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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

this confused Babylon of Protestants and Puritans and being reconciled to the Catholike Church haue freely out of their owne most happy experience confessed that now they found chastity to be very easy which whiles they were in heresy seemed impossible yea they could neuer thinke vpon their former frayltyes commited without great griefe compunction and teares 24. But for that moderne examples do lesse The conuersion of S. Augustin sheweth the gift of chastity to be only in the Church August l. 8. confess cap. 11. moue a willfull mind let M. Hall call to his remembrance the famous conuersion of S. Augustine from the Manichean heresy from which not without a strong and extraordinary calling he was recalled to imbrace the Catholike truth he shall find that one of the greatest motiues to keep him backe were the carnall pleasures in which whiles he was an heretike he had wallowed Retinebant me sayth he nugae nugarum vanitates vanitatum antiquae amicae meae succutiebant vestem carneam meam submurmurabant dimittis ne nos à momento isto non erimus tecum vltra in aeternum ' à momento isto non tibi licebit hoc illud in aeternum The toyes of toyes and vanityes of vanityes my old familiars kept my backe shaked my fleshly garment and whispered me in the eare saying dost thou now leaue vs and from this tyme shall it not be lawfull for euer for thee to do this and that Quas sordes suggerebant quae dedecora What filthy what dishonest things did they suggest And being in this bitter conflict the flesh drawing one way and the spirit another the Diuell desirous to deteyne him in errour and God determining to bring him to the truth his pleasures past alluring him to looke backe and future pennance affrighting him to go forward being in this trouble I say and wauering of mynd thus he describeth the successe of the combat 25. Aperiebatur ab ea parte qua intenderam saciem quo transire trepidabam casta dignitas continentiae c. Loco citat There appeared vnto me on that side where I did cast my eyes and was afrayd to go to wit in the Catholik Church the chast excellency of single life cheerfull and not wantonly pleasant vertuously alluring me to come vnto her not A description of chastity to doubt at all and she stretched forth her deuout hands full with the multitude of good examples of others to receaue and imbrace me in them were to be seene so many yong boyes and girles there store of others of youthfull yeares and elder age there graue widdowes and old virgins and chastity her selfe in all these was not barren but a plentifull mother of children the ioyes of thee o Lord who art her husband Prosopop●ia and she mocked me with a perswasiue scorne as if she had sayd Tu non poteris quod isti istae an verò isti istae in semetipsis tossunt ac non in Domino Deo suo Dominus Deus eorum me dedit eis c. Canst not thou do that these yong boyes and maydnes widdowes and old virgins do or can these do it of themselues and not in God their Lord their Lord God hath bestowed me vpon them why dost thou stand and not stand on thy selfe cast thy selfe on him and feare nothing he will not slip aside and let thee fall cast thy selfe securely vpon him he will receaue thee and he wil cure thee Thus S. Augustine in which wordes as he sheweth the proper place of chastity to be in the Church so withall doth he ouerthrow M. Halls impossibility confuted by the very examples of yong boyes and maydes of all sorts and sexes who in this sacred Arke this house and tabernacle of God do professe and obserue perpetuall chastity 26. And so far was S. Augustin from acknowledging any impossibility of a continent life in the Church of Christ albeit whiles he was a Manichean he thought it a thing impossible to liue chast that being himselfe now made a Catholike his owne experience without other argument demonstrated the contrary vnto him August l. ● Confess cap. 1. S. Augustin being made a member of the Catholike Church presently sound it an easy matter for to liue chast made him see the thing not only to be possible but most easy also and facile for thus he writeth of himselfe Quàm suaue mihi subitò sactum est carer● suauitatibus nugarum quas amittere metus suerat iam dimittere gaudium erat c. How sweet a thing did I find it on the sodain to want the sweetnes of former toyes and now it was a comfort to cast away that which before I was afrayd to loose Thou didst cast them out from me who art the true and supreme suauity thou didst cast them out and didst enter thy selfe for them more sweet then all pleasure but not to flesh bloud more cleere then all light but more close then any secret higher then all honour but not to such as are highly in their owne conceit now was my mind free from all by●ing cares of ambition of couetousnes of wallowing or scratching the itch of ulthy lusts So S. Augustine and heerby to end this whole matter M. Hall and his fellow Ministers may learne that in case this itch of lust or rather as S. Augustine calleth it scabiem libi●i●um do so violently possesse and driue them to this perswasion that it is a thing impossible to liue a continent life they must know the cause to be either for that the bru●ish spirit of heresy being fleshly and sensuall comporteth not this purity or els that chastity it self as neither charity can be separated from true fayth as the materiall cause from the formall that is the chastity of the body from the chastity of the soule Virginitas carnis sayth S. Augustine August in psal 147. corpus intactum virginitas cordis fides inco●rupta The virginity of the flesh is the body vntouched the virginity of the soule an vndefiled fayth and Prosper epig. c. 74. out of him S. Prosper Carnis virginitas intacto corpore habetur virginitas animae est intemerata fides and so it cannot be found in her entier perfection in terra suauiter viuentium but where pennance is preached and truth professed which is only in the Catholike and Roman Church to which S. Augustin when he left the Manichies did accrew I wish M. Hall so much happynes as to follow his worthy example and so much of this impossibility wherein for that I haue beene so long I will be shorter in the rest The fifth vntruth refuted 27. There remayneth yet one of the fiue vntruths mentioned in the beginning in which M. Hall if you remember leaueth vs to scan the rule in turpi voto muta decretum In a filthy vow Turpe votum A vow if it be true can neuer be filthy

See S. Thom 2. ● 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. ●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 expel●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

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 eye● 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. Ioh● Baptist he sayth Etenim qua re dic sodes ab Angelis disferebant Elias Elizaeus Ioannes germani hi virginitat● 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 conside● 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 woul● An ineuitable consequence aske of M. Hall how the obiect can be of such purity such perfection and the act that tendet● 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 we● 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. ●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 13● 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 ●1 quàm 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