These men therefore make 2. sorts of vowes naming some simple and other solemne and affirme that the latter do debarre men from mariage and voyd their mariages if they do marry but that the former do so debarre them from marrying that they cannot marry without some offence and yet if they do their mariage is good and not to be voyded The Diuines of the Church of Rome as Caietane rightly noteth differ much in opinion about the difference of these vowes For some of them thinke that they differ in such sort as that one of them is a promise onely and the other a reall and actuall exhibition that the solemnity of a mans vow consisteth in a reall and actuall exhibition of himselfe and putting himselfe into such an estate as cannot stand with marriage But this opinion as hee rightly noteth cannot bee true seeing there is no such repugnance simply and in the nature of the thinges betweene the Order of the holy Ministery and Marriage as appeareth in that the Ministers of the Greeke Church as tyed by noe vowe are judged by all to liue in lawfull Mariage notwithstanding their Ministery and also in that the entering into noe religious Order voydeth mariage vnlesse it be approued by the Church There is therefore as he sheweth another opinion that it is not from different nature of the vowes that the one voydeth mariage contracted and the other doth not but from the authority of the Church that will haue mariage after a vowe made in one sort to bee voyd and not in another The latter of these two opinions Bellarmine sayth Scotus Paludanus and Caietane follow and as Panormitan reporteth the whole schoole of Canonistes And these do answere to the authorities of the Fathers denying mariages to bee voyde after a solemne vowe that they are to bee vnderstood to deny them to be voyde by Gods Law and that there was no Law of man then passed to make them voyde when they liued that they knew of and that therefore they might rightly bee of opinion in those times that no vowes made insuing marriages to be voyde seeing no vowes doe voyde marriages by GODS Law and there was no law of man in their time making marriage voyde in respect of a vowe made to the contrary Soe that euen in the judgment of many of the best learned of our Aduersaries themselues Mariage after a vow is not voyd by Gods law but only by the positiue Constitution of the Church which will haue it so to bee But against this positiue Constitution two things may be alleaged first that it began from that erroneous conceipt which Anstine refuteth in his booke do bono viduitatis as it appeareth by the Epistle of Innocentius grounding his resolution for voyding of mariages in this kinde vpon that verie reason of their beeing espoused to Christ which haue vowed vnto GOD that they will liue continently Secondly that the Church hath no power simply to forbidde any man to marry whom Gods Law leaueth free seeing single life is one of the things that men may be counselled and advised vnto but cannot be prescribed and imposed by commandement that the Church may keepe men from mariage if they will inioy some fauours as wee see in Colledges and Societies or that She may by her Censures punish such as vnaduisedly and without just cause shall breake their vow and promise wee make no question but that She may simply forbid any one to marry how faulty and punishable soeuer otherwise wee vtterly deny Neyther is the reason that is brought to proue this power to bee in the Church of any force For though it were graunted that the Church by her authority for respectes best knowne to her selfe may forbid a man to marry with some of those with whom God permitteth him to marry yet wil it not follow that she may absolutely forbid any one to cōtract mariage seeing parents to whom it pertaineth to direct the choyce of their children may forbid them to marry with such as they iustly dislike and yet they may not simplie restraine them from marying So that though it were yeelded that the Church for causes best known to her selfe may forbid mariage with moe then the Law of God doth and that in such sort as to void it hauing greater power in this behalfe then naturall parents yet would it not follow that shee may simplie forbid any one to marry and voide his mariage if he do whereas the Law of God voideth it not And so vvee see that as mariage after a solemne vow is not void by the Lavv of God so the Church hath no power to make any law to make it voyd But because though it be so yet it may seeme that no man that had vowed the cōtrary can marry without sinne it remaineth that wee proceede to consider and see whether there be any cases wherein a man that vowed the contrary may marry without offence to God First touching this poynt the Schoole-men generally resolue that the Pope may dispence with a Priest Deacon or Sub-deacon to marry though he haue sollemnely vowed the contrary by entring into holy Orders because the duty and bond of containing is not essentially annexed vnto holy Orders but by the Canon of the Church onely Aquinas and they of that time thought hee might not dispense with a Monke to marry For that single life is essentially implyed in the profession of a Monke and cannot be seperated from the same as it may from the office and calling of a Priest But since that time the generall opinion is that he may because though single life cannot be separated from the profession of a Monke yet he that is a Monke may be freed from that profession that he hath made and cease to be a Monke Neither is this onely the opinion of the Schooles but the practise of Popes hath concurred with the same For as Petrus Paludanus reporteth a Pope reviued a Monke who was next in blood and to succeed in the Kingdome of Arragon and dispensed with him to marry a wife for the good of that Kingdome Caietan sayth the like is reported in the stories of Constantia daughter and heire of Roger King of Sicily who was a religious woman and of fifty yeares of age and yet by the dispensation of Caelestinus was called out of the Cloyster and permitted to marry with the Emperour Henry the Sixth who begatte of her Fredericke the Second And Andreas Frisius reporteth out of the Histories of Polonia that Casimirus sonne of Mersistaus King of Polonia was a Monke and ordayned a Deacon and yet when after the death of Mersistaus his father there was none to sway the Scepter of that Kingdome whence many mischiefes followed Benedict the Ninth gaue him leaue to marry a wife making him to leaue his Cloyster his Vowes and Deaconship that so there might bee a succession in that Kingdome So that there is no question but that for a
himselfe to the Church of Rome Which hee might not haue beene suffered to doe if hee had erred in the article of the incarnation These Nestorians inhabite though mixed with Mahumetanes and Infidels a great part of the Orient For besides the countries of Babylon Assyria Mesopotamia Parthia and Media where very many of them are found they are scattered in the East Northerly to Cataia and Southerly to India So that in the histories wee finde mention of them and no other sort of Christians in sundry regions of Tartary These haue a Patriarch residing in Muzall on the riuer Tigris in Mesopotamia This Muzall either is the citie of Seleucia so honoured in times past that the government of those parts was committed to the Bishop thereof with the name of a Catholicke and place of Session in Councells next the Patriarch of Hierusalem or if that were destroied the Patriarchall seat was thence translated to Muzal In this citie though subject to Mahumetans the Iacobites haue three temples the Nestorians fifteene beeing esteemed to bee about forty thousand soules In the time of Iulius the third certaine of these Nestorians fell from the Bishop of Muzal and tooke for their head Simon Sulaca of the order of Saint Basil. Who submitted himselfe to the Bishop of Rome exhibited an orthodoxe confession of his faith and was by him confirmed bishop of Muzal in title name but the other held the place still So that when hee returned he was forced to abide in Caramit This Simon Sulaca made certaine Archbishops and Bishops and caused the memory of Nestorius to bee put out of their liturgies and in the end hee was slaine by the Turkes ministers But Abdesu of the same order succeeded him and after him Aatalla after him the Archbishop of Gelu and Salamas renouncing the obedience of the Bishop of Muzal was elected Patriarch and confirmed by the Bishop of Rome So that there were foure Patriarches successiuely following one another that held communion with the Church of Rome but no one of them euer possessed that citie but resided either in Caramit Serit or Zeinalbach in the confines of Persia. All these were vndoubtedly orthodoxe touching the article of the incarnation of the Sonne of God And Elias one amongst the Bishops that held the seat at Muzal desired to be joyned in communion with the Church of Rome sent his confession which was found to be orthodoxe and right so that they of that faction also seeme not to haue differed much in judgement touching any article of faith The Nestorians are subject to these two Patriarches to this day The Patriarch of Muzal hath vnder him 22 Bishops more then 600 territories in which there are at the least 22 rich and flourishing cities and in euery of them 500 families in Muzal 1000 whereof euery one contayneth about fortie persons And other-lesser territories contayning about 200 or 300 families a piece and thirty monasteries In India also there are many families subject to this Patriarch by the name of Patriarch of Babylon to whom he was wont to assigne Bishops There were in India before the Portugals comming about some 15 or 16 thousand families About some thirtie yeares since their Archbishop fell from the Patriarch of Muzal or Babylon to the Bishop of Rome by the perswasion of the Portugals yet retayning the auncient religion which was permitted But his successor in another Synod holden at Diamper not farre from Maliapur by the Archbishop of Goa in the yeare 1599 receiued the religion of Rome also and suffered their liturgie so to bee altered as wee finde it in Bibliotheca patrum But let vs proceede to take a view of the particular poynts of their religion First all cleargie men amongst the Chaldeans and also all lay men that excell in devotion receiue the Sacrament of the Lords body and blood in their own hands vnder both kinds The rest receiue into their mouths the bodie of the Lord dipt into the blood They contract marriages within the degrees prohibited marrying in the second degree without dispensation Their Priests are marryed and after the death of the first wife haue libertie to marry the second or third time or oftner They minister the communion in leavened bread They vse not auricular confession nor confirmation They deny the supremacie of the Pope The specialties of the religion of the Indians or Christians of S. Thomas before they admitted any alteration were these First they distributed the sacraments in both kinds Secondly they vsed bread seasoned with salt and in steade of wine India affording none the juice of raisons softned one night in water and so pressed forth Thirdly they baptized not their children till they were forty dayes old except in danger of death Fourthly their priests were married but excluded from the second marriage Fifthly they had no images in their Churches but the crosse onely Sixtly they denyed the supremacie of the Pope From the Assyrians and Indians vniustly named Nestorians let vs passe to those Christiās that are supposed to be Monophysits as the Iacobites Armenians Cophti or Christians of Aegypt the Aethiopians or Abissens These beleeue that the nature of God and man were so vnited in the person of Christ that hee is truly God and truly man and that after the vnion they remaine distinct in their being of essence and property so that the diuinity is not of the same essence substance and nature with the humanity for the diuinity is infinite incomprehensible and increated and the humanity is finite and a created essence yet because they are vnited and conioyned in the vnity of the same person they say they are but one nature and will not acknowledge as wee do that there are two natures in Christ. That we may the better know what we are to thinke of these Christians differing thus from us I will first historically shew how this difference grew Secondly more largely refute their opinion And thirdly make it appeare that in respect of this difference they are not to be reiected as heritickes There liued at Constantinople a certaine man whose name was Eutiches a priest and an abbat This Eutiches in opposition to Nestorius who divided the person of Christ proceeded so farre that he confounded the natures imagining a conversion of the divinity into the humanity or of the humanity into the divinity or a kind of mixtion of them This Eutiches was well acquainted with Eusebius Bish. of Dorilaeum who vnderstanding by conference with him that he was fallen into such a damnable haerisie made the matter knowne to Flauianus the B. of Constantinople wishing him to call Eutiches vnto him and sharply to rebuke him least the faith might be indangered Flavianus assoone as he vnderstoode thus much called together 30 of his Bish. and in their presence asked of Eutiches whether he did beleiue that Christs body is of the same substance with ours He answered he had never said so hitherto but would seing they would haue it
of him in these senselesse fooleries CHAP. 18. Of the Fathers strictnes in admitting men into the ministerie of single life and of their seuerity in the discipline of repentance THat which followeth is altogether of the same kinde Calvin saith the Fathers were too seuere in that they required more in them that were to be ordained to serue in the holy ministery of the Church than the blessed Apostle Saint Paule doth require Therefore saith Bellarmine hee dissenteth from all Antiquity and confesseth the Romish doctrine and practice to bee most auncient This consequence is very weake For the Romanists retaine nothing of that auncient seuerity but breake all the Canons of discipline that the Fathers obserued by their ordinary dispensations or rather dissipations of all order and neglect of all rules of orderly government For where is that Canon obserued that no man attaine to the order and degree of a Presbiter till he be thirty yeares of age that no man bee ordained loosely or at randome but to bee imployed in some certaine charge of ministery that one man haue no title interest and liuing in two Churches whereas in the Church of Rome one man hath two hundred or three hundred ecclesiasticall liuings that men ambitiously and couetously goe not from one Church because it is meaner to another because it is greater Caluin therefore was not so ignorant as to thinke the Romanists to bee too seuere in the obseruation of discipline and therein to be like the primitiue Fathers hee saith therefore the cleane contrary to that which Bellarmine imputeth vnto him that in the choise of such as were to be admitted into the holy Ministery the Fathers of the Primitiue Church followed the prescription of Saint Paule and the examples of the blessed Apostles that they proceeded therein with very great and religious reuerence and inuocation of the name of God that they had a set forme of triall and examination according to which they made inquirie both into the life and doctrine of them that were to be chosen but that contrariwise in the Church of Rome there haue beene very few found to bee chosen for the space of an hundred yeares last past that the old Canons reiect not as wholly vnworthy of ecclesiasticall honour imployment as Drunkardes Adulterers Sodomites and the like Monsters to passe by lesse matters as that boyes of tenne yeares of age by the Popes dispensations haue beene admitted to Bishoprickes The Church of Rome then by her pactise condemneth the whole course of proceeding in former times which Caluin reuerenceth as most religious and wisheth that things were brought backe to that auncient order againe Onely he saith that the Fathers of those times may seeme a little to haue exceeded in too much seuerity in that they required more things in them that were to bee elected then the blessed Apostle Saint Paul doth This censure neede not seeme so strange vnto vs if wee remember that such as had beene baptized by heretickes or when they were in feare and danger of death which were named Clinici in those times might not vnlesse their conuersation learning and deserts afterwards were very highly approoued be admitted into the ministery that he which had married a widow though he were now free she being dead might not enter into the degree and order of Ministery that hee which had one wife yea though it were before hee became a Christian or were baptized and after his being a Christian his first wife beeing dead married another was iudged vncapable of Ministeriall order against which Ierome declaimeth in his Epistle to Oceanus Behold sayth he Men suppose Adulteries whoredomes Incests Sodomitries Paricides impieties against God and whatsoeuer things are so wicked that they are not to be named are washed away in Baptisme and that after all these horrible crimes a man may bee admitted to the Ministery as being washed from them in the lauer of new birth but if a man had a wife before which was no crime and after his Baptisme shee being dead marry another he may not Thus saith he these hypocrites for so in the heate of his passion he calles them doe straine at a gnat and swallow a Camell For this Ruffinus challengeth him as a contemner of the constitutions and decrees of the Fathers though he shew that innumerable not onely Presbyters but Bishops were in all the parts of the world admitted contrary to the prescript of these pretended Canons That which Calvine addeth that in processe of time they forbade marriage and forced all them that would enter into the holy Ministery to liue single was neuer generall nor in one sort In the Councell of Nice Paphnutius disswaded the Bishops from putting those of the Clergie from the matrimoniall societie of their wiues affirming that marriage is honourable among all men and the bed vndefiled and that the forcing of single life would bring many euils into the Church This Counsell and perswasion of Paphnutius was not onely yeelded vnto by the Fathers of that Councell but in the sixt generall Councell the Fathers there assembled condemned the practice of the Romane Church in forbidding marriage not onely as hard iniurious and being an occasion of many euils but as contrary to the Canons of the Apostles of Christ from whence it is that all the Churches of the world the Church of Rome onely excepted admit married men continuing in the state of marriage into the holy ministery as the Churches of Armenia Graecia Syria Aethiopia Russia and whatsoeuer Christians there are in any part of the world How long it was before this decree of forced single life prevailed in the Latine Church and what resistance there was made against Pope Hildebrand for the same by the whole Cleargie of Christendome calling him heretike monster and enemie of mankinde author of all mischiefe impurity and confusion the histories of those times report affirming that vpon the publishing of that his decree there followed such disturbance of the peace of the Church such confusions indignities contempts and profanations of all holy things as that the Church was neuer so grievously and daungerously afflicted in any of her most bloody persecutions vnder the Heathen Emperours nor in her greatest conflicts with heretickes What good successe this decree had after it prevailed and what a pure and holy Clergie it represented to the world let Gerson report who acknowledgeth that the places of holy Ministery were possessed by adulterers wantons Sodomites and such like monsters that the number of the offenders in this kinde was so great as that there was no proceeding against them that the canons against Concubinaries notorioussie so knowne requiring all men to refraine from communicating with them could not now bee continued that it were best to permit them to keepe harlots fot the avoyding of greater euils and to tolerate their wickednesse in that kinde as the stewes are permitted Thus then I hope it
the great he dyed and Ludouicus his sonne succeeded him Lotharius succeeded Ludouicus and Ludouicus his sonne succeeded him Carolus Caluus his vncle succeeded Ludouicus Carolus Crassus his brother Ludouicus son succeeded him This Carolus Crassus for his vnfitnesse was put from the Empire and Arnulphus his nephew son of Carlomaine was chosen in his place who was the last of the race of Charles the great that was crowned Emperour whom Ludouicus his son succeeded but was neuer crowned In whom dying without childrē the race of Charles did wholy cease After him Otho the Duke of Saxony was greatly desired but refusing to bee Emperour in respect of his old age the French by his aduice chose Conradus and Conradus when he dyed named Henry the sonne of Otho Duke of Saxony who reigned in East-France But vpon the death of Ludouicus the third the Lombards possessed themselues of the Empire in Italy eight of them successiuely holding it for the space of 50 yeres till Otho the sonne of Matilda daughter of Theodoricus king of the Saxons Henry the king who succeeding his father being very famous for the things he had done in France Germany was desired by Agapetus the Pope many nobles of Italy now weary of the tyranny of the Lombards to come and releeue them which he did and entring Italy with 50000. armed men put Berengarius the Lombard from the Empire and Albertus from the kingdome of all Italy was crowned Emperour in Rome by Iohn the twelfth who died Emperour and Otho the second his son succeeded him and Otho the third his sonne succeeded him This third Otho as Nauclerus saith hauing no heires male by the aduice with the consent of the Princes of Germany made a Decree that after the death of the Emperour an election of the new Emperour to succeede should for euer bee made in the citty of Franckford and appointed electors three Arch-bishops of Mentz for Germany of Coleyn for Italy and of Treuers for France and with these foure other secular Princes to wit the Palatine of Rhene who by office should be the Emperors Pantler the Duke of Saxony who should be his Marshall the Marquesse of Branderburge who was to be his Chamberlaine the King of Boheme who was to be chief Butler This ordinance greatly displeased the Romanes yet notwithstanding Gregory the fifth then Pope who was a Germane borne of the Emperours house seeing how hardly Otho the Emperour came to the Empire though it were his inheritance called a Synode and with the consent of the Princes of Germany confirmed the ordinance of the Emperour decreed that these 7 electors should for euer haue power to chuse the Emperor in the name of all who being chosen should bee called Caesar king of Romanos after his coronation by the Pope be named Augustus Emperour Cardinall Cusanus saith the Emperor Otho with the consent of the nobles Primates and both the states of the Clergy people ordained electors in the time of Gregory the 5. who was a Germane decreed that they should haue power for euer to chuse the Emperor in steed of all It is not therefore to be granted saith hee that the Princes electors haue their power of chusing the Emperor from the Pope so that without his consent they should not haue it or that he might take it from them if he would Who therefore gaue the people of Rome power to chuse the Emperor but the law of God nature whence the Electors appointed by the cōmon consent of all the Germanes and other subiect to the Empire in the time of Henry the second haue their power originally from the common consent of them all who by natures right had power to constitute them an Emperour and not from the Bishop of Rome who hath no power to giue to any prouince of the world a King or Emperour without the consent thereof But the consent of Gregory the 5. who as Bishop of Rome in his degree and place had interest to giue voyce in the chusing of the Emperour concurred with the resolution of the Princes people The sixt instance is of Gregory the 7. deposing Henry the 4. who indeed was the first Pope that euer tooke vpon him to depose Emperour or King Wherefore for the better vnderstanding of the whole course of the proceedings of this Pope wee must obserue that in the time of Henry the 3. about the yeare of our Lord 1040. there was an horrible confusion of Gods Church and people in the citty of Rome three seuerall pretenders inuading the chaire of Peter and challenging the name of his successours and which more increased the misery the reuenues of the Church were diuided among these three and seuerall Patriarchicall places assigned to them one of them sitting at S. Peters another at S. Mary the greater and the third named Benedict in the palace of Lateran and all of them liued very lewdly wickedly as Otho saith the Romanes reported vnto him being in Rome A certaine religious Presbyter named Gratian considering this miserable state of the Church taking pitty on his distressed mother moued with the zeale of piety went to the three pretenders and perswaded them for money to leaue the holy seate of Peter assigning to Benedict as being of greater esteeme among them the reuenues of England for his maintenance and as a recompence of his voluntary relinquishing the claime to the Popedome The citizens of Rome admiring the happy atchieuement of this Presbyter chose him to bee Pope as being the deliuerer of the Church from so great a schisme and changing his name called him Gregory the 7. But when Henry the King heard of it he passed into Italy Gratian vnderstanding of his comming met him at Sutrium and to pacifie his wrath offered him a precious Diademe The King at the first honorably receiued him but afterwards calling a Councell of Bishoppes induced him to giue ouer the Popedome as hauing by Symony obtayned it at the first and with the consent of the Romane church placed Suidegerus Bishop of Babenberge in the Papal chaire who was named Clemens This Clemens dyed Popio Patriarch of Aquileia succeeded him and was named Damasus Damasus dyed and Bruno Bishop of the Tullians succeeded him and was named Leo. This man being of a noble race in France was appointed Pope by the authority of the Emperour and hauing put on the Papall purple robe journeyed through France til he came to Cluniack where one Hildebrand was Priour This Hildebrand moued with zeale came to Leo and told him hee did ill to assume the Papall office by vertue of the Emperours nomination being a Lay-man but that if hee would be aduised by him he would direct him into a course whereby he might without offending the Emperour preserue the liberty of the Church in chusing her chiefe Bishop This aduice Leo hearkned vnto and putting off his purple robe put on the weede of
Cardinall Caietan With him agreeth Cardinall Bellarmine and confirmeth that hee saith by three reasons whereof the first is this Priestes are not forbidden by Gods Law to company with their wiues which they married before they entered into holy Orders Therefore they are not forbidden to marry after they are entred The consequence he proueth because if any thing bee found in marriage that cannot stand well with the sacred function and imployment of Ministers it is the act of Matrimony and not the contract which is a thing most honest and is soone past Whereupon they that dislike the marriage of Church-men were wont to alleadge the cares of houshold and of children causing distraction of mind and other like things and not the contract or Sacrament of marriage therefore he rightly reproueth Clicthoueus for that hee thinketh the matrimoniall society of such as were married before they became Ministers of the Church is not forbidden by Gods lawe and yet feareth not to say that the contract of marriage ensuing after the entrance into the holy Ministery is forbidden Wherefore leauing the consequence as good and sufficiently proued he confirmeth the antecedent in this sort That presbyters are not forbidden by Gods lawe to liue with their wiues which they married before they entered into the holy Ministery it appeareth in that the Romane Church hath for many ages past permitted the Presbyters of the Greeke Church to liue with their wiues which they married before their Ordination which it could not doe if so to liue were forbidden by Gods law That so the Romane Church hath allowed those of the Greeke Church to liue with their wiues hee proueth by good authority For in the Decretals it is reported that a certaine Grecian while hee was yet in the minor Orders according to the custome of the Greeke Church married a wife and afterwards when he was a Priest begat a sonne of his lawfull wife This Priests son was thought fitte to bee a Bishop and chosen so to be the Arch-bishoppe made question whether he might confirme his Consecration or not as doubting of his Legitimation To whom Innocentius the Third writeth thus Wee considering that the East Church neuer admitted the vow of continency but that they of the East while they are yet in the Minor Orders contract marriage and when they are in the higher Orders vse that marriage which they then contracted doe commaund that vnlesse any custome be against it in that these Grecians liue among the Latines if there be no other Canonicall impediment you proceede without doubting to the Confirmation and Consecration of him Wherby it is euident that the Bishoppe of Rome allowed the marriage of the Grecians for Innocentius saith this Presbyter after he was a Presbyter begatte a sonne of his lawfull wife and approueth nay commaundeth his sonne as lawfully begotten to be ordayned if it were not offensiue because he conuersed among the Latines The next reason that Bellarmine bringeth is for that there is no prohibition of Almighty GOD found either in the old or new Testament and the third for that it is said in the Coūcell of Ancyra that Deacons with the licence of the Bishoppe may marry after they are ordayned Whence it followeth that they are not forbidden to marry by GODS Law seeing Bishoppes may not dispense with GODS Law And This Councell as Bellarmine truely noteth is most auncient and approued by Leo the Pope The vttermost therefore that our Aduersaries canne say is that the Church by her authority hath forbidden the marriage of Presbyters and Bishops wherefore let vs take a view of the lawes of the Church concerning this matter and for our more orderly proceeding in the examination of the same let vs first obserue what the Church decreed touching them that being married enter into the Ministery Secondly touching them that entered being single Concerning the first it is euident that till the time of Siricius married men were permitted throughout the whole Church to enter into the Ministery and to liue with their wiues In the Epistles of Cyprian among other things Nouatus ordained a Presbyter of Carthage by Cyprian is charged first that he suffered his owne father to die of hunger and tooke no care for his buriall when he was dead Secondly that by violence offered to his owne wife hee caused her to be deliuered of her child before her time so that the child dyed and he was guilty of the murther thereof for which crimes hee feared to bee put from his Priestly function and the Communion of the Church and therefore preuented his punishment by a voluntary Schismaticall departure Where wee see a Presbyter permitted by Cyprian to liue with his wife and no way blamed for that hee had companied with her but for that when shee was with child by him hee had stricken her in such violent sort that shee was vntimely deliuered not without the death of the childe Whereupon Pamelius hath this annotation vpon the Epistle of Cyprian Many married men at that time were taken into the Cleargy because there were few other to bee had and therefore it is not to be maruailed at that Cyprian maketh mention of the wife of Nouatus who was a Priest That Tertullian was married it appeareth by the booke which he hath written to his wife and that neither he nor shee voluntarily seperating themselues had vowed continency it appeareth by the perswasions he vseth to induce her to liue single and not to marry againe after his death in those euill dangerous times if haply he should die before her or at the least if shee could not nor would not containe to marry with none but a beleeuer Had shee bound her selfe by vow to containe hee would not thus haue left her to her owne liberty and if she could not nor would not containe he was bound by the Apostles rule not to defraude her but to yeeld vnto her due benevolence Neither haue wee these examples onely but many more for wee reade in Gratian of the sonnes of Presbyters and Bishoppes that were promoted to the Papall dignity So was Bonifacius the Pope the sonne of Iucundus the Presbyter Faelix the Pope the sonne of Faelix the Presbyter Agapetus the Pope sonne of Gordianus the Presbyter Theodorus the Pope sonne of Theodorus the Bishoppe and many more hee sayth there were who beeing the sonnes of Bishoppes or Presbyters were advanced to sit in the Apostolicall Throne And addeth that when the sonnes of Presbyters and Bishoppes are saide to haue beene advanced and promoted to be Popes wee are not to vnderstand them to haue beene such as were borne of fornication out of lawfull marriages which were lawfull vnto Priests before the prohibition and in the Orientall Church are proued to be lawfull vnto them euen vnto this day Socrates sayth that in Thessalia there was a particular custome growne in that if a Cleargy-man after hee became a Cleargy-man companied with his
to their Decree in this behalfe passed euer since in all the East Churches of the world For first touching the Greeke Church which is principally directed by the Canons of this Councell it is euident by the censure of the Orientall Church vpon the Confession of Auspurge translated out of Greeke into Latine and published by Stanislaus Socolouius Secondly the Sixth Generall Councell testifieth that the Armenians were so farre from disliking the marriage of their Cleargy-men that they ranne into the other extreame For they confined the Election of Church-men within the stocke of Church-men as the Priesthood was confined in the time of Moses law and contained within the tribe of Leui. And thirdly Damianus a Goes witnesseth that among the Aethiopian Christians Cleargy-men are married and that by dispensation of the Patriarche after the death of the first wife their priestes and Ministers may marry the second though without such dispensation they may marry but once The Armenians Aethiopians I suppose haue not restrained their Bishops from liuing in matrimoniall society with their wiues more then their Presbyters and Deacons seeing they take no notice of the prescriptions of the Sixth Generall Councell wherein this restraint began The Armenians receiuing but only the three first and the Aethiopians only the first foure Generall Councels Thus hauing taken a view of the course of things in the Church from the beginning and made it euident that generally there neuer preuailed any restraint of Cleargy-men from companying with their wiues which they married while they were but yet Lay-men or in the inferiour orders and degrees of Ministery and that the greatest part of the Christian world hath euer from the beginning euen vnto this day enjoyed the liberty which some vniustly sought to impeache let vs see where it was restrained or taken away and by whom Of the restraint in Thessalia whereof Heliodorus was Author as likewise in Thessalonica Macedonia and Hellas and of the endeauours of Eustathius Bishop of Sebastia in Armenia resisted by the Bishops in the Councell of Gangra I haue spoken sufficiently already and haue shewed that this restraint could not preuaile nor continue in those partes all these Churches holding their liberty in this matter euen vnto this day Therefore I will proceede to speake of the restraint that some sought to bring into the West Church The first restraint of Bishoppes Presbyters and Deacons from companying with their wiues that I do finde in the West Church was in the Prouinciall Councell of Elliberis in Spaine holden in the yeare three hundred and fiue twenty yeares before the Councell of Nice consisting of nineteene Bishoppes But I hope our Aduersaries will not much presse vs with the authority of this Councell seeing themselues make so little account of it as they doe There are some most excellently learned sayth Binnius in his notes vpon this Councell that thinke it erroneous and of no authority and that it is to be contemned as rejected by the Church for fauouring the heresie of Nouatus the conceit of Vigilantius and their opinion that would haue no pictures in Churches Melchior Canus sayth the thirty sixth Canon of it is erroneous and Bellarmine sayth it was but Prouinciall not confirmed and that it erred in many things namely in not admitting to the Communion of the Church vpon their repentance such as in the time of persecution denyed the faith or otherwise ranne into grieuous and enormous crimes and sinnes And Cardinall Baronius howsoeuer varying in his opinion touching this Councell yet confesseth there is no mention of it among the Ancient as of others and that it was vtterly suppressed as if it had neuer beene because it was ill thought of as fauouring Nouatianisme And therefore contrary to this Councell the Councell of Ancyra nine yeares after decreed that they that fell in the time of persecution and denied the faith after condigne penance should bee receiued to the Sacraments of the Church againe and that Deacons protesting at the time of their ordination that they cannot nor are not resolued to containe but that they purpose and desire to marry shall remaine in the Ministery though they marry after their ordination This councell was confirmed by Leo the fourth and by the Councell of Nice as it is in the Councell of Florence So that hitherto no restraint of Cleargy-men from companying with their wiues preuailed But almost foure hundred yeares after Christ Syricius Bishoppe of Rome writing to the Bishoppe of Tarracon by whom he vnderstood that very many Priests and Deacons in those parts after their ordination liued with their wiues which they had formerly married and begat children of them as before and iustified their soe dooing by the example of the Priests of the Law excusing that which was done as proceeding from ignorance if they would acknowledge themselues in fault and refraine for the time to come commanded that no such thing should be any longer permitted Whereupon the second Prouinciall Coūcell of Arle holden in the time of this Syricius decreed that no maried man should bee admitted to the degree of Priest-hood vnlesse hee would promise to refraine from the company of his wife and yet permitted him to haue her liuing in house with him Innocentius the first who beganne his Popedome about the yeare of our Lord foure hundred and two insisted in the steppes of Syricius his Predecessor and drew some particular Bishops to concurre with him So that in some particular councels the lawfull society and companying of Cleargie-men with their wiues beganne to bee restrained In the second councell of Carthage as it is vsually reckoned but indeed the last the Legate of the Bishop of Rome being present procured the Bishoppes to passe a Decree that Bishoppes Presbyters and Deacons should refraine from the company of their wiues falsely affirming that the Apostles did teach so and Antiquity practise so contrary to that which I haue before alleadged out of the canons of the Apostles the councell of Gangra the speeches of Paphnutius in the councell of Nice the report of Socrates the Historian and the Decree of the sixth Generall councel affirming the leauing of Cleargy-men to their liberty in this behalfe to bee Apostolicall and Auncient The first councell of Toledo holden in the yeare of our Lord foure hundred decreed that Deacons which had liued with their wiues should not bee preferred to bee Presbyters nor Presbyters to bee Bishoppes though they had so done before the restraint made by the Bishoppes that were before them but laide no other punishment on them The Councell of Agatha holden in the yeare fiue hundred and sixe sheweth plainly that at that time many Prouinces tooke no knowledge of the Decree of Syricius and Innocentius but that their Presbyters and Deacons liued with their wiues still and excuseth them in respect of their not knowing of any restraint and continueth them in
lawfull Marriage which though they preuailed not at the first according to the wishes of the wicked Pope yet caused the most horrible confusions in the Westerne Church that euer had been for Lay-men taking occasion hereupon despised their Priests medled with the Ministration of Holy thinges ministered the Sacrament of Baptisme annoynted men with the filthe which they tooke out of their eares in steade of oyle did many things most disorderly and committed sundry intollerable outrages And therefore it is most strange that Bellarmine should so forget himselfe as he doth For whereas all stories impute these confusions prophanations and contempts of sacred things to the restraint of marriage and the disgracing of it so hard is his forhead that he blusheth not to write that the marriage of Ministers would hinder the due and reuerent administration of Sacraments and that experience shewed it in that in Germany in the time of Gregory the Seauenth when Priests began to marry wiues there grew so great contempt of the Sacraments that Lay-men beganne to administer them as Nauclerus and others report In which speech of his there is no word true for neither did Priests begin to marry in Gregories time but had beene ordinarily married long before as Nauclerus testifieth saying it was an old confirmed custome that was not easily to bee altered which Gregory sought to take away when hee went about to forbid the marriage of Priests So that they did rather cease to marry in his time then beginne Neither doth any story impute the confusions prophanations contempts of Sacraments and sacred things in those times to the marriage of Priests which was publickely allowed long before without any such euill ensuing as Aventinus and others doe testifie but to the restraint of it And therefore it was not the beginning as Bellarmine vntruely saith but the ending of Priests marriages in Gregories time that brought in so many and hideous euills into the Christian world Thus hauing seene with how bad successe Gregory the Seauenth beganne this restraint in other partes of the Christian world let vs take a view of our owne countrey and see what footing it had here Henry Huntingdon an auncient Historian and of good creditte reporteth that before the time of Anselme Bishoppe of Canterbury the marriage of Presbyters and other Ministers of the Church was not forbidden in England that when he forbad it howsoeuer hee pleased some for that there seemed to bee greater purity in single life then in the state of Marriage yet this his prohibition seemed to other to be very dangerous fearing that whiles he sought to bring men to that which is aboue the reach and without the compasse of humane frailty hee would occasion many greeuous and scandalous euills But howsoeuer this his endeauour tooke not place by and by for the same authour reporteth that after that time one Iohn Cremensis a Cardinall came into England and went about to restraine the Marriages of Church-men So that it appeareth that Anselme had effected nothing This worthy Cardinall as hee reporteth held a Synode at London and in the same made a vehement and bitter speach against the marriage of Presbyters asking if it were not an impure and vnfitting thing for a Minister of the Church to rise vp from the side of an harlot for so it pleased him to terme the lawfull wiues of Church-men and to goe to the Altar to consecrate the Sacrament of the Lords Body and Blood But see the judgement of God saith Huntingdon The Impure Cardinall that had thus inveighed against Marriage the night following was taken in bed with an Harlot though hee had said Masse and consecrated the blessed Sacrament in the morning which thing was so euident that it could not and so foule that it was not fitte to be concealed and hee addeth that if any Romane Prelate or other dislike this his most true reporte hee were best to take heede hee follow not the example of Cremensis least the like dishonour come vnto him as did vnto Cremensis who being at first receiued in very glorious manner was in the end cast out with disgrace and vvho despising lawfull marriage feared not to commit most filthy vvhoredome Hereupon it seemeth the matter of restraint of Presbyters marriage had no good successe at that time which appeareth also in that after this time in a Councell it was referred to the King hee vvas authorised appointed to punish such Presbyters and ministers of the Church as he should find married but he notably deceiued the Popes Agents that thus authorised him for hee tooke money of such as vvere found to be married and suffered them so to redeeme their liberties vvhich grieued them not a little yet did they in the end so farre forth obtaine their desires and the tyranny of Antichrist so farre prevailed that Presby ters durst no longer bee knowne publickly to be married but were forced to take another course for as it appeareth by the Decrees of Otho in the time of Henry the Third many contracted matrimony secretly and when in processe of time children were borne vnto them for their good when they saw it fit they would take order it might be proued they were married and their children borne in mariage either by witnesses or publicke instruments either while they liued or after their death Whereby it is evident that howsoeuer the impure Romanists sought to keep Cleargy-men from marying and to force them by the censures of the Church and other extremities to put away their wiues yet at that time they durst not pronounce their mariages voyde nor their children illegitimate for if they had these men would not so carefully haue provided to bee able to make proofe of their mariages for the good of their children So that though there wanted not instruments set a worke by the Pope some hundreds of yeares past that sought to restraine the mariage of Cleargy-men yet was not their restraint like vnto that of the Romanists at this day for they did not so restraine Cleargy-men from marying or liuing with their wiues as to pronounce their mariages to be voyde neither did they separate those that God had joyned together but if they would marry or continue with their wiues which they had formerly maried they permitted them so to doe and onely put them from the minstery Presbyters in former times saith o Duarenus if they tooke wiues in those places where mariage was forbidden were put from the ministery or perhaps where more severity was vsed were excommunicated but their mariage was not voyded yet is it not to be denyed but that Syricius and Innocentius spake very vnreverently of the state of mariage indeavouring to proue that Presbyters are not to bee suffered to marry because to liue in mariage is to liue in the flesh they that liue in the flesh cannot please God How absurd and inconsiderate this kinde of reasoning is euery man I
Epaunine Councell agreeth and the second Councell of Bracar saying If any widdow of a Bishop Presbyter or Deacon take an husband let no Cleargy-man nor no religious woman banquet with them neither let her euer communicate onely at the time of her death let the Sacraments of the Church bee administred vnto her Likewise the Councel of Antisiodorum decreeth to the same effect Neither can it be answered that these Councels forbid the widdows of Presbyters Deacōs Subdeacons to marry because during the life of their husbands vpon some voluntary parting they bound themselues by promise to liue continently For the Councell of Matiscon decreeth that if the wiues of Subdeacons Exorcistes or Acoluthes shall after their death ioyne themselues in marriage the second time they shall bee separated and thrust into the houses of Nunnes And yet these might lawfully liue with their husbands euen in the judgement of them that made this decree Neither were they any way induced necessarily to promise to containe Thus hauing seene where when and by whom the forbidding of the lawfull marriage of Presbyters entred into the Church in what sort it was vrged at the first how afterwards what contradiction it found how farre forth in the end it preuailed it remaineth that wee proceed to see what good followed vpon it Where first Aventinus telleth vs that after the restraint of Hildebrand vnder the honest name of Chastity the greatest part euery where without checke of punishment committed whoredomes incests and adulteries and that the Lawe of single life which offended the good was exceeding pleasing to impure companions who now for one wife might haue sixe hundred Harlots Neither is this the priuate conceit of Auentinus alone but all good wise men beare witnes with him that hee speaketh the truth say as much as he Bern speaking of the state of the Cleargie in his time saith Many not all truely but yet many vndoubtedly who neither canne bee hid they are so many nor care to bee hid they are so shamelesse many surely seeme to haue made the liberty in which they are called to serue as a fitte occasion to satisfie the flesh abstayning from the remedy of Mariage and powring forth themselues into all manner of sinfull wickednesses And in the same Chapter he saith That if wee digge downe the wall according to the wordes of the Prophet Ezechiell wee shall see horrible things in the house of God For after whoredomes adulteries and incests there are found the passions of ignominy and the workes of impurity and filthinesse Would to GOD saith hee those thinges that are most vnnaturall were not committed that neither the Apostles needed to write of them nor wee to speake and that no man would beleeue that so abominable lust did euer possesse the minde of man Were not those Citties which were the Mothers of this impure filthinesse long since condemned by the iudgement of God himselfe and consumed with fire Did not the fire of hell impatient of delay preuent the time and in a sort before the time consume that cursed Nation Did not fire brimestone and the sto◅mie tempest consume the very earth and ground it selfe as priuie to such confusions as should neuer so much as once bee thought of Was not all the whole land and ground it selfe turned into an horrible Lake Surely fiue heads of the Monster Hydra are cut off but woe is vnto vs innumerable moe are risen vp Who hath reedified those Cities of villany who hath inlarged the walles of impuritie and who hath spread out those venimous branches Woe woe the enemy of man-kinde hath scattered euery where round about the vnhappy reliques of that sulphureous burning and hath sprinckled the body of the Church with those execrable ashes hath filled some of the Ministers of the Church with that filthy stinking and impure running sore Saluianus in like sort in his booke of diuine Prouidence hath these wordes It is surely altogether a new and strange kinde of conuersion that some men talke of lawfull thinges they doe not and vnlawfull thinges they committe They refraine from mariage but refraine not from Rape What doest thou O foolish perswasion God forbad sinne not mariage your deedes agree not with your profession You should not bee the friends of enormous crimes who professe to doe the workes of vertue It is a preposterous thing that you doe it is not conuersion but auersion You that haue long since as the same is forsaken the worke of honest mariage cease at the last from sinfull wickednesse With these agree the Historians generally reporting that innumerable euills followed the prohibition of the mariage of Cleargie-men published by Pope Hildebrand that few liued continently though some counterfaited so to doe for filthie lucres sake and for ostentation and that many ioyned both periurie and adultery together and not contenting them-selues with an ordinary degree of wickednesse multiplyed their whoredomes and adulteries exceedingly Whereupon wee shall finde that many of the best learned most judicious worthiest men the Church had in latter times wished the Law of single life to be taken away euen as many resisted it when it was first made Durandus in his booke De modo celebrandi Concilii proueth by many reasons that it were fit that the libertie of mariage were againe restored to Priests in a Generall councell In the councell of Basill when exception was taken against the choice of Amedeus Duke of Savoy whō many thought fit to be Pope for that he had beene a maried man and had children it was answered by some of good esteeme that that was no exception and that haply it were much better that Priests were permitted to liue in mariage then restrained For that many of them might be saued in chaste mariage which now perish in their filthie and impure single life Aeneas Sylvius a great man in that councell who was afterwards Pope and named Pius the second in an Epistle to a friend of his who was in the holy orders of the ministery of the church yet desirous for the avoiding of fornicatiō to marry a wife writeth thus We suppose that you are not ill advised if when you cannot containe you seeke a wife though that should haue been thought on before you had entred into holy Orders But wee are not Gods neither can wee fore-see things to come Wherefore seeing things are come to this passe that you cannot resist the law of the flesh it is better to marry then to burne Yet cannot the Pope be perswaded to dispense with you but he standeth resolued to holde his seuere course still and thinketh it not fit to grant that to one which may be hurtfull vnto many If therefore you desire safely to marry you must expect some other Pope who may be more inclineable and yeelding And of this Aeneas Sylvius afterwards named Pius the second Platina and Sabellicus report that hee was wont
indeed religious and pious applying themselues to the study of Diuinity but such onely for the most part as seeke nothing but riche and good liuings that intend a dissolute course of life and resolue aforehand to wallow in all impurity of lust besides some fevve who inconsiderately before they know themselues fall into the snare Neither doth hee onely thinke it fitte that married men be admitted into the Ministery and suffered to company with their wiues according to the custome of the Orientall Churches but is of opinion also that they may be permitted to marrie after they are entred into holy Orders yea though there were no allowed example of any such thing heretofore seeing the prohibition is but positiue and many positiue constitutions haue beene abrogated But indeede there are not onely examples of men marying after entring into Orders but also of the Churches allowing the same For touching Subdeacons and Deacons there can be no question seeing the Councell of Ancyra which was most ancient and confirmed by Leo the Pope as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth decreed that Deacons with the Bishoppes leaue might marrie vviues after their entrance into holy Orders In the time of Gregory the Seauenth and before as it appeareth by the stories of those times Priestes did marrie after Orders and when hee went about to forbidde them so to doe hee vvas condemned by the whole Nation of Cleargie-men and deposed in a Councell of Bishoppes being justly disliked as for other things soe for this his Antichristian and vile attempt Neyther did those men which desired a Decree to be passed to giue the liberty of marriage vnto Church-men of whom I haue spoken desire onely the permitting of maried men soe to continue but of such as are not maried for to marrie as it easily appeareth by their discourses And surely howsoeuer there might bee some reason of expedience rather to permitte maried men to enter into the Ministery and to continue in the same state then to suffer such as come into it vnmarried to marry afterwardes yet if the one be lawfull as Bellarmine rightly noteth the other cannot bee vnlavvfull For if any thing be found in mariage that cannot stand with the sanctitie of the Ministery or the due execution of it it is not the contract which is a thing most seemely and honest and soone past but the act of it and the cares accompanying that state of life The manner custome and obseruation of the Greeke Churches is described by Zonaras in his explication of the Canons of the Apostles where he saith that Presbyters Deacons Sub-deacons before they be ordained are asked whether they will liue single or not and if they answere that they will they are presently ordained But if they answere that they will not they are permitted to take them wiues first and then are ordained after mariage Soe that they giue them leaue to marrie after they haue chosen them though before they ordaine them but if refusing to marry before ordination when they are willed to resolue what they will doe they marrie afterwardes they are putte from the Ministery but not from their wiues By that which hath beene said it is most cleare and euident that the mariage of Ministers is justifiable by Gods Lawe by the Canons and practice of the greatest part of the Church and by the judgment of sundry of the greatest and worthiest of the World in those places where it seemed to be most disliked in all ages euen till our time yet there remaineth still one doubt touching the lawfulnesse of their Mariages that by vowe had promised the contrary Concerning which point two things are to bee obserued first whether their mariage bee voide that vowed not to marrie Secondly whether they do sinne that vppon any occasion or change of the state of things do contrary to such their vow Touching the first of these two pointes to wit that the mariages of such as had vowed the contrary are not voyd vvee haue the judgment of sundrie the best learned among the Fathers For first Cyprian speaking of Virgins hath these words Quod si ex fide Christo se dicauerunt pudice castè sine vlla fabula perseuerent Ita fortes stabiles praemium virginitatis expectent si autem perseuerare nolunt aut non possunt melius est nubant quam in ignem delictis suis cadant That is if by faith they haue dedicated themselues to CHRIST let them chastly and with all honest shamefastnesse without lying or falshood so continue and resolute and constant let them expect the reward of Virginity but if they will not or cannot perseuere it is better that they should marry then that by their sinnes they should fall into the fire Which wordes are cleare enough for proofe of that which wee defend Yet Bellarmine and some others seeke to avoyde them making as if Cyprian did onely say that if Virgins that are to resolue and are yet free thinke they cannot containe it were better for them to marry then to burne But this evasion serueth not the turne for Cyprian speaketh of such as haue alreadie dedicated themselues to God willing them to perseuere and yet saith if they will not or cannot containe they were better to marry then to burne and therefore he thinketh mariage after a vow made to the contrary to be good though he that voweth without constant purpose of performing is not without fault Pamelius writing on this place of Cyprian hath these wordes If Cyprian by a certaine indulgence permitted such Virgines vpon whom the vaile was not yet put to marry rather then to burne let no man marvaile at it seeing their mariages if they doe marry are not dissolued by any Canons but they are onely enjoyned penance Saint Austine agreeth with Cyprian for speaking of the mariages of such as had vowed the contrary he hath these wordes They who say that the mariages of such men are not mariages but rather adulteries as it seemeth to mee doe not acutely and diligently enough consider what they say but a certaine likenesse and shew of trueth deceiueth them For because they are saide to chuse CHRIST to bee their Husband which out of a certaine loue of Christian sanctity refuse to marry there are some that argue and say that if shee bee an adulteresse which marryeth to another man while her husband liueth as the LORD himselfe defined in the Gospell then so long as CHRIST liueth ouer whome Death hath no more dominion shee must needes bee an adulteresse which hauing chosen him to bee her husband marryeth vnto any mortall man They truely which thus say seeme to bee moued by some reason that is not to bee contemned but they little consider how great absurdity followeth vpon that which they say for seeing a woman may laudably euen while her husband liueth with his consent vowe continency vnto CHRIST according to the argument of these men no woman may
highest and if it be a fault that I descend and performe not that I purposed I will repent of this my fault and by all due satisfaction pacifie and appease my God nothing shall seeme hard vnto mee so that I may avoyde this passion and decline this death in quâ viuens teneor that is in which I am holden though I liue These reasons he saith must needes preuaile and cannot bee resisted if mariage after a vow made to the contrary be lawfull if the Church may not dissolue it and if saluation may bee attained by men liuing in it as I haue sufficiently proued they may and therefore our Aduersaries rashly condemne such as in our time haue maried notwithstanding their vowes If a man saith Frisius shall vndertake to carry a burden to a certaine place and after finding his inability to performe it shall desire to be excused and that some lighter burden may be laid vpon him hee is much better to be allowed of then hee that goeth on in that hee vndertooke and fainting by the way hurteth himselfe and disappointeth him that set him on worke and in like manner hee is rather to bee approued that prayeth to bee eased of the ouer-heauy burden of single life and resolueth to liue honestly in mariage then hee that will still liue single though neuer so wickedly whatsoeuer Pighius and Eckius prate to the contrary who feare not to preferre a Priest that liueth in adultery before him that marieth a wife Besides all this which hath beene said seeing single life is not simply good and to bee desired but respectiuely to certaine endes therefore they that chose to liue single intended not the glory of GOD the good of his Church and the more opportunities of doing good without distraction did not make any lawfull vow seeing a vow must bee of that which is good and properly of the better good and consequently were not tyed to the keeping of it it being resolued that the vowes of fooles that is such as are made without respect to the right end without due consideration of their owne strength and a free and voluntary purpose of performing that they promise are not to bee kept Whence it will follow that the most part of the vowes men made in latter times not intending the right end are not to be kept CHAP. 58. Of Digamie and what kinde of it it is that debarreth men from entering into the Ministery HITHERTO wee haue proued the lawfulnesse of Ministers mariage and sufficiently shewed that no Law of GOD or the Church forbiddeth it and that no rash and inconsiderate vowe hindereth it if men cannot containe Now let vs proceede to see whether they bee any more restrayned and limited in their mariage then other men Some there bee who thinke they are and teach that they must marry but once onely whereas other may lawfully marrie as often as they please And further they suppose that if any man haue beene twice maried or haue maried a Widow hee may not beé admitted into the Ministery The ground of which conceit is that of the Apostle where hee saith A Bishop must be the husband of one wife But the meaning of the Apostle is that he who is to be chosen a Bishoppe must not haue more wiues then one at one time So that the Digamie the Apostle condemneth is not the hauing of two or more wiues successiuely but the hauing of more then one at the same time Of which it is that Iustine Martyr speaketh when expounding that saying of our Sauiour Hee that marieth her that is for saken committeth adultery hee concludeth that they who according to mans lawe runne into Digamies by our Masters judgement are found to bee sinners And therefore Chrysostome expoundeth the text of the Apostle as meant of Polygamy which is the hauing of many wiues at once His wordes are these The Apostle saith not this as making a Law that none without a wife may bee made a Bishoppe but appointing a measure of that matter For it was lawfull for the Iewes to be joyned in the second mariage and to haue two wiues at once Thus doth hee interpret the Apostles words though he were not ignorant that some followed another interpretation And therefore Bellarmine vntruely denyeth that any of the Ancient followed this interpretation but Theodoret. And the Rhemistes confesse that Chrysostome so interpreteth them but they say that writing vpon Titus hee followeth the other interpretation but surely it were strange if hee should so soone forget himselfe Let vs heare therefore what he saith that so we may the better discerne whether he dissent from himselfe and interpret the wordes of the Apostle to Titus as they would haue him or not His wordes are these The Apostle purposeth vtterly to stoppe the mouthes of heretickes which condemne marriage shewing that marriage is without fault and so precious that with it a man may bee preferred euen to the holy seate and chaire of a Bishoppe Also with this saying hee chastizeth vnchast persons while he suffereth them not after their second mariage to bee taken to the gouernment of the Church For hee which is found not to haue kept his beneuolence towardes his wife which is gone from him how should hee bee a good teacher of the Church Nay rather to vvhat crimes shall hee not daily bee subiect for you all knovv that although by the Lavves such second Mariages are permitted yet that thing is open to many accusations Therefore he will haue the Bishop to giue no occasion to them that are vnder him These are the wordes of Chrysostome Neither can any man doubt that will advisedly consider them but that hee speaketh of a second mariage while the first wife liueth but is gone away for so are the wordes and not defunct or dead as our Adversaries translate for their advantage and not of a second mariage after the death of the first wife For if he did he would not condemne them that marrie the second time as vnchaste and wanton or make them subject to any crimes With Chrysostome agreeth Theodoret his wordes are these The preaching then beganne and neither did the Gentiles exercise Virginity nor the Iewes admit it for they esteemed the procreation of children to be a blessing And therefore for as much as at that time they were not easily to bee found which exercised continencie of such as had maryed Wiues he commandeth them to be ordayned which had honoured Temperancie And concerning that saying the husband of one Wife I thinke certaine men haue saide well For of olde time both Greekes and Iewes were wont to be maryed to two three or more wiues at once And euen now when the Imperiall Lawes forbid men to marry two Wiues at one time they haue to doe with Concubines and Harlots They haue saide therefore that the holy Apostle sayth that he that dwelleth honestly with one onely Wife is worthy to bee ordained a
had bin twice maried frâ—… entring into the Ministery had no good reason leading them so to doe For neither is he alwaies better that hath beene but once maried then he that hath beene twice maried as I haue shewed out of Hierome neither canne he alwayes better exhort to continence for how canne hee exhort others to liue continently and not to marry the second time or after the death of their wiues that himselfe in his widow-hood committed Adultery or liued as a whore-monger seeing the Apostle willeth both men and women rather to marry the second third or fourth time then to burne in lust and to commit adultery or fornication There is therefore a third reason yeelded of this pretended prohibition of marying a second wife after the death of the first which is mysticall and taken from a kinde of Sacramentall signification which must be found in them that are to be admitted into the holy Ministery of the Church And surely either this reason must preuaile or none for if it were some morall defect and imperfection that debarreth men twice maried from entering into the Ministery or for that it is a signe of incontinency to haue beene twice maried it might be washed away in Baptisme as well as Whoredome and other Crimes which yet these men deny Let vs see therefore what force there is in this Reason of mysticall signification The mariage of the Fathers in the time of the old Law saith Saint Augustine by their many wiues expressed and figured those Churches out of the many Nations People and Kinreds of the world that were to ioyne themselues vnto Christ in Spirituall mariage at his comming but the mariage of Christians figureth specially that perfect vnity that shall bee in Heauen of all faithfull and holy ones both with Christ and amongst themselues This is Augustines reason and this the Schoole-men vrge But it is strange that men of Learning should stand so confidently vpon so weake a ground For if the expressing of the vnity betweene Christ and the Church his Spouâ—…e by the vndeuided vnity that is betweene one man and one woman be necessarily required in him that is to be chosen a Bishop or Presbyter then of necessity every one that desireth to be a Bishop or Presbyter must marry a wife that so his mariage may expresse the Spirituall mariage betweene Christ and the Church Nay seeing Christ neuer withdraweth himselfe from his Church but daily begetteth sons and daughters of her vnto God each Bishop must haue a wife and company with her continually that so by the matrimoniall vnity that is betweene him and his wife hee may expresse the vnity that is betweene Christ and the Church Their answere hereunto is that as Christ is a Husband so hee is a Virgin and that therefore a man may beare an expresse resemblance and representation of Christ by Virginity as well as by Mariage So that it sufficeth if either hee bee a Virgin or haue beene but once maried that is to be thought capable of Ecclesiasticall honour But this answere vvill not serue the turne For though a man bee no Virgin as Hierome professed of himselfe that hee vvas not and as it is euident Augustine vvas not in that he had children borne vnto him yet it is not necessary in the iudgement of our Aduersaries that such a one should marry a vvife to make himselfe capable of Ecclesiasticall honour Whence it followeth that there is no necessity of Representing either the Virginity of Christ or his matrimoniall Coniunction vvith the Church by the Virginity or mariage of such as are to be admitted into the holy Ministery Besides this it is not enough to expresse the Vnity betweene Christ and the Church that a man marry but one vvife but it is required also that he defile not himselfe by being ioyned vnto harlots but that he keepe himselfe intirely to his owne vvife For so it is betweene Christ and his Church vvho not onely hath no other wife or spouse but the Church of the faithfull but also so intirely loueth her that hee giueth no part of his loue to any stranger So that hee that marying but once hath either before or after such mariage committed adultery or fornication doth not expresse the vnity that is betweene Christ and the Church And yet our Aduersaries that are so peremptorie against such as haue beene more then once maried set open the doores to let in both Whoremongers and Adulterers into the Church and house of God And therefore the wordes of Hierome may rightly be applyed vnto them That they tithe Mint and Annisseed and omitte the weightier things of the Law that they straine at a Gnat and swallow a Camell rejecting them as vnworthy that haue not offended and admitting such as haue justifying the sinner and condemning the Innocent But that wee may perceiue the weakenesse of this mysticall Reason wee must obserue that our adversaries admit none into the Ministery that haue beene maried vnlesse either their wiues bee dead or by consent of their wiues they resolue to containe renouncing that power and interest the man hath ouer the body of his wife and so indeed ceasing to bee husbands So that if their Presbyters and other Cleargy-men haue resemblance of CHRISTS mariage with the Church in respect of their mariage it is while they are no Cleargy-men but meere Laymen Now how-soeuer it may be required of them that are to bee admitted into the Ministery that they haue not beene scandalous before their enterance yet I thinke it is not required that they haue beene cleare representations or figures of CHRIST but this is to bee looked for afterwardes when they supply his place Wherefore wee may assure our selues that this was not the reason that moued those to debarre men twice maryed from entering into the Ministery that so did but partly a mis-vnderstanding of the Apostles words partly for that as Duarenus noteth though often marying bee permitted both by Gods Law and mans Law yet the olde Fathers did not greatly like it as arguing immoderate incontinency in them that so doe Whereupon we shall finde that in auncient times they were all put to penance that maryed the 2d time though Lay-men and neuer intending to enter into the Ministery The wordes of the Councell of Neocaesarea are these Concerning such as often take them wiues and such as are often marryed it is ordered that they shall obserue and fulfill the time of the penance which is prescribed vnto them yet so as that their conversation and faith may shorten the time And the same Councell forbiddeth a Presbyter to bee present at the mariage-feast of them that are the second time maryed seeing it is prescribed that they must bee put to Penance that marry the second time And asketh what Presbyter that is that will for a mariage-feast consent to such mariages And another Canon forbiddeth such mariages to be blessed in the Church
The councell of Laodicea provideth in this sort touching them that marry the second time Concerning them that according to the Ecclesiasticall Rule are freely and lawfully joyned in the second mariage and haue not secretly so joyned them-selues It is fit that for some short time they giue them-selues to prayer and fasting which being past by a kinde of Indulgence they may be restored to the Communion The Author of the vnperfect worke that goeth vnder the name of Chrysostome proceedeth a little farther in this sort The Apostles saith he commanded to enter into the second mariage for the avoyding of fornication For according to the precept of the Apostle it is lawfull to take a second wife but according to the rule and prescription of Trueth it is indeed Fornication This conceipt grew so farre that the Councel of Nice was forced to make a Canon that the Catharists should not be receiued into the fellowship of the Church vnlesse they would communicate with such as fell in the time of persecution with such as had beene twice maryed whereby it appeareth that some rejected them as though they might not haue beene receiued into the Church no not after Penance So that to conclude this point touching Digamie it is not the hauing of more wiues than one successiuely that the Apostle condemneth but the hauing of more wiues at once Three reasons are brought by our Adversaries to proue the contrary but they will be found too weake if we examine them The first is that Polygamie or the hauing of many wiues at once was not in vse in the Apostles time that therfore the Apostle had no reason to forbid it but this may easily be refuted by good authorities Your Masters saith Iustine Martyr speaking to the Iewes euen to this day suffer euery one of you to haue foure or fiue wiues in his Apologie he vnderstandeth by Digamie the hauing of more wiues then one at one time not successiuely for hee saith they which according to mans Law doe enter into Digamie or second mariages are sinners according to the Doctrine of our Teacher and Master And Theodoret sayth In former times both Iewes and Gentiles tooke vnto them in mariage many wiues Their second reason is this The Apostle requireth that a widdow must haue beene the wife of one husband and his meaning must needes bee that she must not haue had more husbands then one successiuely Therefore when hee prescribeth that a Bishop must be the husband of one wife his meaning is that hee must not haue had more then one wife successiuely the forme of speach being the same That when he speaketh of widdowes hee meaneth that they must not haue had more husbands then one successiuely they proue because howsoeuer Men haue sometimes had more wiues then one at the same time yet Women neuer had more husbands and hereupon they charge vs with intollerable impudencie violent wresting of the Scriptures and bringing such an interpretation of the Apostles words as neuer came into any wisemans cogitation before when wee say hee repelleth such from entering into the order of widdowes as haue had two husbands at once and not such as haue beene twice maried But if it please them to giue vs leaue wee will shew them that they are too violent and say they know not what For wee thinke nay we know it hath bene heard of that a woman should haue two husbands at one time yea that both amongst Iewes and Gentiles in former times women forsaking their husbands or forsaken of them without iust cause haue married againe which the Apostle might iustly condemne and debarre such as had so done from entring into the order and ranke of sacred Widdowes Neither is it hard to shew that our interpretation hath beene thought of and approued more then a thousand yeares agoe by men of as great wisedome as our great maisters that thus insult ouer vs. For Theodoret vpon these very words of the Apostle writeth thus Hereof also it is manifest that he reiecteth not second mariages but decreeth that they liue chastly in matrimony for hee which before hath established the secōd mariage by law hath not here forbidden her which hath bin twice married to obtaine bodily reliefe And Theophilact likewise sayth The Apostle requireth Monogamie of her that is to be admitted into the company of widdowes that is that shee haue beene coupled but to one husband at once as a signe of honesty chastity and good manners Concerning these Widdowes two things are to be considered First hovv and in what sort they were imployed by the Church Secondly how farre fortth they were tyed not to leaue the Church-seruice and to marryagaine Touching their seruice it was first and principally about women that were to be baptized for their instruction and the addressing of them-selues to that Sacrament and the sacred Rites of the Church accompanying the same as appeareth by the Constitutions of Clemens it being more fitte for them to haue priuate and often accesse vnto them then for men Which thing also Epiphanius sheweth calling them by the name of Diaconesses Secondly the attending and taking care of the sicke and impotent Touching the second point wee suppose that these widdowes being of great Age destitute of all outward supportes seeking reliefe of the Church and dedicating themselues to the seruice thereof did by this very act professe and make knowne their purpose of continuing in that estate of Widdowhood and performing such seruice as to them any way appertained And therefore the Apostle condemneth them that after such profession made waxed wanton against Christ sought to put themselues out of the holy Ministery seruice they had dedicated themselues vnto to returne to Secular courses of life againe These according to the iudgment of Epiphanius were subiect to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is just dislike and blame and were to be condemned for their leuity and inconstancie but not to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to the condemnation of eternall death and destruction if declining adultery and other like vncleanenesse they choose rather to marrie then to defile themselues with such impurities And Augustine resolueth that their marriage notwithhanding any profession they seeme to haue made to the contrary is not to be condemned as euill or to be dissolued but that onely their breach of promise made to God and his Church and their falling from their purpose is to bee disliked and condemned Thus do these learned and holy Fathers resolue touching such widdowes as the Apostle speaketh of And Peter Lumbard vpon these words of the Apostle in like sort adding that they breake their first faith euen that they professed in baptisme in that violating so solemne a promise and turning away so scandalously from the calling they had voluntarily put themselues into they seeme to forget and cast from them the very faith and profession of Christians Soe