otherwise be allayed was by reason of our ordinary weakness not of our absolute necessity to whom he in some times indulged a facile changing also of those to whome men were joyned but it likewise not for their necessity but for the hardness of their hearts Matt. 19.8 Whereas now it is a fruit of the Evangelical perfection that husbands by mutual consent do separate from their wives without taking others for the Kingdom of God Lu. 18.29 compared 28. always secure of the gift of continency from God if resolute in their endeavours of preserving it Else this would be an act most unlawful which our Saviour makes so heroical and promiseth to it so great a reward § 13 It seems therefore that God this gift being so advantageous to his service see parag 1. and so common see par 7. not denied upon repentance and prayer c to many grievous sinners after long contrary habits without their using the remedy of marriage that God I say denies not this power to any at all who first have power over their own will decree and stand stedfast in their heart 1 Cor. 7.37 resolutely undertake and offer this their singleness to God for such an end as is so much approved by him and then practise also the means conducing to it which are observed as abstinency for example naturally to cure the burnings of lust even in brute beasts § 14 Which thing to confirm yet further both from the Scriptures and from the primitive times of the Church first had God denied this gift to any 1. it seems that St. Paul could not justly have blamed the widdows when some of them young for remarrying whose marriage he saith was out of wantonness and that they had damnation for having cast off their first faith and promise i.e. of living single and attending wholly to those charitable duties c. which they had made to Christ and the Church but if God had not given them the power of observing their vow the Apostle should have allowed their remarrying and blamed their vowing who ordered also for the future that such young women should no more be admitted to such vows or duties for publick service of the Church not because they could not but ordinarily would not abstain § 15 2. Neither would our Saviour have recommended the like resolution and attempt in those who he saith made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. 19.12 if he would not also be assistant to them with his grace as he approved their purpose and design to which also they were allured by his Encomiums of that happier condition Nor would he have and that in the general commended those who leave the pleasures of marriage for the Kingdom of God's sake that is for the better serving God in any way see 1 Cor. 7.34 35. or those who have forsaken their wives i.e. by mutual consent 1 Cor. 7.4 5. see Lu. 18.29 compared with Matt. 19.29 There is none that hath left or every one that hath forsaken wife c. who shall not receive c. Forsaken i.e. as the Apostles did in local separation from them see Matt. 19.27 unless continency were a gift which all pious purposes using the means for conserving it and intending God's glory in it may presume upon Tho where we do not subdue our lust S. Paul as much prohibits any long separation as our Saviour here encourageth it See 1 Cor. 7.5 § 16 3. Neither would S. Paul have approved the same resolution in those who could master so far their own will 1 Cor. 7.37 who doubtless what he praiseth in the father who yet might be necessitated to go against his will by the virgin's incontinacibility he would much more have approved in the virgin Neither is that need ver 36. necessity absolute as appears by what follows do what be will the other doing better § 17 4. The prohibition likewise in the primitive times tho not in all Churches that no married person might be admitted to sacred Orders or that every one upon these received must separate from his wife yet that none single when entring into holy Orders I mean of Priesthood might afterward marry shews the perswasion of Antiquity to be either that continency was denied to none using the means or else that it being a special gift only to some every one before taking Orders or making a Vow might certainly know not only whether he had the gift for the present but whether he might also persevere therein to his death forasmuch as concerned God the Doner thereof But here it is unintelligible how such assurance can arise only to some particular persons nor can any direct how such a special gift not only for the present but the future also may be discerned Meanwhile concerning the prohibitions and practice of Antiquity see and compare together Can. Apostol 27. Conc. Chalcedon can 13.15 Constantinop in Trullo can 6.12 13 compared Can. Apost 6. In brief you will find the issue to be much-what to this purpose That no Presbyter may marry after his taking Orders nor Bishop after his Consecration That of those who being before married are admitted afterward into holy Orders some Churches required that they should ever after by mutual consent which was known before Orders conferr'd abstain from their wives as the Roman Church Some that Bishops only should abstain universally and simple Presbyters only abstain then when they were to officiate as the Greek Church See likewise Provincial Councils celebrated about the time of the Nicene Council and approved afterwards by the Constant Conc. in Trullo can 2. Ancyran Conc. can 10. Neocâ—sar can 1. c. § 18 But I think it best for saving the labour of seeking to set you down some of them which you will find so clear as that I think nothing can be replied to them Apostol Canon 27. In nuptiis autem qui ad Clerum evecti sunt Praecipimus ut si voluerint uxores accipiant sed lectores cantoresque tantummodo not the higher Orders of Bishop Presbyter Deacon c. Conc. Ancyranum before the first Council of Nice Can. 10. Diaconi quicunque cum ordinantur si in ipsa ordinatione protestati sunt dicentes velle se habere uxores nâ—c posse se continere where posse is taken as expounded § 24. hi postea si ad nuptias venerint maneant in ministerio propterea quod his Ep scopus licentiam dederit Quicunque sane tacuerunt susceperunt manus impositionem professi continentiam si postea ad nuptias venerint a ministerio cessare debebunt But note that si protestati sunt is here said of Deacons only Conc. Naeocaesar before Nice câ—n 1. Presbyter si uxorem duxerit ab ordine suo illum depom debere Conc. Nicaenum can 3. Omnibus modis interdixit sancta Synods neque Episcopo neque Presbytero c. omnino licere habere secum mulicrem extraneam nisi forte sit mater aut soror aut avia aut
and remitted the former obligation of Confession of sins to the Priests and Fasting before receiving the Communion and generally held in matters of Religion no Ecclesiastical i.e. humane laws obliging see before § 19. Began a new Ordination of Bishops and Ministers vita p. 129. descending from him after having declared their former Unction null and God's Church to be only that where the Gospel was purely preached that was his By the same authority assisted with the power of the Prince he made new Bishops and put them in the places of the deceased Against the Canonical Election of another made his intimate friend Ausdorse Bishop of Neoburg see Mâ—lch Adam vita p. 150. and Georg. Anhalâ—tinus Bishop of Mersburg By the same Authority he sentenced the Canon-law consisting of the former decrees amassed as well those of Councils as those of Popes to the fire and assembling the University solemnly burnt it in Wirtenberg vita p. 115. By the same he frequently pronounced Anathema's and Excommunications to those reformed that dissented from him in Opinion § 24. n. 1. 〈…〉 For the things said here it is easie to produce a multitude of testimonies Concerning his presumption of his own Doctrines and Expositions of God's Word he saith see before § 16. Illum se aut â—â—â—am doctrinam Episcoporum aut ullius judicio Angeli de Coelo subjâ—cere non dignari he scom'd to submit himself or his Doctrine to the judgment of the Bishops or an Angel from Heaven And Extra aleam positam esse eam omnis humani judicii sed omnium Angelorum ' past the censure of men or Angels All this only out of a high presumption that his Exposition of the Scriptures was true the Church'es false And in an Epistle to Melancthon Adam vit Luth. p. 138 De publica causa satis magno otioso animo sum qui scio certo ipsam esse justam c. Certainly knowing the publick cause i. e. his own reformed Tenents to be just and true and Christ's and God's I am courageous and unconcern'd enough about it The threatnings of these bloody Papists I value not a if we come to the ground Christ will tall with us I had rather fall with Christ than stand with the Emperour In his answer to the Emperour's Edict 1531. concerning his way of Justification by Faith alone opposing the Church'es former doctrine in this point This Artide saith he will they nill they the Pope Emperour c will stand Hell-gates cannot prevail against it the Spirit of God doth dictate this unto me this is the true Gospel c. Casting the Pope's Bull the Canon-law and the writings of his Adversaties into the publick fire in Wirtenberg he used this insolent speech joyned with that insolent act vit Luth. Adams p. 115. Quia tu conturbasti Sanctum Domini conturbet te ignis aeternus because thou hast disturbed the Holy of the Lord get thee into eternal flames And upon Gal. 1.11 12. he thus answers an Objection made against the newness of his Doctrine taught contrary to that of the former Church by so inconsiderable a person which answer because it seems to contain all the defence he could make for himself I will set you down at large § 24. n. 2. First then he frames this Objection as made by the false Apostles against St. Paul fitting the application thereof to himself Quod Paulus longe inferior esset reliquis Apostolorum Discipulis qui quod docerent servarent acceperant ab Apostolis Cur igitur inferiori vellent obtemperare authoritatem iposorum Apostolorum qui Doctores essent omnium Ecclesiarum totius orbis terrarum contemnere Valde igitur saith he speciosum robustum hoc argumentum Pseudo-Apostolorum fuit c. Paul being much inferior to the other Disciples of the Apostles who had received from the very Apostles what they did and taught why therefore should they obey him that was inferior and despise the authority of the Apostles themselves who were constituted Masters of all the Churches in the world This then saith he was the specious and great-argument of the false Apostles which even now adays retains its force with many What! say they the Apostles the Holy Fathers and their Successors have taught so and so the whole Church judgeth so and believeth so and t is impossible for Christ to permit his Church to err for so many ages And do you now pretend to be wiser than so many holy men than the whole Church c Thus it is that the Devil transforming himself into an Angel of light treacherously sets upon me by the virulent tongues of certain Hypocrites We stand not much upon say they either Pope or Bishops Nay we detest the hypocrisy and impostures of Monks c. But we cannot in the least suffer the authority of the most holy Catholick Church to be infringed There are so many ages now that she has constantly judged so and taught so all the Doctors of the Primitive Church most holy men much greater and more learned than you have still judged and taught the same And who now are you that dare depart from all these and force upon us different tenents His answer to this is Quando Satanas hoc urget conspirat cum carne ratione perterresit Conscientia desperat nisi constanter adte redeas dicas Sive Sanctus Cyprianus Ambrosius Augastinus sive Sanctus Petrus Paulus aut Johannes imo Angelus de Calo alâ—tâ—r doceat tamen hoc certe scio quod humana non suadeo sed div na heâ—â—st quod Deo omnia tribuo hominibus nihil Memini initiomâ—â— causae Doâ—â—orem Staupitium tunc summum virum Vicarium Ordinis Angustini ad me dicere Hoc mihi inquit placet quod hac Doctrina quam prâ—dicas gloriam omnia soli Deo tribuit hominibus nihil Deo a â—â—m 〈◊〉 quod luce clarius est nimium gloriae bonitatis c. attribâ—i non potest Haec vox vehementer me tum consolabatur consirmabatâ— Malto ausâ—ta â—â—tias est tribuere nimium Deo quam homiâ—â—bus Ibo 〈◊〉 cum â—id 〈◊〉 dicere possum Esto sane Ecclesia Augustinus alii Doctores item Petrus Apostolus imo Angelus de Coelo diversum doceant tamen mea doctrina est ejusmodi quod solius Dei gratiam c. When Satan urgeth thus and conspires with flesh and reason against us our conscience is troubled and will certainly despair unless we resolutely stir up our selves and say Tho St. Cyprian St. Ambrose St. Angustin tho St. Peter Paul and John yea an Angel from Heaven teach the contrary yet this I certainly know that the things I propose are not humane but divine i. e. I attribute all to God and nothing to men I remember well what Dr. Staupitius a prime man then and Vicar of St. Augustin's Order told me in the beginning of my preaching I like well said he that this Doctrine you teach gives glory
the history concerning Christ that He was born crucified dead c. But neither Turks nor we Damned Spirits do confide in his mercy or so much as own him as a Mediator or Saviour but dread him as a severe Judge Here alto Luther might easily have replied that there is a medium between an historical or the devil's faith and his new belief of Justification by faith alone and that if his former faith was such as did not fidere misericordiae Christi nec habuit eum pro-Mediatore sed exhorruit ut saevum Judicem confide in the mercy of Christ nor acknowledg him for a Mediator but tremble at him as a severe Judg yet such was not the faith of the Church which he deserted Ejusmodi fidem non aliam tu habebas cum ab Episcopo unctionem acciperes omnes alii ungentes simul uncti sic sentiebant non aliter de Christo This kind of faith and no other had you when you received Holy Orders from a Bishop and all others likewise Ordaining and Ordained did so believe concerning Christ This indeed if true would make one sweat but might he not here have told Satan he lied if not concerning his own yet concerning the Churches faith and have required a further proof of his word Ideo a Christo tanquam crudeli Judice confugiebatis ad S. Mariam Sanctos illi erant Mediatores inter vos Christum sic erepta est gloria Christo Hoc neque tu neque ullus alius Papista poterit inficiari Therefore flying Christ as a cruel Judge you address your selves to St. Mary and other Saints making them Mediators between you and Christ So was Christ robb'd of his Glory This neither you nor any other Papist can deny Here also Luther might truly have told Satan that he belied and mis-represented the Doctrine and practice of the Church which desires the Intercessions of the Blessed Virgin or Saints deceased to God or Christ in no other manner than she doth the intercessions of Saints living the desiring of which intercessions of Saints living is granted lawful without inferring Christ a cruel Judge or these Saints living and not Him our Mediatours c. Nor do any make their addresses so to Saints but that the same do also to Christ himself Mean-while here we may observe how zealous Satan is to rectify Luther concerning Invocation of Saints so prejudicial to our Lord's Mediatorship and accordingly Luther and his followers have endeavoured to rectify the Christian world herein Ergo uncti estis consecrati rasi sacrificastis in Missa ut Gentiles Ethnici non ut Christiani Quomodo ergo potuistis is in Missa consecrare aut veram Missam celebrare Ibi deficit quod secundum vestram propriam doctrinam vitiat personae habens potestatem consecrandi Ye were Ordained therefore Consecrated and offered Sacrifice in the Mass like to Gentiles Heathens not like Christians How therefore could ye in the Mass consecrate or celebrate true Mass when-as there was wanting what according to your own doctrine destroys the whole a person having the power of consecrating i.e. Without a true faith and knowledge of Christ no true Priests and so no true Ordination by them and so no true Consecrating or offering of Christ's true Body and Blood and so the Adoration of that which is taken for such Body is committing Idolatry This seems the Summe of the Devils arguing But the contrary appears by what hath been already said viz. That there was a true faith and knowledge of Christ retained in the Church before Luther's times and so a true Priesthood and if there was not so before how can there be any since for none may make himself a Priest nor is there any other to make him if the former Priesthood perished But whatever Satan might perswade Luther his followers are wiser than to deny a true Priesthood in the Roman Church and so might he had not Satan bin his Doctor § 40. n. 3. 2. Vnctus es tunc in Sacerdotem Missa abusus es contra institutionem contra mentem sententiam Christi instituentis Nam Christus voluit Sacramentum inter pios communicantes distribui ad edendum bibendum Ecclesia porrigi Sacerdos enim verus est Minister Ecclesiae constitutus ad praedicandum verbum porrigenda Sacramenta sicut hoc habent verba Christi in Coena sicut Paulus 1 Cor. 11. de Coena Domini loquitur Vnde a veteribus Communio appellata est quod non solus Sacerdos debeat uti Sacramento juxta institutionem Christi sed reliqui Christiani fratres una cum ipso Nunc annos quindecim totos semper solus privatim pro te in Missa usus es Sacramento non communicasti aliis You was then ordained a Priest and have ever since abused the Mass contrary to the Institution of it contrary to the mind and intent of Christ the Instituter For Christ would have it as a Sacrament distributed amongst the pious Communicants given to the Church that all may eat and drink of it Because a true Priest is a Minister of the Church appointed to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments according to the words of Christ in his last Supper and according to St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. where he speaks of the Supper of our Lord. From whence also by the Ancients it was call'd the Communion because according to Christ's Institution the Priest ought not to celebrate this Sacrament alone but other Christian brethren together with him Now for fifteen whole years together you have constantly received this Sacrament by your self and not communicated it to others Here again he might have answered that he in all his his Masses wherein himself received the Sacrament was ready also to have administred it to othes nor ever in any of them denied it to persons rightly prepared much less held it unlawful or was prohibited to exhibit it to them That therefore his partaking it alone was not his but their fault if any other were obliged to accompany him in it but neither this their fault who were no way engaged to receive it so often as he offered it nor lastly that he is obliged by any precept of our Lord 's to forbear offering to God the Father this Commemorative Sacrifice of the Death of his Son from which Christianity obtains so many benefits and consequently the partaking it himself when others do not also communicate with him And lastly concerning the sense of any Scriptures that should be pressed by Satan to be such a precept that he was to adhere not to Satan's or his own but the Churches judgment thereon He goes on Ideoque interdictum tibi erat ne porrigeres totum Sacramentum aliis And therefore was you forbidden the giving this Sacrament in both kinds to the people Here again Luther might have answered Satan as the Church doth other Adversaries That there is no precept of our Lord 's
made on the Scripture His rejecting 3ly the Authority of the preâ—â—â—â— Church not displeasing to many as yeilding much comfort to great sinners and relaxing strict life the next thing which followed was the throwing off his Obedience to her Authority But this by certain degrees Questioned for his Doctrines and upon this cited to Rome he made friends to have his cause heard in Germany Heard and condemned in Germany by Card. Cajetan for one a moderate and learned Prelate he now appealed to Rome and to the Pope But well perceiving also that his doctrine would be most certainly condemned there as it was he suddenly intercepted this Appeal with another see Adams vit Luth. opera Luth. 1. tom made from the Pope to a Council But perceiving that neither thus the usual former laws of Councils being observed or only this law of all Assemblies that the much major part shall conclude the whole his doctrine could stand as indeed it did not he appeals yet again from Councils to Scripture where now he knew himself safe as any Heresy tho never so absurd would be in chusing that to be the Judge or decider of the Controversie which could never deliver any new sentence on any side and concerning the meaning of whose former sentence is the present Controversy But if he means here an Appeal to the Scriptures i.e. to that which either Christian Princes or the common professors of Christianity in general for such he names for his Judges sometimes shall declare to be the true sense of them here first it seems unreasonable concerning the meaning of God's Word to prefer the judgment of the Laity before that of the Clergy of the Churches subjects before that of their Governours Secondly Thus also his cause is lost for after all his allegations of Scripture produced and divulged in his writings the Princes and the Common people also of Christianity that condemn his doctrine did then and do still very much out-number those who approve it § 15. n. 1 The 4th his dâ—nying the then present to be a true Church or the Clergy thereof a true Ministry affirming â—he Pâ—pe to be Antichrist He stayed not here only in an absolute disobedience not only of non-assent but also of open contradiction to all Church-authority but proceeded so much farther as to deny the present visible Church or that of many former Ages to be a true Church he De judicio Ecclesiae de quavis doctrina making this the only note of the true Church that therein the Gospel be purely and sincerely preached or to have in it any true Clergy or Ministry And again from this defect of a true Clergy he argued that there had bin formerly in celebrating the Eucharist no true Consecration of the Elements for operating the presence of the Body and blood of Christ tho the mean-while he justified his own and his Disciples Consecration to be effectual herein and therefore that the people had continually committed idolatry in worshipping the naked bread as Christ's Body This urged to him as he saith De Missa privata unctione Sacerdot by the Devil to reduce him for many years guilty of such Non-consecrations to despair he assented to and afterwards maintained Next from this he made yet a further discovery of the chief Bishop in the Church the Pope his being Antichrist the Bishops his Apostles and the Universities his Lupanaria or Brothel-houses for the Universities much afflicted him § 15. n. 2 the 5th his rejecting the authority also of the fâ—rmer and ancient Church Councils Fathers Thus having cast off blasted and defied to the uttermost all present Church-Authority next sollicited that at least concerning the sense and meaning or right exposition of the Scriptures he would stand to the judgment of the ancient Church and be tryed by it This also he expresly renounced frequently vilifying the doctrine of the Fathers their weak interpretations of Scriptures and accusing them of many errors and contradictions § 16 Some Instances and testimonies 1. Concerning hâ—s rejecting the presâ— t church-â—â—â—hoâ—ity For these things it were easie to produce out of his Writings a multitude of testimonies For the newness of his opinions and his marching alone against the Doctrines of present and former Church he every where acknowledgeth it not to say glorieth in it as a thing arguing his singular illumination and wisdom Nay Erasmus Ep. to Justus Jonas saith it was observed of him That where he agreed in Sense yet he strove to express himself contrary to the former usual doctrine Aiunt Lutherum aliquoties quum eadem doceat quae caeteri tamen verbis ipsis id videri conari ut diversissima videatur adferre as particularly appears in his Expositions of some of his condemned assertions Assertio Articulorum See his book de Captivitate Babylonica in the entrance of his discourse on the Mass where Rem arduam saith he quam forte sit impossibile convelli aggredior ut quae tanto saeculorum usu firmata omniumque consensu probata sic insedorit ut necesse sit majorem partem librorum qui hodie regnant pene universam Ecclesiarum faciem tolli mutari penitusque aliud genus caeremoniarum induci seu potius reduci Sed majori cura verbum Dei oportet observare quam omnium hominum Angelorum intelligentias A hard and perhaps unfeisible task the abolishing that which being ratified by the practice of so many ages and approv'd by general consent is at length so settled that the greatest part of books now in vogue nay almost the whole face of the Church must be taken away and chang'd and quite another kind of ceremonies induc'd or rather reduc'd But the word of God is more to be regarded than all the wit of men or Angels And in his Preface to his book de abroganda Missa privata Quot medicamentis saith he quam potentibus evidentissimis Scripturis meam iâ— sius conscientiam vixdum stabilivi aut auderem unus contradicere Papae credere eum esse Antichristum Episcopos ejus esse Apostolos Academias esse ejus Lupanaria quoties mihi palpitavit tremulum cor reprehendens objecit eorum fortissimum c. With how many powerful remedies and most evident Scriptures and yet all little enough to my wavering conscience did I bring my self at length to dare one single man to contradict the Pope and believe him to be Antichrist the Bishops his Apostles the Universities his Brothel-houses How often have I trembl'd and quak'd for fear and chidingly objected to my self that their strongest and onely argument Are you alone in the right Is all the world besides in the wrong In the Preface to his book Adversus falso nominatum Ordinem Episcoporum he as it were repenting of his former respects thus defies them and withdraws his doctrine from theirs and all humane cognizance and censure Jam ante pronuncio me de câ—tero quandoquidem
have no force in them besides strong calumnies and merciless reprehensions but also out of his citations and perverse using of Scripture that he is not grounded upon any solid foundation For he brings so many weak and absurd sentences to confirm his doctrine that if they were true and infallible all the knowledg we have of God would become obscure all the authority of Scripture would be called in question § 27 3. Concerning the instability of his doctrine Concerning the instability and fluctuation of his doctrine notwithstanding that whatever he held for the present of that he was most certainly assured thus Hospinian Histor Sacram. parte altera fol. 4. Per totam vitam tam varius sibi dissimilis fuit in Articulo de persona Christi praesertim autem de sacra ejus Coena ut minimum quinque sententiae de illa in scriptis ipsiusreperiantur through his whole life he was so various and contrary to himself in that Article concerning the person of Christ especially touching his last Supper that you may see in his writings at least five different opinions about it And so 12. Eadem varietas inconstantia crebra tanquam tempestatum sic sententiarum commutatio in aliis quoque de Sacramento Eucharistiae articulis apud Lutherum in suis scriptis invenitur The same variety and inconstancy and change of doctrines as of the winds may be found in Luther's other writings concerning other articles of the Sacrament of the Eucharist So fol. 8 9. he observes that he persecutes those Expositions of our Lord's words Jo. 6. Caro non prodest quidquam ' the flesh avails nothing and of St. Paul 1 Cor. 10. Panis quem frangimus the bread which we break when these brought against him by his Reformed adversaries Carlostade and Zuinglius which himself formerly gave against the Papists and so he observes fo 12. that when he was in contention with the Sacramentaries tanto impetu ab illis quibus indignabatur deflexit utâ—rursus ad ipsam usque Transubstantiationem quam sub Papatu approbarat postea de ea dubitarat tandem abjecerat tanquam fluctus marinus ad scopulos allisus revolveretur Cum autem urgebatur c. Corporis Christi tum demum potius quam se victum fateretur in mediam paludem ubiquitariam se praecipitem dabat from those he was incensed against he flung away with that violence that he even cast himself again upon Transubstantiation which when a Papist he had approved afterwards called in question and lastly thrown away tossed thus to and fro like the waves of the Sea rolling to and dashed from the rocks And again when he was urged with Christ's body c. rather than seem overcome he would cast himself headlong into the abyss of the Ubiquitarians The same thing Zuinglius complains of in his Preface to his answer to Luther's Confession Contentionis aestu eo se abripi patitur ut ea quae ante pie simul bene tradita ab ipso sunt potius subvertere velit negare quam ab instituto suo vel latum unguem cedere He suffers himself to be so carried away with the spirit of contention that rather than yeild a hairs breadth he would deny and subvert what he had well and piously established before This from § 21. of Luther's great confidence or certainty in his own opinions attempting upon it such bold Reformations and of his violent condemning of all Adversaries and Anti-doctrines whatever and of the small reason which his own fellow-Reformers conceived he had for either of these § 28 9th His fiâ—rce contentious â—rd railing spiriâ— discovered in all his controversy-writings From this Self-presumption of his also is discovered in all his writings that amaritudo ira indignatio clamor mentioned by the Apostle Eph. 4.31 a most strange quarrelsom reviling stile fierce and impatient of any coercion or contradiction not sparing his Spirituâ—l Mother the Church that brought him forth nor his Spiritual Fathers that made him a Christian a Priest He the first that so openly pronounced the present Catholick Church the Whore of Babylon and the Bishop of Rome the prime Patriarch therein Antichrist the Bishops Antichrist's Apostles the Universities Stews See the railings of his Book entitled Contra falso-nominatum Ordinem Episcoporum Not sparing the Supream Civil Magistrates not Kings See the Railings of his book written against Hen. 8th not sparing his younger brethren of the Reformation and his own disciples when they modestly taking that liberty in some things to dissent again from him which himself formerly had taken to dissent from the whole Church-Catholick and excepting their difference in judgment as to some points otherwise by all possible means courting his friendship See the Railings of his Confessio magna and parva written against them Above all not sparing his brethren the Religious into whose bosom and education very pious if we may believe himself he was so charitably received in his youth In whom notwithstanding he censures and every where declames against actions and works externally good as their fastjngs watchings Single life strict obedience to their Superiours commands often reiterated prayers c. as done out of hypocrisy with much inward diffidentia dubitatione pavore odio blasphemia Dei to use his own words and this because they wanted his new faith done with an intention of meriting their salvation by them and not expecting as the Remission of their other sins so of the imperfections of these very works through Christ's passion and merits their Celibacy as lived-in with all uncleanness of spirit tho he confessed his own when a Monk void of any such stain their prayers as said or repeated by rote without any inward attention of mind accompanying them things of which he could have no knowledge and out of charity ought to have judged the contrary or if by some outward circumstances he might discover the intentions of some yet from this could have no sufficient ground to charge all and to inveigh as he doth at a Monastick life in general upon this score that their good works yet were not well or rightly done by them § 29 For this great fault when much reproached by his Enemies and often admonished by his friends instead of amending it sometimes he justified it by the example of our Lord calling the Jews an adulterous generation a generation of vipers children of the Devil and of St. Paul calling his Adversaries Dogs foolish talkers seducers unlearned imo qui saith he Act. 13.9 10. sic invehatur in Pseudoprophetam ut videri possit insanus So sharply enveighs he against the false Prophet Act. 13.9 10. that one would think him mad vid. Melch. Adams vit Luther p. 191. and opera Luth. tom 1. Ep. p. 291. That is a private Presbyter when reproaching all his Superiours and Governours the Bishops and Fathers of the Church justifying it by the Lord of heaven and earth and who seeth
intonare c. That the Council of Trent had not one dram of faith not one line spoken of the 6th Sess without some considerable error No fiction so trifling but is reckon'd by these asses amongst articles of faith Had they not hoped for the vizard of a Council as a blind to mens eyes they durst never have ventur'd their sensless fooleries to the judgment of the meanest Swine-herd That these rascals should dare to frame things of their own heads without any ground in Scripture and yet these Swine are not asham'd to thunder out their Anathema's to fright the simple A good many of the Popes scarce ever learn'd their Grammar Hardly one of an hundred ever read over one of the Prophets Epistle of the Apostles or an Evangelist Certain prating impudent Monks whereof some look for Miters others for Cardinals caps first taught the Reverend Fathers their lesson that so they might chaunt it out to us afterwards After a noise and brawling together like the croaking of Aristophanes's frogs out come their goodly Decrees forsooth which henceforth must be vaunted for mere dictates of the Spirit And Blateronem quempiam ex Monachis qui Concilium regunt commentum suum recitasse Patres ad sesquipedem usque auritos annuisse Upstarts one of those prating Monks that lead the Council by the nose and tells a tale of a tub to which the Fathers with their ears a foot and half long give their assent That the former Councils whose Decrees they pretended to follow were held Post extinctam sanae doctrinae lucem quibus meri asini crassi boves interfuerunt qui nihil prae se ferebant antiquae dignitatis After the extinguishing the light of sound doctrine and made up of meer asses and dull blockheads not the least shadow of the dignity of ancient Councils appearing among ' em And Innocentium tertium cum pauculis cornutis bestiis lacqucum hunc populo Christiano induisse quem Patres Tridentini astringunt Innocent the 3d. with a few more as very beasts as himself brought this snare upon Christians and the Council of Trent ties the knot faster As for their piety and manners Nihil mirum tam esse audaces qui nullo unquam serio divini Judicii affectu tacti sunt no wonder of their impudence that were never touch'd with a true sense of God's judgments Facile esse Patribus Diabolica securitate ebriis temporales vocare poenas quibus peccatum fere nullum est nisi quis hominem occiderit quibus scortatio vix leviculumest peccatum quibus foedissimae libidines virtutis sunt exercitia quae in laude ponunt qui nullum occultum conscientiae vulnus pilo aestimant Hanc sententiam abominantur Cornuti Patres Porci isti in contrariam partem detorquent Non attendant stulti homines Well may the Fathers speaking of degrees of Punishment for sin drunk with a divelish security talk of temporal punishments who scarce count any thing a sin under murder with whom fornication is a meer peccadillo and the filthiest lusts virtuous exercises and praise-worthy who make no account of the hidden wounds of a guilty conscience These Fathers with horns on their heads abominate this doctrine These nasty Swine wrest it to a contrary sense These Block-heads do not consider This is enough Such his language of so many Reverend Bishops his Canonical Superiours assembled from several parts and nations sitting in Council It is an hard matter that a person so proud should not also be erroneous Neither useth he in his other writings mentioned before his Patriarch and the chiefest Governour in the Church any whit more civilly Quis saith he non fustibus magis lapidibus compescendum hunc impuri Canis latratum dicat Who would not think sticks and stones the fittest to quiet this filthy barking Curr And Quid tibi cum hac S. Apostoli voce sceleste Apostata imo omnis Apostasâ—â—e Princeps qui cum dies in machinandis perditionibus in fraudibus excudendis in moliendo innocentium exilio in destruenda Ecclesia c. consumis reliquum tempus vel cum Epicureis suaviter te oblectas vel in medio scortorum grege te volutas instâ—r Porci c. What are the Apostles words upon the Pope's saying That he was afraid with St. Paul lest evil Communications should corrupt good manners to thee thou wicked Apostate nay Prince of all Apostates for your daily imployment is only plotting and contriving murders inventing some or other new frauds proscription of innocent persons ruin of the Church c. the rest of your time is sweetly spent either in merriment with Epicures or wallowing like a swine amidst a heard of impure â—urtizans where you neither hear nor discourse of any thing but what savours either of some execrable impiety or rank obscenity thereby to provoke that thy shameful leachery which tho out-worn and grown impotent with age yet itches still To speak this with any truth one would think he must be one of the Pope's Bed-chamber and Privy-Council and to speak it with any piety or good conscience that he must never have heard of St. Paul's Brethren I wist not that he was God's High-Priest c. Mean while by this let sober Protestants judge how well this spirit of their two chief fore-fathers Luther and Calvin agrees with the character of the Holy Spirit let down before § 1. And whether so great Pride is likely to discover to the world any great store of Truth or rather to betray inch persons to strong delusions To leave this second and return again to our Prime-Founder § 32 Ioâ—y His frequent communications with the Devil acknowledged by himself Hitherto I have shew'd you out of his own and the writings of other Reformed the spirit and temper of this man and the several steps of his bold march against the Governours common Doctrines and Laws of the present and former Church In all which he seems to have suffered most strong Delusions from Satan and as he deceived many others so to have bin first by him miserably deceived himself Which the better to discover it is necessary that I premise the extraordinary negotiations the familiar Disputes and Conferences the several Temptations and Skirmishes which he relates himself to have had with and to have suffered from this Enemy of Mankind and the manner of his behaviour in them This then in his de Missa Privata Sacerdotum Vnctione speaks of the Devil as of one whose Arts and Practices by long experience were very well known to him A me ipso saith he exordiri confessiunculam aliquam facere institui Quondam intempesta nocte e somno evigilavi mox Sathan hujusmodi disputationem in animo meo quemadmodum scilicet multas noctes mihi satis amarulentas acerbas reddere ille novit mecum instituit Audisne Excellentissime Doctor I am resolv'd to begin with my self and make a piece of a Confession Once about midnight
he accuseth or presseth the greatness of a sin but he then lieth when he farther presses that I must despair of forgiveness In summe saith he we are delivered by this discovery of their faultiness to him by Satan from private Masses from the Ordination of Bishops how they can defend their Church see they to it Against Satan's Arguments And from the time of this Disputation for ever after he desisted from saying Mass See Adam vit p. 104. § 41 The Lie then that Luther apprehended to be in Satan's discourse was this That since Luther had lived so long in so gross errors and committed such great faults amongst which Satan as the Reformed after him do still reckons his Idolatry in Adoration of the Eucharist therefore his present condition was desperate But Luther presently avoided this rock of Despair and instead thereof cozening the Devil made haste to Reform his Practice and Doctrine for the future and perswade the same to others according to the truths discover'd to him by Satan and confirmed by him as he thought by plain Scripture quite contrary to the Devil's purpose and intention Thus Luther conceited But on the other side the Devil's design seems to be in seeing a young man bold and given to novelties and already in the opposing of Indulgences quarrelling with his Superiours of whom Mellerstadius said see Adam vit p. 104. when he yet taught Philosophy tantam esse vim ingenii in hoc viro ut plane praesagiat mutaturum esse vulgare doctrinae genus quod tunc in Scholis tradebatur under a shew of driving him into despair to make him swallow those things for truths which with the best arguments and art he could he set forth unto him and so to become the miserable Author of a pretended Reformer of the former corrupt Church-doctrines and practices § 42 And indeed the Devil 's labouring to convince us of any truths and his laying open our sins before us is a temptation that is very cautiously exercised by him lest it should have another effect than he approves of viz. our repentance and amending what he hath shewed to be amiss Therefore this is a sort of temptation he useth not to men as yet young and vigorous and beginning the world as it were but when we are come to an end of it and now have no more time allowed us for a Reformation Nor can we imagin that old Serpent so silly as not to consider in the discovering so much new truth to Luther and giving him such unanswerable arguments for it what might happen if instead of Despair he should prove a Reformer Nor could he but discern that the gain he sought or hoped by Luther's distrusting the Divine mercy was no valuable in comparison of the damage he hazarded by Luther's being his Convert The most obvious interpretation therefore of such a Temptation is that the Devil with his best skill meant to perswade him lies that he might according to the bold and fiery temper he saw in him already inflamed against his Superiours propagate and disseminate them all abroad § 43 But in this spreading of them it seems God would not suffer Luther to conceal the first Author As for Chillingworth's answer as touching this Conference of Luther with the Devil in his returning to Protestantisme to his motive for relinquishing it that is recited before § 39. That if this Conference were real the Devil might perswade Luther from the Mass c. hoping by doing so to keep him constant to it or that others would make his disswasion from it an argument for it as we see Papists do and be afraid of following Luther as confessing himself to have bin perswaded by the Devil To the first excuse we see that Luther had no such thought but that Satan's design was to make him despair Again it concerned the Devil if having such a design to have urged either no arguments or such as in Luther's account should have bin very weak to leave him less shaken or doubtful of those opinions wherein he found him and not to have so much over-acted his part To the second excuse Luther's revealing his Author seems to have bin none of Satan's design which Author as I said for ten years Luther thought best to conceal till he had seen many others swayed with these arguments as well as himself and so thought such a story of the black Author would not prejudice them but God's special Providence in behalf of his Church of which the Christian world doth well to make that good use Mr. Chillingworth speaks of to dehort men from such at the first Satanical Inventions § 44 And now I am speaking of these Providential discoveries of Satan's wiles and works a not-unlike accident to this of Luther happened also to Zuinglius the 2d Innovator in and Reformer of the former Doctrine of the Eucharist and contending for a virtual only not real Presence and Hoc est ' this is to mean only Hoc significat Corpus meum ' This signifies my Body He then being on a certain day to confirm his new doctrine in a Sermon to the people and very cogitative and solicitous to find out some new place and to clear all exceptions Coepimus saith he omnia cogitare omnia evolvere c. some former instances of his being rejected because extracted out of Parables as that Luk. 8.11 The seed is the Word of God the night before in his sleep had as he saith an extraordinary Monitor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the sky but ater an albus he knew not who suggested a text of Scripture to him which being the next day urged and dilated on fully satisfied his Audience so that they afterward wholly acquiesced in his opinion Upon which good success he afterward writing a Tract De subsidio Eucharistiae of the succour he received concerning the Eucharist thought himself obliged to acknowledge the favour done him by such an extraordinary Messenger And his Relation to give it you in his own words is this Cum vero tredecimus dies Aprilis adpeteret vera narro adâ—oque vera ut celare volentâ—m conscientia cogat effundere quod Dominus impertiit non ignorans quantis me contumeliis risibusque exponam Cum inquam 13. Aprilis lux adpeteret visus sum mihi in somnio multo cum taedio contendere cum Adversario scriba sicque obmutescere ut quod verum scirem negante lingua benesicium suum proloqui non possem Qui me angor ut solent nonnunquam somnia fallaci ludere nocte nihil enim â—ltius quam somnium narramus quod ad nos attinet tamet si leve non sit quod per somnium didicerimus gratia Deo in cujus solius gloriam ista prodimus vehementer turbare videbatur Ibi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 visus est Monitor adesse Ater fuerit an Albus nihil memini somnia enim narro qui diceret Quin ignave respondeas ei quod Exod. 12. scribitur Est
impuritate turgere tanto denique iracundiae maledicentiae furoris insaniae impetu furere ut quotquot illum legere dignantur non sine gravi animorum stupore infelix hoc inauditum hactenus exemplum admirari coguntur See § 31. And § 26. In omnibus correptionibus suis plurimum maligni spiritus quam minimum vero amici Paterni animi deprehendi And Erasmus tells him in a letter § 31. Se suo isto ingenio tam arroganti procaci seditioso totum orbem exitiabili dissidio concussisse And from such fierceness observed in him to all dissenters it was that Melancthon tho his intimate friend writes from Wirtenberg in this complaining manner to Mr. Calvin see § 25. Totos jam annos viginti expecto exilia And a spirit this was that never left him but rather more and more possessed him his last writings being observed to be the most violent § 54 Thirdly In his indulging Sensuality and the naturall appetites of the flesh much pleading for the necessity of Marriage holding an equâ—lity of grace and glory in all justified and generally opposing those formerly esteemed Counsels of Perfection and of a stricter life from which many imagine Protestanism as well as Mahometanisâ—n to have gained so great an acceptation in the world as Celibacy Monastical Poverty Abstinence Solitude Obedience leng Prayers c. Concerning Marriage urging frequently Gen. 2.18 Non est bonum esse hominem solum and God's command also for it Gen. 1.28 Crescite multiplicamini And § 12. Adae filii sunt manebunt homines hanc ob causam debent coguntur iterum ex se relicto semine procreare homines And concerning other mortifications of the flesh he ordinarily slights them on this manner § 3. Ejusmodi sanctos diligit Satan qui sua ipsorum corpora animas perdunt qui defraudant privant se omnibus benedictionibus bonorum Dei And contends § 10. That no man ought to lay a Cross upon himself or to make choice of a tribulation And Illi insani saith he ignarique fidei prorsus spiritus imperiti prorsus rerum spiritualium conantur iis rebus per opuscula sua frigida jejumis vestibus preculis statis Monasteriorum carceribus consulere Elswhere Crede fortiter saith he § 3. te absolutum absolutus vere eris quicquid sit de contritione And Baptizatus etiam volens non potest perdere salutem suam quantiscunque peccatis nisi nolit credere § 55 4. In his attempting to degrade the formerly received head of the Church upon Earth as the precedent Reformer Mahomet did the Head thereof in Heaven pronouncing him Anti-Christ and the Church of God his Spouse and so far befriending that his Predecessor as to apply all those things to the chief Pastor of Christ's flock which properly belong to that great false Prophet whose steps himself follows In his degrading also the former Clergy of God declaring them convinced herein by the Devil's Arguments to have bin no true Priests see before § 18 and setting up a new Church-Ministry of his own and composing a new Ordination of Bishops and Ministers descending from himself see § 23. And himself exercising the Episcopal function in Excommunications c. tho only a Presbyter Abrogating the former publick Liturgy of the Church and himself ordering a new one as he thought meet to be used by all his followers a thing never attempted by any Reformer before him except Mahomet and lastly burning in publick the former Ecclesiastical Canons as well those of Councils as Popes by all this as it were making himself the Founder of a new Religion and an independent Supreme and as Erasmus told him which suits also well in this comparison with Mahomet postulans tantum non pro Deo haberi see before § 31. n. 3. suitable to which he authoritatively pronounceth of the other Reformists dissenting from him see before § 25. se nee corum consortium recipere nec literas libros salutationes benedictiones scriptiones aut nominationem intra animi sui penetralia admittere nec visu vel auditu dignari decrevisse Concerning which former bold undertakings his Conscience often check'd and thus reply'd upon him see § 24. n. 2. Impossibile est quod Christus tot seculis Ecclesiam suam errare sinat Tu certe solus non sapis plus quam tot sancti viri tota Ecclesia Sic senserunt docuerâ—nt omnes primitivae Ecclesiae Doctores viri sanctissimi multo majores doctiores te Quis tu es qui ausus ab omnibus his dissentire nobis diversum dogma obtrudere To which he answers Si sanctus Petrus c. aliter doceant tamen hoc certe scio quod humana non suadeo sed divina And Quisque videat ut certissimus sit de sua vocations doctrina 24. n. 2. So elsewhere about his changing the Mass his Conscience thus suggests Rem arduam § 16. quam forte sit impossibile convelli aggredior ut quae tanto saeculorum usu firmata omniumque consensu probata sic insederit ut necesse sit majorem partem librorum qui hodie regnant paene universam Ecclesiarum faciem tolli mutari penitusque aliud genus caeremoniarum induci seu potius reduci To which his Answer is Majori cura Verbum Dei oportet observare quam omnium hominum Angelorum intelligentias as if he had received some new illumination from heaven concerning a new sense of the Scriptures § 56 5ly If I had a mind to extend this parallel any further I might say he resembled also the former Changer of Religion in that he had his deliquium's and swounding fitts see before § 32. what Adams saith and what himself Quo sane me quoque non semel tantum non perpulit as the other had tho not ascribed by both of them to the same cause one imputing them to the temptations of a bad Angel the other to the visitations of a good but yet of this Angel of Mahomet's no Christian doubts that he was also a bad one § 57 14. The tryal 〈◊〉 â—â—ther's spirit is bâ—â—â—re descrâ—â—â— â—â—â—ther this 〈◊〉 good 〈◊〉 bid 〈◊〉 the proâ—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 in the bâ—â—◠〈…〉 If you please then after all this to review the two contrary Spirits described by the Apostle and mentioned before § 1. you may from the precedents in this Discours discern this person not to have bin possessed with the first but the latter Now the Rule or Mark that our Lord hath left to his sheep thereby for ever to know and avoid false teachers is the fruits which they see them bear Beware saith he of false Prophets that come to you in sheeps cloathing like true members of Christ's flock and fold ye shall know them by their fruits Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs from thistles The meaning of which surely cannot be this Matt. 7.15 onely by their
Neither is this only Old-Testament-ceremonial holiness but see 1 Cor. 7.5 a place parallel to these Defraud ye not one the other except it be with consent for a time that ye may give your selves to fasting and prayer Where it may be noted that as fasting hath no good correspondence with the acts of the conjugal bed sine Cerere c. so these also are as prejudicial to fasting and its companions And sutable to these Scriptures were the Decrees of the ancient Church Diebus orationis jejuniorum praeparationis ad Eucharistiam a conjuge abstinendum And this because carnal pleasures are some way or other always enemies to spiritual exercises either proceeding to excess and so rendring us faulty or too much either heightening or also debilitating our temper and so making us undisposed or dividing and diverting some portion of that love and of those intentions to things inferior which are always all incomparably best spent upon and consecrated to God the supreme good § 4 Again we find after one marriage the abstaining from a second both commended see Lu. 2.36 and to some persons to wit Forbearance of second marriages commended in some cases enjoyned those entertained in the pious or holy Services of God or the Church enjoyned as appears in the widdows of the Church 1 Tim. 5.9 of whom it is there required that such widdow have bin the wife of one man which words being capable of several sences either that she have not had two husbands at once or not two successively again not two successively either by a divorce from the former or upon the death of the former seeing that no woman might have two husbands at one time nor any women at all were allowed remarrying upon divorce see 1 Cor. 7.11 it follows that the Apostle's widdow must be understood to be such as had not had a second husband after the first dead For this injunction seems to have something singular in it the same caution being given no where to any but only to Church-officers and servants Nor is it probable as some against the current of Antiquity interpret it that the Apostle here restrained only the admission of such a widdow as had causlesly turned away her husband and unlawfully married another man which is granted was done sometimes but seldom and without any permission of Moses law see Mar. 10.12 or as had many husbands at the same time of which there are some rare examples amongst the heathen because such things cannot well be imagined tho possible to have hapned in the Church or when they hapned not to have bin severely punished with excommunication as we see the incestuous Corinthian was And the Apostle seems here rather to require something of extraordinary example and goodness above others in such as were thus to be devoted to the Churches Service and maintained by her Charity than only to caution that they should not be of the worst wicked amongst Christians Which is further confirmed by St. Paul's displeasure against those Church-widdows that remarryed ver 11. And if this interpretation be admitted for the widdows much more may it upon the like expression a husband of one wife for the Bishops of the Church 1 Tim. 3.2 and for the Deacons 1 Tim. 3.12 § 5 III. Tho Celibacy as it occasions larger fruits of righteousness to many yet if a married condition also produceth the same Having a greater reward in the world to come it hath no preheminence in this beyond wedlock yet as in it self it is a stronger resistance of the lusting of the flesh and a greater subduer of the natural concupiscence which all have less or more whose importunities it heroically repelleth whilst the married only lawfully satisfies them thus it seems worthy of and so to have promised to it a higher reward and crown in the world to come and is one of the eminentest of all the virtues as not moderating but subduing the most violent of passions See Esai 56.4 5. where Eunuchs who as dry trees under the law were much disparaged Deut. 23.1 yet under the Gospel have ample promises beyond those who beget children See Matt. 19.12 where the Kingdom of heaven being inheritable without it the using of this means seems to be for something singular in that Kingdom as well as for the more easie or certain attaining it But however this be those who grant there several degrees of glory proportioned to those here of sanctity must give the highest to Virgins because if supposed only equal with the rest in all other graces they are granted in one to be superior See Act. 21.9 where Virgin seems to be a term of honor § 4 IV. Single life being so advantageous for having our liberty freed from any other conjugal fetters to bestow our selves wholly on Christ Contiâ—â—ncy of eâ—â—â—lly nec ssâ—â—y or the Clergy and to wait upon him without distraction freed from cares and holy in body and spirit seems tho worthy to be sought for by all yet so necessary to none as to those of the Clergy so far as they find themselves capable of it that perfection which others as it were unnecessitated thereto attain by it being their constant duty and profession as it were especially that to give themselves unto prayer 1 Cor. 7.5 Act. 6.4 and to wait upon the Lord without distraction v. 35. and to take a special care of the poor Act. 6.3 § 5 V. T is plain that this Continency and the power of living a single life That it is the gift of God is the gift of God both 1. such a cool and moderate temper and calm passions as do not so eagerly provoke and kindle the fire of lust in us and 2ly the grace to be able to abstain and quench these fires when we are provoked if we will use the means and 3ly the actions or means which we use by them to procure the grace to abstain as prayer mortifications of the body avoiding all temptations constant and diligent employment are the gift of God For so also are all other good things said to be both natural and moral and spiritual even all those things which we have most in our power and which our industry most procures and the powers themselves and every action of them So to be rich to be honourable the condition of a free-man or of a servant c. are the gift of God See 1 Cor. 7.17 Deut. 8.17 18. Jo. 3.27 And if we cannot of our selves think a good thought much less refrain the most violent of our lusts except from the gift of the Almighty § 8. n. 1. VI. Taking this ability to contain Given to very many not for a power of being freed from all concupiscence and from the first motions of lust for so none at all have this power but for a power to suppress these first motions and quench these lesser sparks before they break out into a flame 1. either into fornication therefore v.
amita vel matertera In his namque solis personts harum similibus omnis quae ex mulieribus est suspicio declinatur Whereas might they have entertained a wife neither would there have bin cause of such suspicion nor would it have bin reasonable nor safe to deprive their wives of all Women-attendance or Society As for the story of Paphnutius in this Council which makes so great a noise amongst us so that this instance stands for a bulwark against all the other evidence in this point of Antiquity see Calvin Institut 4. l. 12. c. 26. and generally all our writers this is the All of it That motion being made by some in the Council that the married Presbytery i.e. such as were married before made Presbyters should after their Ordination be separated from their wives which separation the Greek Church allows not to this day and of which the 6th of those called Canons Apostolical saith thus notwithstanding that the same Canons prohibit marriage after Ordination except to Lectores Cantores Episcopus aut Presbyter uxorem propriam nequaquam sub obtentu religionis abjiciant Some conceive this to be meant * without her consent others * not for cohabitation but for maintenance only Si vero rejecerit exeommunicetur And Concil Gangrense because some held it unlawful to receive the Communion from a Presbyter formerly married was necessitated to make this Canon 4. Quicunque discernit a Presbytero qui uxorem habuit here t is habuit not habet quod non oporteat eo ministraâ—te de oblatione percipere Anathema sit That such a motion being made I say Paphnutius a Reverend Bishop and a Confessor tho never married withstood it saying Grave jugum c. neque a singulorum uxoribus fort asse eam castimonioe normam posse servari But now mark what follows Illud satis esse ut qui iâ—â— Clerum ante ascripti erant quam duxissent uxores hi secundum veterem Ecclesiae Traditionem deinceps a nuptiis se abstinerent non tamen quenquam ab illa quam jampridem cum laicus erat uxorem duxisset sejungi debâ—re The story is in Socrates Eccl. Histor. 1. l. 8. c. and in others from him Sozomen 1. l. 22. c. Judg now what cause there is to urge Paphnutius for the marrying of the Clergy after H. Orders received by them when as single I go on Conc. Romanum under Silvester in the time also of Constantine the Great Can. 7. Nullum autem Subdiaconorum ad nuptias transire praecipimus ne aliquam praevaricationem sumpserit Elibertin Concil about the same time in Spain Can. 33. Placuit in totum prohibere Episcopis Presbyteris Diaconis ac Subdiaconis positis in ministerio abstinere se a conjugibus suis non generare filios Quod quicunque fecerit ab honore Clericatus exterminetur Which Canon plainly shews That at that time in the Western tho not in the Eastern Churches not only marriage after Holy Orders was forborn but abstinence from their wives by those who were married before was commonly practised since he who should do the contrary was so highly punished Conc. Arelatense secundum under the same Silvester Can. 2. Assumi aliquem in Sacerdotium in vinculo conjugii constitucum nisi fuâ—rit praemissa conversio non oportet Two Councils in which S. Austin was present * 1. Conc. Carthag 2. Can. 2. Placuit condecet sacro-sanctos Antistites Dei Sacerdotes necnon Levitas i.e. Deacons c continentes esse in omnibus c. ut quod Apostoli docuerunt ipsa servavit antiquitas nos quoque custodiamus Ab universis Episcopis dictum est omnibus placet ut Episcopi Presbyteri c pudicitiae custodes etiam ab uxoribus se abstimeant Hence S. Austin Confess 10. l. 30. c. speaking of his continency before obliged by Priesthood to it saith Et quoniam dedisti factum â—st antequam dispensator Sacramenti tui fierem And * 2. Conc. Africanum cap. 37. Praeterea cum de quorundam Clericorum quamvis erga uxores proprias incontinentia referretur placuit Episcopos Presbyteros Diaconos secundum prior a statuta etiam ab uxoribus continere Quod nisi fecerint ab Ecclesiastico removeantur officio Caeteros autem Cleri os ad hoc non cogi sed secundum uniuscujusque Ecclesiae consuetudin m observari debere These were before the third General Council Add to these the fourth General Council of Chalcedon Can. 13. Quoniam in quibusdam provinciis concessum est Psalmistis Lectoribus se Apost Can. 27. quoted before uxores ducere constituit sancta Synodus prorsus cuiquam ex his non licere alterius sectae accipere uxorem c. Where t is plain that other Clergy besides Psalmiste and Readers might not marry at all § 19 Hitherto I have kept within the times of the first four General Councils to which we promise much conformity I will joyn to these a Canon or two in Constantinopol Conc. in Trulio reckoned by the Eastern Church for a part of the sixth General Council tho it was not consented to by the Roman Patriarch Can. 6. Quoniam in Apostolicis Canonibus dictum eâ—t eorâ—m qui non duct a uxore in Clerum promoventur solum lectores cantores uxorem posse ducere nos hoc servantes decernimus ut deinceps nulli penitus Hypodiacono vel Diacono vel Presbytero post sui Ordinationem conjugium centrahere liceat c. Canon 12. Jubet omnino Antistites i. e. Bishops postquam sunt ordinati a propriis uxoribus secedere and here they take notice of the 6th Apostol Canon quoted before in the last § and yet advance beyond it quoniam Apostoli say they cum sides incipâ—ret ad sidelium imbecillitatem se magis demittebant c. Can. 13. decernunt Presbyteros a prioribus suis legitimis uxoribus non separari sed eo tempore quo sacrificant expellentes suas uxores pietatis praetextu excommunicandos And this say they notwithstanding the contrary customs of the Roman â—hurch Thus the Council in Trullo And ever since have the same laws and customs bin preserved in the Eastern Churches as we may see in the Answer of Jeremias Patriarch of Constantinople in Epilogo to the Reformed soliciting his approbation of their innovation in this matter and remembring him of the Apostle's rule Melius est nubere quam uri and his order Oportet Episcopum esse unius uxoris virum to which he replies this Proinde nos illis sacerdotibus qui in virginitate persistere non possunt priusquam tamen consecrentur Sacerdotes i.e. futuri fiant c. Ille autem Sacerdos entring into Orders or others vowing Virginity qui semel virginitatem professus est virgo permaneat nec jam illi ullam amplius licentiam post votum susceptum nubendi damus Nemo enim mittens manum ad aratrum respiciens retro
idoneus est consequendo coelesti regno Here is Priests after their consecration or others vowing Virginity for ever after denied marriage This the modern law of the Greek Church and if the prohibiting them afterward makes them the more who intend Priesthood to take wives before and so many of the Greek Clergy de facto are married to enjoy this liberty more than for necessity yet this is an abuse no ways countenanced by their Ecclesiastical Canons Much less may we imagin that they are obliged by any such law ne periculo forâ—icandi se exponant to take wives before they may enter into this Holy profession so contrary both to the Apostle's Counsel 1 Cor. 7. and the Church'es former Injunctions when-as even all secular imployments have at least the liberty of a single life and the Reformed themselves so great friends to marriage yet impose no such yoke upon their Clergy nor hath any that I know of entertained such a fancy save Vigilantius Out of the Canons then recited above you may observe 1. That the Greek Church who acknowledg and practise these Canons in this point to this day allow indeed the use of their wives except when they officiate but what if they officiate every day as many Priests do to Priests married before Ordination but not so to Bishops but permit not that any Ordained unmarried may afterward marry at all 2ly Again That those married persons who were to be made Presbyters in the Roman Church and Bishops in the Oriental might not separate from their wives without consent received from the wives before such Ordination or Consecration of them 3ly That such continency was annexed to Holy Orders only by Ecclesiastical Constitution and was rather Lex Continentiae than Votum which therefore hath bin capable of many dispensations and the Conons about it somewhat differing and the Clergy more restrained by some of them than by others But this seems to be a received ground amongst them all in those primitive times that Continency is a general gift at least in potentia remota i.e. which is by God denied to none using the means and rightly preparing himself for it c. Els how could they prudently make such laws strictly prohibiting marriage for such a number of men involving also the Deacons and Subdeacons upon penalty of degradation from their office which laws you see the Reformed because they hold continency a particular gift only possible to some generally decry How could they allow of a separation by consent once given of a man and his wife for ever required in the Roman Church of all in the Eastern of Bishops notwithstanding what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 7.5 unless you will say that the Church-Officers in time of Ordination could discern who had this gift who not Or that there was no party coming to be ordained or contenting to such a separation but was able to discern it in himself and that not only for the present but always for the future and likewise that none would present himself that knew he had it not § 20 Neither doth the Apostle's declaring from the Spirit 1 Tim. 4.1 c. that in the latter times there should arise Apostates c forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats any way prejudice these injunctions and practices of ancient Church nor consequently of the latter times herein following only her example 1. Because the Apostle by opposing to such error that every â—â—eature and ordinance of God is good according to Gen. 1.31 and 2.23 24. and therefore being sanctified first by the â—ord of God and prayer may lawfully be used see 1 Tim. 4.3 4 5. sheweth that he means such Apostates as abstain from or prohibit marriage and meats as in themselves unlawful and unclean and contaminating Which thing can neither be objected to the ancient not modern Church-practice using abstinence from some meats for the chastisement of the body not for any uncleaness in the food and not forbidding marriage to any single person absolutely but only upon his voluntary undertaking such an employment with which they imagin a married condition not so well to sute In which case if necessary abstinence from marriage be a fault the Apostle himself may seem to comply with it in those expressions of his 1 Tim. 5.11.12 2ly Because experience hath manifested the Apostle's prophecy to have bin most eminently fulfilled in other persons of these latter times whom these Fathers even in these points most vehemently resisted affirming downright all marriage especially with reference to procreation of children therefore the married were advised by them in such manner to use their wives as to avoid this see S. Aust de moribus Manich. 18. c. to be unlawful and the work or design of the Devil as likewise flesh-diet to be unclean and defiling Animata abominantes interdicunt saith Epiphanius haer 47. non continentiae gratia neque honestae vitae sed ob timorem imaginationem ut non contaminentur ab animatorum esu Vino vero omnino non utuntur Diabolicum esse dientes And S. Austin contra Faust 30. l. 5. c. Ipsam creaturam immundam dicitis quod carnes Diabolus operetur faeculentioâ—e materia mali And de haeres 46. c. Non vescuntur carnibus tanquam de mortuis vel occisis fugerit divina substantia Vinum non bibunt dicentes fel esse principum tenebrarum Such were some of the Gnosticks Encratites Montanists Marcionites and in the last place the Munichees being as it were the last extract and quintessence of all those former gross errors not a little potent even in S. Austin's times who not holding all things to have bin created by the same good God but this lower world by an evil principle or by the Prince of darkness as they call him affirm in the begetting of a man that the Soul which they account to be a part of the substance of God himself becomes fettered and-imprisoned in the walls or handy-work of the devil i.e. the body from which it is again released only by death therefore was marriage occasioning such imprisonment forborn by all their elect and tho this permitted to their auditors yet saith Austin it was non dicentes non esse peccatum sed peccantibus veniam largientes propterea quod illis necessaria ministrabant con Faust. Man 30. l. Likewise that the same part of God was continually more defiled and enclosed by such and such gross nourishments of the body And when of such errors they were accused by the Fathers it was ordinary with them to recriminate the Orthodox with the same things both for their frequent abstinencies from flesh and some other fruits and for their to some persons at least recommending virginity who in this matter were answered by them after the same manner as the Protestants objecting the same things are now by the Church of Rome See concerning this the contest between Faustus the Manichee and S. Austin cont Faust Manich.