bring his authority by whome Christian Religion was first planted in England we bring the greatest Clerke that euer antiquity yelded vs we bring one who liued when the bickering with S. Dunstane began and what he wrot of Priests wiues we bring S. Anselme when it was againe renewed we bring the approuance of all the best Historiographers and schollers of the Land so as both our authorityes are positiue in the affirmance far more ancient for tyme and without comparison for esteeme more eminent then any can be alleadged to the contrary and if Tertullians rule be true as M. Hall graunted and denyed it togeather in the beginning of his letter that priority of tyme inferreth infallibility of truth then the cause is ours and M. Hall is cast or els let him produce some more ancient writers or of such credit as S. Gregory S. Bede S. Anselme and the like or if authours want to deale for a farewel more friendly with him let him bring me for the first three hundred yeares after the arriuall of S. Augustine into England but one Bishop Priest or Deacon who was marryed and in that state liued freely with his wife and was so allowed and I will rest contented and put him to no further A large offer made to M. Hal. trouble for prouing his freedome and who seeth not this my offer to be very large in case marriage had byn as freely then permitted to Priests as it is now to Ministers as he contendeth And if neither authority in writing nor example of fact can be found and we shew both the one and other for their single life then I trust none will be so vnequall a Iudge and professed enemy of truth as not to acknowledge it appearing so plainly in her natiue colours and so Al authority standeth for the single life of Priests none against it of any account or worth euidently marked with infallible certainty 112. And it must needs be a great comfort vnto Catholiks to see Heresy haue so weake defence to see this cause so ouerborn by vs as you haue heard to see on our side stand S. Gregory our Apostle S. Bede S. Dunstane S. Ethelwold S. Oswald S. Anselme so many Kings Councells Nobility consent of the Realme continuâ—ll custome of tyme all writers of most account in one word all the flower of authority learning and sanctity which euer our Nation yielded since these broyles of the incontinent Clergy began before also on the other side to see M. Hall for want of other help to lay hold on one obscure Authour Henry Huntington for tyme not very ancient for credit small and for the very thing he affirmeth out of him vntrue al others disclayming from him all pleading for vs vnles they be such as are not worth the taking vp and that euen vntill the tyme of Edward the 6. when also those who there dealt against vs had first in another ParlameÌ„t before pleaded for vs and subscribed to that which afterwards they condemned If any say for their excuse that the later Parlaments are of equall authority with the former and that one may repeale what the other hath enacted I answere that so it is in ciuill affayres which depende vpon the present disposition of persons tymes and things for it may so fall out that one law which heeretofore was very expedient may be now hurtfull or the contrary but for matters of fayth or things thereunto appertayning this rule doth not hold for as the certainty of Religion dependeth not on men who are mutable but vpon the sure immoueable and euerlasting truth of Almighty God alwayes one alwayes inuariable so must the same also be constant one and vniforme in it selfe without any change or alteration at all neither is this fayth to be fashioned out by Parlaments of particuler Nations but if any difficulty arise therein or in any other Ecclesiasticall affayre the Pastours who alone are to direct the flocke of Christ in Generall CouÌ„cels are to sit iudges and define the matter lay men not to intermedle therein This alwayes hath beene the practise of the Christian world by this haue errours beene rooted out vnity purity of fayth mainteyned the people kept in peace the Church in esteeme this failing errours as experience hath too deerly taught vs haue increased heresyes without all order or vnity haue beene multiplyed common peace broken holy Church contemned the whole frame of Christianity shaken and al things disioynted and put out of order 113. Another ponderation may be drawn 4. Ponderation from the difficulty of this graunt for marriage in the very beginning when it was first proposed in Parlament in the tyme of King Edward The first grant for marriage of Clergy men gotten in the ParlameÌ„t with great difficulty the sixth and was so strongly opposed as it could find no passage but only for the tyme past and that also not without some hard straynes it seeming indecorum vnto them all to behold the Pastours as fleshly as the people and no purity or perfection of life to be in one more then in the other but sicut populus sic Sacerdos to be all carnall all drowned in sensuality al alike more corporall then spirituall more attent to the body See the three Conuers par 2. cap. 12. §. 22. c. then soule to pleasure then pennance temporall emoluments then eternall happynes but what should they doe deny it absolutly they could not for the Ministers practise had preuented their hindrance and they came prouided in that behalfe not hauing so much patience as to expect the Parlaments permittance and he had giuen them example who for place authority was the chiefest among them their Archbishop Cranmer the first marryed Metropolitan that euer was in England Cranmer I meane the first marryed Metropolitan that euer England saw and it was to no purpose to go about to restrayne the members from the influence of the head or where the root was corrupted to seek to saue the branches from infection this also being the chiefe point of Euangelicall liberty among them happily renewed as M. Hall sayth with the Ghospell but indeed was so new as a new paire of shooes neuer made before could be no newer And this Ghospell was not according to S. Matthew but Martin Luther as we haue shewed and a very lasciuious Ghospell that to satisfy the lust of these wanton companions did breake all bands and promises made before to God of a better life 114. But seeing afterwards all the ofspring to tracke so constantly this path of their progenitours necessity excluding all counsaile of further deliberation and the great multitude of these marryed men all meanes of redresse they were forced in the next Parlament to permit them all to take wiues permit them I say for approue them they did not and that also in despite of all lawes made euer before in al Prouinciall Nationall Generall Councels to the contrary
in Asia Europe and Africke is demonstrated and the contrary by M. Hall is without all proofe or probability affirmed though he streyne far and forge a text of the third Gregory to this purpose and fouly mistake S. Isidore and then vpon no other ground but his owne errour and ouersight most pitifully exclaime against vs with I know not what outragious crime committed to our perpetuall shame whome he calleth his iuggling Aduersaryes and will haue vs deale worse then the Diuell but this shame I haue shaken off â—rom vs it must rest on himselfe and all the iuggling is resolued to this that M. Hall cannot see that which lyeth open before his eyes and therefore as he is suspitious thinketh it by some iuggling deuise to be taken away Alas poore M. Hall I pitty your ignorance but condemne your malice fayne you would byte but wanting teeth you can but only barke you esteeme your selfe a gallant man when you rayle at our doing or doctrine but your wit is so weake and will so wicked as the later which is blind and should be guyded by the former only directeth your pen and sheweth your iudgement and learning to be alike little I meane in respect of the desire you haue to do vs hurt in case you were able God forgiue you and send you a better mynd 14. There followeth another fundamental proofe which is so potent that M. Hall will be cast The fable of S. Huldericks Epistle in his cause if it do not answere all cauills satisfy all Readers and conuince all not willfull aduersaries and this forsooth is a learned and vehement epistle of S. Vdalricus vnto Pope Nicholas the first in which we see saâ—th this blind man how iust how expedient how ancient this liberty is and not only that but there-withall also the feeble and iniurious grounds of forced continency read it sayth he and see whether you can desire a betâ—er Aduocate I haue done his friend M. VVhiting that fauour as to read it for him and I see this Aduocate in writing to the first Nicolas to haue beene as blind as M. Hall for in caâ—e S. Vdalricus had written it as it is euinced that he did not he had written it more then 50. yeares after the partyes death whome he did write it vnto and more then twenty yeares before himselfe who wrote it was borne and therefore I desire in M. VVhitings name a better Aduocate that may plead after the vsuall manner of other men and not write letters before he haue either body or soule eyes to see tongue to speake or hands to write and then â—end them not to the liuing but to the dead and in the coÌ„tents to speake the truth and not tell vs tales of six thousand heads found in one mote with other the like impertinencyes before refuted and finally I must tell M. Hall that the cause is very weakly defended that relyeth on such rotten grounds of forged fictions and if he had esteemed it to be of any worth he would neuer haue made hazard thereof vpon such fooleryes if he be as prodigal of his wealth as he is of his wife cause credit and fidelity his children shall not be ouercharged with any rich inheritance which he is like to leaue them for he will be sure to liue and dye a beggar 15. In this counterfeit epistle there is no antiquity set downe for M. Halls carnall liberty neither can we espy therein the feel lenes of the ground of forced continency because we force none thereunto but compell such as without all inforcement out of their owne free and deliberate election haue vowed it to the obseruance of their vowes which this letter as lawful doth allow though we may not allow this liberty to M. Hall to change the name of Vdalricus into Volusianus nor to authorize it from them that haue mention thereof as Aeneas Siluius nor yet from such as in case they haue some mention are themselus of no credit as Gaspar Hedio Iohn Fox or such like fablers nor finally to vaunt of a happy plea and triumphant conquest where neuer word was spoken or stroke giuen or thing done more theÌ„ in the idle fancy of some new fangled Ghospellers how soeuer this wise man tel vs that heerupon this liberty blessed the world for 200. yeares after but I haue at one dash bated one hundred and fifty more at another and that from the warrant of his owne words and proued this Plea if euer there had been any such as there was not to haue beene very vnlucky as wel for the discredit of the maker as ouerthrow of the matter and that in so short space as hath beene before set downe 16. And because this modest man rayles at the seauenth Gregory for vtterly ruining the marriages of Priests and makes him the most Of Gregory the 7. Nicholas the 2 and Leo the 9. mortall enemy that euer the vow-breakers had which I impute to his great honour as it is also to be reuiled by heretiks I haue at large defended him and his whole contention with Henry the Emperour and shewed how constantly he behaued himselfe in this sluttish busines and although M. Hall would fayne haue him to be amongst the first parents of such as suppressed the marriages of Clergy men yet the truth is that before his tyme these marriages were neuer thought vpon in Germany but then the Clergy brake forth first into that intollerable beastlines and the like is proued by Nicholas the second for the first had neuer any thing to do in that controuersy and Leo the ninth whose decrees are only against concubines and harlots of incontinent Priests without any mention of wiues which in their tims were not any where allowed or perhaps so much as thought vpon and it may seem a woÌ„der to anâ— who knoweth not the custome of Heretiks to see one to claime prescriptioÌ„ of tyme for the marriage of Clergy men that cannot bring one Canon one Nationall decree one direct authority of any ancient Father for seauen hundred years togeather and after that tyme to alledge a meere patched proofe of a schismatical Conuenticle which more hurteth then helpeth his cause and yet to brag that for all that tyme there was nothing but marriage nothing but liberty no vows no chastity but these are the vsuall pangs of hereticall insolency 17. Diuers other points vpon this occasion are discussed as the deposition of Gregory the seauenth feigned to be made in the Councell of VVormes and that for separating man and wife but there was no deposition made no separation mentioned Then whether Gods will which this man still supposeth to stand for the incontinent vow-breakers â—or the Popes willfullnes was sought therein and lastly whether the broyles betweene Henry and Gregory were about this matter and what flocke it was thâ—t was so afflicted by the Popes censures as Auentine reporteth which was not indeed any flock of Christ for such still adhered vnto their
to be naught with another maâ— for which cause the sayd Father in his Canonâ— to Amphilochius putting downe the pennance of Epist 3. can 60. such who after the vow of chastity had falleâ— into that sinne sayth peccati adulterij tempus conplebit such a one shall fulfill the penitentiall time of the sinne of adultery which thing is more exaggerated by S. Ambrose vpon the like occasion who doubted whether any pennance be Ambros ad virg lap cap. 5. great inough for so foule an offence for thus be writeth Quae se spopondit Christo sanctum velam accepit c. she who hath betrothed herâ—selfe to Christ and hath receaued the holy veile is already marryed is already ioyned to her immortall husband and now if she will marry by the common Law of wedlocke she committeth aduowtry she is guilty of death So S. Ambrose And would these Saints trow you euer vse suâ— vehemency or shew such zeale if these vowe were filthy vnlawfull or diabolicall No no. Their saintly spirits abhorred such sensuall vncleanes and brutish doctrine 48. Neither were the Fathers content to call this sinne aduowtry but they further added that it is worse then aduowtry So expresly S. Loco citato Marke this M. Hall Chrysostome Legitima iusta res coniugium c. Wedlocke is a lawfull and good thing c. but to you it is not now lawfull to obserue the lawes of wedlocke for one who is ioyned to the heauenly bridegroome to forsake him and entangle himselfe with a wife is to commit adultery and although a thousand tymes you will call it a marriage yet do I affirme it to be so much worse then adultery by how much God is greater and better then mortall men By which proportion we may see of what sanctity the impure marriages were which Luther Bucer and other renegate Friers did make with Nunnes how lawfull it is to breake these vowes and finally what is to be thought of such marryed Apostata Priests as still speake honourably of matrimony that therby they may seeme not out of frailty good men but out of meere deuotion to commit adultery or rather a greater sin planè August de bono viduit cap. 11. non dubitauerim dicere sayth S. Augustine lapsus ruinas à castitate sanctiore quae vouetur Deo adulterijs esse peiores Certainely I dare affirme the falls and slidings away from that more sacred chastity Basil hom quo pacto amitâ—imus recuperamus imaginem Dei which is vowed to God to be worse then adulteryes So and in so playne tearmes S. Augustine 49. And this so grieuous a sinne is tearmed by S. Basil S. Ambrose sacriledge Quando se Deo semel authorauit sayth the former per vitae continentiam ac perpetuam castitatem hoc detrectare non licet c. When one hath bound himselfe by vow vnto God by continency of life or perpetuall chastity is it not lawfull for him to slide back and so warily he must keep himselfe as he would keep a present or sacrifice offered to God least our Lord at the day of iudgment condemn him as guilty of sacriledge So S. Basil and against him who had abused the virgin before mentioned out of S. Ambrose thus doth the same Father Ambros ad virg lap cap. 8 exclayme De te autem quid dicam fili serpentis minister Diaboli violator templi Dei adulterium vtique sacrilegium c. What shall I say of thee the sonne of a serpent the minister of the Diuell the deflowrer of the temple of God who in one filthy act hast committed two sinnes to wit adultery and sacriledge sacriledge for that through thy mad rashnes thou hast polluted the vessel offered to Christ dedicated to our Lord c. Neither is it only a double but a threefold sinne for besides the adultery and sacriledge they also commit incest Christus Dominus noster cùm virginem suam Cyprian Epist 62. sibidicatam sanctitati suae destinatam iacere cum alterâ— cernit quà m indignatur irascitur quas poenas inincestuosis eiusmodi coniunctionibus comminatur Christ our Lord and Iudge how doth he abhorre how is he offended when he seeth his virgin dedicated by vow vnto himselfe and deputed to his holynes to lye with another and what punishment doth he threaten to these incestuous copulations sayth S. Cyprian Quae post consecrationem Lib. 1. Iouinian nupserint non tam adulterae sunt quà m incestae Such virgins as after their vowes and veiles shall marry are not so much aduowtresses as incestuous sayth S. Hierome 50. Finally this base thing either for practise or opinion was neuer vsed or taught but by the enemyes of Christ his Church which point is worthy of speciall consideration for as we in this and all other points do adhere vnto the ancient Saints and Fathers whome we reuerence admire and follow so doth M. Hall his vnto such as they haue censured discarded condemned that is we ioyne with Catholikes they with heretikes we tread the plaine The progenitours of our English Protestants in the breach of vowes beaten path of truth they of errour such as we follow were the lights and shining lamps of the world their progenitours were the shame and steyne of Christianity The first that I can find recounted in particuler to haue put this filthines in practise was one Tiberianus who hauing writen a booke to cleare himselfe from the heresy of Priscillian reuolted againe vnto the same Tiberianus Boeticus sayth S. Hierome taedio victus exilij Hierâ— de viris illustr in Tiberianâ—â— mutauit propositum iuxta sanctam Scripturam canis reuersus ad vomitum suum filiam deuotam Christo virginem matrimonio copulauit Tiberianus of Andalusia in Spaine ouercome with the tediousnes of his banishment according to the holy Scripture like a dog returning to his vomit caused his daughter that was a Nunne to marry and he who first taught this to be lawfull was Iouinian Formosus Monachus as the same Father painteth him out crassus nitidus dealbatus quasi sponsus semper incedens A fayer Monke fat neat white going alwayes as gay as a new marryed man And a little after Rubent buccae nitet cutis comae in occipitium Lib. 2. â—â— Iouinian frontemque tornantur protensus est aquiliculus insurgunt humeri turget guttur de obesis saucibus vix sussâ—â—â— verba promuntur His cheekes are red his 〈◊〉 fayre and smooth his locks behind and befoâ— are frizeled his belly beares compasse his shoâ—ders rise aloft his throat swells and his st 〈…〉 gled words can scarce find passage through â— fat chaps 51. This man so fine as most of you Minâ—sters so fat perhaps as Marcus Antonius de Doâ—â— that could not passe to the pulpit aâ—beit â— proceeded nothing so far as M. Hall doth toâ— the vow vnlawfull filthy and a brand of Antichristâ—nisme
say should haue continency but he who would haue it For no man would take it but he who would haue it but if yow aske me of whome it is giuen that it may be receaued and had of our wil marke the Scripture yea because you know it remember what you haue read When I knew sayth Wisedome that no man could be continent vnles God gaue it and this was a part of wisedome to know whose gift it was for these are great gifts wisedome and continency wisedome I say by which we are framed in the knowledge of God and continency by which we are withdrawne from the world God commandeth vs that we be wise that we be continent without which benefits we cannot be iust and perfect And a little after Qui dedit coniugatis fidelibus vt contineant ab adulterijs c. He who hath giuen grace to marryed folkes that they abstaine from aduowtryes or fornications he hath also giuen grace to holy virgins and widdows to conteyne themselus from all knowledge of men in which vertue integrity of life â—y continuall chastity and continency are now properly named So S. Austine Let M. Hall mark well this argumeÌ„t Out of whose words I frame against M. Hall this Syllogisme It is as well in the power of single men to be alwayes contineÌ„t as it is in the power of the marryed to keep coniugall chastity but the chastity of wedlocke is in the power of the marryed Ergo the other is in the power of the continent and then further out of the same Father Gods concurrence with vs by his grace which in euery good action is necessary ouerthroweth not our free will but doth perfect it and consequently as well the election as obseruance of single life dost rest alwayes in our power and will and is not impossible and necessary but free and voluntary 12. And if in the state of matrimony grace be giuen to both partyes to remayne faythfull to ech other and that to the end of their liues Virgins as more vnited vnto God then marryed folke so haue more strength to perseuere in their vocation notwithstanding that continall cohabitation breed so many causes of distast and the feruentest affections in many do wax cold and much decrease with tyme shall such want his help who for his loue despise all earthly louers and haue made choice of himself the author louer of all pure desires Shal he better loue such who are deuided as the Apostle sayth from his seruice by marriage then those who to serue him the better haue withdrawne themselues from all wordly encombrances that might deuide them and bestowed themselues wholy vpon his seruice or shall the grace of God graunted to virgins be of lesse force to keep them faythfull to their louer then that which is giuen to them who for carnall loue are combyned togeather These men who are thus perswaded would neuer August l. de virgin cap. 54. Ambr. l. â— de virginib initio preach vnto virgins as S. Augustin did when he sayd Si nuptias contempsistis filiorum hominum ex quibus gigneretis filios hominum toto corde amate speciosum forma prae filijs hominum vacat vobis liberum est cor à coniug alibus vinculis inspicite pulchritudinem amatoris vestri c. If you haue despised the marriages of the sonnes of men by whome you might beget the sonnes of men with all your hart loue him who is fayrer then the sonnes of men You haue leasure inough your hart is free from matrimony bands looke vpon the beauty of your louer So. Augustine And againe Si magnum amorem Lib. citat cap. 55. coniugibus deberetis c. If you should owe great loue to your husbands how much ought you to loue him for whose sake you haue refused husbands Let him be wholy fixed in your hart who for you was fixed on the Crosse let him possesse al in your soule whatsoeuer you would not haue bestowed in other marriage is it not lawfull for you to loue him a little for whom you haue not loued that which was els lawfull for you to loue And not to go further to shew the thing possible to shew it to be in our power to stand or fall to breake off or perseuere to begin and continue vnto the end he sayth Vos autem sequimini cum tenendo perseuer anter quod vouistis ardenter facite Cap. 58. cùm potestis ne virginitatis bonum à vobis pereat cùm sacere nihil potestis vt redeat You virgins see you follow Christ perseuerantly keeping what you haue vowed labour earnestly whiles you are able least yee leese your virginity sithence you are able to do nothing that if it be lost is able to recouer it So he And doth he who so teacheth so exhorteth thinke of M. Halls impossibility Doth he thinke that such virgins serue a Maister whome they must and cannot obey whome they must for their vow and cannot for their frailty His words are too cleare to be corrupted by so base a commentary 13. And no lesse plaine no lesse absolute for this purpose is S. Ambrose whose diuin books of this subiect I wish M. Hall to read for in them he shall find the excellency of this vertue not more eloquently then truely described there he shall see the arguments of Protestants answered there the keping of vows vrged veiling of Nuns mentioned this impossibility refuted for to such as did cast these suspitious doubts he sayth Facessat hic sacris virginibus metus quibus tanta praesidia Ambr. l. de Virgin propefiâ—eÌ„ The diuers helps which virgins haue for their perseuerance tribuit primùm Ecclesia c. Let this feare of falling be far from holy virgins to whome first the Church affoardeth so many helpes which carefull for the successe of her tender issue with full brests as a wall doth defend the same vntill the siege of the enemy be remoued then secondly of our Sauiour with stronger force and last of Angels Neque enim mirum si pro vobis Angeli militant quae Angelorum moribus militatis meretur corum praesidium castitas quorum vitam meretur castitas etiam Angelos facit It is no meruaile if for you Virgins the Angells do warre who in your behauiour do follow the purity of Angells virginall chastity deserues their help whose life it deserues for chastity also maketh Angels And in another place hauing perswaded them to ascend aboue the world saying Iustice is aboue the world charity is aboue the world chastity is aboue the world and the like he proposeth this difficulty which M. Hall proposeth saying Sed arduum Ambr. l. 3. de virgin paulò antefinem putas humana virtute supra mundum ascendere bene asseris c. But if you thinke it a hard matter for humane force to ascend aboue the world you say well For the Apostles deserued to be aboue the world not as fellows but as
needs laugh them all to scorne but to returne to the Constitutions 65. If M. Hall contend that this authority though not approued by him yet at least vrgeth vs who allow these Canons I answere that our allowance of theÌ„ is not so absolute but may admit restriction for though some plead for them yet others disproue them and Baronius answering this very obiection sayth of all these Canons Apocryphorum non est tanta authoritas c. there is not Baron tom 1. anno 53. §. Hisigitur such authority to be giuen vnto Apocryphall Canons as to infring things so certayne so ratifyed confirmed as is the single life of Clergy men at least M. Hall should not haue put downe the matter in such peremptory and vndoubted tearmes where on all hands he knew to be so much controuersy and it is an vntruth worthy Neuer lawful for Bishops to marry or keep their wiues of himselfe to say that the sixth Councell proclaimes this sense truly Apostolicall in spight of al contradiction for there we find no such proclamation but the contrary especially concerning Bishops for in the next precedent Canon the people of Afrike and Lybia exhibited a complaint against some Bishops for only dwelling with their wiues which they had marryed before they were Bishops and the Councell decreeth vt nihil eiusmodi deinceps vllo modo fiat that no such thing hereafter be in any wise done with this thundring conclusion Si quis autem tale aliquid agere deprehensus fuerit deponatur If any shall be round to do the like let him be deposed For which cause in the next Canon whereon this man most relyeth no Bishop is named but only Subdeacon Deacon or Priest without any further ascent and you may imagine what these would haue sayd and decreed of our Protestant Prelats who not only dwell with their wiues but vse them vs much as before if such a complaint had beene brought and exhibited against them 66. Furthermore in the same Councell the 48. Canon doth both confirm what I haue now sayd of Bishops wiues and explicateth also this other Canon of the Apostles for thus they define Vxor eius qui ad Episcopalem dignitatem promotus Concil Trullan Canon 48. est communi sui viri consensu prius separata c. Let the wife of him who is promoted when he is ordered and consecrated Bishop being by mutuall consent first separated enter into some monastery built far from the dwelling place of the Bishop and let her be maintayned by him So this Canon so it seemeth that these men although incontinent inough were not yet fully arryued to the perfection of our English Protestants The true sense of the Apostolicall Canon but came one degree behind them and it is euident also that when in the Apostles Canon it is prohibited that no Priest eijciat or abijciat turne out of dores his wife or shake her off to shift for her selfe it is to be vnderstood not of their separation the one from the other but of their maintenance that their husbands should be bound to prouide for them the Greeke word which M. Hall so often citeth but seemeth not to vnderstand confirmes this sense for it signifyeth as well warines as Religion and as Bellarmine well Greg. l. 7â— ep â—â— Con. Turon Can. 8. Distin 3â— cap. O 〈…〉 nino obserueth the meaning is that no Bishop or Priest vnder pretext of warines because he is bound to liue continently put his wife away without further care of prouiding for her this sense is also auowed by S. Gregory and the 2. Councell of Towers and was giuen long since to this obiection as M. Hall may find in Gratian where he hath found things of far lesse momeÌ„t but this he listeth not to see 67. And these are all the proofes he could find out of the Apostles writings practise and constitutions wherein how little he hath gayned you haue now seen or rather how he is cast in them all for whatsoeuer Apostolicall authority deliuered in writing what practise soeuer recounted by antiquity all Canons and Constitutions canonicall being taken in the sense they haue alwayes heertofore beene taken that is in their true and proper meaning without wresting mangling misinterpreting or other bad demeanour are so far from succouring his cause as they quite ouerthrow it and yield inuincible arguments for the Catholike truth hauing seen this I say you may well iudge how well he deserueth according to his owne proffer to be punished with a diuorce the greatest punishment as iâ— should seeme that can be inflicted on this tender hâ—rted husband which yet will be more cleare in the ensuing authorityes taken from the Fathers which are lesse lyable vnto his commentaryes then the Scriptures of which many Texts he boldly peruerteth with his own glosse or which is all one with the commentaryes of late hereticall writers repugnant to the ancient but the other testimonyes taken from the Fathers and historyes recounting only matter of fact need no commentaryes for their explication and so are lesse subiect to his abuse Let vs then see what he alleadgeth Of the testimoryes and examples of the ancient Fathers Councells especially the Trullan and Historyes produced by M. Hall for the marriage of Priests and Clergymâ—n §. 2. FROM the Scriptures and Apostolicall tymes M. Hall drawes vs to the Fathers of the Primitiue Church succeding ages as though in the former he had giuen vs a deadly blow he entreth into this with more courage and means as it should seeme to knocke on a pace while the iron is hoate for as if he were afrayd to loose the aduantage if he did not closely pursue vs he sayth Follow the tymes now what did the ages succeding search records whatsoeuer some palpable soysted epistles of A vaine florish Popes insinuate they marryed without scruple of any contrary iniunction many of these ancients admired virginity but imposed it not So M. Hall feigning as you see golden ages of mirth and marrying vnder the most grieuous yoke of tyrannicall persecution when as euery where innocent bloud was shed and Christians sought for to the slaughter That marriage al tymes without contrary iniunction was lawful is not denyed nor will it be proued in hast that Priests or such as had vowed the contrary might vse that liberty and we say not that virginity is violently to be imposed on any for it commeth by free election but where the vow is free the transgression is damnable for we are bound to render our vowes to him to whome we haue made them I need not make my self a souldier vnles the Prince do presse me but if not pressed I put my selfe vnder pay I am bound to march to the field to fight and follow the campe The cause is free the necessity subsequent 2. And it seemeth M. Hall to be halfe afrayd M. Halls starting holes when he shall be pressed by
a reason heeroâ— because that marriage was euery where lawfull to the Clergy before the prohibition which must needs be late and in the Easterne Church to this day is allowed and I answere that the glosse as ingenuously altogeather much more truly reiecteth this opinion with an id verò minimè ita esse there was no such matter in another distinctioÌ„ excuseth Gratian The name of Priest extended by Canon lawyers to all that are in holy orders as taking the word Priest in a larger significatioÌ„ as including all in holy Orders and meaning therby Subdeacons only and not Priests which acception is familiar with Canon Lawyers founded euen in the Canon it selfe where it is sayd Si quispiam Sacerdotum id est Presbyter Diaconus vel Subdiaconus c. If any of the Priests that is to say a Priest Deacon or Subdeacon c. in Dist 31. iniâ— can 1. q. 1. Si quispiam in glossa dist 33. cap. 1. dist 81. c. si quispiam Dist 31. Greg. l. 1. epist 42. which sense we may graunt that the tyme was when some who were marryed were made Subdeacons which is further confirmed because in another distinctioÌ„ before Gratian putting down the title Nondum erat institutum vt Sacerdotes continentiam seruarent It was not yet ordeyned that Priests should conteyne from their wiues he presently cyteth a place of S. Gregory touching Subdeacons of which we shall speake in the next Paragraffe 44. But whatsoeuer he meant we are not Bellar. l. de script Eccles in Gratian. Baron in annis 341 774. 865. 876 964. Posseuin in apparatu §. de Gratiano id scienduÌ„ ist eum saepe errasse c. bound to follow him as an infallible wryter but may with free liberty reiect whome so many graue Writers vpon diuers occasions haue so sharply censured that he gathered so many laws decrees Canons togeather argueth great learning great labour in so large a matter coÌ„ used heape of different authorities to be mistaken is no meruaile wherin he did wel we prayse him where otherwise we pitty the errours but follow them not if therefore he were of opinion as is wordes seeme to sound that Priests were first permitted to marry and were after restayned from that liberty we follow the glosse not the Text because al Authors of credit mainteyne the contrary and as for the commentary Gratian of no infallible authority of M. Hall that this prohibition must needs be very late I must needs tell him that it is another vntruth that also refuted by Gratian himselfe throughout all his 31. Distinction which falsity because I shall touch after againe in due place I heere forbeare further to stand vpon and from Gratian come to the mayne bul warke and fortresse of M. Halls defence I meane the sixth Councell as he calls it of Constantinople in answering of which The authority of the I rullaÌ„ Synod cyted and most insisted in by M. Hall at large refuted because he relyeth so much thereon I will be more particuler 45. And for that M. Hall in vrging this Councell is no lesse eager in charging vs then resolute in affirming that marriage of al Clergy men to be decreed therein and the testimony not to be lyable to any exception as of a generall Councell as he stileth it I will first touch the authority of this Councel then what he sayth for himselfe against vs out of the same and last of al what as well by generall as prouincial Councels hath beene defined against the marriage of Clergy men by which I hope it shall appeare what little cause there was of triumph before the conquest how much our poore aduersaryes make of a little who like petty Pedlars lay open their pynnes and poynts obtruding copper for gold and peeces of glasse for pretious stones 46. This Councell then heere cyted is not See Baron in ann 692. the sixth Councell which made no Canons at â—â— but another Conuenticle made some ten years after the sixth was ended that at the procurement of Iustinian the yonger none of the best Emperours The Councell of TrulluÌ„ not the 6. Councell God wot who calling togeather certaine Greeke Bishops made them sit in a place of his pallace called TrulluÌ„ because it was made round and vaulted and there to gather Canons out of the fift and sixth Synodes which indeed they pretended to do but with many erroneous additions of their own and because it made the collection out of these two Councels it was called Quinisextum as much to say as of the fift and sixth the chiefe suggester of this seditious meeting was Callinicus Patriarke of Constantinople and that for extreme hatred of the Westerne Church by which we see which in many historyes we obserue that it is easy for a Prince who intendeth to be naught to find some one or other Clergy man of the same disposition to second him Iustinian had his Callinicus the fourth Henry Emperour his Benno and our King Henry the 8. his Crammer and others the like 47. And further we see all the circumstances occurring in this Councel to demonstrate it rather to haue beene a seditious conspiracy then The Trullan Synod no lawful Councell but a seditious conspiracy any lawful sinod for iâ— had no forme of a Councell no legats of the Pope no inuiting of the Latin Bishops no authority but imperiall no lawfull conuocation and in fine did out of arrogant presumption that which appertayned not vnto it to do for if in the Councell of Chalcedon after the last session was ended when presently Anatolius to further the better without contradiction his ambitious claime ouer the other Patriarches the Patriarch of Alexandria Dioscorus who should haue withstood him being then newly deposed gathered the Greeke Bishops to make another Decree the same as not done in Councell was annulled what is to be thought of this meeting when not one day but ten yeares after a general Councel was ended these men who were but one part and that the least and lesse sincere without calling the rest or being lawfully called themselues layd hands on two generall Councells at once cut out Canons chopped changed added and altered at their pleasures 48. And how generall this Councell was and how generally accepted euen in the Greeke Church where it was held Anastasius Bibliothecarius Anastasius Bibliothecarius will testify in his dedicatory epistle vnto Iohn the eight before the seauenth Councell which he translated into Latin where after he had sayd that all these Canons were vnknowne in the Latin Church he addeth Sed nec in caeterarum Patriarchalium sedium licet Graeca vtantur lingua reperiuntur archtuis c. Nor yet are they found in the treasuries or places where publike charters or records are kept of the other Patriarchall Seas The Trullan Synod not admitted by the other Patriarks because none of these Patriarks did promulgate
orders because now in England there are no Subdeacons and the Latin word atque doth not signify or but and and so he should haue sayd Deacons and Subdeacons and not haue confounded them togeather as he doth besides this peccadillo there are three other mayne vntruthes in these wordes and all the ground whereon it relyeth is false For where he sayth that Catholikes saw themselues pressed with so flat a decree The first vntruth in M. Hals wordes confirmed by authority of Emperours as would abide no denyall we haue before made it abide a denyall and to be so far from a flat decree of any Councel which bindeth all to imbrace it as that hitherto it hath neuer beene receaued in that kind for flat or round and that by authority of such as then liued as S. Bede or not long after as Paulus Diaconus and Anastasius and for the confirmation of Emperours the matter is smal vnles it had first had another confirmation which could not be gotten but was flatly denyed Councells take not their authority from Emperours but Emperours second Councels with their power that all vnder them may obey what they who are in spiritual authority ouer them haue decreed and M. Halls Emperours in particuler to wit Iustinian the yonger Philippicus c. being such as they were we will not much enuy M. Hall their confirmations whose liues and actions were such as they were staynes to Christianity and their deaths so disasterous as well sheweth by whose heauy hand and indignation they were chastized 86. And if M. Hall will haue all Councells confirmed by Emperours to be lawful and their decrees Canonical theÌ„ let him imbrace another Councell of Constantinople called soone after the Touching the confirmation of Councells by Emperours former by Philippicus Bardanes the Emperour wherein the heresy of the Monothelites who will haue our Sauiour not to haue had any humane will was defyned and the true sixth Synod of Constantinople condemned and as well may M. Hall pleade for himselfe out of this Councel as of the former for in this was the authority of the Emperour who called who confirmed it there was Iohn Patriarch of Constantinople and far more Bishops then in the Trullan Conuenticle wherfore in the doctrine of this man the decree is flat confirmed by the authority of the Emperours admits no denyall The Monothelite heretiks will thanke you M. Hall and remaine your debtour How much the Church hath gotten by Imperiall Synods too lamentable experience hath taught vs as well in these as in diuers others whereof one was within few yeares after this of Philippicus called by Leo the Iconoclast who with our Protestants condemned defaced razed pulled downe abused and burned all sacred images of our Sauiour and his Saints and to omit others in the later tymes as the Conuenticles of Henry the fourth against Gregory the seauenth c. it is not the authority of Emperours when we speake of Councells which makes them so firme as they can abide no denyall but the promise assistance of the holy Ghost with the Pastours of the Church without any reference to the ciuill magistrate or els the first Apostolicall Councell had beene void and of none effect when notwithstanding they sayd visum est Spiritui sancto Act. 15. nobis it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and vs the scepter in this must yield to the myter the sheep to the Pastours the ciuill Magistrate to the Ecclesiasticall Kings and Princes vnto Bishops and Prelates The causes are different and the Courts diuers The second vntruth is that Pope Steuen granted that the Clergy of the East might marry which after shall in due place be refuted 87. The last vntruth is touching Steuen the seconds decree for whereas in Gratian there is The vntruth of M. Halls touching Pope Steuen no number of second or third or any els M. Hall as none are more bold then such as know least without more ado resolutly affirmes it to be the second Steuen but truth so reclaimes against it or rather ouerbeareth it so violently as it cannot subsist for the second Steuen liuing but three Gratian. distin 31. can aliter dayes Pope or foure at the most had no leasure to call a Councell or make decrees and that this was done in Councell Gratian witnesseth who sayth that he made the decree in a Councell held in the Lateran Church and three dayes being too short a tyme euen for the very intimation the falshood of this charge doth refute it selfe and demonstratiuely shew this decree not to haue beene made by this Steuen 88. If M. Hall to help himselfe will take the third for the second as some do who by reason of the short life of the second Steuen do not number him among the Popes that will also as little auaile him for in all his tyme there was no Councell held in the Lateran Church or any where els for such were the troubles of those tempestuous tymes Aistulphui raging in the West and the furious firebrands of the Iconoclasts or image-breakers being in perpetuall care trauell from one place to another to compose all seditious tumults and to cancell the decree of another Councell gathered by the Emperours What manner of Councels heretikes do bring for confirmation of their heresies authority to wit Constantinus your friend M. Hall though scant sweet for suppressing of images and called the seauenth Oecumenicall but with as good reason as your TrullaÌ„ was called the sixth for no other Patriarch was present none of the West inuited no Legat of the Popes or authority required no law or forme of a true CouÌ„cel obserued al went by force fury and faction such commonly â—re the Councells you bring for confirmation of your heresy 89. I confesse that Steuen the 4. held there a Councell but that was only called for the deposing of the false Pope Constantine and deposing of such as were ordered by him in that schisme and preuenting the like inconuenience of chosing a lay man to be Pope againe for such was this Constantine chosen by popular tumult without all order or forme of Canonicall election by the seditious and tyrannicall procurement of his brother Toto then in Rome whose power and violence at that tyme none could withstand last of all it disannulled the decree of the false Synod of Constantinople against holy images but of Priests wiues either in the East or West there is no mention nor yet in any Author of these tymesym When M. Hall is more particuler in his charge he shall haue a more particuler answere in the meane tyme I say with Bellarmin that Canon perhaps to be of no authority but an error of the collectours and that for the reasons alleadged and the cause is poorely defended that is grounded on the errours or mistakings of others 90. And in case we graunted all the words which M. Hall bringeth out of this Canon nothing Gratians Canon
nothing maketh for M. Hall would follow thereof against vs but that the Greeke Priests Deacons and Subdeacons were marryed which is to be vnderstood before their ordination as the Glosse expoundeth and the Councell as before you haue heard did define and it is ridiculous to say as M. Hall doth that then they began to distinguish for wheras the Grecians de sacto had in this separated themselues from the Latin Church had made Councells or rather Conuenticles of their owne and were borne out in al by the sword of their Emperors where the fact and practise was so different as all might see it with their eyes little need there was that any should inuent a distinction or limitation of liberty as this man dreameth and the Canon he cyteth out of Gratian if it be a Canon is but a declaration of the fact which was so conspicuous as could not be denyed shewing only what was don in the East Church what not permitted in the West 91. And wheras M. Hall auerreth that this Canon graunted that all the Clergy of the East M. Halls want of Logicke might marry but not of the West his glosse fouly corrupteth the Text and conteyneth an euident vntruth for neither all the Clergy nor any of the Clergy could marry in the Easterne Church and this man seemeth to be of very grosse capacity that will haue these two propositions to be equipollent or to beare the same sense Priests Deacons and Subdeacons in the Greeke Church are marryed and this all the Clergy of the East may marry for first Priests Deacons and Subdeacons make not al the Clergy or els Bishops Archbishops Patriarches Metropolitans shall not be Clergy men which yet are the chiefest of that ranke and to whome all the other as inferiours to their betters are subordinate and depend which yet are debarred from marriage Againe that Priests Deacons and Subdeacons in Greece were then marryed is cleare but it is no lesse cleare that they were not marryed when they were Priests Deacons It was lawful for married men in Greece to be made Priests but neuer lawful for Priests to marry and Subdeacons but before as the Councell declared for although it were permitted that marryed men might be made Priests yet was it forbiddeÌ„ that Priests should be made marryed men and the same of Deacons and Subdeacons and so I conclude with M Hall that not only all the Clergy of Greece might not marry but that no Clergy man in holy orders for such only are specially so tearmed might marry at all I hope M. Hall that your brayns are not so far spent but that if you pause a while and scratch your head where it doth not itch you will conceaue this difference that marryed men may be preferred to the Clergy but not Clergy men permitted to marry the first by the Trullan Councel was granted the other neuer allowed and therfore these words of yours all the Clergy of the East might marry may be crowned with a siluer whet-stone 92. By that which I haue sayd vnto this obiection of Pope Steuens Canon that it is of no authority as hauing no certayne Authour that it maketh not against vs in case it were true that M. Halls collections thereon are false you may well of your selfe without any further discourse be able to iudge what regard is to be had to his vaunting demands and interrogations multiplyed without cause for after the words of Pope Steuen thus he writeth Liberally but not inough if he yield this why not more shall it be lawfull in the East which in the VVest is not do the Ghospells or lawes of equity Many idle wordes alter according to the foure corners of the world doth God make difference betweene Greece and England if it be lawfull why not euery where if vnlawfull why is it done any where so then you see we differ not from the Church in this but from the Romish So M. Hall And by this you may perceaue the veyne of the man and his Thrasonical boasting he would fayne be crowing if he had but any aduantage there should need no other trump to sound out his prayses conquests and triumphs then his owne pen but all this noyse wil proue but the sound of anempty tubb and powder shot without bullet a froth I meane of idle wordes and childish clamours as full of vanity as deuoyd of wit 93. If he yield this sayth this wise man why not more but of what yielding doth he dreame in the words cyted in Steuen the seconds name I find no yielding nor resisting no fighting nor vanquishing no battaile nor conquest there it is only related what the Grecians did vpon their false Councell what liberty they vsurped in so much as their Priests Deacons and Subdeacons were marryed but that it was not permitted in the Latin Church what is that more which this Epistler would haue him to yield he answereth very wisely by another demand shall it be lawfull in the â—ast which in the VVest is not I answere him yes and further to gratify the man do add that one the selfe same thing at one tyme may be vnlawfull and yet lawfull at another And if he know not this his parishioners are troubled with a seely Minister who haue him for their Curate though this in the meane tyme I must tell him that Steuen sayth nothing of this fact of the Grecians whether it be lawful or vnlawfull and therefore M. Hall frames collectioÌ„s out of his fingers ends without any ground or graunt of his authors I know he stretcheth far and maketh him to say that they might marry but he sayth not so much but only that they were marryed whether well or il he defyneth not But to come to our case 94. He cannot be ignorant what our Sauiour answered the Pharisies touching the question propounded about putting away their Matt. 29. wiues in S. Matthews Ghospell which they vrged to shew that it was lawfull to marry another euen during the life of the former so there had beene a bill of diuorce made between them our Sauiour replyed Moyses ad duritiam cordis vestri permisit vobis dimittere vxores vestras ab initio autem non fuitsic Moyses permitted you for the hardnes of Euen the law of God did bind at one tyme not at another your hart to dismisse your wiues but from the beginning it was not so as if he had sayd in the beginning euery one was bound to one wife so long it was not lawfull to haue more but in the end Moyses permitted diuorces and then vpon his permission it was lawful if heere some light head should dally as M. Hall doth aske what is Gods law changed by tymes shal that be lawfull to day which yesterday was vnlawfull if it be Gods law it endureth for euer if it be abrogated by a contrary permission it cannot be the law of God and so forth all were idle babling
by another act declare that all Priests or Ecclesiasticall Gods law in two parlamēts made to affirme two contradictoryes persons by the law of God might lawfully marry and all contrary decrees are repealed and made voyd And what will you say to such Parlamēts one sayth that by the law of God Priests may not marry another that by the law of God it is lawfull for them to marry and yet this law of God is but one law and cannot be repugnant to it selfe and it may be noted how far Cranmer dispensed with his owne conscience dissembled Crāmers deep dissimulation in Religion and preuaricated in this K. Henryes Parlament who hauing his own Trull desiring opēly to enioy her yet for feare of the King not ōly kept her close but so also collogued with the rest or rather aboue the rest being the chiefest in place and authority in that Court vnder the King as he not only commended his high learning and knowledge but did also crouch creep to haue that confirmed which in his hart he did abhorre and vpon the first occasion offered did vtterly condemne I see he could make his garment to serue the tyme indeed his horse to trauell according to the weather O constant Prelate and worthy founder of our new English Ghospell 101. These then M. Hall being the first Taylers that framed this wedding garment of yours and tanke riders who taught you to runne this liberall race to let loose the reynes to all carnall delights and yet still to keep the name of spirituall Pastours you haue little cause to call it the law of equity which in the first making condemned the makers of so great inconstancy and faythles leuity as you haue heard but let vs follow you further in your demands Doth God say you make difference between Greece and England Ecclesiasticall and ciuill laws may be altered by such as are in suprem authority in the one and other causes I answere you that he doth and if they make an ill law in Greece you are not bound to follow it in England but to eschew and auoyd it or in case they be dispensed in some Ecclesiastical law by supreme Ecclesiasticall authority propter duritiam cordis eorum and to auoyd a further inconuenience it will not presently follow that you or yours in England may do the same as our Soueraigne in England can exempt a man from any law in particuler it will not I hope presently follow that all other subiects may clayme the same priuiledg againe if his Maiesty make some fauourable and beneficial law for all his subiects in generall which the Emperour in Bohemia would not allow were it not a wise question to demand Doth God make difference betweene King Iames and the Emperour Matthias between Prage London England England Bohemia These things M. Hall which depend on Ecclesiasticall or Ciuil lawes may be dispensed or altered when the occasions are very vrgent by them who haue supreme authority in the one and other Courts 102. Your last demand well bewrayeth your ignoaance and sheweth that you want the first grounds or principles of Philosophy or els you would neuer haue framed so impertinent a M. Hall ignorant demand question If it be lawfull say you why not euery where if vnlawfull why is it done any where I see now that we must take heed for this argument cornu ferit yet shall I with your leaue shew it to be much weaker then you take it for yea to be altogeather loose and impertinent and it may be answered in one word that such thinges as of their owne nature are intrinsecally euill as to kill steale lye slaunder and the like are vnlawful in all tymes places and persons but this is not so in other things which being of their owne nature and intrinsecall essence indifferent are made vnlawfull by some positiue law to the contrary and that either diuine as is working on the Saboth day in the old law marriag of more wiues at once and the like which therfore are vnlawful because they are prohibited but yet so as that they may by God the maker of them be dispensed in as not ill of their owne intrinsecall nature but as they haue annexed his prohibition restraint or Ecclesiasticall as of breaking of fasts commanded of neglecting feasts or omitting the ordinary ceremonyes rites or ordinances of the Church for as all men are children of this Mother so they ought to obey her precepts and no priuate authority can infringe which by so generall and publicke is imposed or els finally Ciuill for if the King command that none beare armes in the night tyme that they carry not corne to other Countreyes that they transpose no cloath or the like these things of their owne nature free are now made necessary by the ciuill command of the Prince and as he may dispense in the one so may the supreme spirituall Pastour in the other the one as chiefest in ciuill the other in Ecclesiasticall causes 103. This difference M. Hall not obseruing as he is dull in distinguishing confoundeth M. Halls confuse hudling of thinges togeather huddleth vp things togeather and supposeth either all things to be of their own nature good or euill or commanded a like by God for all to obserue which is not so for some things are left to the temporall Magistrate others to the spirituall to dispose and as Kings are to be obeyed according to S. Peter so also the Church according to our Sauiour and as to disobey the King in ciuil Matt. 28. matters is capitall so it is schismaticall not to obey the Church and as he is held a traytour who rebelleth against the King so he an Heathen or Publican who will not heare the Church and hence it commeth that as one King is of equall authority with another and so may recall any edict proclamation decree or iniunction made by his predecessours so likewise may one supreme Pastour when vrging necessity shall so require reuoke or repeale any Ecclesiasticall law made before his tyme and that eyther in all or in part as the nature of the thing shall require or a Generall Councell determine or he and his Councell shall thinke expedient and this prohibition of the marriage of Priests being of this nature I meane Ecclesiasticall it may be dispensed for one place and not for another and so it may also be lawfull or vnlawfull in one place and not in the other as the prohibition or dispensation in different places doth either bind or excuse The title which M. Hall giues vs of Romish Church I passe ouer as not worthy of reflexion this poore man must needs shew his nature and be contemptuous in all things 104. At length he commeth to the conclusion of this his obiection out of the Trullan Coūcell which is that it giueth leaue to all to marry This sacred Councell sayth he doth not only vniuersally approue this practise
with paine of deposition to the gainesayers but â—uouches it for a decree Apostolicall Iudge now whether this one authority be not inough to weigh downe a hundred petty Conuenticles and many legions if there had beene many of priuate contradictions thus for seauen hundred yeares you find nothing but open freedome So he Which words and others the like when I read in this man it seemeth to me that a problematicall question may be made whether he be able to speake the truth or not for hitherto he hath The cause why M. Hall doth multiply so many vntruths still beene taken tardy and heere in these words are two or three vntruths and these radiant but not to bring that into dispute for perhaps if he had a better cause he would be able by better meanes to defend it I rather doe interprete these his frailtyes to proceed from the necessity of the matter then from any impossibility in the man himselfe 105. We haue before shewed this Councel not to be sacred and the approuance not so vniuersall as M. Hall maketh it for whereas in the very beginning they oppose themselues to the Latin Church and make decrees only for the Church of Greece it cannot be sayd to be vniuersall for al which only includeth but one part with the exception mentioned of the other neither could a particuler Patriarke make a law in a Nationall Synod to repeale another in vse vnder his equall ouer whome he had no iurisdiction much lesse to recall the lawes of his Superiour disallow their practise for if par in parem non habet potestatem much lesse had the Patriarcke of Constantinople ouer the Bishops of Rome who I meane the Patriarcke was alwayes his inferiour and subordinate vnto him and so in the very Canon it is sayd Nos antiquum Canonem c. we obseruing the ancient Canon c. So as they restraine this liberty to that Church themselues alone without any determination preiudiciall to the other which had not beene if they had vniuersally without distinction of places or persons allowed this freedome The Trullan Councell neuer permitted that al the Clergy of the East migâ—t marry 106. But when you talke of vniuersally approuing this practise which practise do you meane M. Hall is it that you mentioned a little before that all the Clergy of the East might marry if so and so you must take it or els you talke at randome then againe I must tell you that this your Synod wholy disalloweth that custome permitteth no Clergy man to marry for although it permitted some marryed men to ascend so high as to be made Priest yet it neuer permitted any Clergy man to stoop so low as to be made a husband neither did it euer auouch that basenes in any Clergy man to be a decree Apostolical therefore if with better attention you read that Councell you shall find it to be as I say moreouer the paine of deposition to the gainsayers to be only against such as denyed the vse of their wiues to Priests marryed before their ordinatioÌ„ and out of the tyme excepted by the Synod 107. Neither doth the name of an Apostolicall decree where there is nothing els but the name only much trouble vs for if the decree mentioned be taken in the right sense it maketh not against vs if in the sense which M. Hall pretendeth it ouerthroweth the Councell and so he pulleth down with one hand what he had built vp with the other for if for any decree the CouÌ„cell graunt the carnall knowledge of wiues to be Apostolicall it is for that which M. Hall cyted before that no Bishop Priest or Deacon shal put The CouÌ„cell of Trullum gainsayth the Apostles constitutions euen in that thing on which it would seeme to relye away his wife vpon pretence of Religion vpon paine of deposition if this be the decree then I demand why the Councell decreeth against the same For heer Bishops are allowed their wiues which in the Trullan Synod by two decrees are debarred from them either M. Hall will allow the decree and then he condemneth his sacred Councell that desines against it or will sticke to the Councell and then he must condemne the decree not to be Apostolicall as conteining in it an euident errour condemned by so sacred so generall a Councell 108. Moreouer if he follow the Councell whereas the Bishops assembled therfore allowed The Trullan Councell ouerthrowne by it selfe in the matter Priests marriage marryed Priests to enioy their wiues because of the Apostolicall decree yet condemne that very decree in the first branch of Bishops and decree against it what ground was this to build vpon and to contradict the Roman Church what drowsy decree was this which is grounded on that which is by the very Councell it self contradicted can one and the selfe same Canon of the Apostles be a warrant for the wiues of Priests and not Canonicall for the wiues of Bishops when as in your opinion the one no lesse theÌ„ the other is alike to be allowed without any distinction limitation or exception at all O how feeble is falshood that thus falleth of it self and is ouerthrowne by the same grounds on which it would seeme to stand M. Halls chiefe ground is this Synod the warrant for the Synods definition is the Apostles Canon and the Apostles Canon ouerthroweth the Synod this is the maze or labyrinth of errour and heerunto all M. Halls florishes brags and assurances of the weight of this authority ouerbearing a hundred Conuenticles and many legions of priuate contradictions are brought for this heauy weight is as light as a fether contradicteth it selfe was condemned by the Church and more hurteth then helpeth the cause for the which it is brought 109. And truely the triumphant conclusion of the authority of this seditious assembly that it weigheth downe a hundred petty conuenticles and many legions of priuate contradictions is worthy of M. Halls wit and learning and resembles that Poets prayse of Epicurus the Philosopher in Lactantius Lactant. l. 3. diuin Instit cap. 17. Hic ille est Qui genus humanum ingenio superauit omnes Restinxit stellas exortus vt aetherius sol This is he who for wit surpassed all other men and obscured the stars rising like the heauenly sunne by reason of which immoderate and vndeserued Immoderate prayses where there was no desert or cause prayse that author sayth that he could neuer read the verses without laughter Non de Socrate aut Platone hoc dicebat qui velut Reges habentur Philosophorum sed de homine quo sano vigente nullus aeger ineptius delirauit itaque Poeta inanissimus leonis laudibus murem non ornauit sed obruit obtriuit He sayd not this of Socrates or Plato who are esteemed the Princes or chiefest of the Philosophers but of a man then whome being sound and in health no sicke man euer
authority is denyed and M. Hall cannot in any one particuler euer shew vs the contrary practise in any place wheresoeuer to haue been obserued in the Latin or Greeke Church and this supposing S. Isidors words to be spoken of Priests and taken in their most rigorous and Grammaticall sense although I preferre the former opinion as more true most agreable to the whole contexture of that second booke from whence it is taken so as you see nothing can passe this mans pen without many dashes of vnsincere faythles dealing 15. There followeth in M. Hall another authority or rather as he sets it forth a mayne pillar M. Halls mayne pillar of S. Vdalricus his epistle to Pope Nicholas the first at large refuted or ground of his cause which by so much the more deserueth exact discussion by how much M. Hall doth confide on the same as on a matter for truth vndoubted of and for this present controuersy supposing the truth so forcible as it admits no reply which alone so potently doth beare and beate vs downe as if all arguments fayled this by it selfe were able to supply for all and not without our deadly wound yield the cause and conquest to our Aduersaryes in respect wherof I will stand a litle the longer on the matter and let nothing passe either of his text or margent which coÌ„cerneth this matter vndiscussed that I may not seem without cause to make this so curious inspection and stand vpon all particulers of the same I will first set downe the thing out of M. Halls owne words and that without any alteration of any sillable that you may both see the thing it selfe of what force it is and how much he doth repose thereon and then answere euery part and parcell thereof Thus then he writeth 16. But I might quoth he haue spared all Answered by Bellar mine lib. de Clerc c. 22. init this labour of writing could I perswade whosoeuer doubts or denyes this to read ouer that one epistle which Huldericus Bishop of Auspurge wrote learnedly and vehemently to Pope Nicholas the first in this subiect which if it do not answere all cauills satisfy all Readers and connince all not willfull Aduersaryes let me be cast in so iust a cause There you shall see how iust how expedient how ancient this liberty is togeather with the feeble iniurious grouÌ„d of forced continency reade it and see whether you can desire a better aduocate After him so strongly did he plead and so happily for two hundred years more this freedome still blessed those parts yet not without extreme opposition historyes are witnesses of the busy and not vnlearned combats of those tymes in this argument Hitherto M. Hall 17. And heere before I enter further into this fable I cannot sufficiently meruaile that any one who would be taken for learned a sincere writer and searcher of the truth would euer M. Halls indiseretion very singular aduenture in such phrase of speach with such certainty such confidence to gull his credulous Reader with a meer fiction a counterfait toy and most childish imposture is it possible M. Hall that this fond inuention so often answered and refuted by so many learned men as Bellarmine Baronius Eckius Faber Staphilus and in our English tongue by Father Henry Fitzsimons and others shall againe without all proofe for approuance or disproofe of what is obiected against it be againe so earnestly vrged so deliuered as an vndoubted and infallible verity and testimony beyond all exception truely you are of a very weake wit if you see not or prodigall of your credit if you regard not or of a scared Hall charact of Pharas Christ pag. 39. conscience and iron forehead if you feele and feare not the sinne and shame which before God and man will follow of this insolent dealing I meruayl not that you are so cager against such as read Bellarmine and others of the subtilest Iesuits as you â—earme them for writing as you do the policy is good and you may take the larger scope to coyne lyes whiles you turne your Readers eyes from the authors where they should find them detected and read the answer before euer you had made the obiection But to the thing it selfe 18. After that the Lutheran liberty through The first occasion of this fable the dissension of the German Princes had taken away true fayth from men and ouerthrowne the ground of all vertuous actions the better to couer the lewd lechery and filthy incestuous marriages of their first founders to open the gate to all lasciuious behauiour which they saw was far more easy to practise then to perswade seeing the Apostle so plaine for virgins 1. Cor. 7. and naturall reason to shew the excellency of that state aboue marriage all the endeauours of these new flesh-wormes was to bring the thing in hatred by making many fictions of the il obseruance of this vertue in such as by speciall vow had bound themselues to keep it Priests I meane and all Religious persons and for that examples moue the multitude whereof some of fresh memory perhaps were true that in other times the like inconuenience came of vowing virginity they inuented this prodigious history The tale which is related in the counterfait epistle of S. Vdalricus related in the letter of S. Vdalricus whereof now we shall speake 19. And although these companions agree in the end for which this tale should be deuised yet in setting downe the circumstances and the particulers of the fact as it commonly happeneth in things of this nature there were among the brethren diuers opinions first for the plaâ—e where it should happen then who should relate it and at what tyme. The case related in that epistle is this in effect that S. Gregory making a law for the continency of Clergy men as S. Vdalricus is made to say whiles his men went to his poâ—d to catch fish they found more then six thousand heads of yong children which being presented vnto S. Gregory he saw the law that he had made to haue beene the cause heerof and that the Priests to couer their incontinency had committed this murther whereupon he reuoked the law and permitted Priests to marry So S. Vdalricus in his letter to Pope Nicholas the first as M. Hall or second or third as M. Fox will haue it and thus now they tell the tâ—â—e 20. But in the beginning these heads were F. Henr. Fitzsimons Cath. Confuta pag. 3 9. Staphil in defens Theologia trimembris sect vltim sayd to be found in Sicily and that the mothers of these Children might not seeme to be inferiour to their Fathers Flaccus Illyricus as Staphilus writeth sayth that all of them were found neere vnto certayne Monasteryes of Nuns but where these MoÌ„asteryes were he sayth nothing and for the author of this letter some say it was S. Vdalricus others as Binnius reporteth that it was not the
memory Reader is to be admonished that this epistle which by error of the writer is referred to Pope Nicholas the first in my mind is rather to be attributed to the name and tyme of Nicholas the second or Nicholas the third And is it so indeed Syr Iohn then why do you put it out of the due place vnder a wronge Pope why did you tel vs that the first Nicholas restrayned marriage and for that was reprehended by S. Vdalricke Did the Saint grauely and learnedly refute and disclaime against the vndiscreet proceeding of Pope Nicholas the first before the letter and after was proued not to haue sayd one word vnto him at all but to haue spoken to another who was Pope more then a hundred yeares after his death which of these Foxes will you beleeue these are such riddles as I cannot vnderstand them and no more as I suppose did he himselfe when he wrote them and so I leaue them to M. Hall to answere who for this matter in his margent remitteth his Reader to M. Fox and yet he in his last admonition contradicteth M. Hall who is resolute that it was written to the first and not to the second or third Nicholas 26. And M. Fox like a bad tinker whiles he would mend a little hole by knocking he The correction of M. Fox refuted beates out the bottome of the kettle or at least makes the hole much larger then it was before for whereas most Authours agree that S. Vdalricke dyed in the yeare 974. as Herm annus Contractus Vrspergensis Baronius and others or 973. as Crusius how could he write to Nicholas the second who was made Pope more theÌ„ fourescore years after S. Vdalricks death For as Platina Baronius others affirme Nicholas the second was not made Pope vntill the yeare 1059. such a foole or prophet do these men make this Saint to be for if he wrote to the first Nicholas he wrote to one buryed more then twenty yeares before he was borne if to the second to one not made Pope till more then fourescore years after he was buryed and as for the 3. Nicholas he is so far off that I thinke his great grand-father was not begotten when S. Vdalricke dyed for he was made Pope in the yeare 1278. and the other departed this life the year 973. so as there are almost three hundred yeares betweene the death of the one and creation of other so exact are these men in historyes and such regard they haue to deliuer the truth or rather are so impudent and shameles as they care not what they write or what they auouch 27. For whereunto now are all M. Halls boasts come of the force warrant of this testimony M. Hall cast in his cause that it is able to answere all cauills satisfy all readers and conuince all not willfull Aduersaryes or els that he would be cast in so iust a cause For who seeth him not only to be cast but crushed also in this matter who seeth nor on what sliding sands he placeth the chiefest foundations of his surest proofs for now all his fayre words and resolute assurance of his so potent Aduocate is proued to be nothing els but light smoke false coyne a meere cogging collusion which bewrayeth in the writer to too much vanity conioyned with affected ignorance or intollerable stupidity in so much as I may conclude this first argument against M. Hall with the words of the Authour who some yeares past set out S. Huldericks life and in this matter thus writeth in the Preface Scio ad haec impuram nescio cuius nebulonis eptstolam Vdalrici aliquando nomine venditam sed cùm â—a ad Nicolaum Pontificem scripta sit Nicolaus autem primus plusquam viginti annis ante Vdalricum natum suerit mortuus secundus Pontificatum octogesimo quod excurrit anno post eum mortuum inierit ferrei sit oris oportet qui tantum mendacium ausit asserere plumbei cordis cui possit imponere So he Which wordes for courtesy I leaue vnenglished least M. Hall should thinke that I applyed these discourteous tearmes vnto him in particuler which I will not and that authour speaketh to the first framer of this fancy alone or to all in general that will be deceaued by such fooleryes 28. Besides this argument of tyme an euiction vnauoydable other presumptions there are which seeme to me to be very effectuall and No such epistle to be found amongst the Epistls of S. Vdalricus not answerable wherof that is one which Staphilus relateth of the epistles of that Saint all registred and reserued in Auspurg amongst which there is not the least signe or shew of any such letter neither doth Martinus Crusius the Lutheran in his Sueuicall History of which Auspurg is the chiefest Citty so much as once infinuate any such thing which yet should not haue beene omitted if it could haue beene found that authour taking all occasions where he can to calumniate Catholikes and gather vp all scraps of any antiquity which may seem to make against them which yieldeth to this argument more perswasiue validity no Author of those tymes when it was written or any other after vntill our age euer mentioned the same or so much as heard thereof till our late Sectaryes set it forth and many reasons there were to haue vrged the authority thereof in case such a thing had byn extaÌ„t written by a man of that fame for sanctity as S. Vdalricke to such a Pope as Nicholas the first in such a matter so often so earnestly debated with such circumstance of more then six thousand childrens heads a lye fit for Lucian and the like which yet none euer did and their silence is to me a sure signe that no such thing was extant in their dayes Two or 3. yeares before the death of S. Vdalrickâ— was the contentioÌ„ of the incontinent Priests begun in England and yet none euer mentioned this letter 29. And to make this more plaine whereas with S. Vdalricke in Germany at the same time liued S. Dunstane in England who also out liued him for some yeares and there that contention was then hoatly pursued by that Saint others against the licentiousnes of Priests it seemeth to me very strange that such an epistle should haue beene written whils that conflict was on foot which lasted for diuers yeares and no acknowledge thereof to haue beene had in England where it might most auayle and with the authority of the Authour haue giuen more credit to the cause then the others should haue beene able to infringe but no such thing was then euer alleadged not one syllable therof in Malmesbury Houeden Huntingdon Matthew VVestminister VVilliam Nubrigensis Florentius or any other and thereof I inferre that there was no such letter euer written which vpon so vrgent an occasion ar so opportune a tyme and so directly for the purpose of the lewd Clergy could not haue The
incōtinent Clergy men of Germany though liuing in the same age yet neuer mentioned S. Vdalricks epistle beene concealed but againe and againe beene produced insisted on and vrged to the vttermost 30. Or in case there had then been so smal intercourse betweene England and Germany as in more then ten or twelue yeares a matter of this brute and fame should be written in one Countrey and nothing thereof heard of or known in the other our Kings at that tyme being of the Saxon race yet how came it to passe that in the tyme of Henry the fourth Emperour when this practise was by him permitted and the Priests no lesse insolent then against the impugners of their incontinency then our Ministers are eager now for their wiues in two Synods one at Erphorde 1074. and the other the next yeare after at Mentz to omit other combats against Gregory the seauenth all which happened within the compasse of one age after S. Vdalricke how came it I say to passe that none of these Germā Priests could find this letter or so much as giue any notice therof especially Auspurg it self being taken by that wicked Emperour rifeled by the souldiers and razed to the ground No man there is which seeth not what aduantage they had gotten thereby and the thing hapning in their owne Countrey could not but haue beene knowne to some or other if not to all of that incontinent company and so many fauourers of theirs writing for them against the Pope some one or other had registred it in their behalfe which yet hitherto was neuer done and the Emperour would haue been most glad to haue had such a record to haue vexed the Pope withall and checked his decree in case any such had beene knowne or heard of in his dayes In the tyme of S. Vdalricke there was no controuersy in Germany about the marriage of Priests 31. Againe in all the tyme that S. Vdalricke was Bishop no Pope euer had any occasion to deale or treat of this point in Germany and nothing was euer done therin by any vnder whom he liued which were diuers for he was Bishop fifty yeares and many Popes in that time liued but two or three some not so much but one yeare only so as there was no cause why any such decree should be made or thought vpon or that such a letter should be written for all the variance that was in his tyme about the marriage of Priests was in England only where three yeares before the Saints death a Councell was held and the decrees which were made against the incontinent by all the Bishops of the whol land assembled about the same were after sent vnto Pope Iohn the 13. who confirmed them wherof the chiefest was that either they should put their women from them or themselues be put from their Ecclesiasticall possessions which nothing concerned S. Vdalricke and by all likely hood he neuer so much as heard thereof and if on this occasion he had written this letter to Nicholas the first it had byn of a very stale date to wit of more then a hundred years after that Pope his death 32. And as these things demonstrate S. Huldericke not to haue beene the writer so if we a little examine what is written the contents I S. Huldericks letter against the Protestants meane of this letter we shall find how far it is from all learning wit and truth as no man would offer to be cast in his cause therein vnles it be some out-cast indeed that careth for neither cause credit or conscience at all for to omit Supemacy that this letter acknowledgeth the Popes Supremacy against all Protestants and band of obseruing the vows of such as haue vowed continency against M. Hall for of the first the Authour sayth I doubted what the members of the body should do their head being so greatly out of frame for what can be more grieuous or more to be lamented touching the state of the Church then for you being the Bishop of the principall Sea to whome appertayneth the regiment of the whole Church to swarue neuer so little out of the right way So he And yet this now in England is treason by Parlament to say I meane that the Bishop of Rome is head Vowes of chastity to be obserued supreme Gouernour of the whole Church which heere as you see by this graue and learned authour as M. Fox calleth him is so plainly confessed of the other also thus truth it selfe speaking of continency not of one only but of all togeather the number only excepted of them which haue professed continency sayth he that can take let him take Which exception ouer throweth M. Hals impossible necessity togeather with the doctrin of their Church where the practical exposition of the former words is the Fryer or Priest that can take a Nunne to his wife let him take her and that without any exception at all 33. To omit this I say what a grosse and palpable vntruth is that which the Authour auerreth against such as vrged the testimony of A notorious lye in the counterfeit epistle of S. Huldrick S. Gregory for the continency of Clergy men when he sayth whose temerity I laugh at and ignorance I lament for they know not being ignorantly deceaued how dangerously the decree of this heresy was being made of S. Gregory who afterwards well reuoked the same with condigne fruit of repentance But this reuocatory decree this repentance or that the continency of Priests was an heresy in S. Gregoryes opinion are no lesse monstrous then malicious assertions neuer knowne or heard of til this letter came forth or recorded by any for the space of more then nyne hundred yeares after S. Gregoryes death that euer we can read of and so much being written of his life by Ioannes Diaconus by S. Bede Ado Freculphus and others that this by them al should be forgotten which hapned vpon so remarkable an occasion as neuer the like before or since hath euer hapned is a thing that exceeds my capacity to conceaue or any man els of iudgment to imagine and if such rotten rags may be once admitted for solid arguments there is no ground so sure but will soone be shaken and all proofs from authority will be quite taken away for any light head may soone frame more of these fictions then there are heads feigned to haue beene found in S. Gregoryes pond 34. And wheras the Councell of Rome before S. Gregory still vrged the continency of the Clergy cyted was held not long before his death in which it is decreed that if any Priest or Deacon marry a wise he be accursed And of Subdeacons he so often had determined that they should not marry nor be marryed when they were made and that no women should dwell with Priests but such as the Canons allow it well sheweth Greg. l. 1. ep 42. l. 3. ep 5. 34. l. 7. ep 112.
orders which this epistle will not haue broken but eyther by compulsion to be kept or punished by deposition so carelesse a husband so bad a Christian so weake a protectour he is or els which I rather thinke so light witted a man as he will offer vpon any occasion to aduenture all he hath be it his wife cause or credit though the conditions on which he doth it be neuer so vnequall disaduantagious or preiudiciall vnto him 43. Before I end this matter I will come from M. Halls text vnto his margent where first he maketh this note saying Whether Huldericus Extreme folly to make no doubt of that which is only doubted of or as he is some where intituled Volusianus I enquire not the matter admits no doubt So he But this is extreme folly for it importeth all in all to know the true Author when all the credit of the thing reporteth lyeth thereon as heere it doth or els any may obtrude whatsoeuer broken peece of a letter they shal find on the dunghill to be written by some Father the thing shall challeng authority from the writer and this thing neuer hauing beene seene or heard of in the world before can haue no credit if it were only written by some late sectary as we haue inst cause to suspect and M. Hall cannot disproue whereas if he could proue it written by S. Huldricke we should more esteeme it and answere it with more regard the authority being greater in the behalfe of our Aduersaryes then if it had beene coyned by some MagdeburgiaÌ„ or elâ— by some Sacramentary either moderne or more ancient To auoyd the suspition of this imposture M. Hall cyteth againe his learned Pope Pius 2. or Aeneas Siluius in sua Germania which title Iohn Fox setteth downe more fully saying Aeneas Siluius hath no mention of the counterfeit epistle of S. Vdalricus Meminit ciusdem epistolae Aeneas Siluius in sua peregrinatione Germaniae descriptione Aeneas Siluius maketh mention of this letter in his pilgrimage and description of Germany but it should seem that Iohn Fox his wit was gone in pilgrimage or or els a woll gathering when he made this note for after some search I haue made of his bookes I thinke I haue better meanes to find them out then Fox had I can find none extant vnder the one or other title nor yet vnder the title of his Germany as M. Hall expresseth it neither doth Trithemius in his catalogue or Posseuinus in Apparatu where they set downe all the bookes they could find of this Pope mention any such worke and so the mention made of this letter in this Pilgrimage is a meere idle toy framed out of the wandring imagination of Iohn Fox and vpon to light credit taken vp by M. Hall There is in his workes extant an answere to one Martin Mayer for defence of the holy Roman Church in which he describeth some parts of Germany by which he had passed and speaking of Auspurg he sayth as the Germans haue printed him in Basill S. Vdalricus huic praefidet qui Papam arguit de concubinis c. S. Vdalricus is patron of this place who reprehended the Pope for concubines it lyeth by the riuer Licus So he as these Sacramentaryes haue set him out Which being all graunted belongeth not to this matter in hand but concerneth only the bad life of the young Pope Iohn then thrust by force of friends and maintayned by tyranny in that seat which abuse the Church is forced sometymes to suffer as temporall states do ill Princes but in the one and the other personall crimes as they tend to the impeachment of priuate fame so nothing derogate from publike authority in such the office is to be considered apart from the life as Moyses his chayre from the Pharisyes who sate thereon their power we reuerence their liues we abhorre no state so high no calling so holy no function so laudable but ill men haue beene found therein and if once we confound the life with the office and out of the vnworthynes of the one inferre the denyall of the other we shall leaue no Pope Bishop Priest Emperour King or other Magistrate whatsoeuer and this supposing these to be the words of Aeneas Siluius of which I haue some cause to doubt both for that I haue seene a printed copy without them and moreouer I haue seen three Manuscripts of which as two were lately written had them so the 3. which was much more ancient in the text had them not but in the margent only by which meanes forged glosses so creep in often tymes as they com at length to be printed with the wordes of the Author but howsoeuer to this purpose they make nothing and the other whom M. Hâ—ll ioyneth with him to wit Gaspar Hedio a late heretike is of no credit to iustify this matter no more then M. Iohn Fox Ioseph Hall or any other professed aduersary 44. Againe it is another vntruth to say that somewhere he is intituled Volusianus for though Benefild against M. Leech call the Author of that letter Volusianus yet doubtles he meaneth The Author of the forged epistle vncertains another man distinct from S. Vdalricke who was neuer named Volusianus by any writer and this maketh the whole tale more to reele seeing it is obtruded as a base child that knoweth not his owne Fathers name and if once we remoue it from S. Vdalricke to whome as I haue proued it cannot agree the thing leeseth all credit and proueth nothing but the corrupt dealing of such as alleage it for this Volusianus is a name inuented to make fooles fayne no man knowing what he was where he was borne when he liued of what calling or credit in the world whether of kyt or kin to the man in the Moon for he neuer liued on our inferiour orbe vnder the first second or third Nicholas if I might interpose my ghesse I should thinke him to be brother to Steuen the subdeacon before mentioned out of Gratian for that he is so ready to father the fatherles and take a child to his charge which he neuer begot 45. But sayth M. Hall the matter admits no doubt which is another vntruth for whether by the word matter M. Hall vnderstand the Authour of the letter or the contents themselus both are doubted yea both are denyed and to take that for graunted which resteth in controâ—ersy to be proued is a foule fault in Philosophy and called petitio principij as if one to credit Petitio principij a foule fault in â— Philosopher M. Hall and to proue that for his learning he deserueth to be estcemed against one who shold deny him to be learned at all should thus conclude All learned men deserue to be esteemed but M. Hall as I suppose is a learned man Ergo he is for such to be esteemed no man will allow that he suppose the Minor as graunted which only is called in
remedy this turpitude which there was most spread where the Popes authority could do least to wit in Germany where Henryes countermands still crossed all Gregoryes decrees and Nero his sword as S. Anselme Anselm epist ad VValramum worthily calleth him S. Peters power not willfullnes of one man which is done by common consent of whole Councells wherein no force violence or importunity is recorded euer to haue beene vsed but the thing with full freedome No willfullnes ioynt consent and vniforme agreement of all to haue passed and which is much to be noted though the Emperour in the tyme of this Pope called some false Councells as of VVormes Mentz and Pauia to withstand Gregory yet in no one of them all is there any decree or approuance of the marriage of Priests they be-being as it should seeme ashamed to leaue extant any monument or remembrace of so brutish a doctrine and to all Christian antiquity so repugnant 81. Neither wanted there a reason for Gregory his decree and laudable indeauours in this Great reason for the making of Pope Gregory his decre behalfe if M. Hall had so much wit or iudgment as to conceaue it for he still pleaded the contrary practise to haue beene in the Church and therby shewed that he made no new decree but reformed the late abuse crept in against the old and that according to the ancient Canons and Statutes of the Church as any may see in all places heere cyted and in the Councell of Rome Anno 1074. as Lambertus writeth it was decreed Gregor 7. lib. 2. Epiep 45. 61. 62. 66. 67. Vt secundum instituta antiquorum Canonum Presbyteri vxores non habeant habentes aut dimittant aut deponantur That according to the determinations of the ancient Canons the Priests haue no wiues and they who haue them either dismisse or put them away or els that themselues be deposed and writing to Anno Bishop of Colen he plainely sayth Nouit enim Fraternitas tua quia praecepta haec non de nostro sensu exsculpimus sed antiquorum Patrum sanctiones spiritu sancto praedicante prolatas of officij nostri necessitate in medium propalamus Your brotherhood doth know that we frame not these commandes out of our owne head but our office compelling vs we lay open the decrees of the ancient Fathers made by the instinct of the holy Ghost So he And is this trow you M. Hall no reason or can you if you were put to it frame a better then priority of tyme conioyned with vniuersality of place Maenio maius num quod tibi carmen habetur Dispeream si scis carmina quid sapiant I see you know not what reason meanes 82. And the like I may say of Gods will Pope Gregory his decree according to the will of God which in the whole pursuit of this thing was only sought for in preseruing that which the whole Church guyded by his holy spirit had so often determined so many Councells decreed so long vncontrollable custome of al Countreyes obserued which to infring only vpon the violence of a few licentious and disorderly liuers who will take liberty without leaue haue all things to be ruled by their owne vnruly passions was little according to Gods will and much lesse was it according to his will to breake their solemne vowes of perpetuall chastity made in the taking of their orders which by the law of nature and diuine bound them to the obseruance and consequently the transgression was against the will of God which the Pope did labour to reforme and in seeking reformation could seek for no other emolument or profit to himselfe then to please God for sure he was to displease many men therby and to increase the number of such as mortally hated his so constant zeale infatigable labour in Gods cause but this hatred of men proceeding from Gregory his loue to God was no more by him to be regarded then that of the Iewes was of the Apostls or the hatred of the ancient persecutors Auentine a late partiall and vnsincere writer of the primitiue Martyrs 83. What broyles hereon ensued sayth M. Hall let Auentine witnes but I except against this witnes as being for tyme too yong for profession too partiall and for credit too small to testify in this matter and withall I must warne this Epistler that in cyting Authours he vse more exactnes then for two lines to referre vs ouer to a whole booke in folio of many leaues which we neither haue leasure nor list to read all ouer and it is not worth the labour to spend so much tyme in reading such Authors so false fond and confuse as he is knowne to be the words heere cyted out of him seeme to conteyn no more truth then the rest now refuted Ex interdicto sacerdotum coniugio sayth he grauissima seditio gregem Christi perculit c. Vpon the forbidding of the marriage of Priests a most grieuous sedition wounded the flock of Christ neither was there euer such a plague that so afflicted Christian people So he Which is a meere Chymera for this flocke of Christ these Christian people were a few seditious German Priests who tooke the occasion of the discord between the Emperour the Pope to follow their lust and wallow in all filthines If M. Hall obiect that not only this but the contention of the Emperour and all the broyles then made and raysed were for this cause he will shew his reading The chief cōtention betweene Henry the fourth Gregory the 7. not about the marriage of Priests to be little and iudgment small because this was but a bad branch of another root an effect of another cause and a by-lake from another greater streame 84. For who so will reade attentiuely what Authors do write of these tymes what Pope Gregory in so many Councels letters and Edicts did decree he shall find before this filthy fault another to be commonly premised to wit of Symony which more touched the Emperour who as Caluin and others write held all the Bishopricks and Abbeyes at sale and the Bishops also who hauing bought their place for money did sell al Canonries Deanries Prebends c. were both by the Popes decrees to be themselus remoued their doings anulled so likewise the Abbots then this other of VViues which was indeed but an appendix of the former and permitted by the Emperour to increase the nūber of his followers and enemyes of the Pope being neuer intended as any principall cause for had not the Symony hindred which was the first and chiefest quarrell between them which M. Hall not being able to iustify doth still dissemble the accord betweene Henry and Gregory had soone been made which neuer depended on these marriages and to affirme the contrary or that all the turmoyles were made for Priests wiues shewes exceeding ignorance in historyes and all the course held in this
constancy the glory of miracles all the gifts of the holy Ghost made famous that in this respect England hath no cause to enuy now at other most noble Cittyes for their renowned Pastours So Baronius of S. Dunstane 89. And in case that the three Saints named by M. Godwin had beene lesse eager against M. Godwine to free in ceÌ„suring of a short memory the marriage of Priests then S. Anselme I see not why he in that respect should not haue beene more fauourable also vnto them in their liues which yet he is not for of S. Oswald he sayth That he was very earnest in setting forth that doctrine of Diuells that debarreth men of lawfull marrâ—â—ge of S. Ethelwold that he plaied the Rex at VVinchester turning along eight honest Priests into the world with their wiues and children of S. Dunstane he rayseth diuers iniurious slaunders but you must know the cause of all to be that which he vttereth in the last words of his life to wit for persecuting and hunting marryed Priests euery where out of their liuings which clause if you marke it well ouerthroweth the other before cyted concerning S. Anselme that his persecutioÌ„ was more general then the other of S. Dunstane S. Ethelwold S. Oswalde when as yet their decrees as you haue seene are all one and alike in generall for all and heere further you haue S. Dunstane no lesse then S. Anselme not only in Monasteryes or places where Chanons dwelled but euery where to haue hunted and persecuted marryed Priests out of their liuings Stil I must complain of want of memory in these men who in their heat of contradiction against vs forget in The famous example which hapned at the Councell of Calne one place what they haue written in another 90. Which point is yet made more cleare by the memorable miracle which happened at Calne of which in a manner al our writers make mention as Osbertus Malmesbury Florentius Huntingdon Houeden Matthew VVestminster and others where in the behalfe of all the incontinent Clergy many of the Nobility were assembled Osbert in vita Dunstani Malmes l. 2. cap. 9. Florent in anno 977. Houeden eodem Hunting in anno 4. Eduard â—â— togeather with their Oratour Bernelinus a Scottish man that so eyther by power or perswasioÌ„ they might ouerbeare S. Dunstane Validissimum illum murum Ecclesiae sayth Malmesbury that most strong bulwarke of the Church But against all humane power and eloquence God shewed which part pleased him best which highly displeased him for the house where they sate in Councell sodenly fell downe and either killed or sorely wounded all those who withstood the Saint he and his as Osbert recounteth in his life being free from all danger which wonderfull euent albeit Huntington the speciall proctour for marryed Priests do â—arely recount without any mention of the cause of their meeting and moreouer do turne it to another interpretation yet others especially Malinesbury the best after Bede that we haue for our historyes in assigning the effect truely insinuateth the cause saying Hoc miraculum Archiepiscopo exhibuit pacem de Clericis omnibus Anglis tunc deinceps in eius sententiam concedentibus This miracle ended the 〈◊〉 betweene S. Dunstane and the Clergy all English men as wel then as after yielding vnto his opinion So he Out of which words I gather against M. Godwin that S Dunstane no lesse then S. Anselme opposed against all marryed Priests ouerthrew them all and against M. Hall that the first prohiâ—ition against the mariage of Priests was not made by S. Anselme but more then a hundred yeares before he was Bishop or had any thing to do in our English Church 91. And as it is most true that S. Dunstane before S. Anselme made this prohibition so is it most false that by him first of all our English Clergy did perforce stoop to the yoke of continency as though euer before they had wiues genuisse filios filias as now we see our English Ministers to do which only is the ill collection of M. M. Halls manner of collections Hall who when he findeth any thing forbidden he forthwith inferreth that the thing fordidden was alwayes in vse before the prohibition and heere his wit no lesse fayling him then his Logicke he gathereth that because at different tymes the same was restrayned vnder two Arch-â—ishops of Canterbury that it was neuer before the tyme of one or the other in his text he sayth that the Clergy were forced to stoop vnder the yoke of continency by the first and in the margent that it was alwayes free to marry and neuer deâ—yed till the later as now we haue heard but â—oth are false and the single life of Priests is of far greater antiquity then are the tymes of these two Saints whome God raysed to take away the abuse crept in and not to alter any constant custome euer allowed or practised in the land before for the good corne was first sown in that field and the darnell after truth was before errour the continency of the Clergy of all acâ—nowledged of all practised in all tymes after â—ur conuersion approued when as their vnlawâ—ll marriage as it entred late so it endured not â—ong so one rising and soone falling and as for â—yme it could neuer prescribe so neither for â—lace could it euer get the full possession of our â—ttle Iland till these later dayes a thing so filâ—hy after a solemne vow to God to take a wise â—s it neuer appeared without the brand of infaâ—y so base as the basest only deâ—ended it the â—est withstood it of so narrow bounds as it was â—euer tollerated in Europe Africke or the Latin Church nor yet in Greece till by bad life it fell â—o schisme from schisme into open heresy and from thence vnto the thraldon of the Turkâ— vnder which now it resteth 92. Which point concerning other counâ—reys I haue proued before now I will restraine â—y speach to England alone and in a word or two proue the Clergy euer to haue beene continent and then obiter touch the cause of that abuse I meane vpon what occasion it first entred and inuegled so many in S. Dunstans tyme A negatiue argument grounded vpon manifest presumptioÌ„ and for the first I thinke this generall negatiue directly to conclude that in all the pursuit of this busines in al the prohibitions depositions censures and sentences deliuered against the incontinent we neuer reade that any of them did euer stand vpon the former custome of the Church or continuall practise therof in that behalfe or euer complained that the Bishops brought in a new law contrary to the old or that they were made Priests when that freedome was in vse approued and allowed and therfore all such prohibitions depositions censures sentences and other penaltyes made afterward to haue beene vniust iniurious and tyrannical as they could doubtles would haue pleaded had
the cause beene as M. Hall wil haue it that they had brought in a new law imposed a yoke neuer borne before contradicted the constant knowne custome of the whole Land but this none euer vrged obiected mentioned that euer I could read of in S. Dunstanes tyme when first of all that matter was so vehemently followed and thereof do inferre that it was not the old custome but a late nouelty that by the vigilancy of the pastours afore named was blasted In our first conuersion the Clergy was continent in the very budd and by their vertue and vigour cleane ouerborne 93. Besides this generall negatiue if we reduce things to their first origen our Church I meane of England to our first Apostle S. Gregory who conuerted vs to the Christian fayth as before in general I haue touched his opinion so for our Church in particuler what his ordinance was is to be seene by his answere to the second demand of S. Augustine which was touching the continency of Clergy men set downe also in Fox for he sayth or rather resolueth the matter thus Such of the Clergy as are not in holy orders if they cannot conteyne may marry but then they must Gregor resp ad quaest 2. August no longer liue among Clergy men but receaue their stipends without or out of their company So S. Gregory concerning our English Clergy and no man I thinke will deny Priests to be in holy orders and consequently by this resolution to be debarred from marriage not only Priests but euen Subdeacons in S. Gregoryes tyme and by S. Gregory himselfe were forbidden to marry as before they had beene by S. Leo the Great though in Siciâ—y about this time some abuse had entred touching this order the lowest of the foure sacred but it ascended no higher 94. And whereas Pelagius predecessour to Subdeacons bouÌ„d to perpetuall chastity S. Gregory had rigorously vrged the Canonicall discipline against these Subdeacons S. Gregory so far mitigated that decree as he permitted such â—s were marryed to keep their wiues but forbad that any more should be ordered for thus he writeth Qui post prohibitionem à suis vxoribus contiâ—ere Gregor ad Petrum Subdiac l. 1. ep 42. noluerint nolumus promoueri ad sacrum ordinem c. They who after our prohibition will not absteyne from their wiues we wil not haue them promoted to the holy order for none ought to come to the Ministery of the Altar whose chastity is not approued before he vndertake the fuÌ„ction So S. Gregory and to foure Bishops of France thus of the same matter Cum his qui in sacro Lib. 7. ep â—â—â— ordine sunt constituti habitare mulieres prohibeantur c. Let women be forbidden to dwell with such as are in holy order ouer whome that the old enemy do not triumph it is by the common consent to be defyned that they ought to haue no women dwell with them besides such as are mentioned by the Canons So he to them alluding to the third Canon of the Niâ—en Councell to which if we add what before we haue set downe out of the Roman Councell we shall haue out of S. Gregory alone the practise of England Sicily France and Italy togeather 95. And as this was first planted so was it without intermission generally still continued of which the testimony of Venerable By the testimony of S. Bede it is cleere Priestes might not marry Bede before alleadged is an irrefragable argument where out of the Commandment of the Priests dayly attendance on the Altar he inferreth their perpetuall chastity and addeth further that it is imposed vpon them for euer to be kept but this imposition presupposeth their owne voluntary election of that state and the vow thereunto annexed as els where we haue shewed and S. Bede also in another place doth further declare where explicating the wordes Beda lib. 3. de â—abern of Moyses of a certayne garment of the Priests of the old law by application to the Priesthood of the new he sayth Foemoralia quae ad operiâ—daâ— carnis turpitudinem fieri mandantur c. The lynneâ—â—hosen which are commanded to be made to couer the turpitude of the flesh do designe properly that portion of chastity which keeps men backe from the appetit of matrimoniall copulation without which chastity no man can take priesthood or be consecrated to the Ministery of the Altar that is vnles he remayne a virgin or els breake the bands which ioyned him to his wife which kind of vertue is of necessity by the law of God imposed vpon none but by voluntary deuotion is to be offered vnto our Lord for so himselfe sayth Non omnes capiunt verbum hoc Matth. 19. all accept not this counsaile to which notwithstanding by a mercifull persuation he inuiteth all who are able saying let him take it that can So he And a little after Nuâ—â—i tamen violentum huiusmodi continentiae iugum impones c. You shall not The voluntary vow of such as are to receaue holy orders impose this violent yoke of continency vpon any but whosoeuer will be made Priests and serue in the Ministery of the Altar they of their own accord shal cease to be the seruants of their wiues So S. Bede alluding vnto the wordes of the Apostle that the husband hath no power ouer his own body but the wise and what wil M. Hâ—ll say heereunto I hope these testimonyes 1. Cor. 7. are cleare inough to conuince the fleshly freedome which he dreameth of touching Priests wiues not to haue beene knowne in S. Bedes tyme for the two Poles are not further asunder then this doctrine by S. Bede deliuered and that which he pretendeth and this being written so long before S. Dunstanes tyme and the yoke which yet is a sweet yoke imposed we may easily Obijâ— Beda inn 731. Dunstan verò anno 988. perceaue what truth or discretion is in the words of M. Hall who will haue our Clergy so repiningly to haue first stooped vnder this yokâ— by S. Dunstans inforcement who yet liued more then two hundred yeares after S. Bede 96. Moreouer what opinion was had of these marriages euen then when so much ruffling was made for them appeareth by VVolstan scholler at that tyme of S. Ethelwold a learned vertuous man as Malmesbury doth describe him Malmesb. lib. 2. c. 8. who in the life he wrote of the Saint his maister speaking of those Priests which M. Godwin before called eight honest Priests turned into the world with their wiues and children thus setteth forth their Vulstanns in vita Ethelwoldi honesty Erant tunc in veteri Monasterio Canonici moribus valde deprauatis elatione insolentia luxuria fadi c. There were at that tyme in the old Monastery Chanons of very corrupt life filthy for their pride impudency and leachery in so much as some of them would not say Masse in their