their wiues chastity is imposed vpon them for euer to be obseued So S. Bede And his reason carryeth so great force with it and refuteth so well the idle obiection of Protestants as there needeth no commentary to explicate it no authority to confirme it or other reason to be adioyned to make it more This epistle bringeth nothing of moment but the ordinary trâ—ial obiections forcible 39. The other arguments drawne from authority or antiquity in that Rapsody are so barely alleadged so weakely followed some so impertinently applyed as will pitty any iudicious learned Reader to behold and in effect they are the same which M. Hall hath brought and my selfe haue answered and therefore in praysing this epistle he closely also seemeth to prayse himselfe for he bringeth the Text of the husband of one wife the doctrine of Diuells the Apostolicall Canon the story of Paphnutius S. Isidore of contayning or marrying of one that Saint is there stiled the writer of the rule of the Clergy from whence perhaps M. Hall tooke his errour in cyting it vnder the same title and to this is added to conclude the whole matter the imaginary reuocation of S. Gregoryes decree by occasion of more then six thousand infants heads neuer found in his mote but only in the muddy head of that tipling German who halfe drunke halfe in a dreame first deuised that fable and M. Hall as it should seeme was ashamed to mention it as seeing it out of common reason not only improbable but also impossible and set forth with such circumstances as well shew the whole thing to be incredible and a ly in print 40. One place of Scripture that epistle hath more theÌ„ is in this epistle of M. Hall which is let A strange argument but in no mood nor figure euery man haue his owne wife which that honest Man will haue the Apostle to haue meant as well of the Clergy as of the laity and the Catholikes who deny it are false hypocrits do lye and faigne and that the Priests are not afraid to abuse other mens wiues to commit outrage in the foresayd wickednes which is a Bedlam proofe that any lewd companion though neuer so base may obiect against the most innocent man aliue and the Iews against our Sauiour himselfe sayd that the was Homo vorax potator vini a glutton and drinker oâ— Matth. â—â— wine a friend to Publicans open offend ours but Catholiks poore men vnderstand not the Scripture sayth this authour and why good Syr Heare him I pray you in lesse then six lines pleading against vs and for vs and ouer throwing that which he would take vpon him out of this text to put vp These men sayth he haue not rightly vnderstood the Scripture for the saying of the Apostle let euery man haue his owne 1. Cor. 7 wife doth except none in very deed but him only which hath the gift of continency prefixing with himselfe to keep and to continue his virgin or virginity in the Lord. Be it so And then if the Priests haue this gift and haue prefixed this course to themselues in the Lord then they shall not need to marry and the Apostles words shall not concerne them or bind them to haue their own wiues â—s it doth other men And this indeed is the very case of all Clergy men who vow chastity and the obseruance of their vow resteth in themselues assisted with Gods grace to performe it as before I haue sayd so the wordes of S. Paul appertayne not vnto them but to the Laity 41. M. Hall will perchance demand what if one who hath vowed chastity find that he hath not this gift notwithstaÌ„ding he hath prefixed the same to himself in the Lord shal be then be incontinent not marry I lay that neither the one or other is allowable not the first which is neuer lawfull not the later which is vnlawfull to him and this is decyded euen in the very next words of this Epistle where the Author thus speaketh to the Pope Wherefore o reuerend Father it shall be your part to cause and ouersee M. Halls S. Hulderick pleadeth a-against him that whosoeuer either with hand or mouth hath made a vow of continency as all Clergy men in holy orders haue afterwards would forsake the same should be either compelled to keep his vow or els by lawfull authority should be deposed from his order So there in which words you see both a compulsion for the obseruance of the vow deposition from their order in the transgressours both which suppose an ability in the vowmaker of performing his vow or els the suggestion of M. Hall his S. Vdalricke had beene very iniurious vnlawfull and tyrannicall as imposing a punishment where there was no voluntary offence and the thing for which he is punished was impossible for him in our Protestants opinion to perform as that Prince should be a tyrant who should put any subiect of his to one of these extremes either to leese the office and dignity he hath in the common wealth or els to pull the Sunne downe from heauen or remoue the earth into a higher place within three miles of the concauity of the Moone 42. And seeing this doctrine deliuered in the Epistle fathered on S. Huldricke is so contrary to the doctrine of this Epistle of M. Hall who will haue such vowes to be filthy the keeping of them to include an impossible necessity it was great temerity inconsiderate dealing in him to offer to be cast in his cause if this epistle do not satisfy all Readers when as it is so far from satisfying all Readers as it doth not satisfy himselfe who wil haue all such votaryes to change their vowes as filthy and to purify themselues by marriage and make practicall tryall of Iohn Fox his note what it is to marry in the Lord contrary to this Epistle as you haue seene which being so I make this collection as euident to me as any mathematicall demonstration that M. Hall neither careth for his wife nor for his fidelity M. Hall neither careth for his wife nor for his credit nor for his cause nor for his cause Not for his wife because he offered to be punished by a diuorce if he euicted not all Clergy mens marriage which he hath not done or is able euer to do whils he liueth not for his fidelity which he pawned to leese on any decree to be shewed more ample then that of the Trullan Councell for the marriage of Ecclesiasticall men which now he hath seene that in such excesse as in respect therof the Trullan Canon was but like the positiue degree in respect of the superlatiue not for his cause which he aduentureth on this Epistle in which notwithstanding euen in the point in controuersy debated between vs he is both cast and condemned for we graunt a solemne vow of chastity to be made in taking of
lookt for time let go equity the older take both So he And we shal by this particuler see whether this franke merchaÌ„t venturer that hazards so easily his fayth and saluation vpon antiquity although erroneous will stand to his word in this doctrine of chastity for if he will maintayne his former grounds he must alleadge more ancient authenticall records then those heere produced or disproue such as we bring against him which he shall neuer be able to do Or finally deny what he hath sayd of the vow of chastity in calling it a filthy vnlawfull vow which by so great and so graue authority is taught to be both lawfull sacred and Angelicall 33. The prayses then giuen to Virgins single life by these renowned pillers of truth The state of chast liuers Angelicall August l. 6. confess cap. 3. Of S. Cyprians booke of virginity S. Hieromâ— maketh mention Epist ad Demetriad in sinâ— myrrours of learning and patrons of all purity are so plentifull as they take vp no small roome in the vast volumes of their renowned workes S. Ambrose alone whose chastity S. Augustine so much admired hath three bookes of Virgins besids one of widdowes one of the trayning vp of a virgin and another intituled a persuasion to Virginity Of this S. Cyprian S. Augustine S. Basil S. Chrysostome S. Gregory Nissen haue whole bookes of this S. Hierome to Eustochium Demetrias and many others hath very long epistles and as well these as diuers grounding themselues vpon the words of our Sauiour that in heauen there is no marrying because the Saints are equall vnto the Angells shew the life of such as vow chastity to be Angelicall S. Ambrose in the last booke aboue cited sayth Audistis quantum sit praemium Ambros tract de hortat ad Virgin post initium integritatis regnum acquirit regnum caeleste vitam Angelorum exhibet c. You haue heard how great the reward is of Chastity it purchaseth a kingdome and a heauenly kingdom it exhibits vnto vs the life of Angells this I perswade you vnto then which nothing is more beautifull that among men you become Angells who are not tyed togeather by any band of marriage Because such women as do not marry and men that take no wiues are as Angells vpon earth in so much as they feele not the tribulation of the flesh they know not the bondage they are freed from the contagion of worldly desirs they apply their mind vnto diuine matters and as it were deliuered from the infirmity of the body do not thinke of those thinges which belong vnto men but which appertaine vnto God So S. Ambrose as contrary to M. Hall as heat to cold white to blacke truth to falshood 34. S. Bernard stiled by M. Hall deuout Bernard vseth also the same similitude saying Quid castitate Bernard epist 42. decorius quae muÌ„dum de immundo conceptum semine de hoste domesticum Angelum de homine facit c. What is more beautifull then chastity which makes Hall Decad 4. ep 3. him cleane who was conceaued of vncleane seed makes a friend of an enemy an Angell of a man For albeit a chast man and an Angell do differ yet is their difference in felicity not in vertue although the chastity of an Angell be more happy yet is the chastity of man of greater fortitude only chastity it is which in this place and tyme of mortality representeth vnto vs a certayne state of the immortall glory because it alone amongst the marriages heere made followes the custome of that happy Countrey in which as our Sauiour sayd they neither marry nor are marryed exhibiting in a certayne manner vnto the earth an experiment of that conuersation which is in heauen So S. Bernard And a little after hoc itaque tantae pulchritudinis ornamentum c. This ornament of so great a beauty I may worthily say doth honour priesthood because it makes the Priest gratefull or beloued of God man although he be yet on earth makes him in glory like vnto the Saints So he With S. Ambrose and S. Bernard let vs ioyne him who is all in all heauenly S. Augustine as M. Hall tearmeth him Augustâ— serm 24â— who sayth qui in castitate viuunt Angelicam habent in terris naturam castitas hominem cum Deo coniungit Angelis facit ciuem they who liue chastly haue an Angelicall nature on earth chastity conioyneth a man with God makes him a cittizen with Angells 35. As with the same spirit so with the same tongue do the other Fathers speake both Greeke Latin Tertullian sayth that Virgins are Tertul. l. ad vxorem cap. 4. Hieron ep 22. ad Eustoc cap. 8. Athan. l. de virginit Cyril Catechesi 12â— de familia Angelica of the company or household of Angells S. Hierome that the life of Virgins is the life of Angells S. Athanasius cryeth out O continentia Angelorum vita Sanctorum corona O chastity the life of Angells the crowne of Saints yea it is also an Angelical crown as S. Cyrill of Hierusalem sayth and aboue the perfection of humane nature further he addeth that chast liuers are Angells walking vpon the earth S. Gregory Nazianzen speaking to a Virgin sayth Angelorum Nazian orat 31. tam elegisti in eorum ordinem te aggregasti Thou hâ— chosen the life of Angells thou hast put thâ— selfe into their ranke S. Ephrem O castitas quae â— Ephrem serm de castitate mines Angelis similes reddis o chastity which mâ—keth men like vnto Angells and not only like but equall sayth S. Cyprian cùm castae perseueratis â— Cypr. l. de discipl habitu virginum Basil de vera virgin longiùs à fine virgines Angelis Dei estis aequales whiles you remayâ— chast and virgins you are equall vnto Angellâ— yea most noble and eminent Angells sayth S Basil qui virginitatem seruant Angeli sunt non obscuri a qui sed sanè illustres atque nobilissimi they who preserue their virginity are Angells and not some iâ—feriour obscure Angells but eminent and moâ— noble yea in one respect as S. Bernard aboue cited did note and before him S. Cyprian S. Baâ— S. Chrysostome and others they are more nobâ— then all the Angells togeather Virginitas aequatâ— Cypr. de discipl beno pudicitiae Angelis sayth S. Cyprian si verò exquiramus etiam eâ— cedit c. Virginity equalls it selfe with Angells and if we penetrate the matter further it also eâ—ceeds them whiles in this fraile flesh whicâ— Angells haue not it getteth the victory euen against Nature So he Angeli carneis nexibus libâ— Basil l. de virginit sayth S. Basil integritatem suam in caelis seruant c The Angells free from all fleshly bands preserâ— their purity in heauen both in respect of thâ— place and their owne nature inuiolable being still with God the supreme King of al but
virgins by wrestling heere on earth with the allurements and pleasures of the flesh and by continuall combats ouercome the tentation of the Diuell and with singular vertue before the eyeâ— of their Creatour haue preserued their integrity equall euen vnto the purity of Angells So S. Basil But for that this point is more liuely set downe by S. Chrysostome I will with his words end this matter for he who by all these testimonyes is not conuinced will neuer be perswaded by the authority of Fathers 36. Thus then writeth this flowing Father in the prayse of virginity Bonum est virginitas Chrysost l. de virgin cap. 10. 11. ego consentio matrimonio etiam melior hoc confiteor c. You say then that virginity is a good thing and I do graunt it it is better then matrimony and this also I graunt and if you will I shall shew you how much it is better to wit by how much heauen is better then earth Angells then men yea to speake more resolutly more then this for albeit that Angells neither marry nor are marryed yet are they not made of flesh and bloud they dwell not on the earth they feele not the sting of the lust they need not meat nor drinke they are not allured with sweet songs beautifull aspects or any such like thing but as at high noone we see the cleare heauen ouercast with no cloud so their natures most cleare and lightsome must needs be free from all lust but mankind inferiour by Nature to Angells forceth it selfe and by all meanes striueth to match them and this by what meanes Angells marry no wiues nor are marryed no more doth a virgin they assist and serue alwayes before God the like doth a virgin Wherefore the Apostle putteth them from all care or sollicitude that they may be continuall and not deuided if so be that they cannot ascend into heauen as Angells do their bodyes keeping them on earth yet from hence they haue a noble recompense because they receaue the Lord himselfe of heauen because they are holy in body and mynd do you see the honour of virginity It striues to make the liues of them who liue on earth to resemble the liues of the heauenly spirits it makes them contend with Angells and not to be ouercome by these spirituall troops it makes them competitours with Angels And againe after alleadging the examples of Elias Elizaeus and S. Iohâ— Baptist he sayth Etenim qua re dic sodes ab Angelis disferebant Elias Elizaeus Ioannes germani hi virginitatâ— amatores nulla nisi quòd mortali natura erant obstrich c. For tell me I pray you in what thing did Elias Elizaeus and Iohn these sincere louers of virginity differ from Angels in nothing but that by nature they were mortall in other thinges if you consider them well you shall find then nothing inferiour and this very thing wherein they seemed inferiour doth much make to their commendation for liuing vpon the earth and vnder the necessity of mortall nature consideâ— what fortitude and industry was required to be able to reach to so great vertue Hitherto S. Chrysostome 37. Now this being the opinion of these Fathers touching this vow and vertue I woulâ— An ineuitable consequence aske of M. Hall how the obiect can be of such purity such perfection and the act that tendetâ— directly thereunto be impure and vnlawfull That is how chastity can be in it selfe Angelicall yet the vow made of obseruing the same be filthy and diabolicall Truly he may as weâ— tell me that albeit adultery be a damnable sin yet are the adulterers very honest men such as resolutly purpose to be naught in that kind to purpose nothing els but an action of vertue for if in this case he say that the obiect is bad and the intention of committing that act cannot thereby but be necessarily vnlawfull so wil I on the other side answere him that this obiect is Angelicall and consequently the vow made for that end hauing no other ill circumstances annexed must needs of his owne nature be both lawfull vertuous and commendable but these men measuring all matters by their owne manners will commend no more then themselues do practise or admit any other virgins then such as hauing knowne their husbands are now ready to be made mothers 38. If M. Hall do say that in wedlocke there Marriage much inferiour to Virginity is also chastity and that these prayses may be giuen thereunto as I graunt the former part to be true so I deny the later and he shall neuer shew me in the ancient Fathers the state of marriage to be called Angelicall but stil to be inferiour to that title as S. Chrysostome hath now declared who maketh as large a difference betweene the one and the other state as there is between heauen and earth Angells and men Virginalis integritas August de sancta Virginitate cap. 12. sayth S. Augustine per piam continentiam ab omni concubitis immunitas Angelica portio est in carne corruptibili incorruptionis perpetuae mediatio cedat huic omnis soecunditas carnis omnis pudicitia coniugalis Virginall integrity and freedome through pious continency from all carnall knowledge is an Angelicall portion and in this corruptible flesh a meditation of the euerlasting incorruption to this the fruitfull issue of the flesh and coniugall cleanes must yield or giue place So S. Austine and so far doth this holy Father proceed heerin as he sayth Sacratae verò virginitati nuptias De Eccles dogmat cap. â—8 coaequare c. to equall marriage with sacred virginity to beleeue no merit to accrew to such as for the desire of chastizing their bodyes absteyne from wiues and flesh is not the part of a Christian but of an hereticall Iouinian So he 39. S. Cyril and S. Hierome also speaking of Cyril cateches 4. Hier. Apolog ad Pamach c. 1. Lib. 2. ep 13â— the same thing say that virginity or continency in respect of marriage is like gold in respect of siluer both are good both are cleane yet the one more pure more pretious then the other and Isiderus Pelusiota addeth Bonum est matrimonium sed melior virginitas pulchra est Luna sed Sol praeclarior Matrimony is good but virginity is better the Moone is fayer but the Sunne more illustrious And S. Ambrose multò prastantius est diuini operis mysterium Epist â—1 quà m humanae fragilitatis remedium the mistery of Gods worke to wit virginity is more noble then the remedy of human frailty in marriage but because this diuersity is more fully deliuered by S. Fulgentius omitting all the rest I Fulgent ep 3. ad Probam cap. 9. will with his words alone decide this controuersy of the different dignity of marriage and virginity or single life for thus he writeth Dicimus à sanctis nuptijs vbi nubunt qui se continere non
See S. Thom 2. â— q. 88. artic 2. for so this man will haue it Englished change the determination in scanning of which I can skantly explicate or sufficiently admire his ignorance for seeing that a vow is not properly of any indifferent thing much lesse of any ill or filthy thing for it is a voluntary promise made vnto God de meliore bono there can be no such vow no exchang of decree And the words he citeth do not beare that sense which he supposeth for the word Votum is taken there improperly for a promise and so it would haue appeared had he put downe the whole sentence of S. Isidore if it be his alleadged by Gratian where Gratian. causa 22. â—uaest 4. he treateth of vnlawfull oathes and promises for thus it stands In malis promissis rescinde fidem in turpi voto muta decretum quod incautè vouisti ne facias impia est enim promissio quae scelere impletur Breake the pact in ill promises in a filthy promise change the determination do not that which you haue vnaduisedly promised for the promise is wicked which is performed with mischiefe So he Wherefore from an vnproper acception of the Latin word to inferre an argument as if it were taken in the proper sense is the property of him who intendeth to deceaue and to apply that title vnto virginity or the continency which Priests and Religious do vow is so base as it better beseemeth some Epicure Turke and Pagan if among them any can be found so beastly then any Christian or ciuill man for if virginity be filthines where will he find purity vnles perhaps in the bed of a harlot But let vs passe on to some other matter 28. Hauing included vs at he supposeth within the labyrinth of an impossible necessity he The freedome of English Ministers preacheth the freedome of English Ghospellers and prayseth it as deuoyd of all such entanglements hauing no vow or necessity in it nor any more impossibility then for a stone to tumble downeward for supposing the knowne frailty of these men I thinke it no great miracle for them to marry and out of our owne graunt and the cleare text thus he would demonstrate the same against vs. Euen moderate Papists sayth he wil grant vs free because not bound by vow no not so far as those old Germans proposse nosse Or what care we if they grannt it not While we hold vs firme to that sure rule of Basil the Great He that forbids what God enioynes or enioynes what God forbids let him be accursed I passe not what I heare men or Angels say while I heare God say Let him be the husband of one wife So he And who would not 1. Tim. 3. Answered by Bellarmin c. 20. §. argument 2. English Ministers may lawfully marry but they are not lawfull Clergy men thinke this controuersy at an end seeing that both we allow the Ministers their wiues and God himselfe not only to allow but also to appoint and enioyne them to marry 29. And truly for the first part I freely with other Catholiks graunt that our English Ministers according to their calling make no vows I graunt their marriage to be lawfull I graunt that euery one of them may be the husband of one wife yea further I graunt that he may be the husband of as many wiues as euer was King Henry the eight if he can rid his hands as fast of them as he did that he may be bigamus or trigamus thrice told if he will for there is no vow at all of single chastity or simple honesty annexed to their order this I say we graunt deny not but we deny them to be truly Clergy men or to haue any more authority in the Church then their wiues or daughters haue and this because they want all true calling and ordination for they entred not in at the dore like true pastours but stole in at the window like theeues we deny their ministery I say to be lawfull because they did runne before they were sent tooke their places by intrusion thrusting themselues into the Churches as robbers vpon the possessions of honest men expelâ—ing the true owners by force and violence hauing themselues no better claime calling authority right or title to these offices which they now vsurpe then had the Arians Macedonians Pelagians Nestorians Eutichians or any other Heretikes in former ages to teach and preach as they did Let M. Hall disproue this and I will say Tu Phyllida solus habeto Let him keep his wife and benefice togeather I wil no more contend with him But till this be proued the plea for Ministers wiues is both idle and superfluous only sheweth their posse and nosse to be wholy in carnality The text of S. Paul willing a Bishop to be the husband of one wife is discussed to sauour more of the body then of the soule of flesh then of the spirit of earth then of heauen of humane infirmity then Angelicall perfection 30. Now for the other member because the place of the Apostle concerneth true Bishops the place of S. Basil nothing at al this purpose and M. Hall misunderstandeth the one the other I will a little more discusse especially this text of S. Paul No man I thinke will deny the rule to be most true of his being accursed who forbids what God enioyns or els enioyns what God forbids but what will M. Hall inferre heereby Will he say as he seemeth to insinuate that all Clergy men are enioyned by God to marry then why did S. Paul himselfe according to the common opinion of most Fathers gathered out of his owne words 1. Cor. 7. neuer marry why did not S. Basil himselfe take a wife why did all the ancient Fathers so much commend so earnestly perswade so faythfully practise exhort to virginity was there none among them who vnderstood this iniunction yea supposing this ground S. Paul cannot be excused 1. Cor. 7. from errour in perswading the virginity and preferring it before matrimony seeing this hath the iniunction of Christ and the other as a thing impossible the prohibition But of this iniunction or prohibition for clergy men from the first of S. Matthew to the last of the Apocalyps there is no one sentence word or sillable to be found 31. And it argueth little capacity in M. Hall when he sayth after the former rule I passe not what I heare men or Angells say while I heare God 1. Tim. 3. say let him be the husband of one wife for I say that he vnderstandeth not the Apostle who in the iudgment of Luther himselfe as Bellarmine noteth Bellarm. loco citat is to be vnderstood negatiuely and the sense not to be that euery Bishop is bound to haue a wife but that he is bound not to haue other women togeather with his wife So he But to our purpose and agreable also vnto truth S. Hierom
possunt sanctam virginitatem merito potiore distare quantum distant à bonis meliora c. We say holy virginity for more eminent merit to be so far aboue holy marriage where they marry who cannot liue continent as far as the things that are better differ from the things that be good the more blessed from the blessed the more holy from the holy the cleaner from the cleane the immortal wedlocke from mortall marriage as far as the spirit differs from the flesh strength from weaknes the fruit of an euer enduring ofspring from the issue of a transitory child as far as security is from tribulation tranquility from trouble a greater good combined with an euerlasting ioy from a lesser that is momentary and accompanyed with anguish So he The excellency of virginity aboue marriage grounded on the Scripturs Matth. 13. Augu. do virgin cap. 44. haeres 82. 15 do ciuit Dei cap. 26. Hier l. 2. in Iouin Apol. ad Pammach c. 1. Ambros epist 82. 1. Cor. 7. Chryso de virg c. 34. 40. And this great disproportion between these states is not only grōnded vpon the authority of Fathers but their authority is warranted by the Scriptures especially in two places of the new Testament First in S. Matthew where our Sauiour speaking of diuersity of merits vnder the names of a hundred threescore and thirty fold frutes yielded according to the variety of the soyles that receaue the good seed which are interpreted by S. Augustine S. Hierome S. Ambrose to signify the state of virgins widdowes and marryed folks the first yielding a hundred the second threescore the last thirty out of which is concluded the difference of these merits to arise from the essentiall difference of the vertues themselues and preeminent excellency of the one aboue the other and more plainely is this deduced out of the seauenth Chapter of the first to the Corinthians where the Apostle in expresse termes preferreth virginity and the state of single life before marriage magnum inter vtrumq ponit interuallum makes a great distance between them sayth S. Chrysostome with whome agree in the same exposition S. a Serm. de virginit Ephrem b In Leuit f. 330. Procopius c Lib. 1. ad vxo c. 3 d In Iouin cap. 7. ep 22. ad Eustoc Tertullian S. e Hierome and others 41. Which doctrine is further confirmed by the practise of the whole Church for who so listeth to search the records of antiquity shal find many husbands to haue left their wiues wiues their husbands and that with great and singular commendation as S. e Metaphras in vita Alexius S. f Ambr. l. de virginibus haeres 78. Tecla S. g In hist vitae S. Ceciliae Cecily h Greg. l. 3. Dialo cap. 14. Gregori◠i Hieron apud Gratianum 27. q 2. cap. Scripsit Epiphan haeres 61. The eager sharp reprehensions vsed by the Fathers toward such as by incontinēcy did violatate or breake their vow Macharius and others but there is no one sentence or syllable to be found in them all that euer it was held lawfull for one who had professed chastity to returne to marriage but the quite contrary tradiderunt sancti Dei Apostoli sayth S. Epiphanius peccatum esse post decretam virginitatem ad nuptias conuerti the holy Apostles of God haue declared it to be a sinne after the vow of virginity to returne to marriage which argueth the vow of chastity not only to be lawfull but of far greater perfection then the state of marriage because such as haue left their husbands on earth as S. Gregory noteth haue deserued thereby to haue a spouse in heauen 42. And to ioyne the two contrary extremes togeather which will make the fairenes or filthines of either the better to appeare he who shall reade the sharp inuectiue which S. Ambrose did write ad Virginem lapsam to a virgin who was fallen into that sinne and consider with what vehemency he doth checke her incontinency will better perceaue both the beauty of this chastity by the basenes of the transgression nam priuatio optimi est pessima and how different the spirits of these Saints were from the spirits of these new Maisters now adayes seruare te oportuit fidem sayth S. Ambrose quam sub tantis testibus Ambr. ad virginem lapsam c. ◠pollicitaes c. it behoued thee to keep the promise thou didst make before so many witnesses and alwayes to thinke to whome thou hadst offered thy virginity thou shouldst more easily haue lost thy bloud and life then thy chastity and a little after nam si inter decem testes c. for if before ten witnesses when the spousalls are made and marriage consummated euery woman ioyned to a mortal man doth not without great danger of death commit aduowtry what thinkest thou shall be done if the spirituall coniunction betweene God and thy soule made before innumerable witnesses of the Church before the Angells and hosts of heauen be dissolued by aduowtry I know not if any condigne death or punishment can be deuised Some will say it is better to marry then to burne but these words concerne not one that hath vowed one that is veyled for she who hath espoused her selfe to Christ and receaued the holy veile is already marryed is already ioyned to an immortall husband So S. Ambrose and in the eight chapter he wills her to take on a mourning weed to cut off the haire of her head to weep and bewayle her offence to punish her body with fasting and haire-cloath and to vse other workes of a penitentiall life and this was the sense and iudgment of diuine Ambrose as M. Hall calleth him touching the lawfullnes of these vowes 43. Of the same argment and in the same stile S. Chrysostome wrote two books to Theodorus S. Basil three epistles to others fallen from that chastity which they had vowed and both do vrge and inculcate seuere pennance to be done for the fault committed and the former to this purpose because examples are more perswasiue Chrys paren 1. c. 11. then words recounteth the fall of a yong man who although he sinned but once yet returning to himselfe the better to do pennance and make satisfaction for his fault committed shut himselfe vp for the tearme of life in a little cell his fellow euery other day bringing him bread and A rare example of pennance water and in this seuerity as long as he liued did he perseuere in ieiunijs in precationibus in lachrimis repurgans animam ◠sorde peccati in fasting in prayers in teares cleansing his soule from the filth of sinne and to the same doth S. Chrysostome inuite Theodorus though he were not so happy as to follow so good counsaile but wallowing in filthy lust became by fauour at length to be Bishop of Mopsuesta and afterwards was maister of Nestorius the heretike malus
grauissimis tribulationibus concusseruut Frequent contentions very many seditions diuers conflicts risen amongst them shaked the whole Land with most grieuous tribulations So he And heereupon as well Priests as people being apt to cast of the yoke of Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill discipline when they saw neither the one or the other law by reason of the present tumult and confusion of things able to be exacted tooke this lasciuious liberty to do what they listed besides this I say the lewdnes of this young King added oyle to the flame and so concurred with the wicked to discompose the Ecclesiasticall state following the counsaile of his queane as Malmesbury sayth quae tenerum iugiter obsidebat animum who still possessed his wanton mind that gathering the raskality of the land about him Miserrimis satellitibus subnixus he cast out al the Religious men of the whole kingdome seized vpon their goods iniuriously abused their persons tyrannized ouer all the monasteryes of which Malmesbury the house of this Authour was made a stable aboue all he hated S. Dunstane the chiefe pillar of the Religious and therefore banished him into Flanders where as Matthew VVestminster writes his wanton Counsellour laboured also to haue pulled out his eyes but was defeated of her purpose and all this for that the Archbishop Saint Houeden◠anno 957. Odo Vir clerus ingenio sayth Houeden virtute laudabilis spiritu quoque Prophetiae pollens Famous for wisedome renowned for vertue endued also with the spirit of prophecy had vpon S. Dunstans suggestion as they imagined separated this concubine from him punished her againe after her returne excommunicated the King himselfe 108. Vnder this King then and by this occasion the Clergy declining to this bestiality none furthering it but the wicked all the good resisting it as was well seene in Edgars tyme when thinges being restored to their former peace and the Pastours had in their due regard this abuse with great feruour and speed was extinguished we may conceaue how laudable the thing was which did first spring from this lawles liberty and how shameles Henry Huntington is who against the credit of all out best authours Henry Huntingtons vnsincere manner of writing Malmesbury Florentius Houeden Matthew VVestminster Polidore and others sayth that Rex Edwyn non illaudabiliter Regni infulam tenuit King Edwyn worthily swayed the scepter of the Land and lamenteth that vntimely death brake off the course of his prosperous and ioyfull beginnings when as euen at his very entrance to the crowne yea euen the same day he was crowned he left his Nobility and retyred to his two concubins the mother and daughter as some will haue it or els to be naught with his owne kinswoman as Holinshed out of others from whence being perforce recalled by S. Dunstane this quarrell betweene the Saint and him began which was so followed as there was no end of persecuting him till the King had ended his life of which this good Historian hath no one word 109. But afterwards when he recounteth Henry Huntington prayseth the wicked forgeth crimes in the innocent the base incontinent dealing of a Popes Legate sent into England who inueighed against the incontinency of Priests in the forenoone and was taken with a concubine himselfe in the after then he could find his tongue and after a solemne preamble tell vs Res appertissima negari non potuit celari non decuit the thing was most euident it could not be denyed is was not fit to be concealed out it must that in the worst manner the man was taken with such a lust yet this thing which he maketh most euident and not to be denyed is reiected by Baronius as a fable that among diuers other reasons because this man is the first Authour thereof so false in oother things so partiall in this of which neither VVilliam of Malmesbury nor Florentius his Continuer who both were then liuing do speak any one word though the later do mentiō this polidore Virgill Holiashed Stow c. Cardinall and set downe all the Canons of the Councell and had no reason to haue dissembled the things obiected had it beene so notorious and publick as Huntington makes it from whom all our late Protestant writers and others also vpon too light credit haue borrowed and inserted it into their historyes 110. And truely seeing this sole Authour Henry Huntington what he was alone so to reuell in this matter I was moued out of a curious desire to see what he was Bale sayth he was a Canon Regular of S. Augustins order and the title he beareth in the forefront of his booke is that he was Archdeacon of Huntington of It is probable that his father was a Priest when he begot him which profession and degree I did meruaile to see one so inclined to defend incontinency and the marriage of Priests seeing he was not marryed himselfe and that all other Authours at that tyme in England and before had condemned it I found further after some search in the very next page after the place cyted by M. Hall in his owne history that he confesseth his Father to haue beene a Priest and consequently as it may be thought he pleadeth but for his birth right and the best coppy hold of his inheritāce for thus he writeth of him Eodem anno Pater illius qui hanc scripsit historiam mortis legibus concessit c. The same yeare dyed the Father of him who wrot this history and was buryed at Lincolne of whome it is written Stella cadit Cleri splendor marcet Nicolai Stella cadens Cleri splendeat arce Dei The sense of which distich is that the star of A bad child that could put no better Epitaph on his Fathers tombe the Clergy was fallen and the shining of Nicolas ouer cast but he wisheth that the star falling on earth may shine in heauen and to that end desireth al Readers to pray for his soule with an anima eius requiescat in pace and in case my coniecture be true that he begot his son Henry being a Priest he had indeed great need of prayers but of his being a star of the Clergy vnles he did pennance for the same and stood not in defence thereof as the irregular Chanon his son Henry did there is no cause to imagine but rather that he Iud. in ep was to be numbred among those stars which S. Iude calleth sydera errantia for such men are not the starres of the Clergy but the clowds rather and ignominy therof But to digresse no further with this Authour let vs come to some other ponderation 3. Ponderation 111. The third ponderation is taken from the Authours who haue written of this matter M. Hall only cyteth Henry Huntington and he also is fouly streyned to reach home wheras for the Antiquity and learning of the Authors alleadged for the continency of Priests contrary we