If thou take a wife thou sinnest not, and if the virgine mary, she sinneth not.
And that he spake not this by way of commaunding, but of sufferance and compassion, he sheweth plainly in these wordes folowyng: But I spare you: that is to say, I beare with your infirmity: and therfore he leaueth it in the free power and will of euery man, to chuse what he best lyketh. Neither doth he inforce any man (he saith) violently, nor charge them with any straight commaundement and therfore addeth these woordes followyng: And this I speake for your owne commoditie, not to tangle you as in a snare
1 Cor. &: 35
Thsi he saith to them who before he exorted to continencie, and whome he woulde not to be let or troubled by matrimonial coniunction. But to other he sayth thus: Ifany man thinke that it is vncomely for his virgin to remayne ouer long vnmaried, and if nede do require, let him do what he thinketh good, he sinneth not: let them mary: And again both be good, he sayth, but yet the one be better he cōcludeth saying. Therfore he that ioyneth in Matrimony, his virgin doth wel, but he that doth not doth better. Which agreeth wel wt the text aboue, speaking of both kynds, as well þe man as the womā, where he saith: if thou take a wife thou sinnest not, and if the virgin take a husband she sinneth not.
[Back to Top]If therfore it be no sinne for the man to take a wife, nor for the virgin to take a husband, after the apostles mynde, neither doth diminish their felicitie, but rather encrease it, & for as much as both do well, & so both be blessed: we then which take wyues for our infirmitie, what do we sinne in hauyng them? Or if the Apostle do suffer & permit to euery man for the auoyding of fornication to haue his wife, we thē which come of the same lumpe or masse and taking our sinfull flesh of the sinfull flesh of Adam, are not able otherwyse to conteyne, why are we not permitted for the same cause & by the same permissiō, to haue likewyse our wyues, but are enforced to forsake them beyng maried?
[Back to Top]MarginaliaMaryage is permitted to the infirmitie of all men: Priests are infirme as other men be. Ergo, mariage ought to be permitted to Priestes also. Wherfore either do you permit vs, folowing the apostle, to haue our wyues, or els teach vs that we come not of the same masse, either els shew vs that the same sufferaunce & permission is not graunted to vs by the Apostle which is graunted to other. Which cause peraduenture you wil thus pretend: that this sufferance was graunted of the Apostle, not to the clergy or to any of our order, but onely to lay men. Which can not well be defended, neither by the wordes of the Apostle, nor by any circumstance of his Epistle, for as much as there is no certayne distinction or denomination either of persons or degrees, or professions there mencioned, neyther doth he make any difference either in names or offices of mē, either of thē which wrote vnto him, either of those persons of whō he wrote, or els of those to whō he aunswereth, but only in general to þe whole church of þe Corinthiās, as he himselfe in the beginnyng of his Epistle purporteth in these words.
1 Cor. 1: 1-2.
Foxe is omitting pasages here which say that clerics should be celibate but that this ideal is impossible to maintain because of man's sinful nature (Epistolae duae D. Volusiani…[London, 1569], STC 24872, pp. 10-11).
Matt. 19: 11.
Wherfore for distinctions sake Moyses is not hymselfe commaunded to clothe Aaron and hys sonnes with breches as in these wordes goyng before
The verses below are from Exodus 29: 4-9.
MarginaliaExod. 29. And when thou shalt wash the father and his sonnes with water, thou shalt take the garments, that is, the strait cote, the tunicle and the brest lappe, and put them vpon Aaron & gird them to him with a brodered girdle of the Ephod. Then thou shalt put the miter vpon hys head, and shalt put the holy crowne vppon the miter, and thus shall he be consecrated. Also thou shalt bryng his sonnes and put coates vpon them, and shalt girde them with girdles, both Aaron & his sonnes, and shalt put bonnettes on them, and the Priestes office shall be theirs for a perpetuall law.
[Back to Top] MarginaliaExod. 19.MarginaliaThe place o Moyses Exod 29. applyed. Thus then you see a commaundement of receiuing the lynen breches of Moyses. Whereby it playnely appeareth, that Aaron and hys sonnes, first did apparell themselues wyth this kynd of apparell, and so entred in to be washed, inducted, annointed and consecrated by þe handes of Moyses.
[Back to Top]By the which we are plainly taught, that the yoke of continēcy is not to be inforced vpō any mā against his will, but is to be receiued of god with a prompt & a deuoute will. Which thing also Dionysius Areopagita that godly wise man, the Disciple of S. Paule and ordeyned of him B. of Athenes, in a certayne Epistle of his sent to Pymtus B. of the Gnasians, in which he toucheth many things of mariage and chastitie (as is in the Ecclesiasticall history rehearsed) doth admonish the said Pymtus, and prayeth him that he will lay no greuous burthens vpon the neckes of þe Disciples, neither inferre any necessitie of compelled chastitie vpon the brethren, wherby the infirmity of some of them might be in daunger. And Pymtus aunswering to Dionysius againe, sheweth himself willing to embrace the sentēce of hys holesome counsaile. MarginaliaEx Histor. Tripartita. The same also did Paphnutius, þt diuine & chast Bishop, who in the Coūcell of Nice (as þe Tripertite hystory doth shew vs) when the fathers, which there were present wēt about to restraine priests frō mariage: he rising vp amōgest them and moued with the zeale of mās infirmitie, desired them that they would not so do, but rather to leaue it vnto the voluntary discretiō of euery mā, least in so doyng they might peraduenture geue occasion of adultery and fornication. For those holy men did then vse this cautele and moderation in Religion, that when they treated any thing concernyng instruction and edification of the people, and would haue them styrred vp to a better lyfe by godly instructions, MarginaliaThe spirite of lenitie requyred in Byshops. they would rather perswade thinges to be obserued with patience and lenitie, then commaunde with rigour and authoritie: neither would they compel any man to their obedience against his will.
[Back to Top]Whose examples you also folowyng, which succeede in their rowme and name, do you not lay vpō vs infirme persons, such importable burthens, lest you be partakers with the Phariseys and lawyers of the Lords curse: Who saith
Luke 11: 46.
This is an allusion to Exodus 3: 7.
Matt. 19: 12.
Lev. 18: 7.
Gal. 4: 19.
Psalm 19: 9.