his wife Howbeit if he had found them talking familiarlie togither in the temple or place of praier then it was not lawfull so to doo but they were deliuered vnto the bishop or defender of the church But the bishops were manie waies against the putting of them to death neither would they giue licence to kill them It séemeth that those first Canonists were led with a desire of sauing soules that they should not die vpon the sudden without repentance The latter Canonists fauoured this matter perhaps bicause they more than others laie in wait for the chastitie of other mens wiues Wherefore there were manie punishments for adulterie prouided by this lawe Iulia. The effect of the lawe Iulia touching adulterie First the crime was brought before publike assemblie the accusation was admitted not rashlie forsooth but by a certeine order The wife if she accused hir husband of adulterie was not heard but she hir selfe was accused The first place was giuen to the husband the second to the father brethren and vncles also might accuse and afterward at certeine times place was giuen vnto strangers Diuorsement was ordeined betwéene them they lest the dowrie and donation which came by marriage Both the adulterer and adulteresse became infamous but after sundrie fashions the adulterer not vnlesse he were condemned the adulteresse so soone as she was attached And there was some certeine peculiar thing in the crime it selfe It was not
I answer If it were lawfull yet that lawe was not iust as the fathers thought I adde It is no maruell if it were not lawfull vnto women for they handle not weapons but are subiect vnto men and in this respect there is some inequalitie And in that there was vsed to be a putting awaie of the woman by the man To the fourth I saie it was a decrée of men as Ierom citeth in the sentence now alledged Assuredlie Theodosius as we find in the Code De repudijs in the lawe Consensus giueth authoritie vnto the wiues to put awaie their husbands and he declareth manie causes why There is an excellent place of this matter in the Decrées cause 32. question the fift in the chapter Christiana religio where it is written that Adulterie is condemned in both sexes alike And bicause some were offended for that they sawe men oftentimes put awaie their wiues and wiues to be more often excommunicated for adulterie than husbands answer is made that it is not bicause sinne is lesser in man than in woman but for that men might haue more frée authoritie against the women And therefore forsomuch as the church dooth not iudge vnlesse it be in matters which be manifest it commeth to passe that women are more often taken than men and are excommunicated suffer diuorsement Also we knowe that in the old lawe Deut. 24 1. it was lawfull for men to giue a bill of diuorsement vnto women but contrariewise that the same was not lawfull for women therefore it séemeth that God did attribute more vnto men I answer that the case must be weighed for the which God would haue this bill of diuorsement to be giuen It had béen an easie matter for men to kill their wiues when as they might not be rid of them but this was lesse to be feared of women bicause it dooth seldomer happen Another argument was To the fift that it was prouided by the lawes that If a woman coupled hir selfe with another mans bondman or kept shamefull companie with him she shuld be brought into bondage but it was not so ordeined against men that they should become slaues according as Vespasian persuaded the Senate of Rome as Suetonius reporteth But it is answered that men made this decrée If it had béene in women to haue decréed the same they would haue prouided otherwise Moreouer it appéereth that Plato in the second booke of his lawes counted both alike both the men which kept vnlawfull companie with bond women and the women which did the like with bondmen Besides they that would make a difference are in the danger of that saieng of Paule Rom. 2 1 In the same thing that thou iudgest another thou condemnest thy selfe for thou dooest euen the same things that thou iudgest But it was added That lust hath alwaies béene counted a more shamefull thing in women than in men To the sixt Of whom hath it béene so accounted Of men But will we saie is it so if we respect the will and commandement of God Man and woman vndoubtedlie be all of one lumpe Further women be the vnperfecter and of the lesse iudgement it is mans part to guide them and to haue charge of them How can the lust be more filthie in woman than in man Vnles perhaps we will haue this respect that womens shame is more manifest they become with child the matter apéereth the shew is more euident in them but if we consider the commandement and lawe of GOD the case is all one with them both 33 But they saie that It is the common opinion of men that if a man ioined in matrimonie haue copulation with a woman being frée and at libertie he committeth not adulterie but that whensoeuer a woman that is married haue copulation with an other she is counted an adulteresse So as there is a difference To dissolue this reason manie things are to be said The Etymologie of adulterie First if we séek the etymologie of the word adulterie it signifieth To go to the wedlocke bed of an other Wherefore in what sort so euer it be doone be it of man or woman it is all one Indéed I knowe that the ciuill lawes haue iudged and determined that it is adulterie when there is wicked societie with a married woman For if the same be either widowe or virgine they saie it is whooredome and that adulterie is onelie to haue fellowship with hir that is married This is the opinion of the lawiers as appéereth Ad legem Iuliam de adulterijs in the lawe which beginneth Inter liberas personas Adulterie defined Wherevpon Azo a famous lawier defined Adulterie to be the lieng with the wife or spouse of an other man and that to speake properlie which I adde bicause Ierom in his 2. treatise against Iouinian towards the end writeth the opinion of Xystus one of Pythagoras sect that if the husband moderate not himselfe in concupiscence with his wife he committeth adulterie but this is not proper adulterie the deflowring of cōcubins or handmaidens which be ioined in marriage with bond-men is not taken for adulterie Indéed it was sinne and there was an action commensed either of the law Aquilia or else of trespasse as against a seruant corrupted but not to appeach him of adulterie But we are to iudge otherwise by the holie scripture The lawiers by their leaue haue not well defined adulterie This did Chrysostome note who in his epistle to the Thessalonians writeth thus The Romane lawes punish women which be taken in adulterie but men they doo not punish yet God will punish them for without all doubt it is adulterie Augustine in his booke De fide operibus the 18. chapter saith that They be adulterers which haue other mens wiues in place of their owne and adulteresses which haue other womens husbands And so a woman that is set at libertie and vseth a strange man in stéed of hir owne committeth adulterie The same Augustine De bono coniugali contra Iouinianum the fourth chapter writeth An other definitions of adultrie that Adulterie is a violating of the faith of wedlocke When a man therefore hath accesse to an other mans wife whether she be frée or knit in marriage adulterie is committed by him that is the husband And a little after he saith It is adulterie when there is carnall fellowship with an other man or an other woman against the couenant of marriage How oft therefore so euer it be doone against this couenant by the testimonie of Augustine it is adulterie If I should define it thus would I saie that Adulterie is a venereous action wherein there is carnall fellowship with that flesh which is not bound to it selfe by the lawe of matrimonie but vnto an other Now let vs sée the parts of the definition Action is the genus or generall word and bicause the actions of men be diuers venereous is added for the difference Againe there is
saieng we haue in the Decretals De adulterijs in the chapter Si vir sciens and it is the Councell of Arles A man which reteineth an adulteresse is partaker of the crime Also If a woman being put awaie should be married to an other although hir latter husband be dead she may not returne to the first for she is now become vncleane vnto him as we haue it in the 24. chapter of Deuteronomie verse 4. Reasons which make for reconciliation 40 But now passe we ouer these things and let vs sée the reasons which make for reconciliation That most mightie and excellent God of ours would be the spouse of his church and that not onelie in this our age but also in the daies of the fathers Howbeit the church speciallie in old time did oftentimes decline vnto idolatrie and plaid the harlot with the gods of the Gentils as we may read in sundrie places in the booke of Iudges and in the historie of the Kings and in the Prophets Ierem. 3 1. Yet neuerthelesse Ieremie in the name of God called hir home that she might returne againe to hir husband And euen so did the prophet Ose and that with manie spéeches Ose 2 19. And if God be readie to receiue his adulterous wife man ought also to be reconciled vnto his wife especiallie if she fall from hir error and repent For how manie so euer be Christians they professe the following of God There is extant an example of Dauid 2. Sam. 3 14 which brought home againe his wife Michol although she had béene bestowed by the father to an other man Iustinian Iustinian also in his Authentiks when he commandeth an adulteresse to be beaten and closed vp in a monasterie yet dooth he giue leaue vnto the husband to take hir vnto him againe if he will within the space of two yeares and so dooth most manifestlie allow of reconciliation Augustine in his second booke vnto Pollentius Augustine laboureth verie much in this to haue them reconciled For in his time there were manie which would not take their adulterous wiues as they which were now spotted and polluted Wherevpon he wrote But doost thou thinke hir to be polluted whom baptisme and repentance hath purged and whom God hath made cleane She ought not to séeme polluted vnto thée And if that she be alreadie reconciled by the keies of the church and admitted into the kingdome of heauen by what right maist thou repell hir from thée In the 32. cause question 1. these words also are written If she be fallen thou maist knowe that to fall is common among men and mercie ought to be shewed to hir if she be risen againe For the same would we haue doone vnto vs. And extreame lawe is extreame iniurie In the Decretals De adulterijs stupris in the chapter Si vir sciens we read out of the Councell of Arles An adulteresse if she be penitent ought to be receiued The Glosse in that place asketh by what lawe or right she should be receiued It answereth Not of necessitie bicause the man cannot be compelled whether he will or no to take hir Wherfore he ought by the lawe of honestie to bring hir home againe But I would aske the question Ought he not to take hir home by the dutie of godlinesse and precept of God when as Paule saith vnto the Philippians Doo whatsouer things be honest iust Phil. 4 8. And so the necessitie of the cōmandement taketh place therein Howbeit the Glosse ment there of the outward lawe of pleading whereby no man may be constreined to take an adulteresse againe But in the Canon now cited is added Not often for if she fall often into adulterie she should not be receiued The Glosse there obiecteth Christ against himselfe who being demanded How oft a man should forgiue his brother when he sinneth against him answereth Not seuen times onelie Matt. 18 22. but seuentie times seuen times Vnto this he saith that the words of the canon must be vnderstood that when the adulteresse dooth so often straie the church shall make no intercession for reconciliation partlie bicause there would be a windowe opened vnto wickednesse and partlie for that it is thought to be but a feined and counterfet kind of repentance Also there is added another answer namelie that it is spoken for terror sake that the people might not sinne too boldlie and licentiouslie Hereby it is gathered that the church ought to make intercession for repentance to the intent there might be a reconciliation Wherefore the adulteresse either sheweth tokens of repentance or else sheweth none if she shew anie the church ought to make intercession for hir that there may be a reconciliation but if she shew none intercession of the church shall not be vsed otherwise it might be thought to be a supporter of sinnes An answer to the reasons on the contrarie part 41 Now must we make answer vnto the arguments which séemed to be a let vnto reconciliation As concerning the ciuill lawes they must be amended by the word of God Ierom and Chrysostome speake of the adulteresse which will not repent And this is plainelie perceiued by the Councell of Arles For so it is there The Councell of Arles A man which reteineth an adulteresse is partaker of the crime yet neuerthelesse if she repent let hir be receiued But why the lawe of Moses would not suffer Deut. 24 4. that a wife being once put awaie should returne to hir first husband after the death of the second the cause may easilie be shewed For if he had permitted this diuorsements would soone haue béen admitted in hope that the wife should at one time or other recouer hir husband againe God would that she which was once put awaie might not returne anie more least she should be put awaie vpon small occasion There might also haue béene lieng in wait for the latter husband that the wife when the latter were taken awaie might returne againe to the first Wherefore the lawe of God was most equall which perteineth not vnto adulteresses whom by the commandement of God it behooued to stone vnto death By these things now it appéereth that it is lawfull for the husband to returne againe into fauour with his wife that hath béene an adulteresse so that she be penitent who neuerthelesse ought to accuse his wife of adulterie if the crime be openlie knowne or if she doo perseuere in wickednesse or else if the issue be borne by adulterie least the lawfull heires should be defrauded For vnlesse that accusation should be a remedie a man might not disherit his child borne in adulterie Further the church may make intercession and deale with the husband for to bring home his penitent wife againe So as our Leuit must not be blamed for receiuing of his adulterous wife into fauour if so be that she did repent hir of hir adulterie Of VVine and Droonkennesse 42 Now
who to helpe man that by his owne default was made subiect vnto the vntemperatenesse of the aire to cold and to raine hath clothed him with garments ¶ Of the apparell of ministers looke the epistles to certeine English men at the end of this booke 1. Cor. 7 34. 58 And where it is written that She which is married dooth care to please hir husband some refer the meaning thereof vnto decking and apparelling of themselues The apparelling of women the which no doubt being kept within the bounds that it be not as the apostles said in curled haire in golden iewels or pretious garments is not against the word of God By it selfe it is neither good nor euill And the thing in his owne nature is neither good nor euill for we may both vse the same well and ill It is verie oftentimes good and to be vsed not for it selfe sake but by the fault of the other married parties A warning to husbands Those husbands be somwhat inconstant which will neither loue their wife if she be not trimlie decked nor yet will be content with hir alone Hest 5 1. Hester garnished hir selfe and is not reprooued in the scriptures she did not those things through hir owne vanitie or vaine desire of pleasing but by reason of the vnperfectnesse of hir husband A similitude So likewise a mother when hir child will not leaue crieng oftentimes singeth and otherwhile danseth not bicause these things as they be in themselues doo like hir but that she séeth they must be vsed by reason of the childs fault But we must beware of the sinnes which may happen by such kind of trimming that in costs and charges a meane be not excéeded least peraduenture by ill examples we might be led with vaine affection to cleaue therevnto and prouoke the lusts of the beholders And therefore Hester said Hest 14 16. that such kind of apparelling was vnto hir as it had béene a defiled cloth Euen by these words namelie To please hir husband husbands are noted to be verie effeminate bicause they dote too much on their wiues and for that cause doo manie times sinne Wherefore by Augustine they be called no husbands Augustine but ardent louers Howbeit we must not thinke that it should be imputed as a fault vnto husbands if they giue some place vnto their wiues in honest things séeing they be commanded in the epistle to the Ephesians Ephe. 5 25. Yee husbands loue your wiues as Christ loued his church who gaue himselfe for the same In like maner it is the wiues part that she indeuour to doo those things which hir husband commandeth After which sort if she couet to please him she ought not to be rebuked but to be praised All that I haue spoken may be noted in the words of the apostle to wit that in matrimonie the husband and wife must be carefull to please one another But againe I giue warning that these things by themselues and of their owne nature are not agréeable vnto matrimonie when they shall be abused but then are they ioined thervnto rashlie or as they terme it by accidents Of Counterfet Fuke or false colouring 59 Now it shall be verie méete to dispute somewhat of fuke or false colouring In 2. King 9 at the end whether the same be lawfull or no. First we will begin with the name A diuision of the treatise of fuke afterward we will treat of the matter it selfe further we will bring the reasons whereby some indeuour to allow the vse of this kind of medicine shortlie after the contrarie shall both be affirmed and prooued lastlie shall be discussed the reasons at the first alledged As concerning the first An interpretation of the word fuke Fucus among the Latins is a Dorre or Drone much like vnto a bée yea and of some it is thought to be a bée vnperfect not fullie absolute it wanteth a sting neither dooth it worke honie but gréedilie eateth vp the bées honie And so by translation they which be idle and slothfull men be called Fuci or such as haue but the face and shew of men who notwithstanding that they shunne all labour themselues yet doo they eate and drinke abundantlie in so much as some thought that the word was deducted of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is To eate and consume For this harme sake the bées driue them from their hiue Wherefore Virgil in his Georgiks saith Ignauum fucos pecus à praesepibus arcent that is The honnie-making bees doo driue The drones an idle beast from hiue Also Fucus is taken for the colour wherewith cloth and wooll is died As we haue it in the first lawe of the Code Quae res vendi non possunt In which lawe Gratian Valentinian and Theodosius doo decrée that vpon paine of death none should sell cloth or wooll died in purple bicause the emperour would be clothed therewith alone But we héere intreate of that kind of counterfeit colour which is a medicine or colour wherewith the face is painted that it might séeme the more beautifull Of the Hebrues it is called Puc of the verbe Haphac which is To change or turne the right forme And certeinlie it is a true and apt etymologie for by such maner of paintings countenances and faces are turned and altered séeing they appéere to be farre otherwise than nature hath appointed By a generall word they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ornaments of the face bicause they serue for the ornament and decking of women They call it also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherof as I thinke the Latines deriued Fucum and not of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I alledged before out of other mens opinion And they call Cerussa or white lead particularlie by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stibium is a white stone in the siluer mines the which we call Stibium And Purpurisse they name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a red painting These things also haue an other name whereof Plinie maketh mention in his 23. booke the 4. chapter and Tertullian in his booke De cultu foeminarum namelie Calliblepharum so called bicause they make the eie lids and browes more beautifull to behold And thus much touching the names Now let vs come to the matter it selfe which cannot be better knowne than by the proper causes of the same The end of such curious trimming 60 The end of such curious trimming is to procure beautie to alter the face whereby one may appéere the trimmer and blemishes may be hidden or else to bring in a better fauour than nature hath wrought And the chéefe colours which the fine dooers of these things doo practise is either whitenesse which is doone with white lead or rednesse which is brought to passe by Purpurisse or else blackenesse vsed by the meanes of the stone Stibium Also they colour their haire
other cause permit a diuorsement but to take awaie the occasion from cruell husbands of murthering their wiues He also forbad matrimonie with idolaters strangers for feare of corrupting sound religion 72 Hereby we may easilie sée what account God made of occasions And it appéereth not to be true which these men suppose that we must not iudge of mens actions according to the occasions Also how we are to estéeme of occasions the Romane lawes doo teach For in the booke of the Digests in the title Si quadrupes pauperiem fecisse dicatur it is decréed that The owner of the foure-footed beast shall either deliuer the same beast that hath doone the hurt or else paie the value of the harme And in the title Ad legem Aquiliam manie punishments are prouided against occasions and against those things which are doone by chance If a maister shall be ouer-cruell to his scholer so as afterward he put him in perill of his life he is in the danger of that lawe although his mind was to teach and not to hurt or wound Also the physician standeth in danger if he cut not a seruant as he ought to doo when as there is no doubt made touching his will in the dooing of it Likewise that man which shall take mules to be handled and gouerned and afterward either for his vnskilfullnesse or for his weakenesse is not able to restraine their violence whereby there is harme doone he is punished when as yet his weakenesse and want of skill doth after a sort lighten his offense But the lawes haue a consideration that he knowing his owne infirmitie and want of skill should not haue taken that charge vpon him And they that in throwing darts or shooting of arrowes in game happen to kill a seruant passing by the high waie they be in danger of the lawe Aquilia Also they which make pitfals for to take wild harts or beares if men or cattell fall therein by chance those men be punished In like maner if he that is appointed to be the kéeper of a burning fornace fall asléepe and the fier breaking out setteth all on fier he is punished though he were the occasion not the cause of the burning Héereby it appéereth that euen the occasions of harmes are iudged to be offenses Wherefore it is a common saieng that He that giueth the cause séemeth to haue doone the harme Wherein occasion differeth from cause But our aduersaries will saie We reason not of the cause but of the occasion But I beséech you let these men tell me what is occasion The same vndoubtedlie is a cause also although not so full and perfect For euen as an offense is of two sorts giuen I meane and taken euen so we saie Offense of two sorts that occasions is of two sorts namelie taken and giuen Occasion of two sorts It shall be called an occasion taken in respect that when a man indeuoureth to doo well and according to the precept of the lawe others take occasion of defaming and slandering his good purposes in this case he that dooth well is not to be accused of sinne neither must he leaue off from his good enterprise bicause of them which speake euill But he is said to giue an occasion which by dooing of euill or by not absteining from such things as he might either by his example or by some other meanes dooth stirre vp some man to sinne Besides in this degrée are women that paint themselues to be reckoned bicause they offend and giue offense by their vnhonest dooing and by not desisting from that from which they might easilie temper themselues For whereas it is not vnknowne vnto them that manie of the beholders be inflamed and perish through their counterfet colours yet will they not refraine from them speciallie séeing that in those things a small fault yea sometimes no fault almost at all is condemned Euen as there is no doubt but that a maister which séeth his seruant strike or kill an other is in danger of the law Aquilia as saith Vlpianus in Lege Aquilia in the Digests in the same title For that the knowledge sight is taken for the suffering since he did not forbid it when he might as Paule the lawier sheweth in the lawe following in the Digests in the same title Therfore it is not true that these men affirme that we shuld neuer iudge by occasions séeing they ought to auoid all things which may giue occasion and offense as I haue declared 73 They said moreouer that in following of our opinion it might not be lawfull to make shew either of gold or of iewels least the beholders thereof should fall into naughtie desires and should wish them to be theirs although it were by wrong meanes Héervnto we answer that there is great difference betwéene counterfet colours naturall beautie such as is in gold siluer and pretious stones which sometimes are necessarie to be shewed foorth to the eie as in the crowne of a king in principall bankets and vpon certeine other causes Further it was obiected that if the matter should be thus it might neuer be lawfull for a woman indued with naturall beautie to step out of hir house least she should giue an occasion of naughtie desires Héerevnto we answer that it should be verie well doone of faire maidens The part of a beautifull damsell and comelie matrons to kéepe at home so much as is possible Wherevpon the snaile among the Ethniks was an honest matrons cognizance bicause that creature dooth continuallie hide it selfe in his shell And Paule reprooueth the widowes which wander from house to house Let them remember the ill hap of Dina which gadded abroad to be acquainted with the maners and qualities of strange women Salomon also saith that The vnchast woman is a wanderer vp and downe but the honest woman setleth hir selfe at home But thou wilt saie that she must sometimes go abroad vnto godlie sermons to comfort the afflicted and them that be sicke speciallie if they be of hir kindred I grant that these be necessarie duties in the dooing whereof let women so wiselie behaue themselues as they brag not of their beautie but let them rather modestlie dissemble it that if there happen anie euill afterward they may be excused bicause they gaue not their indeuour to anie lewd or forbidden thing Lastlie it was obiected that these things be the creatures of God therfore indifferent wherevpon it was concluded that we may vse them But we replie that we may vse them rightlie but not abuse them If this were a strong argument gluttons droonkards should be excused For they would saie that bread other victuals also wine be the works of God therefore we take our pleasure of them Also the workers of idols would pretend that the marble stone iuorie gold siluer and wood are the creatures of God and héereby would saie that it should be lawfull for them to vse them at their owne
time departed vnto the mountaine Luke 21 37. but in the daie time he returned vnto the people And when the apostles were returned whom he had sent foorth to preach Mark 6 31. he led them awaie for a little while into the desart that they might there rest refresh themselues For this cause perhaps Lent was first instituted that men Whie Lent was instituted which all the yéere had béene occupied with ciuill busines might that season at the least wise giue themselues to deuotion This doo the popish bishops pretend But admit that it was first instituted for this cause let them ponder wherto it is now fallen at the length doubtlesse vnto méere superstition whereby there is no other thing offered vnto the people but choise of meats old wiues fables vngodlie songs and pilgrimages which commonlie they call stations verie prophane and idolatrous In the meane time there is no mention made for the diminishing of couetousnesse lust lecherie and other wicked acts Further it were conuenient that men through so long a fast should become the better but after Easter they are become much woorse Paule toke vpon him the vow of the Nazarites verse 18. verse 20. 10 But returne we to the vow of the Nazarites Paule séemeth to haue vowed it séeing in the 18. chapter of the Acts of the apostles he polled his head in Cenchrea and in the 21. chapter he was persuaded of the elders to doo it There be here saith he foure men which haue a vow thou shalt be with them There the shauing of the head declareth that that vow perteined to a Nazarite for as it is written in the lawe Num. 6 ver 6 9 c. If it had happened that the Nazarite in the time of the vow which he had taken vpon him had defiled himselfe ouer the dead or by anie other meanes the vow was broken And it was the Nazarites dutie to come vnto the tabernacle and to declare vnto the priests what had happened to poll his head to offer sacrifice and so to begin anew the vow of a Nazarite for whatsoeuer he had before obserued it was taken to be vncleane and of no force So Paule as if some thing had happened vnto him among the Gentils where he had béene conuersant would be purified in the temple as though he should haue begun the obseruation of his vow againe A feigned deuise of the Papists concerning Moonks The Papists crie that by this vow of the Nazarites there was a certeine shadowe at that time of their religious Moonkerie Neither doo they consider that the vowes of the Nazarites were instituted by the word of God Let them shew on the other side the commandement of God for their Moonkerie which thing if they cannot doo then there resteth nothing but that we may say that the ordinances of Moonks are not the vowes of Nazarites but of superstitious men a certeine ridiculous imitation or an euill zeale of the old vow of the Nazarites So likewise in old time superstitious men when they sawe that Abraham would haue offered his sonne Whence came the drawing of children through the fire and that for the same cause he pleased God verie well they also would néeds offer their sonnes and make them passe through the fire by which most wicked deuise they offended God most gréeuouslie But our worshipping must leane vnto the word of God Indéed ciuill institutions though they be without the expresse word of God may be receiued so that they be not repugnant to the word of God but the seruice of God and religion must be deriued from no other thing but onelie from the word of God But I beséech you let them shew me from whence they haue the vow of perpetuall sole life or how can the same agrée with the Nazarites First Gen. 1 28. it is against the creation of man séeing it was said vnto the first parents Increase and multiplie 1. Cor. 7 9. Further it is against the saieng which Paule rehersed He that cannot conteine let him marrie They vow pouertie also Against the vow of Moonks But what maner of pouertie Forsooth to liue by begging A goodlie vow when they will be mainteined by the labours of other men Vndoubtedlie this is against charitie séeing Paule saith vnto the Ephesians He which did steale Eph. 4 28. let him steale no more but rather let him labour with his hands that he may haue wherewith to giue vnto him that suffereth necessitie But thou wilt saie that of the Moonks there be some which are rich I grant that but they also doo contrarie to the word of God wherein it is commanded that He which laboureth not should not eate 2. Thes 3 10 Besides this they doo vow obedience But vnto whom To certeine men When as Paule plainlie writeth Be ye not made the seruants of men 1. Cor. 7 23. But they saie I hold of Francis I of Dominike I of Benet whereas Paule would not suffer that the christians should saie 1. Cor. 3 4. I hold of Paule I of Apollo and I of Cephas Wherefore then doo they saie that they agrée with the Nazarites Let vs diligentlie examine euerie thing The Nazarites shaued not their haire but these men shaue it They are not agreeable to the Nazarites but rather be contrarie The Nazarites did drinke no wine but these men glut themselues therewith The Nazarites came not to funerals but these men desire nothing so much as the funerals and obsequies of the dead Howbeit these things I will ouerpasse this onelie I adde although in the Iewish religion the vow of the Nazarites was the principall vow yet were they not forbidden to marrie Origin In other vowes saith Origin they gaue either a shéepe or a goat or an oxe or some other thing but in this kind of vow they offered themselues and yet their state agréed well enough with matrimonie 11 As touching Samson he became a most strong yoong man Who would haue thought that the same should euer haue come to passe The parents were not commanded to instruct him in the art of warfare or to send him foorth vnto warre Thou wouldest much rather haue thought that his bringing vp should haue béene as a Moonke than as a soldier But God was minded to shew that all the strength which Samson was to haue should be deriued from his spirit And in that he should be a Nazarite all his life time as Samuel also was that was particular and aboue the common institution of others by the déed I meane and not by the right or vow of the parents Iudg. 13 ◠Samson ought to haue obeied although he had not vowed bicause the word of God came betwéene 1. Sam. 1 11. Howbeit touching Hanna the mother of Samuel Whether it was lawful for Hanna to vow for hir sonne it may be doubted how it was lawfull for hir to vow for hir son for
and therefore verie manie of them in those daies were married But now that the church is increased we be not vrged with that necessitie wherfore it is iustlie decréed that onelie vnmarried men should be chosen The primitiue church had more plentie of ministers than be now 5 But I beséech you let these men consider with themselues that in the same first time when the feruentnesse of the holie Ghost did so much flourish there were a great manie more méet for the ministerie than now there be by reason of the excéeding plentie of grace and spirituall gifts Besides this the church being inlarged and spread abroad it néedeth many more ministers than it did at that time Furthermore there is a great necessitie that constreineth vs namelie bicause men at this daie are more weake than they were at that time Which also their Popes denie not for in the distinction 34. chapter Fraternitatis Pelagius iudgeth that a deacon who being in waie of preferment hath committed fornication and yet hath a wife of his owne should be the more gentlie intreated bicause in these daies not onelie bodies are become féeble but honestie and maners also If they be not ignorant of this weaknesse of our times which is farre greater than in old time it was they ought not to take from thence the remedie where they perceiue a greater necessitie Neither is it méet that they should dissemble the necessitie of this age when as they obiecting vnto vs the maner of the old church dare alledge against vs the necessitie thereof There is a necessitie in ech part and therefore if there be a consideration had of the one there must be also a consideration had of the other There be some among them which saie that ministers in the old time had wiues and sometime vsed them but they denie that it was lawfull at anie time to marrie wiues after they had taken orders They erre vndoubtedlie for in the Ancyran Synod as it is written in the decrées The Ancyran Synod the 28. distinction in the chapter Diaconi It is decréed that if a deacon while he is ordering shall refuse the purpose of continencie when the same is required of him and shall testifie that he will not liue without a wife Whether it be lawfull for a minister to marrie after he haue receiued orders if the same deacon after he haue taken orders doo contract matrimonie he shall not be hindered but maie fréelie execute his ministerie By which place we are manifestlie taught that it was lawfull to contract matrimonie after orders receiued Which Gratianus sawe well inough and therefore he writeth Gratian. that as touching that Synod there ought a due consideration to be had both to the time and place for it was held in the East church which in promoting of ministers admitted not the promise of continencie But as touching time he addeth that as yet this continencie of ministers was not then brought into the church But if thou wilt aske when that Councell was held we answer that as it also appeareth by the same decrées it was held vnder Syricius and Innocentius which liued in the time of Ierom and Augustine 6 But it is a iollie thing to sée how tyrannie hath increased How punishments dailie grew vpon the clergie men which contracted matrimonie The Councell of Neocaesaria and how vngodlinesse by little and little hath taken root At the beginning the ministers of the church which contracted matrimonies were not altogither handled so seuerelie For the Councell of Neocaesaria as it is recited in the 28. distinction in the chapter Presbyter onelie commanded such to be depriued from their office but not from their benefice for they were still mainteined and did receiue their stipends from the church Neither in the meane time will I passe ouer that that Councell did cast out of the church such priests as were adulterers and whoremoongers namelie in excommunicating them which was a verie méet and iust thing where as our men now a daies doo excéedinglie winke at those sinnes After this they began not onelie to put them out of their offices but also as they terme it to remooue them from their benefices as it is written in the 33. distinction in the chapter Eos and in the chapter Decreueruâ—t Yea and those which so married they sent them awaie either into a Monasterie or else into some strait place to doo penance but in our time they doo burne manie of them And afterward they were also in a great rage with the séelie women whome the ministers had married as we find in the 18. distinction out of a certeine Councell holden at Toledo in the chapter Quidam where it is commanded The Couâ—cell of Toledo that the women should be sold and in the 34. distinction in the chapter Eos they are appointed to be seruants in that church where the priest was which contracted with them and if perhaps the bishop could not bring them into bondage he should commit it vnto the prince or laie magistrate Sometimes also they put them into a Monasterie to doo penance as we read in the 34. distinction in the chapter Fraternitatis Neither were they content with this crueltie but they would also haue the children which were borne in such matrimonies to be seruants in that church wherein their father had béene and they depriued them of all their fathers inheritance And this is written in the fiftéenth cause question the last in the chapter Cùm multae They doo not on this sort punish their adulterous sacrificers and fornicatours neither the harlots nor yet their bastard children they exercise their cruell censure vpon the wiues of priests and their lawfull children onelie 7 At the last when they haue almost no other thing to alledge they flie vnto their vow as vnto an holie anchor they crie out that the same must in anie wise be kept and that therefore it is no more lawfull for ministers to marrie bicause when they were ordered they vowed a sole life As though it were not both by the holie scriptures and also by mans lawes prouided that a vow Vowes of vnhonest things be frustrate promise or oth hath no force if it compell vs to an vniust or vnhonest thing And who séeth not that it is a verie shamefull thing and against the lawe of God that he which burneth in lust and so burneth that he is oftentimes defiled with harlots adulterers and vnlawfull flesh should be forbidden to marrie 1. Cor. 7 9. Vndoubtedlie the holie Ghost hath commanded matrimonie to all such as cannot kéepe themselues chast Yea and the fathers perceiued this notwithstanding that they be more against vs herein than equitie would Cyprian Wherevpon Cyprian as touching holie virgins which had vnchastlie behaued themselues saith If either they will not or cannot kéepe themselues chast Ierom. let them marrie Ierom also feared not to write the same vnto Demetrias Epiphanius Epiphanius
restored to thee in the resurrection of the iust In Iohn Iohn 12 25. He that loueth his soule in this world shall loose it and he that dooth hate the same shall preserue it vnto euerlasting life And vnder the word Soule he vnderstandeth this life of the bodie wherevnto he that is ouermuch affected and will not render it for the Gospell sake shall loose the same bicause in the resurrection it shal be iudged to perpetuall destruction But he that shall loose the same shall receiue it safe vnto eternall life In the 25. of Matthew Matt. 25 32. Before him shal be gathered all nations And in the 13. Mark 13. 27 of Marke And he shall send his angels and shall gather his elect togither from the foure winds and from the vttermost parts of the earth to the vttermost part of heauen In the 17. of the Acts Acts. 17 verse 18 31 Paule preached this resurrection to the Atheniens when there were present with him the Stoiks Epicures in the stréete of Mars who hearing of that doctrine partlie they laughed it to scorne partlie they said We wil heare thee another time of this matter And they called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is A carrier about of newes a setter foorth of strangs gods of new doctrine verse 6. In the same booke the 23 chapter when as Paule stood in the college of the Scribes Pharisies and priests and sawe himselfe to liue in great danger he cried out I am a Pharisie and the sonne of a Pharisie verse 15. and I am iudged of the resurrection of the dead And againe in the 24. chapter of the same booke when he had pleaded his cause before Felix the president he testified Acts. 26 8. that both the iust and vniust should rise againe The verie which thing he rehearseth againe when he was before Festus in the presence of king Agrippa and Bernice his wife 54 Yea and Peter in the first epistle vers 3. and first chapter saith that God according to the abundance of his mercie hath begotten vs againe vnto a liuelie hope by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead And ye by the power of God are kept through faith vnto saluation which shall be shewed in the last time 2. Pet. 3 13. And in the latter epistle the third chapter he saith that In those daies there shall be new heauens and a new earth verse 2. Also Iohn in his first epistle and third chapter writeth When Christ shall appeere then we shall be like vnto him Whereof it is gathered that séeing Christ hath a bodie and is risen againe we also shall rise againe togither with our bodies verse 12. In the 20. chapter of the Apocalypse we read And I sawe the dead both great and small stand in the sight of God c. verse 4. Also in the 21. chapter And God shall wipe awaie all teares from their eies and there shall be no more death verse 14. c. In the 22. chapter also Blessed be they which keepe his commandements that their power may be in the tree of life Rom. 8 11. Paule in the eight chapter to the Romans But if his spirit that raised vp Iesus Christ from the dead dwell in you he that hath raised Iesus Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortall bodies verse 5. And in the sixt chapter For if we be planted with him to the similitude of his death euen so shall we be partakers of his resurrection verse 10. And in the 14. chapter For we shall all appeere before the tribunall seat of Christ 1. Cor. 15. Vnto the Corinthians the first epistle and 15. chapter he intreating purposelie and diligentlie of this question in such sort confirmeth the resurrection that of his iudgement and meaning therein it is not lawfull to doubt I will not drawe out words from thence bicause it should be méet to recite the whole chapter vers 13. c. Howbeit this I will rehearse out of the sixt chapter of the same epistle Our bodie is not for fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the bodie And God hath also raised vp the Lord and shall raise vs vp by his power And in the latter epistle verse 1 c. the fift chapter mention is made of our habitation in heauen Not being made with hands and that we desire to be clothed vpon and that while we be in this tabernacle we sigh bicause we would not be vnclothed but be clothed vpon that mortalitie might be swalowed vp of life Further it is added that All we shall appeere before the iudgement seat of Christ that euerie one may receiue the things which are doone in his bodie according to that he hath doone whether it be good or euill Vnto the Ephesians verse 1. the second chapter When we were dead through sinnes he quickened vs togither in Christ and hath raised vs vp togither with him and made vs to sit in the heauenlie places verse 10. c. Vnto the Philippians the third chapter That I may knowe him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his afflictions while I am made conformable vnto his death if I may by anie meanes attaine to the resurrection of the dead Vnto the Colossians verse 12. the second chapter Ye being buried togither with him by baptisme in whom ye are also raised togither with him through the faith of the operation of God which hath raised him vp from the dead Likewise in the third chapter verse 3. Your life is hidden with Christ in God wherefore when Christ your life shall appeere then shall you be made manifest with him in glorie Vnto the Thessalonians the first epistle the 4. verse 13. chapter he admonisheth them that They should not sorrowe for them that are asleepe as others doo which haue no hope for if we beleeue that Iesus died and rose againe euen so God will bring with him those which sleepe in Iesus And strait after Ibidem 16. For the Lord himselfe shall descend from heauen with a shout and with the voice of an archangell and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Vnto the Hebrues the second chapter verse 14. That by death he might abolish him who had power ouer death In the same epistle the eleuenth chapter Ibidem 19. when Abraham at the commandment of God would haue sacrificed his sonne Isaac of whom he had the promise of posteritie he considered with him selfe that God was able euen to raise him vp from the dead from whence also he reduced him to be a figure of the resurrection Iude verse 15. in his epistle bringeth in Enoch for a testimonie who was the seuenth from Adam and said verse 2◠Behold the Lord commeth in thousands of his saints to giue iudgement against all men and to
for the power of the Tribunes The displeasures which the common people suffered by the Nobilitie were temporall and belonged to the maintenaunce and safetie of the bodie but those thinges which the Papistes bring in vppon vs haue respect vnto eternall saluation But letting passe the example of Ethnickes another thing commeth to minde which is mencioned in the Ecclesiasticall Historie The example of Paphnutius Paphnutius a Bishoppe of Egypt and a verie noble confessour of the Lord whose right eye the Emperour Maximianus put out and hockst his left ham whereby he might liue halfe blind lame when he was in the Synode of Tyrus where also sate Maximus a worthie Bishop of Ierusalem and he himselfe a confessour of Christ and perceiued that nothing else was sought by his fellow Bishoppes but that Athanasius might be oppressed by deceites ill reports and naughtie practises rose vp and taking Maximus by the hand which sat in the middest of the rest said It is not lawfull for thee to sit among these men And hauing spoken these wordes he led him awaie with him Also Christ admonished Mat. 16. 6. that we should beware of the Leauen of the Pharisees And Paul saide 1. Cor. 5. 6. A little leauen marreth the whole lumpe Yea and experience it selfe teacheth that they which hauing knowledge of the truth are withheld through an affection to their friends or kinne loue of their countrie couetousnes of riches and goods they become colder euerie daie more than other as touching godlinesse and are so frosen together at the length as the féele of religion is extinguished in them and sometime of friendes and brethren they become most cruell enemies And it is founde to be most true which the wise man said Eccle. 13. He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith Neither can it otherwise be but as the Apostle said out of Menander 1. Co. 15. 23 yâ— ill spéech wil corrupt good maners 37 Let vs sée what happened vnto the Israelites in the time of Ieroboam when Idolatrie was erected 2. Chro. 11 13. Verilie they which had but a crum of godlines leauing the confines of the kingdome of Israel ioyned theÌ„selues to the house of Iuda to the intent they might not sacrifice vnto the Idols which were erected but that they might worshippe the true God according to the prescript of the Lawe in the place which he had chosen vnto himselfe Which whoso did not they not onelie contaminated themselues with Idolatrie but together with the wâ—…ed they were afflicted with manifolde and gréeuous punishments There was euen at the beginning of the world a separation made betwéene the posteritie of Seth and Caine for these had departed from the true worshippe of God wherein they soundlie continued Gen. 4. 17. 5. 1. And assuredlie the punishment of the floud was so long differred as that holie posteritie continued frée from Idolatrie but whenas afterward the sons of God being allured with the beawtie of women had ioyned themselues with the vngodlie all things went to confusion and horrible shame wherefore God destroyed the worlde by a floud of water Gen. 6. In which destruction neither Noah himselfe with his familie had béene saued vnlesse by going into the Arke he had seuered himselfe from the vngodlie Lot likewise escaped the fire because he was led foorth from the fellowship of wicked men Gen. 19. The Lord also commanded as we haue it in the booke of Numerie Num. 16. 21 that the Israelites should separate themselues from Dathan and Abiram vnlesse they were more willing to perish together with them He also called foorth the Israelites which were remaining in Babylon after the libertie giuen vnto them by Cyrus and Darius Esa 52. ver 11. for that gréeuous punishments were at hande vnto the Babylonians by reason of their Idolatrie and shamefull wickednesse In fine if the first Adam by the instinct of Gods spirite truelie saide of his wife Gen. 2. 23. For this cause shal man leaue his father and mother and shall cleaue vnto his wife why also were not all things to be left of vs for retaining the truth of Christ seeing that euen the wife her selfe the children must be left for religion sake But if we séeme not to our aduersaries to haue doone well let them declare the cause why they haue separated themselues from al other Churches being the greater part of the world They are not able in verie déede to shewe such iust and euident causes as ours be which we haue before alleadged Let not their slaunders terrifie vs especiallie those which they haue always in their mouth saying that we are disturbers These bee no newe things They haue béene oftentimes vpbraided to the seruaunts of God Did not Achab the king of Samaria rebuke Elias the man of God 2. King 17. 18. and said Art thou Elias which troublest Israell But the Prophet constantlie returned the rebuke vpon him I trouble not Israell thou rather doest altogether with thy wife Iezabell The Iewes also accused Christ before Pilate Luke 23. 5. that he troubled all Iurie beginning at Galile Of the Apostles also as it is in the Actes it is saide Acts. 17. 6. Acts. 24. 5. that they troubled men Yea and Tertullus the Orator thus spake vnto Portius Festus that hée shoulde punish Paul because that they might by his conduct and gouernment inioy excellent peace and tranquillitie if onelie Paul were not a let who troubled all things by peruerse and new doctrine But now I cease to vrge anie more the seconde point namely that we might not otherwise doe but depart from the Popedome Thrée special causes of departing from the Papists For thrée sortes of necessitie vrged vs namelie of obaying the commaundements of GOD of shunning sinnes and flying Idolatrie and also for the escaping of paines and punishments which remaine for the wicked Neither must it séeme anie maruell that these necessities are laide vppon vs séeing that in the ciuill lawes the companies and assemblie which vnlawfullie assemble together are condemned to gréeuous punishments as it is in the Title de Collegijs corporibus illicitis the which are not onelie forbidden by the Commonweale or Emperour but they which frequent the same are accounted of euen as if they had occupied the publike place or temple with armed men For they are thought to abuse such corporations and fellowships for the working of their naughtines Wherfore God doeth rightlie and in order when by his commaundements he reconcileth vs from such assemblies 38 But nowe I come to the third member of this treatise wherein I will shew that we departed not from the Church but are rather come vnto it That they which haue left the Pope haue not departeâ— from the Church but rather returned to the same Which that it may euidently appeare we must consider that our aduersaries are verie much deceiued forsomuch as they thinke that things
in my disputations and also in the Treatise which is prefixed thereunto I haue determined at this time to aunswere nothing But concerning the body of Christ which ye so greatly mislike that I should deny to bee present I will say somewhat for their satisfaction If I should demaund of you to what purpose there ought to be affirmed any such presence as ye doe say ye will as I thinke make me no other aunswere but to the intent the body and bloud of Christ may be ioyned vnto vs. Howbeit since the whole woorke of this coniunction is heauenly spiritual it is not required hereunto that this presence of yours for the which ye so earnestlie contend should haue any place What neede is there here either of any naturall touching or of the neerenesse of places Tell me I pray ye since the holy scriptures doe declare that not onely weare coupled together with Christ but also that we be members together with our brethren so as we are made all one body will ye not confesse that those faithfull which are in Spayne Italie Germanie and Fraunce Rom. 12. 4. are so ioyned together with vs that as Paul said They be members one of an other with vs I know ye will not deny it If then the distance of places and naturall touching which cannot be at all doe nothing hinder this vnitie whereby through Christ we are ioyned together in one why then doe yee deny that we are truely ioyned together vnto Christ without a reall and corporall presence But if ye deny it not why doe ye importunately vrge this presence And to vse yet a plainer and more expresse similitude Man and Wife in the holy Scriptures as ye know both are and are called one flesh For Adam or God by Adam saith This is now bone of my bones Gen. 2. 23. Mark 10. 8. and flesh of my flesh for this cause shall a man leaue father and mother and shall cleaue to his wife and they shall become one flesh And so proper is this similitude to the thing which we haue in hande that Paul to the Ephesians maketh the bodie of Christ to be in such sorte the Church as the wife is the bone and flesh of her husbande And yet nothing hindereth this vnitie of the fleshe betweene husbande and wife if as it happeneth a man shall sometime be at London for a time and the wife shall remaine at Cambridge or at Oxford The distance of place and naturall touching which now cannot be had prooueth not but that the wife and the husband be betweene themselues one and the selfe same flesh Wherefore there is no neede that for comming into vnitie with Christ yee should so labour to tye his body and bloud or as ye speake to hide them vnder bread and wine Wee are truely ioyned vnto Christ without these prodigious thinges The Eucharist without these fained deuises is a whole and perfect sacrament and no lesse true without these delusions are the words of Christ wherein he said Mar. 14. 22. Luk. 22. 19. This is my body wherein he deliuered bread to his Apostles as in the Treatise following shall be more at large declared Wherefore to the â—stablishing and confirming of all these thinges the Church hath no neede of a corporall or substantiall presence of the body of Christ But neuerthelesse I would not haue it to be thought that because of the similitudes which I haue alleadged I doe but lightlie account or do too much extenuate the coniunction which wee haue and dailie enter into with Christ For I knowe verie well that the Scriptures to shewe that the same coniunction is most firmelie knit haue not onelie beene accustomed to declare that we are indued with the spirit merite and intercession of Iesus and that both we are gouerned and doe liue by his inspiration and spirit but also that he him selfe is with vs and dwelleth in our heartes by faith that he is our head and that he dwelleth in vs and we in him that we are borne anewe in him and that his flesh is both giuen and receiued to the intent it maie be eaten and drunken Howbeit I vnderstande these sayings to bee metaphoricall sith that proper speaches cannot verie easilie be had for these things For words according as they signifie this or that so are they appointed to serue vnto mans purpose For this cause when wee are to speake of heauenlie and diuine things a naturall man which vnderstandeth not so great secretes is not able so much as to name them And therefore the holie Ghost to remedie our weakenesse hauing graunted vs a light and vnderstanding which should excell our owne nature hath also humbled himselfe to these metaphors namelie of abiding dwelling eating and drinking to the intent that this diuine and heauenly coniunction which we haue with Christ might some manner of way be knowen vnto vs. And these formes of speaking since we see they comprehend in them two manner of things to wit a singular efficacie and a signification not proper but translated it is necessarie that we interprete them not rashlie but with prudent and spirituall circumscription Which is then vsed if we doe not extenuate the sense of them more than is meete especiallie when they bee applied vnto the Sacraments nor yet doe attribute thereunto anie more than is requisite The excessiue speaches of the fathers and contempt of the Anabaptistes did maruellouslie obscure the Sacramentes and especiallie this Sacrament whereof we intreate whyle the one sort iudge it to bee but onelie a token of mutuall charitie and a cold and a bare signe of the death of Christ and the other attribute all manner of diuinitie vnto it by meanes whereof before they were aware they made a steppe vnto horrible Idolatrie And no other way can that mediocritie which wee desire bee retayned but by interpreting the Phrases which wee haue rehearsed according to the analogie and agreeablenesse of the holie Scripture Which although it require that we plucke not in sunder the hypostaticall as they call it or essentiall vnitie of Christ for which the properties of the two natures I meane the diuine and humane are communicated the one with the other yet doeth the same require of vs that what wee haue made common by interchanging the proprietie of the words we should by interpretation distinguish with a sound vnderstanding that both the diuinitie be not made subiect to humane infirmities and that the humanitie be not so much deified as by leauing the bonds of his owne nature it should be destroyed Wherefore by a spirituall wisedome such as is not elsewhere obtained thaÌ„ in the holie scriptures we must discerne what is agreeable vnto Christ as touching the one nature and what is agreeable to him as touching the other And thus the presence of the bodie of Christ which I remooue from the Eucharist is in this respect that they affirme it either to be spread ouer euerie place or else that it is
which he should be punished with death Howbeit because there is alwayes some Cockle among the wheate of the Lord therefore is there néede of a Magistrate But if so be that the Church shall neuer be throughly purged to what ende belongeth that promise of turning Speares in Spades I aunswer It ought to be sufficient for vs if we haue in this life some beginning of felicitie For euen now also amongst men which be true Christians there is no néede of the sworde But that promise shall be fulfilled in all respects at the second comming of Christ And in this verie time howe manie of vs soeuer doe worship God truely do liue in such sort as warres are not stirred vp by vs. And that Christ was the Authour of this peace thereby it appeareth that when he was borne the Temple of Ianus was shut vp at Rome for he would haue that appeare to be a token of his comming Paul vnto the Ephesians saith that Our weapons be spirituall Ephe. 6. 13. To the 14. True it is in so much as we are Christians but because we not onelie are Christians but also men therfore neither Paul nor Christ would pluck away the sworde from the Magistrate Our wrestling is not against flesh bloud 2. Cor. 10. 4 To the 15. That saying must be vnderstoode by comparison as must also manie other places of the scriptures in which things somewhat is denied not in all respects but onelie by a comparison Paul vnto the Corinthians saieth Christ sent not mee to Baptize What then When he baptized did he any thing besides his vocation No verilie neither was this his meaning but he meant that he was chiefely sent to teache the Gospell Euen so this wrestling with flesh and bloud is none at all if it bée compared with that spirituall blessing 20 Also Tertullian Tertullians iudgement touching was a verie auncient writer in his booke De Corona militis séemeth to make for the aduersaries He saith that it is not the part of Christians to make warre and this distinction he vseth If thou haue alreadie taken a souldiers oth when thou receiuest baptisme depart not from warfare but if thou shalt then be frée bynde not thy selfe This distinction is not good For if warre in his owne nature be euill what time soeuer thou gauest thy name thou must depart for an vniust couenant made must straightway be broken so soone as euer thou vnderstandest the same to be vniust Howbeit Tertullian intreateth not of euerie warfare but of that onelie wherein souldiers were driuen to Idolatrie to the seruices of the Gods to eate thinges dedicated vnto Idols and to weare crownes Vnto this kinde of warrefare Tertullian exhorteth that the Christians should not come But and if so be they were found in those at the time of Baptisme they should remaine in their state yet so as they should doe none of those things which we haue spoken of but rather that they should offer themselues vnto Martyrdome And vndoubtedlie manie souldiers became Martyrs for that cause And that which he saith that thou must not depart from the vocation of a souldier if Christ shal finde thée therein and that if thou be frée thou must not come thereunto may bee declared by an example Paul when he saith If a man haue a wife that is an Infidell which he married before he was a Christian and she will dwell together with him she must not be reiected but if he haue alreadie giuen his name vnto Christ he must not in anie wise marrie with an Infidell Tertullian altogether séemeth to exclude nothing else than voluntarie and mercenarie warrefare For otherwise to say that a Christian ought not to obay the Magistrat if he be called vnto warres is verie madnesse And in déede it ought not to be maruelled at if Tertullian erred in this thing for he was inclined to the Montanistes and iudged not rightlie as concerning flying away in time of persecution In 2. kings 19. 2. 21 And séeing the question concerneth the causes of warres and whether warres may iustlie or iniustlie be taken in hand some will make warre whether it be by right or by wrong othersome for turning of the same away will receaue euen most vnhonest and vniust conditions That all consideration of war must be referred vnto GOD. But Ezechias by his example and that in his owne selfe taught that all this deliberation must be reuoked to the iudgement of God forsomuch as all those thinges which happened vnto him in warre he referred vnto Esay as to a most holie interpretour of the iudgement of GOD. Then to let him vnderstand that the chiefe care of that matter was in him he sent euen them which standing face to face both sawe and heard Rabsacke that if Esay would demaund anie thing else they might declare it all vnto him Looke In 2. Sam 2. verse 4. Furthermore warre is not of the kinde of those thinges which are to be desired for their owne sakes For in such manner of thinges there is no measure to be put séeing ouermuch cannot be there where nothing is enough For no man at anie time either regarded vertue too much or two much loued God But those thinges which are prepared for the cause of other things especiallie if they haue great dāmage ioyned with them ought some way to be tempered by reason But warre is a cruell thing and as Cicero said the Latine word Bellum hath his name of Belluis that is cruell beastes For it is the propertie of cruell beastes so to rage with themselues and to teare one an other Neither can a warre be iustlie enough made vnlesse it be taken in hand for an other thing And that other thing is that safe peace may be kept Insomuch as peace is not ordained for warre sake but warre is taken in hand for peace sake And of this thing we may haue a similitude of our owne bodies A similitude For who would so liue as he should perpetuallie wrestle against diseases Wherefore warre is made for peace sake not that we should therein abuse leasure and giue our selues to lust but that we may sincerelie and quietlie woorship God And by this reason Plato reprooued the lawes which Minos and Lycurgus made because they prouided so manie thinges touching warrfare as though the principall point of the Commonweale cōsisted in making of warre For an actiue In 2. kings 25. verse 1. wise valiant maner of warfare cannot but mooue feare and bring great losse to the enimies Which thing Polibius shewing the cause teacheth Neither in déed is it to be thought that the maner of warfare importeth not much séeing onelie in the same we sée that those thinges which séemed vnpossible to be doone What a right maner of warring may bring to passe are easilie brought to passe and againe those thinges which séemed easie to be doone cannot be performed And according to the manner they that doe thinges
be excused than they which sinne by the instigation of lust proposition 3 The primitiue church had more prophets than the church now hath bicause signes were requiâ—… or the gathering of men vnto Christ and bicause that christian doctrine could not yet be had of godlie men by humane studie proposition 4 We haue not as the old synagog had perpetuall prophets bicause onelie Christ and his spirit which is present with his church succéeded all the old fathers Propositions out of the xxi chapter of the booke of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 AN oth is a confirmation of the will of God or a testimonie of diuine things proposition 2 An oth of his owne nature is good proposition 3 It is lawfull for a christian man to sweare proposition 4 Although that an oth arise of an ill occasion yet is it of a good cause proposition 5 An oth whereby those things are confirmed which be repugnant with the word of God is void proposition 6 To auoid periurie it is good not to sweare but seldome and for great causes proposition 7 We must not sweare by the names of idols Probable proposition 1 TO sweare by creatures is not altogither forbidden by God proposition 2 They are not excused from periurie which doo vse fraudulent and craftie words proposition 3 It is lawfull for christians to take oths of infidels although they sweare by the names of their idols Propositions out of the xxij and xxiij chapters of the booke of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 TEmptation is an vnknowne searching out of a thing to find out the knowledge thereof proposition 2 It cannot be denied but that God is the author of temptations proposition 3 God must not so be accounted the author of temptations as the fault of sinnes should be reiected vpon him proposition 4 It is lawfull for godlie men to resist temptations by praier proposition 5 Godlie men are not afraid of temptations whereby they should be excluded from eternall life proposition 6 To wéepe in funeralles is not forbidden proposition 7 Although death happen to no man but by the will of God yet they which sorrowe for the death of others doo not against the will of God proposition 8 We must beware least the prolonging or increasing of sorrowe be not against the faith of the resurrection proposition 9 Whether the dead doo lie buried or vnburied it maketh no matter as touching their owne saluation proposition 10 To be adorned with a sepulchre or to be destitute thereof is a solace or sadnesse of them that be aliue proposition 11 The care of burieng the dead must be reteined as a religious dutie proposition 12 The reuelation which commandeth that the bones of martyrs should be digged out of sepulchres to the intent they should be worshipped is not to be beléeued Probable proposition 1 IT is an absurditie to burie dead bodies in temples proposition 2 The saints which be dead are ignorant of themselues what is doone about their dead bodies or sepulchres proposition 3 It is agréeable vnto godlinesse for a man to choose himselfe a place to be buried in Propositions out of the xxiiij and xxv chapters of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 THe seruant of Abraham which prescribed himselfe a signe to knowe the wife chosen by the Lord vnto Isaac did not tempt God proposition 2 He that séeketh an experiment of the power of God to the intent his owne faith or the faith of others may be the better confirmed or that he himselfe or others may be instructed such a one dooth not tempt God proposition 3 They doo tempt GOD which without a true faith but rather of a contempt doo séeke signes to satisfie their owne curiositie or desire proposition 4 To tempt GOD is without a cause to make triall of his power goodnesse and faith proposition 5 Curiositie is an immoderate desire of knowing whereby either we séeke those things that should not be sought or if they should be sought we séeke them not the right waie proposition 6 The women which somtimes in the holie scriptures are said to be the patriarchs concubines were their wiues proposition 7 Those things which are due vnto vs by predestination we ought to praie for and labour to atteine vnto proposition 8 Since predestination signifieth an eternall action of God we cannot assigne anie efficient cause thereof out of God proposition 9 We grant that God dooth predestinate them whom he forknew would vse well his gifts but we denie that the same good vse of Gods gifts is a cause of Gods predestination proposition 10 Our calling the good vse of Gods gifts faith and other vertues and holie actions of godlie men may be causes and beginnings of predestination but as from the latter and to knowe them by proposition 11 The declaration of the goodnesse and righteousnesse of GOD is the finall cause but there may be assigned a generall cause of Gods predestination Probable proposition 1 THe fathers sought wiues out of their owne kindred that a greater conformitie of maners might be had in matrimonie and that the worship of GOD might the more firmelie flourish among them and that they might haue the lesse familiaritie with infidels proposition 2 The barren which are described in the old testament to haue brought foorth no fruit declare fruitfulnesse to be the gift of God and doo confirme the childbirth of the virgine lastlie they signifie the regeneration of the children of God whervnto mans strength is not able to atteine proposition 3 Now are there no oracles shewed vnto vs as there were vnto the old synagog bicause Christ was appointed the end of oracles and by him came a more plentifull spirit and finallie there be now extant more and more cléere scriptures than the fathers had Propositions out of the xxv xxvi and xxvij chapters of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 ALbeit God reuealeth vnto men some thing that shall come to passe it is not therefore lawfull for them to doo against the laws of God or against the rule of reason to bring it to passe proposition 2 Although they that doo vs good be but wicked men yet ought we with a thankfull mind both doo them good and wish them well proposition 3 When in the holie scriptures are shewed anie of the fathers sinnes we must not séeke from thence an example of life but rather woonder there at the faithfulnesse of God proposition 4 When the world is pressed with famine it is not to be doubted but that sinnes are punished thereby proposition 5 God otherwhile dooth good vnto the posteritie for the deserts of their forefathers which be now dead proposition 6 Albeit that enuie is a gréeuous sinne yet to be mooued with indignation and zeale dooth sometimes happen without blame proposition 7 Vehement perturbations of the mind must be auoided that we may be apt instruments of the holie Ghost proposition 8 The actions of the fathers which we sée haue a shew of sinne if we will grant that they were
determine of the goodnesse and naughtinesse of humane actions those eate the fruit of the trée of good and euill forbidden to our first parents Propositions out of the xx chapter of the booke of Exodus Necessarie proposition 1 THe commandement of the sabboth is partlie morall Thou shalt keepe holie the sabboth daie and partlie ceremoniall wherevpon some thing conteined therein is eternall and some thing but for a time proposition 2 The christian church erred not when in the place of the Iewes sabboth it appointed the Lords day to be kept whereof there is mention made in the holie scriptures although there is no commandement there extant as touching the obseruation thereof proposition 3 The magistrate ought to compell strangers although they be of an other maner of religion that they doo nothing openlie against the religion of the citie proposition 4 Those works were not forbidden to be doone on the sabboth daie which might neither be deferred nor preuented without the losse of life proposition 5 The works of charitie which we are bound necessarilie to doo vnto our neighbour must be preferred before holie ceremonies proposition 6 The commandements of God haue an order among themselues therefore when two of them méet togither at one time which cannot be performed both at once we must applie our selues to the former not indéed neglecting the latter but deferring it till an other time proposition 7 Those works must be doone vpon holie daies which by the word of God it is manifest doo belong to the worship of God proposition 8 It is lawfull for the church to adde vnto the ceremonies deliuered to vs by the word of God both time maner place yea and some ceremonie as well for ornament as for edifieng of the faithfull who neuerthelesse are not permitted to change the substance of them as the Papists haue doone in their Masse which now cannot be doone with a safe conscience proposition 9 The Monkes which drawe awaie children from their parents and make them Monkes Honor thy parents sinne more gréeuouslie than did the Scribes and Pharises whom Christ reprooued bicause they transgressed the commandement of honouring parents proposition 10 In the promises of temporall things God includeth spirituall promises proposition 11 Temporall things although they sometime séeme vile yet are they conteined in the promises of God to the intent we may be taught that the prouidence of God extendeth it selfe vnto all things and to let vs knowe that good things although they be neuer so small must be asked from God Probable proposition 1 IN the word Parents are comprehended schoole-maisters maisters ministers of the church bicause in old time when there were but few men the good man of the house performed all these duties proposition 2 In the table of the ten commandements parents are not expreslie commanded concerning dutie towards their children bicause they haue by nature more vehement affections ingraffed therevnto than children haue towards their parents proposition 3 The precept of honouring parents is chéefelie in the promise as Paule saith namelie in the particular promise for that promise which is in the second precept is generall Propositions out of the xx chapter of the booke of Exodus Necessarie proposition 1 WHen God commandeth that we should not kill he by the testimonie of Christ Thou shalt not kill forbiddeth anger which must not be vnderstood of euerie anger but of that onelie which is against charitie proposition 2 Reuenge belongeth not to priuate men séeing it is a worke of the magistrate proposition 3 They which saie that the commandement of not reuenging is a counsell and not of necessitie to saluation doo greatlie erre proposition 4 It is lawfull for euerie man against them that be priuate to repell violence by violence so it be not doone of hatred or desire to reuenge and onelie when an extreame necessitie forceth wherein we cannot vse the helpe of lawfull defenders proposition 5 The mishap of those that are punished with death is to be lamented but yet the execution of a iust iudgement against them must not be hindered by our defenses or by the intercessions of others proposition 6 It is not lawfull for a man to kill himselfe Wherefore Peâ—llianus is iustlie condemned for iudging them to be martyrs who when they were fallen into gréeuous mischéefes killed themselues vnder pretense of repentance proposition 7 Neither are those to be heard which grant the same when chastitie is put in danger proposition 8 The death of Samson excuseth not them which of their owne will doo kill themselues proposition 9 In the precept wherein adulterie is forbidden Thou shalt not commit adulterie matrimonie which is the contrarie is commended for that it is a lawfull â—oming togither of man and wife into one flesh by the institution of God for the procreating of children and godlie education of them and that fornication may be auoided proposition 10 The lawfull vse of matrimonie is not as manie thinke a veniall sinne proposition 11 They which saie that matrimonie is not good but in comparison of whooredome and adulterie are of an ill iudgement proposition 12 Matrimonie is violated when man and wife being lawfullie ioined togither into one flesh there is mingled a strange flesh not onlie in the grose and outward fact but with the hart with words beckes and other dispute actions proposition 13 Also matrimonie is violated by a diuorse admitted without lawfull causes proposition 14 It is not in the power of man and wife that the one should grant to the other the vse of their bodies vnto others out of matrimonie proposition 15 In a well ordered Common-weale the crime of adulterie ought to be punished with death proposition 16 Christ released not the seueritie of the lawe of God in that respect that he condemned not that woman which was taken in adulterie Propositions out of the xx chapter of Exodus Necessarie proposition 1 BY that precept Thou shalt not steale the Israelites could not be reprooued of theft when they robbed Aegypt Thou shalt not steale since to vsurpe other mens goods against the will of the Lord belongeth vnto the nature of theft But they carried not out other mens goods but their own to wit being giuen them by God proposition 2 By this precept are established priuate possessions of things so as there must be no communitie brought in as touching the possession of all our goods but onlie as touching a participation of the vse and fruits proposition 3 The entercourse of merchants if it be iustlie ordered is not to be condemned but it ought rather to be accounted as a bond of humane societie proposition 4 They which deceiue the magistrate of tributes are guiltie of theft no lesse guiltie are prâ—…ces when they exact greater tributes than reason would or else when they grant not vnto the subiects those things for the which they paie tributes proposition 5 They which deâ—…aâ—… ministers yoong students and the poore of the
runnest to the Phisition that it may be ioyned to the rest of the bodie why doest thou not the selfe same to thy brother He is sicke wilt thou forsake him in his sickenesse His charitie wareth colde then doe thou kindle him againe with the charitie They that be whole néede not the phisition but they that be sicke Thou despisest him yet was he so beloued of Christ as when he was his enemie he would die for him Now hath he Christ for his head for his garment for his table for his spouse for his light for his life If thou hate him thou art as Caine. How shalt thou stand before the face of God Thou art harder than a stone and more darke than hell vnlesse this seruitude which Christ tooke vpon him for thée doe indure thée to be of the selfesame minde towardes thy neighbour and to be affected in the selfesame sort towardes him Plato in his second booke of Common-weale would haue children brought vnto the Campe that through beholding of the battaile they might be incouraged euen so ought we to come to the crosse of Christ He was made obedient to the death euen to the death of the Crosse Here are reckoned vp all the mysteries of our saluation We must obey in the selfesame sort that Christ obeyed He obeyed with all the heart withall the minde But how did he it with all the heart since in the garden he did striue against it and did sweate water and bloud and said Not my will be doone but thine Sinne in respect of vs is considered two waies First we are ledde by pleasure and doe transgresse the lawe we sinne but we delight our selues and perceiue not the destruction so is death blind and the crosse insensible yet are we in verie déede crucified and destroyed Secondlie the lawe is giuen there doe we now féele the crosse and our owne euill our conscience tormenteth vs the wrath of God hangeth ouer vs we sée our selues to be in death and in damnation Sinne after the first manner had no place in Christ but onelie in the second manner For he felt the wrath of God and he sorrowed and suffered as if he had committed all sinnes But yet is there still a difference betwéene him and vs because we through sinne suffer those euils with some ill affection of minde We iudge that God dealeth ouer rigorouslie with vs we would haue no such lawes to be made against vs we complaine of our fortune which thinges are not doone without sinne Christ sinned not after this manner he had all good affections Onelie he stroue against death in that respect that it is an enemie vnto nature and destroyeth the same So he might be delighted with swéete and delicate meates because they were agréeable to nature without anie selfe loue for the loue of pleasure séeking his owne and therefore there was not anie ill affection therein as Adam might haue doone the like in his first state but so cannot we doe séeing we be corrupted with ill affections So although we doe thinges like as Christ did yet doe we sinne 1. Pet. 2. 22. Verse 15. whereas he did no sinne Wherefore it is said vnto the Hebrewes the 4. Chapter He was tempted in all thinges like vnto vs and yet without sinne Now lawe of God forbiddeth to sorrowe for death if it be offered God would that he should sorrowe and he layd it vppon him as a punishment Now then that sadnesse was no hindrance but that he loued with all the heart and with all the strength To suffer such kinde of death being innocent is beyond mans power but our power is leuened with the corruption of originall sinne therefore whatsoeuer it toucheth it dooth defile A cleane hand if it touch fine linnen dooth not defile the same but an vncleane hand doth make it foule Tit. 1. 15. Ro. 14. 14. To the cleane all thinges are cleane because the vncleanesse is all onelie not imputed The verie same may we say as touching that which Christ said Psal 21. 9. Mat. 27. 46. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me This did Christ crie out without sinne but we might not doe it without imperfection and fault So then he was truelie obedient with all the heart with all the soule c. He declared the chéerefulnesse of obedience Matt. 26. Marke 14. that euen as a shéepe he was led vnto death he cryed not out he resisted not insomuch as the president did maruell at his silence Yet did he not forsake his cause by holding his peace For so manifest was his innocencie as it had no néede of defence The president knewe it his wife knewe it Iudas knew it which said that he had betraied the innocent bloud Also the Iewes knew it Matt. 27. 6. which would not put vp the price into the Treasurie as an vncleane thing The same did the Théefe vppon the Crosse the Centurion testifie Wherefore there néeded not manie wordes for his defence Gen. 3. 12. 13. Eue and Adam would defend themselues in an euill cause and made the same woorse by their excuse But Christ presented himselfe to the Magistrate and was obedient vnto him in obedience sought to winne him euen to the death Ioh. 12. 18. Excéeding great therefore was his obedience and it came of his owne accord because no man could take away his life from him he himselfe layd it downe Yet in this obaying he became not lesse than his father as touching the Godhead he obeyed as a friend toward a friend not as an inferiour vnto the death The Lord of life submitted himselfe vnto death and being immortall he dyed For a king ought to die for his people a shepheard putteth his life for his shéepe and the sacrifice is slaine for sinne It was méete he should be a sacrifice Where a sacrifice is there God is reconciled and sinne is destroyed brieflie therein consisted our iustification But how is it applyed vnto vs Some thinke that Christ sitteth as a Iudge and that to thē which best runne and woorke he giueth this righteousnesse Howbeit Rom. 9. 16. It is neither in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that taketh mercie we are not iustified by woorkes and those things that be doone before regeneration are sinnes Others say that this iustification is applied vnto vs by Masses but the Masse is an inuention of man and so farre is it off that it offereth Christes benefites vnto vs as it suppresseth the same for it hideth the principall wordes by mumbling and it saith all in Latine and as it is vsed it is opus operatum that is to say a woorke wrought Others say that Christ fréelie dyed and freelie giueth grace faith hope and charitie and all good woorkes and for them giueth righteousnesse But these good woorkes hope and charitie doe follow iustification they goe not before it and are vnperfect with sinne Herein standeth the trueth
furthest Regions to sée and heare Salomon 1. kings 10 ver 1. c. and shal it not be frée for them to goe where they may heare the verie selfesame wisedome of true Salamon that is of Christ Was it lawfull for the Eunuch of Quéene Candaces to trauel out of Aethiopia to worshipe at Ierusalem and shall it not bee lawfull for our brethren to goe into those places wherein God is syncerely worshipped and Christs institutions rightly kept Thou wilt perhaps take exception Acts. 8. 27. that neither the Quéene of Saba nor the Eunuch went their waies to be perpetually absent but onely tooke in hande a pilgrimage for a time Verilie I also may say that they which flie for religions sake do go away with that minde that they may be absent so long as it shall please God that they bee readie to returne home so often as they shal be called backe by him and that by his fauour there is aâ—ay of returne opened vnto him Also the words of Paul are alledged in the first to Timothie the 5. Chapter Whosoeuer prouideth not for his owne Verse 8. and especiallie for them of his housholde hee hath renounced his faith and is worse than an Infidell In this place we must take speciall héede to what purpose the Apostle spake these words His talke was of widowes shewing howe they should be qualified that should be maintained at the charges of the Church For séeing the Church perhaps was charged aboue measure with some who to spare their owne purses woulde haue their widowes admitted therefore Paul warned that euerie man to his owne power shoulde relieue his owne And héereupon is it that he addeth a little after Ib. ver 16. If anie faithfull man or faithfull woman haue widowes let them minister vnto them that the Church may not be charged that there may bee sufficient for them that be widowes indeede Certainely Paul by these words declareth that those onely be true widowes which cannot reléeue themselues by their owne reuenues and gaines nor yet haue any friendes which will helpe them so as the wordes of Paul on this wise declared séeme not to forbidde flying away He that flyeth In what sorts eche one must behaue themselues towards their owne if he haue any widowes or other poore kinred let him helpe them of his owne if he haue wherewithall If they will goe away together with him let him not forsake them But if he be a poore man and doe make any commoditie abrode no man forbiddeth him to sende a part of the gaine vnto them Thus also a man ought to be affected towards his parents vnlesse either because of their sicknesse or their impotencie of bodie the presence of the childe shal be necessarie For then they must not be forsaken But if the sonne shall depart not against the will of his parents and is afterward certified that his presence is necessarie for them hee ought straightway to returne to helpe and comfort them according to the lawe of God But if in that place there be a daunger of persecution he must not mistrust the helpe of God For since that God hath throwen him downe into that necessitie hee will not leaue his seruant destitute of helpe But if thou being weake in faith and being bounde by no commaundement wilt tarie when thou maist go thy wayes thou must not do that vpon hope of gods helpe since that god shewed thée the way to escape which if thou vse not thou canst not coÌ„plaine but of thine own self Of them which are coupled in marriage But what shall we speake of them which be ioyned together in matrimonie First that it is not lawfull to the wife for auoyding of persecution to depart from her husbande vnlesse that he for the weakenesse of her faith consent that shee may withdrawe herselfe for a time The lawe of God hath made subiect the wife to the husbande therefore shee ought not to depart without his good will But yet it shall be the wiues part if the husbande goe away to followe him that they may peaceably and without daunger dwell together But if that shee for iust causes cannot followe or she being more obstinately bent will not she must not be left behinde least the chastity of them both be hazarded For in Matrimonie there is a necessarie dwelling together of man and wife for as much as neither of them hath frée power of their owne bodie 1. Cor. 7. 4. So as if the husbande will tarie he shall hope for the aide of God in persecutions For it is expreslie commaunded him that he should tarie But if that both of them be indued with singular chastitie one of them may depart from another for a time euen as they say that Paul with his wife did when he walked through the world preaching of the Gospell For he did not leade her about with him 1. Cor. 9. 5. as the rest of the Apostles did Howbeit we must vnderstande that a vowe is héere vnlawfull because they ought one to depart from another with that minde and vppon that condition that they may méete together so often as either of theÌ„ shall require For so God commaunded by Paul in the first to the Corinthians the 7. Verse 5. Chapter namely that they shoulde ioyne together in one least they shoulde giue place vnto the temptation of Sathan As concerning seruauntes Of Seruants there néedes not much to be saide For it is not lawful for them vnder pretence of religion or persecutions to flie from their Masters Exod. 21. 6. Phil. 13. For in the holie Scriptures it is expresselie commaunded that they shoulde not doe it Therefore when they be so bounde if they doe remaine God will vouchsafe that they shall not bée brought into the daunger of a false oth if they from the heart and with a syncere faith commende themselues vnto him for as the holie Scriptures testifie Psal 9. 10. hee is at hande with them in due time and doeth faithfullie succor them especiallie since he by his commaundementes doeth cast them into those daungers As for Bishoppes and Pastors we said before that they ought not to forsake their flockes except they be driuen out by force But because we haue spoken plentifullie of this matter I come nowe vnto Princes Of Princes of whome manie are frée hauing the highest authorite so as they maie reforme their Churches by a restitution of the pure and true religion Wherefore these if they bee indued with godlinesse ought not to forsake their subiectes but being placed in that power must serue God whose ministers also they be as it is written in the Epistle to the Romanes whereby the light of the Gospel may by them be maruellouslie kindled Rom. 13. 3. For the people also are woont to imitate their Princes And such is the authoritie power of princes as they maie constraine their subiectes to obedience Wherefore they doe easilie
celebrate their assemblie As yet nothing is doone sauing that thrée dayes a goe they mette together The Quéene mother was present and the King and also the king of Nauarre and other Péeres The Cardinals also and the Bishoppes were present The OratioÌ„ of Beza before the King and Queene mother The matter was committed to Beza that hee shoulde make the entrie or Preface of the conference who spake in Frenche the space of one houre as they say But towards the ende when he happened to make mention of the Eucharist he said that this they ought to knowe that the bodie and bloud of the Lorde is as farre from the bread and wine of the supper of the Lorde as heauen is from the earth These words so offended and stirred vp the Byshops as they began to mutter and finallie to make a rumor so that Beza had much a doe to make an ende of his Oration The Princes feare least hereof the Ecclesiastical men wil take an occasion of breaking off or rather of refusing the conference And this did the Prince of Condie affirme vnto me yesterday that they haue determined to offer vnto the King a confession of their faith and to haue a contrarie Preface whereby they may confute Beza and then to testifie that they will not deale with vs but he added withall that this should not be permitted them by the Kings Maiestie The Cardinall of Turnois after Bezaes Preface said vnto the Quéene mother least she should beléeue any of those things which Beza had said that he hoped by the helpe of God of our Ladie and of all the Saintes that all those things which were nowe alleaged shoulde both be confuted and vtterly abolished But the Cardinall of Loraine in his assemblie of Bishops saide as touching Beza I woulde to GOD that yesterday either wee had bin deafe to his blasphemies or else that he had bin dumbe Peter Martyrs fâ—l conference with the Queene mother This day namely the xj of this moneth I was called to the Quéene mother who verie courteouslie both sawe me heard mee I deliuered her the letters of our Magistrate and also those letters which belonged to her sonne I was a long while with her Such things I spake then as séemed most to belong vnto the present cause and that with great libertie She conceiued verie great hope of mée but we must pray that it be not frustrate which I am afraide of For she woulde haue the Church reformed but yet by leaue and consent of the Church men which thing coulde neuer yet be brought to passe nor now can be I excused praised and confirmed vnto her those things which Beza had spoken And when shee made mention of the Confession made at Augusta I answered that the holie scriptures ought to be sufficient for vs and that shée shoulde not perswade her selfe that if the Confession of Augusta were receiued it woulde be doone with the consent of the Ecclesiasticall men Also the verie same day and in the same place I was with the King of Nauarre who talked with mee a great while before he reuealed himselfe In fine when I had the letters in my hand to be deliuered vnto him he demaunded what letters those were I saide that they were to be deliuered vnto the king of Nauarre I saieth he am the same man Then I gaue him his due honour and deliuered them He dealt verie courteouslie with mée but to tell you the trueth he is verie colde as they say in Religion and goeth vnto Masses He also spake of the Confession of Augusta whom I answered as before I saide to the Quéene The Chauncellour of Fraunce dealt there with mee in the same matter coulde get no other thing of mée Finallie I so departed froÌ„ the Quéene as she saide she woulde talke manie times with me I will expect and will certifie you of such things as shall happen Our aduersaries haue set foorth foure principall things to be disputed of namelie of the authoritie of the Church of the strength and power of Councels of the authoritie of the scripture and of the Reall and substanciall presence of the bodie and bloud of Christ in the Eucharist Fare you well my most louing friende God kéepe you many yeares in health Pray for the cause of Christ for the kingdome of Fraunce and for me loue mee as you doe I louingly salute all my fellowe ministers also your sonnes daughters and sonnes in law and especiallie your wife I saluted in the name of you and of my fellow ministers all these coloquutors who on the other side sende salutations vnto all you Also Iulius and Gulielmus Stuccius whom you haue ioyned with me desire me to salute you Fare you well from S. Germans the 12. of September To the same man 52. SO often as occasion shall be offered of writing vnto you my Reuerende and most louing Gossip I wil not omitte the same Wherefore I did write the 12. daie of this moneth Nowe vnto those letters I will adde such thinges as did followe afterwarde An Oration was to bee made fower dayes since by the Cardinall of Loraine wherein he should haue confuted the Preface of Beza And when our brethren and associates were to goe thither namely to Poissi where the assemblie of the Ecclesiasticall persons is holden it was long and verie much debated in the kings Court whether I shoulde be fetched thither or no and it was in a maner determined that I should not goe because the Cardinals and Bishops woulde not suffer mee to be there Howbeit the Quéene at the hower of going thither called me foorth and commaunded mee to goe The Prince of Condie tooke order that I shoulde be brought by him that was his Secretarie and hee sent his owne Mule whereby I might be brought both easily and quietlie Wherefore I went thither apart from the brethren for they when the houre was néere went foorth before me And wheÌ„ we were come to the men who beare as they call them speares and halberdes which were the garde of the kings person suffering none to enter in but such as shoulde The Duke of Guise who was captaine woulde not let me enter but when hee had hearde of the Princes seruaunt that I was Peter Martyr he tooke me by the Arme and brought me in Wherefore being entered into the Hall I sawe a great companie of Cardinals and Bishops sat within a verie large place inclosed behinde whome sat a verie great nuÌ„ber of Abbotes Doctors Sorbonistes and Moonkes When I had séene these thinges and perceiued that neither the Quéene nor the King nor other of the noble personages were present I withdrewe my selfe into a corner of the lowest part of the hall that I might there sit and attende the comming of the brethren For I knewe not whither they were gone And since I was there alone I could not be hid The Cardinall Chastillion together with two Bishoppes in their Cardinall and Bishoppes apparell first
in the iudgement of all men But hee neuer instructed more nor was more to bee maruelled at than in publike disputations For if anie disputers were to be moderated hee shewed himselfe so equall a iudge and was mooued with those reasons onely which were of force to perswade as no man coulde euer suspect him to bee parciall he depressed not the sounde argumentes of aduersaries he winked not at the errors false argumentes of friends if they would wander out of the bounds of disputation he reuoked thē courteously to the matter propounded but if the matter proceeded to braules he quieted them by his authoritie And he so finished those incounters that alwayes at the first hee repeated the thinges that were most necessarie and then at the last pronounced of the whole cause that both trueth might haue the victorie and that thereby also might redounde to the hearers no small commoditie And if so he it came to his part to dispute he alwayes so behaued himselfe both in propounding and aunswering as there was no suspition of anie desire either of chiding or of carying away the victorie from an ouerthrowen aduersarie but his minde being free from affections hee rather taught that which was the trueth than contended with anie about wordes And therefore when oftentimes afterwarde he encountered with the stout defenders of the Popes Religion neither was hee mooued to anger at anie time by their rayling speeches neither yet by the acclamations and prayses of our side was he made anie thing the loftier by vayne glory but he perpetuallie kept one and the same modestie equalitie of mind And what perspicuitie of speaking he vsed in publike readings the same did he followe much more diligently in disputing For he iudged that a darkenesse of speech and ambiguitie of wordes is the cause of verie manie contentions And hereof doe his writinges giue a manifest testimonie For whereas he wrote manie things of the iustification of man of Gods predestination not a litle verilie he wrote most of all of the Supper of the Lorde in the explication whereof verie manie learned men vse a certaine affected obscuritie but in his writinges there is nothing read but that which is proper plaine and manifest And when Bucer whom he honoured and greatly esteemed woulde oftentimes exhort him that in the question of the Lordes supper he woulde vse some certaine obscure and doubtfull kinde of speaking which hee himselfe therefore vsed because the good man perswaded himselfe that by this meanes might be taken away the great controuersie which is about this matter and so the long desired peace to be restored to the Church at the length he gaue place to him and vsed the selfe same formes of speaking that hee did But perceyuing within a while the daunger that woulde ensue he chaunged his minde for hee sawe that they coulde not be satisfied by this meanes which affirme the grosse and carnall presence of the bodie of Christ in the supper vnlesse that also their grosse kinde of speech be receaued with a full and grosse interpretation And againe hee had tryed that the weaker brethren by this doubtfulnesse of speech were in part greatly offended and in part so intangled troubled as they scarcely knew what they were to iudge in this matter Wherfore leauing to Bucer his owne phrase of speech he folowed also in this doctrine the selfe same perspicuitie which he did in other things and yet neuerthelesse betweene them remained a firme and constant friendship for neither did Bucer disallow of Martyrs iudgement neither was Martyr ignorant of Bucers meaning although he vsed doubtful speeches so that although the maner of their teaching in this matter was diuerse yet was there a ful consent of them in al the doctrine of Religion and a perpetuall friendshippe and coniunction of life which if I woulde expresse and rehearse all the pleasures whereby they declared their mutuall loue rather wordes woulde frayle than matter Wherefore leauing these thinges I will come to priuate matters and speake of his domesticall life For at Strasborough hee first beganne to haue a house and familie And first he liued without a wife all in one house with his friendes that followed him out of Italie being content with a meane or rather a verie small stipende which neuerthelesse was afterwarde augmented For since he left his countrie and great riches and high honours for Christ his sake hee thought it woulde not become anie to bee agreeued at the increase of his stipende speciallie since he was of so spare a life that this which hee had was not onelie sufficient for himselfe but that there also remained somewhat for the helping of friendes Nowe since for diuers causes hee disallowed of single life by the counsell of his friends he betrothed himselfe to an honest and noble Virgin Catherin Dampmartin who liuing at Metes and louing true religion was sent for to Strasborough by godlie men and afterwarde was married to Martyr This woman died afterward in Englande without anie issue when shee had liued viii yeares with her husbande Vnto this woman all that knewe her gaue such prayse as is due to a good and excellent Matrone For first shee was one that feared GOD loued her husbande wise and industrious in gouerning of her domesticall affaires bountifull towardes the poore who not onelie ayded them with her substance but also with all the counsell and helpe she could Moreouer in the whole course of her life she was godlie modest and sober It is reported that the common sort in Oxford loued her not onely as a benefactor and as it were a mother of the needie but that they also woondred at her as though shee had bin indued with some diuine power because that in sicknesses and especiallie in childbirth their wiues by her counsell and helpe obtained for the most part vndoubted safetie The dead bodie of this woman Cardinall Pole commaunded to be digged vp and to be cast into a dunghill and that he might seeme to deale iustlie when he had no other thing to accuse her of he ascribed this cause to wit that she was buried hard by the bodie of S. Fridesuide and that she was the wife of an Hereticke Verilie this Cardinall which was sometime a speciall friend of Martyr after his departure out of Italie not onelie forsooke his friendship but he vtterly cast awaie the care of true Religion which for a time he had fained and became an earnest enemie and persecuter of our professors Therefore sith he could not burne Martyr himselfe as he desired and with greater pleasure would haue seene it he shewed his crueltie vpon a dead carkasse which had bin Martyrs wife But after that England vnder the most excellent Queene Elizabeth had receiued the former light of the Gospell to abolish this note of infamie the bodie by the commandement of the Bishops was againe digged out of the filth and dunghill and in a great assemblie of people was solemnlie buried
as he doubted not but to accuse both him and all our sort for impugning the glory and Maiestie of Christ and for denying the omnipotencie of God whereas notwithstanding it is knowen vnto all men in such sort as euen Brentius cannot bee ignoraunt thereof that our men teache quite contrarie It greeued him exceeding much that a man otherwise very notable and who might bee profitable to the Church so obstinately defended an opinion absurde monsterous and merely newe which leaneth vpon no euident testimonies of the scriptures nor vpon any authoritie of the fathers and auncient Church and which no not the Papistes who haue fained many thinges for defending of the carnall grosse and corporall presence of the bodie of Christ in the holy supper were so bolde at any time as to allowe For as he reported that at his being in Fraunce at the conference when certaine bookes of Brentius were brought foorth the chiefe of the Popes Diuines said openly that this opinion of Brentius was newe and neuer heard of and that it was merely hereticall Wherefore he had nowe prepared himselfe diligently and throughly to answere the slaunderous reproches of Brentius which were many and grieuous and his Arguments which were not many But alas for sorrow he being by the sudden violence of sicknesse taken awaie froÌ„ vs could not perfourme that which he was determined to doe Which mishap neuerthelesse might after a sort be borne because Bullinger the Pastor of our Church who had diuided with him the labour of answering shal by his studie labour and by his excellent learning with a good courage sustaine the labour of them both shall alone suffice for defending of theÌ„ both And moreouer the Arguments of Martyr which bee many that he produced in his Dialogue doe stand as yet firme by this attempt of Brentius could not be enfeebled much lesse ouerthroweÌ„ But this rather is to be sorrowed that Martyr coulde not finish other and most excellent works which might haue brought great benefite to the whole Church For nowe these certaine yeares hee hath interpreted as yee knowe the two Bookes of Samuel and nowe the first Booke of Kings being finished he trauelled in the seconde and those things which he read although all were not throughly reuiewed by him yet are they such that when they shall come foorth as shortly the Lorde willing they shall scarcely can any man desire a finishing of them And who will finishe this as it were the picture of Venus begunne by Apelles owne hande Who will so correct the Commentaries vpon Genesis vpon Exodus vpon Leuiticus vpon the smaler Prophets and vppon the Lamentations of Ieremie as they can haue that same dignitie and that same excellencie as if they had bin amended reuiewed and set foorth by himselfe What shall I speake of the most graue disputations of the greatest matters What of the Commentaries of Aristotle and other Commentaries which he began and left vnperfect For before he coulde I will not say correct these things but euen in a manner before he coulde take order what he woulde haue doone with them he was by the violence of a grieuous and vnexpected death oppressed and taken away from vs. For when he had begun to sicken the fifth day of this moneth he departed this life the 12. day of the same Hee was before but somewhat a sickly man aswell by reason of his age as for sundry cares and troubles and especially for the great griefe he tooke for the afflicted state of the French Church his powres did consume by litle and litle And therefore when the general disease wherof many of you haue had experience assailed him it did easilie consume nature alreadie spent But we because this disease hath not hitherto bin in any man vnto death nothing feared Martyr the first dayes of his sicknesse And he himselfe also confirmed our hope for the thirde and fourth day after the disease came vpon him he returned againe vnto his studies meant the day after when his turne was come to teach publikely albeit I was against it and admonished him that he shoulde haue a regarde to his health and saide that I woulde reade in his stead and that I doubted not but the Auditorie hauing a consideration of his sicknesse would easilie beare with him but he coÌ„trariwise thought himself strong ynough said that vnlesse some thing else happened he would reade the day after But eueÌ„ the selfe same night the feuer returned inuaded him more grieuously than it did before and in the meane time distilling of the rewme increased vpon him and therewithall the cough was verie troublesome vnto him Therefore albeit that his friendes bad him to hope well of his health and that the Phisitians also put him in some comfort yet hee himselfe foreshewed his death to bee at hande and for that cause made his Testament the day before he died and calling for the worthy man M. Bernhard Sprunglius the Treasurer being his neighbour to whom he commended the care of his wife great with child willed me to recite the same wil in his presence and desired of him that he would indeuour that the Senate might ratifie the same The next night after he tooke good rest the disease seemed vnto vs to be somewhat slaked but in very deede the power of nature being ouercome by the sicknes stroue no longer with it And in the meane time his friendes came euerie day to visit him with whome before the difficultie of breathing was hindered he talked of diuers thinges with them no lesse pleasantly than if hee had beene infected with no disease at all For by Phisicke wherein hee had diligently trauelled hee reasoned of the power and nature of his disease with such Phisitians as for friendshippe and courtesie sake did dailie visite him and because hee had slept some nightes not vnsoundly he greatly counted to his friendes this a benefit of God and out of the precepts of Phisicke rehearsed the nature and efficacie of sleepe as it were in sweetly refreshing the whole bodie Also he complained oftentimes of the Cough which hurt all the bodie but especially the head and brest And other while hee testified that hee was sicke indeede as touching his body but yet verie well as â—uching his minde And then if hee had begunne either to yeelde an account of his faith or to rehearse with what consolations hee was to erect his minde hee was in this kinde altogether diuine And on the day before hee shoulde die some of vs his friendes being present with him and speciallie Bullinger among the rest hee lay a certaine space meditating with himselfe then turning vnto vs he testified with speech plaine enough that hee acknowledged life and saluation in Christ alone who was giuen by the father an onelie sauiour vnto mankinde and this opinion of his hee declared and confirmed with reasons and wordes of the scriptures adding at the last This is my faith In this will I
ends namely action worke 1 5 a Whether God himselfe hath at any time shewed himselfe in visions 1 26 a How a worke can be the ende of an action when it is after the action 1 7 b Doubtes Why Doubtes doe sometimes arise euen against our willes 3 59 b Euen in thinges of great certaintie there bee some 3 59 a About faith and that wee shoulde resist them 3 62 b 59 b Of saluation arising euen in the godlie 3 37 a Doubting Faith hath alwaies some strife with Doubting 3 60 a Against Doubting of Gods promises 3 63 b 62 ab Against Doubting of saluation 3 8â— a 83 ab 2 629 ab 3 143 ab 234 a 145 a ¶ Looke saluation Dowrie The definition of a Dowrie and that the ende thereof is chiefely to be respected 2 455 b Of an error not to be suffered therin â— 455b Not necessarie for contracting of Matrimonie 2 419 a Why it shoulde remaine wholy vnto the wife 2 456 a Mention thereof in the lawe of God and who gaue it with their daughters 2 455a A false decree that without it Matrimonie cannot bee contracted 2 456 b The Church had none to offer vnto Christ 2 456 b No price of mariage 2 456 a Dowries Whether husbands in old time receiued Dowries of their wiues 2 454 b What the Romane Lawemakers and other nations decreed against them 455 a In what causes it is lawefull to receiue them 2 456 b Against them that are too too costlie chargeable 2 455 b Of maides giuen vnto the common treasure 2 456 b Prouided that husbands should not wast or alienate their wiues Dowries 2 455 b 456 a Doue The holie Ghost shewed himselfe in a verie Doue 1 26 a 115 a It was a verie Doue wherein the holie Ghost appeared saieth Augustine and others 1 115 a Dr. Drawe Howe God doth drawe vs vnto him notable points 3 46 a 14 b Not all 3 26 b 27 a None but the willing 3 46 a Not violentlie or by compulsion 3 47â—a The ende from whence and whereto 3 46 b 47 a Dreame What kinde of men Deame verie much in their sleepe 1 34 a A reuelation by a Dreame reported by Augustine 1 75 b Dreames The Dreames of certaine Ethnike Princes which foretolde things that followed 1 36 b A peripateticall explication of Dreames according to Philosophie 1 33a The opinion of Galen when wee see in them things which we neither did nor thought of 1 34 b Howe they are sometimes signes of the affections of the bodie or minde 1 33 a.b Howe Democritus expoundeth those which represent things comming by chaunce and farre distant 1 34 b Of manie a fit and conuenient reason may be giuen saith Aristotle 1 32 b God sendeth some but not al and why 1 37 b They happilie betoken things which afterwarde come to passe 1 34 a The necessitie of effects must not bee gathered of them which bee but signes 1 34b What Aristotle saith of Diuination by them 1 32 b By them we may iudge of humors in the bodie 1 38 b Who naturallie for the most part see true ones 1 34 a Hipocrates would haue vs vse praier when we haue them either good or bad why 1 35 a What Plato and the Stoikes taught concerning them which come of God 1 38 a.b Howe God woorketh in the wicked and the diuell in the godlie in them 1 37 b Why Aristotle held that they come not of God 1 37 a.b 38 a All are not to be contemned but diligentlie to bee obserued why 1 38 b Why Diuination by them is hard and vncertaine 1 35 b Beanes breede troublesome ones and therefore the Pythagorians abstained from eating them 1 37 a Howe they are sometimes the causes of those things that wee doe 1 33 b 34 a Sometimes they come of the diuell as saieth Augustine 1 37 a Epicurus said that they as al other things else come by chaunce 1 38 a They that take hold of them runne into deceit 1 76 a Of Pilates wife and why they were sent 1 83 b Euen brute beastes haue them but yet without Diuination 1 33 a In what cases we are forbidden to make any account of them 1 38 b Of certaine sent by God and so prooued out of the holie Scriptures and other writers 1 36 b Hippocrates opinion touching naturall ones and what hee saieth also of Diuine dreames 1 35 a The Iewes make three sorts and which they be 1 32 a Of such as either God or the diuell sendeth vs. 1 35 b 36 a God otherwhile in them giueth not both the formes and the vnderstanding of them to one and the same man as for example 1 36 a Of certaine men told by Galen and what befell to them afterward 1 35 a Romane Lawes against Diuination by them 1 38 b Two sundrie gates of Dreames one of horne another of iuorie and what is meant thereby 1 35 b Two reasons why GOD by them would open things to come vnto Kings and Princes 1 36 a.b The godlie may pray to be admonished by them 1 38 b prooued by example 39 a They may come not of one cause but of many and what we ought therefore to doe 1 35 b In diuining any thing by them two things are required 1 36 a The qualitie of meate and drinke doth alter their similitudes 1 33 b In iudging of natural ones we must not passe the measure of suspitioÌ„ and why 1 35 b Of a kinde of them which proceedeth from an outward cause and howe 1 35 a An obseruation of them both lawfull and vnlawfull 1 38 b What Peter Martyr would haue vs doe when we be troubled at any time with feareful Dreames 1 35 a ¶ Looke Visions Drunkards Howe iniurious Drunkardes are to their owne soules bodies goods 2 500 a.b 501 a.b 502 b Troublesome to their neighbors and lecherous 2 502 b Drunkennesse Drunkennesse of two sorts the one aboue the meane the other vnder the meane 2 498 a Drunkennesse is madnesse 2 502 a Against priuie mainteiners thereof 2 502 b 503 a The testimonies of Ethnickes touching the same 2 499 b Forbidden by the holie Scriptures 2 498 b It discloseth secrets and doth much mischief 2 502 a How much the mind it self is hurt thereby 2 501 b Of diuers mischiefes and misbehauiours of noble men done therein 2. 500 a.b Of Noah and Lot with the euents of the same most pithilie described 2 499 b. Actions doone in Drunkennesse doe not excuse 2 292 b Du. Dulia No difference betwixt Latria and Dulia 2 342 a.b What Augustine thought thereof 2 342 a Dvv. Dwell Howe God and Christ is saide to Dwell in vs. 3 139 a Of Dwelling among Infidels whether it be lawful for Christians 2 309 b ¶ Looke Conuersation Ea. Earth The ende why the Earth is giuen vnto men 3 367 b How for our sakes it is accursed laboureth 2 247 b A proper analogie betweene it and mans
metaphorically ascribed vnto God 2 413 a Visiting the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children is a worke of Gods great Mercie and howe 2 366 a Iudgement without Mercie remaineth to him that hath not shewed mercie expounded 4 254 b Merit The nature and propertie of Merite 3 52 b Of congruitie quite taken away from man 3 142 b 143 a 130 a 4 5 b All respects thereof excluded in the matter of saluation 3 52 b Not vsed in the scripture 3 56 a How the father 's qualified it 3 56 a It were good to be left 3 56 a The Merit of a worke wrought 4 194 b Of the Merit of congruitie and condignitie 2 257 b Assigned to works 3 55 b 56 a Excluded from adoption 3 153 b Merits Merits of congruitie condignitie allowed 3 221 a Excluded 4 306 a 2 264 a 275 a 3 108 a 302b 105 b Vnto what workes they of congruity are due 3 119 b 120 a Al quite abolished 3 144 a Whether hope springeth thereof 3 82 ab 86 a They breede dispaire 2 54 a Excluded from iustification 2 584a They haue no place in our calling and saluation 3 18 b What they that defend them do thinke of good works 3 54 a The Merits of the parents is not the cause why God promiseth good vnto their children 2 240 b Workes cannot properly be called Merits 3 52 b 53 a Messias The Iewes appointed two Messiases 3 346 b ¶ Looke Christ and Sauiour Metaphor The nature of a similitude and Metaphor 3 351 a Mi. Mightie Why God executeth by weake meÌ„ and not by Mightie 1 131 b Why Mightie men and princes do resist God 1 131 b ¶ Looke Princes Minde Of the parts of the Minde and how the affects are placed in them 2 409 ab The baser parts thereof and the noblest also are corrupted how 2 225. all 226. all Qualities thereof say the schoole men passe not from the parents to the children 2 239. be disprooued 2 241 a Vnto what inconueniences the sonne of man is subiect 1 1 b Altogether corrupted 2 564 ab Howe it is carried and mooued too and fro 2 565a b The infirmitie thereof and the alterations of the same described 1 158a In what respects it doeth and doeth not truely expresse God 1 123 b The excellencie thereof being a part of the soule 1 134 ab Whether it be hurtfull to the bodie 3 316 ab God hath the same place in the world that the Minde hath in man 1 170 b The scripture against Aristotle who saith that the Minde desireth the best things 2 564 ab Minds In what respects diuels can sée the minds of men 1 83 b Minister The office and dutie of a Minister 4 286 b 3 162 a 4 19 a 21 b â—27b He is the mouth of the church 4 224 ab What things are to be considered in him 4 233 ab Thrée things required in him that is lawfull 4 20 b 21 a The difference betwéene him and a magistrate 4 226 a Whether one hauing care of soules may flit in time of persecution 3 288 ab His publike prayers are the prayers of the Church 4 224 a Ministers Of the vnitie of Ministers 4 25 a In what respectes they are subiect vnto Magistrates 4 232 a Their authoritie most ample and excellent 4 230 b From what burthens and charges they are exempted 4 239 b 240 ab God vseth their aduersaries for the perfourmance of his counsels 2 386 a The force of the worde vttered by the mouth of them 2 386 a They may lawfullie receiue giftes and rewardes 4 28. 29. 30. Whether they hauing wherewithall to liue otherwise maie take stipendes 4 29 b They are called Angels 2 358 a Vnto whome the choosing of them belongeth 4 36 b Degrées of theÌ„ allowed in the Church 4 25 a Obseruations to be vsed in the making or choosing of them 4 10 a They must be consecrated of two manner of wayes 4 24 a That sometimes attributed vnto them which belongeth vnto God 4 24 a Whether their leawd life bee a cause of separation from the Church 4 35 b What they haue in common with all creatures 4 24 b Fewe in Ambroses time 3 195 b 196 b Whether they may haue wiues 3 192. 193. 194. 195. 196. They might by the decrée of a Canon 4 55 a Not to bee counted priuate men 1 445 ab Subiect vnto Magistrates two manner of wayes 4 38 a The primitiue Church had more than be nowe 3 194 a Their excellent office and charge 4 17 ab 18 ab Whether ill men may be made such 4 13 a Of the contempt and authoritie of Ministers 4 15 b c. Of their consecration 4 13 b They haue had the charge of ciuill gouernment 4 327 a Cautions in their election 4 13 ab Their leawdnesse defileth not the Sacramentes 4 101 a They may lawfully reprooue the sinnes of the Magistrates 4 324a They haue a paterne of duetie in Elias 4 319 ab 320a They ought to remedie two impediments touching Gods promises 3 49 b Whether the making of them be a sacrament 3 210 b They are mocked 4 16 a When it shall not bee lawfull for them to receiue stipend 4 30 b 31 a To what intent they must be in the campe 4 287 a 328 a Decrées of Councels against the adulterous sort 2 489 a Whether nouices are to be chosen 4 13 b Whether they may flée in persecution 4 2 a 60 a Ministers among the Gentils before the Apostles 4 4 b 5 a They must bee hospitall 4 17 b Their charge touching doctrine in foure pointes 4 48 b Why God would not gouerne his Church without them 4 23 b Whether it be lawful for them to warre 4 186 b 287a 327 a Excessiuelie honoured 4 24 b Howe they swarue from the faithfulnesse required in them 4 19. 20 What prayers they should daylie make 4 24a Their laboursome life described 4 29 b 30 a They must not bee ambitious 4 24 ab Whether they bee denied their due stipende 4 â—0 a They are the instruments of the holy ghost 1 43 a Sinne committed against them is horrible 2 554 b Whether they may vse their weapons 4 327 b When they maie bee in place of souldiers 4 328 a They must not procure sectes 4 21 b What bee their sacrifices 4 18 b They must not meddle with manie vocations 4 18a No where in Scripture called Priestes 4 222 a They and Magistrates haue their functions ioyned together 4 22 a 232 a 233 ab Howe they both shoulde behaue themselues one to an other 1 10 a Cautions for them when they are to distribute the sacraments 4 19 b 20 a Wherein their dignitie consisteth 4 222 b Canonicall purgation in the case of adulterie suspected in them 2 489 a Christ reuengeth the inuiries doone to them 4 21 a Whether they may be exempted from the ordinarie power 4 229 a It is the office of God onelie
How God doeth punish those of the fathers vpon the children 2 236 b Sinnes as they bee punishments they belong vnto iustice and in what respect are good 1 206 a Of omission or negligence and what is determined of them touching the will 1 189 a Howe they depend vpon Gods will 3 36 b Hee doth rule and gouerne them and howe 1 206 a And maketh a remedie for them 1 187 b Whether those of the next parents be deriued to the posteritie marke the Schoolemens opinion and the fathers 2 239 b Of eating the peoples Sinnes and how the priests did it 4 169 a Séeing euill affections shoulde be mortified in vs they be Sinnes 2 217 b How al creatures do suffer for the Sinnes of men 2 249. 250. 251. And whether they haue any wrong doone them in that case 252 a Two subtil Pelagian arguments the one touching Sinnes imputed the other sinne originall answered by Augustine 2 221 a Of small or veniall Sinnes what they be 2 272 ab That no iust man can liue without them 3 153 a All Sinnes in their owne nature must be called mortall 2 247 b What Sinnes be commonly called mortall sinnes 2 272 ab Wherein originall and actuall doe differ 2 243 a The difference betwéene Sinnes and crimes 3 298 b Sinner Whether God would the death of a Sinner 3 42 ab None is so called but either he hath sinne in act or else he hath committed sinne where note Pighius shifts 2 218 b In what respect Paul calleth him selfe the first or principall Sinner 2 548 a Sinners A distinction of Sinners 4 224 b 43 ab Who be Sinners against the holie ghost and whether such are to be excluded from hearing Gods word 1 57 b 58 a Whether God heare the prayers of Sinners 4 224 b Of what sort of Sinners the Publican was 4 224 b Sinning Of a necessitie of Sinning which hath no compulsion ioyned therewith 2 256 b Not absolute in the wicked 2 257 a Sl. Slaues Whereupon rose the saying of Eusebuis that Democritus made men Slaues but Chrysippus halfe slaues 1 172 a Sleepe How Sleepe is the image of death 3 335 b The death of the godly so counted 3 348 a Limited by watching 3 369 a Whether soules doe Sleepe when they are losed from the bodie 3 323b 324 ab Why the scripture saieth that the deade do Sleepe 3 326 b Sling The dexteritie of the Beniamits at throwing with a Sling 2 242 a So. Soldier The duetie of a Souldier and what it teacheth vs. 3 259 b Why he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 91 a Soldiers A custome of tything Souldiers in a case of offence 2 365 a Why they do goe on warfare 2 573 b Howe hardly they hauing gotten the victorie are restrained from the spoile 2 403 b The punishment inflicted vppon Souldiers for adulterie 2 485 b 486 a Permitted to play at vice 2 525 b That among them ministers of the worde ought to be in campe 4 328 a 287a Whether they ought to be priuie to the cause of warre 4 304 b 305 a A lawlesse multitude 4 294 b Fighting in warre they are not guiltie of manslaughter though they â—…ll and slay 2 385b They may not forsake their station vncommaunded 2 392b Out of what kinde of men they be taken 3 188 b Against mercenarie Souldiers 4 304 a 305 a Causes why they are blamed 4 287b 288 a What they do not respect 4 284 The whole seuentéeth Chapter of the fourth parte would be read of Souldiers concerning warre 4 2â—0 ab c. When ministers may be Souldiers 4 328 a Solitarinesse Whether Solitarinesse is absolutely to be allowed or disallowed 3 187 ab Commended and discommended 1 149 b 150 a The right vse and profit thereof 3 179 b Vsed of the wise Ethnicks of Christ Iohn Baptist Elias and others why 1 150 ab Songs A great vse of holie Songs among the godly 3 312 ab Of thankesgiuing for benefits receiued 3 308b 309 a Howe the Songs of Hanna and Marie do agree 3 309 a ¶ Looke Singing Sonne of God The Sonne of God appeared in verie humane flesh 3 26 b How and after what manner he tooke flesh vpon him â— 117 b Hee was not created or made sayth Augustine and how hee prooueth it 1 101 b Why he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the scriptures that is the Worde 1 26 b The Angell that spake to Moses in the bush was he 1 28 a ¶ Looke Christ Sonnes Whether Sonnes being placed as Magistrates ought to giue place to their fathers being priuate men 2 377 b Who be the Sonnes of God and who be not 2 248 ab Our certeintie thereof 3 81 b ¶ Looke Adoption Children Sorcerer Apuleius being a sorcerers durst not acknowledge himselfe such a one when he was summoned to answer thereunto 1 92 a Sorcerers Women and men Sorcerers in their sléepe receiued many pleasures of the diuels 1 90 a Of the miracles that they of Aegypt and other worke 1 65. 66. 67 Tertullians iudgement of the roddes of Pharaoes 1 73 b Lawes against Sorcerers such as repaire to them 1 84 b 85 a ¶ Looke Inchanters and Magicians Sorrowe The effects of Sorrowe in the bodie 3 246 a Of that which is ioyned with hope 3 86 a Whether wee Sorrow and reioyse both at once 3 212 b Why Sorrowe for sinne is more frequent in the olde testament than in the newe 3 299b Things not voluntarie or done against the wil haue Sorrowe ioyned with them 2 293b Why Dauid did Sorrowe though his sinne were taken away 3 299b ¶ Looke Affectes Griefe Scule of man Of the Soule of man and the faculties or powers of the same wherein wee resemble God 1 12 b Whether the Soule be hurtfull to the bodie 3 316 ab Without faith it is dead 2 262 b The definition of the same 3 114 b A fable of the Rabbins touching the coniunctioÌ„ therof with the body 3 329 b The Soule is saide to rise againe in two respectes 3 332b Taken in diuerse senses 3 344 a Why it is ioyned to the body 3 334 a The immortalitie thereof proued 3 334 ab 1 73 a 3 350 a Howe it is after a sort conteined in the bloude 1 123 ab From whence it doeth proceede and come 1 122 a Why it is called carnal 4 186 a It doeth oftentimes followe the affections and perturbations of the body 1 123 b The chéefe effects of the Soule are mouing and sense 2 122 b By it being the chéefe part of man is vnderstoode the bodie 2 244 b A reason of the fathers why the bodie was made before it 1 122 b At the beginning the bodie was not giuen to the Soule as a graue or prison as some doe fable 2 251 a Whether God breathed a Soule into Eue as he did vnto Adam 2 244 b The Soule inuisible and indiuisible and howe it worketh in the bodie
that Christ was therefore come to lead vs vnto a higher philosophie The true religion he calleth philosophie to take awaie the pride of the Graecians who attributed so much vnto their philosophie Ierom. Ierom writeth héereof in diuers places to Geruntia to Eustochius and against Iouinianus And among other things he writeth that Christ was Alpha Omega Apoc. 1 8. that is The first the last And when the mater was now come to Omega that is Vnto the last the same was reuoked by Christ to Alpha that is Vnto the beginning for that it pleased God as Paule saith to the Ephesians to bring althings into one Ephe. 1. 10. restore them in Christ that such things as yet were vnperfect might be brought to perfection Vnto Eustochius he saith that the world before time was vnreplenished but when the haruest was ripe God put to his syth that is to saie he cut off such libertie The Valentinians and Martionits by reason of this fact of the old fathers accused the God of the old testament but Christ they said the sonne of the good God reuoked this sufferance of the euill god Ierom answereth We diuide not the lawe and the Gospell neither doo we set Christ against his Father but we worship one God who would haue it for that time but now hath decréed against it For that then was the time to scatter stones abroad now is the time to gather them vp then was the time of imbrasing now is the time to absteine from imbrasings Bréefelie he saith that the fathers serued their times And that that saieng Gen. 1 28. Increase and multiplie is not in the same force at this daie for in old time virginitie was reprochefull that now Paule writeth The time is but short 1. Cor. 7 29 and therefore they which haue wiues let them be as though they had none And he addeth that Christ dooth allow of them Matt. 19 12 which haue made themselues chast for the kingdome of heauens sake Also Augustine De doctrina christiana Augustine in the third booke and 13. chapter saith that Those forefathers were so chast as if they had happened to be in our daies they would haue made themselues chast for the kingdome of heauen These things among the fathers must be read with iudgement for their mind was by all meanes to extoll virginitie and single life In verie déed Paule praiseth virginitie yet so 1. Cor. 7 26. The reason of Pauls praising virginitie as if a man perceiue that by that meanes the kingdome of heauen may be enlarged or if by dooing otherwise it may be hindered He praiseth it I saie not as a thing which of his owne force and of it selfe pleaseth God but as a state wherin we may the more commodiouslie and readilie spred the Gospell Augustine saith that now we cannot haue manie wiues but with lust bicause it would be against lawes and customes which cannot be violated without vnlawfull lust Also against Faustus he saith Bicause it was then the maner it was no sinne but now bicause it is not the maner it is sinne Clemens Clemens in his Stromata which place I cited before when he had said that God in the lawe required polygamie added afterward that the same is not now lawfull And Iustine against Tryphon saith Iustine that now euerie one dooth reioise vnder his vine that is Euerie one hath his owne wife and that is but one onelie And he reprooueth the Rabbins who as yet gaue leaue to themselues to haue more than one Out of Origin we cannot learne anie thing for a certeintie Origin he so plaieth in his allegories and manie wiues he maketh manie vertues and he saith that he is most happie that hath manie By all these things it appéereth that polygamie is at this daie forbidden And to all these I also adde this that the Romane laws did neuer permit polygamie and it is the part of a good citizen to obeie good lawes Yea and Plutarch saith that There followed a most gréeuous disturbance of the publike weale and of the whole world when that lawe was broken For after that Antonie who alreadie had in marriage Octauia the sister of Octauius Caesar had also married Cleopatra the people tooke it in ill part and Augustus most of all so as they put themselues in armes one against another with all their indeuour and power 15 Now must I confute those arguments An answer vnto the reasons making for polygamie To the first reason which we brought at the beginning for polygamie Abraham saie they and other fathers were holie men and had manie wiues Here might I make answer at a word that we must liue by lawes and not by examples But I adde moreouer that God either willed it or bare with it It is therefore a paralogisme A paralogisme or false argument A secundum quid ad simpliciter that is when that which is but in some respect is put for that which is absolute God dispensed with them will he therefore with vs also Or else it was a good thing in them is it therfore good of it selfe But the prophets reprooued not that fact To the second What maruell is it For they sawe it was either licenced by God or else doubtlesse permitted Howbeit A paralogisme here there is a false argument when that which is not the cause is put for the cause séeing it was permitted them for propagation or for figure sake Now there is no néed either of so populous a propagation or else of such a figure To the third They repented not It is no maruell bicause no man can repent him of the fact which he is ignorant of For it was a tollerable ignorance or else that which I rather beléeue they sawe it was lawfull for them GOD gaue the wiues of Saule into the bosome of Dauid 2. Sam. 12 8 It was lawfull insomuch as he had dispensed with his lawe To the fourth Or if anie man will saie that God permitted that vnto Dauid onelie this is the meaning namelie that God gaue the kingdome vnto Dauid then it followed that he might marrie the wiues of Saule if he would sith no man could then let him But the first answer pleaseth me better To the fift God made no lawe against polygamie And no maruell for his will was that that people should mightilie increase Afterward by Christ he reuoked it to the first institution So that which was wanting in Moses is supplied by Christ A brother although he had a wife yet he was compelled to marrie the wife of his brother that was dead To the sixt The case is particular and prerogatiues must not be drawne vnto examples God would haue that to be doone for certeine causes not onelie in the lawe but also before the lawe as appéereth by the children of Iuda and his daughter in lawe Thamar Moreouer the Rabbins saie
all created at the beginning but are dailie created of God to be put into the bodies proposition 3 Those things which are spoken of paradise must not be vnderstood so allegoricallie as the truth of the historie should not be reteined but the allegories may profitablie he ioined vnto the thing that was doone proposition 4 Whether that garden of pleasure be yet extant cannot be defined by the holie scriptures proposition 5 The dignitie of the lawe of GOD is not to be estéemed by deserts of actions commanded or forbidden therein but for that in it is conteined the iudgement of GOD for dooing of things which alwaies must be preferred before the counsell of man proposition 6 Both kinds of death as well of the bodie as of the soule was set before Adam if he transgressed the commandement of God proposition 7 The first man was created mortall albeit it was in him not to die proposition 8 It is not good for a man to be alone bicause it is not pleasant nor honest nor profitable proposition 9 Thrée exercises were set before man at his creation namelie to obeie God to behold the natures of things created and to exercise husbandrie proposition 10 The sléepe of Adam in the bringing foorth of the woman signifieth vnto vs that Christ by his death purchased his church Probable proposition 1 THe breathing of God whereby the first man was made a liuing soule is a token shewing vs that the reasonable soule is giuen vnto men not by the strength of nature but â—uâ—wardlie by the helpe of God proposition 2 The garden of pleasures was planted in the region of Eden as the name declareth not far from Assyria Mesopotamia and Arabia proposition 3 The trée of life hauing fruit which prolonged life to them that should eate of it allegoricallie signifieth Christ proposition 4 The trée of good and euill is not onelie so called of that which followed but bicause of the same there was a lawe giuen whose propertie is to shew the difference of good and euill proposition 5 By forbidding the fruits of the trée of good and euill we are taught not to be so hardie as to rule our selues by the wisedome of the flesh or else to determine by mans iudgement what is good and what is euill which neuerthelesse is requisite that we decrée by the spirit of God and by the word proposition 6 Séeing the lawe was giuen to Adam the woman being not yet created it sheweth that women should be instructed by men as touching the lawe and word of the Lord. proposition 7 The woman was made of the rib of man to declare that the church was foundes in the strength of Christ Propositions out of the second and third chapters of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 CHildren must not for their wiues sake so leaue their parents as not to succour or reuerence them albeit they are bound to liue néerer to their wiues than to their parents proposition 2 Whereas the husband and wife are said to be one flesh matrimonie is declared to be inseparable so long as they can be one flesh which is taken awaie by adulterie and for want of power to performe the dutie of marriage one towards another proposition 3 Matrimonie is therefore said to be a mysterie bicause it representeth vnto vs the most streict coniunction of Christ with his church proposition 4 The church immediatelie from hir beginning had Adam for hir gouernour not without the word of God for he being indued with the spirit of GOD spake with the selfe-same words both as touching Christ and as touching matrimonie proposition 5 Temptations are therfore permitted by God bicause they be profitable for the church proposition 6 The diuell promised vnto the woman those things which she had alreadie to wit the opening of the eies and likenesse to God Probable proposition 1 WHereas God brought Eue framed vnto Adam we are thereby taught that those marriages are not well knit where God ioineth not the parties togither proposition 2 Since that mans soule is a spirituall substance and is immortall we must not grant that it is deriued vnto the children by the séed of the parents proposition 3 The serpent was the fittest instrument in temptation to expresse the ill practises of the diuell and his craftinesse against men proposition 4 The wicked will of the tempter declareth the most skilfull wisedome of GOD whereby he knew how to vse wel euen most wicked things proposition 5 This did the diuell by his first temptation chéeflie indeuour that Gods word should not be beléeued as it was requisite proposition 6 The originall of Eues fall was that setting aside the earnest cogitation of the word of God she began to weigh in hir mind the commoditie of the forbidden fruit which the diuell set before hir togither with the beautie and swéetnesse thereof proposition 7 The shame and the deuise of the couerings are not to be ascribed to the diuell but to the goodnesse of God as a bridle whereby the euill now brought in might the lesse spread it selfe abroad Propositions out of the third chapter of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 SHame and the shunning of Gods sight are properties which followe sinne proposition 2 The enimitie which GOD put betwéene the diuell and the woman belongeth vnto all godlie men proposition 3 Albeit the power of treading downe the diuell be proper vnto Christ yet dooth he communicate the same with the faithfull proposition 4 The cursses which GOD laid vpon the first men were not onlie punishments but also they shewed men their duties and brought remedies against temptations and sinnes proposition 5 If the creatures through mans transgression fell into a woorse condition than they were it is méet that vpon the restitution of him those also should be restored proposition 6 Since God remooueth idlenesse from man they which altogither shun labour agrée not with his will proposition 7 Christ tooke not awaie by his first comming the punishments of these cursses but mitigated them howbeit at his second comming he will altogither take them awaie proposition 8 Séeing garments are inuented for the profit and honestie of this present life those garments are iustlie found fault withall which haue anie thing against these two properties proposition 9 Sacrifices be signes whereby we confesse the excellencie of God proposition 10 Anie man is accepted of GOD before his works be acceptable vnto him proposition 11 Those things which God either by exhorting or commanding sheweth should be doone those are not in our power to be doone of vs vnlesse we be holpen by his grace Probable proposition 1 THe scripture therefore saith that the eies of the first men were opened after sinne bicause there brake out a new féele of new punishments proposition 2 By the example of God who so preciselie inquired after sinne iudges are admonished that they condemne not men before they be heard and their cause examined proposition 3 In the curssing of the serpent those punishments of
the diuell are rehearsed whereby we may be easilie brought to beware of him proposition 4 By the names which were giuen to the wife of the first man to his first begotten sonne and to manie other in the old testament we are taught to giue those names vnto them that be of our familie whereby we may be often admonished of the benefits of God towards vs. proposition 5 In the casting foorth of Adam out of paradise we may perceiue a shadowe of the accurssed and excommunicates out of the church Propositions out of the fourth fift and sixt chapters of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 HE that refuseth himselfe to be a kéeper of his neighbour as Caine did he sheweth himselfe to be vncharitable proposition 2 So long as GOD suffereth the wicked to remaine aliue a priuate mans sword must not arise against them proposition 3 Since that GOD can defend those whom he loueth and yet suffereth them to be oppressed it is euident that the same oppression is profitable for them proposition 4 Insomuch as we beléeue that God is iust and that now his fréends are oftentimes ill intreated it followeth that his iudgement must be looked for afterward whereby these things may be recompensed proposition 5 Albeit that the finding out of munition came of an ill occasion yet is the vse thereof lawfull proposition 6 The vtilitie is not small that commeth by the description of genealogies which be in the holie scriptures proposition 7 Euen as the maner of godlie men is to inuent titles and names for things which may set foorth the praises of God so contrariwise the vngodlie séeke by them to establish their owne memorie not a memorie of the Lord. proposition 8 How manie soeuer as are now borne amongst men are marked not onelie with the image of God but also with the image of the first Adam Probable proposition 1 IT is verie likelie that the old fathers which were before the flood came more latelie to the time of generation than men of our age doo proposition 2 They which be reckoned in this genealogie it may well be that they were not all the first borne proposition 3 The huge host of the children of Israel which of a few men were multiplied within a short time in Aegypt prooueth that mankind was soone increased in number proposition 4 Whether the angels or the spirits or the godlie men or the sonnes of princes are said to be those sonnes of God which went into the daughters of men it cannot by the holie scriptures be defined proposition 5 The hundreth and twentie yeares which are said to be giuen vnto men before the flood were the space granted them to repentance Propositions out of the sixt seuenth and eight chapters of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 GOD did not onelie by speciall words prouide that his prophets should warne men concerning their commoditie but he would that the same should also be doone of them by certeine outward actions proposition 2 Albeit that God knew that some would not returne to him yet dooth he not in vaine call them manie waies proposition 3 Sometimes it may be that holie men praie not for certeine persons not led therevnto by their owne fault but by the commandement of God proposition 4 When God maketh a couenant with men all things there depend of his mercie proposition 5 God sometimes giueth manie things to certeine men for their forefathers and posterities sake proposition 6 In a church well ordered euen this among other things must be taken héed of that there be no want of bodilie sustenance to the members of Christ proposition 7 Good works are not causes of saluation but we verie well grant it to be requisit that to whom GOD hath giuen them to those he also gaue saluation proposition 8 Manie things which are commanded in Moses lawe touching ceremonies are found also to haue béene kept before the lawe proposition 9 God is said to remember not that he at anie time forgetteth but bicause he hath the effects of man who remembreth some thing proposition 10 We read that God hath sometime repented him not that he is troubled with this perturbation but bicause he dooth that which repentants are accustomed to doo proposition 11 When we affirme that he repenteth himselfe of some thing the change must not be placed in himselfe but in man proposition 12 It must not be attributed vnto punishment it selfe that it hath the power to purge sinne proposition 13 Outward sacrifices are acceptable to God if they be ioined with inward sacrifice proposition 14 Outward sacrifices doo excéedinglie displease God if the mind be void of inward sacrifice Probable proposition 1 THat some liuing creatures be cleane and vncleane it commeth rather to passe by our estimation than by the nature of them proposition 2 The flood is a figure of the last iudgement proposition 3 The arke was a figure of the church Propositions out of the eight and ninth chapters of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 THe Lords supper may be called a sacrifice howbeit not that it purgeth the soules of the dead and that it iustifieth as they saie for the worke sake that is wrought proposition 2 Whosoeuer are borne altogither of Adam are guiltie of originall sinne proposition 3 The saints are absolued from this vice by repentance and faith wherewith they haue béene indued the corruption of nature is not taken awaie proposition 4 They which are punished for originall sinne suffer punishment not for another mans sinne but for their owne proposition 5 No morall vertues or mans industrie can take awaie this disease of nature proposition 6 We affirme that in this originall corruption is folden vp togither both sinne and guiltinesse proposition 7 Guiltinesse and originall sinne be not the selfe-same one with an other proposition 8 Originall sinne is a corruption of the whole man from the image of GOD brought in after the fall of the first man proposition 9 This bringing in is not admitted this thing is not in our power therefore it is no sinne proposition 10 Originall sinne is forgiuen through faith by Christ proposition 11 It is not forgiuen in baptisme for the worke wrought as they speake but by the power of faith proposition 12 God did not so greatlie addict the remission of sinnes to the sacrament of baptisme as without it he dooth not otherwhile giue the same proposition 13 Vnto them which belong not vnto Christ originall sinne bréedeth damnation vnto hell fier proposition 14 The promises of God doo come to an indeuor of praieng Probable proposition 1 THrough the excéeding great coniunction of the soule with the flesh the same flesh after the fall of Adam being defiled the soule also it selfe is contaminated with originall sinne proposition 2 The ceremonie whereby it was commanded that men should absteine from bloud dooth in part shadowe out the sacrifice of Christ and partlie dooth admonish vs of inconstancie proposition 3 When the soule as well of brute beasts as of