not said that a Bishop must be such a one as hath been the husband of one wife in time past but he useth the present time both in Timothy and Titus The High Priest himself under the Law might have a wife after his first wife if she was dead if he married a maid which was a figure of Christs Spouse the Church which was to be presented holy and as a chaste Virgin to Christ By the same reason that they may drive Ministers from their wives they may also deprive them of all use of wine and they may deprive Ministers of all use of meat and command them to fast always that they may be fit to pray always as well as alway to abstain from their wives We never read that the Levites that taught in the Synagogues into the place of which our Churches succeed were barred from the company of their wives And consider it may be as necessary to marry the second time as the first and sometime and in some cases perhaps more necessary says Dr. Hamond The wife may dye presently after Marriage and without Children and the second Marriage in that case tending as much to the ends of Matrimony Comfort of life Propagation remedy of Lust as the former can be supposed to do it would then be strange to debar a Bishop or Presbyter in such a condition Chrysostome and Theodoret with divers others plainly and clearly teach this place to be understood as we do that a Bishop should not have two wives at once Erasmus upon the place disliked the then practice of the Church of Rome in forbidding Marriage to Bishops and Priests Admittitur saith he incestus admittitur homicida admittitur pirata admittitur Sodomita sacrilegus parricida denique quis non solus digamus excluditur ab hoc honore qui solus nihil admisit And further considering the times and the ill consequence of the single life amongst their Clergy and Monks he inclines to think they had better much to allow Matrimony to these persons Nunc caelibes habet Mundus quamplurimos castos perpaucos Grotius saith I confess that amongst all Nations second Marriages were less honoured and amongst some these were restrained by punishments And that Tertullian is fierce against second Marriages condemning them as unlawful and interprets this of the Apostle against a Bishops being twice married Notwithstanding which Authorities let the Scripture and right Reason be heard and what hath been premised on this Argument considered and you will have good ground and cause not to call good evil I meann not to condem second Marriages whether in Lay-men or Clergy And if a Bishop may without sin marry a second wife after he has buried his former surely then he may lawfully marry at first If he cannot contain let him marry he sinneth not only let him marry in the Lord an honest grave sober person that may adorn and not blemish his holy Function The Romanists say there are three special Crowns reserved in Heaven one for Martyrs a second for Virgins and a third for Doctors The Virgins overcome the flesh the Martyrs overcome the World and the Doctors overcome the Devil They have no such Crown for married persons but although they have none for them God hath laid up for them a Crown of Righteousness even the like Crown of Righteousness for every one that loves the appearing of Christ the Judge of quick and dead as that Virgin Apostle as most say the Doctor of the Gentiles and eminent Martyr St. Paul 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Virginity saith one is not a Virtue in it self and no more acceptable to God than Marriage is and this he proves Because all Virtues by Repentance may be restored But Virginity cannot be restored and therefore it is not a Virtue Again Because all Virtues in time and place are commanded But Virginity is left free and only Paul gives his advice to it 1 Cor. 7. therefore it is not a Virtue The same Author saith That Virginity is not good in it self but good for another end when a man having the gift of Continency lives a single life that he may be more fit or free to serve God The Papists glossing on the Parable of the Sower say That Virginity bringeth forth an hundred-fold Widowhood seventy fold and Marriage but thirty-fold Great is the difference 'twixt the Ancient Church of God amongst the Jews and the present Church of Rome in this matter there in Psalm 78.63 The Virgins were not given in Marriage or were not praised so the Hebrew signifies But in this Church the Virgins which are not married are most praised Celibacy is made here a state of Perfection or Supererogation and Meritorious but if but one half be true which we find in our Chronicles it had been happy for our Votaries very many of them at least that they had never known their Cells and Cloysters they might have gone as near a way to Heaven out of the World as out of their Monasteries Bale in his Book of the Acts of the Roman Bishops saith That when the Kings Visitors in England in the year 1538. visited the Abbies they found in some of their Styes rather than Religious Houses five in some ten in some twenty Sodomites and Adulterers of which some kept five some seven some twenty Harlots And a later Historian tells us That Barkley Nuns were all with child at once and how Sir Henry Colt caused a Buckstal to be set in the narrowest place of the Marsh from Cheshnut Nunnery to Waltham Abby and therein took the Monks of Waltham as they passed homewards in the night and the next morning he brought and presented them to the King namely to King Hen. 8. who had often seen sweeter but never fatter Venison D.F.H. 6 b. p. 317. And 't is reported that Dr. Smith who disputed at Oxford against Peter Martyr and who had written a Book for the Celibacy of Priests was taken himself at Oxford in the manner or in the very act This is enough to prove That 't is much easier to make an Eloquent Speech or write a Learned Book in Commendation of Single-life and of Chastity in that condition than to live so If you Object the practice and praise of the Monks of Antient times I answer That the Monks of old times and our present Votaries of the Church of Rome are very different 1. They lived single without any Vow of Continency these are Votaries 2. They had Callings and got their bread in the sweat of their brows these live idle most of them and like Drones consume the honey which others have gathered 3. They did not look upon that condition as a state of greater perfection and in it self Meritorious these do 4. Some of them as I take it had wives and these not but esteem it more lawful to have a Concubine than a Wife Those Monks were none of the Popes licensing or founding these are We read of 12000 Monks of Bangor that were destroyed by
of Parts Parentage Beauty Education Portion add that which makes the rest That they are not meer Cyphers in comparison and account namely Let her study to frame and compose her self what may be viz. lawfully to her Husband in conforming her Manners to his And let not the Husband delight to domineer over his Wife or please himself in shewing alwayes his Authority which none but fools will do saith Mr. J. Robinson Nabal was according to his Name a very Fool that was so churlish that neither Wife nor any body else could speak to him It was Abigails wisdom to bear patiently with him as it was the wisdom of Socrates that taught him to bear with his Zantippe her daily home-brawlings and thereby learned him to converse quietly and patiently with unreasonable perverse and peevish persons abroad The Husband should be able alway to guide counsel and direct the Wife to go before her as a man of knowledge His Wife he should use as a Comfort and Helper not saith Sir Walter Rawleigh as a Counsellor When Adam in Innocency he observes and Solomon the wisest of Temporal Princes took counsel of their Wives they both miscarried no such wonder as lamentable then that other men have been so allured to so many inconvenient and wicked practices by the perswasions of their Wives or other beloved Darlings If Adam in the state of perfection and Solomon the Son of David God's chosen Servant and himself a man endowed with the greatest wisdom did both of them disobey their Creator by the instigation and for the love they bear to a Woman It is not so wonderful c. that others have done the like So he CHAP. II. Of the Marriage of Persons in Holy Orders MArriage is honourable amongst all our Saviour graced a Wedding with his presence at Cana in Galilee John 2. and there manifested his Glory by working that Miracle of turning Water into Wine By which those who enter into that state might be put in mind that their sorrows should be turned into joys The Apostle St. Paul Ephes 5.32 makes Marriage a Mystery and to set out the relation and love 'twixt Christ and his Church And lastly 'T is thought Heaven is set out in Scripture by a Marriage-Feast Mat. 22. and the Joys of Heaven represented by the joys of a Wedding Rev. 19. The Nazarites that were whiter than Snow by reason of their vow of Holiness were not defiled by their Marriage Of the Marriage of Priests The High Priest under the Law was not forbidden to Marry onely he must have a Wife so and so qualified Aaron the High Priest the Saint of the Lord a Type of our Lord Christ was Married and the High Priest-hood annexed to his Family and entail'd on his posterity It is made a Character of Antiochus Epiphanes or Epimanes rather that he should not regard Women or desire Women in the Old Testament Dan. 11.37 And 't is made a mark of the Antichrist and branded for a Doctrine of Devils according to our Translators to forbid to Marry in the New Testament 1 Tim. 4.1 3. And as Priests and Prophets under the Law might lawfully marry so might the Holy Apostles and Ministers of our Lord and Saviour under our Gospel St. Peter the first or chief of the Apostles as to a primacy of Order was of this Order himself And St. Paul asserts his right and power to lead about a Wife or Sister as well as Cephas or Peter and other of the Apostles of Christ The Scripture foreseeing saith a Reverend Author the frensie of this Heresie viz. of forbidding marriage to Priests made the Wall higher and stronger of the lawful marriage of the Ministracy for besides the places wherein generally it is without all exception permitted to all Orders of men to Marry it speaketh especially of the lawful use of Marriage in the Ministry It speaks particularly of their Wives likewise of their Children which we remember not to be done in any other estates onely of the Kings it is said That they should not marry many Wives Wherefore the Ministers having not onely the common evidence which all other men have to hold their Wives by but also certain Specialties and special Charters whereby the quiet and peaceable possession of them is warranted it is evident that the Popish Court which impleadeth them and condemneth them for their Wives is a lawless Court So Mr. Cartwright in his Answer to the Rhem. Test Annot. on St. Mat. chap. 8. And amongst the Canons ascribed to the Apostles it is decreed Can. 5. If any Bishop Elder or Deacon under colour of Religion or reverence put away his Wife let him be separate from his Ministry if he abide in that mind let him be deposed This Canon saith the aforesaid Author is of a contrary spirit to you for you sever men from their Wives that sever themselves to the Ministry and it severeth men from the Ministry that sever themselves from their Wives under pretence of the Ministry Again Mr. Perkins in his demonstration of the Problem testifies That the Marriage of the Clergy for the space of 300 years after Christ was a thing alwayes freely allowed without prohibition or vow of perpetual continency Athanasius in his Epistle to Dracontius saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And there are many of the Bishops saith Athanasius that have not married and contrariwise many Monks we see daily become Fathers of Children Again you may observe many Bishops to be Fathers of Children and many Monks that have not sought to see their own Generation for this is lawful and the other is not forbidden but every one as he liketh let him undertake to live And whereas we read saith the Decretal c. 56. That the Sons of Priests have come to the honour of the Papacy we must not understand them to be begotten by Fornication but by lawful Marriage which was lawful for the Priests every where until the time of prohibition and in the East Churches is lawful to this day The singleness of Priest-hood was instituted because of the poverty of the Churches wanting sufficient means to maintain many families of Bishops Priests and Deacons D. 28. c. d. Syr. Pope Siricius about the year 385. forbad Priests Marriage in the Western Church But that Decree had no Universal Admission in the Church until the time of Pope Hildebrand 1007. And 't is observed that Bishops and Priests married in England until Anselms time that is about 1100 years after Christ no Law forbidding them 'T is an observation of Balsamon on the 5th Canon of the Apostles that it was lawful before the 6th Synod in Trullo for the Bishops to marry and have Wives yea after they had received that dignity And for my part I think Arch-Bishop Crammer the Martyr no less a Saint though once or twice married then if he had lived single Arch-Bishop Parker also as I have read was a married Man and our Church since the Reformation never forbad any of her Fathers
which every Christian whether married or single is bound to offer up unto God daily As for holiness Matrimony is not inconsistent with holiness witness Abraham Isaac and Jacob Aaron the servant of the Lord and Enoch that walked with God and yet did not forsake his wife and children and 't is observable that the Bosom of Abraham although a married person is used to set out Heaven by in the Scripture If Heaven had been set out by the Bosom of any Saint in Heaven that had always led a single life on earth what triumphs would Rome have made on that occasion And whereas 't is said Rev. 14.4 Those that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth these are they which are not defiled with women for they are Virgins Certainly Christ is followed whithersoever he goeth not only by the blessed Saints that have led a single life but also by married persons as Patriarchs Apostles Martyrs and innumerable others as the Scripture speaketh 2 Cor. 5.6 1 Thess 4.17 And the Apostle speaks of all kind of true Believers 2 Cor. 11.2 These are bought from among men to be first-fruits unto God and the Lamb these are dedicated as first-fruits used to be unto God They are called 't is thought Virgins because they adhered to Christ when the Whore of Babylon had made all the Kings and Nations of the earth drunk with the cup of her fornication It is conceived this place may have reference to those Israelites that were inticed to Idolatry by the Midianitish women and 't is frequent in Scripture to call or compare Idolatry to Adultery or Fornication because God's people are betrothed and married unto him he is their Husband and they his Spouse and when they go after Idols they are said to give God a Bill of divorce and to go a whoring after other gods Or as Dr. Hamond on the place These are they which had kept pure from all the heretical Gnostick corruptions of uncleanness Where there is neither spiritual nor carnal Fornication or Adultery there is no defiling with women for the marriage-bed in Scripture-Dialect is the bed undefiled and to the pure all things are pure The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife and the unbelieving wife by the believing husband and therefore are their children holy If marriage was filthiness or uncleanness or a vice or that married persons could not please God doubtless the H. Ghost would never have said Marriage is honorable amongst all and therefore amongst Clergy men nor would our blessed Saviour have been born of a Mother though a Virgin yet espoused and married to a husband namely to Joseph Marriage one saith fills earth and Virginity heaven but if there were no Saints in earth how should there be any in heaven if earth were empty how could heaven be full of Saints He did not commend his Sex that said a woman was a necessary evil for how evil then must man be deemed for whom such an evil is necessary and I take him to be a fool as well as mad that being asked whether he was married he answered He was never so mad yet for I dare say there are more made sober than mad by marriage I presume that Hypochondriacal Melancholy a species of madness doth more seise and distract single than married married persons And confident I am as one saith that the Patriarchs did converse with many wives more chastely than many do now adays with one so that many live now more holily and chastely in Wedlock than others in their Cloysters and Cells And if when a voyce from heaven calls to single persons whether man or woman whether Ecclesiastical or Temporal persons Let every man have his own wife c. Let them not say or reply I do not meddle with any state that is common or unclean If they should I reply to them again What God hath cleansed or rather always accounted a pure holy and undefiled estate that call not thou common or unclean CHAP. III. Qualifications requisite in them that marry AS for the Qualifications of a Husband or Wife I would advise all to look at true Religion in the first place that those that marry may be said to marry in the Lord. If I mistake not this was that King James advised Prince Henry unto v. B.Δ. 2 b.p. 72. c. When Solomon married the Daughters of a strange god then he fell to tolerate if not to worship their Idols Next to Religion I should commend a Suitable Disposition and a Conformity in Manners that man and wife may delight in the society and converse one of another And as I would not have a man or woman marry meerly o◠chiefly by their eyes or fancies so neither would I advise a marriage betwixt those that have an aversness or antipathy at first sight each to other I would have a natural free and unenforced affection before marriage When there is no other affection 'twixt parties than what is the fruit of Ratiocination or Syllogisms I would never perswade a marriage Syllogistical love such as is raised thus Every man must love his wife But this woman is my wife Therefore I ought to love her And so on the part of the woman in reference to her husband Every woman must love her own husband This man is my husband Therefore I must love him I say this love goes so far about that it is like to be long before it bring home affections Nature is always at hand and natural affections are up at first view but Reason Religion and Grace too are sometimes to seek or held off at distance by Passion 'T is true notwithstanding that those that match meerly by the eye many times meet with their match an eye-sore or a very thorn in their eye and that beauty which was a Loadstone to attract their love proves a snare to others and a torment to themselves whilst it draws others eyes to the same object and occasions jealousie And if neither of these happen as oftentimes both do yet a disease a sickness or at least old age changes the beautiful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a Chaos and the most lovely countenance into an object in which thou wilt say I have no pleasure Next let me advise you not to marry by the ear not for honor or great parentage and noble Titles for these without virtue and money are of small value an empty sound a tinkling cymbal yea more discord than harmony for the most part in such matches and hence ordinarily is the worst sort of marriage-musick Imparity in birth and parentage makes odds where all should be even the one oft lords it in this case and the other is but a servant and a servant to to their fellow yoke-fellow a servant underling to all their high kindred and often despised by their own servants 'T is in such families oft as 't is in the Family of Hawks the males are the underlings and the females have the respect the glory
to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children And therefore because the Patriarchs and Saints of the Lord were thus perswaded they made their humble addresses and petitions at the Throne of Grace for children The Jews tell us that Abraham and Sarah put up their joynt prayers to God for a Son so did Hannab the Mother of Samuel and we may probably guess Zachary the Father of John the Baptist whilst he ministred in the Temple and prayed for we read Luke 1.18 the Angel Gabriel said to him Fear not Zacharias for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son and thou shalt call his name John And truly if God give a child in answer to prayers 't is to be hoped that such child will answer the Parents prayers and prove a blessing and so did Isaac Samuel and John the Baptist I confess that sometimes wicked men who are described to be such as call not upon God have their fill of children Psal 17.14 and again that they send forth their children like a flock yea and their children dance Job 21.11 But yet I say that children that are the fruit of prayers are usually a double blessing when as children bestowed on wicked Parents who pray not for them oft-times prove a dismal curse to them In the one sort God as it were lights in his servants Families a Candle that their names be not put out in obscurity In the other he permits a fire to be kindled and that to a kind of wild-fire which soon consumes the whole house with the timber thereof and the stones thereof 'T is a blessing to be fruitful and to have our name continued on the contrary 't is a curse to be barren and to have our names blotted out and therefore God provided that if the elder Brother dyed childless the next Brother was to raise up seed unto his Brother and that was to be called after his Brothers name The causes of Barrenness are oft-times 1. Disobedience to Parents 'T is just and equal that they should dye childless that do not honour their Parents by whom under God they had their own Beings Births and Lives 2. Adultery and Vncleanness Those who lie with other mens wives are punished with Barrenness in their own wives 3. Notorious Wickedness and obstinate Rebellion against God When a man is wicked overmuch well may God in wrath say Write this man Childless or there shall no more of this mans seed be sown and Job 18.19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people not any remaining in his dwelling 4. An inordinate desire of great things in this world and of the continuance of our Name and Family Psal 49. 5. Persecuting of Gods Saints and Servants or afflicting the poor and needy Psal 109.13 Let his posterity be cut off let his name be wiped out Certainly on the other side Fruitfulness is a blessing and as a good Wife is the best Earthly blessing without us so are Children a special gift of God See Psal 113.9 Psal 127.3 4. Children are an heritage of Jehovah the fruit of the womb his reward or wages Hebr. As Barrenness is threatned and inflicted sometimes as a curse so is Fruitfulness promised and bestowed as a blessing and yet God will be sought unto for this blessing So did Abraham seek God for a Son and obtained him After Isaac had lived with his wife twenty years childless they both say the Jews went to the Mount Moriah and prayed there for a child and God heard them I should not advise Polygamy as a means to be fruitful and to multiply our Progeny One wife seems enough and often too much for one man to govern and 't is observed that some who have allowed or indulged themselves the liberty or licence of many Wives have had the fewest Children Solomon's Wives and Concubines made up a thousand and yet we read but of three Children he had by them all 2. Next to Prayer for Children let me advise a serious resolution to bring up your Children which God shall bestow on you in the nurture and admonition of the Lord resolve you and your Children will serve the Lord. Endeavour to be able to say to God at last when you come to give account of these Talents Of all thou hast given me have I lost none There is never a son or daughter of perdition amongst them not a profane Esau or a cursed Cham nor a scoffing Ishmael never a wandering Dinah nor a mocking Michal Lo here am I and the Children thou hast given me 3. Love God's Worship the place of his Worship and those that minister about holy things It was to Hannah praying at Shiloh to Zachary ministring in the Temple and to the Shunamitish woman that so courteously entertained the Prophet Elijah and to the Mariner and his Wife that in Q Maries Reign hid that eminent Doctor and Confessor Dr. Sands after Archbishop of York to whom God gave Sons after they had been childless a long time 4. Be you your selves God's Children his Sons and his Daughters and he will give you Children Sons and Daughters or at least a name better then of Sons and Daughters Isa 58. Psal 128. Blessed are all they that fear God and walk in his way Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine upon the walls of thine house Thy children like Olive plants round about thy table Yea thou shalt see thy childrens children and peace upon Israel And this last Clause brings to mind that saying of our Saviour Luke 21.23 Wo unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days If you ask why it follows For there shall be great distress in the land namely of Israel and wrath upon this people Else save in case of war and desolation or in case of trouble and persecution as the times were like to be when St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians 1 Cor. c. 7. Else I say Blessed are those wombs that bear and the paps that give suck the blessings of the breasts and of the womb are the language of the Holy Tongue And though in troublous times it is not good i.e. expedient to touch a woman yet in Serene times and of Adam in Innocency God said it is not good for the man to be alone And as we have a wo in Luke to those that are with child so have we a Ve soli a wo to him that is alone in Ecclesiastes distingue tempora salves difficultatem distinguish the times when or of which these things were spoken and you will easily reconcile our Saviour's words and his Apostles with those of Solomon's The Hebrew word Ben which signifies a Son comes from Banah to build and those Mothers who bring forth children are said in Scripture to build up the house So 〈…〉 prayed for Boaz his wife Ruth in this manner The Lord make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and like
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
life and were not married but also by married persons as Patriarchs Apostles Martyrs and innumerable others 1 Thess 4.17 'T is observed that there is nothing said of these Virgins which agreeth not to all the faithful 1. They have all the name of the Lamb his Father and written in their foreheads and all God's servants are sealed in their foreheads Rev. 7.3 2. All God's servants are to sing the new Song Rev. 5.9 10. all are redeemed from the earth by the blood of the Lamb chap. 5.9 The believing Jews they are all a kind of first-fruits unto God James 1.18 Lastly The Jesuites at Rhemes confess that these are the same number of the Elect that were sealed chap. 7. where in the Margent they note That by the number there spoken of are understood all the Elect both of the Jews and of the Gentiles vid. T. C. in loc These Virgins then are those that would not be polluted or defiled with the Idolatry or Spiritual Fornication of the Whore of Babylon mentioned in Verse 8. of the 14 Chapter of the Revelations Whatever Papists or old Hereticks say against the lawful Conjugal society of man and wife as if it were a work of the flesh the holy Apostle Paul doth not rank or condemn it for a work of the flesh in that black Catalogue of the works of the flesh on Record Gal. 5.19 20 21. But on the other side 't is observable that those who decry Marriage without a just cause and cry up single life more than they have cause as the Papists do they are verily guilty of Idolatry which is Spiritual Adultery or Fornication witness their worship of the Cross with Religious worship their worship of Images of Saints and particularly of the B. Virgin their worship of Angels with Invocation with Adoration They tell us a story that at the Synod held at Winchester when there was a difference 'twixt the married Clergy and the Monks and Archbishop Dunstan had a mind to introduce the Monks The Cross spake humano more with mans voyce against the married Priests This was in the days of King Edgar who began his Reign 959. It seems then that there were married Priests in England in those days If it be Objected That many Ancient Councils have ordained Celibacy for Priests as the first Elibertine Council an 310. or 311. Can. 33. The second Council of Cartharge about the year 396. Can. 2. Concilium Agathense Can. 9. about the year 506. The third Council of Orleans Can. 1. about the year 537. The fourth Council of Orleans an 547. Can. 17. c. My Answer is That we have the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament for the lawfulness of Priests or Presbyters marriage the Canons of the Apostles Can. 5. and the General Council of Nice rejecting the Proposal about prohibiting of it as also the sixth General Council of Constantinople c. in the year 692. and the Council of Toledo an 400. chap. 4. 7. which testifies that the Clergy had wives I might also have alledged Concilium Gangrense cap. 4. in or about the year 324. which Anathematiseth those who held it unlawful to receive the blessed Sacrament at the hands of a married Priest and many Councils which forbid Priests second Marriage or to marry a widow c. All which supposed it lawful for him to marry Whatever the Canons decreed certain it is that the Greek Church unto this day allow of a married Clergy and that divers Nations and Countreys for a long time in the West did not admit of this necessary Celibacy but tolerated their Clergy to be married In England they had their wives for above a thousand years almost twelve hundred years after Christ So in Ireland till the days of Henry the second of England who began his Reign 1155. Pope Pius II. who sate about the year 1458. was a great man in the Council of Basil his saying was That Marriage was better for the Clergy than single life and turned out divers cloystered Nuns to take their liberty De facto many Priests were married of old So Novatus a Priest permitted by Cyprian to live with his wife Tertullian was married as appears by his Book written to his wife Gratian tells of the Sons of Presbyters and Bishops that were promoted to the Papal Dignity Dist 56. So was Bonifacius the Pope the Son of Jucundus the Presbyter Foelix the Pope the Son of Foelix the Presbyter Agapetus the Pope Son of Gordianus the Presbyter Theodorus the Pope Son of Theodorus the Bishop and many more he saith there were and addeth we are not to understand them as born out of lawful Marriages which were lawful to Priests before the Prohibition ibid. Chrysostom agreeth with Athanasius and Clemens Alexandrinus in 1 Tim. 3. and saith That Marriage is in so high a degree honorable that men with it may ascend into the Episcopal Chairs and yet live with their wives For though it be a hard thing yet it is possible so to perform the duties of Marriage as not to be wanting in the performance of the duties of a Bishop Sozomen saith of Spiridion that though he had a Wife and Children yet he was not therefore any whit the more negligent in performing the duties of his Calling and of Gregory Nyssen it is reported that though he was married he was no way inferior to his worthy Brother that lived single And howsoever in Thessaly Thessalonica Mandonia they did not admit into the Ministry any single persons yet all the Bishops of the East besides were then left unto their own liberty and though some went about to take away their liberty in some places yet the worthiest men the Church had stood in defence of it So Synesius when they of Ptolemais would needs have him to be their Bishop which thing he little desired he made them acquainted with his present condition and resolved purpose for the time to come God saith he the Law and the sacred hand of Theophilus have given to me a wife I therefore tell all men aforehand and testifie unto all that I will neither suffer my self to be altogether estranged and separated from her neither will I live with her secretly as an Adulterer for the one of these is no way pious and godly and the other no way lawful But I will desire and pray unto God that exceeding many and most good and happy Children may be born unto me Neither will I have him that is chief in ordaining of me to be ignorant hereof Synesius ad fratrem Ep. 105. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This liberty the Council in Trullo impeached in respect of Bishops but in respect of Presbyters it continueth in all the East Churches of the world unto this day Greek Armenian and Ethiopian warranted unto them by the Canons of the Apostles judgement of Bishops Canons of councils c. Dr. Field of the Ch. l. 5. p. 708. Some attempts were made in the East by Eustathius