their husbands promise to liue chast and then let such as haue made their conuersion togeather be ordered So these Councells and so little freedome did they allow in this matter 119. The second Councell is of Neocasarea in Cappadocia which no lesse then the former was held before the Councell of Nice and in the very first Canon it is decreed Presbiter si Concil Neocaesâ—â— Can. 1. vxorem duxerit ordino suo moneatur Let a Priest if he marry a wife be deposed Is this the open freedome you meane M. Hall that possessed the world for seauen hundred years haue Ecclesiasticall men no more liberty now in England and indeed this decree is renewed in the Trullan Councell so little help can you find of the Greeke Church which yet in this seemeth most to fauour you The third Councell is the first of Nice celebrated in Bithynia the third Canon wherof I haue before in answering the obiection of Paphnutius alleadged and vrged to this purpose 120. From Asia let vs come to Africke where this continency was exactly kept and Afrike there we haue also foure Councels the second third fourth and fifth of Carthage defyning for vs in the second it is sayd Gradus isti tres conscriptione Ann. 396. Concil Carthag 2. cap. 2. vide Concil African sub Caelestino Can. 37. quadam castitatis per consecrationes annexi sunt c. Those three degrees are linked within the band of chastity by holy orders Bishops I mean Priests and Deacons for it is expedient that Bishops Priests and Deacons or those who are imployed about the diuine Sacraments be chast in all things c. And to this of the Councell is added Placet vt in omnibus ab omnibus pudicitia custodiatur qui altari deseruiunt It pleaseth the whole Councell that chastity be kept in al and of all who serue the altar so there beer is chastity annexed to Orders heere are Altars heere is consecration by imposition of hands and in the third Councell the Nicen Canon is Ann. 397. Carthag 3. cap. 17. confirmed and such women assigned as may dwell with Priests as their mothers aunts sisters and the like In the fourth to Bishops Priests Deacons are added Subdeacons 121. In the fifth is this concluding Canon Cùm de quorumdam Clericorum quamuis erga vxores Ann. 398. Carthag 5. cap. 3. proprias incontinentia reserretur c. Whereas relation was made of the incontinency of Clergy men although with their owne wiues it was decreed Bishops Priests and Deacons according to the former decrees to liue continently from their wiues which vnles they performe let them be remoued from all Ecclesiasticall function other Clergy men are not to be forced heereunto but the custome of euery particuler M. Halls freedome for all Clergy men to marry neuer dreamed of by the Fathers Church is to be obserued So the Councell So as heere we haue an expresse restraint from the vse of wiues and this freedome dreamed of by our English Clergy whiles they are a-awake was neuer so much as dreamed of by them in their sleep or els let M. Hall tell vs what now we say more for our selues then these in the purer tymes of the primitiue Church as M. Iewell calleth the Fathers of the first six hundred yeares haue sayd for vs. 122. In Europe we haue many more where Europe as the Christian faith hath still continued so hath it in all points by many Councells beene 14 French Councellâ— for the single life of Clergy men most confirmed and to leaue our Nation of which I shall speake in the end of this letter in our neighbour Church of France we haue no lesse then fourteen Councells within the compasse of 700. hundred yeares to confitme this point one of Arles one of Arausica one of Angiers two of Towers foure of Orleance one of Agatha Coccius loco citato one of Aruerne one of Masson one of Lions one of Challon The wordes of all which were to long for my intended breuity to set down the learned may read them in Coccius at large only I will abridge the summe of that they haue determined The summe of the Decrees of the French Councels for by that you will be able to decerne whether this chymericall liberty were euer in practise in that Countrey 123. The summe of their decrees is 1. That no marryed man can be made Priest vnles he leaue his wife so the Councells of a Cap. 16. Agatha and b Arelâ— 2. c. 2. Orleance he must take her for euer after as his sister so of a Cap. 12. Aruâ—rus b Turon â— cap. 1 Towers and c Cap. 11. Mâ—sson if euer any Priest know his wife againe he can neither offer sacrifice or minister SacrameÌ„ts so of a Turon â— cap. 2. Turon 2. cap 20. Towers he is to be deposed so of a Aurelian 4. c. 4. Orleans and b Cap. 21. Arauâ—ica by carnall knowledge of his wife he committeth incest is to be deposed so of c Cap. 11. Aruerus Moreouer not only Priests but Deacons also are not to be ordered vnles they vow chastity so the Councell of d Cap. 22. Arauâ—ica if after they do marry they are to be e Aurel. 3. cap. 7. excommunicated f Aurel. 2. cap. 8. Aurel. 3. cap. 2. Cap. 3. to be deposed so of Orleance and the same in the third Councell of the same place iâ— extended to Subdeacons who if they know their wiues are likewise to be deposed and the Bishops dissembling their faults are also to be punished lastly the 3. Canon of the Nicen CouÌ„cell is renewed that none haue other women about them but their mothers aunts sisters and the like so the Councell of Angiers in Baronius Anno 453. and the second of Orleance that their wiues who haue vowed chastity liuing in the house with them haue their beds and chambers apart vnder paine of excommunication so the Councell of a Aurel. 4. cap. 17. Orleance b Turon â— cap. 10. 11. Towers c LugduÌ„ 2. cap. 2. Lyons and d Cabilouen cap. â— Shallan other Councells of this countrey I might produce but for that they are after seauen hundred yeares of M. Halls pretended free liberty I do pretermit them 124. In Spaine there are nine Councels that â— Spanish Councells for the single life of Clergy man haue decreed the single life of the Clergy one and that most ancient of â—liberis one of Seâ—ill one of Gerunda and six of Toledo which being the Metropolis or chiefe Citty of all that kingdome the Archbishops haue still endeououred to make it more famous by the frequent calling of Councells thither and these Councells so agree with the French as they may seem to speak with one mouth as they were indeed guyded by one spirit who directed them all and they do specially insist on this that no women
a reason heeroâ— because that marriage was euery where lawfull to the Clergy before the prohibition which must needs be late and in the Easterne Church to this day is allowed and I answere that the glosse as ingenuously altogeather much more truly reiecteth this opinion with an id verò minimè ita esse there was no such matter in another distinctioÌ„ excuseth Gratian The name of Priest extended by Canon lawyers to all that are in holy orders as taking the word Priest in a larger significatioÌ„ as including all in holy Orders and meaning therby Subdeacons only and not Priests which acception is familiar with Canon Lawyers founded euen in the Canon it selfe where it is sayd Si quispiam Sacerdotum id est Presbyter Diaconus vel Subdiaconus c. If any of the Priests that is to say a Priest Deacon or Subdeacon c. in Dist 31. iniâ— can 1. q. 1. Si quispiam in glossa dist 33. cap. 1. dist 81. c. si quispiam Dist 31. Greg. l. 1. epist 42. which sense we may graunt that the tyme was when some who were marryed were made Subdeacons which is further confirmed because in another distinctioÌ„ before Gratian putting down the title Nondum erat institutum vt Sacerdotes continentiam seruarent It was not yet ordeyned that Priests should conteyne from their wiues he presently cyteth a place of S. Gregory touching Subdeacons of which we shall speake in the next Paragraffe 44. But whatsoeuer he meant we are not Bellar. l. de script Eccles in Gratian. Baron in annis 341 774. 865. 876 964. Posseuin in apparatu §. de Gratiano id scienduÌ„ ist eum saepe errasse c. bound to follow him as an infallible wryter but may with free liberty reiect whome so many graue Writers vpon diuers occasions haue so sharply censured that he gathered so many laws decrees Canons togeather argueth great learning great labour in so large a matter coÌ„ used heape of different authorities to be mistaken is no meruaile wherin he did wel we prayse him where otherwise we pitty the errours but follow them not if therefore he were of opinion as is wordes seeme to sound that Priests were first permitted to marry and were after restayned from that liberty we follow the glosse not the Text because al Authors of credit mainteyne the contrary and as for the commentary Gratian of no infallible authority of M. Hall that this prohibition must needs be very late I must needs tell him that it is another vntruth that also refuted by Gratian himselfe throughout all his 31. Distinction which falsity because I shall touch after againe in due place I heere forbeare further to stand vpon and from Gratian come to the mayne bul warke and fortresse of M. Halls defence I meane the sixth Councell as he calls it of Constantinople in answering of which The authority of the I rullaÌ„ Synod cyted and most insisted in by M. Hall at large refuted because he relyeth so much thereon I will be more particuler 45. And for that M. Hall in vrging this Councell is no lesse eager in charging vs then resolute in affirming that marriage of al Clergy men to be decreed therein and the testimony not to be lyable to any exception as of a generall Councell as he stileth it I will first touch the authority of this Councel then what he sayth for himselfe against vs out of the same and last of al what as well by generall as prouincial Councels hath beene defined against the marriage of Clergy men by which I hope it shall appeare what little cause there was of triumph before the conquest how much our poore aduersaryes make of a little who like petty Pedlars lay open their pynnes and poynts obtruding copper for gold and peeces of glasse for pretious stones 46. This Councell then heere cyted is not See Baron in ann 692. the sixth Councell which made no Canons at â—â— but another Conuenticle made some ten years after the sixth was ended that at the procurement of Iustinian the yonger none of the best Emperours The Councell of TrulluÌ„ not the 6. Councell God wot who calling togeather certaine Greeke Bishops made them sit in a place of his pallace called TrulluÌ„ because it was made round and vaulted and there to gather Canons out of the fift and sixth Synodes which indeed they pretended to do but with many erroneous additions of their own and because it made the collection out of these two Councels it was called Quinisextum as much to say as of the fift and sixth the chiefe suggester of this seditious meeting was Callinicus Patriarke of Constantinople and that for extreme hatred of the Westerne Church by which we see which in many historyes we obserue that it is easy for a Prince who intendeth to be naught to find some one or other Clergy man of the same disposition to second him Iustinian had his Callinicus the fourth Henry Emperour his Benno and our King Henry the 8. his Crammer and others the like 47. And further we see all the circumstances occurring in this Councel to demonstrate it rather to haue beene a seditious conspiracy then The Trullan Synod no lawful Councell but a seditious conspiracy any lawful sinod for iâ— had no forme of a Councell no legats of the Pope no inuiting of the Latin Bishops no authority but imperiall no lawfull conuocation and in fine did out of arrogant presumption that which appertayned not vnto it to do for if in the Councell of Chalcedon after the last session was ended when presently Anatolius to further the better without contradiction his ambitious claime ouer the other Patriarches the Patriarch of Alexandria Dioscorus who should haue withstood him being then newly deposed gathered the Greeke Bishops to make another Decree the same as not done in Councell was annulled what is to be thought of this meeting when not one day but ten yeares after a general Councel was ended these men who were but one part and that the least and lesse sincere without calling the rest or being lawfully called themselues layd hands on two generall Councells at once cut out Canons chopped changed added and altered at their pleasures 48. And how generall this Councell was and how generally accepted euen in the Greeke Church where it was held Anastasius Bibliothecarius Anastasius Bibliothecarius will testify in his dedicatory epistle vnto Iohn the eight before the seauenth Councell which he translated into Latin where after he had sayd that all these Canons were vnknowne in the Latin Church he addeth Sed nec in caeterarum Patriarchalium sedium licet Graeca vtantur lingua reperiuntur archtuis c. Nor yet are they found in the treasuries or places where publike charters or records are kept of the other Patriarchall Seas The Trullan Synod not admitted by the other Patriarks because none of these Patriarks did promulgate
cōsent or was present when they were set forth notwithstanding the Grecians report those patriarches to haue promulgated them but this they cannot proue by any certayne arguments So Anastasius So as the credit and authority of this Councell was confined like our Catholikes in England to their fiue miles I meane within very narrow bounds and was euen in the very birth like a base brat branded in the forehead with shame both of the matter and makers 49. And this is further euicted by two graue Authors of that age whereof one to wit Venerable Bede was then liuing and Paulus Diaconus the other not long after who both write of it as of It was presently cōdemned by Pope Sergius a scismaticall and no true Councell and that Sergius the Pope condemned it for which cause the furious Emperour sent Zacharias his Embassadour to Rome to bring the Pope prisoner to Constantinople which had byn effected if the souldiers of Rauenna had not resisted and forced the Embassadour not without shame and feare also of his life to returne backe without him Hic beatae Beda l. de sex aetat in lustin iuniore memoriae Pontificem Romanae Ecclesia Sergium c. Iustinian the yonger sayth Bede commanded Sergius Bishop of Rome of blessed memory to be carryed to Constantinople because he would not fauour and subcribe vnto his erring Councell erraticae Synodo which he had caused there to be made sending for that purpose Zacharias his chiefe captaine but the garryson of the Citty of Rauenna and soldiers of the places adioyning reiected the wicked command of the Prince and made the sayd Zachary not without reproach iniuries to recoyle So S. Bede And the same in the same words Paulus Diaconus and so far was Sergius from approuing it as he sayth of him that Iustinian The rare constancy of Pope Sergius in another embassage before that now recounted had sent vnto the Pope as to the head of all Priests the sayd Councel written out in six tomes to be subscribed vnto Qui beatissimus Pontifex penitus eidem Iustiniano Augusto non acquieuit c. Which most holy Pope yielded not a iote to the Emperour Iustinian neither would he vouchsafe to take or read them Moreouer he reiected them as of no force and cast them away choosing rather to dye then to yield to the errours of these noueltyes So Paulus Diaconus who also recounteth how the same Emperour taking afterwards a contrary resolution sent two of his Metropolitans to Rome to Pope Iohn to confirme or correct these Canons but neither the one or other was done 50. In fine after much wrestling in this matter for Constantin the Pope with Gregory who succeeded him then a priuate man went to Constantinople disputed answered refelled the errours Gods iust reuenge vpon Iustiniā the Emperour and Callinicus the Patriarke declared the truth when notwithstanding the Emperour still persisted God shewed at last which part pleased him best for the first Author or instigatour Callinicus had both his eyes pulled out by the Emperours command was banished to Rome where he knew full well what his intertainement would be and the Emperour himselfe hauing first lost his nose then his Empyre last of all lost also his life hauing first his sonne Tiberius butchered and then his own head cut off by one of his rebell souldiers and sent to Philippus his mortall enemy and successour in the Empyre so as we see iust reuenge sooner or later ouertakes them who are to busy in laying their hands on the sacred Arke of Ecclesiasticall affayres and out of their arrogancy will teach direct those of whome they are themselues to be taught directed for in matters of this nature Bishops or Pastours haue alwayes taught Kings and no Christian Kings in the Primitiue Church haue prescribed vnto Bishops vnles such alone as with their scepters haue violently ouer swayde all reason and Religion togeather 51. This is the true narration of this bastard Councell which of purpose I haue exactly promised and that both for the better perspicuity of the thing it selfe and my answers which depend thereon as also for that you may the better know the vaine humours of our Aduersaryes how they can face out a matter when they intend to deceaue or are not able to shew what they would pretend to proue for heer M. Hall tells vs what this Counsaile sayth To the confusion of all replyers in spight of all contradiction that Singular impudency in facing out matters vpon so small proofe the Catholiks seeing themselues pressed with so flat a decree confirmed by authority of Emperours as would abide no denyall c. And againe that this one authority is inough to weigh downe an hundred petty Conuenticles and many legions if there had beene many of priuate contradictions And what will you say to this pedlar who thus pratleth of his small wares If he had any argument against vs as he hath none how would he vaunt do these men speake out of conscience or knowledge trow you or els ad populum phaleras to entertaine tyme and deceaue their Readers in my iudgment this is impudency in the superlatiue degree and for this alone he deserueth for euer to be discredited seeing he could not but know what we had answered to this Synod and that himself was not able therunto to make any reply but this his tallent of shameles dealing will better appeare in all the other particulers which I will now in order discusse 52. First then he sayth that this was a generall Councell and so he still tearmeth it the sixt generall Councell but this we haue now shewed The Trullan Conuenticle no general Councell to be false for it was neither the sixth nor yet generall as not called by the Bishop of Rome but by him who had no authority no Bishop Priest or Deacon sent from the Sea Apostolike was there which in no generall Councel lawfully assembled was euer wanting none of the rest of the Patriarches of the East were present none of the West inuited and the Canons by supreme authority at their first appearance condemned which things cannot agree to a true generall Councell and if it were Prouinciall as M. Hall shall neuer make more of it if he make so much then can it not make lawes to bind the whole Church but that particuler prouince wherein it was made and if these also by higher power be condemned as in this case it happeneth then doth it not bind that neither or any place els but is to be refused of all as was the Councell of Carthage called by S. Cyprian which allowed the rebaptizing of infāts which had beene christened by heretickes which M. Hall might as well haue vrged against vs as this of Constantinople and better also for that S. Cyprian is of a greater authority more antiquity sanctity and learning then Callinicus was for he dyed a renowned Martyr and the other
be so full but a more full and cautelous may be made as supplying that wherein this is wanting which is very much of that which this man pretendeth as now you shall see 65. And for the better decision of this point vnderstanding of this Canon it will be necessary What in general i◠decreed in the Trullan Councell touching the marriage of Priests Clergy men to know what touching the marriage of Clergy men hath beene deliuered in this Councell all which may be reduced to foure heads whereof the first concerneth their wiues the rest themselues Touching the first in the 4. Canon one restrictiō is made that if any Bishop Priest Deacon Subdeacon c. shall haue carnall copulation with a Religious woman that he be deposed if any lay man that he be separated and the reason is vt qui Christi sponsae vitium attulerit because he hath deflowred the spouse of Christ And in the next precedent Canon is made another wherein it is defyned that whosoeuer hath twice beene marryed or hath had a concubine can neither be Bishop Priest or Deacon and likewise that none can be Bishop Priest or Deacon who haue marryed a widdow or one put from her husband and truely if marriages be free for Clergy men without all restraint and the Councell haue made so full a decree as none can make a fuller why may they not haue as much liberty heerein as other men haue and marry toties quoties their wiues shal dye and they haue list to take others And if Ecclesiasticall men by this Councell haue an expresse prohibition to the cōtrary then I infer that they are restrained for if this prohibition were not the decree of their marriage were more ful more peremptory more absolute as he hath more ful peremptory and absolute liberty who is free to go where he will then he who is forbidden many places where els willingly he would go this needeth no more proofe then this other heere it is midnight ergo heere it is not noone day 66. The second point defyned is in the 6. Canon where according to the constitutions of the Apostles it is determined Vt deinceps nulli penitus None permitted to marry after ordination hypodiacono vel Diacono vel Presbytero post sui ordinationem contrahere liceat c. That heereafter it be not lawfull for any Subdeacon Deacon or Priest to marry after his ordination and if he presume to do it let him be deposed but if any who are to be Clergy men will by the law of matrimony haue a wife let him marry before he be eitheir Subdeacon Deacō or Priest So there which particulerly toucheth M. Hall if he haue any orders for I vnderstand that he was Minister first and marryed after which heere to such as be in holy orders is absolutely forbidden and thereupon it followes that such as were made Priests Deacons or Subdeacons of marryed men after the death of their wiues were for eeuer debarred from marrying againe 67. The third thing decreed is that which Bishops forbidden to vse their wiue which they had before their ordination before I mentioned out of the 10. and 48. Canons in both which Bishops are forbidden not only to vse their wiues but also to dwell with them yea their wiues are commanded to liue in a Monastery which must be procul ab Episcopi habitatione exstructum built far off from the house of the Bishop where the sayd Bishops are commanded to prouide for them and that if any do the contrary he be deposed 68. The 4. and last thing is that which M. Hall hath painted out in his margent setting it The Coūcell allowed marryed men to be made Priests but with some restriction downe at full length and it is only the mayne proofe of his epistle of which he so much braggeth and vaunteth as you haue heard and sayth that it is as full and absolute a decree as any Protestant Church can make or els he will be condemned as faithles and to the end he may not complaine that I extenuate or diminish the force of his argument by following another translation as lesse fauouring him although in the thing it selfe I find no difference in any edition I will take the Text out of his owne booke truly turned out of Greeke into Latin as he sayth by Kemnitius though I need not to take all for truth which M. Hall whome presently by his owne testimony I shall condemne for faithles proposeth for such Thus then it runneth 69. Quoniam in Romana Ecclesia loco Canonis seu Can. 13. decreti traditum esse cognouimus c. For that we haue knowne it deliuered in the Roman Church by way of Canon or decree that such Deacons or Priests as are to be esteemed worthy of ordering professe for the tyme to come neuer to know their wiues we following the old Canon of the Apostolicall sincere exquisite and orderly constitution will haue the lawful coniugal cohabitation of holy men or men in holy Orders euen from this day heereafter to be valid firme no wayes dissoluing their coniunction or copulation with their owne wiues therefore if any one be found worthy c. he is not to be prohibited to ascend to this degree for that he dwelleth with his lawfull wife neither let it be demanded of him in the tyme of his ordering or be compelled that he would or ought to abstayn from the lawful vse of his owne wife So he out of the Councell And this is that rare iewell he hath found in scraping the dunghill of this condemned Synod 70. All these things then being defyned in this Councell let vs now see whether this one decree be so full absolute peremptory and cautelous No Bishop named in the Trullan Councells Canon cyted by M. Hall as that no Protestant Church in Christēdome can make a more full for the marriage of Ecclesiasticall persons for first no Bishop is heer named and by other Canons they are by name excluded Againe heere is no graunt for Priests to marry after their ordination nor yet is that recalled of hauing but one wife or debarring such as haue marryed widdows c. and cannot this in your opinion M. Hall be more full more absolute I hope you will graunt Bishops to be Ecclesiasticall men and likewise Priests who are ordered out of wedlocke as you were your selfe if that disorderly promotion of yours may haue that title and then vpon that concession I make this argument or demonstration rather to conclude you faithles No Canon is so ful and absolute for the marriage of Ecclesiasticall persons as a fuller cannot be made which allows not all Bishops the chiefest of the Clergy all single Priests leaue to marry such as may marry not to take what wiues they last but the Canon cyted by M. Hall is such a one ergo it may be more Two most euident demōstrations full and absolute And
then further If that Canon may be more full and absolute then is M. Hall proued faythles with his owne consent but it may be more ful absolute for it may graunt marriage as well to Bishops as single Priests liberty to take what wiues they list ergo M. Hall is faythles I see not what other answere he can giue heereunto then concedo totum for it is in perfect forme and figure 71. And in my iudgment none can sufficiently admire the rare impudency of these men who vse so much boasting where they find so little occasion for whereas of foure things determined in this Trullan Councell touching these marriages three of them make directly for vs he as though all stood full on his side offers very desperately to be condemned as faithles if any Protestant Church can make a fuller decree then that which he cyteth when as not only they can make but de facto haue made in England as now I will shew where Bishops and Ministers euen in their ministery marry and remarry toti in hoc sunt which dealing of his is as much as if some ridiculous souldier should vantingly brag of his horse to be the best and swiftest in the land and offer to pawne his life on any race he should runne and yet that horse of his should be found to haue but one leg that also lame Bedlam bragging on which he could neither go nor stand who would not think such a one more fit for bedlam then any sober company and truly so it fareth heere with M. Hall who pawneth all his credit which to an honest man is more deere then his life if any Protestant Church can make a more full decree for Ecclesiasticall mens marriages when as yet in foure points decreed by the CouÌ„cell touching that matter three are flat against him and the fourth also doth want of full measure as is euident 72. For after the words cyted before by M. Hall it followeth in the same Canon Scimus qui The vse of wiues forbidden to Priests whiles they did serue in the Church Carthagine conuenerunt c. we know as the Fathers also who assembled at Carthage hauing care of the grauity and honesty of the Clergy haue sayd that Subdeacons who touch the holy mysteryes as also Deacons and Priests in their turnes abstayne from their wiues and to the end that we may likewise obserue the custome deliuered by the Apostles obserued in al antiquity knowing the tyme for euery thing let this especially be kept in fasting and prayer for they who â—ssist the diuine altar in the tyme they touch these sacred things must altogeather be continent or abstayne from their wiues that they may obteyne that of God which they humbly demand So in this Canon at the making wherof it seemeth these marryed Subdeacons Deacons Priests to haue beene ordered for the want that was of others in supplying the offices of the Church and so were not bound alwayes but at certayne time by course to yield their attendance at which tyme they were as you see debarred from their wiues and if they had alwayes been imployed their wiues had for euer beene forbidden and so the graunt heere giuen is not so full as it should be for M Hall and his who will endure no such restrictiue limitation 73. But when it pleased God whose iudgments are vnsearchable to permit our countrey to make a reuolt from the knowne Catholicke Church and to submit the same to the malediction Isa 3. mentioned in the Prophet Dabopueros Prin cipes esseminati dominabuntur eis I will giue them children for their princes and effeminate companions The decree for the marriage of Clergy men vnder King Edward the 6. far more full absolute and peremptory then tha which was made in the Trullan Synod shall rule ouer them then I say vnder a yong child an effeminate Metropolitan and a seely simple Protectour the fullnes of this lewd liberty did enter and the reynes were let loose to all licentious life I meane in the tyme of K. Edward the sixth when Only fayth couered all sinnes satisfyed for all villany and supplyed all good workes and when there was no mirth among Ministers but in marriage then I say in the first parlament albeit King Henry the 8. by the same authority some 7. years before had made it to be enacted that Priests after the order of priesthood by the law of God might not marry it was decreed that whosoeuer should be afterwards or were already of the Clergy that the same person or persons should be from thence forth admitted allowed to haue his or their Anno 1. Eduard cap. 12. Clergy although they or any of them had been diuers or sundry tymes marryed to any single woman or to any widdow or widdowes or to two wiues or more any law statute or vsage to the contrary whatsouer So the Parlament And this is more full absolute and peremptory then the Canon of Trullum as you see for heere that is granted which is there denyed there was a limitation to one wife a prohibition from a widdow heere hell gate it set wide open and leaue giuen to the Clergy to take more wiues or widdowes no lesse then for any other men without any limitation or prohibition at all 74. But the statute albeit fuller then the Canon yet commeth short of another made in the 2. and 3. yeares of the same King when at one blow they chopped off all these points togeather which either in the Trullan or other Councells whatsoeuer had beene defined against them for in despight of all the world besides contrary to to the whole course of the Christian Church Generall Councells and continuall practise of all tymes and places especially of our owne country thus it was determined and set downe for a law Be it eneacted by our Soueraign Lord the King with the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporall c. that all and euery law and lawes Canons constitutions and ordinances heertofor made by authority of man only which doth prohibit or forbid marriage to any Ecclesiasticall A most full peremptory and absolute decree or spirituall person or persons of what estate condition or degree they be or by what name or names soeuer they be called which by Gods law may lawfully marry in all and euery article branch and sentence concerning only the prohibition for the marriage of the persons aforesayd shall be vtterly voyd and of none effect And that all manner of forfeatures payns penaltyes crymes or actions which were in the sayd lawes conteyned and of the same did follow concerning the prohibition for the marriage of the persons aforesayd be clearly and vtterly voyde and of none effect to all intents constructions purposes as well concerning marriages heeretofore made by any Ecclesiasticall or spiritual persons aforesayd as also such which shall be duely and lawfully had celebrated and made betwixt the
his word shall suggest in this question if you draw your opinion from M. Hall and me and that so far as neither of vs both may be belieued but according to the proof we shall bring the truth soone will shew herselfe in her natiue colours you shall know where to find follow her but then you must not let M. Halls bare word make white blacke nor blacke white nor his sayings be an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and able to make a Conuenticle a Synod a seditious Assembly a generall Councell or his reiection bring disparagement to any true Councel vnles it be seconded by better authority of more ancient and sincere writers And the like of myne to him which indifferency is so equall as more cannot be desired or let M. Hall if he can propose it and I bind my selfe to imbrace it 115. To know then whether Councells be true and lawfull to be admitted or refused dependeth vpon all the circumstances of their calling determining according to the analogy of fayth belieued and deliuered by the Church such A necessary rule Councells as haue not swarued from this rule nor haue beene noted of errour schisme or faction nor contradicted by the writers of that tyme and succeeding Councells are to be held for good and lawfull because they are knowne to agree with the common vniuersall and Catholike beliefe and that spirit which knitteth al the members of this mysticall body togeather if in any thing they had swarued they had not past without due checke reprehension which is much in this matter to be poÌ„dered for wheras M. Hall bringeth but one poore petty conuenticle and painteth it out like Esops Daw with many stolne fethers to make it seeme a fayre bird I haue by the authours of that tyme disproued the same as schismaticall of no credit let M. Hall shew the same in the Councells produced by vs to the contrary and he shall do somewhat let him name the authour that condemned the histories that mention them to be schismaticall other Councells that reiected them and the like but if he cannot do this then must our Councells be allowed their authority sacred their testimonyes irrefragable the least of them able to ouerbeare millions of the Trullan or such like exorbitant conspiracyes 116. And this supposed which by the laws of equity cannot be denyed we bring for this truth I meane against the marriage of Clergy men Councels gathered in all the parts of Christendome all called and kept within the first seauen hundred yeares after Christ that M. Hall if yet any sparke of grace be in him may with blushing recall his wordes with which he concludeth this matter saying for seauen hundred years A shameles assertion you find nothing but open freedome to wit for all Bishops Priests Deacons to take wiues which is so grosse an vntruth as it may serue for seauen hundred togeather for all the Fathers he hath brought are either against him or corrupted shamefully by him and this Councell is of no proofe or if it were it maketh far more for vs then for him and whence then commeth this freedome in what places and persons in what Church or Prouince for I am sure that neither in Asia Europe and Africke hath it had this continuance and freedome I feare M. Hall in the end wil runne to Terra Virginea Guiana Chyna Mexico or some other regions vnder the Antarticke Pole to find it out 117. For to begin with Asia vnder which I Asia include all the Greeke Church that hath yielded vs against M. Hall three Councells two prouinciall one generall the first held at Ancyra in Corcil Ancyraâ— Can. 10. Galatia wherin it is defined Quicumque Diaconi constituti in ipsa constitutione testificati sunt c. What Deacons soeuer that are ordered if in their ordination they did testify and say that they must marry wiues because they could not remaine in single life if such shall afterwards marry let them remayne in the Ministery because it is graunted them by the Bishop but if any say nothing in their ordination they are receaued with condition so to remaine if they afterwards do marry let them cease or be deposed from their Deaconish So the Councel and by Deacons to marry as Binius wel noteth are to be vnderstood such The vow of chastity where no exception is made annexed vnto orders as were perforce made Deacons as some were also in the same manner made Priests though they neuer had this permission as before I haue shewed out of S. Augustine and if such Deacons did not expresse this exception by force of the order they were held vncapable of marriage aâ— hauing annexed vnto it tacitum votum an implyed vow of perpetuall chastity And if in Deacons much more in Priests Bishops c. 118. M. Francis Godwin in his Catalogue of English Bishops amongst other his mistakings Francis Godwin in his Catalogue pag. 136. and 137. attributeth this Canon to the second Councell of Arles in France in the yeare 326. but in that Councell it is not extant nor was it euer lawfull in the Latin Church especially of Europe as far as I can find after the taking of holy orders to marry and the note he addeth that Restitutus Bishop of London was marryed needeth more proofe then his bare affirmation vnles perhaps he liued apart from his wife as the Trullan Councell after ordeyned and S. Gregory of Towers sheweth to haue beene the Ecclesiasticâ—ll custome before for no Church either Greeke or Latin euer permitted Bishops to accoÌ„pany with their wiues but commanded them to liue apart from them in perpetuall continency and the very first Canon of this Councell is Assumi aliquem ad Sacerdotium non posse in vinculo coniugij constitutum Can. 1. nisi fuerit promissa conuersio One cannot be made Priest in the band of wedlocke vnles he promise conuersion that is to abstaine from his wife liue apart from her and vow chastity Which explication of the sense and meaning of the word conuersion is warranted by two other Councells to wit the first of Arausica where of Arausicâ— 1. anâ—â— 4410 c. â—â—â— Deacons it is sayd Non ordinentur coniugati nisi quiprius conuersionis proposito professi suerint castitatem Let none be ordered Deacons but such as haue first of purpose or intention of conuersion professed or vowed chastity and againe in the Councell of Agatha Si coniugati inuenes consenserint Agathâ—â— Concil anno 5â—â— c. 16. ordinari etiam vxorum voluntas ita requirenda est vt sequestrato mansionis cubiculo religions promissa postea qui pariter conuersi fuerint ordinentur If any marryed yong men so they be not vnder the age of 25. yeares for such are excluded by the same Canon shall agree togeather to take orders the intention of their wiues is so first to be required that they separate themselus from the chamber of
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
light there will be no disputing against such willfull and precipitate pride and hereticall arrogancy But others I hope are of a more vpright iudgment and will not disesteeme so sacred so constant so generally receaued authority to which I might add our owne nationall Synods but M. Halls method causeth me to put them ouer to another place and therefore heere I end this Controuersy of the Trullan Synod and there with all this whole Paragraffe The later Part of M. Halls Letter is examined The fiction of S. Vdalricus his Epistle to Pope Nicholas the first is refuted Gregory the VII defended and withall is declared the practise of our owne Countrey euen from the Conuersion vnder S. Gregory §. 3. AS men in their dreames do often conceaue great wealth and golden mountaynes with many prosperous and fortunate euents that are befallen them which afterwards proue nothing els but idle motions of their vnsettled fancy which being to be directed by reason is then left to her owne operation and hauing no determinate obiect or end produceth strange Chimeras monsters against nature to which like Iohn Dunns Pse-domartyr nec pes nec caput vni Dunns Pseudomartyr a meere bundle of rotten rags ill fauouredly bound togeather reddatur formae as being a disioynted gall-ma-frey of many things hudled vp togeather whereof no one part or patch agreeth with another so it seemeth to haue fared with M. Hall who like him of Athens that perswaded himselfe that all the ships which came into the hauen were fraught with his goods so still fed his mind with ioy of imaginary riches although neither ships nor any thing in them appertayned vnto him not out of reason but strong phantastical imagination thinketh all Authors to stand for him and still beateth on this string that for the first seauen hundred yeares all Priests were in possession of their wiues all the world went for him in full liberty and freedome when as the quite contrary is so euident as nothing can be more so many Fathers Historyes Councels giuing testimony for the truth as you haue heard and M. Hall himselfe if yet his reason be returned home after his sleep and be able to ouer beare his fancy must needs acknowledg seeing himselfe so destitute of all authority but his owne or such as is to be regarded no better then his owne that none at all stand for him in this plea against vs. 2. And truely in respect of M. Hall little help is needfull to refute him because he so refuteth M. Hall ouerthrowne by his owne Authours himselfe as his aduersary shall need no better weapons to ouerthrow him then his owne words for euen heere he telleth vs That all the scuffling arose in the eight age wherein yet this violent imposition sound many and learned Aduersaryes and durst not be obtruded at once So he and al in his dreame for in case he had beene waking he could not but haue knowne what himselfe wrote before out of the Trullan Synod where the very first words of his sacred Canon are Quoniam in Romana Ecclesia loco Canonis seu Decreti traditum esse Concil Trulâ—an Can. Can. 23. cognouimus c. For that we haue knowne it desired in the Roman Church by way of Canon or Decree that such Deacons or Priests as are to be esteemed worthy of ordering professe for the tyme to come neuer to know their wiues c. Which words alluding no doubt to the former Canons cyted out of the Latin Councells shew the continency of Clergy men to haue beene long in vse before that Synod 3. Wherfore the scuffling if there were any was not as he fancyeth to take away wiues and bring in single life but the contrary by preseruing single life to debarre from marriage or vse of wiues such as of marryed men were made Ecclesiasticall And whereas the Trullan Synod contradicted this custome and in their decree against it sayd that from that day forward such as were marryed before might keep and know their wiues they brought in a new law began to scuffle and ruffle for the graunt of that which was before forbidden though yet they did shoot short of M. Halls buts and not yield the halfe of what he would haue so as in his aforesayd words are three vntruths The one that Three vntruths in one short sentence this scuffling was to bring in the continency of Clergy men which was brought in before and was neuer out of vse and this was only to preserue it being already in possession against the violent opposition of incontinent Grecians and others who claimed marriage The second that this found many and learned aduersaryes for against this long and laudable custome of the single life of Clergy men none but Heretikes or Schismatikes opposed themselues of whose wickednes we read much of their learning nothing The third that it was not obtruded al at once but by degrees Where M. Hall and when in the Latin Church So you insinuate by that you add out of Pope Gregory the third and that also in his tyme but fye on this impudency which affirmes that to be begon by Gregory the third which by more then thirty Councells was defyned before his tyme I cannot but heer say with S. Augustine Miror si in sacie hominis tantum August lib 1. in Iulian. c. â— in fine interuallum est inter frontem linguam vt in hac causa srons non comprimat linguam I wonder if there be so great distance betweene the forhead and the tongue that in this matter the forehead doth not keep the tongue backe from such ouer lashing 4. And this the more for that in all the testimonyes which he hath raked together to proue this liberty and freedome in the first seauen hundred years he hath not brought one out of the Latin Church but S. Cyprian of Asricke whome he maketh to speake that of Numidicus which he neuer thought nor sayd all other his M. Hall could find no Latin Fathers of the primitiue Church for the marriage of Ecclesiastical persons allegations are of the Greeke Fathers of the Greek Church and for defect of Latin Fathers he stuffeth his paper with the names and authorityes of Panormitan Caietan Gratian Pius secundus and other late writers and yet heere as though all the Latin Fathers and Church no lesse then the Greekes had ioyntly conspired in this controuersy he speaketh oâ— the violent imposition and obtrusion of this law as though that Gregory the third first of all by little and little would haue brought it into the Church but was afrayd to be too bold in the beginning and therefore is faigned to giue a disiunct charge which is a meere dreame falshood and foolery and hath not so much as the least shaddow of any probability but let vs heare his words 5. Lo euen then sayth he Gregory the 3. A meere forgery writing to the Bishops of Bauaria
speach as euen in that very Countrey there wanted not those who did both honour and reuerence him and that not particuler persons alone as Lambertus other learned and vertuous men but whose cittyes and states as Auspurg Saxony c. and out of Germany all honoured him as a most worthy zealous Bishop and Malmesbury our best and Marian. Sco. lib. 3. Chron. most incorrupt writer after S. Bede doth neuer mention him but with honour or his Aduersaryes without touch of disgrace and of this particuler decree thus S. Anselme wrot in England Anselm ep 8. in edit verò Coloniensi anni 1612. epist 56. De Presbyteris verò qui se apertè reproba libidinis conuersatione Deo reprobabiles exhibent c. Of the Priests who by their wicked lustful conuersation make themselues reprobate before God that without question is to obserued which the Apostolicall prouidence to wit of Gregory the seauenth for that title is giuen to the Popes decree as successour to the chiefe Apostle S. Peter by Ecclesiasticall and iust rigour hath determined to wit that it is no way conuenient that there the people should reuerently attend where the Priests stubbornly stincking with open and impudent leachery coÌ„temning God his Saints do serue at the Altars yea they do not serue at the altars but defile themselues So S. Anselme who was so far as you see from iudging this fact of Gregory to be Antichristian as he condemneth the incontinent Priests and commended the Apostolicall prouidence togeather with the Ecclesiasticall and iust rigour of this constant vertuous and most zealous Pastour 72. And in Italy Godesridus Viterbiensis sayth the same and recounteth the fact with honour Gregorius sayth he Papa coÌ„nubia Clericorum à Subdiaconatu supra per totum orbem Romanum edicto decretali in eternum prohibuit ac seipsum athletam Dei pro domo Domini murum constituit Pope Gregory by a decretal edict did for euer forbid the marriage of Clergy men throughout all the Roman state or Latin Church from the Subdeacon vpward and made himselfe Gods champion and a wall for the house of our Lord. So he And heer also we see no such ringing of this Pope for Antichrist but great prayse and commendation of him that euen for this fact of restrayning the loose Clergy by canonicall censures and deposition 73. In Germany diuers there were who not only much commended Pope Gregory but also approued this particuler prohibition as Lambertus who then liued and of all others was most punctuall and lesse partial in setting down all the particulers of that bitter contention and of Priests wiues thus writeth Hildebrandus Papa cum Episcopis Italiae conueniens c. Hildebrand the Pope togeather with the Bishops of Italy had in diuers Synods decreed that according to the order of ancient Canons Priests haue no wiues and such as haue that eyther they dismisse them or be deposed neyther that any at all be admitted to Priesthood who professeth not perpetual continency and single life So he And this was the common sense opinion and iudgment of all the learned at that tyme as appeareth by Nauâ—lerus who setteth downe the same wordes Pasciâ—ulus tempoâ—t m. VVerneri Bertholdus Constan in Chron. Otho Eâ—isingen l. 6. alij and approueth them and the like touching the allowance of the Popes decree do the German Authours heere cyted and diuers others which I omit 74. It followeth in M. Halls words At the Councell of VVormes the French and German Bishops deposed this Gregory So he But there was no true Councell no French Bishops no deposition at all No Councell for that it was of the Emperours No french Bishops in the Councell of Wormes calling and that not only without all order of the supreme Pastour but of purpose to crosse and contradict him for hauing consulted the matter with his Nobility and hauing heard the answere and resolution of Gregory that either he should dismisse the Bishops he kept in prison with restitution of their goods and call a Councell in some place wherein the Pope himselfe might be present or els to be excommunicated he searing himselfe and well knowing his actions to such as if they had byn brought in that open theater of the whol world to publike tryall that no other effect could ensue but his euerlasting shame and disgrace was perswaded to preuent one Councell by calling another a true Generall by a false National to couer his owne foule deeds began to forge others as foule on the Pope partly touching his life which as Lambertus noteth was so inculpable so Saintlike as no aspersion could sticke on him of their iniuriously deuised slaunders but especially touching his election which although it were most canonicall as is to be seen in Platina and others and wholy against the inclination of Gregory himselfe elected yet were they not ashamed to charge him with ambition and to haue gotten the place by bribes and simony and vpon this false ground all were compelled in that Councell to sweare and subscribe to a renunciation of that Pope his authority the forme of which is set downe in the Saxon history before mentioned 75. And whereas M. Hall sayth the French and German Bishops in that Councell deposed Gregory I answere him that no French Bishops were called none were present but such only who were immediatly subiect vnto the Emperour as the Bishop of Metz a Dutch man and Treuers which are Imperiall cittyes Omnes quâ— in Regno suo essent Episcopos sayth Lambertus Abbates VVormatiae Dominica Septuagesima conuenire praecepit He commanded all the Bishops Abbots of his owne Countrey not of France to meet togeather at VVormes and the number assembled well sheweth that they were all of Germany or the adioyning territoryes of the Emperour there being but foure and twenty Bishops â—n all that assembly as both Sigebert and Marianus Scotus who then liued do recount the Bishop of Mentz in particuler was so far from approuâ—ing the fact of the other schismatical Bishops â—s he togeather with the Bishop of VVirtzburg or Herbipolis did openly withstand it saying that it was against the Canons that any Bishop being absent without a generall Councell without lawful accusers without competent witnes without euiction of the things obiected should be coÌ„demned much lesse that the chiefe Bishop and Pastour of the whole Church against whome no accusation of any Bishop or Archbishop whatsoeuer is to be admitted should in that manner be dealt with all So these Bishops 76. But what as in the infamous Ephesine The Ephesine Councell called by Dioscorus the Eutichian Patriarke of Alexandria Councell called by the diuelish deuises of Dioscorus the Eutichian Patriarke where swordes and clubs more preuayled then truth or learning through the violence of Theodosius the yonger this his champion Dioscorus force made the fearfull to yield their hands to that which their harts did abhorre
renowned Pastour kept their vowes and were not shaken with that tempest bu 〈…〉 a few stincking impure goates giuen ouer 〈…〉 ll lust and leachery whome neither feare of God nor shame of men nor vow though neuer so solemne nor band though neuer so strong was able to conteyne 18. Touching our English Clergy M. Hall is very briefe and hath scant six lines in his text thereof yet as few as they be they contradict The English Clergy the Comment he maketh on them in his margent for in the Text the bickering began with S. Dunstane in the margent with S. Anselme in the Text we learne out of our owne historyes how late how repiningly how vniustly the Clergy stooped vnder this yoke by S. Dunstane in the margent S. Anselme was the first that euer forbadde marriage to the Clergy of England till then euer free If euer free till then how came it to passe that S. Dunstane more then a hundred years before that tyme had made the Clergy so repiningly and vniustly to stoop vnder the yoke of continency or single life how is he free that hath his neck in the yoke If S. Dunstane made them stoop a hundred years and more before S. Anselme then truely can it not be sayd that S. Anselme was the first that euer forbad marriage or that vntill this tyme it had beene alwayes free to marry Of what credit his two Authors alleadged are is there declared and further out of S. Gregory Bede VVolstane Anselme Malmesbury c. out of Nationall Councels and other proof it is shewed our English Clergy in the first plaÌ„tation in the continuance and alwayes in generall to haue beene continent vntil the tyme of King Edward the sixt though sometyms in the troubled state of the Land in some places this beastlines began but was neuer publickly allowed neyther can M. Hall or his two Authors Fox and Bale shew any one publicke decree any one Canon of Councell any one authenticall Charter or Record of so much as any one single Bishop extant to the contrary 19. All which being thus declared and as The particularity of M. Hals vaunt is briefly examined occasion serued the vniforme practise of all the Christian Church in Asia Europe and Africke shewed to stand for vs and the very Authors of any account brought by M. Hall himselfe to the contrary to be more ours then his as well for the Apostles themselues and Apostolicall tymes as also for the ensuing ages after M. VVhiting may see the truth of this Thrasonicall vaunt that M. Hall maketh when he telleth him for a farewell that he hath fetcht this truth far inough For before K. Edward the sixth not far off God wot he can fetch nothing to proue the large liberty now vsurped by our English Clergy if the marryed Ministers with their wiues may so be tearmed with their wiues I say because their wiues are as much Clergy women as they Clergy men in one word haue as true calling to teach preach minister their Sacraments as their husbands haue And when this man out of his wandring imaginatioÌ„ further adioyneth that he hath deduced it low inough through many ages to the middst of the rage of Antichristian tyranny I must tell him that he hath made no other deduction theÌ„ of his own ignorance lyes folly which without breach or intermission like an entiere thrid are begun and followed to the end of his letter all the rage of Antichristian tyranny he speaketh of is nothing els but the outragious rayling of a Phantastical sycophant who for want of learning and truth is forced to talke of that he doth not vnderstaÌ„d to confirme one lye by another to mistake what he should proue and to forget all modesty 20. There left sayth he our liberty there began their bondage Where M. Hall do you meane In Terra Florida Virginia or Vtopia For the word there is referred to place and not to tyme or if you will abusiuely take it from tyme I demaund wheÌ„ this lâ—centious liberty for the marriage of Priests began to be restrayned If as before you signifyed vnder the first and second Nicholas vnder the 9. Leo and 7. Gregory your owne Trullan Councell before these tymes is against you which forbids your Bishops to marry at all or keep company with their wiues would permit no Priest to marry And that no Priest might be marryed I haue cyted in the end of the second Paragraffe many Councells out of all the coasts of Christendom And whereas he further addeth our liberty is happily renewed with the Ghospell it is hard to define what liberty happines what Ghospell he meaneth and of what God what Church he talketh when he sayth what God what his Church hath euer allowed we do inioy for this Church is som inuisible castle in the ayre neuer seene on the earth and this VVe is equiuocall and may include Lutherans Caluinists Protestants or Puritans let it include all or some one branch among all of these sects yet is the lye notorious for in all the Christian Church this liberty hath euer beene banished 21. The Greeke Churches sayth he do thus and thus haue euer done if he meane as he seemeth that these Churches vse the liberty of the English Church renewed by this later Ghospel it is too to grosse an vntruth and yet not proued by any See censura Orientaâ—is Ecclesiae c. vltim in principio capitis one authority of the Fathers nor yet of his sacred Trullan Conuenticle and M. Hall doth wel to name the Greek Schismatical Church of this day which yet coÌ„meth short in this very point of the English for in all his Letter he hath not brought one aÌ„cient authority for the Churches of Europe and Africke more then one only of S. Cyprian touching the exaple of Numidicus which if any sparke of shame be left may make him blush to thinke vpon All the rest are broken peeces out of S. Vdalricus Gratian Panormitan Pius 2. Caietan others eyther in themselues counterfeit or with the coÌ„trouersy in hand nothing at all coherent 22. Wherfore to end this matter with him for whome I began it I hope now good Syr that you see M. Halls valour to haue been valued by yourselfe at too high a rate euen there to haue fayled where you esteemed most of his ability in this matter I meane where besides meere babling what hath he proued how many words hath he vsed cyted authorityes only to cast a clowd vpon the truth and to hide it from the eyes of his simple Reader Many are his M. Halls impertinencyes braggs his citations thicke his promises great his confidence singular but his wit is weake his ability small his performance nothing After his first entrance with lyes which continually increase he mistaketh the state of the question and talketh of many things not denyed by his aduersary not in controuersy between him and vs he bringeth
is so far from being an euiction as it is a childish illusion and that he cannot but laugh at it Vtricreditis auditeres whome had you rather belieue and follow these most learned and renowned Doctours or this ridiculous light headed Minister 55. Neither do these two alone though they alone where nothing is brought to the contrary might suffice follow this exposition for except Clemens Alexandrinus whose singularity Clem. Alexan 3. Stromâ—t â— in this against the maine multitude of others we rather seeke to excuse then follow and perhaps for this amongst other thinges did Gelasius condemne his bookes as Apocriphall besides him I say al others as well Greeke as Latin interpret as we do So S. Ambrose Tertullian S. Cyprian if he and not Origen were the author of the worke desingularitate Clericorum Primasius Haimo S. Bede S. Thomas and others of the Latin Church and of the Greeke S. Chrysostome Theodoret Occumenius Theophilactus c. who as I suppose vnderstood Greeke somewhat better then our English Ministers do and to charge all these with childish illusions or to laugh at them may better beseeme the franticke folly of some lewd Minister then the iudgment or grauity of any discreet and sober man 56. Againe it is to be noted that Clement albeit he acknowledged more Apostles to haue Clemens Alexandrinus fauoureth not M. Halls cause had wiues then other authors will graunt albeit he interpret S. Paul of carrying them about a pretty vagary for the Apostles wiues to runne vp and downe all the world ouer after their husbands yet doth he deny that they vsed them as wiues but only as sisters so as neither the authority cited out of him or S. Ignatius whome he also citeth maketh any thing against vs at al supposing all were graunted which they say for touching our coÌ„trouersy as well may we graunt all the Apostles to haue had wiues as one and as much difficulty there is to answere one as all for it suffiseth vs that after their calling to be Apostles they vsed not their wiues which Clement confesseth though as Baronius proueth S. Paul had no wife for which we may cite S. Paul Ambros exhâ—re ad vâ—gâ—â—it initio himselfe Non potuisset sayth S. Ambrose ad tantam Apostolatus sui peruentre gratiam si fuisset alligâ—tus coniugij contubernio He could neuer haue come to so great honour of his Apostleship if he had beene tyed to a wife So he the testimony of S. Ignatius to the contrary is a meet forgery of tâ—e â—ther Grecians there being no such thing to be found in all the more ancient copyes that are extant 57. But sayth M. Hall their owne Cardinall learned Câ—ietan dâ—th auouch and euince it We acknowledge Câ—ietan to be our Cardinall we acknowledge Cardinall Caietan neuer allowâ—d that Priests should marry him to haue beene learned especially in schoole learning which far traÌ„scends this poor Epistlers capacity and in interpreting the Scriptures we no lesse acknowledge him to haue had his errours among which this may passe for one of turning S. Paul his companion into his wife wherin he not only swarueth from all commentaryes This place of S. Paul is answered by Bellarmin cap. 20. §. ad loâ—um ex Philip. Greeke and Latin but euen from Caluin and Beza M. Halls great Rabbyns and yet for the cause in hand maketh nothing against vs who rest contented with eyther of these two graunts to wit that he was not marryed at all or if he were marryed that he vsed not his wife after he was made an Apostle and this later our owne learned Cardinall doth both auouch and euince for vs and that in this very place by M. Hall in these Caietan â—om in c. 4. ad Phil. wordes Constantissimè credo nullatenus dubito c I do most constantly belieue no wayes doubt that if S. Paul had no wife before his conuersion that he neuer had any at al for hauing committed vnto him the charge of preaching the Ghospell ouer the whole world he had beene the veryest foole aliue and had gaynsayd the doctrine of Christ if he had marryed a wife and much comfort must the wife haue had of such a husband still ouerwhelmed with iniuryes stripes wounds brands vncertainty of place and excessiue pouerty these I say had beene dainty M Hal by his owne Autâ—ours proued to be stubborne marriages Againe I would most earnestly defend yea clearly euince and perswade one who were not stubborne for it were most easy not one of the Apostls of Christ who followed him after their calling not only not to haue marryed but to haue renounced their wiues which before they had taken So our learned Cardinall will M. Hall allow this learning I thinke not and therefore I may well challenge this Cardinall to be truly ours in this controuersy and all his auoucbing and euincing to be against the Protestants so good choice hath he made of an Aduocate But let vs proceed 58. To end this matter of the Apostles he coÌ„meth from their practise as he sayth to their Constitutions bids his Reader looke in these The Canon of the Apostles CanoÌ„s which the Romish Church fathers vpon the Apostle Fran. Turrian their Iesuit sweats to defend it in a whol volume there you find Can. 5. See this answered in Bellarmine c. 21. §. ad 1. Respondet Hubertus enacted that no Bishop Presbyter Deacon shall forsake his wife 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in preteÌ„ce of Religion vpon paine of deposition it would moue laughter to see how the Iesuits gnaw vpoÌ„ this bone suck in nothing but the bloud of their own iawes while the sixt Generall Councell auers and proclaims this sense truely Apostolicall in spight of all contradiction Hitherto M Hall In which words if you marke them wel M. Hall vrgeth the Apostles Canons for proofe yet will haue theÌ„ to be counterfeit one part doth ouerthrow the other for he sayth of the Canons that the Romish Church fathers them vpon the Apostles that the Iesuits sweat to defend it which is as much as if he had sayd that they are not indeed theirs and by Protestants they are disauowed neither in other things will M. Hall stand to their authority Wherefore this Canon euen in his own opinion is not so Canonicall as now he would make it how then doth he tell M. VVhiting this was their practise what was their constitution How is it made such a hard lone as he who gnawes it can sucke in nothing but bloud out of his owne iawes For granting that it was not made by the Apostles which Protestants do and we may also if we list there is no hardnes or difficulty in it at all Wherefore to obtrude it for such is a meere coosenage of his friend and deluding of his Reader or if he more then his mates will admit these Canons then let him expound vs the
him also vnles some other of more fidelity had likewise affirmed the same 21. Moreouer there are in the Councell it selfe two Canons the first and the third made vpon one occasion to wit for that Leontius a Priest the more freely to keep a yong mayd in The Councell of Neece allowed not marriage of Priests Can. 1. Can. ◠his house had made himselfe an Eunuch for which he was deposed and after became an Arrian the Councell in the first Canon prouideth that none vnder paine of deposition offer violence to his owne body as Leontius had done then to put the axe vnder the root of the tree and remoue all occasion of whotsoeuer disorder heereafter in that kind the third Canon forbiddeth all Bishops Priests Deacons to haue any woman in their houses vnles it be their mother sister or aunt by the Father or such only of whome there can be no suspition and where is the wife in this enumeration truely if Priests may liue freely with their wius I see not why their wiues may not as freely haue what mayds they list to tend their children and wait on themselus besides their husbands aunt sister or mother who I thinke will not so easily be drawne to stoop to that attendance Let our Bishops try and they will find my wordes true if the Councell had allowed these wiues why doth it only speake of the Priest his mother sister aunt and nothing of the sister Mother aunt of his wife Doubles for no other reason but for that these wiues were vnknowne no The Protestants haue none to adhere vnto for the marriage of Priests but condemned heretiks man then dreamed of the Protestāt Heteroclital Clergy so dislonant from others as it is without example vnles it be of such whome though they shame not to follow yet may they blush to name Iouinian Vigilantius and other heretikes 22. Last of all S. Leo the Great liuing at the same tyme with Socrates writing to the Greke Bishop Anastasius of Thessalonica sheweth the practise then iointly to conspire with this now and he writeth in such manner as if the thing were out of question without contradiction knowne acknowledged by all for speaking of the excellency of Priesthood he bringeth this for proofe thereof Sacerdotum tà m excellent est electio Leo. ep 84. cap. 4. vt haec quae in alijs Ecclesiae membris non vocantur ad culpam in illis tamen habeantur illicita c. The calling of Priests is so eminent that those things which in other members of the Church are not reputed for a fault are yet in them vnlawfull for whereas for such as are not of the Clergy it is free to marry and beget children notwithstanding to shew the purity of perfect continency carnall wedlocke is denyed vnto Subdeacons that both those who haue wiues may be as if they had them not they who haue them not may remaine single but if this be worthy to be kept in this order which is the fourth from the head how much more is it to be kept in the first second and third least any should be thought fit for the Leuitical ministery or Priestly honour or Episcopall excellency who is discouered not yet to haue refrained from coniugall carnality Hitherto S. Leo. 23. And this not only concludeth against the former Historian the testimony being so direct and the writer so graue but refuteth also the other example which M. Hall doth produce out of Socrates concerning Heliodorus Bishop of Trica deposed from his Bishopricke as Nicephorus writeth for his wanton verses and made to be the first author of single life in the Clergy of Thessulia because in the same chapter he hath the Many mistakings of Socrates in one Chapter other three vntruthes aboue rehearsed and this may be numbred for the fourth and we may ad for the fifth his Paradoxe when like an honest Protestant he affirmeth that fasting is free and to be vsed only when we list our selues so as I meruail not if he were so great a friend to wiues that so little fauoured abstinency and all these vntruthes being found in this chapter cyted it may well be tearmed a lying chaprer but howsoeuer he being an Heretike and contradicted in this by S. Hierome S. Epiphanius S. Leo and others deserueth no credit at all or further refutation 24. Yet before I leaue this lying chapter I must needs adioyne one more which the same Author maketh therein and M. Hall doth also alleadge that al which he hath of him may passe togeather vnder one view thus then he maketh him to speake concerning the practise of the East Church Socrates sayth he thus flatly writs of those Bishops of his tyme for many of them in the place and function of Bishops beget children of their lawfull wiues I graunt that Socrates writeth the words but with three other circumstances which M. Hall should not haue concealed the one that these Bishops were marryed before their ordination the other that the famous Bishops and Priests did the contrary so as these seeme to haue been some infamous obscure Bishops and of no account among the rest lastly that the other custome was more general in the East especially in Thessalia Macedonia and Greece and Nicephorus relating the same thing almost Nicephor lib 12. c. 34. verbatim out of Socrates sayth that this custome of deposing Priests who after their orders taken did againe know their wiues Thessalonicae atque in Macedonia Graecia omni seruata est Is obserued at Thessalonica and in Macedonia and in all Greece though both take Greece for that speciall Prouince so properly called both in this do erre which I meruaile M. Hall did not mention whē they auouch this chastity although vsuall yet to haue beene meer arbitrary and not imposed by any law and Heliodorus as I haue sayd to haue beene the first Author therof in Thessalia neither of which can stand with that which S. Hierome S. Epiphanius S. Basil S. Leo and others haue writen neither is it likely that Heliodorus who rather would loose his Bishopricke then recal his lasciuious booke would be so eager aboue the Heliodorus his wanton booke entituled Aethiopia rest for the continency of his Clergy and it cannot but moue laughter to see M. Hall tearme him in his margent Author of the Aethiopicke historyes as if Heliodorus had written some history of Aethiopia whereas he only intituled his wanton work Aethiopia and wrote no more history thereof then Syr Phillip Sidney did of Arcadia or Apuletus of the Arcadian Nightingale that sings so sweetly to the Harp 25. But not to stand on this but on the mayne point in question that there was no law for the cōtinency of Clergy men especially Bishops in Greece is clearely refuted by the Fathers alleadged and S. Epiphanins expresly mentioneth Epiphan haeres 59. Canons heere denyed and the continuall vse and tradition of the Church
persons which by the law of God may lawfully marry So there 75. And now who so will paralell this parlament with M. Halls sacred Councell of Trullum The decrees of the CouÌ„cell and parlameÌ„t paralelled shall soone see how short the one commeth of the other the Synod I meane of the Statute for that in the former is only leaue giuen to Priests to keep their wiues which they had marryed before their ordination and in the Parlament is an absolute leaue giuen to all and that whether they were marryed before or after In that Councell Bishops were to put their wiues far from them heer they are permitted to keep them at home or if they had none to seeke and marry them there the second marriage or els the taking of a widdow made men incapable of holy orders heere no multitude of wiues or widdows do hinder at all there to haue known a Nunne was sacriledge heere if she list to marry there is open freedome and no prohibition there euen in M. Halls Canon Subdeacons Deacons and Priests that did serue by course in the Church where to forbeare their wiues for the tyme of their attendance heere is no more restraint for that tyme then for any other there it was a constitution of the Apostles not to marry after they were in holy orders heer wher all things went out of order Gods law is to the contrary in fine this reuerseth all that was ordeyned in that Councel against the Protestants and therefore in the behalfe of the marriage of their Clergy men this is without comparison far more full and absolute then that 76. And as for peremptorines that was heer very singular for what could be more peremptory The Parlament in K. Edwards dayes very peremptory and resolute then for a few Sectaryes of a little Iland to sit vpon all Councells Canons Constitutions and all Ecclesiasticall lawes made and allowed by the whole Christian Church a few loose Grecians excepted and without all controle practised for so many ages togeather and to proclaime them all inualide of none effect and further to call them though defyned againe and againe in neuer so many Councells Generall Prouinciall National as after shall be shewed to be the Lawes Canons Constitutions and ordinances made by authority of man only as if the authority of the whole Church were but the authority of man which is subiect to errour and had not the warrant of Christ for her direction and infalibility and as though that Parlament had had more authority then of a man only to wit either Angelical or Diuine when as many therein assembled were not Angels God wot the chiefe dealers in this broken matter were scant honest men and as for diuine authority it was inough for them to name the law of God which righly vnderstood made as much for them as the lawes or our land doe for theeues murtherers and other malefactours 77. Which desperate attempt was somewhat Iacke Straw in the tyme of K. Richard the second like the proceeding of Iacke Straw VVat Tiler Iohn Bull c. in the tyme of Richard the 2. when without authority they sate in Councell to suppresse al the nobility Bishops Canons c to kill all the lawyers and burne the lawes of the realme and of the Clergy to leaue none aliue but only begging Fryers for as that attempt of subiects was seditious treasonable because done against the authority dignity person of the King and lawes of the land so was this of â— few schismaticall Bishops and other lay men who stil haue beene striuing to meddle in Ecclesiasticall affayres â—o lesse rebellious schismatical and hereticall against the Church of Christ for they who sat in this Councell had no authority ouer the Church but were subiect to her lawes as members thereof and such Pastours as were present in the same were subordinate to others of higher calling without whose consent authority and approbation they could not conclude any Ecclesiastical new law preiudiciall to the former more then Iacke Straw his consorts against the Ciuill much lesse could they ouerthrow a law by diuers Synods so often confirmed and still in vse from the first planting of the The Parlament only a ciuill Court fayth in the Iland that also being no tribunall to decide Ecclesiasticall but temporall and Ciuill for which only all nationall Parlaments are summoned a Parlament may confirme by decree what the Bishops in Synod haue defyned for the better execution of Ecclesiasticall lawes but make laws or define matters of that nature being only a Ciuill Court it cannot 78. Wherefore to end this matter hauing shewed the large difference that is between these two different decrees which is as much as I did vndertake to do against M. Hall or els to be cast in this cause it resteth now that out of these premises his owne graunt I conclud against him and say as our Sauiour sayd to the wicked seruant in the Ghospell ex ore tuo te iudico serue nequam I iudge thee wicked seruant out of thyne owne mouth for thus if you remember he sayd If any Protestant Church in Christendom can make a more M. Hall coÌ„cluded to be faithles peremptory more full and absolute more cautelous decree then the 13. of the Trullan Synod for the marriage of Ecclesiasticall persons let me be cond 〈…〉 ed as saythles to which maior or first proposition set downe in his owne wordes I add this minor bue the statutes of Edward sixt are more peremptory more full more absolute more cautelous for they take away all scruple and remorse then that decree the conclusion wâ—ll necessarily follow ergo he is to be condemned as faythles or els he must shew wherin this syllogisme either for matter forme or figure doth faile which he shal neuer be able to do 79. The Apostle amongst other notes of an heretike putteth this for one that he is proprio iudicio Tit. 3. condemnatus condemned by his owne iudgment or a S. Cyprian in diuers places conforme Heretikes condemned by theÌ„selues to the Greeke readeth à semetipso is condemned by himselfe which may very fitly be applyed to M. Hâ—ll who is taken as you see in his own turne and condemned by himselfe and that either to want honesty if King Edwards lawes be more ful absolute c. then the other which he alleadgeth or els to be deuoyd of all shame if he stand in denyall of that which euery one perceaueth to be so manifest and notorious He shal neuer be able so to direct his barke though he were neuer so skillfull a Pilot as to passe between this Scylla and Carybdis without falling into the gulfe and perishing in the froth of his owne precipitate folly and in case this of King Edward were not full inough as it is too full and runneth ouer yet may the Protestant Churches deuise a fuller so he no lesse then now remaine faithles
nothing maketh for M. Hall would follow thereof against vs but that the Greeke Priests Deacons and Subdeacons were marryed which is to be vnderstood before their ordination as the Glosse expoundeth and the Councell as before you haue heard did define and it is ridiculous to say as M. Hall doth that then they began to distinguish for wheras the Grecians de sacto had in this separated themselues from the Latin Church had made Councells or rather Conuenticles of their owne and were borne out in al by the sword of their Emperors where the fact and practise was so different as all might see it with their eyes little need there was that any should inuent a distinction or limitation of liberty as this man dreameth and the Canon he cyteth out of Gratian if it be a Canon is but a declaration of the fact which was so conspicuous as could not be denyed shewing only what was don in the East Church what not permitted in the West 91. And wheras M. Hall auerreth that this Canon graunted that all the Clergy of the East M. Halls want of Logicke might marry but not of the West his glosse fouly corrupteth the Text and conteyneth an euident vntruth for neither all the Clergy nor any of the Clergy could marry in the Easterne Church and this man seemeth to be of very grosse capacity that will haue these two propositions to be equipollent or to beare the same sense Priests Deacons and Subdeacons in the Greeke Church are marryed and this all the Clergy of the East may marry for first Priests Deacons and Subdeacons make not al the Clergy or els Bishops Archbishops Patriarches Metropolitans shall not be Clergy men which yet are the chiefest of that ranke and to whome all the other as inferiours to their betters are subordinate and depend which yet are debarred from marriage Againe that Priests Deacons and Subdeacons in Greece were then marryed is cleare but it is no lesse cleare that they were not marryed when they were Priests Deacons It was lawful for married men in Greece to be made Priests but neuer lawful for Priests to marry and Subdeacons but before as the Councell declared for although it were permitted that marryed men might be made Priests yet was it forbiddeÌ„ that Priests should be made marryed men and the same of Deacons and Subdeacons and so I conclude with M Hall that not only all the Clergy of Greece might not marry but that no Clergy man in holy orders for such only are specially so tearmed might marry at all I hope M. Hall that your brayns are not so far spent but that if you pause a while and scratch your head where it doth not itch you will conceaue this difference that marryed men may be preferred to the Clergy but not Clergy men permitted to marry the first by the Trullan Councel was granted the other neuer allowed and therfore these words of yours all the Clergy of the East might marry may be crowned with a siluer whet-stone 92. By that which I haue sayd vnto this obiection of Pope Steuens Canon that it is of no authority as hauing no certayne Authour that it maketh not against vs in case it were true that M. Halls collections thereon are false you may well of your selfe without any further discourse be able to iudge what regard is to be had to his vaunting demands and interrogations multiplyed without cause for after the words of Pope Steuen thus he writeth Liberally but not inough if he yield this why not more shall it be lawfull in the East which in the VVest is not do the Ghospells or lawes of equity Many idle wordes alter according to the foure corners of the world doth God make difference betweene Greece and England if it be lawfull why not euery where if vnlawfull why is it done any where so then you see we differ not from the Church in this but from the Romish So M. Hall And by this you may perceaue the veyne of the man and his Thrasonical boasting he would fayne be crowing if he had but any aduantage there should need no other trump to sound out his prayses conquests and triumphs then his owne pen but all this noyse wil proue but the sound of anempty tubb and powder shot without bullet a froth I meane of idle wordes and childish clamours as full of vanity as deuoyd of wit 93. If he yield this sayth this wise man why not more but of what yielding doth he dreame in the words cyted in Steuen the seconds name I find no yielding nor resisting no fighting nor vanquishing no battaile nor conquest there it is only related what the Grecians did vpon their false Councell what liberty they vsurped in so much as their Priests Deacons and Subdeacons were marryed but that it was not permitted in the Latin Church what is that more which this Epistler would haue him to yield he answereth very wisely by another demand shall it be lawfull in the â—ast which in the VVest is not I answere him yes and further to gratify the man do add that one the selfe same thing at one tyme may be vnlawfull and yet lawfull at another And if he know not this his parishioners are troubled with a seely Minister who haue him for their Curate though this in the meane tyme I must tell him that Steuen sayth nothing of this fact of the Grecians whether it be lawful or vnlawfull and therefore M. Hall frames collectioÌ„s out of his fingers ends without any ground or graunt of his authors I know he stretcheth far and maketh him to say that they might marry but he sayth not so much but only that they were marryed whether well or il he defyneth not But to come to our case 94. He cannot be ignorant what our Sauiour answered the Pharisies touching the question propounded about putting away their Matt. 29. wiues in S. Matthews Ghospell which they vrged to shew that it was lawfull to marry another euen during the life of the former so there had beene a bill of diuorce made between them our Sauiour replyed Moyses ad duritiam cordis vestri permisit vobis dimittere vxores vestras ab initio autem non fuitsic Moyses permitted you for the hardnes of Euen the law of God did bind at one tyme not at another your hart to dismisse your wiues but from the beginning it was not so as if he had sayd in the beginning euery one was bound to one wife so long it was not lawfull to haue more but in the end Moyses permitted diuorces and then vpon his permission it was lawful if heere some light head should dally as M. Hall doth aske what is Gods law changed by tymes shal that be lawfull to day which yesterday was vnlawfull if it be Gods law it endureth for euer if it be abrogated by a contrary permission it cannot be the law of God and so forth all were idle babling
with paine of deposition to the gainesayers but â—uouches it for a decree Apostolicall Iudge now whether this one authority be not inough to weigh downe a hundred petty Conuenticles and many legions if there had beene many of priuate contradictions thus for seauen hundred yeares you find nothing but open freedome So he Which words and others the like when I read in this man it seemeth to me that a problematicall question may be made whether he be able to speake the truth or not for hitherto he hath The cause why M. Hall doth multiply so many vntruths still beene taken tardy and heere in these words are two or three vntruths and these radiant but not to bring that into dispute for perhaps if he had a better cause he would be able by better meanes to defend it I rather doe interprete these his frailtyes to proceed from the necessity of the matter then from any impossibility in the man himselfe 105. We haue before shewed this Councel not to be sacred and the approuance not so vniuersall as M. Hall maketh it for whereas in the very beginning they oppose themselues to the Latin Church and make decrees only for the Church of Greece it cannot be sayd to be vniuersall for al which only includeth but one part with the exception mentioned of the other neither could a particuler Patriarke make a law in a Nationall Synod to repeale another in vse vnder his equall ouer whome he had no iurisdiction much lesse to recall the lawes of his Superiour disallow their practise for if par in parem non habet potestatem much lesse had the Patriarcke of Constantinople ouer the Bishops of Rome who I meane the Patriarcke was alwayes his inferiour and subordinate vnto him and so in the very Canon it is sayd Nos antiquum Canonem c. we obseruing the ancient Canon c. So as they restraine this liberty to that Church themselues alone without any determination preiudiciall to the other which had not beene if they had vniuersally without distinction of places or persons allowed this freedome The Trullan Councell neuer permitted that al the Clergy of the East migâ—t marry 106. But when you talke of vniuersally approuing this practise which practise do you meane M. Hall is it that you mentioned a little before that all the Clergy of the East might marry if so and so you must take it or els you talke at randome then againe I must tell you that this your Synod wholy disalloweth that custome permitteth no Clergy man to marry for although it permitted some marryed men to ascend so high as to be made Priest yet it neuer permitted any Clergy man to stoop so low as to be made a husband neither did it euer auouch that basenes in any Clergy man to be a decree Apostolical therefore if with better attention you read that Councell you shall find it to be as I say moreouer the paine of deposition to the gainsayers to be only against such as denyed the vse of their wiues to Priests marryed before their ordinatioÌ„ and out of the tyme excepted by the Synod 107. Neither doth the name of an Apostolicall decree where there is nothing els but the name only much trouble vs for if the decree mentioned be taken in the right sense it maketh not against vs if in the sense which M. Hall pretendeth it ouerthroweth the Councell and so he pulleth down with one hand what he had built vp with the other for if for any decree the CouÌ„cell graunt the carnall knowledge of wiues to be Apostolicall it is for that which M. Hall cyted before that no Bishop Priest or Deacon shal put The CouÌ„cell of Trullum gainsayth the Apostles constitutions euen in that thing on which it would seeme to relye away his wife vpon pretence of Religion vpon paine of deposition if this be the decree then I demand why the Councell decreeth against the same For heer Bishops are allowed their wiues which in the Trullan Synod by two decrees are debarred from them either M. Hall will allow the decree and then he condemneth his sacred Councell that desines against it or will sticke to the Councell and then he must condemne the decree not to be Apostolicall as conteining in it an euident errour condemned by so sacred so generall a Councell 108. Moreouer if he follow the Councell whereas the Bishops assembled therfore allowed The Trullan Councell ouerthrowne by it selfe in the matter Priests marriage marryed Priests to enioy their wiues because of the Apostolicall decree yet condemne that very decree in the first branch of Bishops and decree against it what ground was this to build vpon and to contradict the Roman Church what drowsy decree was this which is grounded on that which is by the very Councell it self contradicted can one and the selfe same Canon of the Apostles be a warrant for the wiues of Priests and not Canonicall for the wiues of Bishops when as in your opinion the one no lesse theÌ„ the other is alike to be allowed without any distinction limitation or exception at all O how feeble is falshood that thus falleth of it self and is ouerthrowne by the same grounds on which it would seeme to stand M. Halls chiefe ground is this Synod the warrant for the Synods definition is the Apostles Canon and the Apostles Canon ouerthroweth the Synod this is the maze or labyrinth of errour and heerunto all M. Halls florishes brags and assurances of the weight of this authority ouerbearing a hundred Conuenticles and many legions of priuate contradictions are brought for this heauy weight is as light as a fether contradicteth it selfe was condemned by the Church and more hurteth then helpeth the cause for the which it is brought 109. And truely the triumphant conclusion of the authority of this seditious assembly that it weigheth downe a hundred petty conuenticles and many legions of priuate contradictions is worthy of M. Halls wit and learning and resembles that Poets prayse of Epicurus the Philosopher in Lactantius Lactant. l. 3. diuin Instit cap. 17. Hic ille est Qui genus humanum ingenio superauit omnes Restinxit stellas exortus vt aetherius sol This is he who for wit surpassed all other men and obscured the stars rising like the heauenly sunne by reason of which immoderate and vndeserued Immoderate prayses where there was no desert or cause prayse that author sayth that he could neuer read the verses without laughter Non de Socrate aut Platone hoc dicebat qui velut Reges habentur Philosophorum sed de homine quo sano vigente nullus aeger ineptius delirauit itaque Poeta inanissimus leonis laudibus murem non ornauit sed obruit obtriuit He sayd not this of Socrates or Plato who are esteemed the Princes or chiefest of the Philosophers but of a man then whome being sound and in health no sicke man euer
remedy this turpitude which there was most spread where the Popes authority could do least to wit in Germany where Henryes countermands still crossed all Gregoryes decrees and Nero his sword as S. Anselme Anselm epist ad VValramum worthily calleth him S. Peters power not willfullnes of one man which is done by common consent of whole Councells wherein no force violence or importunity is recorded euer to haue beene vsed but the thing with full freedome No willfullnes ioynt consent and vniforme agreement of all to haue passed and which is much to be noted though the Emperour in the tyme of this Pope called some false Councells as of VVormes Mentz and Pauia to withstand Gregory yet in no one of them all is there any decree or approuance of the marriage of Priests they be-being as it should seeme ashamed to leaue extant any monument or remembrace of so brutish a doctrine and to all Christian antiquity so repugnant 81. Neither wanted there a reason for Gregory his decree and laudable indeauours in this Great reason for the making of Pope Gregory his decre behalfe if M. Hall had so much wit or iudgment as to conceaue it for he still pleaded the contrary practise to haue beene in the Church and therby shewed that he made no new decree but reformed the late abuse crept in against the old and that according to the ancient Canons and Statutes of the Church as any may see in all places heere cyted and in the Councell of Rome Anno 1074. as Lambertus writeth it was decreed Gregor 7. lib. 2. Epiep 45. 61. 62. 66. 67. Vt secundum instituta antiquorum Canonum Presbyteri vxores non habeant habentes aut dimittant aut deponantur That according to the determinations of the ancient Canons the Priests haue no wiues and they who haue them either dismisse or put them away or els that themselues be deposed and writing to Anno Bishop of Colen he plainely sayth Nouit enim Fraternitas tua quia praecepta haec non de nostro sensu exsculpimus sed antiquorum Patrum sanctiones spiritu sancto praedicante prolatas of officij nostri necessitate in medium propalamus Your brotherhood doth know that we frame not these commandes out of our owne head but our office compelling vs we lay open the decrees of the ancient Fathers made by the instinct of the holy Ghost So he And is this trow you M. Hall no reason or can you if you were put to it frame a better then priority of tyme conioyned with vniuersality of place Maenio maius num quod tibi carmen habetur Dispeream si scis carmina quid sapiant I see you know not what reason meanes 82. And the like I may say of Gods will Pope Gregory his decree according to the will of God which in the whole pursuit of this thing was only sought for in preseruing that which the whole Church guyded by his holy spirit had so often determined so many Councells decreed so long vncontrollable custome of al Countreyes obserued which to infring only vpon the violence of a few licentious and disorderly liuers who will take liberty without leaue haue all things to be ruled by their owne vnruly passions was little according to Gods will and much lesse was it according to his will to breake their solemne vowes of perpetuall chastity made in the taking of their orders which by the law of nature and diuine bound them to the obseruance and consequently the transgression was against the will of God which the Pope did labour to reforme and in seeking reformation could seek for no other emolument or profit to himselfe then to please God for sure he was to displease many men therby and to increase the number of such as mortally hated his so constant zeale infatigable labour in Gods cause but this hatred of men proceeding from Gregory his loue to God was no more by him to be regarded then that of the Iewes was of the Apostls or the hatred of the ancient persecutors Auentine a late partiall and vnsincere writer of the primitiue Martyrs 83. What broyles hereon ensued sayth M. Hall let Auentine witnes but I except against this witnes as being for tyme too yong for profession too partiall and for credit too small to testify in this matter and withall I must warne this Epistler that in cyting Authours he vse more exactnes then for two lines to referre vs ouer to a whole booke in folio of many leaues which we neither haue leasure nor list to read all ouer and it is not worth the labour to spend so much tyme in reading such Authors so false fond and confuse as he is knowne to be the words heere cyted out of him seeme to conteyn no more truth then the rest now refuted Ex interdicto sacerdotum coniugio sayth he grauissima seditio gregem Christi perculit c. Vpon the forbidding of the marriage of Priests a most grieuous sedition wounded the flock of Christ neither was there euer such a plague that so afflicted Christian people So he Which is a meere Chymera for this flocke of Christ these Christian people were a few seditious German Priests who tooke the occasion of the discord between the Emperour the Pope to follow their lust and wallow in all filthines If M. Hall obiect that not only this but the contention of the Emperour and all the broyles then made and raysed were for this cause he will shew his reading The chief cōtention betweene Henry the fourth Gregory the 7. not about the marriage of Priests to be little and iudgment small because this was but a bad branch of another root an effect of another cause and a by-lake from another greater streame 84. For who so will reade attentiuely what Authors do write of these tymes what Pope Gregory in so many Councels letters and Edicts did decree he shall find before this filthy fault another to be commonly premised to wit of Symony which more touched the Emperour who as Caluin and others write held all the Bishopricks and Abbeyes at sale and the Bishops also who hauing bought their place for money did sell al Canonries Deanries Prebends c. were both by the Popes decrees to be themselus remoued their doings anulled so likewise the Abbots then this other of VViues which was indeed but an appendix of the former and permitted by the Emperour to increase the nūber of his followers and enemyes of the Pope being neuer intended as any principall cause for had not the Symony hindred which was the first and chiefest quarrell between them which M. Hall not being able to iustify doth still dissemble the accord betweene Henry and Gregory had soone been made which neuer depended on these marriages and to affirme the contrary or that all the turmoyles were made for Priests wiues shewes exceeding ignorance in historyes and all the course held in this
bitter combat and so to conclude the matter we see M. Hall in 12. Ten lyes in twelue lines lines to haue told vs no lesse then ten vntruths as 1. That the better sort approued not Gregoryes doings 2. That the Churches did ring of him ech were for Antichrist 3. That at the Councell of VVorms the French Bishops deposed him 4. That he was therein deposed 5. That the cause of this imaginary deposition was for separating man and wife 6. That violence did this 7. That the debaring of Priests wiues was not done by reason 8. That the will of God was not sought therein 9. That all was done by the Popes willfullnes 10. That the broyles betweene the Emperour and the Pope were on this occasion In fine euery thing he speaketh in this matter is a lye 85. At the end of the Epistle M. Hall as a The controuersy is treated whether euer our English Clergy were permitted to haue wiue and not rather to vow perpetuall continency man weary of his trauells abroad returneth home to England and leauing Aegypt Greece Italy and Germany he lands at length at Canterbury and tells vs of the bickering of our English Clergy with their Dunstanes which about this tyme were memorable in our owne history which teach vs how late how repiningly how vniustly they stooped vnder this yoke and for further proofe he sendeth his simple Reader to Bale and Fox two graue Authours scilicet that in case he haue not deceaued him inough there he may be gulled and glutted to the full and to these two Authours cyted in the text he addeth two other in the margent of as much estimation as the former to wit Henry of Huntingdon and Fabian both affirming S. Anselme to be the first who forbad marriage to the Clergy of England and that about the yeare of our Lord 1080. and the same for the yeare sayth foolish Fabian a man too simple God wot to be cyted in so serious a matter 86. Heere befor I go further I must needs let you vnderstand how strongly the text and A grosse contradiction between the text and margent of M. Hall margent of this man do contradict ech other and both of them do conteyne very grosse vntruths for without them M. Hall can do nothing the contradiction resteth in this that in the text S. Dunstane had great bickerings about the marriage of the Clergy and by his withstanding the same M. Hall is taught how late how repiningly how vniustly the Clergy stooped vnder this yoke of single life but in the margent it is sayd that S. Anselme was the first that forbad marriage to the Clergy of England and this as M. Hall telleth vs about the yeare of our Lord 1080. Was there euer man in a dreame could tell thinges lesse coherent or more repugnant and contradictory the one to the other then these For S. Dunstane dyed in the yeare 988. and S. Anselme was not made Bishop vntill the yeare 1093. which is more then a hundred yeares after so as if the margent be true of S. Anselme the text is false of S. Dunstane and if S. Dunstane made this opposition more then a hundred yeares before S. Anselmes tyme then are M. Halls two witnes togeather with his own glosse taken tripping in a lye who will haue it to haue beene first commenced by S. Anselme Was M. Hall in his wits when he made this marginall nore to his text or talking with his wife of some other thing Surely he was somewhat distracted and little attended to what he wrote 87. And indeed the text is more true then the margent for S. Dunstane no lesse eagerly pursued The marriage of Priests coÌ„demned by S. Dunstane long befor S. Anselm his tyme. this matter then S. Anselme and his decrees are no lesse generall for all no lesse seuere for penalty no lesse efficacious for redresse then the others made after neither was he alone for with him in this matter stood S. Ethelwold of VVinchester and S. Oswald of VVorcester of which three glorious Saints and renowned Pastours Malmesbury sayth Ita his tribus viris agentibus quasi triformi lumine Angliam serenante densae vitiorum tenebrae euanuerunt So through the endeauours of these three men as it were with a threefold light shining ouer England the thicke darknes of vices did vanish away So he And with Binuius tom 4. in Concil Londinen â—aron anno 970. ex Actis vitae S. Osw 15. Oct b. in Surio these three shining lamps and lanternes of the world our famous Edgar conspited and this publicke decree by the Bishops of the land assembled in Synod was enacted Vt Canonici omnes Presbyteri Diaconi Subdiaconi aut castè viuerent aut Ecclesias quas tonebant dimitterent That all the Canons Priests Deacons Subdeacons should either liue chastly or forgoe the Churches which they held and S. Anselme in his decree sayd no more as after we shal see but repeated the same Roger â—oueden in Anno 1108. words saying it is decreed that Priests Deacons and Subdeacons liue chastly so as for the extent it is alike in both decrees and after in S. Anselmes decree followeth also the deposition of such as remayned incontinent 88. By which is refelled that which vnaduisedly M. Godwine taxed M. Godwine writeth in S. Anselme saying that he persecuted Priests very extremely Dunstane Oswald Ethelwold and other enemyes to the marriage of Clergy men had only expelled them out of Monasteryes that had wiues but S. Anselm an enemy to marryed Priests S. Anselme vtterly forbidding them marriage depriued them of their promotions who were marryed confiscaâ—ed their goods vnto the Bishop of the Diocesse adiudged them and their wiues adulterers and forced all who entred into orders to vow chastity So he And for this zeale against marryed Priests he boldly taxeth him for being a little too resolute in all his determinations Againe he was more peremptory in diuers of his resolutions then became him that out of a blind zeale he was so boate against Clergy mens mariage so this point pinceth them to the hart that notwithstanding he confesse S. Anselme to haue beene a good and holy man of great learning and for integrity of life and conuersation admirable which true and ingenious testimony I allow and commend yet will M. Godwyn in this be his iudge and tell him that it was blind zeale and imperfection for without marriage among these men nothing shines nothing can be perfect for which cause also he writeth so basely of S. Dunstane of whome all S. Dunstane the historyes of our Nation speake so honourably and out of them Cardinall Baronius shutting vp his life giueth this worthy testimony Moritur Baron in Ann. 988. §. vltum hoc pariter anno mirificus ille Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis c. This yeare also dyed that wonderfull Dunstane Archbishop of Canterbury whome singular sanctity of life priestly and inflexible