Against a Rank Papist, Part 1 · Opinion 10
Censura.
¶ The vowe in christen marryage, is godly eueryevery waye, and serueth in auoydynge fornycaciō, and other most detestableMariage. frutes of fylthynesse in the fleshe.
Obiectio.
☞ Thys is true, in them that maye lawfully marry. But in them that hauehave vowed the cōtrarye, tales nuptie sunt peiores adulteriis. as S. Augustine saith, de bono viduitatis, ca▪ xi. And as Chrisostome sayth, epistola. vi. ad Theodorum monachū. Angelorum enim societateChrisostō. semel iunetum, illud relinquere, et vxoris laqu…is implicari, adulterii crimen … curr…re est, Quamuis frequēter hoc ipsū nuptias voces, ego tamen et adulterio tanto perus illud affirmo, quanto maior ac melior mortalis Angelus.
Responsio.
God shall not be true in your opinyon, as apeareth here by your wrytyng, nor yet hys instytucion lawfull, but whan it shall lyke the stoute rabyes of your vaynegloriouseRabyes. Synagoge so to allowe them. Ye affyrme it nowe to be true, that marryage is a thynge godly, and that it is a prouysion, ordinaunce, helpe, remedy, and waye, prouided of God for man to auoyde fornicacion and other vncomely vyces. All thys y… admyt at thys tyme wtout contradyccion, but it hath a tayle. For ye saye, it is only true in them that maye lawfully marry.Lawfully Than is there a kynde of people, whych maye not lawfully marry? And those are your vowers, ye saye. God ordayned marryage for hys people, to kepe them in good ordre. Pope Helhound ordained vowes agaynst marryage for hys professed cattell, to brynge them out of ordre. Thus is marryage an holy instytucion of God, for the conseruacion of man. And vowes agaynst marryage are a wycked constytucion of pope Helhounde, for destruccion of body & sowle. Matrymony must be good, bycauseCōstitucion. it is of hym that is good, whych is God. Uowes against marriage must be naughty and deuylyshe, bycause they are of hym that is deuylysh, whych is pope Helhoūd.
That thynge whych is good, is fyt for all thē that are good. And that is naught, is only fyt for them that are naught. Herein are to be seane, the dyuerse natures andDyuers. disposicions of men, and the one to be knowen from the other. The nature of a good man, is not to forsake by vowe, that thinge that is good, but that which is euyll. Contrary wyse, the nature of an euyll mā, is to refuse, as euyll, that thyng that is good, as yow papystes hauehave done marryage, and to admyt that poison which is perniciouse to the sowle, as ye hauehave done wycked buggery.Buggery. A more euydent open sygne can not be of an Antichrist, thā to say naye, to gods yea, and yea to hys naye, as yow do hert▪ God sayth, that marryage is lawfull in hys. Gene. ii. et Math, ix. Yow saye, it is vnlawfull in yours. He sayth, it is holy in hys. Yow saye, it is vnholy in yours. He holdeth it for a ryghte ousnesse in his. Yow holde it for an vnryghteousnesse in yours. Thus are your wayes not all one wyth Gods waies, nor your people all one with hys people. But so dyuerse is the one fromPeople▪ the other, as is lyght from darkenesse. Yet must your people, be the holy spirituall people for theyr vowes sake, ordayned by pope Helhound, and gods people a lewde laye people, onelyonly bycause of theyr marryage, whych is of God.
Thys is (I thynke) a preposterouse ordre. S. Paule sayth. Honorabile est inter ō nes cōiugiū, ac thorus immaculatus. Heb. xiii. Wedlock is honourable amōg al people,Wedlock & the bed therof vndefiled. Either your people holding marriage vnhonourable in their ordre, ar no people, or els they ar such a people as are not reckened in thys vnyuersall nombre of Gods electes. An other text hath, y• marriage is honourable in all thynges, which proueth, y• either your vowes are no thinges, for not holdyng marriage honourable, or els yt they ar thyngesThynges vngodly. And I think, ye are no thinges in ded, for god created al thīgs in y• beginīg, & by bryngynge your selues by vowes, into a newe creacion and vse, I recken you to be nothynges to hys vse. Thys is my coniectureUowers. of yow, becommynge Antichristes creatures. But truly, thoughe yow wyth your vowes take no place in thys text, yet your conuersacion beynge as it is, ye may be sure to take place in the nexte. Scortatores autem et adulteros, iudicabit deus, in ye same chaptre. Whore kepers and aduonterers God wyll condempne.
If the readers of thys boke, wolde earnestly marke yow in thys poynt (whych Iii. euyls. desyre them instauntly to do) they shoulde well perceyue that your vowes and presthode, are no lesse execrable and deuilyshe, than is afore declared. I wyll go no further than your owne wrytynge. Ye saye, that marryages in them that hath vowed the contrary, are peiores adulterijs, worse than aduoutryes. Than wyll I saye, that no poyson is lyke your vowes, neyther yet any other deuylishnesse to be compared toMariage. them. Marriage of it selfe, is godly, good, honest, holy, and ryghteouse, for it is gods owne institucion. What can make a good thynge naught, but that whych is naught in the selfe afore? What els can make it wurse than synne? but that which is wurse than sinne of it selfe. HaueHave ye not well promoted your vowes? And I thinke in dede, they are no better than yow reporte them here. All christen men therfor be ware of them, as of a most peruyciouse poyson. I thought one tyme or other, ye wolde thorowly dyscouer your owne myscheues, asmischeues ye hauehave now done in dede. And we thanke yow for it, for we shal be the warer of thē. But ye do S. Augustyne wronge, to make hym the authour of your conueyaunce. He neuer made that boke, de bono viduitatis, but one Iulianus a Moore borne, whych was byshoppe of Tolete in Spayne, as I tolde ye afore.
And hym ye slaundre also. For he in the x. chapter of the same boke, calleth your opinyon concernynge those marryages, a very wytlesse and wycked opynyon, concludyngWytlesse. therwith in the. xi. chaptre. Propterea non possum dicere, lapsarum a meliore proposito feminarum coningia, adulteria esse, non coningia. For this cause (saith he) can I not report the marryages of nū nes, to be aduoutryes and no marryages, but I must call thē true marryages. Thus doth your owne authour proue ye a wycked lyar, and a spyghtfull enemy agaynst marryage. That whych foloweth, sed plauefoloweth nō dubitauerim dicere, lapsus et rumas a castitate sanctiore, que vouetur Deo, adulterijs esse peiores, toucheth not theyr marryages, but theyr slydynges away frō theyr vowed chastite. And yet he is muche more gentyll in that also, than yow ar. For he sayth, he wolde not moche doubt, to call those slydynges wurse than aduoutryes, whych proueth not that he expresly so callethSpyght. them. But yow spyghtfully, call the very marryages so wythout any honest aduysement. Wherfore ye shall go for no lesse, than for a deceitful prophet teaching lyes in hypocresy, to maynteyne the doctryne of deuyls, and to forbyd marryage as ded the Esseanes, for Iewysh superstycions or vowes. i. Timo. iiii.
Moche were it to declare your folyshnesse and ignoraūt beastlinesse, in alleging Chrisostome. For ye report that rawe and ragged clause whych ye hauehave vntowardlyA clause. torne out of hys. xxi. homely, in the second tome, to be in the▪ vi. epistle, ad Theodorū monachum. But I can tell what deceyued yow, and I wolde my readers shulde not laughe therat. Ye toke a page or syde of a leafe for a pistle, and. vi. for. lxvi. For that homely, otherwyse called posterior parenesis ad Theodorum monachum, begynneth in the. lxvi. page of the seconde tome of Chrisostomes workes. If ye be not aChrisostō. wyse clarke, and moche good frute to be had at your hande, I reporte me. Your decurted or headlesse clause, Augelorū enim …t cet, is thus Englyshed. For that is ones ioyned wt ye cūpany of Angels, the same to forsake, & to be wrapped in the snares of a wyfe, is playnely to enter into yt cryme of aduoutry. Though yu neuer so oft, call that thynge marryage, yet I saye vntounto the that it is so muche wurse than aduoutry, as isWurse. the mortall Angel greater & better. All this is to be cōsidered in this matter. Chrisostō wrote all in y• Greke tongue, & his Latyne interpretour hath no name, and therfor we can not iudge of hys faythfulnesse.
Moreouer ye selfe authour Chrisostome, was to moche addycted to monkery, and gaue it more commendacyous then was conuenient, abusyuge the synceryte of theAbusyuge holy scryptures. Theodorus, to whom he wrote thys homely of admonicion, was a monke, and in the tyme of hys monkery, frequented the cōpany of an whore. Unto thys fallen monke, he wrote an other treatyse afore, called prior parenesis, which he entytled, de reparatione lapsi, of ye repaireA monke. or restauraciō of ye fallē. Wherin he declareth the aduoutry of thys mōke after thys forte. Beatus Dauid casu decidit nō leuiore, quā tu modo, immo nō tātū equali, subinde enim aliud flagitū adiecit, n…pe ced… atrocissimā innocentis Drie. Blessed Dauid chaunced to fall, the condicion therof beynge no lesse greuouse than thyne, but yet not all one. For he added therunto an other greate synne, euen the vnpptie fullDrias. slaughter of innocent Dry. By thys it appeareth, that it was an other mānis wyfe, and not hys owne wyfe, that thys monke occupyed, whych was not only reprehensyble but also abhomynable.
If Chrisostome calleth thys wycked kynde of copulacion, or rather mysusynge of an other mannis wyfe, no kynde of honestWycked. marryage, but a wyckednesse more to be detested than opē whoredome, we hold with him therin, and as depely do abhorre it as he ded. But wher as he calleth a mōk a mortall Angell, I thynke he toke one for an other, as the Angell of darkenes for the Angell of lyght. For S. Paule sayth, that Sathan can transfourme himselfe into the Angell of lyghte. ii. Corin. xi. And thoughe Chrisostome denyed monkes to marry, yetChrisostō. he neuer wythstode the marryage of marryed prestes, for it hath euer bene in vse amonge the Grekes. Neyther doth Chrisostome in all hys wrytynges, maynteyne any doctryne of Dowes, search them who lyste. He wryteth moche agaynst them that improueth marriage as an vnclean thing, specyally in the fourth homely of his first tome. Where as he moche commendeth marryage in Esay the Prophet, in Moyses, in Abraham, in the mother of the. vii. Machabees, in Peter the Apostle, in Philyp, in Zachary Iohan Baptistes father, and in Mary Christes mother, declaringePetrus. it to be no impedymente to any kynde of Godlynesse. Chryste (he sayth) honoured marriage with virginite. Only is it Antichrist which dishonoureth it wyth all kyndes of fylthye occupyenge, vndre colour of the same.
Thus hauehave I answered (right worshipfull syr) your popyshe chaplayne at large, and accordynge to your request, declared the matters & doubtes, wherin ye thoughtDoubtes your selfe not fully resolued. If it be more sharpe than ye loked for, ye shall the lesse blame me, bicause God is in your wryting so depely dyshonoured, and hys heauenly veryte blasphemed. For though I can lete myne owne iniuries passe by vureuenged, yet can I not suffer wyth conscyence, hys so great dyshonour vnrebuked. I exhorteBeware yow therfor, as ye tendre your owne saluacion, to be ware of these deceytfull Sirenes or flatterynge whysperers for that whoryshe kyngedome, but yet vnlearned, whose pleasaunt balletes, allureth to destruccion. Be not carried about wyth theyr diuerse and straunge learninges, Heb. xiii. Be not led awaye wyth eueryevery wynde of vncerteyne doctryne, into wicked errours by the craftye wyles of these Sophisters. Ephe. iiii. for by theyr subtyle wayes we maye doubt in thinges which we nede notDoubte. to doubt of, and be caught in snares of deceyt, which we nede not to be caught in. If it be a folye to stycke vntounto shadowes, the clere lyght sh…ynge ouer us. It is more than a folye, yea, it is mere madnesse to lyngre styll in the darkenesse selfe, the myd day apearyng freshe. The presthode & the vowes about whom we hauehave all this long tyme contended, what are they els but Iewyshe supersticions in theyr best aperell?Iewyshe. Lete vsus than with all godly endeuour, abhorre thē both, and be no longar obstinate papystes to Gods hyghe dyshonoure and our princes dysobedience.
So be it.
¶ Thus endeth the Apology of Iohan Bale agaynst a ranke papist, which otherwyse maye be called a dyspatche of vowes and presthode by the worde of God. Fynished in the yeare of our Lorde. M. D. l.