the Church and Fathers without more proof Mean-while we see from what Author zealous forsooth of the right understanding of Christ's Institution and of God's Truth and vindicating it from former errors the Reformed have learn'd their Opposition to the Evangelical Sacrifice of the Altar Sic enim verba ungentis suffraganei clare sonant Cum enim juxta traditam ceremoniam Calicem in manus dat jam uncto Accipe inquit potestatem consecrandi sacrificandi pro vivis mortuis Quae malum haec est prorsus sinistra perversa unctio ordinatio quod Christus instituit adedendum bibendum pro tot a Ecclesia porrigendum a Saderdote una communicantibus c. ex hoc tu facias Sacrificium propitiatorium coram Deo So indeed the words of the Suffragan Bishop ordaining plainly signify For when according to the traditional ceremony he delivers the Chalice into the hands of the then Ordained he saith Take thou power of Consecrating and Sacrificing for the living and the dead What a mischief sinister and perverse Unction and Ordination is this what Christ hath instituted and ordained to be eaten and drunk for the whole Church and what ought to be given by the Priest to other communicants c. of this do you in private make a propitiatory Sacrifice before God Here also Luther might have expounded to Satan the sense of the Church and so have expected his Reply viz. The Church stiling the Sacrifice of the Altar propitiatorium only in the application of the sole satisfactory Sacrifice of our Lord offered on the Cross As also there were Sacrifices under the Law truly and properly stiled Propitiatory yet only so with relation to our Lord 's made at his death on the Cross O abominatio super omnem abominationem O abomination of abominations § 40. n. 6. 5. Mens sententia Christi est ut diximus ut Sacramentum distribuatur Ecclesiae communicantibus ad erigendam firmandam ipsorum fidem in quovis agone variarum tentationum peccati diaboli c. ad subinde renovandum praedicandum beneficium Christi Tu autem ex hoc fecisti proprium opus quod tuum sit quod tu facias sine aliis quod possis impartiri gratis vel pro pecunia aliis The mind and intention of Christ was as I said that this Sacrament should be given to the whole Church even all those that should communicate to raise and strengthen their faith in every agony of the various temptations of sin of the Devil c. thereby to renovate and set forth this benefit of Christ But you have made it your own work in that you celebrate alone without any others there present whether gratis or for money Spoken-to before the Church repels none denies the Sacrament to none worthy at any time sells it to none If Luther did the Church must not answer for his guilt What follows next is a Recapitulation designed as it were only to fasten and rivet these truths better into Luther's mind in which he was afterward to instruct the world and the matter of it replied to before Hic forsan dices etiamsi aliis in Ecclesia non porrigam sacramentum tamen ipse sumo ipse mihi porrigo Et multi in coetu etiam Sacramentum aut etiam Baptisma accipâ—unt qui tamen increduli sunt tamen ibi est verus Baptismus verum Sacramentum quare tunc in mea Missa non esset verum Sacramentum Sed hoc non est simile saith Satan quia in Baptismo sunt ut minimum duae personae baptizans baptizandus saepe multi alii de Ecclesia Et Baptizantis officium ejusmodi est quod aliis de Ecclesia quid communicat ut membris non aliis subtrahens sibi soli sumit sicut tu facis in Missa Et omnia alia quae ibi geruntur tum opus ipsum fit secundum jussum modum institutionis Christi tua autem Missa contra institutionem Christi ' Here perhaps you will say in defence that it is verum Sacramentum a true Sacrament and verum corpus Christi true Body of Christ tho the Consecrator doth not rightly administer it or is incredulous and hath no right faith although I do not administer this Sacrament to others in the Church yet I my self take it I give it also to my self There are many also in the Church receive this Sacrament as that also of Baptism which yet do not believe nevertheless it is true Baptism and a true Sacrament why then in my private Masses may there not be a true Sacrament But the case is not the same saith the Devil because in Baptism there are two persons at the least the baptizer and the baptized and often others also of the Church And the office of the baptizer is such that he communicates something to others of the Church not takes any thing from them to himself as you do in the Mass And all other things that belong to that Sacrament even the whole action is according to the command and manner of Christ's institution but your Mass is contrary to the Institution of Christ § 40. n. 7. 2. Quare non docetis quod quis possit baptizare seipsum c. Quare rejicitis Confirmationem si quis more vestro confirmaret seipsum Quare non est Absolutio siquis absolveret seipsum Quod si nunc nullum ex Sacramentis vestris aliquis ipse pro seipso facere potest aut tractare quì fit ut tibi soli hoc sacrum sacrificium facere velis c Scio saith Satan quilibet Minister aliis porrigens etiam pro se sumit sed ipse non consecrat sacramentum pro se sed sumit cum aliis Ecclesia Why then do you not teach that any one may baptize himself c. Why do you deny Confirmation to be good if according to your practice in the Eucharist any one should confirm himself Why not Absolution valid if any one should absolve himself But now if no one can consecrate or celebrate any of the other Sacraments for himself how comes it to pass that you offer sacrifice for and by your self alone I know saith the Devil that every Priest communicating others receives also himself but he consecrates not the Sacrament only for himself but receives it together with others and the Church First here if Satan proves any thing by his instances it is this that if no man may baptize or absolve or confirm therefore neither may he communicate himself But all Sacraments must not be made in every thing alike 2ly Neither in the Sacrament of the Eucharist doth any Priest consecrate or offer only for himself nor take this Sacrament only to or for himself if others be present and prepared to communicate with him but yet 1. he may give it to himself as well as to others and 2. again to himself when not to others if none offer themselves to
and remitted the former obligation of Confession of sins to the Priests and Fasting before receiving the Communion and generally held in matters of Religion no Ecclesiastical i.e. humane laws obliging see before § 19. Began a new Ordination of Bishops and Ministers vita p. 129. descending from him after having declared their former Unction null and God's Church to be only that where the Gospel was purely preached that was his By the same authority assisted with the power of the Prince he made new Bishops and put them in the places of the deceased Against the Canonical Election of another made his intimate friend Ausdorse Bishop of Neoburg see Mâ—lch Adam vita p. 150. and Georg. Anhalâ—tinus Bishop of Mersburg By the same Authority he sentenced the Canon-law consisting of the former decrees amassed as well those of Councils as those of Popes to the fire and assembling the University solemnly burnt it in Wirtenberg vita p. 115. By the same he frequently pronounced Anathema's and Excommunications to those reformed that dissented from him in Opinion § 24. n. 1. 〈…〉 For the things said here it is easie to produce a multitude of testimonies Concerning his presumption of his own Doctrines and Expositions of God's Word he saith see before § 16. Illum se aut â—â—â—am doctrinam Episcoporum aut ullius judicio Angeli de Coelo subjâ—cere non dignari he scom'd to submit himself or his Doctrine to the judgment of the Bishops or an Angel from Heaven And Extra aleam positam esse eam omnis humani judicii sed omnium Angelorum ' past the censure of men or Angels All this only out of a high presumption that his Exposition of the Scriptures was true the Church'es false And in an Epistle to Melancthon Adam vit Luth. p. 138 De publica causa satis magno otioso animo sum qui scio certo ipsam esse justam c. Certainly knowing the publick cause i. e. his own reformed Tenents to be just and true and Christ's and God's I am courageous and unconcern'd enough about it The threatnings of these bloody Papists I value not a if we come to the ground Christ will tall with us I had rather fall with Christ than stand with the Emperour In his answer to the Emperour's Edict 1531. concerning his way of Justification by Faith alone opposing the Church'es former doctrine in this point This Artide saith he will they nill they the Pope Emperour c will stand Hell-gates cannot prevail against it the Spirit of God doth dictate this unto me this is the true Gospel c. Casting the Pope's Bull the Canon-law and the writings of his Adversaties into the publick fire in Wirtenberg he used this insolent speech joyned with that insolent act vit Luth. Adams p. 115. Quia tu conturbasti Sanctum Domini conturbet te ignis aeternus because thou hast disturbed the Holy of the Lord get thee into eternal flames And upon Gal. 1.11 12. he thus answers an Objection made against the newness of his Doctrine taught contrary to that of the former Church by so inconsiderable a person which answer because it seems to contain all the defence he could make for himself I will set you down at large § 24. n. 2. First then he frames this Objection as made by the false Apostles against St. Paul fitting the application thereof to himself Quod Paulus longe inferior esset reliquis Apostolorum Discipulis qui quod docerent servarent acceperant ab Apostolis Cur igitur inferiori vellent obtemperare authoritatem iposorum Apostolorum qui Doctores essent omnium Ecclesiarum totius orbis terrarum contemnere Valde igitur saith he speciosum robustum hoc argumentum Pseudo-Apostolorum fuit c. Paul being much inferior to the other Disciples of the Apostles who had received from the very Apostles what they did and taught why therefore should they obey him that was inferior and despise the authority of the Apostles themselves who were constituted Masters of all the Churches in the world This then saith he was the specious and great-argument of the false Apostles which even now adays retains its force with many What! say they the Apostles the Holy Fathers and their Successors have taught so and so the whole Church judgeth so and believeth so and t is impossible for Christ to permit his Church to err for so many ages And do you now pretend to be wiser than so many holy men than the whole Church c Thus it is that the Devil transforming himself into an Angel of light treacherously sets upon me by the virulent tongues of certain Hypocrites We stand not much upon say they either Pope or Bishops Nay we detest the hypocrisy and impostures of Monks c. But we cannot in the least suffer the authority of the most holy Catholick Church to be infringed There are so many ages now that she has constantly judged so and taught so all the Doctors of the Primitive Church most holy men much greater and more learned than you have still judged and taught the same And who now are you that dare depart from all these and force upon us different tenents His answer to this is Quando Satanas hoc urget conspirat cum carne ratione perterresit Conscientia desperat nisi constanter adte redeas dicas Sive Sanctus Cyprianus Ambrosius Augastinus sive Sanctus Petrus Paulus aut Johannes imo Angelus de Calo alâ—tâ—r doceat tamen hoc certe scio quod humana non suadeo sed div na heâ—â—st quod Deo omnia tribuo hominibus nihil Memini initiomâ—â— causae Doâ—â—orem Staupitium tunc summum virum Vicarium Ordinis Angustini ad me dicere Hoc mihi inquit placet quod hac Doctrina quam prâ—dicas gloriam omnia soli Deo tribuit hominibus nihil Deo a â—â—m 〈◊〉 quod luce clarius est nimium gloriae bonitatis c. attribâ—i non potest Haec vox vehementer me tum consolabatur consirmabatâ— Malto ausâ—ta â—â—tias est tribuere nimium Deo quam homiâ—â—bus Ibo 〈◊〉 cum â—id 〈◊〉 dicere possum Esto sane Ecclesia Augustinus alii Doctores item Petrus Apostolus imo Angelus de Coelo diversum doceant tamen mea doctrina est ejusmodi quod solius Dei gratiam c. When Satan urgeth thus and conspires with flesh and reason against us our conscience is troubled and will certainly despair unless we resolutely stir up our selves and say Tho St. Cyprian St. Ambrose St. Angustin tho St. Peter Paul and John yea an Angel from Heaven teach the contrary yet this I certainly know that the things I propose are not humane but divine i. e. I attribute all to God and nothing to men I remember well what Dr. Staupitius a prime man then and Vicar of St. Augustin's Order told me in the beginning of my preaching I like well said he that this Doctrine you teach gives glory
the history concerning Christ that He was born crucified dead c. But neither Turks nor we Damned Spirits do confide in his mercy or so much as own him as a Mediator or Saviour but dread him as a severe Judge Here alto Luther might easily have replied that there is a medium between an historical or the devil's faith and his new belief of Justification by faith alone and that if his former faith was such as did not fidere misericordiae Christi nec habuit eum pro-Mediatore sed exhorruit ut saevum Judicem confide in the mercy of Christ nor acknowledg him for a Mediator but tremble at him as a severe Judg yet such was not the faith of the Church which he deserted Ejusmodi fidem non aliam tu habebas cum ab Episcopo unctionem acciperes omnes alii ungentes simul uncti sic sentiebant non aliter de Christo This kind of faith and no other had you when you received Holy Orders from a Bishop and all others likewise Ordaining and Ordained did so believe concerning Christ This indeed if true would make one sweat but might he not here have told Satan he lied if not concerning his own yet concerning the Churches faith and have required a further proof of his word Ideo a Christo tanquam crudeli Judice confugiebatis ad S. Mariam Sanctos illi erant Mediatores inter vos Christum sic erepta est gloria Christo Hoc neque tu neque ullus alius Papista poterit inficiari Therefore flying Christ as a cruel Judge you address your selves to St. Mary and other Saints making them Mediators between you and Christ So was Christ robb'd of his Glory This neither you nor any other Papist can deny Here also Luther might truly have told Satan that he belied and mis-represented the Doctrine and practice of the Church which desires the Intercessions of the Blessed Virgin or Saints deceased to God or Christ in no other manner than she doth the intercessions of Saints living the desiring of which intercessions of Saints living is granted lawful without inferring Christ a cruel Judge or these Saints living and not Him our Mediatours c. Nor do any make their addresses so to Saints but that the same do also to Christ himself Mean-while here we may observe how zealous Satan is to rectify Luther concerning Invocation of Saints so prejudicial to our Lord's Mediatorship and accordingly Luther and his followers have endeavoured to rectify the Christian world herein Ergo uncti estis consecrati rasi sacrificastis in Missa ut Gentiles Ethnici non ut Christiani Quomodo ergo potuistis is in Missa consecrare aut veram Missam celebrare Ibi deficit quod secundum vestram propriam doctrinam vitiat personae habens potestatem consecrandi Ye were Ordained therefore Consecrated and offered Sacrifice in the Mass like to Gentiles Heathens not like Christians How therefore could ye in the Mass consecrate or celebrate true Mass when-as there was wanting what according to your own doctrine destroys the whole a person having the power of consecrating i.e. Without a true faith and knowledge of Christ no true Priests and so no true Ordination by them and so no true Consecrating or offering of Christ's true Body and Blood and so the Adoration of that which is taken for such Body is committing Idolatry This seems the Summe of the Devils arguing But the contrary appears by what hath been already said viz. That there was a true faith and knowledge of Christ retained in the Church before Luther's times and so a true Priesthood and if there was not so before how can there be any since for none may make himself a Priest nor is there any other to make him if the former Priesthood perished But whatever Satan might perswade Luther his followers are wiser than to deny a true Priesthood in the Roman Church and so might he had not Satan bin his Doctor § 40. n. 3. 2. Vnctus es tunc in Sacerdotem Missa abusus es contra institutionem contra mentem sententiam Christi instituentis Nam Christus voluit Sacramentum inter pios communicantes distribui ad edendum bibendum Ecclesia porrigi Sacerdos enim verus est Minister Ecclesiae constitutus ad praedicandum verbum porrigenda Sacramenta sicut hoc habent verba Christi in Coena sicut Paulus 1 Cor. 11. de Coena Domini loquitur Vnde a veteribus Communio appellata est quod non solus Sacerdos debeat uti Sacramento juxta institutionem Christi sed reliqui Christiani fratres una cum ipso Nunc annos quindecim totos semper solus privatim pro te in Missa usus es Sacramento non communicasti aliis You was then ordained a Priest and have ever since abused the Mass contrary to the Institution of it contrary to the mind and intent of Christ the Instituter For Christ would have it as a Sacrament distributed amongst the pious Communicants given to the Church that all may eat and drink of it Because a true Priest is a Minister of the Church appointed to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments according to the words of Christ in his last Supper and according to St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. where he speaks of the Supper of our Lord. From whence also by the Ancients it was call'd the Communion because according to Christ's Institution the Priest ought not to celebrate this Sacrament alone but other Christian brethren together with him Now for fifteen whole years together you have constantly received this Sacrament by your self and not communicated it to others Here again he might have answered that he in all his his Masses wherein himself received the Sacrament was ready also to have administred it to othes nor ever in any of them denied it to persons rightly prepared much less held it unlawful or was prohibited to exhibit it to them That therefore his partaking it alone was not his but their fault if any other were obliged to accompany him in it but neither this their fault who were no way engaged to receive it so often as he offered it nor lastly that he is obliged by any precept of our Lord 's to forbear offering to God the Father this Commemorative Sacrifice of the Death of his Son from which Christianity obtains so many benefits and consequently the partaking it himself when others do not also communicate with him And lastly concerning the sense of any Scriptures that should be pressed by Satan to be such a precept that he was to adhere not to Satan's or his own but the Churches judgment thereon He goes on Ideoque interdictum tibi erat ne porrigeres totum Sacramentum aliis And therefore was you forbidden the giving this Sacrament in both kinds to the people Here again Luther might have answered Satan as the Church doth other Adversaries That there is no precept of our Lord 's
otherwise be allayed was by reason of our ordinary weakness not of our absolute necessity to whom he in some times indulged a facile changing also of those to whome men were joyned but it likewise not for their necessity but for the hardness of their hearts Matt. 19.8 Whereas now it is a fruit of the Evangelical perfection that husbands by mutual consent do separate from their wives without taking others for the Kingdom of God Lu. 18.29 compared 28. always secure of the gift of continency from God if resolute in their endeavours of preserving it Else this would be an act most unlawful which our Saviour makes so heroical and promiseth to it so great a reward § 13 It seems therefore that God this gift being so advantageous to his service see parag 1. and so common see par 7. not denied upon repentance and prayer c to many grievous sinners after long contrary habits without their using the remedy of marriage that God I say denies not this power to any at all who first have power over their own will decree and stand stedfast in their heart 1 Cor. 7.37 resolutely undertake and offer this their singleness to God for such an end as is so much approved by him and then practise also the means conducing to it which are observed as abstinency for example naturally to cure the burnings of lust even in brute beasts § 14 Which thing to confirm yet further both from the Scriptures and from the primitive times of the Church first had God denied this gift to any 1. it seems that St. Paul could not justly have blamed the widdows when some of them young for remarrying whose marriage he saith was out of wantonness and that they had damnation for having cast off their first faith and promise i.e. of living single and attending wholly to those charitable duties c. which they had made to Christ and the Church but if God had not given them the power of observing their vow the Apostle should have allowed their remarrying and blamed their vowing who ordered also for the future that such young women should no more be admitted to such vows or duties for publick service of the Church not because they could not but ordinarily would not abstain § 15 2. Neither would our Saviour have recommended the like resolution and attempt in those who he saith made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. 19.12 if he would not also be assistant to them with his grace as he approved their purpose and design to which also they were allured by his Encomiums of that happier condition Nor would he have and that in the general commended those who leave the pleasures of marriage for the Kingdom of God's sake that is for the better serving God in any way see 1 Cor. 7.34 35. or those who have forsaken their wives i.e. by mutual consent 1 Cor. 7.4 5. see Lu. 18.29 compared with Matt. 19.29 There is none that hath left or every one that hath forsaken wife c. who shall not receive c. Forsaken i.e. as the Apostles did in local separation from them see Matt. 19.27 unless continency were a gift which all pious purposes using the means for conserving it and intending God's glory in it may presume upon Tho where we do not subdue our lust S. Paul as much prohibits any long separation as our Saviour here encourageth it See 1 Cor. 7.5 § 16 3. Neither would S. Paul have approved the same resolution in those who could master so far their own will 1 Cor. 7.37 who doubtless what he praiseth in the father who yet might be necessitated to go against his will by the virgin's incontinacibility he would much more have approved in the virgin Neither is that need ver 36. necessity absolute as appears by what follows do what be will the other doing better § 17 4. The prohibition likewise in the primitive times tho not in all Churches that no married person might be admitted to sacred Orders or that every one upon these received must separate from his wife yet that none single when entring into holy Orders I mean of Priesthood might afterward marry shews the perswasion of Antiquity to be either that continency was denied to none using the means or else that it being a special gift only to some every one before taking Orders or making a Vow might certainly know not only whether he had the gift for the present but whether he might also persevere therein to his death forasmuch as concerned God the Doner thereof But here it is unintelligible how such assurance can arise only to some particular persons nor can any direct how such a special gift not only for the present but the future also may be discerned Meanwhile concerning the prohibitions and practice of Antiquity see and compare together Can. Apostol 27. Conc. Chalcedon can 13.15 Constantinop in Trullo can 6.12 13 compared Can. Apost 6. In brief you will find the issue to be much-what to this purpose That no Presbyter may marry after his taking Orders nor Bishop after his Consecration That of those who being before married are admitted afterward into holy Orders some Churches required that they should ever after by mutual consent which was known before Orders conferr'd abstain from their wives as the Roman Church Some that Bishops only should abstain universally and simple Presbyters only abstain then when they were to officiate as the Greek Church See likewise Provincial Councils celebrated about the time of the Nicene Council and approved afterwards by the Constant Conc. in Trullo can 2. Ancyran Conc. can 10. Neocâ—sar can 1. c. § 18 But I think it best for saving the labour of seeking to set you down some of them which you will find so clear as that I think nothing can be replied to them Apostol Canon 27. In nuptiis autem qui ad Clerum evecti sunt Praecipimus ut si voluerint uxores accipiant sed lectores cantoresque tantummodo not the higher Orders of Bishop Presbyter Deacon c. Conc. Ancyranum before the first Council of Nice Can. 10. Diaconi quicunque cum ordinantur si in ipsa ordinatione protestati sunt dicentes velle se habere uxores nâ—c posse se continere where posse is taken as expounded § 24. hi postea si ad nuptias venerint maneant in ministerio propterea quod his Ep scopus licentiam dederit Quicunque sane tacuerunt susceperunt manus impositionem professi continentiam si postea ad nuptias venerint a ministerio cessare debebunt But note that si protestati sunt is here said of Deacons only Conc. Naeocaesar before Nice câ—n 1. Presbyter si uxorem duxerit ab ordine suo illum depom debere Conc. Nicaenum can 3. Omnibus modis interdixit sancta Synods neque Episcopo neque Presbytero c. omnino licere habere secum mulicrem extraneam nisi forte sit mater aut soror aut avia aut
consecraveruntseipsas This in the copies approved by Archbishop Vsber and Dr. Hammond Tertullian and S. Cyprian before A. D. 300 writ Tracts one de velandis virginibus i.e. sacris That they should cover their faces with veils c where he mentions votum continentiae viderit ipsum continentiae votum p. 200. and distinguisheth between virgines hominum and virgines Dei Ambiunt virgines hominum adversus virgines Dei c. p. 193. and near the end he saith to such Non mentiris nuptam Napsisti enim Christo illi tradidisti carnem tuam illi sponsasti maturitatem tuam c. And of those who should offer to pull off this veil he saith O sacrilegae manus quae dicatum Deo habit um dehabere potuerunt c. The other de disciplina habitu virginum i.e. sacrarum of whom he saith there Quaese Christo dicaverunt a carnali concupiscentia recedentes tam carne quam mente se Deo voverunt and that they were flos Ecclesiastici geminis c gaudere per illas atque in illis largiter florere Eeelesiae matris gloriosam foecunditatem and that those of them who afterward yeild to lust are adulterae Christi And see his Epistle to Pomponius about some that lived unchastly after that ex fide se Christo dicaverant sanctitati suaese destinarant propter regna coedorum se castraverant c. To these that you may know that anciently also those who lived Monastick lives made vows thereof the contrary of which some endeavour to perswade us I wil add only two other testimonies one out of S. Basil praefat constitut Monast Nuptias velut compedes fugit vitam suam Deo consecrat castitatem prositetur ut neque facultas ipsi sit conversionis ad nuptias the other out of S. Austin in Psalm 75. upon Vovete reddite Domino Deo nostro Alii virginitatem ipsam ab ineunte aetate vovent c. isti voverunt plurimum Alius vovet relinquere omnia sua distribuendo pauperibus ire in communem vitam in societatem sanctorum magnum votum vovit Nescio quae castimonialis nubere voluit Aliquid mali voluit mali plane Quare Quia jam voverat Domino Quid enim dixit de talibus Apostolus Paulus Cum dicat viduas adolescentulas nubere si velint Quid autem ait de quibusdam quae voverunt non reddiderunt habentes inquit damnationem quia jam fidem irritam fecerunt Nemo ergo positus in Monasterio Frater dicat Recedo de Monasterio Neque enim soli qui sunt in Monasterio perventuri sunt in regnum coelorum Respondetur ei sed illi non voverunt tu vovisti And concerning the married by consent vowing continency and obligation afterward for ever to observe it see S. Anstin's 199 Epistle to Ecdicia The argument of which Epistle I will transcribe you Mulier quaedam i.e. this Ecdicia inscio marito susceperat votum Continentiae Post tamen maritus assensus est continenter cum ea vixit non sinens tamen ut Monachae vestem sumeret Tandem inscio marito facultates omnes duobus Monachis veluti pauperibus erogavit cum haberet filium puerum ex eodem viro Maritus suspicans eos Monachos esse ex eorum numero qui penetrant praedantur domos alienas resiliit a proposito coepit maechari Now in this Epistle St. Austin blames Ecdicia indeed for all the things above named which she had done without the consent of her husband commanding her to submit and ask his pardon c. but as to the vow of Continency to which they had once both consented not withstanding his fornicating he holds them both for ever obliged to it and exhorts her at seast to perseverance therein Quod enim saith he Deo puri consensu ambo voveratis perseveranter usque in finem reddere ambe debuistis a quo proposito si lapsus est ille tu saltem constantissime persevera Thus He. As tor other quotations of Fathers I refer you to the Controvertists instead of which I will set you down the confessions concerning them of Calvin Instit 4. l. 12. c. 27. s. Secuta sunt deinde tempora he means after the Conc. Nicen. quibus invalait nimis superstitiosa coelibatus admiratio c. Haec quia videbantur reverentiam Socerdotio coneciliare magno plausu etiam antiquitus recepta esse fateor Now the reason why he censures not the times till after Nice is the story of Paphnutius from which he gathers those former times Conjugium in Sacerdotio tolerasse not observing or concealing that it was only Conjugium contracted before Ordination Himself mean-while condemning the Canons which these times approved quibus vetitum est ne matrimonium contraherent qui pervenissent ad sacerdotii gradum Sect. 27. Sect. 29.28 Nulla omnino conditione dandum esse locum iis Canonibus cenfeo qui vinculum Caelibatus Ecclesiastico ordini injiciunt Concerning vows of fingle life 13. c. 17. § Hoc inquiunt ab ultima memoria fuit observatum at se alligarent continentâ—ae voto qui totos se Domino dicare vellent His Answer Fateor certe antiquitus quoque receptum fuisse hunc morem sed cam aetatem sic ab omni vitio liberam fuisse non concedo ut pro regula habendum sit quicquid tunc factum est And the conlession of Pet. Martyâ— de Coelibatu Votis Vt quod verum est fateamur eos in hac causa habemus iniquiores Statim enim ab Apostolorum temporibus nimium tribui coeptum est Coelibatui And of St. Austin he saith Istâ— vir Dei scribit speaking of Vows ut homo deceptus Now the objections which are made by the opposers of the law of Celibacy for those entring into Holy Orders or of vows of Celibacy for other persons out of the Canons of Councils or the writings of the Fathers are not against any thing here affirmed but either concerning some who having wives before Ordination were noi obliged afterward to abstain from them allowed still by the Gâ—â—â—k Church except to Bishops only * or concerning marriages contracted after Ordination or Vows that such are not irrita of which opinion S. Ausbin is clearly De bono Viduitatis c. 8 9 c. a thing granted by all after only simple vows and after solemn disputed still whether such persons who have so solemnly delivered and made over themselves in a particular espousal to God arc made illegitimate for any Secular marriage afterward jure Divino or only jure Ecclesiastico See Bell. de Monach. 2. l. 34. c. sect Respond convenit For the Church hath always claimed much power as being not retrained by the Levitical law qua talis but only by that of Nature nor prescribed any thing by Christ in ordering the matters of marriage and in hindering some persons from marrying even not to making the marriage illieitum to be done but
Church upon experience of the chast behaviour of such persons from the power of more discipline due restraint c. thought not her self obliged by this rule fitted for the Apostles days But as S. Paul from the lapsibility of younger women admitted them at 60 so the 4th General Council of Chalcedon Can. 14. cum diligenti probatione admitted them at forty § 25 Yet it more difficult than the mâ—tter of any other Vow X. As God hath encouraged us to single life by recommending it and denies the power to none at all taking the pains and using the means that are necessary to procure it So I grant that the act and exercise of Continency and purity is much more difficultly attained than any other matter of a Vow whatever and the sin which the undiscreet attempters thereof fall into if they miscarry very abominable Therefore is there nothing in all the Scripture recommended with so much caution and putting men in mind of their own abilities as this which appears both in our Saviour's limitations Matt. 19.11 12. and in the Apostle's proceeding so tenderly in this point and with such cautious and suspended steps see 1 Cor. 7.2 6 7 25 28 55 36. tho much commending it yet warily recommending it looking doubtles as on one side at the heavenly perfection of this virtue so on the other at the hainousnes and filâ—hines of those crimes and the great peril of those snares that men avoiding and obstinate against the common merciful remedy of marriage were endangered to fall into in an unmortified pursuit of this grace More difficultly I say is this grace attained both by reason of this strong impression made in our nature by the most wise providence for the necessary use of propagation and by reason of the concupiscence of the flesh which as it was the first exorbitancy appearing in Adam They saw that they were naked Gen. 3.7 being only a modest expression of the rising of concupiscence compared with Gen. 2.25 therefore followed by shame so retains it its strength in all his sons beyond any other passion whatsoever to which likewise one person and in him one age of his life may have yet a far greater pronity than another by the greater heat of their constitution natural impetuosity of their passion more liberal diet much rest and vacancy from imployment conversation amongst tempting objects c. so that such without extream difficulty cannot contain as it also many times happens even to them after divorce c who all grant have from God the power of containing if they will use their best endeavors And in respect of the great strength of the temtations of lust beyond all other and of these great impediments in some more than in others i.e. the natural temper age condition of life former habits c and of most mens averseness to undergo those rigors and mortifications which procure and preserve continency c I conceive it is that our Saviour answered his forward disciples voting upon his discours that none should marry * that to all this was not given and that some only could receive it and so the Apostle by the same spirit * that every one hath his proper gift of God one after this manner and another after that 1 Cor. 7.7 and * that there was a necessity to some parents of giving their virgin in marriage ver 36 37. therefore he saith it is not given to all i. e. without such pains-taking as some other gifts are Nor do all receive it For tho power to contain is given to any who use the means subdue their passions c. yet few there are who can without much difficulty and resolution so master their will subdue their passions few who have a temper naturally so calm or artificially so rebated that they can arrive to such a power And so every one hath his proper gift of God c. i. e. First in respect of gifts of nature men are of several tempers and abilities some inclined more to one passion as enamour'dnes some to another as continency some more some less subject to be tempted some fitted for one sort of life some another which all yet are the distributions of God see 1 Cor. 7.17 So that some can more easily some not without almost insuperable difficulty contain for we say we cannot do tho a thing in our power what we can hardly do or which is very troublesome to us to effect See Luke 14.20 2 Cor. 8.3 Such phrases are not unfrequent in Scripture Jo. 13.36 Luke 14.26 c to 34. Jo. 6.65 spoken in things of which we do not deny an absolute possibility whilst by prayer c may be attained stronger inclinations but yet in them we suppose to some a present impotency and impromptitude of their will and waywardness of their inclinations especially where the thing requires a strong conatus and a stout spirit as Peter's dying for Christ their forsaking friends and all they had for Christ Luk. 14.26 and 33. Their believing in Christ especially at that time when appearing to them in such weakness of our flesh none of these things tho being absolutely impossible to them 2ly in respect of gifts of grace every man hath his proper gift of God some superior some inferior graces some Virginal some only conjugal chastity 1 Cor. 7.9 according to every man's capacity Matt. 25.15 or endeavours which not premised the grace is not bestowed For we must know that God always gives not his habitual graces at first but excites and assists our endeavors for them and afterwards crowns these endeavors with them And hence because most do not well imploy God's former grace in which he is not wanting to those whom he questions for want of the latter the other happen to be given but to a very few See Matt. 13 11. concerning that necessary grace of Spiritual illumination To you it is given to them it is not given and Jo. 12.39 concerning faith Therefore they could not believe See § â— and so Mar. 6.5 concerning the favors of God that he is ready to do for us but we are uncapable of receiving And he could there do no mighty work In all which the deficiency is not to be understood to proceed from the want of will in God to give but from the want of preparation in them to receive See Matt. 13.11 compared with 12. Mar. 6.5 compared with 6. If they receive not because God gives not Matt. 19.11 and if God gives not because they do not by prayer and other means prepare themselves for it it follows the prime reason why they receive not is because they are unmortified or unprepared Now the exhortation ver 12. He that is able to receive it let him c. See Mat. 20.22 plainly supposeth * that God gives it to those that are able and the instance in some that make themselves Eunuchs proveth * that men also make themselves able able by God's concurrence and preventing and
incident to youth thro the indulgent discipline the infancy of the Church was then capable of not so restrained as latter times have since provided ordered that none under sixty should be admitted into publick service upon such strict bonds and obligations And indeed in the business of continency in which some degree of burning is in the most pure it is very hard till long experience hath as it were assured us at any one time exactly to measure our own strength constancy and stedfastness whether we shall be able to contain for the time to come and by the intervening of new temptations c. unless we resolve wholly to shut up our selves from them our future is not easily judged by our present complexion And as when I look at the heavenliness of a single life I would advise all men to abstain so when at the great difficulty of such a purity as shall not be contaminated with one uncleanness than which the Apostle adviseth rather to marry I would counsel all men to marry See Conf. 2. l. 3. c. how S. Austin complains of his parents not preventing by marriage the many exorbitancies of his wanton youth seeing the single person much hazards a great sin whilst he attempts as great a glory But yet the zealous Servant of God can do all thro Christ that strengthneth him Nor shall he in this be tempted above his power 1 Cor. 10.13 if he first tempt not himself and the reward is well worthy the pains § 27 yet not unlawful for the Church and very beneficial to restrain the sacred function of the Ministry to single persons XII T is not only lawful but of singular benefit that those offices more neerly conversant about the publick service of God or the Church should be discharged only by single persons wholly sequestred from the world Which if the Apostle saw fitting in the ministring widows the Deaconesses Rom. 16.1 how much more is it in the Clergy Tho he loth to lay such a hard burden on the tender shoulders of the Infancy of the Church therefore nourished by him with milk rather than strong meat * when there was not so much choice of Pastors and they of necessity to be admitted to such functions much sooner than the widows and * when single life and Eunuchism was as yet especially to the Jew a strange proposal which may partly be the reason why he who became all things to all men in the 1 Cor. 7. recommends single life so modestly and after the way of delivering only his advice and judgment a phrase unusual in his other doctrines see 1 Cor. 7.6 8. compared with the 10 25 40 restrained then the Clergy only to one wife Yet where there is sufficient plenty of single persons that are worthy and not else it seems no way unlawful or unjust if the Church which is * in this left to her liberty for S. Paul restraining the Clergy only to one wife obligeth them not by this to have a wife and * hath power to establish what the H. Scriptures no way prohibit shall ordain which is a means to make many more zealous of this excellent gift * that single persons only shall be admitted into such employments or at least into those functions amongst these of the more eminency and moment and if these persons should afterward engage in marriage * that they shall no longer stay in the same office Which wisdom since the world frequently shews in many other places of less consequence they cannot be excused for omitting it in the Church-affairs to which it is most proper Neither do I see what hurt or scandal can come thereof if only the Ecclesiastical Canons were strictly executed 1. If none but after long probation of their temperance continency gravity mortification were admitted into such sacred employments see what tryal the Apostle requires before such admission 1 Tim. 3. and elsewhere not a novice lest he fall into the temptation of the Devil one of a good report and found blameless even the Deacons to be proved before they use that office 1 Tim. 3.10 2. if all necessary restraints from the ordinary occasions and temptations of incontinency were used to such persons after admitted 3. If the Church'es censures were vigorously executed against the offenders Else as Celibacy is better than Marriage so Marriage is always honourable but unchast celibacy especially in the Ministers of Christ most abominable and for ever void of excuse And even after such vows in which petenti dabitur nec patietur Deus nos supra id quod possumus tentari yet if such a one will not contain I conceive supposing no Ecclesiastical law to intervene which may render marriage to such when contracted invalid or not to be a marriage he sins much less in marrying i. e. in doing a thing in it self lawful but against his vow than in fornication i.e. in 〈◊〉 a thing eternally unlawful being against God's command◠〈◊〉 one fault is against God's law the other only against his own And if some in comparing marriage with some one act of fornication or uncleaness may affirm the first to be more opposite to a 〈◊〉 than the latter as rendring one uncapable of observing his vow at all for the future which the latter doth not yet in this all will agree that even to a Votary the living in Marriage than living in continual Fornication or other uncleaness is a life to God less offensive S. Austin de Bono Viduitatis 9. c. Non quia ipsae nuptiae vel talium i.e. voventium damnandae judicantur sed damnatur propositi fraus damnatur fracta voti fides c. Postremo damnantur tales non quia conjugalem fidem posterius inierant sed quia continentia primam fidem irritam fecerunt FINIS
of perfection 1 Cor. 9. Luk. 12.33 Matt. 19.29 if he may not presume on God's assistance in such things only profitable without which he is able of himself to do nothing profitable 4. Again I know not why if we may safely vow the keeping of any of God's commandements and may make a covenant with our eyes not to look upon a woman to lust after her why I say we may not also to guard our passion from being set on fire and from burning since the former seems to be the more difficult § 24 5. To which this further may be added That Continency as any other thing advantaging us in God's Service from Vows receives a much higher value which may invite us to such pious engagements than without it whilst it proceeds from an affection more confirmed and stedfast in good A resolute vow having the virtue of an habit and to act good as it were necessarily being Angelical and he that vows offering up and sacrificing to God not the act only of continency with others for the present but the power or faculty thereof for ever and the fruit together with the tree that bears it Therefore find we frequent exhortations and examples of vowing in Scripture see Ps 76.11 Jon. 1.16 Is 19.21 c. And very expedient doubtless it is after some trial and experience of our having a reasonable command over our selves and of our not suffering a very tyrannical mastery of our passions to pass a vow in such matters to fortify our selves against temptations and the mutability of our inclinations by which the less former tye we have of our selves the easilier we are seduced Faelix necessitas quae ad meliora compellit saith S. Austin of Vows As for those places of the Apostle which are urged against vowing at least before sixty or for leave given to marry tho it be after vows upon incontnency as 1 Tim. 5.9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under 60 years old and 14. I will therefore that the younger women marry c. and 1 Cor. 7.9 If they cannot contain let them marry and v. 35. I speak not that I may cast a snare upon you In answer to them I take this first for granted that all those young or old who have the power to be continent may safely vow it since the reason given by the Reformed why it may not be vowed is because it is a thing not in our power Again I say that if these places prove either that continency before 60. may not be vowed or marrying after a vow may be lawful upon this reason because some persons before sixty and after vowing cannot contain then the Apostle will be made to contradict himself For according to this he could not say of the Juniors whose particular gift of continency he could not know but had rather reason to presume from the miscarriage he saw in them that they had it not that they had damnation for marrying or for not keeping their vow or promise to Christ which they could not keep but damnation for making such a vow which they must necessarily break For Non est peccatum violare quod servare impossibile est and it was as lawful to break such a vow as unlawful to make it But yet notwithstanding this the Apostle plainly saith damnation they had for marrying and for breaking this promise not for making it I conclude therefore that the Apostle's advice here of marriage is not * to Votaries nor absolutely to all other younger women for so his volo juniores nubere here would be contrary to his volo omnes esse sicut meipsum 1 Cor. 7.7 and would lay an obligation on all young folks to marry But * to those that are in such a manner qualified as those were that miscarried so qualified not from want of power from God to contain but want of will and of a stedfast purpose to make use of that power as S. Paul describes it 1 Cor. 7.37 which instability of the will and pronenes to incontinency that is in some much more than in others every one ought well to examin before they vow that so they may make use of the lawful remedy which in the second place God hath provided for it namely marriage if they do not aspire to the higher cure thereof by prayer and mortifications See Dr. Hammond in his Paraphrase expounding it thus That those who have not attained to such gravity of mind and command over themselves do in that case betake themselves to a married life So in that text if they cannot contain let them marry Where note that our Translation renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they cannot contain and so Matt. 19.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All men cannot receive this saying c. without rule or precedent that I know of for the Vulgar hath it omnes non capiunt si non se continent The advice is not to any that have an obligation to contain tho actually perchance they do not so as it is not to the married tho one party be sick absent or impotent nor to those who have vowed it being proved that such may contain from the Apostle's saying they have damnation in marrying who yet actually non se continebant But the advice is to those only that are free from any obligation against marriage that if they perceive themselves so affected as that they have much temptation and no stedfast purpose to contain if they have gotten which yet is by their own defect so little power and mastery over their will which mastery is acquired by some pains and practice as that they cannot not cannot possibly but cannot without much difficulty contain for we say we cannot do a thing tho in our power which we can hardly do that then they should make use of the common remedy allowed by God for it All which weaknesses since they are by industry remediable excuse none from continency who have already made any engagement to it To the 3d. place 1 Cor. 7.35 I grant a vow rashly undertaken to be a dangerous snare rashly I say i.e. without well proving before it what mastery we have over our carnal inclinations Lastly for the admission of none under sixty the Apostle seems to prescribe this age with respect to their impotency then to get their living and liableness to want see ver 4 and 16. and to their staydness and gravity see v. 13 14. as much or more than to their continency in which a lesser age would have rendred them secure But suppose the Apostle chiefly to have reference to this yet was it not done as if any lesser age hath not a power of continency or experiencing their ability to live single might not also resolve it but because the Church had not the same means to be assured of their inclinations and was much concerned in her first growth after the experience too of some miscarriages thus to prevent all scandal But later