Bellarmine as erroneous Bellar. l. 1. de Cler. c. 19. §. 1. antem neither is it otherwise deliuered by the author but as his own proper opinion supposing the abuse of some Cleargy men as it should seem in his dayes who liuing incontinently he thought it better for them to marry euen after their orders then to giue such scandall but no law can preuent all abuses euen in matrimony we find adulterers and they who in single life so lewdly follow their lust would also perhaps not haue beene restrained in marriage within the prefixed limits of coniugall chastity at least for the errours of some the law is not to be altered that bindeth all especially being so ancient so vniuersall so necessary as we shall after shew this law to be 48. The like liberty I might vse in pretermitting other of his impertinent allegations if I thought the man would not where he findeth no answere thinke that they were vnanswerable therefore I meane to examine them all though this which followes be not worth the taking vp had he not by misinterpreting the Latin made it more aduantagious to his cause then euer the speaker meant it for thus he writeth But if this red hat be not worthy of respect let a Pope himselfe speake out of Peters chayre Pius the second as learned as hath sit in that roome this thousand yeares marriage sayth he vpon great reason was taken False interpretation of Pius 2. his wordes from the Clergy but vpon greater is to be restored VVhat need we other Iudge Thus M. Hall in which words are two manifest vntruths the one that he spake this out of Peters chaire for he neuer made any decree thereof and Platina who alone is cited to report it sayth that in familiar talke only he was wont so to say which is far from defyning out of S. Peters Chayre which requires a definitiue sentence as from the head of the Church and deliuered in absolute tearmes for the affirmatiue or negatiue of any assertion for in like manner Kings are not sayd to do out of kingly authority what they do or say in familiar discourse or recreation amonst their subiects but what they do or say by their publique laws edicts proclamations commands and the like 49. The other vntruth is more malicious for whereas the Latin wordes in the margent are Sacerdotibus magna ratione sublatas nuptias maiore restituendas videri which truly traÌ„slated signify no more but that marriage vpon good reason was taken from Priests and may seeme vpon greater to be restored this man bringeth in one lye to confirme another to shew I say that the Pope defined out of S. Peters chayre he maketh him absolutly to say Marriage vpon great reason was taken from the Clergy but vpon greater is to be restored and to make it haue a large extent insteed of Priests he translateth Clergy which includeth also Bishops who yet are excluded by his owne sixth Councel as we shall after shew and then exclaimeth VVhat needeth other iudge and I say there needeth no other but some who vnderstand their Grammer to tell M. Hall three things that the word Sacerdotibus signifyeth Priests and not the Clergy 2. that nuptias restituendas videri is to be Englished marriages may seeme to be restored and not are to be restored and 3. that euery compassionate speach of dislike in familiar talke is not a decree from S. Peters chayre As for his superlatiue lashing of this Popes learning in M. Halls honourable tearms of such as he citeth in fauour of the marriage of Priests dishonourable of the impugners comparison of others no regard is to be had thereunto for now this Minister measures all thinges by marriage and seeth nothing but through false spectacles a schismaticall Councell is for fauouring wiues presently become with him sacred and the authority irrefragable Paphnutius for fauouring the same as â—e supposeth in the Nicen Councell is stiled a Virgin famous for holynes famous for miracles S. Athanasius holy Athanasius a witnes past exception and shall serue for a thousand historyes till his tyme if he cite a Cardinal then must his red cap stop our mouthes and he be termed a learned Cardinall if a Pope then ex tripode he defines him to be as learned as any hath beene in that roome for a thousand yeares But if any speake against this licentious liberty as did Gregory the seauenth he is presently a brand of hell S. Dunstane no more but plaine Dustane and the like of S. Anselme most famous for learning and holynes of life But all sanctity all learning all authority is lost with this man if you allow not marriage vnto Priests Bishops Monks Nunnes and all other votaryes 50. From the lawfullnes and necessity he commeth to the antiquity of the marriage of Clergy men and because he will deduce it from the Apostles tymes yea from their examples he beginneth with this exordium How iust sayth he this law is you see see now how ancient for some M. Halls contradiction a-about priority of tyme. doctrines haue nothing to plead for them but tyme Age hath beene an old refuge for falsehood Tertullians rule is true that which is first is truest So he in which obscure words without any interposition at all of any other there is a flat contradiction for if age haue beene the refuge of falsehood how can the other part be verifyed the more ancient the more true againe if Tertullians rule be true that which is first is truest how can prescription of tyme be a refuge for falshood Do these men wake or sleep when they write do they deale in matters of coÌ„trouersy or deliuer their dreams if that which is first is truest then must priority of tyme be the guardian of truth and not the refuge of falshood which doth shunne and auoyd this tryall 51. If this Maxime of trying truth by tyme had byn obserued of King Henry 8. in England Martin Luther in Saxony and Zuinglius in Zuricke these late hereticall noueltyes with which Europe is now pestered had not entred with such full saile as they did but then age was a refuge for falshood and Tertullians rule was ouerruled as irregular which now in the marriage of Priests is made to be the only square of truth truely as M. Hall doth handle the matter it is M. Hall makes antiquity a Lesbian rule made a Lesbian rule which may be turned changed wrested and applyed as you list for if you vrge the constant vniforme generall consent of all places tymes pastours writers for purgatory reall presence merits iustification by good workes the Supremacy of the sea of Rome and the like alwayes confessed neuer without the brand of heresy denyed then is age the refuge of falshood mother of errour and no certainty can be drawne from the authority of men let but a minister haue but one seeming place of any Father neere the Apostles tymes although but
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
the thing is fully answered and shewed either to be false or not to make so much for M. Hall as he would seeme to haue it the names he addeth after of marryed Priests and Bishops are partly false partly true altogeather impertineÌ„t plainly shew this Epistler not to vnderstand the thing he treateth of but to roue at randome in many words to say nothing to the matter 9. Not content with Priests and Bishops he commeth to Popes and wil needs giue them a singular priuiledge for he will haue Popes to haue begotten Popes and the children to haue Popes belyed and Socrates abused succeeded their Fathers in the Pontificall Sea as Kings sonnes do their parents in that Crowne and kingdom al are lyes taken out of the Chaffe but fathered vpon Gratian and heere clearly refelled as counterfeit then he sheweth out of Socrates what some Bishops did whether Heretiks or Catholiks he sayth not nor yet of what place but being himselfe a Grecian borne and brought vp in Coustantinople where no Patriarke was euer knowne to haue marryed or to haue vsed after wards his wife which is our question he sayth that all the famous Priests or Bishops of the East obserued the same custome not compelled thereunto by any law sayth he though not a few Bishops did the contrary and it may wel be imagined these Bishops not to haue byn of the best and their example could not make this custome vsuall much lesse vniuersall in the Greeke Church as hath beene shewed out of S. Hierome S. Epiphanius S. Leo. And truely for Bishops to haue knowne their wiues in that state which Socrates auoucheth was neuer there lawfull no not in the Trullan Synod as you haue seene and it was no sincere dealing in M. Hall to make this hereticall historian seeme to speake of all the Bishops of Greece whose words are plain to the contrary and expresly mention some particuler only 10. From particulers proofs he comes to more generall and vrgeth the Councel of TrulluÌ„ and therein he much bestirreth himselfe but as it falleth out with bad brokers that buy and sell and leese by the exchang so M. Hall after this labour euen by his owne verdict is proued and proclymed faythles and the Councell at large is discussed proued neuer to haue allowed leaue to any Clergy man in holy orders to marry howsoeuer some marryed men were ordered to be Priests but neuer to be Bishops and this being but a Nationall Councell vnlawfully assembled neuer wholy approued cannot prescribe The CouÌ„cell of Trullum lawes to the whole Church and M. Halls sanctifying the same and making it a Generall because it fauoured marriage to speak nothing of his lyes argueth in him more loue to his wife then care he had to see or seeke out the truth and notwithstanding it had beene such yet had he lost much more to his cause then gained therby as is declared in many particulers of the reall presence sacrifice worshipping of holy images especially the Crosse the holy Chrisme power of Priests to remit sinnes and the like yea euen in that very cause for which it is brought and vrged it maketh against him so little heed doth M. Hall take of what he writeth Againe presently after he doth contradict his owne authorityes and will for seauen hundred yeares haue nothing but open freedome when as out of the Councell he should haue inferred the coÌ„trary because then this freedom in part was first graÌ„ted neuer permitted before 11. After this Councel as if there with he had opened Aâ—olus his den followes a boysterous A boysterous charge blast of raging words wherein for want of other matter this honest man chargeth vs with blemishing burning blotting cutting and tearing of the Trullan Canon out of the Councells and that against the euidences of Greeke copyes against Gratian against pleas of antiquity and which most of all pinceth against the marriage of Ministers and Ecclesiastical persons but all this storme is soon asswaged because it had no other cause then the meer ignorance malice of him who raised it and this Câ—non of his generall Councell without all blemish blot fire or sword is found to be entire in our copies Greeke and Latin albeit the decree be not so flat howsoeuer confirmed by authority of Emperours but that it abides a denyall yea is proued Schismaticall the second Pope Steuens distinguishing vpon the point as he will haue it is absolutly without any distinction proued to be a lye and the Canon fathered on him to agree rather to Steuen the Subdeacon father to Pope Osiâ—s and Deusdedit then to any Pope of that name though M. Hall be very peremptory and resolute therein but his words be no oracles or proue for the most part any thing els but either the vanity malice or ignorance of the speaker 12. Which well appeareth in a heape of demands which follow immediatly vpon the former charge discharged long agoe by Bellarmine which all bewray the weaknes of the writer as hath before beene shewed in euery particuler and as mad an inference he maketh after when by a non sequitur he concludeth saying So then we differ not from the Church in this but from the Romish Church in which wordes I thinke the poore man vnderstandeth not himselfe for M. Halls Non sequitur when he sayth we differ not from the Church what Church doth it mean either the whole Catholike Church or some particuler member if the whole then how doth he exclude the Roman with which all Europe and Africke the greatest part of Greece and all Aegypt did agree If of a particuler branch or member then how doth he say we differ not from the Church when as he differeth euen from that very Church on which he would seeme most to rely the Greeke I mean for as hath beene shewed to M. Halls cost if he esteeme the losse of his fidelity for such of foure things defined in that Councell that three are against him and yet so blind a doctour he is as he can discerne no difference but as though there were perfect agreement in all thinges he sayth we differ not from the Greeke Church but from the Latin as well he may say that a man a horse do not differ in any thing because they agree in this that either of them haue one head though in other matters there be neuer so large and manifold differences betweene them 13. I let pâ—sse his vntruths before detected whereof this was one that for seauen hundred yeares there was nothing but freedome which if it be not spoken per antiphrasim is to grosse a lye Vntruths by heaps as hath beene delared and that this scuffling began in the 8. age as if the continent life of the Clergy had then newly entred or sought to find entrance when as still it had beene on foot and full possession before as by the definitiue sentences of so many Councells gathered
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
question and alone necdeth no proofe which if we apply to the present matter we shall find in a different subiect the same argument We deny that euer S. Huldericke wrote any such epistle how doth M. Hall proue it thus whether you call him S. Huldericus or Volusianus the matter admits no doubt but that he wrote it to which put this Minor but he who wrote the letter is Authour thereof Ergo S. Huldericke is the Author An argument more fit for some Grillus Corebus Alogus some Patch Ioll or VVill Sommer then M. Hall 46. There resteth one more vntruth in the A foule Chronographicall errour touching the tyme when S. Hulderick liued margent which is Chronographical about the tyme when S. Huldricke liued that you may perceaue how this man in all things is rash and negligent if he dispute his arguments be loose if he cyte Authours their authorytyes are either mistaken or corrupted if he inferre one thing out of another it is by wrong illation takes quid for quo the contrary to that which doth follow of his premises if for more exactnes he go about to reduce things to their proper tyme 20. or thirty years difference is not to be regarded for to be exact is against his reputation he will not be taken for such a precision and therefore heere he telleth vs Huldericus Episcopus Argustae anno 860. which is iust thirty yeares before he was borne and yet after his birth he liued either thirty three or thirty foure before he was made Bishop so as he is heer made to be Bishop of Auspurg more then three score years before his tyme are not these men exact writers trow you on whose fidelity so many men with such assurance may rely their saluation 47. And to end all this matter as though An vntruth ioyned with a contradiction he had not hitherto giuen vs vntruths inough he addeth for the finall vpshot one more that also combyned with a contradiction when he sayth after Vdalricus so strong did he plead and so happily for two hundred yeares more this freedome still blessed these parts yet not without extreme opposition historyes are witnesse of the busy and not vnlearned combats of those tymes in this argument So he And I cannot but tell him out of the Comicke Non sat commodè diuisa sunt temporibus tibi Daue haec These tymes agree no better then did the other of S. Vdalricks letter to the first Nicholas and vntrue it is that euer he pleaded so happily so strongly who neuer opened his mouth in this controuersy vntrue it is that this carnal freedome blessed these parts for two hundred yeares more after his death for vnder Pope Gregory the seauenth he confesseth presently after that this cause was vtterly ruined and betweene the death of these two I meane S. Vdalricke Gregory the seauenth there is but one hundred and twelue years and whereas that Pope dealt in that matter some yeares before his death it will follow euen by the graunt of M. Hall himselfe that this cause so strongly so happily pleaded for in the compasse of one age was quite ouerborne and vtterly ruined so as by this account M. Hall in setting downe two hundred years reckoneth only but one hundred too much which is not much in him so subiect euery where to errour and so careles in his assertions as almost nothing cometh from him out of any learning or truth that is in Controuersy betweene vs. The imaginary pleading of S. Vdalricu◠neither strong not happy 48. Againe there is a manifest contradiction in these words for if vpon this strong and happy pleading this freedome blessed the parts of the Latin Church how had it such extreme opposition for before this tyme there was nothing els in M. Halls iudgment but full possession of this freedome and the contrary not to haue preuayled till more then a thousand yeares after Christ so as all the blessing was before S. Vdalricks pleading and all the opposition after and how is not that pleading to beheld rather weak and vnlucky then strong and happy which had no other effect then extreme opposition and quite ouerthrow of the cause defended by that plea For what successe could be more vnfortunate then to be cast in a cause so vehemētly vrged debated with such heate and that betweene the supreme Pastour for authority and a most eminent Bishop for sanctity of those tims which contradiction is made more palpable by the next ensuing words in his letter for thus he writeth 49. But now when the body of Antichristianisme A heap of vntruths began to be complet so it pleaseth this light Companion to prattle and to stand vp in his absolute shape after a thousand yeares from Christ this liberty which before wauered vnder Nicholas the first now by the handes of Leo the ninth Nicholas the second and that brand of hell Gregory the seauenth was vtterly ruined wiues debarred single life vrged So M. Hall And truely if Leo the 9. and Nicholas the second ruined this matter this plea had so short a blessing and so quicke a crosse as it remayned on foote little more then fifty yeares and that still in continuall contradiction vntill it was extinguished and so as before out of two hundred we rebated one so out of that one we must take another halfe leaue him but fifty if his owne words be true that this was ruined by Leo the ninth as heere he pretendeth and the blessing he talketh of is resolued to this that presently this marriage matter was contradicted and the contradiction so followed as it preuailed and this supposing what he sayth to be true of these men and matter which yet are so false as they conteyne in them to speake the least more lyes then lines which I will briefly touch in order 50. The first is that vnder these Popes the body of Antichristianisme began to be complete for all The first vntruth the Popes he nameth to wit Nicolas the first Leo the ninth Nicolas the second and Gregory the 7. were all very holy men all learned al excellent Gouernours of Christs Church and the second Nicolas excepted all registred in the Catalogue of Saints and our Protestants of the primitiue Church in England were wont to tell vs that this body was complete in the tyme of Bonisace the third whome idly they would haue to be that singular Antichrist descrybed in Daniels prophesy and the Apocalyps of S. Iohn some haue much laboured to draw the number of his name to agree vnto the tyme whē he was made Pope with other impertinencyes and if M. Hall make the denyall of Priests marriage the complementall perfection of this body for all the heauen and happynes which these men haue is in their wiues and whatsoeuer sauours or fauours not that is Antichristian then was it complete for some hundreds of years before any of them were borne or thought on as the authorityes of
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
A REFVTATION OF M. IOSEPH HALL HIS APOLOGETICALL DISCOVRSE FOR THE Marriage of Ecclesiasticall Persons directed vnto M. Iohn VVhiting IN WHICH Is demonstrated the Marriages of Bishops Priests c. to want all warrant of Scriptures or Antiquity and the freedome for such Marriages so often in the sayd discourse vrged mentioned and challenged to be a meere fiction Written at the request of an English Protestant By C. E. a Catholike Priest Libertatem promittentes cùm ipsi sint serui corruptionis Promising freedome whiles themselues are the slaues of corruption 2. Petr. 2. Permissu Superiorum M. DC XIX AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER WHEREAS according to the order set downe in the ensuing Letter I had determined to adde another Paragraffe to the former three coÌ„teyning A detection of M. Halls errours and ouersights in writing I found in the pursuit therof so aboundant matter as I could not comprize it all within the narrow bounds of a Paragraffe and increasing so much vnder my hands I resolued at length to set it out a part at amounting to more then what I haue already written in answere of this Letter to M Whiting which being one entier Controuersy might perhaps better be set out alone theÌ„ conioâ—ned with other points nothing at all incident to that matter as are the other doctrinall Errours Vntruths Mistakings Impostures and other fraudulent ignorant and malicious behauiour which I am forced to detect and wherwith all the â—apsodyes of his Epistles that conteyâ— any disputable question are fraught to the full Another cause heerof was for that a Gentleman lately come out of England gaue me notice of other bookes of the same Authour which I had not yet seene and of one entituled The peace of Rome on which in particuler dependeth very much of that which I haue written in the Detection especially in refuting that most shameles assertion Decad. 3. Epist 5. that Bellarmin acknowledgeth vnder his owne hand two hundred thirty and seauen Contrarietyes of doctrine amongst Catholiks which is nothing els but 237. lyes in one assertion if he meane as he must do of points that belong to sayth and Religion and not of matter vndecided and meerly disputable in Schooles And yet further which to one not acquainted with the forhead of Heretikes may seeme incredible he auoucheth the dissensions of ProtestaÌ„ts to be only in cerimonyes of the Catholiks in substance theirs in one or two points ours in all Againe ours is in the whole cloath theirs only in the skirts c. with more to the same effect All which or at least the chiefest part I meane the disagreement of Catholiks in fundamentall points are as I suppose discussed in that worke and I cannot so well refute his words in generall vntill I see his speciall prooses that are made against our vnity and the proper subiect of euery particuler dissension Only heere to his generall charge I returne also in generall this answere That neither he nor all of his Sect set togeather can make this good and in case he be so bold in his Peace as he hath beene in his other VVritings we shall find store of most impudent vntruths for lying and detraction if it be for the aduancement of the Ghospell seem with this Man to be meritorious works and those deliuered with such audacity as if they were most certaine and vncontrollable truthes of which kind there be many discoâ—ered in the refutation of this Letter but the number that remaine is without comparison greater which when I consider togeather with his eminent ignorance I cannot but greatly admire the scarcity of learned men in our Countrey that could find no better Doctours to send to Doâ—t Conference to conclude the peace between the skirtwrangling-Brethren then M. Hall no more to be coÌ„pared with learned men then a Pedlar with Merchants a Pettifogger with Lawyers a meer Pedanticall Grammarian with graue and learned Deuines VVere the matter in Controuersy to be concluded with outfacing of lyes M. Hall might sit for Arbiter and Iudge of the whole Assembly vnles they be too shameles ouerbeare them all Of a mayne multitude which already I haue set downe in the Detection I will touch one heer and that only to discharge and cleare my selfe from that wherof I accuse him I meane of detraction and defaming his person Let this then passe for an example which so confidently he writeth in his Quo vadis or Censure of Pag. 41. Trauell where though he say that A discreet man will be ashamed to subscribe his name to that whereof he may be afterwards conuinced yet Pag. 6â— so indiscretly doth he deale as he blusheth not to write in these wordes What packets fly abroad of their Indian wonders Euen Cardinall Bellarmine can come in as an auoucher of these cosenages who dares auerre that his fellow Xauier had not only healed the deafe dumbe and blind but raysed the dead whiles his brother Acosta after many yeares spent in those parts can pul him by the sleeue and tell him in his eare so loud that all the world may heare him Prodigia nulla producimus neque verò est opus c. So M. Hall And I appeale to all the Ministers of Dort whether they euer heard a more impudent vntruth For first Acosta was neuer in the East Indyes at all nor Xauier in the VVest and how then would Acosta spend many years in those parts where Xauier had liued This is one lye and that so long a one as it reacheth as far as it is from the East to the VVest or from the Artick to the Antartick Pole Againe so far is Acosta from pulling Bellarmine by the sleeue or disauowing the miracles of Xauier as in this very worke he doth both acknowledge confesse them for true For thus he writeth Conuertamus oculos in Lib. 2. 10. saeculi nostri hominem B. Magistrum Franciscum virum Apostolicae vitae c. Let vs cast our eyes vpon a man of our age on B. Maister Francis Xauier a man of an Apostolicall life of whome so many so great miracles are recorded by many and those approued witnesses as there are scant recounted more or greater vnles it be of the Apostles of any VVhat haue M. Gaspar Berzaeus other not a few of his CoÌ„panions done in the East Indies How much haue they aduanced the glory of Gods power in conuerting that people by their miraculous workes So far Acosta Out of whose wordes deliuered in so plaine honourable tearmes of this Blessed Man Francis Xauier the Reader may see whether he were a fit witnes to be produced against the miracles of the sayd Father whether he pull Bellarmine by the sleeue and cry so loud in his eare that all the world may heare him or rather whether M. Hall do not most lewdly lye and maliciously abuse his Reader in applyirg that to Xauerius which Acosta spake only of himselfe and others then liuing with him in
Perù Brasil Mexico and the adioyning coasts and assigneth the causes of their not working miracleâ— as I shall more fully declare when I shall come to handle this in the Ditection And euen now there is come to my handes a booke written by one Collins in defence of Doctor Andrews If Spenser the Poet were liuing he might very well make another Collins Slowt vpon his slowterly discourse so loose loathsome as will weary the most patient Reader and withall so ignorant railatiue and lying as I wonder that it was permitted by priuiledge to come to the Presse was not suppressed with his other which he wrot against the Reuerend Father Andraeas Eudemon-Ioannes He is fortunate in the choice of his Aduersaryes for be singles out such as are singular but in the combat he is weake simple and a meere pratler this he shall better heare from him whome it concernes then I shall need now to declare Only this I must note in him that Et Platanus Platanis Alnoque assibilat Alnus One egg is not more like another then are these Ministers in lying For this seely fellow in his Epistle to his Maiesty of all others which euer I saw written to a Prince the most beggarly thus writeth of Cardinall Bellarmine He in his deuoutest Meditations of all others his booke last set forth de aeterna Felicitate sayth M. Collins will not excuse Kings from being murthered de iure not only de facto only he passes it ouer as a casus omissus happily because auouched in his other Volums more peremtorily So he Insinuating that Bellarmine alloweth the murthering of Kings not only de facto but also de iure for what other sense can his words beare that he wil not excuse Kings from being murdered de iure And againe when afterwards he sayth The Cardinall not content with a death de facto implyes that they may be slaine de iure too but that it doth approue it which is so far from the Cardinalls meaning as he insinuateth the quite contrary For hauing compared the Saints in heauen with Kings on earth he commeth after to shew wherein the Saints do excell them and putteth this for one point that earthly Kings are subiect to many calamityes from which the Saints are exempted and deliuereth the difference in these wordes Denique potest etiam Rex subditos vinculis carcere exilio flagris morte mulctare sed potest etiam Rex de facto loquor non de iure vinciri carceri mancipari exilio vulneribus Lib. 1. c. 5. morte mulctari Id verum esse probauit Iulius Caesar Caius Nero Galba Vitellius Domitianus c. To conclude a King may also punish his Subiects with fetters prison banishment whippings and death but the King also may be fettered I speake de facto not de iure may be committed to prison may be punished with banishment wounds and death This did Iulius Caesar find to be true this Caius Nero Galba Vitellius Domitian c. So Bellarmine And let any heere iudge whether the Cardinall speaking de facto and not de iure do not graunt the one and deny the other Graunt I say that such facts haue fallen out and may vpon the wicked disposition of the people fall out againe but not that they were lawfully done VVhich is further confirmed by the other examples which he doth produce of which somâ— were good Princes as Gordian Gratian Valentinian the second and others Some also Saints as S. Edward of England S. Sigismund of Burgundy S. Wenceslaus of Bohemia and S. Canutus of Denmarke And is it possible to conceaue that the Cardinall should affirme all these to haue beene lawfully murthered And in case he had so imagined why then did he interpose that negatiue exception de facto loquor non de iure I speake of the facts which haue fallen out for certaine it is the forenamed Princes to haue beene slaine but not of the lawfullnes of their killing VVas it not trow you to excuse the Kings and accuse the murtherers For if he would haue implyed the contrary or approued it as lawfull he would neuer haue spoken in this phrase of speach but either haue concealed these words or expressed his mind in other And it cannot but moue laughter to see how this man geeth about to proue the immortality of Kings and reprehendeth Bellarmine for saying only that Kings de facto may be slaine telling his Maiesty most sonâ—ly that the Scripture leads vs to speake of Kings Princes in another strayne as if they that ought not to be violated by any mortall hand could not dye at all So this grosse flattering Parasite But where I pray you are those straynes Sure I am he must strayne hard before he find any such on our Bibles He alleadgeth the saying of Dauid speaking of the death of Saul How was he slaine as if he had not beene annoynted with oyle But doth this shew that de facto Kings cannot be slaine or rather doth it not shew the contrary For heere you haue Saul a King and yet de facto slaine which is as much as the Cardinall doth affirme But to this M. Collins very learnedly scilicet replyes that Kings dye not as Kings but as men quatenus homines non quaâ—enus Principes and so graunteth that Kings as men may be killed but not as Kings By which reason I will deny that any Minister Cobler Tinker or Tapster may be killed or dye at all Or though some of these degrees come to be promoted to the gallowes yet are they hanged as wicked men not as Ministers not as Coblers not as Tinkers not as Tapsters for els all Ministers Coblers Tinkers Tapsters should be hanged which were as you know a very pittifull case And the like happeneth although they dye in their beds for they do not dye because they are Ministers Coblers Tinkers Tapsters which are accidentall qualityes but for that they are mortall men and subiect to corruption But I leaue him to his learned Aduersary who yet as I perswade myselfe if he read any one Chapter in him will be more moued to contemne his writings then to answere them And indeed he should to much iniure himselfe in case he should seriously go about to refute such an idle froth of indigested fully or encounter with so base and babling an Aduersary whose pride ignorance rusticity are such as the one maketh him to reiect the other not to discerne the truth and the last to forget all modesty or good method in writing S. Bernard speaking of Heretikes truely sayd Nec rationibus conuincuntur quia Bernard serm 66. in Cantic non intelligunt nec auctoritatibus corriguÌ„tur quia non recipiunt nec flectuntur suasionibus quia subuersi sunt Such Ministers as M. Hall M. Collins and the like are not conuinced by reasons because they vnderstand them not nor amended by authorityes because they regard them not nor moued by persuasions because they are
do dwel with men in holy orders but such as haue beene often mentioned in other Councells so of a ToletaÌ„ 2. c. 3. Toledo the second the first of b Hispal 2. cap. 3. Seuill that they vow chastity so the 4. of c ToletaÌ„ 4. cap. 26. Toledo and the eight d Tolet. 8. cap. 5. of the same place where the Canon sayth Quosdam Sacerdotes Ministrâ—s obliuiscentes maiâ—rum ac veterum constitutorum aut vxorum aut quarumcumque feminarum immunda societate execrabili contagionâ— turpari c. They had vnderstood certaine Priests and other Clergy men forgetting their ancestours and old decrees to be defiled with the impure company and execrable Where was M. Hals open freedome when this Canon was made contagion of their owne wiues and other women So there And this sauours little of open freedome for all Ecclesiasticall persons to marry or enioy their wiues as you see these Fathers were so far from thinking any impossible necessity to be in the vowes of Priests as our impure Ministers do teach as they held the returne to their former wiues to be a defiling impurity and execrable contagion 123. Furthermore in the 9. Councell of Toledo there is a Canon which if it were in practise Toletan â— cap. 10. in England would much coole this feruent lust of our wanton Ministers for it is determined that from the Bishop to the Subdeacon if any by detestable wedlock being in that degree should beget children that the Fathers of these children should be put vnder Canonicall Censures A cooling Canon of the ninth Councell of Toledo and the children borne of that polluted copulation should inherit nothing of their Fathers goods but for terme of life be seruants of that Church or Churches wherof their Fathers were Priests and neuer to enioy more freedome So as the Father was deposed the child was a slaue such was the liberty which euen within the seauen hundred years possessed these parts 126. I may not pretermit the Councell of Eliberis the first that was euer held in Spaine in The decree of the Councell of Eliberis the yeare 313. in which ancient Synod is this decree which may seeme rather to be made in the Councell of Trent such vnity and vniformity there is in doctrine manner of speach and practise of the primitiue Church with this of our tyme of that Councell with ours and no lesse repugnance and contradiction with that of our aduersaryes for thus they decree Placuit in totum prohibere Episcopis Presbyteris Diaconis Concil Elibert cap. 33. Subdiaconis positis in ministerio abstinere se à coniugibus suis non generare filios quod quicumque fecerit ab honore Clericatus exterminetur It seemed good to the Councel altogeather to forbid Bishops Priests Deacons Subdeacons appointed for the mynistery of the Church to abstayne from their wiues and not to beget children which whosoeuer begets let him be deposed from the honour of the Clergy So these Fathers And this testimony in the iudgment of any that hath any iudgment left him is able to ouerweigh ten thousand Trullan Conuenticles being for tyme far before it not made in schisme neuer controled neuer condemned in this point nor shal M. Hall euer be able to shew me that euer in Spaine his imaginary freedome was tolerated much lesse permitted in that Clergy 127. In Germany within the prescript of this tyme were no Councels kept that people being not wholy reclaymed to the Christian fayth vntill some yeares after by the worthy endeauours of S. Boniface a most renowned Martyr by birth an English man after whos death which hapned in the yeare 754. there was a Councell kept in that Citty whereof he had beene Archbishop and to shew that new Church to agree Concil Mogunt Can. 10. with the old they defyned that Priests should study to preserue perpetuall chastity and in the same forbid them to haue any women in their houses but such as were allowed by the CanoÌ„s So this new Church lately conuerted to Christ togeaiher with her Christianity imbraced this purity and in alleadging the licence graunted by the Canons confirmed what we haue produced of all the former Councells 128. To conclude with Italy where this practise euen by the confession of our Aduersaryes Single life of Clergy men alwayes in vse in Italy hath euer inuiolably beene obserued and none can shew at what tyme in what part vnder what Pope or Emperour the contrary custome was euer in vse much lesse allowed in the Roman Councell called soone after the first appearance of peace in the Christian Church to wit the same yeare with the Nicen in Greece it is defined that no Subdeacon do marry or presume to violate that decree and if in this of all sacred orders the lowest and least perpetuall chastity be required much more in the other which being of themselues higher require more eminent purity chastity and if it were Chrys l. 3. de Sacerdâ—â—â—â— iâ—it possible as S. Chrysostome well obserueth more cleanes then is in Cherubim or Seraphim or any other Angelicall nature and the same for Deacons and Priests as Baronius noteth was expresly confirmed in another Councell of Rome held in the thirtenth yeare of the Emperour Mauritius and ninth of S. Gregory the Great in which is this Canon Si quis Presbyter aut Diaconus vxorem duxerit anathemasit If any Priest or Deacon marry a wife let him be accursed So as still curses and not blessings haue followed the marriage of Clergy men euen in this tyme of M. Halls prescription 129. Wherefore now to end this matter hauing against the CoÌ„uenticle of TrulluÌ„ brought A collection vpon the premito one and thirty Councells all more sacred all more approued all without any contradiction of these tymes and ensuing ages more accepted then the Councell of Trullum it will need no great deliberation to resolue or discourse to iudge or learning to decide this Controuersy in hand whether for the space of seauen hundred yeares there is nothing to be found but open freedome for all Clergy men to marry or whether this freedome were debarred when as all these Councels were held within the compasse of that tyme which condemne it this Trullan false Synod not vntill some yeares after for all is resolued to this that for seauen hundred years M. Hâ—ll finds not one Councell or ancient Father vnles perhaps some lying Heretike to make for him we haue all the Fathers with one and thirty Councells against him so as this poore soule like a naked child without any thing in his hand commeth forth to fight with a whole army well appointed and although he be not able to strike a strocke but must needs be beaten to the ground and crushed in peeces yet doth he crake that the victory is his and that al the mayne army hath defended him and his cause what
will you say to such madnes 130. And truly to me he seemeth not to be M. Hall ouerthrowne by his owne groundes more mad then blind for otherwise he would neuer haue proclaimed this freedome of 700. years seeing the very forme of wordes vsed by his owne sacred Synod doth so strongly withstand his fond collection for there it is decreed in these wordes Qui sunt in sacris coniugia deinceps ex Concil Trullan cap. 13. hoc temporis momento firma stabilia esse volumus We will that the marriages of such as be in holy orders from this tyme forward be firme and valid for in case this freedome had beene before common neuer doubted of but acknowledged by all why did they vse this forme of wordes â— why did they say from this tyme forward for why did they name the tyme forward which in al the tyme backward had beene still in vse neuer in question were it not a ridiculous decree if it should now by act of Parlament be enacted that from this tyme forward the King of EnglaÌ„d should be reputed to haue title to the Crowne of France which for almost three hundred years he hath taken and possessed If he say that the Roman Church withstood this pretended custome and against that this decree was made I graunt both the one and the other and thereof inferre this freedom to be counterfait as neuer in vse in the Latin Church and as then the Roman vse contradicted the Grecian so doth the French King now contradict our Soueraigne about this title not permitting any booke to be printed there wherin he is stiled King of France and yet doth not this opposition hinder but that such a decree in England were foolish and so is this in Greece if still they had beene in free possession of their wiues as they were neuer before that tyme when by too much flattering the Emperours they layd the first foundatioÌ„ of their future schisme which hath brought them to that most miserable thraldome in which now they liue and may both be an example and terrour of Gods iust reuenge to all others that make the like attempts 131. It is pitty M. Hall that when you got the Rethoricke lesson in Cambrige you had not got the Logicke for in case you had taught Logicke you would haue seene the folly and feeblenes of your inference rather haue made the contrary illation to that which you haue heere made for I appeale to all puny Sophisters in Cambrige whether it be not a better inference to say this thing is decreed from this instant for the tyme forwards to be obserued Ergo before it was not in vse then to dispute as you do thus from this instant forward this shall be allowed Ergo alwayes before it was approued All the walls and windowes from the Hall to the Kitchen may mourne to see an Vniuersity man to haue so little wit as to conclude so fondly and yet you do much worse when you argue that the Trullan false Councel allowed marryed men to be made Priests Ergo before it was lawfull for Ecclesiasticall men to marry when as before that tyme it was alwayes vnlawfull and in that very Councell it is not permitted but in plaine tearmes prohibited for any Clergy men to marry 132. This then being so that this Councel maketh not for you that it contradicteth it self that it brought in a new law in despight of the Roman Church that it was not only a prouinciall but a false and schismaticall meeting that it was neuer allowed that the Authors were seuerely punished by God as well the Patriarcke as the Emperour that the chiefe Pastour condemned it that your selfe do not vnderstand it and on the other side that all the other Synods are beyond exception sincere Catholike lawfull and authenticall I may say to M. Hall as S. August in Iulian. l. 2. cap. vltim Augustine did to Iulian the Pelagian Vsque adeo permiscuit imis summa longus dies vsque adeo tenebrae lux lux tenebrae esse dicuntur vt videant Pelagius Celestius Iulianus caeci sint Hilarius Gregorius Ambrosius Hath tract of tyme so confounded all things togeather turned them vpside downe is darknes so far forth become light and light darknes that the Trullan Councell alone could see the others of all Asia Europe and Affricke were blinded And in the precedent booke hauing alleadged some few Fathers of speciall note he turneth his speach vnto Iulian and sayth as I now Lib. 1. in Iulian. c. 4. say vnto M. Hall and therefore put his name and errours insteed of Iulians Introduxi te in sanctorum Patrum pacificum honor andumque conuentum sit opâ—rae pretiuÌ„ obsecro te aspice illos quomodo aspicientes te c. I haue brought you into the peacable and honourable assembly of the holy Fathers I pray you let me not leese my labour behold them as it were beholding you and meekely and gently saying vnto you is it so indeed M. Hall are we mainteyners of the marriage of Clergy men I pray you what will you answere them how will you looke vpon them what arguments will you deuise what predicaments of Aristotle with which as a sharp disputer that you may assaile vs you desire to be esteemed cuÌ„ning what edge of glosse of your feeble arguments or leadeÌ„ daggers will dare to appeare in their sight what weapons of yours wil not fly out of your hands and leaue you naked will you say perchance that you haue accused none of them by name But what will you do when they all shall say vnto you that it had beene better you had railed at our names then at our Religion by the merit of which our names are written in heauen And a little after Iterum te admoneo iterum rogo aspice tot ac tales Ecclesiae Catholicae desensoret Ibid. atque rectores vide quibus tam grauem tam nesariam irrogaueris iniuriam Againe I warne you againe I intreate you behold so many and so worthy defenders and Gouernours of the Catholike Church see to whome you haue offered this grieuous and wicked iniury So S. Augustine 133. And heere to end if so many lawfull Councells against one schismaticall so ancient against so moderne so expresse decrees against one so intricate as that it maketh more against our Aduersaries then for them so many holy The conclusion of all this Trullan Controsy Bishops against a few seditious and turbulent Prelates so many Countreys against one Prouince yea all Asia Europe and Affrike against one corner of the world if the purer ages and Apostolicall tymes against the later when through the pride of those Princes Patriarches people they began to kindle the coles of that whereof now we see the flames and execrable combustion be not sufficient to moue M. Hall to looke backe but that copper if he list shall still be pure good light darknes and darcknes