neither of you being such good friends to our Church and Clergy will deny that is to joyn with me in my prayers for the Tribe of Levi Let thy Urim and thy Thummim be with thy holy One let the sound of Aarons bells be ever heard and the smell of his Pomegranates always perfume the Church of God and let there be found at last of the Tribe of Levi amongst us as of other Tribes twelve thousand sealed ones And that there may never want a supply of able and good men for the work of the Ministry Let the Rod of Aaron I mean the Universities ever flourish and yearly bud blossom and bring forth ripe Almonds Your very much obliged and very humble Servant T.H. July 1. 1673. TO THE READER Courteous Reader Two things I desire to premise First That I do not pretend in this small popular Tract to teach Men Brethren and Fathers of the Church them and their Wives Oeconomicks But yet shall beg leave to transcribe a passage out of Luthers Colloquia Mensalia which I desire our Married Clergy would consider viz. That one cause of the unmarried lives of Priests to wit in the Papacy was that the faults of the Priests wives were offensive so that when the Priests should reprove the wickedness of others then the people would hit them in the teeth again and say why did not they reform their own wicked wives And truly I could wish that I might have cause to say of all the Married Clergy and of all others in the state of Matrimony as confident I am I may say of many Ye have no need that I write unto you of Conjugal love and duties for ye your selves are taught of God to love one another To this purpose it was we advised by a Right Reverend Father of our Church viz. the B. of W. to all such as his Lordship married often to read over the Office of Marriage that so they might the better remember and dâ— their duties each to other And truly I could heartily wish and beg of the Right Reverend thâ— Fathers of our Church that if ever they should revise our Liturgy which even some good men desire that the duties of Man and Wife Parentâ— and Children Masters and Servants might bâ— appointed to be read on the Lords days after the reading of the Commandments out of the Epistle to the Ephesians or Colossians or both The second thing I desire to premise is that I do not present you with a Regular and Scholastical Discourse either of Marriage or of the difference betwixt the Church of England and Rome concerning the Marriage of Priests or persons in holy Orders but offer as to the latter some Collections out of Dr. Field his Fifth Book of the Church Dr. Fulk and Mr. Cartwright their Annotations on the Rhemists Testament on Matth. 8. and on the Epistles to Timothy and Titus Mr. Perkin ' s his Demonstration of the Problem Dr. John and Dr. Francis White concerning this Argument and others together with some of my own observations The truth which is on our Churches side is chiefty maintained and the Church of Rome confuted by the Authority of the holy Scriptures Bishop Hall in his Treatise of the Honour of the Married Clergy page 124. observes that the Church of Rome teaches contradictory to the Holy Scripture The Spirit of God saith he saith that a Bishop may be the husband of one wife the Church of Rome says a Bishop may not be the husband of any wife at all The Spirit of God says Marriage is honorable amongst all men the Church of Rome says Marriage is dishonorable to some The Spirit of God says to avoid fornication let every man have his wife the Church of Rome like a quick-huswife says some Order of men shall not have a wife though to avoid fornication So that as another Author notes amongst them Marriage only and not Fornication is inconsistent with the dignity of a Clergy-man and that Fornication has been allowed to Priests and Fryers in compensation for their restraint from Marriage three or four Whores as part of their spiritual Preferment And probably such foul Positions and Practices made Luther so zealous for Matrimony I took a wife said he therewith to upbraid the Devil and to confound the whoring in Popedom and in contempt of that nasty Letchery in Popedom which is very great and abominable Luth. Col. Mens The same Author tells us that under Pope Julius was exercised an abominable Letchery and Whoring in Rome At the same time saith he was a Cardinal that had a married wife the which being known he was constrained to forsake her but in less than a years space he took her again Now when the Cardinal dyed his wife wept bitterly and said she had an honest husband who contented himself with one woman The Citizens of Rome wondering to hear the same cryed O Sancta Maria for says Luther Chastity in those people is rare Venison And as we have the holy Text on our side so have we the Fifth Canon of the Apostles the testimony of Paphnutius a holy Bishop and with him concurred the whole Council of Nice the Sixth Council of Constantinople Can. 13. and the practice of the Greek Church to this day so far as to justifie the lawfulness of Priests officiating about the holy things of their Function notwithstanding their being married And further to justifie our Church and the practice of our Clergy we have the Concessions of many of our Adversaries as Franciscus a Sancta Clara observes that the Celibacy of Priests is not de Jure divino but by the Law of the Church and that the Pope may dispense therewith and some say doth dispense with the married Clergy in the Greek Church and others in his name 't is said have made Overtures of the like favour to the English Clergy and in case they would be his dutiful and obedient Sons be would be an Indulgent Father to them Lastly It is worth the consideration on our behalf â—n this matter that some of the best men of the Church of Rome such as Espencaeus Aeneas Sylvius Polydore Virgil Erasmus and others have desired that the Law of forced Celibacy might be taken away to prevent the great scandal that is given by the filthy lives of the Clergy Forasmuch then as the English Clergy have had the possession of their wives for above a thousand years after Christ and again have had them restored to them by Law at the Reformation they have no reason to quit their so just and ancient Rights and with one half of themselves and to be contented with Lemans instead of Wives and Nephews in room of Sons I shall dismiss thee Reader when I shall have told thee that the fig-leaves wherewith the Romanists seek to hide the nakedness of their Church in this cause are eafily blown away by Dr. Field of the Church Dr. Francis White his Defence of his Brother Dr. John White by Bishop Hall
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
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
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