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A44074
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A treatise of marriage with a defence of the 32th article of religion of the Church of England : viz. bishops, priests and deacons are not commanded by God's law either to vow the state of single life, or to abstain from marriage : therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other men, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve better to godliness.
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Hodges, Thomas, d. 1688.
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1673
(1673)
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Wing H2324; ESTC R28670
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53,897
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120
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Bishop of Sebastia in Armenia and in the West by Siricius and Innocent the first his Successor and some Canons were made in the second or rather last Council of Carthage to the contrary Yet by degrees these Canons and Severities against the married Clergy lay dormant being found a burthen too heavy for the Church to bear We find that in the time that Hildebrand climb'd up into the Papal Chair namely anno 1075. and long before that Priests had wives publickly This was he that was neither chosen by Emperor or Clergy but intruded himself this was he that threw the Sacrament into the fire this was he that forced the Emperor whom he had Excommunicated to come with his Empress and Son bare footed in the cold of Winter to his Castle at Canusium and there to wait three days fasting until he might have audience which at length was obtained by the mediation of Madam Matilda the Popes Minion that left her husband to live with the Pope vid. Plat. this was he that Sainted his Predecessor Liberius the Arrian and this was he that restrained and forbad Priests Marriage but by so doing stirred up the whole Nation of Clergy-men against him crying out that he was an Heretick and a man damnably erring in his judgement c. And it is so far from being true that Bellarmine saith That the Priests beginning to marry in Gregories days was the cause of the great contempt of the Sacrament and of the Confusions and Prophanations of Sacred things in those days that it was clear contrary as Nauclerus testifies de Clericis lib. 1. cap. 19. that it was an old and confirmed custom that was not easily to be altered and the Priests rather in Gregories time ceased than began to marry by reason of the attempts and endeavours of Gregory to restrain them from marriage and the causes of the Confusions of those times were occasioned rather by the forbidding the Priests to marry than by their beginning then to marry And now since the Church of Rome hath forced this single life on Clergy men very many Learned men of later times have desired the Law of single life may be taken away Durandus in his Book de Modo celebrandi Concilii proveth by many Reasons that it were fit that the liberty of Marriages were again restored to Priests in a General Council Aeneas Sylvius after Pope Pius the second was of this mind So was Polydor Virgil and Erasmus the first of these in Book 5. chap. 4. de Invent. rerum saith thus I dare confidently say that it hath been so far from being true that this inforced chastity hath excell'd that which is in Marriage That no sinful crime hath brought greater disgrace to the Order of the Ministry more evil to Religion or made a greater and deeper impression of sorrow in all good men than the stain of the impure lusts of Priests Erasmus in Declam de laudibus Matrimonii affirms that in his conceit he should not ill deserve nor take the worst course for the furthering of humane affairs and the right informing of the manners of men which should procure liberty of Marriage if it might be both for Priests and Monks Read also his Annotations on the first Epistle to Timothy chap. 3.1 And Sigismund the Emperor a little before the Council of Basil declar'd and published That forasmuch as more evil cometh by the forbidding of Marriage than good it were better and more safe to permit Clergy men to live in the state of Marriage according to the custom of the Oriental Churches than to forbid them so to live Antiochus aforementioned a Figure of Antichrist Dan. 11.37 did not regard women or the desire of women or of wiving and the Antichrist forbids to marry and commands to abstain from meats The ancient Romans liked and encouraged Marriage Thus the Figure and Forerunner of Antichrist he himself and his followers decry wiving and cry up single life and by Fryers and Monks the great Adorers of single life and Observers of distinctions of meats the Doctrine of Image-worship was brought and spread and propagated in the Church as is proved by Mr. Mede in his Apostacy of the latter times Some of these Hermites Anchorites or Monks and Coenobites might be honest and good persons abating them their errour about over-magnifying the single life yet the generality of them he condemns as hypocrites For the lawfulness of Marriage of persons in holy Orders we have the Old and New Testament and the practice of the Church and the Doctrine of the Church at the Council of Nice and after till the time of Siricius about the year 385. Afterwards we have the Marriage of these allowed by all those Councils which forbid such persons to marry widows such as Concilium Epaunen Canon 2. Aurelianum the first Council Can. 15. Concilium Toletanum 1 ch 1. the 3. And we find the Council of Carthage made divers Canons about the Government of the Sons and Daughters of Bishops and Clergy-men such as the 11. That they should not make or go to the Spectacula Secularia c. 12. That their Sons and Daughters should not marry to Heathens Hereticks or Schismaticks c. 14. That they suffer not their Sons to go free out of their power and Government till they are assured of their manners and of such age ut possint ad eos propria pertinere peccata This Council was held saith Coriolanus 397. The first Council of Toledo an 400. c. 1. Ordains de Presbyteris Deaclnis si post ordinationem filios genuerint ad altiorem gradum non ascendant Yet they might continue in their station though not rise higher in the Church In the year 506. Consilium Agathense in the time of Pope Symmachus cap. 1. although Bigamists and those that had married widows being Presbyters or Deacons might not consecrate or minister yet they might retain the name of Presbyters and Deacons Hence it is to be supposed that Presbyters and Deacons who were not Bigamists nor had married widows might consecrate and minister notwithstanding their marriage If it be Objected That there were endeavours to make the Clergy content themselves without wives I say yet in many places it would not prevail not in England till above Eleven hundred years after Christ not in Ireland till the days of Henry the Second of England who subdued Ireland I read that Celsus the great Apostle of Armagh and High Primate of Ireland had both a wife and children in the time of his Archbishopry according to the usage of the Countrey vid. Bernard in vita Malachiae And we are told that Pope Adrian and Pope Alexander did stir up Henry the Second to subdue Ireland because the people withstood their proceedings against the Marriage of Bishops and Priests It is certain de facto that many Eminent Persons in holy Orders were actually married So Gregory Nazianzen's Father was a Bishop and begat him after he was Presbyter if not after he was
themselves to fasting and prayer and so come together again and this too was to be done by the mutual consent of man and wife Here may be condemned then the Romanists barring persons in holy Orders from Marriage or in case they have been married before from Conjugal fellowship with their wives whilst they live and that whether the wife will or no. We never read that the Apostles so left their wives nor that ever they asked their consent so to do and their saying that the Apostles although they were married yet after they were called to the Apostleship never did accompany with their wives any more is gratis dictum a meer say-so a fancy of their own brain without any good ground or foundation from Scripture or sound Reason or good Authority To the fourth Scripture viz. That 't is good for a man not to touch a woman I answer Good there is taken for expedient and that by reason of the present distress and the danger of persecution in a married state or condition in such times they should meet with troubles To the fifth viz. 2 Tim. 2.4 I say that Souldiers do not use whilst they are engaged in Military imployment to undertake and intangle themselves with merchandize or husbandry c. But this notwithstanding the Apostle Paul did work with his hands to maintain himself that he might not be chargeable to the Church of Corinth because of false Teachers who would have taken advantage if he had been chargeable to that Church And nevertheless the Romanists do allow persons in holy Orders to be Justices of the peace Lord Chancellors Ambassadors of Princes And the Apostle Paul did allow of the Apostle Peter his having a wife and I have been told that Ecclesiasticks wives take on them and off from their husbands the cares of the Houshold and Family so that by Marriage they are freed from worldly cares rather than immerst in them The case is not now with Clergy-men as in the Apostles days then the Church was poor and destitute now she is rich and her Officers are well provided with Houses Glebe and Tythes and necessaries for House-keeping and Hospitality and now a House-keeper especially in times of peace may be as expedient as it was inexpedient in the Apostles time and days of persecution To the sixth viz. Mat. 19.29 I answer That if the times be so that a man cannot be a good Christian or follower of Christ except he leave or forsake his wife house lands c. then he must leave all or deny all these things and relations rather than deny Christ and that this concerns the Laity as well as the Clergy If our Saviour had ever taught any such Doctrine as to part man and wife for the sake of his Religion and as part of his Religion how would the Scribes and Pharisees have replied unto him from his own mouth That which God hath joyned together let not man put asunder Besides it no where appears that the holy Apostles did wholly and perpetually forsake the society of their wives but rather when they were to fly took them with them in case they would accompany them in their travels To the seventh Scripture I say He that hath the gift of Continency may if he sees that Marriage will prove a snare to him and intangle him so in the cares of the world that he shall not be free and able to serve God as he ought I say let not 〈◊〉 marry but this is far from proving that all 〈◊〉 in holy Orders whether they have the gift or not should vow Continency or abstain from Marriage in case of a man 's not being able to contain The blessed Apostle who knew the mind of his and our Lord hath left us a general Rule Notwithstanding to avoid Fornication let every man have his own wife 1 Cor. 7.2 To the eighth Scripture viz. 1 Tim. 5.11 12. I answer That as therefore because younger widows were likely after they had made promises to live to their lives end as Deaconnesses to minister to the Church in attending the sick and weak to change their minds and marry perhaps to Infidel husbands and so be in danger of forsaking their Christian Religion and prove a great scandal to Christianity making it be ill thought of by the world therefore the Apostle Paul would not by any means have these younger widows admitted into such Offices but only such widows as were above threescore years old and so out of the danger of desires of marriage or altering their condition So I could heartily wish that no vow of Single life or Continency might be put upon young persons of either Sex upon pretence of admitting them to any Office or of separating them to any special devotion lest they be tempted to break such their Vows This is the right and best use we can make of this Testimony To the ninth Scripture viz. 1 Cor. 7.34 I say that it doth not condemn Marriage â—â— uncleanness or unholiness but it imports and implies that single persons taken off from the care and sollicitude about the world may more commodiously serve God and having the gift of Continency they may purely serve God with body and soul not being overcome with any temptation to Fornication or Uncleanness Not but that he or she that is married may and ought to be and oft-times are pure chaste and holy both in body and soul Marriage is honourable amongst all and the bed undefiled and the married as well as unmarried may keep their vessel in Sanctification and honour 1 Thess 4.4 To that about Carefulness c. I say That if God call his servants to a married condition he can and will if sought unto give Grace to overcome those lets and bear these persecutions they meet withal so as they may turn to helps and furtherances in the Kingdom of God and to a richer Crown of Glory in the same than the Virgins come unto which because they never wrestled with such mighty temptations cannot wear the like Crown of Victory that they do v. T. C. in loc The last place of Scripture that is alledged is Rev. 14.4 These are they which are not defiled with women for they are Virgins these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth these were redeemed from amongst men being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. By Virgins we are to understand all those pure Christians who had kept themselves pure from the Gnosticks Corruptions and Uncleanness or from Idolatry which is Spiritual Fornication and have loyally adhered to Christ the only Bridegroom of the Church 2 Cor. 11.2 By those that are said not to be defiled with women we must not understand those that are not married as if they that were in that state were defiled with women the Scripture reaches the contrary Heb. 13.4 The Marriage-bed is the bed undefiled and Christ is followed wheresoever he goeth not only by the blessed Saints that have led a single