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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19060	A refutation of M. Ioseph Hall his apologeticall discourse, for the marriage of ecclesiasticall persons directed vnto M. Iohn VVhiting. In which is demonstrated the marriages of bishops, priests &c. to want all warrant of Scriptures or antiquity: and the freedome for such marriages, so often in the sayd discourse vrged, mentioned, and challenged to be a meere fiction. Written at the request of an English Protestant, by C.E. a Catholike priest.	Coffin, Edward, 1571-1626.	1619 (1619)	STC 5475; ESTC S108444	239,667	398

liue without meat drinke or rest yea or as it is for women not to be women or men not men and as no man is punished for that he is a man so no woman can be punished for breaking her vow the one as Luther doth teach being as necessary as the other to such straits are they driuen who put these wicked prophane and detestable impossibilityes 8. Which doctrine how wide a gap it further The principles of Protestāts open the way vnto all lasciuiousnes opens to all lasciuiousnes I shall not need to write for this will also ensue therof that no Father can blame his child for being incontinent for if he plead this impossibility what can the Father reply you will say perhaps he is bound to prouide in this case a husband for his daughter and wife for his sonne but that is not a worke of an houres warning and if in the meane tyme they be tempted what shal they do to conteine implyes an impossibility to do otherwise is to offend their parents and shame themselues offend their parents I say for they cannot offend God when it lyeth not in their powers to do the contrary If M. Hall say that for a while they are able to liue chast but not for any long tyme I aske againe how long that while shall endure and what warrant they haue therein for not falling seeing it may so fall out that in the while appointed they may be more tempted then they shal be againe in al their liues after or were euer perhaps in their liues before what then shal they do if this temptation bring an impossibility for ouercomming it then are parents most cruell tyrants that punish their childrens incontinency which lyeth not in their power to auoyde but are forced thereunto by an ineuitable necessity If the children be faulty M Hall hardly pressed then it lay in their power not to fall then was there no necessity then as they could ouercome this tentation they might as well ouercome another ouercome all and remayne chast out of wedlocke to the end of their liues where is the necessity where the impossibility And the same difficulty occurs in such as hauing beene marryed for a tyme are after some occasion as discord diseases c. separated the one from the other forced to liue a sunder all dayes of their liues what shall such do liue togeather they cannot marry againe they may not to liue continent with this man is impossible what remedy is to be taken must they be premitted to wallow in all vnlawfull wantones that is more then the very Turks Alcoran will allow them 9. Besides these incōueniences we say with The obseruance of the vow of chastity is in our power not impossible August de gratia lib. arbit cap. 4. S. Augustine that the thing is in our power and although it require the assistance of Gods grace which still preuenteth our wills yet that hinders not but that we may if we list our selues liue chast all dayes of our life as we may belieue in God as we may loue him and for him our neighbour which no lesse require Gods grace for their performance then perpetuall chastity Numquid tam multa quae praecipiuntur in lege Dei c. Do so many things as are commanded in the law of God to wit that neither fornications not adulteryes be committed shew vs any thing els then free will For they should not be commanded vnles a man had free will wherby he might obey the diuine Commandments and yet it is the gift of God without which the precepts of chastity cannot be kept So S. Augustine and a little after answering the obiection of this c●rnall impossibility ●i dixerit volo seruare sed vincor à concupiscentia mea c. If any shall say I desire to be chast but am ouercome of my concupiscence as M. Hall Luther and our English Ministers the Scripture answereth to the free will of such a one that which before I sayd Noli vinci à malo sed vince in bono malum be not ouercome of euill but Rom. 12. ouercome euill with good which grace doth help vs to do So he Neuer dreaming of these impossible fancies which M. Hall and his do frame 10. For supposing such a necessity of nature fornication or adultery should not be sinnes at all as I haue sayd because they are not voluntary but violent as no man sinneth in not doing what he is not able or in yielding to that which lay not in his power to withstand as no sole man commanded by his king to subdue Constantinople or take the vast Kingdome of China can be punished if he do it not for the surprizing of the one and conquest of the other cannot be done without many thousands or can he put any one to death for not going into the East who was bound hand and foot and violently carryed by others into the West so if women be as necessary as our nature as filthy Luther did affirme and to liue chast be impossible as M. Hall how are men commanded not to commit fornication and adultery which they cannot fullfill or are punished for the fact which not their owne wills did moue but violence did compel them to commit Wherefore if we will graunt it to be a sin we must with all necessarily graunt that it lay in our power which without any impossibility was able to auoyd it yea was bound to ouercome it and for not ouercomming it is guilty of the offence and condemned for the transgression 11. And the same falleth out in wedlocke Wedlock requireth a speciall grace for the chastity required therin which yet resteth in our power to performe the chastity of which requireth a speciall grace no lesse then virginity which grace as it profits the weaknes of nature so is it neuer wanting where the will is ready to accept it which will is also preuented by the same grace that it may not refuse to take it and therefore both the vowes of virgins and chastity of wedlocke are alike exacted as both resting in our power in our wills and ability which point S. Augustine in one place doth excellently deliuer saving Arbitrium humanae voluntatis ne quaquam destruimus c. August de bono viduit cap. 17. We destroy not the freedome of mans will when not out of proud ingratitude we deny but out of a grateful piety we acknowlege the grace of God by which free will is holpen it resteth in vs to will or desire but the wil it selfe is warned that it may rise is cured that it may be able is enlarged that it may receaue and is filled that it may haue for if we would not then truely neither should we receaue the thinges that are giuen vs nor should we haue them For who hath continency that amongst other gifts of God I may speake of this of which I speake to your selfe who I

say should haue continency but he who would haue it For no man would take it but he who would haue it but if yow aske me of whome it is giuen that it may be receaued and had of our wil marke the Scripture yea because you know it remember what you haue read When I knew sayth Wisedome that no man could be continent vnles God gaue it and this was a part of wisedome to know whose gift it was for these are great gifts wisedome and continency wisedome I say by which we are framed in the knowledge of God and continency by which we are withdrawne from the world God commandeth vs that we be wise that we be continent without which benefits we cannot be iust and perfect And a little after Qui dedit coniugatis fidelibus vt contineant ab adulterijs c. He who hath giuen grace to marryed folkes that they abstaine from aduowtryes or fornications he hath also giuen grace to holy virgins and widdows to conteyne themselus from all knowledge of men in which vertue integrity of life ●y continuall chastity and continency are now properly named So S. Austine Let M. Hall mark well this argumēt Out of whose words I frame against M. Hall this Syllogisme It is as well in the power of single men to be alwayes continēt as it is in the power of the marryed to keep coniugall chastity but the chastity of wedlocke is in the power of the marryed Ergo the other is in the power of the continent and then further out of the same Father Gods concurrence with vs by his grace which in euery good action is necessary ouerthroweth not our free will but doth perfect it and consequently as well the election as obseruance of single life dost rest alwayes in our power and will and is not impossible and necessary but free and voluntary 12. And if in the state of matrimony grace be giuen to both partyes to remayne faythfull to ech other and that to the end of their liues Virgins as more vnited vnto God then marryed folke so haue more strength to perseuere in their vocation notwithstanding that continall cohabitation breed so many causes of distast and the feruentest affections in many do wax cold and much decrease with tyme shall such want his help who for his loue despise all earthly louers and haue made choice of himself the author louer of all pure desires Shal he better loue such who are deuided as the Apostle sayth from his seruice by marriage then those who to serue him the better haue withdrawne themselues from all wordly encombrances that might deuide them and bestowed themselues wholy vpon his seruice or shall the grace of God graunted to virgins be of lesse force to keep them faythfull to their louer then that which is giuen to them who for carnall loue are combyned togeather These men who are thus perswaded would neuer August l. de virgin cap. 54. Ambr. l. ● de virginib initio preach vnto virgins as S. Augustin did when he sayd Si nuptias contempsistis filiorum hominum ex quibus gigneretis filios hominum toto corde amate speciosum forma prae filijs hominum vacat vobis liberum est cor à coniug alibus vinculis inspicite pulchritudinem amatoris vestri c. If you haue despised the marriages of the sonnes of men by whome you might beget the sonnes of men with all your hart loue him who is fayrer then the sonnes of men You haue leasure inough your hart is free from matrimony bands looke vpon the beauty of your louer So. Augustine And againe Si magnum amorem Lib. citat cap. 55. coniugibus deberetis c. If you should owe great loue to your husbands how much ought you to loue him for whose sake you haue refused husbands Let him be wholy fixed in your hart who for you was fixed on the Crosse let him possesse al in your soule whatsoeuer you would not haue bestowed in other marriage is it not lawfull for you to loue him a little for whom you haue not loued that which was els lawfull for you to loue And not to go further to shew the thing possible to shew it to be in our power to stand or fall to breake off or perseuere to begin and continue vnto the end he sayth Vos autem sequimini cum tenendo perseuer anter quod vouistis ardenter facite Cap. 58. cùm potestis ne virginitatis bonum à vobis pereat cùm sacere nihil potestis vt redeat You virgins see you follow Christ perseuerantly keeping what you haue vowed labour earnestly whiles you are able least yee leese your virginity sithence you are able to do nothing that if it be lost is able to recouer it So he And doth he who so teacheth so exhorteth thinke of M. Halls impossibility Doth he thinke that such virgins serue a Maister whome they must and cannot obey whome they must for their vow and cannot for their frailty His words are too cleare to be corrupted by so base a commentary 13. And no lesse plaine no lesse absolute for this purpose is S. Ambrose whose diuin books of this subiect I wish M. Hall to read for in them he shall find the excellency of this vertue not more eloquently then truely described there he shall see the arguments of Protestants answered there the keping of vows vrged veiling of Nuns mentioned this impossibility refuted for to such as did cast these suspitious doubts he sayth Facessat hic sacris virginibus metus quibus tanta praesidia Ambr. l. de Virgin propefi●ē The diuers helps which virgins haue for their perseuerance tribuit primùm Ecclesia c. Let this feare of falling be far from holy virgins to whome first the Church affoardeth so many helpes which carefull for the successe of her tender issue with full brests as a wall doth defend the same vntill the siege of the enemy be remoued then secondly of our Sauiour with stronger force and last of Angels Neque enim mirum si pro vobis Angeli militant quae Angelorum moribus militatis meretur corum praesidium castitas quorum vitam meretur castitas etiam Angelos facit It is no meruaile if for you Virgins the Angells do warre who in your behauiour do follow the purity of Angells virginall chastity deserues their help whose life it deserues for chastity also maketh Angels And in another place hauing perswaded them to ascend aboue the world saying Iustice is aboue the world charity is aboue the world chastity is aboue the world and the like he proposeth this difficulty which M. Hall proposeth saying Sed arduum Ambr. l. 3. de virgin paulò antefinem putas humana virtute supra mundum ascendere bene asseris c. But if you thinke it a hard matter for humane force to ascend aboue the world you say well For the Apostles deserued to be aboue the world not as fellows but as

make that to be impossible to Christians which amongst Iewes Pagans Heretiks and infidells if we belieue the records of all antiquity hath in exteriour proofe and practise been found possible out of this which I haue deliuered we see this impossibility so diuersly refuted by the Fathers as there are diuers meanes by them assigned to the contrary S. Ambrose as you haue heard named the protection of the Church the patronage of Angells the prayer of Christ S. Augustine addeth our free will preuented by grace Origen our prayers proceeding from both S. Hierome the grace and merit of Christ his passion peculierly applyed to virgins all these praysed al preached al perswaded virginity and not one of them all euer taught thought of this fancy nor yet any other heretike before Luther whose incontinency was notorious that I can remember for albeit some abased the worth therof aduanced marriage too far and because they could not reach to the highest would confound high and low gold siluer heauen and earth marriage and virgininity togeather yet were they not so sauage as to say that a chast life was impossible or by an vnauoydable necessity subiect to secret mischiefe and irremediable misery as this man and his maister doth tell vs. 18. And this being supposed that women the weaker sex can both lawfully vow virginity perseuere in the same to the end there seemeth to be no lesse difficulty in vowes of Clergy men which proceed no lesse from their owne free deliberate election for the Church forceth non thereunto but only to keep the vowes which without any enforcement they haue made which is the very case of the widdowes before mentioned in S. Paul and being come to so ripe The vow of Clergy men voluntarily made performed with facility age to so perfect knowledge of themselues and their owne forces they may if they list take vpon them this sweet and easy yoake of a purer life best beseeming the calling and function of an Ecclesiasticall man and not aboue the power and ability of any that will sincerely imbrace it and vse the ordinary meanes of prayer and such things as make our prayers more auailable as fasting haire cloath disciplines and other mortifications to preserue it for if yong virgins to vse S. Augustins argument which he vsed against August l. 8. Confession c. 11. himselfe being yet in heresy when he was perswaded as our Protestants are that he could not conteyne if yong virgins I say in all ages haue vowed and dedicated their virginity to God with so singular constancy haue preserued it why may not mature men do the like and if to them not only marriage be vnlawfull as S. Augustine sayth but euen the desire of marrying be damnable why may not Clergy men also vow and by their vowes be bound to conteyne or punished punished if they transgresse 19. Yea so much is this within our power assisted with Gods grace which is neuer wanting if we be not wanting to our selues that in case any who had no calling to an ecclesiasticall life should vnwillingly be promoted thereunto Many vnwillingly made Priests who yet were bound to liue chast in the time of S. Austine yet were he bound vnto this chastity to vow it I say and neuer vnder deadly sinne to violate his vow this if the Church now should practise how would M. Hall and his lasciuious companions brand vs with Antichristianisme crye out vpon vnlawfull vowes forced continency impossible necessity How would he not stir vp his impure wit to inuent if he could baser tearmes then of shauelings a filthy vow a Popish tyranny a doctrine of Diuells and yet this was not only approued but practised also in the primitiue Church and that very vsually for thus writeth S. Augustine against such as committed aduowtry because as they sayd they could not conteyne which I feare me will proue the center of perfection of our marryed Ministers Quando terremus August l. 2. de adulterinis cōiugijs cap. vltimo ne adulterinis coniugijs haerendo pereant inaeternum solemus eis proponere continentiam Clericorum qui plerumque ad eandemsarcinam subeundam rapiuntur inuiti c. When we terrify men sayth he least in their aduowtrous marriages they euerlastingly perish we are wont to lay before them the continency of Clergy men who for the most part are taken against their wills to vndergo that burthen hauing vndergone it beare it through to the end We say therefore vnto the aduowtresse what if you also by violence of people should be taken to beare this burthen Would yow not chastly performe the office imposed vpon you and presently turne your selues to aske strength of God of which before you did not thinke vpon but they say that the honour doth much comfort Clergy men and we do answere them let feare also withhold you for if many of Gods Ministers haue receaued the office sodenly and without further thinking thereon because they hope therby to shine more gloriously in the kingdom of Christ haue liued chast how much more ought you by auoyding aduowtry to liue chastly fearing not to shinelesse in the kingdome of God but to burne in hell fire Hither to S. Augustine And where at this tyme was the impossibility of which M. Hall heere dreameth necessity I graunt there is of obseruing the vow once made and facility impossibility there is none 20. There would be no end if I should alleadge the Fathers words for the possibility of single life S. Augustine shall suffice who sayth August l. 2. de adul coniugijs cap. 29. Non terreat sarcina continentiae leuis erit si Christi erit Christi erit si fides aderit quae impetratà iubente quod iusserit Let not the burthen of continency affright vs it will proue light if it be of Christ it will be of Christ if we haue confidence which obteynes the thing commanded of him that commands So he And in another place speking of these vowes and how far they bind the makers he hath these wordes Quod cuiquam antequam vouisset De adult coniug l. 1. cap. 24. licebat c. that which any man might lawfully do before he vowed seeing he hath vowed neuer to do it shall be vnlawful but so as he vowed that which was to be vowed as is perpetual virginity or continency after wedlocke in such as are loosed from the band of matrimony by the death of one party els let the faythfull chast couple being aliue by mutuall consent release to ech other these carnall dutyes which for the one to vow without the other is vnlawfull These thinges therefore and the like which are lawfully vowed when men haue vowed are by no means to be violated c. Thus far S. Augustine With more to the same effect in many other places of his workes and so easy he maketh this matter to be as if God did graunt nothing to man more