of Laws but that he might get the more into his Snares and so have thereby the more plentiful incomes and fines for Dispensations and Condemnations And this take for the up-shot of this Dance for as the old Comedies used to end in Weddings so all the enterprises of the Pope ended in money Study of Ecclesiastical Laws corrupts Protestants Divers Weights and Measures Ad aliud Tribunal aliud Exmen alias Leges Circuit Subornation Perjury Interfering of Courts 4. The study of the Popish Canons corrupts the choicest Protestant Wits in their Education with Popish principles in which rest the whole hopes of the gains of their profession 5. They introduce divers Weights and divers Measures of justice in the same people 6. They compel the Subjects ad aliud Tribunal then Caesars Judgment Seat ad aliud examen then per legem Terrae ad aliud judicium then legale judicium parium 7. They cause endless Circuits of Action Delays and Costs Subornation and Perjury of Witnesses and grind the people between two Mill-stones of interfering Jurisdictions as appears in the Statute following The Recital of the Statute 9 H. 6.11 following concerning the contention of the Heirs of Edmund Earl of Kent in Parliament relating to a Marriage without a Priest and Temple ITem Whereas by a supplication delivered in this present Parliament by the Commons of the same it was declared by Margaret Dutchess of Clarence Joan Dutchess of York Sisters and amongst others Heirs to Edmund Earl of Kent Richard Duke of York Richard Earl of Salisbury and Alice his Wife Ralph Earl of Westmorland John Lord of Typtost and of Powis and Joyce his Wife and Henry Gray Cousins and other of the Heirs of the said Edmund late Earl as in the same supplication is supposed That is to say the said Duke Son to Ann Daughter of Eleanor another of the Sisters of the said Edmund the said Alice Daughter to Eleanor another Sister of the said Edmund the said Ralph Son to Elizabeth another Sister of the said Edmund the said Joyce Daughter to the said Eleanor Mother of Ann and the said Henry Gray Son to Joan Daughter of the same Eleanor That whereas Eleanor Wife to James Lord Audley pretending calling and affirming her self Daughter and Heir to the said Edmund late Earl of Kent and begotten and born in Marriage pretensed had betwixt him and Constance late Wife of Thomas Lord Dispenser whereby the said supplication is supposed That the said Eleanor Wife to the said James is Bastard and never was any Marriage made had nor solemnized betwixt the said Edmund and Constance but the said Edmund by the Ordinance Will and Agreement of King Henry the Fourth Grand-Father to our Lord the King that now is after great notable and long Ambassage had and sent to the Duke of Millain for a Marriage to be had betwixt the said Edmund and Luce Sister to the said Duke of Millain did take to Wife and openly and solemnly Married the said Luce at London The said Constance then living and being there present not claiming the said Edmund to be her Husband nor any other Dower of his Lands after his decease which Marriage betwixt the said Edmund and Luce so had and solemnized continued without any interruption of the said Constance or of any other during the life of the said Edmund as divers Lords and other credible and notable persons of the said Realm do well remember And how after the decease of the said Edmund the said Luce was endowed of his Lands as his Lawful Wife continuing thereof her Estate peaceably all her life Nevertheless the said Eleanor the Wife of James upon great subtilty and process imagined Privy-labour and other means and coloured ways to the intent that she ought to be certified Mulier by some Ordinary in case that Bastardy should be alledged in her person hath brought as it is said in examination before certain Iudges in the Spiritual-Court not informed nor having knowledge of the said Subtilty Imagined Process Privy-labour and coloured ways certain suborned proofs and persons of her Assent and Covin deposing for her That the said Eleanor the Wife of James was begotten within Marriage had and solemnized betwixt the said Edmund and Constance The said Dutchess the Duke of York and Earl of Salisbury and Alice Earl of Westmerland John Lord of Typtost Joyce and Henry nor any of them thereof warned nor knowing untill long time after the deposition so made whereof the said suppliants do fear them to be grieved and impeached of their Inheritance had by the said Edmund by another subtilty and labour in the Temporal Law to be practised and wrought by the said Lord Audley and Eleanor his Wife As if they will commence any Action against any persons of their own assent and covin or otherwise will cause such persons of such assent and covin to pursue an Action against them as is supposed they intend to do in which action by the covin and assent aforesaid Bastardy ought to be alledged in the person of the said Eleanor Wife of James and thereupon by the assent and covin an Issue is to be taken and a Writ to be sent to some Ordinary where it please them not advertised of the said subtilty assent and covin to certifie if the said Eleanor the Wife of James be Mulier or not before which ordinary the same Eleanor Wife of James will alledge and prove her self Mulier by the said depositions of the said suborned Witnesses And then the party reputed as adversary against the Lord of Audley and Eleanor his Wife in the said action taken or to be taken by assent and covin aforesaid will alledge no proof nor matter nor make any defence before the Ordinary against the same Lord Audley and Eleanor his Wife but suffer the matter before the said Ordinary to proceed according to the meaning of the said Lord Audley and Eleanor his Wife So that it is very likely that the same Ordinary will certifie the said Eleanor the Wife of James Mulier which Certificate so had and made ought by the Law of England to disherit the said Dutchess Duke of York Earl of Salisbury Earl of Westmerland John Lord of Typtost Joyce and Henry and their Issue forever of the whole Inheritance aforesaid Whereupon the premises tenderly considered and to Eschew such subtil disherisons as well in the said Case as in other Cases like in time to come By the Advice and Assent of all the Lords Spiritual and also at the special Request of the said Commons in this present Parliament assembled It is Ordained and Established by Authority of this Parliament That if the said Eleanor the Wife of James be certified Mulier in any Court before this time that no manner of Certificate heretofore made for the said Eleanor Wife of James shall in anywise put to prejudice indamage nor conclude any person or persons but him or his Heirs that was party to the Plea And that from
Infallible or any Book which hath more Seditious and Rebellious principles of Disloyalty This I only say now but when I have what I now want time and opportunity I can and will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make it good how dangerous and when believed and practised how pernitious to Kings and Princes the principles of that Law are I hope all Bishops will hereafter be of the same mind and not own the Canon Law to be the Rule of Marriages and Legitimations or Successions of Protestant Kings and Princes or their Subjects or for their Pardons and Excommunications or fit to be any longer the Ecclesiastical Law for the Government in any thing of Three Protestant Kingdoms As to the Feudal Law I shall defer it till I come to speak of the wicked obligations of some Tenures Feudal Law to prostitute the Virginities of their Daughters to the Lords of the Land It is enough for to shew the slavery of Feudal Laws if we but remember the late Wardships of Tenures wherein the marriages of Men and Women were bought and sold as if Beasts in the Market and the unjust Laws yet remaining in customary Estates prohibiting Widows to marry and marrying young Women to old decrepit Men not fit for marriage to get a Widow's Estate whereby they are left exposed to infinite Temptations The wicked custom of Marchâ—ta Mulieris belongs to the Feudal Law Marchâ—ta mulieris dicitur Virginalis pudicitiae prima violatio delibatio quae ab Eveno Rege sibi capitalibus dominis fuit impie permissa de omnibus novis nuptis prima nuptiarum nocte sed pie à Malcolmo 3 sublata fuit in capite sequente certo vaccarum numero quasi pretio redimitur Sken Reg. Ma. lib. cap. 31. 1. It is to wit that conform to the Law of Scotland the Marchet of ane Woman noble or Servant or Hireling is ane Zoung Kow or three shillings And the right duty to the Sergeant three pennys 2. And she be Dochter of an Frie-man and not of the Lord of the Village her Marchet shall be one Kow or six shillings and for the Sergeants duty sax pennys 3. Item The Marchet of ane Thane or Ochiern twa Rye or Twelve shillings and the duty to the Sergeant Twelve pennys 4. Item The Marchet of the Daughter of an Earl pertains to the Queen and is twelve Rye The Spaniards in the West Indies setting a Tribute to the King and the inferior Lords to be paid yearly by every married person To encrease these yearly Tributes from married persons they every year survey by List the married persons of every Town and cause their Children Sons and Daughters to be brought before them to see if they be fit to be married and if of growth fit they threaten the Parents for not marrying them and raise his Tribute by way of Fine till he marry them And the set time they appoint for marriage to the Indians is 14 to the Man and 13 to the Woman yea some they compel to marry scarce 12 or 13 years of Age if they appear of more forward strength yea it is a shame to see how young they are inforced to it pag. 155. So between the King of Spain and the Pope the poor Indians pay dear for marriage which God left free The Civil Law is said to be Jus Leoninum The Canon Law Jus Vulpinum The Feudal Law Jus Asmarium in regard of the intollerable oppression and servitude in it I conclude therefore Marriage Filiation and Succession not fit to be judged by any of these three Laws CHAP. IV. Marriage Matrimony Legitimtaion or Succession not to be judged by the Law of Mahomet YOU will not offend God in speaking a word in secret to Women that you research in marriage although you conceal in your minds your design to espouse them he understandeth whatever you think of them Alch. cap. 2. pag. 23. Of Persons with whom Marriage is forbidden Marry not the Wives of your Fathers what is past was Incest abomination and a wicked way your Mothers are forbidden you your Daughters Aunts Nieces Nurses and your foster Sisters The Mothers of your Wives the Daughters that your Wives have had by other Husbands The Daughters of Women that you shall have known are also forbidden you if you have not known them it will be no sin The Wives of your Sons are likewise prohibited and two Sisters for what is past God is Gracious and Merciful Married Wives are likewise forbidden except the Women-slaves that you shall have acquired God hath so commanded you Except what is above forbidden it is lawful for you to marry at your pleasure Of the Time of approaching Wives When your Wives shall be clean approach them according to what God hath commanded He loveth them that repent of their Error and are clean and purified Your Wives are your Tillage go to your Tillage at your pleasure And do good to your Souls you shall one day find it fear God and preach his Commandments to true Believers Alchor cap. 2. pag. 21. Of forbearing to touch Wives God will be Gracious and Merciful to such as shall swear not to touch their Wives the space of four Months if he return to them he is Gracious and Merciful but if they desire to repudiate them he understandeth and knoweth all things Women Divorced shall tarry until their Terms be past four times it is not permitted them to conceal what God hath created in their Wombs if they believe in his Divine Majesty and the day of Judgment Alchor cap. 2. p. 22. Of the propriety of the Wife in her Goods distinct from the Husband Oh ye that believe in God it is not lawful for you to inherit what is your Wives by force Take not violently away from them what you have given them unless they be surprized in manifest Adultery see them with civility if you have an aversion from them it may chance that you have a thing wherein God hath placed much Good But if you desire to repudiate your Wives to take others and that you have given them any thing take not any thing that appertaineth to them Will you take their wealth with a lye and a manifest sin how shall you take it since you have approached each other with a promise to use each other civilly Alchor cap. 4. pag. 49. Of giving Suck by the Mother and Aliment to her and her Child and Aliment by the Heir to his Parents The Women shall give Suck to their Children two years intire if they desire to accomplish the time appointed to suckle them the Father shall nourish and cloth the Wife and his Children according to his faculties Expend not but according to the measure of your Goods the Father and Mother shall not necessitate themselves for their Children The Heir shall perform what is above ordained he shall entertain his Father and Mother according to his abilities If the Parents would wean their Children before two
Her former Husband which sent her away may not take her again after that she is defiled for that is abomination before the Lord. Math. 5.31 It hath been said Whosoever shall put away his Wife let him give her a writing of Divorcement But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his Wife saving for the cause of Fornication causeth her to commit Adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is Divorcèd committeth Adultery Math. 19.3 The Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him Is it lawful for a man to put away his Wife for every cause And he answered and said unto them Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them Male and Female And said for this cause shall a man leave Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they twain shall be one flesh Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder They say unto him Why did Moses then command to give a writing of Divorcement and to put her away He saith unto them Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffer'd you to put away your Wives but from the beginning it was not so Here it is plain Christ refers them to the Law of Nature as the Law which was greater then the Politick or Positive Law of Moses And this was only tolerated by Moses for the hardness of their hearts and though it were lawful for Moses or any other Legislator to tolerate a lesser Evil which he was not able by reason of the hardness of their hearts to restrain yet was it not lawful for the People to practise it but they should be punished for it by God though they were not by Moses And hence doth manifestly follow That all those Laws which were mala in se and contrary to the Law of Nature which was from the beginning though Tolerated by Moses who was not able to reform them yet were they not properly the Law of Moses but wicked Customs which they received from Aegyptians Syrians Canaanites and other Nations and ought not to have been practised by the Jews then nor by the Christians now Of Laws taken from the Customs of Idolatrous Nations for a small tast take these that follow Exod. 21.2 If thou buy an Hebrew Servant six Years he shall Serve and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing Verse 4. If his Master have given him a Wife and she have born him Sons or Daughters The Wife and her Children shall be her Masters and he shall go out by himself Mahomet's was more fair then this for he being Amorous of the Wife of Zeid his Slave freely infranchised him though he were not bound to do it as the Hebrew Master was and besides his infranchisement gave him Money for his Wife And thereupon saith God appointed him to Marry her after she was Repudiated to the end that true beleivers might do the like and not think it an Error but what God hath appointed Alcor Cap. 33.260 And David did far worse then Mahomet as to the Wife of the Subject Vriah his Example therefore is as unfit a Rule to judg Marriage by as that of Moses and Mahomet Levit. 19.20 It is said And whosoever lieth carnally with a Woman that is a Bond-maid betrothed to an Husband and not at all Redeemed nor Freedom given her she shall be scourged they shall not be put to death because she was not Free And he shall bring his Trepass-Offering unto the Lord unto the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation even a Ram for a Trespass-Offering And the Priest shall make an Atonement for him with a Ram of the Trespass-Offering before the Lord for his sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him 1. This Law is unjust for it punisheth the weaker Vessel who is a poor Virgin with scourging and only fines the rich Lecher a Ram so he may commit Whoredom with as many betrothed Virgins if not Free-women for the price of a Ram apeice 2. Here is nothing provided for satisfaction of the Damage of the Master for the abuse of his Servant and dishonour of his Family nor of the Husband to whom she was betrothed but let him bring a Ram his sin shall be forgiven him toties quoties as 't is the Custom of some old Pagan Manners and Manours if the Copyhold Widow be unchast she shall forfeit her Copyhold unless she bestride a Ram and ride to the next Court and say these Words following For my Incontinence I do this Task Therefore to have again my Land I ask Numb 21.14 17. Notwithstanding the Midianitish Women had quarter given them and were Captives yet in cold blood Moses more barbarously then the Heathens themselves used to do commands the Souldiers to kill every Male amongst the little ones and kill every Woman that have known Man by lying with them but all the Women-children that have not known Man by lying with him keep alive for your selves And Deut. 21.11 The Souldiers are licensed when they take Captive Women after some idle Ceremonies of cutting their Hair and paring their Nails to lye with them and turn them off again when they pleased which examples though from Moses who was no more infallible in this then David in the act of Vriah's Wife of cruelty and uncleanness are not to be followed but abhorred of all Christians The Jews had likewise a custom of Contracting and Espousing the parties before Marriage of the great inconveniences of which shall be spoken after under the proper Title The ways of Marriage of the Jews Jewish Ceremonies of marriage not appointed by Moses Law Saith Moses de Cotsi was either with Money or Instrument or Copulation with Mony as when they bought one to be their Wife with Instrument as when done by Contract in writing by Copulation as by lying with any single Woman though no Consensus yet Concubitus fecit Matrimonium Especially if Conception followed as appears in the case of Jacob and Leah where there was no Consensus on Jacob's part but only Concubitus Conceptio At the Jewish marriage a Rabbi marries them and if the Bride be a Virgin Wine is to be drunk in a narrow-mouth'd Glass and if she be a Widow in a broad-mouth'd Glass and an Egg must not be forgot to be thrown at the Bride and broken to foretell an easie delivery The manner of the Jewes Marriage is The Bridegroom wears about his Neck an Hare-cloth the end of which the Rabbi puts on the Bride's head after example of Ruth who desired to be cover'd with the skirt of Boaz then the Rabbi takes a glass full of Wine and gives it the Brideman and Bride that they may drink then he takes the Bridegroom's Gold Ring and asks of the standers by if it be good and worth the money given for it then puts it on the Bride's finger then he takes another glass
them cleérly frustrate and dissolved Further also by reason of other Prohibitions then God's Law admitteth for their lucre by that Court invented the dispensation whereof they always reserved to themselves as in kindred or affinity betweén Cousin-germans and so to the fourth degreé carnal knowledge of any of the same kin or affinity before in such outward degreés which else were lawful and be not prohibited by God's-Law and because they would get money by it keep a reputation of their usurped Iurisdiction whereby not only much discord between lawful married persons hath contrary to God's ordinance arisen much debate and suits at Law with wrongful vexation and great damage of the Innocent party hath been procured and many just Marriages brought in doubt and danger of undoing and also many times undone and lawful Heirs disherited whereof there had never else but for his vain-glorious usurpation beén moved any such question since freédom in them was given us by God's Law which ought to be most sure and certain But that notwithstanding marriages have been brought into such an uncertainty thereby that no marriage could be surely knit and bounden but it should lye in either of the parties power and arbiter casting away the fear of God by means and compasses to prove a pre-contract a kindred and alliance or a carnal knowledge to defeat the same and so under the pretence of these allegations afore rehearsed to live all the days of their lives in detestable adultery to the utter destruction of their own Souls and provocation of the terrible wrath of God upon the places where such abominations were used and suffer'd Be it therefore Enacted by the King our Soveraign Lord the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That from the first day of the Month July next coming in the year of our Lord God 1540. All and every such Marriages as within this Church of England shall be Contracted betweén lawful Persons as by this Act we declare all Persons to be lawful that be not prohibited by God's Law to marry such Marriages being Contract and Solemnized in the face of the Church and Consummate with Bodily knowledge or fruit of Children or Child being had therein betweén the parties so married shall be by Authority of this present Parliament aforesaid Deémed Iudged and taken to be Lawful Good Iust and Indissolvable notwithstanding any pre-contract or pre-contracts of Matrimony not Consummate with Bodily knowledge which either of the parties so married or both shall have made with any other person or persons before the time of Contracting that Marriage which is Solemnized and Consummate or whereof such fruit is ensued or may ensue as afore and notwithstanding any Dispensation Prescription Law or other thing granted or confirmed by Act or otherwise And that no reservation or prohibition God's Law except shall trouble or impeach any Marriage without the Levitical degrees And that no person of what estate degreé or condition soever he or she be shall after the first day of the Month of July aforesaid be admitted to any of the Spiritual Courts within this the King's Realm or any his Graces other Lands and Dominions to any Process or Plea or Allegation contrary to this aforesaid Act. 1. Here it appears what a necessary stroke this Act gave against the usurped power of Ecclesiastical Laws and Jurisdiction in this and other points of Marriage forbidding any Spiritual Courts within this Realm or any his other Lands and Dominions to admit any Process Plea or Allegation contrary to this Act. And although hereby one of the heads of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was as is said of the Beasts Rev. 13.3 as it were wounded to death yet so great was the subtilty of the Serpent that the Ecclesiastics soon after by abusing the minority of that most pious though young King Edward the Sixth got all what the wisdom and courage of his Father had Enacted against them repealed by the Son 2 3 Ed. 6. cap. 23. Edward the Sixth abused by Papists in his Minority to repeal his Father's Act of Precontracts And thinking themselves therein not sufficiently secure they again procured the same to be repealed by 1 Eliz. 1. In which repeals I can see nothing but a Papist Plot against them both to revive those Ecclesiastical Laws by their own Authority against themselves which might have yielded most dangerous pretences against their own Legitimations and Marriages and Issue if they had happen'd to have had any For certainly no Marriage or Issue can be secure or certain if any fraudulent person may secretly pre-contract or pre-copulate with any vile person and take Bonds of him or her to release the same upon request and then marry another person Ignorant and Innocent and have Children procreate between them and then cause the party who had the pre-contract or pre-copulation to sue and obtain a Divorce against the Innocent person to be Divorced and Children Bastardized and Disinherited and then to give a release to the party conspiring in the fraud How is it possible to avoid this wickedness if pre-contract or pre-copulation should be allowed a sufficient cause to dissolve Marriage Consummate by the Birth of a Child And how is it possible propriety to be if a distinction be not kept between it and contract and between obligation and possession according to the old Rule of Law Rem Domino vel non Domino vendente duobus in jure est potior traditione prior And the Rule of the Civil Law and fundamental of all Nations who have propriety Obligatio non impedit translationem Dominii sed translatio Dominii praecedens impedit obligationem l. si quidem 1. C. de donat inter virum Notwithstanding all which Reasons preceding and likewise those in the mention'd Act of H. 8. The Ecclesiastics though straining their Wits and Eloquence to the highest in the Act of repeal by Ed. 6. yet cannot alledge the least reason except only this That if pre-contract should not dissolve Marriage the parties might part from one another at the Church door and then the Wedding Dinner would be spoiled which surely may be sufficiently and over satisfied by recompence in value were it a Half-Crown Ordinary But a lost Virginity to an Innocent Woman who was married bona fide and knew nothing of this pre-contract and her Child can never be repaired if the Marriage be dissolved Nulla reparabilis Arte Laesa pudicitia est deperit illa semel Propert. The Act of Repeal of the said most excellent Law of Henry the Eighth against pre-contracts follows 2 3 Ed. 6. cap. 23. 2 3 Ed. 6. cap. 23. WHereas in the 32 year of the Reign of the late King of famous memory King Henry the Eighth Because that many inconveniences had chanced in this Realm by breaking and dissolving of good and lawful Marriages yea whereupon also sometimes Issue and Children had followed under
may serve other gods so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against thee and destroy thee suddenly And Nehem. 13.23 It is said In those days also I saw Jews that had married Wives of Ashdod of Ammon and of Moab and their Children spake half the speech of Ashdod and could not speak in the Jews Language but according to the Language of each people and I contended with them and cursed them and smote certain of them and plucked off their Hair and made them swear by God saying ye shall not give your Daughters unto their Sons nor take their Daughters unto your Sons or for your selves did not Solomon King of Israel sin by these things So doth Mahomet command his followers to marry only those of his Religion whom he calls True Believers and saith It is better to marry Slaves who are True Believers than great Princesses who are Vnbelievers So do the Popish Laws and Canons forbid Papists to marry Protestants under the name of Hereticks except with the Pope's Dispensation or License which is only used where he sees a fit opportunity to put such a snare about the Neck of a Protestant as the Philistines did with their Dalilah about Sampson to betray and destroy him So it appears both Jew Pope and Turk are wiser in their generation then the Children of Light The Papists make Laws and prohibit Marriage with Protestants and illegitimate their Children to make them incapable to succeed to a Papists Inheritance The Protestant sleeps and never makes so much as one Law to prohibit Marriage with Papists or to make Papist Children incapable to succeed to a Protestant Inheritance CHAP. VII Marriage Filiation Aliment and Succession ought not to be judged by Ceremonial Laws BY the Law of the Patriarchs or Moses there were no Ceremonies instituted of Marriage and the Marriage of Abraham to Sarah his first Wife was no more then of Adam to Eve Gen. 4.1 And Adam knew Eve his Wife and she conceived and bare Cain and said I have gotten a Man from the Lord. And this appears Gen. 20.2 where it is said And Abraham said of Sarah his Wife she is my Sister And Abimelech King of Gerar sent and took Sarah But God came to Abimelech in a Dream by Night and said to him as Mr. Selden de jur Nat. Gent. 573. translates the Hebrew Text Ecce tu morieris propter mulierem quam accepisti nam concubuit cum ea maritus Behold thou shalt dye for the Woman which thou hast taken for her Male hath lain with her God doth not say he hath carried her to Church and shook her by the hand before a Priest or took her per verba de praesenti or that Consensus non Concubitus facit Matrimonium but the contrary that he had married her because he had lain with her And the very same Marriage without any Ceremony doth Abraham likewise make with his second Wife Hagar Gen. 16.3 And Sarah Abraham's Wife took Hagar her Maid the Egyptian after Abraham had dwelt ten years in the Land and gave her to her Husband Abraham to be his Wife And he went in unto Hagar and she conceived Here Hagar is made Abraham's Wife by no other Ceremony but going in unto her and her conception thereupon And besides going in unto her there is no Ceremony appointed for Marriage in the whole Law of Moses nor had the Jews any custom of carrying the Woman to Church before a Priest but the contrary When they married it was in the open Air and thought it not Lawful in any House whence they might behold the Heavens in memory of God's promise to Abraham Gen. 15.5 And he brought him forth abroad and said Look now towards Heaven and tell the Stars if thou be able to number them and he said unto him so shall thy Seed be But admit Moses had made as many Ceremonial Laws for Marriage as he did for Sacrifices admit the Jews had superstitiously observed as many more by their Customs and Traditions yet were it to no purpose for both Ceremonial Laws and Traditions are all now abolished by Christ Col. 2.14 Blotting out the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross And Math. 15.1 Where the Scribes and Pharisees asked Christ Why do thy Disciples transgress the Traditions of the Elders v. 3. He answer'd and said unto them Why do you also transgress the Commandment of God by your Tradition For God commandeth saying Honour thy Father and Mother but ye say Whosoever shall say to his Father and Mother It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me and honour not his Father and his Mother he shall be free Thus have ye made the Commandment of God of none effect by your Tradition And vers 9. But in vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. Here is the very same thing done by Bishops which was done by the Scribes and Pharisees for they on a Ceremonial Form of words used by Children gave them liberty not to honour their Father And the Bishops on a Ceremonial Form of words used by the reputed Father per verba de praesenti presently make the Child honour him who is not his Father nor begat him and if such Ceremonial Form of words be not used and a Certificate of the Bishop thereof then they command the Child not to honour the Father who begat him and command the true Father to illegitimate and abdicate his Child which was truly begotten And this they do either by the Ceremonial Law and Canons or Traditions of Popes But if both Ceremonial Laws and Traditions of Moses and Jews are abolished by Christ and by the Moral Law of God of honouring the Father much more are the Ceremonial Laws and Traditions of Popes and Bishops abolished by the same Moral Law I shall only mention a word more of the abolishing of the Ceremonials by the Testimony of the Popish Writers themselves who though in their works they keep alive all the Ceremonials of Moses's Law whence they can male profit yet in words and Doctrine they so far confess them abolished that they say it were a deadly sin to use them Aquinas therefore on the Question concludes Ceremonialia adeo sunt evacuata ut non solum sunt mortua sed mortifera Judicialia sunt quidem mortua quia non habent vim obligandi non tamen sunt mortifera quia siquis Princeps in regno suo ordinaret illa judicialia observari non peccaret nisi forte hoc modo observarentur vel observari mandarentur tanquam habentia vim obligandi ex veteris legis institutione talis enim intentio observandi esset mortifera The Ceremonial Laws are so utterly void that they are not only dead but deadly and the Judicials are dead but not deadly because if any Prince in his Kingdom will command those judicials to be observed he
Priest or Magistrate but be left free where God hath not prohibited him to do as best suits with his own Conscience and Convenience without unjust Penalties laid on himself his Wife or his Children for omission of a Ceremony never instituted by God but full of great danger and mischief to many though not to all whose Consciences and Conveniences are not alike but of different States as is already before shewn P. 108. especially between Poor and Rich for the Poor need neither Writing nor Witnesses for Portions or Jointures as perhaps the Rich think themselves to need Secondly Parties that desire Witnesses may no question have better Witnesses at their own Home in Private and with less inconvenience as well for Contract of Marriage as they have for all other Civil Contracts than a Priest in a Temple or Justice of Peace in his Hall or Bishop in his Cathedral or ony other Publick Officer whatsoever and one of the Jews ways which was never question'd but lawful and convenient was to Marry by written Instruments of Contract without Priest or Temple Thirdly Though Parties that Marry have neither Witness Publick or Private yet they have Power if they can Write to give a Note in Writing one to another or if they cannot to give such secret Tokens or Pledges as without Witnesses will be sufficient to evidence their secret Congresses when their happens any necessity as Judah when he went in to Tamar his Daughter in Law Gen. 38.18 He said What Pledg shall I give thee and she said Thy Signet and thy Bracelers and thy Staff that is in thy hand and he gave it her and came in unto her and she Conceived by him and after being accused of Whoredom Verse 25. When she was brought forth she sent to her Father in Law saying by the Man whose these are am I with-Child and she said discern I pray thee whose these are the Signet and Bracelets and Staff and Judah acknowledged them Fourthly If the Law were made as it ought to be That Private Marriage without Witness and Procreation of a Child between two Persons not prohibited by the Law of God to Marry should be a Civil Act Sine poena aut infamia and not a Criminal as it is unjustly made in the Bishops Courts if done without their Ceremonies of a Priest in a Temple the Proceeding of a Temporal Judg would be then Legal and according to the ordinary course of Justice if a Woman came before him and first took her Oath that such a man had her Virginity and that the Child she hath is his Child to put the man to his Oath concerning the same for this is then no Oath Ex Officio nor Self-accusation of a Crime when the Fact is made no Crime and is no other than like an Oath of discovery of a Civil Contract in Chancery or Wager of Law of No Debt or Non-Summons at Common Law and only gives the Woman and her Child the Civil Benefit to be in as good a State and Condition as if she had been Married by the Ceremony of a Priest in a Temple and no farther and this without Penalty to the Father who being put to his Oath if he deny not what is alledged against him nothing is more just than that he should be compell'd if he refuse to acknowledg the Woman to be his Wife and the Child his Child Fifthly when once it were known that the Magistrate had a Legal Power to perform this he would be rarely troubled concerning any secret Marriage but every man concerned in the same will be careful so much the more to perform the duty both of an Husband and Father in a Secret than a Publick Marriage by how much the more he desires to keep it secret 10. It causeth Prostitutions of Brides to Priests Lords Guests and others Examples of this in Priests are before shewn P. 53 54. of Lords P. 24 25. Sabellicus reports of the like Custom amongst the old Carthaginians the like was amongst the ancient Scots Persians Vri Swiss under-Waldensians Moors and others all which wicked Customs had been easily prevented and avoided had not the People been compell'd to Marry by the Publick Ceremony of a Priest and a Temple 11. It caused the Consecration of Incest Whores and Sodomites to attend the Service of the Priests and Temples The way of Consecration of the Persian Magi by lying with their Mothers Sisters and Daughters is before toucht P. 44. and the way Pope Alexander obtained his Holiness seems not much to differ from the Magi by the Epitaph of his Saint Hoc jacet in tumulo Lucretia nomine sed re Thais Alexandri Filia Sponsa nurus The Consecration of Whores and Sodomites whom the Priests let to hire in the Temples and Groves for their gain was so common amongst the old Pagan Nations that the Jews made Use of the word signifying a Person Consecrated to signifie a Whore and a Sodomite as the Hebrew word Kadash Jos 2.1 is translated in English Harlot and Rahab is so called and 1 Kings 14.24 the same is translated Sodomite yea at this day the Devil under the name of Holiness so much possesses the American Priests of Pegu that they keep in the Temples Consecrated Sodomites to make gains of them to the Priest who are esteemed by the People most Sacred Oh to what height of wickedness doth the Devil draw people where he makes the Priest his Instrument to counterfeit Holiness with their Ceremonious Fopperies of Consecration and bring the same into a Temple with the Name and Doctrine of being Sacred The same was done amongst the Greeks a wise Nation and by a wise Legislator of theirs even Solon himself yet did the Devil and Priest delude him under the name of Holiness for he caused by his Laws as a Fundamental of Government to begin his Magna Charta with the Privileges of the Holy Church and to that end he appoints a Temple to be Dedicated to Venus and Priests to be Consecrated and Sacrifices instituted and to be well govern'd by the Priests he stocked the Temple with a multitude of Consecrated Whores to be let to hire to increase the Priests Profit and Pleasure and this Holy Church he endowed with great Revenues and Privileges There were the like Holy Churches filled with the like Holy Sisters at Ephesus at Corinth and Abydos and so great veneration they were in amongst the People no doubt by the many pious Sermons of the Priests what Miracles these Female Angels could do that they attributed the whole overthrow of Xerxes with his almost innumerable Army to the Holy Prayers of these Consecrated Whores in their Temples or Stews to their Goddess Venus Here Whoredom for the gains of the Priests and Temples is Consecrated and believed not only by the grosser sort of People but by the chief Princes and Governour to be a Thing most Sacred And is not Adultery with us more wickedly than Fornication amongst the Heathen Consecrated by
aut Infamia as they ought in Truth and Right to be 17. It caused the Parisian Massacre of an Hundred Thousand Protestants Why Protestants should Idolize this Ceremonial Snare of Compulsion to Marry by a Priest in a Temple whereby the Papists with their Female Elephants hunt the Males to their destruction in the same manner as the Priests of Baal-peor did the Isaelites is strange Numb 25.1 And Israel abode in Shittim and the People began to commit Whoredom with the Daughters of Moab And they called the People unto the Sacrifices of their gods and the People did eat and bowed down to their gods And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel And the Lord said unto Moses Take all the People and hang them up before the Lord against the Sun that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel And Moses said unto the Judges of Israel Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor And besides those who were Slain by the Sword Verse 9. Those that died of the Plague were Twenty and Four Thousand I am here to speak against the mischiefs of Compulsion of Protestants to two Popish Sacraments to both of which this Priapeian Ceremony of Marriage by a Priest in a Temple is a Causa sine qua non which two Sacraments one of the Host and the other of Marriage are the two fatal Banquets to which the Catholick Lady useth to invite the imprudent Protestant who hath learnt only the Innocence of the Dove but not the Wisdom of the Serpent Their first Sacrament which is of Bread they have transubstantiated into Poison their second Sacrament which is of Marriage they have transubstantiated into Blood of the first these Examples follow The Emperor Henry the Seventh was Poison'd in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Popish Sacrament of Bread Tanâ—â—bstantiared into Poison by a Frier of the Order of St. Dominick and thereof died the same day Perhaps one Reason why the Papist Priest Administers not the Wine to the Laity but only the Bread may be because if the Priest should Poison the Wine he drinking thereof first might Poison himself as well as his Guests and his Friends as well as his Enemies but he may divide the Bread in Wafers or Morsels such as are Poison'd to the Parties he designs them and such as he appoints for bits of a Passeover to the rest But it is certain the Priest may do what he will and whether he Poisons Bread or Wine neither Prince or Subjects have their Tasters of either and it is very hard therefore either should be compel'd to receive it of any Priest except of their own Election as to Person and Place though but once a Year and very improper and dangerous it is for a Test between Papist and Protestant seeing it cannot be known whether the Priest who gives it be a Papist or no for if he be he will not spare Poison if he can thereby reach his designs on his own Religion as appears in the Examples following much less on a Protestant Lavaterus tells of a Frier at Berna who was endeavour'd to be deceived by his Companions who made counterfeit Apparitions of the Virgin Mary to him in the Night that he might become an Instrument by divulging his Visions and the Revelations in them to confirm their Superstition amongst the People but it seems they were but Novices in the Art of Counterfeiting and were so ill attired or Acted so ill upon their new Stage that though the Frier was but a Block-head he perceived by the voice it was the Sub-prior in Womans apparel who personated to him the Virgin Mary they being therefore fearful he should detect their Knavery attempted three times to poison him in the Host or Sacrament and the third time he swallowed it and vomitted it up again hardly escaping with life which made the Bernoyes begin not to think the Sacrament the Body of Christ which was so often turn'd to Poison Prince Visnorisky who was a Protestant of the Greek Church about the Year 1616. having prepared at Christmas to receive the Communion after their manner the Priest who had usually served him in that Devotion being corrupted with Money by his Enemies poison'd the Bread which the Prince having received he suddenly fell sick and his Torments were so violent as he died the next day this bred a suspicion that he had been poison'd whereupon the Priest was apprehended who presently confess'd he was guilty and had been procured by his Enemies whereupon the Priest was Executed being bound in a Chair of Copper Wire and Roasted to Death Turk Hist 1350. These few are discover'd to Men but who can Imagine but a greater multitude of these Wickednesses are committed by such as are so studied in the Art of Poisoning which remain in secret and undiscover'd and are therefore reserved to the just Judgment of the All-knowing God Popish Sacrament of Marriage transubstantiated into blood Of the Second which is the Popish Sacrament of Marriage transubstantiated into the Blood take the Example following of the Infamous Perfidious Cowardly Traiterous Diabolical and worse than Barbarous and Pagan Parisian Massacre of an Hundred Thousand Protestants under Faith and Oath given of safe Conduct and Peace and on Solemn Covenants of Marriage Anno Dom. 1572. This base Practice of the French Papists who found themselves too weak in the Field to injure the Protestant of Circumventing him by Perjury and breach of Faith and Covenant the most Sacred Obligations of all humane Society is very well and more at large displayed in a Relation but lately Printed 1678. out of Mezeray Thuanus and other approved Authors of which with what Brevity I can I shall only touch Heads Paâ—isian Massacre of Protestants intrapped by a Marriage The French King after Ten Years Civil War was advised to set on foot a Treaty of Peace not so much out of any design to quiet matters as to ensnare the Protestants in some fatal Trap in which they might be safely and easily destroyed the first Bait to be offered was the Marriage of the Lady Margaret the Kings Sister to Henry King of Navar and if that succeeded not they were to invent still a new Plot till they found that which would do the Business a Peace was therefore concluded with the Protestants by which the free Exercise of their Religion was granted them some Cautionary Towns were also put into their hands to be kept by them two Years till there were a full settlement made of the Edicts and the other things agreed to for their Security the next Progress in the Treacherous Design was when a Confidence was begotten on the Faith and Covenants of this Peace in the Protestants then to draw the chief Heads of the Party to the Court and they being so flatter'd into their compass they had the Power whensoever they thought fit to surprize and destroy them as
related Veneficii questio moribus Legibus Romanis ignota quam plurium matronarum patefacto scelere orta est quae cùm viros suos clandestinis insidiis veneno perimerent unius Ancillae indicio protractae pars capitali judicio damnata centum Septuaginta numerum compleverunt An Inquisition was made concerning Poisoning being an offence not known to our Manners or Laws and the wickedness of many Matrons being disclosed who by secret Treachery had kill'd their Husbands by Poison they being drawn forth by discovery of a Maid that part of them who were condemned to death amounted to the number of One Hundred and Seventy A great number for one City at one time and was no doubt not one of the smallest causes why Divorces grew so frequent in after-times not as is vainly pretended out of wantonness but of necessity Whereas if this private way of Justice and defence should not be tolerated to Families without publick litis contestations neither the honour or safety of any Family or Persons therein could be preserved and such as had a mind to separate if they could not do it but by publick Judgment would likewise either as the Muscovites are said to do Hire some false Witnesses or Knights of the Post to defame one another or oftentimes if that will not do to destroy the lives of one another or before the Party can make publick proof Poison or otherwise kill him whereby after it will be too late as it was in these 170 Husbands for any complaint to be made to the publick and the Wives are likewise in as great danger if they have not the same liberty of providing for them themselves on the first discovery of danger Had it not been better for all these murther'd Husbands and Wives to have parted on either side then to have acted such a Tragedy together So Aegisteus corrupting Clytemnestra to Adultery thereby got her concurrence to the death of her Husband Agamemnon And Sejanus having received an affront from Drusus plotted no other way to destroy him but by corrupting his Wife as saith Tacit. Annal. lib. 4. Cuncta tentanti promptissimum visum ad uxorem ejus Liviam convertere hanc ut amore incensus Adulterio pellexit ad conjugii spem consortium Regni necem mariti impulit So the Brother of Lewis the First King of Hungary was strangled by his Wife and she married a new Husband Lewis the King goeth into Italy to revenge his Brother's death she and the new Husband fly to the Pope who protects them Here neither the corruption of Clytemnestra nor the Wife of Drusus nor the Hungarian Hang-woman could have been discovered before a publick Judge till it had been too late What are therefore such Elccesiastical Laws and Judges who compel such secret and deadly Enemies to Co-habitation in one House but accessary to their Murders and who forbid them to marry others but accessary to the great sins of their Fornications and Adulteries Divorce by consent Authent Col. 23.140 The Title of the Law is Vt consensu Matrimonium solvi potest And the Law it self ends with this Reason Eos siquidem qui violento affectu odioque correpti fuerunt perquam difficile est reconâ—iliare contingit enim ut ex his nonnulli ad mutuas insidias procederent venenisque aliis quibusdam quae lethalia essent uterentur in tantum ut saepe liberi qui ipsis communiter nati essent eas in unam candemque voluntatem conjungere non potuerint Of the Law of Divorce à Mensa Thoro. Haddon in the new draught appointed in the times of Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth for Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws expresly abolisheth Divorce à Mensa Thoro in these words Mensae societas Thori solebat incertis Criminibus adimi Conjugibus salvo tamen inter illos reliquo Matrimonii jure quae constitutio cùm à Sacris literis aliena sit maximam perversitatem habeat malorum sentinam in Matrimonium comportaverit illud Authoritate nostra totum aboliri placet To prohibit Divorce à vinculo matrimoni for adultery or other Lawful cause and to prohibit the same to be done privately between the parties themselves without drawing the cause to publick Tribunals is to contradict Christ himself who speaks of a private Divorce by a Bill both from the Husband and the Wife according to Moses's Law and not a publick Sentence of any Judge and by the exception of uncleanness allowed the Innocent party to marry another but the Pope's Law which prohibits it doth it to no other end then to get the gains to his Courts by the Jurisdiction of Divorces and to compel the parties either to make use of his Stews whence he gathers his common Rents or to pay him a private Taxa Camerae for such Women as he will allow when he hath tied him from his Wife by the Divorce Neither doth Christ take the private Jurisdiction from the Husband or Wife of Divorce given by Moses but only prohibits to use it without a Lawful cause In the same manner did the Laws of the Romans allow the same Jurisdiction both to the Husband and the Wife as appears by many examples By the Law of Scotland Divorce for Adultery is allowed à vinculo matrimonii and the parties may marry again But by the Laws of England the parties can neither be Divorced à vinculo matrimonii nor marry again which is touched by Craig Feud 269. Apud Anglos Matrimonium ob Adulterium non dirimatur sed tantùm separatio à Thoro Tabula permittitur which is certainly clean contrary to the Law of God and the Doctrine of Christ Notwithstanding which our Episcopal Canons rather follow the Pope then Christ and are so outragiously oppressive on Innocent parties Can. 4.7 that in all such Divorces they order Bond and Sureties to be given not to marry again during each other's life which is as before shewen a Doctrine of Devils forbidding to marry where God hath not forbidden Of the Custom of Protestants marrying with Papists There is no Religion in the World established by any wife Legislator which he desires to perpetuate but the chief means he takes care of to effect the same is by his Law to prohibit his followers to marry with Women of another Religion for they both seduce the Fathers and the Children And while even in their Nursing and before they have learnt their Mother-tongue they will with their Milk be so far season'd with Old-wives Fables as the greatest Doctors of truth will not often-times be able all their life after to get out again Moses as to this is very strict and positive Deut. 7.3 Where speaking of the Idolatrous Nations of the Land saith Neither shalt thou make Marriages with them thy Daughter thou shalt not give unto his Son nor his Daughter shalt thou take unto thy Son for they will turn away thy Son from following me that they