advanced to the Bishoprick Gregory the Great was Grandchild to Foelix Pope of Rome who was Pope 590. and he is said to have cancell'd his Decree against Priests Marriages upon the finding of 600 Infants skulls in a fish-pond Pope Adrian II. was Son to Bishop Tallerus had a Daughter by his Wife Stephania both which were killed after he was Pope which was an 863. Christopher Patriarch of Jerusalem about the year 900. had children viz. two Sons and two Daughters In Armenia the Secular Priests are all enjoyned to marry else they must not be admitted to the Priesthood Neque permittitur aliquis Sacerdotium assumere qui uxorem non duxit Berchard p. 95. The Prebendaries of Cathedrals out of which number they choose their Bishop are not allowed to marry In Biscay they allow not any Priest to live in their Villages except â—he bring his Concubine with him conceiving it impossible for them to keep their wives unto themseves if the Curate hath not a woman of his own D. H. G. p. 256. At the Council of Trent the Emperor and Duke of Parma made instance to the Pope and said it would be of great moment to grant that Priests that are separated because they are married may be reconciled and retain their wives and that hereafter where there is not a sufficient number of Priests married men of good life and fame may be admitted to the Priesthood Vid. History of the Council of Trent p. 813. And we find in the History of that Council that the more common Opinion was the Marriage of Priests might be dispensed withal 'T is true that this was thought by some dangerous because that married Priests would turn their affections and love to their wives and children and by consequence to their house and Country so that the strict dependance which the Clergy hath on the Apostolick See would cease and to grant Marriage to Priests would destroy the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and make the Pope to be Bishop of Rome only Council of Trent p. 680. Yea the famous saying of Pope Pius II. was then in the mouth of many That Priests were by the Occidental Church forbid to marry for good reason but there was stronger reason to restore Marriage to them again The two great Reasons urged at the Council were Scandal given by incontinent Priests and want of continent persons fit to exercise the Ministry Hist of C. Trent p. 679 806. It was in the same Council alledged that the Constitution of the Church forbidding to marry might be taken away by the Pope or in case the Constitution remain still the Pope may dispense with it They alledged the examples of those who have been dispensed with and the use of Antiquity that if a Priest did marry the Marriage was good but the man was separated from the Ministry C. T. p. 679. And whereas as some thought that persons who were bound to Continency by solemn Vow could not be dispensed withal by the Pope others maintain'd that the Pope might dispense with these also and marvelled at those who granting the dispensation of simple Vows did deny that of Solemn as if it were not most clear that every Solemnization is de Jure positivo They brought places out of S. Austin by which it doth manifestly appear that in his time some Monks did marry and howsoever it was thought they offended in it yet the Marriage was lawful and St. Austine reprehendeth those who did separate them And as for Marriage of Priests Innocent II. was the first that ordained there should be a nullity in the Marriage This Pope sate in the Sea 1130. Innocent III. who bore a heavy hand over our King John and Interdicted the Kingdom for six years together was the terrible man against Priests Marriages Whereupon we have these Verses by an Oxford man Prisciana Regula penitus cassatur Sacerdos per hic haec olim declinatur Nunc per hic solum articulatur Cum per nostrum praesulem hec amo veatur Prid. Intro to Histri 123. Old Priscians Rule henceforth must hold no more 'T was hic haec Sacerdos heretofore But now poor Hic must lie alone perforce For his dear Haec our Prelate doth divorce This Pope Innocent was Pope first an 1198. If we may credit History divers Popes have had their Concubines Sixtus IV. provided for his Concubine Tiresia shooes covered with Pearl builded Stews at Rome which brought him 2000 Duckets yearly in-come he granted the Cardinal S. Lucia the use of unnatural lusts for three months in the year June July and August Innocent the eight a Genoway he had divers base children Vid. B. Prid. Hist and gave a great dowry to his Daughter Theodorina 'T is said of him Octo Nocens pueros genuit totidemque puellas Hunc merito poteris dicere Roma Patrem Eight Lads and twice four Girls Nocens got And might not Rome him Father term why not Pope Alexander the sixth heaped all upon his Bastards and carnally used his own Daughter Lucretia Hence those Verses Hic jacet in Tumulo Lucretia nomine sed re Thais Alexandri filia sponsa nurus Lucrece by name here liâ—s but Thais in life Pope Alexander's Child Spouse and sons wife This Pope entred on the Popedom an 1492. Paul the third prostituted his Sister Julia Fornesia to Alexander the Sixth that he might be made Cardinal committed incest with his own Daughter Constantia and poysoned her husband Bosius Sforsia to enjoy her the more freely he became Pope 1534. B. Prid. Hist p. 145. Yet I shall grant 1. That single life is in some respects to be preferred as most free ordinarily from trouble and care and in times of persecution and to unfixed persons as to their habitations affording better opportunity to serve God or to suffer for him and fewer and lesser temptations to deny him 2. I grant that those who have made a vow of Celibacy before or at their entrance into the Ministry or on some other occasion if they have they have the gift of Continency are bound to keep it 3. That 't is possible some Votaries of both Sexes may be free from the gross vices and crimes charged on most of our Votaries in the days of K. H. 8. at the dissolution of Abbeys 4. That in Colledges for training up youth in Learning it is expedient that those that are Tutors and Readers to youth be during such their employment single 5. That Presbyters or Priests at times of extraordinary Humiliation and at times of more solemn Celebration of the Lord's Supper shall do well to observe the old Canons that forbid the society of their Wives for a time But then I assert and avow with the Author to the Hebrews chap. 13.4 1. That Marriage is honorable among all men and therefore among persons in holy Orders and the bed undefiled And therefore 2. That the society of a Clergy-man with his wife whether he was married to her before his Ordination or after is
the mastery I should further advise not to marry by the hand or weight meerly for money To marry World or Mammon this is next to marrying the Devil 'T is true a wise Counsellor advised his Son to marry a wife with something because nothing could be bought in the Market without money Yet a mateh meerly for money is not of Gods making nor mans making God never appointed nor ever approved of such matches and I have seen a Picture of three marriages one said to be made by God another by Love and a third by the Devil and this third in the Picture was when two old covetous wretches married together that they might joyn house to house land to land and bag to bag It was well observed by Mr. Herbert Palmer in his little piece of making Religion ones business that he never found in all the Scriptures amongst all the ends of marriage that God ordained marriage to make one rich And if so then if we will make that the chief end of marriage which was never by our Maker and the Author of marriage intended or designed any end at all how much are we degenerated how have we degraded our selves and sunk Gods Ordinance into earth mire and dirt If I mistake not the Jews and our Ancestors the Saxons used to purchase their wives with gifts or dowries Hence the custom with us of laying Gold and Silver upon the Book in the Solemnization of Matrimony and the Minister's giving it to the Bride and perhaps also those words in the Office appointed on the mans part with aâ—â—y 〈…〉 goods I thee endow and the money given at that time was an earnest of the rest A good wife at any rate is a good bargain I had much rather give money to buy a wife then sell my self to purchase a rich one Intolerabili nihil est quam faemina dives he that marries for 100 s. 1000 s. a 100 a 1000 to one but he is overwiv'd As he that marries above himself for honour is like a ship that hath too much sail for its ballast so he that marries below himself for money is like a ship over-laden that hath too much burthen for its sails and so is in danger of sinking They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and dangerous lusts which drown men in perdition Well then marry neither only or chiefly for beauty by the eye nor for honour by the ear nor for money or wealth by the hand but find out a meet helper a suitable yoke-fellow one whom you are sure you shall love because you do love her and that too for her Virtues and Qualifications so decently lodged that you cannot but be pleased to dwell with them To conclude this particular about the choice of a wife and conversation with a wife let me mind you what Wisdom it self adviseth namely To marry in the Lord A woman that feareth God of a meek and quiet spirit in whose lips is the Law of kindness in whom your heart can safely trust a good housewife that will look well to the ways of her houshold and will not eat the bread of idleness Prov. 31. And that you may hope for such a blessing the greatest earthly felicity for your preparation to marriage take King James his advice to his Son Prince Henry Keep your body clean and unpolluted till you give it to your wife to whom only it belongeth for how can you justly crave to be joyned to a pure Virgin if your body be polluted why should the one half be clean and the other defiled As for the time of your marriage defer not to marry till your old age for marriage was ordained to quench the lust of youth Marry not a woman unable either through age nature or accident for procreation of children neither marry one of known evil conditions or vicious education for the woman is ordained to be a helper and not a hinderer to man Add hereunto as accessions as that wife Prince adviseth if they may be had Beauty Riches and Friendship by Alliance in your marriage because Beauty encreaseth your love to your wife contenting you the better with her without caring for others and Riches and great Alliance do both make her the abler to be a helper to you Marry especially to one of your own Religion weigh and consider how you and your wife can be one flesh and keep unity betwixt you being members of two opposite Churches Disagreement in Religion brings on with it disagreement in manners When you are married saith the Royal Author keep inviolably your promise made to God in your marriage and for your behaviour to your wife the Scripture can best give you counsel therein Treat her as your own flesh command her as her Lord cherish her as your helper rule her as your pupil and please her in all things reasonable but teach her not to be curious in things that belongs her not Ye are the head she is the body it is your Office to command and hers to obey but yet with such a sweet harmony as she should be as ready to obey as you to command as willing to follow as ye to go before Your love being wholly knit unto her and all her affections lovingly bent to follow your will Three Rules he especially gives the Prince concerning his wife Hold her at the Oeconomick Rule of the house and yet all to be subject to your direction Keep carefully good and chaste company about her for women are the frailest Sex And be never both angry at once but when you see her in passion you should with reason danton yours B.Δ. 2 b. p. 82. CHAP. IV. Of Children ONe great end of Marriage is the peopling the world with mankind especially planting the Church with a holy Seed because men and women the individuals dye they seek lawfully and rationally by marriage the conservation of their kind and because men cannot avoid death and live ever here they seek to live after death in their posterity when they are dead in their own persons they have a kind of Resurrection in their children Good and bad Saints and sinners and those of both Sexes too are desirous of children What wilt thou give me saith Abraham seeing I go childless and this Eliezar of Damascus a stranger born in my house is my heir and Give me children or else I dye said Rachel Encrease and multiply was one of Gods first blessings to his Creatures after their first creation Fruitfulness is generally reckoned a blessing as Barrenness a curse in the holy Scripture God our heavenly Father that hath the key of the clouds he keeps the key of the womb he opened Sarahs womb that she conceived a Son in her old age and he fast shut up all the wombs in Abimelech's Court. Hence it is that children are an inheritance of the Lord and that it is accounted one of God's prerogatives that he maketh the barren woman
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
Callings will be Recreations After you have educated your Children and trained them up in some honest Calling provide timely a suitable Match for them 'T is the Parents duty to dispose of their Children in Marriage as appears plainly by these Scriptures Deut. 7.3 Exod. 34.16 1 Cor. 7.38 Where observe saith my Author that the Commandment touching the Marriage of the Child Mr. Perkins is given to the Parent not the Child Thus Abraham took a wife for his son Isaac and Isaac suffer'd himself to be disposed of by his Father afterwards Isaac commanded his son Jacob to marry in the house of Laban Gen. 28. and Jacob obeyed I do not mean that Parents may absolutely command their Child to marry this or that person but to marry one thus or thus qualified according to Rules of Scripture and right Reason and Prudence I say they may Great is the power of Parents over their Children In some Countrys Parents have power of life and death over their Children Amongst the Jews the Parents might sell their Children to free themselves out of debt and in case Children were disobedient and incorrigible their Parents might bring them forth to be stoned to death by Gods Law And this brings us to treat of the next Head or Argument viz. The duty of Children towards their Parents Honour thy Father and Mother saith the Law Which is the first Commandment with promise saith the New Testament Ephes 5. Parents must have a double honour namely of Reverence and of Maintenance Thou shalt fear thy Mother and thy Father And again according to our Saviour's Interpretation the Pharisees Corban non obstante Children were bound to provide for their Parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to do or shew kindness to their Father and Mother yea those Christians who do not provide for their own Parents are worse than Infidels It is sad to think of what Luther observes That one Father will more willingly maintain ten Sons than ten Sons will maintain one Father but where Children are unnatural to their Parents God in just judgment suffers their Children to retaliate their unkindness unto themselves 'T is memorable the Story of the Father who being drawn by his Son to the threshold of the house by the hair of the head cryed to him to draw him no further for that he had drawn his Father no further v. Robinsons Essays p. 548. 'T is observable that Children are apt to slight their Mother most and her especially in her old age We are apt to break over the hedge where 't is lowest but the Law of God is a Mound and a Hedge in this Gap charging us not to despise our Mother when she is old Prov. 23.22 And there is a curse denounced against him that setteth light by father or mother and all the people were to say Amen to it Deut. 27.16 How terrible is that place Prov. 30.17 The eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother the Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the young Eagles shall eat it And he that slights his Parents for the infirmities that accompany their old age or for their wrinkles or hoary hairs is very unreasonable The natural affection and kindness of the Stork to its Dam may be a witness against such Children such worse than unreasonable men and women Aeneas is call'd Pius Aeneus by the Poet and why because he carried his Father Anchises upon his back at the destruction of Troy We must do what we can to hide our Parents nakedness Remember Chams or his son Canaans curse who some say first saw his Grandfather Noah and went and told his Father and is therefore cursed We must think reverently of them we must shew outward reverence to them bow down to them or rise up before them we must speak awfully to them and respectively of them We must obey their just and lawful commands if they say Go we must go if Come we must come if Do this we must do it We must provide necessaries for them if they want afford them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must thus honour or reward them for their kindness to us The Jews have a saying What honour is to be given to Parents the answer is To give them meat and drink and to cloath them and cover them Let 's endeavour to procure their hearty prayers for blessings to God upon us and ours and dread the thoughts of their ill Wishes Curses or Imprecations 'T is memorable what St. Austin in his Civ Dei b. 22. cap. 8. relates namely Often Children that being cursed by their Mother went about quaking and trembling from one place to another like Vagabonds And I have been very credibly told of a Son that stamping on his Mothers grave for madness because she had given him no more thereby broke his leg Though a man must love his Wife more than his Mother yet he must reverence his Mother rather than his Wife We should honour our Parents living and dead with Civil honour and respect so Joseph fell on Jacob his Father and kissed him when dead Give them decent burial so Jacob and Esau too buried their Father Ifaac and weep or mourn over them David speaking of great sadness saith he bowed down heavily as one thâ—â— mourned for his mother Psal 35.14 and Joseph when he buried his Father it was with a great and solemn mourning and of a long continuance Gen. 50.10 If the widows made great lamentation for the death of Dorcas and shewed the Coats that she had made for them Acts 9.39 how much more should Children weep and mourn for their deceased Parents from whom under God they had their Beings their Lives Education Food and Cloathing and Portion and all CAAP VI. Of the loss of Children IF God have given you Children and taken them away again yet be not like Rachel weeping for her children because they are not Rather with Job say The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1.21 Better I think to have had Children though we see them go before us to their grave than to have been always Childless for hereby God hath taken away the reproach and curse of Barrenness and hereby you have helped to fill Heaven and your Children are not lost but gone or sent thither before you Job who had all his other goods doubled had not a double number of Children and this reason some give of it because these were not lost Job should meet with them again in Heaven If your Children dye in the womb and never see the Sun the Sun in the visible Heavens yet may they for ever see the Sun of Righteousness in the highest Heavens and surely 't is a pleasant thing always to behold this Sun in the vision and fruition of whom consists so much of our happiness What though your children dye in the womb or go out of the world presently after they are born into it
before your eyes who by his Adultery bred the wreck of his lawful Daughter and Heir in begetting that Bastard who unnaturally rebelled and procured the ruine of his own Sovereign and Sister And this brings to mind that excellent Captain-General Gideon who had by his Wives Threescore and ten Sons and by his Concubine but one viz. Abimelech and he slew all these Threescore and ten Sons except Joash who escaped his hands Judg. chap. 8 9. 'T is a sin to beget a Bastard and a shame to be born one 'T is noted on Job 31. 10. where Job saith Let my wife grind unto another man and let others bow down upon her the Septuagint render the last words Let my children be abased Jeptha though a valiant and a gallant and good man yet is recorded the base Son of Gilead Judg. 11.1 'T is a reproach to be thus born in Scripture-Heraldry notwithstanding I have been told that William the Conquerer King of England did use to stile himself Gulielmus Bastardus Rex Angliae c. God forbad a Bastard to enter into the Congregation of the Lord to bear any Office until the tenth Generation Deut. 23.3 Yet that such persons may not be discouraged let them know we have one example though but one and that is the example of Jeptha a Judge and a valiant man and one eminent for his Faith Hebr. 11.32 ranked amongst David Samuel and the Prophets 'T is a blot to be base born but this may be taken away in a great measure by good Education And then saith one this should be no more a blot unto them than if they wanted a hand or a leg and as we blame not the stollen seed when it is sowen and groweth up but those who stole the seed so we should not blame the Child begotten out of Marriage if he follow not his Fathers footsteps but only his Father who begat him There hath been saith he profitable men in the Church who have been basely born as Lumbard Gratian and Petrus Comestor the Sons of one Whore and Darius Nothus among the Persian Kings and Hercules Weem 3 Vol. p. 145. I know the Jews stood upon their Pantofles and took it in great dudgion that our Saviour should tell them they did not act like the Children of Abraham they retort presently John 8.1 We are not born of fornication Yet I should disswade from casting such an ones birth into his dish or into his teeth because never in his power to help it And I should exhort such who are so base born to endeavour to be born again and then they are truly Noble and Honorable the Sons of God and Co-heirs with Jeptha the Saint of the Lord. CHAP. IX Of Second Marriages and of the Qualifications of Ministers or Priests Wives OF old they were accounted Bigamists or Digamists who had two Wives not only at one and the same time but successively one after another and such were enjoyned Penance by the Council of Laodicea and Neo-Caesarea and by the latter Council a Presbyter was forbidden to be present at the Wedding-feast lest he should seem to consent to such Marriage and Bigamists were not received to the Communion without prayer and fasting and repentance first enjoyned and exercised And by the ancient Canons Bigamists were not to be admitted to holy Orders Concil Andegavense Can. 11. Concil Romanum an 467. Can. 2. Concil Arelatense 3. Decr. 2. Concil Hispalense 2. Cap. 4. and the same is forbidden in the Apostolical Canons Can. 17. And by the same Canons such as otherwise might be capable of being Bishops Presbyters and Deacons are made incapable of being such if they married a Widow or a Whore or one that was cast out by her own Husband aut aliquam de iis quae publicis spectaculis mancipantur Can. 18. or one that was a notorious frequenter of the Spectacles in that time By the Law of God the High Priest was not to marry a Widow or a divorced Woman or prophane or an Harlot But he shall take saith the holy Text a Virgin of his own people to wife Lev. 21.14 Another Priest was forbidden to take a Wife that was a Whore or prophane or any woman put away from her husband Lev. 21.7 but was not forbidden to marry a Widow If the woman was not a Daughter of Israel or had married to one that it was not lawful for her to marry or had beeen defiled by constraint or unwillingly or had been suspected of Whoredom by her Husband though she had not been put to drink the water of Jealousie yet by the Law according to Matrimony the Priest might not lawfully marry with her The Priests of the old Law were not forbidden except only the High Priest a special type of Christ to marry a Widow The High Priest was not to marry a Widow but a Virgin 't is thought that so he might have her first love and 2. lest she should prove with child and bring in a strange seed into the Priesthood provided against Lev. 21.15 Again he must not marry a divorced woman because it was conjectured she was put away for some miscarriage or misdemeanor 3. He must not marry one defiled either voluntarily or violently such a blot must not lie on his wife lest it stain his Function The Law allows the High Priest to marry but a Virgin Because saith one she may be more easily guided and ruled and won to frame her self to duty and obedience And in Ezek. 44.22 he was allowed to marry the Widow of a Priest for it may be presumed that such an one hath been already trained to Modesty to Sobriety to a chaste and sweet Behaviour beseeming the wife of a Priest Now although the Ministers of the New Testament are not prohibited but expresly allowed to marry yet must their wives be grave not slanderers sober faithful in all things and he that is in holy Orders must be sure to order and rule his own house well having his children in subjection with all gravity 1 Tim. 3.4 11. This care being had they being married saith my Author shall be as holy and honorable in their Function as the Priests of the Old Testament who being married were said to have the Crown of God upon their heads and to offer the bread of God and to be after a special manner holy And where 't is said 1 Tim. 3.2 Tit. 1.16 that a Bishop must be the husband of one wife c. the meaning must be that he must not be married to two wives at once according to the custom of the Jews nor have a Concubine together with a lawful wife accordng to the practice of the Gentiles or he might not marry a second woman after he had put away the first without any lawful cause But it seems to be very improbable that the Apostle should seclude from the Calling of a Bishop or Presbyter one that married a second wife after the death of his former Observe it is