the vniuersalitie of this Canon and will contend that a Law generally made for all Christians is not without iniurie restrayned to Ecclesiastiques But let my Reader wel consider both the Prologue and Epilogue of that Synod he shal see that they who are required to keep these Lawes are Consacerdotes omnes and that whosoeuer shall violate them Nouerit se ab omni officio Sacerdotali nostra societate separatum must know himselfe separate from all sacerdotall office and society so as it will necessarily follow that this Law did at least concerne the Clergy with others though not apart Neyther is there any other of those Canons which concernes not the Clergy only except the first concerning the obseruation of Easter which principally also belonged to them Wherto it makes not a little that in the Booke of Saxon Canons set out for the gouerning of the secular Priests the rule is Let them also doe their indeuor that they hold with perpetuall diligence their chastitie in an vnspotted bodie or else let them be coupled with the bond of one Matrimony Words wherein our Clergie meant to regulate themselues as it seemes by the holy prescript of Isidore whereof wee haue spoken Lastly my Aduersarie cannot deny that this Synode giues order for many accidentall matters concerning the Clergie for their fixed station for their maintenance c. but except in this Canon there is no one word of their state of life neyther is there in all those Canons one syllable of this pretended Celibate as that which the contrary receyued custome of our Church would neuer haue indured My Refuter daâ—es not say that these marriages were so quite out of vse that it was needlesse to ordaine ought against them hee knowes that his DVNSTAN found here this course so inueterate that the very age and deepe rooting of it hindred his designes SECT XIII FRom Bede he comes downe to his three premised Saints Dunstan Oswald and Ethelwold and to make sure worke cites an obscure Scholler of Ethelwold for an authentique Witnesse against eight honest Priests and the lawfulnesse of all Priests marriages And lastly he makes vp the mouth of his discourse with the full Decree of Archbishop Anselme Richard in the Synods of London and why not King Henries sixe Article and why not the Councel of Trent Sic conclusum est contra haereticos Now because his heart told him how light these proofes were he layes in the scales with them certaine graue ponderations which all put together will proue almost at weightie as the Fether he wrote withall The first is That there cannot bee a greater nationall proofe then to haue the Bishops and the King and his Nobility to define and deliuer this poynt with ioynt consent Take this Reader of King Edward the sixt and his Parliament and Conuocation and all is well King Edgars Vtopicall decree was hatcht in a Monks cowle and to his two King Henries hee might haue added Philip and Mary And why might not wee oppose King Edmund to Edgar and Osulphus his Bishop to Dunstan And the Clergie before Anselme to the Clergie after him This match were made with some indifferencie But how idlely hath my Refuter mislaid the comparison betwixt Henrie of Huntingdon and Fabian on our part and all the Clergie and Laitie of theirs Since those two Authors if wee had no more report onely de facto that Priests marriages were not before forbidden and the cited Clergie and Laitie doe now thus late-ward discusse de iure Neyther haue the Clergie and Laitie by him alledged euer contradicted that which Huntingdon and Fabian haue out of the course of all Storie affirmed Vnto which let mee adde Polydore Virgill seconding this their assertion who plainely tels vs that for 970. yeeres the restraint of marriage was neuer in vse amongst the English Clergie Search not for this Reader in the later editions lest thou complaine of lost labour Poore Polydore may cry out of his graue with that other Polydore in Virgill Fas omne abrumpit Polydorum obtruncat Let him then to answer this vaine challenge produce but any one Author of equall authoritie to any of these which doth auouch the contrary to that which these three haue thus confidently deliuered and I shall confesse my selfe herein sufficiently answered In the meane time let him and the world know that all the ancient Clergie and Laity of this Iland was for this libertie altogether ours Whereto if hee yeeld not let him name the man before his Dunstan that euer in this I le opened his mouth against it Till then the Reader cannot but see that whereas our proofe is Ex â—re duorum aut trium his side is mute that for our Something be can shew Nothing at all and that our Huntingdon F. Fabian and Polydore are better then C. E. and his Man in the Moone SECT XIIII HIs second ponderation of the sanctity of the persons iâ— no truer auoir-de-poiâ— That B. Dunstan was an holy man we may easily grant but taken from the Couent of Glastenbury Neither would the Nobilitie of his time bee so liberall as to the King Deâ—libidinibus praâ—tigijs for two remarkeable qualities in his Saintship lechery and sorcery whereupon hee was cast out from the Court and that he was receiued againe hee might thanke the Kings horse whose sudden stop on the Verge of a steepe downe-fall restored Dunstan to the good opinion of the superstitious Prince who yet was so farre from being guiltie of this deliuerance that he did not so much as know of the danger An acquitall at least as causelesse as the accusation That Bishop Anselme was deuout learned we willingly grant but withall an Italian and taken from a Norman Couent Hee was holy but how impetuously addicted to his owne will and how refractarie to authoritie I had rather Histories should speake then my selfe Neither is it any wonder if both these Prelates how holy soeuer sauoured somewhat too strong of the Cloisters and of Rome Something must be yeelded to Times and Places wee will not thinke but a well-meant zeale carried them into these resolutions but a zeale misguided with the sway of the Times The name of Saints the truth of their sanctitie did not priuiledge them from errors we know how to seuer their chaffe from their wheat and to send one of them to the Windes the other to the Granarie As for the married Clergie That they were euer accounted the scumme and refuse of their Order it is but the scurrilous scummy blurre of an intemperate pen what was Spiridion what was Hilary what were both Gregories what was Sidonius what was Tertullian Prosper Simplicius Eupsychius In a word what were all those whom his Damasus recounteth what was the father of the Archdeacon of Huntingdon whom within two leaues he recordeth from his Epitaph for the starre of the Clergie This scumme is better then their broth which though
belong to Man either to saue or destroy any man for his merits but it is proper only vnto GOD. That GOD hath ordayned this it is neither found written in the Old Testament nor in the Gospell nor in the Epistles of the Apostles in all which is set downe whatsoeuer GOD hath inioyned vnto men It is therefore a Tradition of Man and not an institution of GOD nor of his Apostles As the Apostle instituted rather that a Bishop should bee the Husband of one Wife which he would neuer haue appointed if it had beene adulterie for a bishop to haue at once a Wife and a Church as it were two Wiues like as some affirme Now that which hath not authoritie from the holy Scriptures is with the same facilitie contemned that it is spoken For the holy Church is not the Wife not the Spouse of the Priest but of Christ as Saint Iohn saith Hee that hath the Bride hee is the Bridegroome Of this Bridegroome I say is the Church the Spouse and yet it is lawfull euen for this Spouse in part to marry by Apostolique Tradition For the Apostle speaks thus to the Corinthians Because of fornications let euery man haue his owne wife And I would that all men were as I am but euery man hath his proper gift of GOD one thus another otherwise For all men haue not one gift namely of Virginitie and Continency But some are Virgins and contayne others contayne not to whom he granteth marriage lest Satan tempt them through their incontinency and they should miscarry in the ruine of their vncleannesse So also of Priests some are continent others are incontinent and those which are continent haue receiued the gift of their continence from GOD without whose Gift and Grace they cannot be continent But those which are incontinent haue not receiued this gift of grace but whether by the intemperance of their humour or the weaknesse of their mind run out into fleshly desires which they would in no wise doe if they had receiued from GOD the Grace and Vertue of Continence For they also which are deliuered by the grace of GOD from the body of this death feele another Law in their members rebelling against the Law of their minde and captiuating them to the Law of sinne and compelling them to doe that which they would not This Law therefore holding them captiue and this Concupiscence of the flesh prouoking them they are comâ—lled either to fornicate or marry whereof whether is the better wee are taught by the authoritie of the Apostle who tels vs it is better to marry then to burne Surely that which is the better is to be chosen and held now it is better to marry because it is worse to burne and because it is better to marry then to burne it is conuenient for those which contayne not to marry not to burne For marriage is good as Augustine speaks in his Booke super Genesin ad Literam in it is commended the good of nature whereby the prauitie of incontinence is ruled and the fruitfulnes of Nature graced For the weaknesse of either Sexe declining towards the ruine of filthinesse is well relieued by the honesty of marriage so as the same thing which may bee the office of the sound is also the remedie vnto the sick Neither yet because Incontinence is euill is therefore Marriage euen that wherewith the Incontinent are ioyned to be reputed not good yea rather not for that euill is the good faultie but for this good is that euill pardonable since that good which marriage hath yea which marriage is can neuer bee sinne Now this good is three-fold the Fidelitie thâ—â—ruit the Sacrament of that estate Iâ— the Fidelitie is regarded That besides this bond of Marriage there bee not carnall societie with any other In the Fruit of it That it be louingly raysed and religiously bred In the Sacrament of it That the marriage be not separated and that the dismissed partie of either Sexe bee not ioyned to any other no not for issues sake This is as it were the Rule of Marriage whereby the fruitfulnesse of Nature is graced or the prauitie of Incontinence ruled And this Rule of Marriage and this three-fold good the eternal Truth hath appointed in the order of his Decree and that eternall Law of his against which whatsoeuer is done spoken or willed is sinne which Augustine in his Booke against Faustus the Manichee witnesseth saying Sinne is either Deed Word or Desire against the Law Eternal This Eternall Law is the diuine Will or Decree forbidding the disturbance and commanding the preseruation of due naturall order whatsoeuer therefore commands naturall Order to be disturbed forbids it to be conserued prohibits men to vse Marriage and to attaine to the threefold good thereof Fidelitie Issue Sacrament and commands them to breake that Rule of Eternall Truth whereby the fruitfulnesse of Nature is graced or the prauitie of Incontinency ruled commands men to abhorre those things whereby naturall Order is held and maintayned This Commandement I say forbids naturall Order to be obserued commands it to be disturbed and therefore is against the Law of GOD and by consequence is sinne For they sinne that ordayne such a command by which naturall Order is destroyed These men doe not it seemes beleeue that of the children of Priests GOD takes for the building of his Citie aboue and for the restoring of the number of Angels For if they did beleeue it they would neuer ordayne such a Mandate because they should wittingly and ouer-rashly goe about to effect that the supernall City should neuer be perfited and the number of Angels neuer repayred For if the supernall City be to be perfited euen of the sons of Priests and if the number of Angels be of them to be repayred those that indeuour to procure that they should not be doe what in them lyes destroy the supernall City and labour that the number of Angels may not be perfited Then which what can be more peruersely done For this is done against the wil and predestination of him which hath done those things which shall be for hee hath done in his predestination those things which shall bee in effect whosoeuer therefore goes about to procure that GOD may not in effect doe those things which he hath done in his predestination goes about to make void the very predestination of GOD. If then GOD haue already in his Predestination decreed that the sons of Priests shall once bee in effect hee that goes about to procure that they may not bee in effect indeuours to destroy the worke of GOD because he hath already done it in predestination and so striues to ouerthrow GODS predestination and to gainstand that Wil of GOD which is Eternall For GOD would from Eternitie and before all Worlds create all men in the World in that certayne Order wherein he pre-conceiued and predestinated to create them Hee doth nothing disorderly Hee createth nothing in the World which Hee hath
irrefragable place of Gregorie Nazianzen a man beyond all exception who brings in his Father Gregorie whom the world knowes to haue beene Bishop of the same See speaking thus of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Nondum tot annisunt tui quot iam in sacris mihi sunt peracti victimis c. That is The yeeres of thy age are not so many as of my Priesthood Words that will conuince the most importunate gain-sayer that GREGORIE NAZIANZEN was borne to his worthy father after the time of his holy Orders And lest any man should suspect that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nondum may reach onely to the birth not to the begetting of Gregorie Nazianzen so as perhaps he might be borne after his fathers Orders begotten before them Let him know to make all sure and playne that Gorgonia and Caesarius the sister and brother of this Gregorie were by the same father begotten afterwards as is euident both by that Verse of Nazianzen who speaking of his mother as then childlesse when shee begged him of God sayes Cupiebat illa masculum foetum domi Spectare magna vt pars cupit mortalium And the cleare Testimonie of ELIAS CRETENSIS Quamuis enim si natiuitatem spectes c. Although saith hee if you regard his birth he was not the onely child of his Parents forasmuch as after him both GORGONIA and CaeSARIVS were borne Thus he O infamous Gregories the scum of the Clergie O irregular Father that durst defile his sacred function with so carnall an act O shamelesse sonne that blushes not to proclaime his owne sinfull generation Goe now petulant Refuter and see whether you can eyther yeeld or answer As for that glorious shew of Antiquitie wherewith C. E. hopes to bleare his Readers eyes gracing himselfe herein with the astipulation of our Reuerend Iewell I neede not returne any other answer then of his Beatus Rhenanus Quanquam veteres omnes c. Although all the Ancient and HIEROME himselfe were no whit equal or indifferent to Marriage esteeming virginitie and chastity very high both because they thought the Last-day was neere at hand as remembring that sentence of S. PAVL Tempus in collecto est and because they saw many impediments grow from marriage which marred the puritie of Christianitie in those dayes especially when Christians liued amongst Heathens and matched in marriage with them Surely it is euident that for this cause HIEROME was in an ill name at Rome c. Thus he We durst not haue said so much for our selues The highest Antiquitie is ours the later had bin ours if it had not bin vpon these grounds which were then their owne proper to the time place occasion SECT IX I Descend to the Testimonie of Gratian Champion E. calls this Picking of Strawes If picking of Strawes be boyes-play and argue that they which vse it are foyled and haue lost all as our Refuter merrily pipeth let him acknowledge how beggerly the proofs are grown of the martyrdome of their Saintly Iesuites and Priests amongst vs did they not stoope to picke strawes to thresh out a miracle when it was for translating Father Garnet from a Traytor to a Martyr yea and that Chaffe the gullery whereof themselues smile at here is deuoutly transported beyond the Seas and enshrined for a sacred relique and proclaymed by their Kornmānus for one of the great Wonders of the Dead Ridet aruspex vbi aruspicem viderit It is well that the great Compiler of the Canon Law of Rome is growne so base with Catholique Priests He witnesses plainely that some Bishops of Rome were the sonnes of Priests not spurious but begot in lawfull Wedlocke Which was according to Gratian euery-where lawful to the Clergie before the prohibition C. E. bites the lip at this authoritie and first he tells vs it is the Palea not Gratian. But if this be chaffe there is no Corne. Reader try by this the egregious impudence of this fellow Turne to the place thou shalt find the words to be none but Gratians and the notes allowed by publique authoritie openly to confirme it Hic apertè ostendit Gratianus se in ea fuisse opinione c. Here GRATIAN openly shewes that he was in that opinion that heretofore the Priests of the Latine Church might be marryed Secondly my parenthesis displeases him As now a dayes But what needes this quarrell He must grant if the Romish Priests haue sonnes they can bee no other then spurious It is his best not to presse this poynt too farre This idle iealousie of his can argue no good I touched not the continencie of his Paulus Quintus so much as in my thought I onely wish that his Holinesse would bestow some of the offals of his Nephewes great Benefices vpon this Masse-Priest for the reward of his superflouos Oleum peccatorum My third vntruth and that a grosse one is that I say many Bishops of Rome followed their Fathers in the Pontificall Chayre whereas in this Chaffe of Gratian hee findes but one Syluerius Pope sonne of Syluerius Bishop of Rome And what if in his chaffe hee finde but one whiles I in my Corne-heape can finde more Did I tye my selfe in this clause onely to Gratian Was not Pope Iohn the Eleuenth or in some accounts the Tenth sonne to Pope Sergius And is there no Chayre Pontificall but the Romane Was not Theodorus Pope sonne to Theodorus Bishop of Ierusalem Faelix the Third sonne to Bishop Valerius Pope Adrian the Second sonne to Bishop Taralus His Platina can supply his Gratian in these What haue I to doe with his quarrels about Hosius Faelix Agapetus Steuen They are their ownes Let him wring Gratian by the eare till I feele And surely the poore Canonist bleedes on all hands Bellarmine Baronius Posseuine and this stout Beagle haue euerie one a snatch at him and he must be content to goe away with this gash Wee are not bound to follow him as an infallible Writer but may with free libertie reiect him Yea how merrie doth my Refuter make himselfe with his despised Gratian Like a Philistim hee hath pulled out the eyes of this Samson and now makes sport with him If Doway like it well it shall not be displeasing to vs. The man as ill as hee loues marriage will needes make a match betwixt his Gratians Pope Steuen and his Pope Ioane Iö Hymen Was euer man so mad to make himselfe pastime with his owne shame Was the Historie of that their monstrous Papesse of our making Doe not the whole streame of their Writers of Chronicles their owne Bishops Monkes Recluses Registers record it openly to all posteritie without the contradiction of the next ages yea of any till this last Let them take to themselues therefore this fruitfull Successor in the infallible Chayre she is their owne they may dispose of her where they list and
hurts none but his owne fists in beating them about his owne hard head For if the pressing vs with the authoritie of some of these Canons bee to iustifie the rest then the 36. Canon of that Councell beares him and his Rome downe before it whiles it sets Constantinople cheeke by jole with it maugre A point which rather then they will yeeld they will bee glad to abate vs all the rest This we are sure of that the alledged Canon is peremptorily fully cautelously ours For this my credit is at the stake which my Refuter pleases himselfe with the hope to impaire insulting in the idle fancy of a iust aduantage whiles he shewes the Canon to come short in some points of our requisition and practice For there Bishops are excepted and the freedome of Marriage after Ordination Reader compare the Canon with the words of my ingagement I vndertooke thou shouldest find no decree could bee made more peremptorie more cautelous more full and absolute for the lawfulnesse of the marriage of Ecclesiasticall persons For first The Fathers professe herein to crosse the practice and decree of the Roman Church Secondly They professe the coniugall cohabitations of sacred persons to stand by the Apostolike Canons and to bee a sincere exquisite and orderly constitution What could be said more They thirdly ratifie this libertie for euer They fourthly giue charge that no man by the cohabitation with his lawfull wife bee hindred from ascending to the highest degree of holy Orders Fiftly That in the time of their Ordination it be not so much as required of them to abstayne from the lawfull companying with their Wiues which were say they to offer iniurie to marriage ordayned by God and blessed by his presence and to crosse him that said Those whom God hath ioyned together let no man separate and Marriage is honorable Amongst all c. Sixtly That if any man shall presume so farre as to offer to debarre any Priest Deacon or Subdeacon from the coniunction and societie with his lawfull Wife he shall be deposed Or if any Priest or Deacon shall voluntarily cast off his wife vpon pretence of Religion that he shall be suspended and if he goe on deposed Iudge now whether herein my protestation haue erred Not that there can be no circumstance deuised as of the extent of the persons or time or manner wherein curiositie might inlarge the scope of this libertie so I neuer meant but if this one point That the marriage of persons Ecclesiasticall is lawfull can bee more fully and warily set downe let mee lye open to censure if not hate the vanitie of this idle Mountebanke and confesse with Aristophanes Aduersus ictum Sycophantae non inesse pharmacum The Parlamentall Law in the time of King Edward was I grant more full in extending the libertie could not bee more full in auouching the lawfulnesse of our Marriages Where I must take leaue to tell my Refuter that the comparison he presumes to make of King Edwards Parlament with the proceedings of Iacke Straw Wat Tiler c. is like himselfe sedicious and trayterous And what maruell if such repyners blow out the foggy vaporous blast of sedicious words against our highest Court of Parlament which some of their Companions haue attempted to blow vp with a blast of fire This Constitution was not ciuill onely but Synodicall And may not a lawfull Synod or Conuocation with the concurrence of the three States and the sway of Royall authoritie make or re-establish a Law agreeable to the Word of GOD and the receiued practice of their Progenitors but euery Iacke-sawce of Rome shall thus odiously dare to controll and disgrace it One of his Capitoline gods of Rome called England his Asse So it was whiles it might beare nothing but his Trumperie and goe but where his Groomes would either lead or driue it now that it hath taken heart and with Cardinall Campegius his Sumpter cast off this base lode and hath haply ouerrunne this seruitude they are readie with the Keeper of metamorphosed Apuleius to seeke a desperate remedie from the next Tree SECT XIII SVch then is the Canon of Constantinople which therefore I said because they cannot blemish enough they haue indignely torne out of the Councells And here is much vehement and brauing Rhetorik spent vpon me as a shamelesse Writer and this passage as the grossest lye that euer was published by Protestant and now I am coniured how blemished how torne what where how when Because innocence is bold the man will bee bold that he may seeme innocent but hee shall well finde that facing will not serue his turne Is he so ignorant as not to know that all his great Masters discard this whole Councell as spurious Doth he not knew that it is if not torne yet left out in diuers of their Editions of the Councels Let him learn if hee know not that their ancient collection of Canons which was called Codex or Corpus Canonum which was in vse in Leo the Fourths time mentioned by Gratian dist 20 c. de libellis and printed Anno 1526 at Mentz and re-printed at Paris in o lauo Anno 1609. omits it The other Collection of Councels by Isidorus Mercator which began to be receiued about Charles the Great his Time wherein besides the forged Decretall Epistles of diuers Popes are the Canons of many Prouinciall Councels of Afrike France Spaine c. set forth by Iac. Merlin at Coleine 1530. and which hath beene vsually receiued in the Westerne Church in the times of the Schoolemen who vsually as doe also Iuo Burchardus alleage them likewise omits it The two Editions of the Councels by P. Crabbe likewise omit it and if it had not beene for starke shame so would the rest also Doth he not know what his Anastatius Numbertus protest of some particular Canons and this for one Haec capitula omnino refutamus nullatenùs recipiantur And for this verie particular Canon If he know not There is first an attempt of a double blemish to bee cast vpon it The one in that they reade it so as if the Romane Clergy professed quòd copulentur vxoribus non suis as by way of scorne whereas the words runne se dâ—inceps cum vxoribus suis non congressuros The other in that some of their Authours would referre Sacrorum virorum to Constitutiones not to Nuptias marring quite the sense of the Canon This for the blemish For the wiping out of this very Canon and denying it place with the rest Let him heare his owne Espencaeus telling him that euen they which allowed this Synode reiected by Pighius and others yet hunc Canonem duriter tractant c. Vse this Canon somewhat hardly as altogether prophane full of errour insolence immodestie manifest falshood Apocryphall and most corrupted and his ingenuitie is fayne to plead in conclusion Canonem hunc legitimum esse non
gratis sed necessario donemus That they must not vpon courtesie but of necessitie yeeld this Canon for legitimate not suppositicious And what is this in my Detectors Construction but a cashiering of this Canon out of the Councels against the authoritie of Gratian and the Greeke Copies Lastly the eyes of learned Chemnitius are vndoubted witnesses to vs what credit soeuer they find with this Italianate generation In â—omis Conciliorum prorsus expunxerunt omiserunt hunc Canonem In the Tomes of the Councels they haue altogether wip't out and omitted this Canon So as if we had those blurred Copies which hee saw bleeding from the hand of the Inquisitors there could be no fence for this charge but that which serues for all impudent denyals Neither needed my Refuter to take it so highly that I obiected to them the tearing blemishing and defacing of this and other Records against them Ere long the World shall see to the foule shame of these selfe-condemned Impostors that in the Writings both of ancient and later Authours they haue blotted out more then an hundred places some of them contayning aboue two sheets apiece concerning this very point which we haue in hand This is no newes therefore Neither needed my Detector to make it so daintie SECT XIIII I Cited from Gratian the free Confession of Pope Steuen the Second acknowledging the open libertie of Marriage to the Clergie of the Lasterne Church Matrimonio copulantur A place truly irretragable My Refuter first excepts against the number telling vs that Steuen the Second liued but three or foure dayes at the most and therfore he could not bee the man what spirit of Cauillation possesses this Masse-priest He cannot but know that his owne Sigibertus ascribes fiue yeeres to this Steuen and Hermannus sixe But fiue is the least And his Binius tels him that the Steuen he speakes of sitting but two dayes exclusiuely is by the most omitted in the Catalogue of the Romane Bishops whence it is that the Chronicle names not two Steuens betwixt the first and the fourth But this man he saith called no Councell what is that to me Gratian affirmes it I doe not Let him fall out for this with his friends And now according to the old wont after hee hath tryed to shift off Matrimonio copulantur with the sleeulesse euasion of a false glosse .i. vtuntur which Caietan hath sufficiently confuted for vs he fals to a flat reiection of Gratian and tels vs out of BELLARMINE That Canon to be perhaps of no authoritie but an errour of the Collectors Good God! what face haue these men That none of their receiued Authours can bee produced against them but they are straight counterfeit and yet the very same where they speake for them canonicall Their Clyents if they might but know these trickes would be ashamed of their Patrones That the Clergie not only of the East might Matrimonio copulari but of the West also might Matrimonium contrahere which are the words they are vnwilling to know in their owne Canon Law shew sufficiently that they not only were marryed of old but might marry But for the Easterne Clergie it is freely granted by all ingenuous spirits in so much as Espencaeus tels vs that neuer Authour either olde or new imputed this for a fault vnto the Greeke Church that their Clergie was marryed What shall wee say then to this bold Bayard that compares this toleration of Marriage in the Greeke Church with MOSESES permission of the Bill of Diuorce vnto the Iewes As if Marriage had beene only tolerated not allowed as if vniust Diuorce were a fit match for lawfull Wedlocke whiles he here talkes of Duritia cordis well may we talke of his Duritia frontis It is true euery Church euery Countrey hath their Customes and Fashions which Ioannes Maior pleades against Bedaes Censure of the English and Scottish and Brittish obseruation of Easter and may bee as iustly in this case pleaded for vs This was of olde no lesse ours then the Greekes And if any Church will bee prescribing against God wee haue no such Custome nor the Church of God But what a ridiculous insinuation it is that the Greeke Priests are dispensed with by supreme authoritie Ecclesiasticall Forsooth by the Pope of Rome Faine would I learne wherâ— vpon what termes at what rate the Graecians purchased in the Court of Rome Dispensation for their Marriages I would my Refuter had the Office appointed him to shuffle ouer all the Records of the Apostolike Chamber till hee find such a grant made propter duritiem cordis then should a great deale of good Paper escape the miserie of being besmeared by his Pen. What strange fantastike Dreames are put vpon the World Where the Papacie cannot preuaile there forsooth his Holinesse dispenseth The Greeke Church admitteth marryed Priests the Pope dispenseth with them They deny and defie the Popes Supremacies I trow he dispeÌ„seth with them for that too and why not with the Church of England Wee pay no Peter-pence wee runne not to Rome-market to buy trash I hope his Holinesse dispenseth with vs for these Peccadillo's wee take libertie here to marrie rather then to burne why should wee not hope to receiue that Dispensation whereof wee heard the newes of late from a poore Bankrupt Carryer Ad populum phaleras SECT XV. AS for the Contradiction which his sagacitie finds not without much scorne in the two Parlamentall Lawes of the Father and the Sonne King Henrie the Eighth and King Edward the Sixt whereof the one forbids the other allowes the Marriage of Ecclesiastiques it needed not haue bin any wonder to a learned Priest which might haue known Councels enow diametrally opposite to each other what fault was it in the recouerd blind man that he first saw men walke like Trees and after like men Euen the best man may correct himselfe Neither was there here any contradiction King Henrie spake with the Romane Church whose one halfe of him then was King Edward spake with the Scriptures and purer antiquitie King Henry neuer said God disallowed these Marriages King Edward neuer said they were allowed by the Romish Church And why may not wee draw out the like absurditie out of Queene Maries Parliaments wherein she reuersed many things established by King Edward as in this very Case concerning Marriage of Priests May not wee hereupon aske What will you say to such Parliaments wherein the Brother is thwarted by the Sister and that with the consent of the most of the same Parliament-men enacting in a few yeeres contrarily Or as if it were any newes with Popes rescindere acta praedecessorum euen of those which immediately preceded them Who knowes not the Storie of Pope Formosus and Stephanus and the many and strong contradictions of decrees in the frequent long and desperate Schismes of the Romish Church This lash is indifferently fit for all backes let
not fore-ordayned by disposing it in the Predestination of His minde that went before all Worlds Whatsoeuer therefore is by Him created in this world doth necessâ—rily follow the Predestination of His minde predisposing and preordayning all things because it is impossible that should not be done which GOD from Eternitie hath willed and fore-ordayned to bee done It is therefore necessary that all men should bee created in that very Order wherein He willed and from Eternitie fore-ordayned Or else all men are not created as GOD would haue them nor as he fore-ordayned them But because this is inconuenient it must needs bee that they are created as He willed from Eternitie and fore-thought and fore-ordayned because Hee hath done all things that He would and neuer did any thing which Hee willed not from euerlasting and hath fore-conceiued in His certayne and vnchangeable Decree For neither can his Will bee frustrated nor his fore-thought deceiued nor His fore-ordinations altered Which since it is so need must it be that as Laicks so Priests also of whom men are created should yeeld their seruice to the diuine Will and Preordination to the creating of them For Parents are not the Authors of the Creation of their Children but the seruants who if they should not yeeld their seruice they should if it wâ—re possible make void the fore-thought of GOD and resist his Ordination which if they should wittingly do they should offend the more if ignorantly the lesse not only against GOD the Father but also against the Heauenly Ierusalem the Mother of all Saints because what in them were they should not suffer those to be created of whom it is to bee builded and those things to bee prepared whereby that Celestiall Countrey is bestowed But from this offence their impotence frees them because they cannot resist the Will of GOD and crosse his Preordination For the Will and Predestination of GOD is that eternall Law in which the course of al things is decreed and the patterne wherein the forme of all Ages is set forth which can by no meanes be defaced Not to yeeld our seruice then hereunto is euill because to yeeld it is good and especially if it bee done with a good intent which is then done when as Parents meete together in a desire of propagation of issue not in an appetite of exercising their lust Of propagation I say that both the present Church may be multiplyed and the Celestiall City built and the number of the Elect made vp none of which could be done without such coniugall meeting For if the first Parents of the Saints had continued all either Continent or Virgins no Saint had beene borne of them in the World none of them had beene crowned with glory and honour in Heauen none of them ascribed into the number of Angels But since it is an inestimable good that Saints are borne in the World that they are crowned with glory and honor in heauen and that they are ascribed into the number of Angels thereupon the fruitfulnesse of Parents is more blessed and their meeting holyer So then it is better for them to haue begotten such Children then not to haue begotten them and to haue brought forth such fruit of marriage then to haue beene continent or Virgins without fruit Although it is good for some to be continent or Virgins namely for them whom GOD eternally willed and pre-ordayned to be so created in the world that they should remaine either in Continence or Virginitie For as hee hath eternally willed and fore-ordained that some should be so created in the world as that they should yeeld the fruit of Marriage and beget Children so also hath he willed and from eternitie fore-ordayned some to bee so created that they should continue in Continency or Virginitie And as those other yeeld their seruice to the Will and Preordination of GOD in the creation of children so these also serue the Will and Preordination of GOD in conseruing their Continence and Virginitie and hereupon is both the fruitfulnesse of the one and the Virginitie of the other good and laudable which if it did not yeeld seruice to the Will and Preordination of GOD would be neither good nor laudable For whatsoeuer is contrary to the Will and Preordination of GOD is neither good nor laudable If therefore GOD willed and predestinated some to bee Virgins others to yeeld the fruit of Marriage for if all were Virgins no Saint that now is or shall be borne should either be now or hereafter borne in the World neither should those Virgins bee at all because they should not be born for of the fruitfulnes of the one arises the others Virginitie therefore is fruitfulnesse a great Good from which holy Virginity hath proceeded Now that there should bee some Virgins and others that should beare the fruits of Marriage the Word which GOD soweth in their hearts teacheth vs. For in the hearts 〈◊〉 some hee soweth the Word of good fruitfulnesse yeelding the increase of Marriage and in the hearts of others hee sowes the Word of Virginitie Those then in whom hee sowes the Word of Virginitie they desire to keepe Virginitie but those in whom hee sowes the Word of Marriage they desire to yeeld the fruit of Marriage WHERETO I WILL adde for Conclusion the wise and ingenuous iudgement of Erasmus Roterodamus The rather because it pleased my Refuter to lay this worthy Authour in our dish In his Epistle to Christopher Bishop of Basill concerning humane Constitutions Thus he writes FOr those things which are altogether of humane constitution must like to remedies in diseases be attempered to the present estate of matters and times Those things which were once religiously instituted afterwards according to occasion and the changed qualitie of manners and times may bee with more Religion and Pietie abrogated which yet is not to be done by the temeritie of the people but by the authoritie of Gouernours that tumult may bee auoyded and that the publike custome may be so altred that coÌ„cord may not be broken the very same is perhaps to be thought concerning the Marriage of Priests of old as there was great paucitie of Priests so great Pietie also They that they might more freely attend those holy Seruices made themselues chaste of their owne accord And so much were those Ancients affected to Chastitie that they would hardly permit Marriage vnto that Christian whom his Baptisme found single but a second Marriage yet more hardly And now that which seemed plausible in Bishops and Priests was translated to Deacons and at last to Sub-deacons which voluntarily receiued custome was confirmed by the authoritie of Popes In the meane-time the number of Priests increased and their Pietie decreased How many swarmes of Priests are maintayned in Monasteries and Colledges and amongst them how few are there that liue chastly I speake of them which doe publikely keep Concubines in their houses instead of their Wiues I doe not now meddle