Against a Rank Papist, Part 1 · Opinion 8
Censura.
¶ The vowe of popysh chastite, is aPopysh profession to filthynesse vnspeakable, in the blasphemouse obediēce of Antichrist and the deuyll.
Obiectio.
☞ The vowe of godly chastite, is a professiō of godly lyuing in the obediēce of Christ, a way towardes the perfectiō of the Gospel,falsehede. and a perfight ymitaciō of Christ, & the Angelycall lyfe, vbi nec nubent nec nubentur. sed sunt sicut Angeli Dei, Mat. xx…i Your saing lacketh profe, & my sayenge is proued by S. Augustyne. De fide ad Petrum, ca. iii. Ceterum, quisquis seipsū castrauerit propter regnum celorū, et in corde suo continentiam deo vouerit, non solum si mort…ifero fornicationis crimine maculetur, verumetiam si aut vir vxorem accipere, aut mulier nubere voluerit, secundum Apostoli sententiam, damnationē habebit, quia primā fidem irritam fecit. SicutNubere. ergo secundū Apostoli sentenciam, dignū est vt vxori vir debitū reddat, similiter vxo … viro, quia si q…is acceperit vxorē, nō peccat, et si nupserit virgo, nō peccat: ita secūdum eiusdē …postoli dictū, qui statuit in corde suo fi… mus, nō habens necessitatē, potestatē aūt habens sue volūtatis, et vouerit cōtinentiā deo, debet vsque in finem tota mētis solicitudine …nstodire, ne dānationē habeat, si primā fidē irritam fecerit. Similiter et coniugati viri, t… Custodiretōiugate mulieres. si ex cōsensu perēnem deo vouerint continenciam, nouerint se sui vot… obnoxios detineri, nec iam sibi debere commi…tionem carnis, quā primitus licitā habuerūt, sed deo se debere cōtinētiā quā vouerūt.
Responsio.
If I shuld reason the matter with yow, and aske ye thys question, why chastyte is godly? I thinke, ye wold make me answer,Answer. bicause it is of God. For it is not in synnefull mās power to make thynges Godly, but in Gods power alone. Lyke wyse if I shulde demaunde, why chastite is good? I wolde loke againe to hauehave y• same answer, bycause it is of God, for so moch as Christ hath so earnestly spoken it in the Gospell, Luk. xviii. Memo bonus, nisi solus Deus. None is good, saue only God. Upō this I cōclude, yt chastyte is both Godly & good. And as moch may be sayd of vyrgynyte & Godly.marryage, bycause they are both of God, y• one beyng hys gifte, & the other his godly institucion. But as for your vowes and massyng presthode, they are neyther good nor yet godly, but wicked & blasphemouse, as their innumerable frutes hauehave declared They are neyther workes nor offyces of yt gospell to yt glory of god, but wycked wayes of synnefull mēs inuenciō, for couetousnes & vainglory of yt world, to apere more holy thā yt cōmē sort. Pope Helhoūde wasHypocrisy the fyrst after Sathās comming fourth, yt fashioned out his prestes & hys mōkes by thē, & that made thē indispēsable, vnlesse it wer for great sūmes of mony, as yt chronicles of all y• christen naciōs declareth.
Ye may call them manly or womanly, bycause they are of yow whych hath vowed them or made them, for you in so doyng are theyr only creatours and makers,Makers. as the prest is of hys holy water, whā hys blessyng is a curse, Mala. ii. But godly ye can not call them, bicause ye are no Gods. I saye therfor, that your newly forged diffynycion here, is abhomynable, prepos…erouse, blasphemouse, & wycked. Whan ye call your vowe, which is your own wurk, a vowe of godly chastite, ye take to moche vponupon yow. For in so doinge, ye make your selfe both equall wyth God and sumwhatAboue god aboue hym, in that ye wyll be seane an authoure of hys heauenly gyfte, whych is a most dauylishe presumpcion. Ye say moreouer, that thys monstruouse myngle mangle of Gods wurke and of yours, is a profession of godly liuyng. Ye arrogate moch to yourselfe, if ye promyse to paye that God hath in hys hande, and yow no iuste tytle of clayme to it. Your vowe is a professyon (I saye not naye) but that godly lyuynge is a frute therof, ye are not able to proue, vnlesse ye set God for nothynge. In Christes obedyence is it not. For he obeyethNot able. not Christ, that voweth in presthode & monkery, but he obeyth pope Helhounde and hys successours, Ye saye, it is a waye to the perfeccion of the Gospell. O blasphemouse Antichrist, herin hast thou shew … thy full imperfeccion.
Can mennis ydell inuencious adde any perfeccion to the Gospell? How feble makest thu Christ here? and how vnperfyghtGospell. makest his Gospell? that woldest hauehave vncomman̄ded vowes, which hauehave brought fourth innumerable sodomytes, to adde perfeccion to the Gospell? The Gospell is lytle beholden, eyther to the or yet to thy maynteners. God ones amende yow, or …s take ye from thys lyfe. Ye saye, it is a perfight ymitaciō of Christ. what a shamelesse lye is thys, and what a bolde bragge to bolster out fylthynesse? It is no ymitaciō of Christ, for he neuer made vowe, neither proponed he any doctryne of vowesNo vowe. makynge, moche lesse than any perfyght ymytacion of Christ. Rather is it a defeccion from Christ, and the same that Paule speaketh of. ii. Thes. ii. for none were euer so obstynate agaynst hys doctrine, as they whych professed those vowes. Ye cōclude, that your vowe is the Angelycall lyfe, in places where they nether marry, nor be gyuen in marryage, but are as Angels of God. The head place where your greate vowers in Cardynall hattes, myters, haldRoms. crownes, and cowles of all kindes, marry not, is the myghty mōstrouse Sinagoge o… Rome. The meaner places are your minsters, monasteryes, couētes, colleges, and personages of other nacions, wher as also ye maye not, for your vowes sake, be gyuē fourth in marryage.
If ye say, that these leade an Angels lifeExamples by their vowes, we are able to condempne your saynges by the dayly exāples of their buggeryes and other beastly occupienges which we know, besydes that we hauehave of the scriptures, Roma. i. et. Apo. xi. whych can not lye. The place ye bring in here, Neque nubent. Mat. xxii. ye clerely wrast frō all true & godly meaning. For it is not spokē of thē whych dwell here in thys mortall & corruptible lyfe, though your Hierome so vnaptly vseth it, but of thē yt shall apere with immortalyte in yt lattre resurreccion,Resurreccion. In yt resurrecciō shall they neyther marry, nor be geuē in marriage, as here vpō earth but they shall be in heauē as the Angels of God, wher no such offyces of marriage or maydenhede shall be required. If ye wyll nedes hauehave your vowers here like Angels, they shall be like that Angel of darkenesse, which in all deceyt possyble, seke whō he may deuour. i. Pet. v. or els lyke those. iiii. cruell Angels of Gods permissyō, whychAngels. stoppeth y•. iiii. wyndes or preachinges of hys eternall testament, Apo. vii. My sayenge (ye say) lacketh profe. What sayenge is that? I pray ye repete it. Marry that the vowe of popysh chastyte, is a profession to filthinesse vnspeakable, in the obedience of Antichrist and the de…yll.
Why mayster chaplayne, is thys the vowe that ye hauehave here maynteyned? Is itA vowe. thys yt ye call, a vowe of Godly chastyte, a professyon of good lyfe, an obedyence of Christ, a perfecciō of yt Gospell, an ymitacion of Christ, & an Angelycall state out of marryage? I hearde neuer a more traitour make vtteraūce. Yow that make so muche of this vowe of a popish chastyte, ye make sumwhat wher ye dare, for yt vowe of popish obediēce, which is yt greatter of both. If my sayenges lacke profe (as I thynke they do not) in this Apology. They shallLack none lacke no profe in the. ii. lattre partes of my votaries, which are comming forward, as spedyly as may be. Your saing (ye say) yt a popish vowe is no vngodly professyon to Antichrist in yt deuyls obedience, is proued by S. Augustyne, in the thirde chapter of his boke de fide ad Petrū diaconū. But ye had nede first of all to proue that boke S.Erasmus. Augustynes. For Erasmus hath already denyed it, for the coursenesse of the phrase and vnpurenesse of the doctryne, and also for that he maketh therof no mencyon … hys wurthye worke of retractacyons, wyth dyuerse other cawses.
The longe laryne allegacion of this vnknowen doctour, is thus to be Englyshed. Furthermore (sayth he) who so euer hathGelded, gelded hymselfe for the kyngdome of heauen, and hath vowed chastyte in hys hart, not onelyonly if he be spotted wyth the deadly cryme of for…ycacion, but also if either the man attempte to take a wyfe, or the womā a husbande, after the Apostles opynyon he shall hauehave dampnacion, bycause he hath broken hys fyrst fayth. As it is therfor the mānis dewty, after the Apostles meaning, to gyue vntounto hys wyfe due beneuolence, & …e…i…o…celyke wyse the wyfe to the man, for he that taketh a wyfe, synneth not, neither yet sinneth ye maide which marrieth an husbāde, so lyke wyse after the sayenge of the same Apostle, he that hath surely fyxed in hys harte, hauynge no nede, but hauynge power ouer hys owne wyll, and hath so vowed chaltyte to God, he ought wyth all en deuour of mynde, to the ende of hys lyfe to kepe it, least he hauehave dampnacion, if he breake hys fyrst fayth.Prima fides.
Lyke wyse the married men & the married women, if tehy by theyr both cōsfntes do vowe vntounto God a perpetuall chastyte, be they sure, they are bounde to fulfill that vowe, and not from theus fourth to hauehave any carnall copulaciou, whych was lawfull vntounto thē afore, but to kepe that chastite to God whych they vowed.
Notwythstandynge that all thys matter hath bene answered afore, yet fynde I sumwhat herein to be spokē. None authoryte can S. Augustynes name adde to thisAutorytr. doctryne, bycause he is not the authour of that boke. The authour of it, is such a one as S. Paule speaketh of, Roma. i. whych withholding the truth of God in vnryghteousnesse, hath turned hys veryte into a lye. Many wycked errours do I fynde in thys doctrine. One is, where as he callethErrours. geldynge or makynge chast for the kyngdome of heauen, a voweynge of the single lyfe, whych Christ neuer ment. Math. xix. For Christ spake it of them whych sought the sowle helth of hys people, by the grace of the Gospell, and not of them which pryuately thought to wynne heauen to themselues alone by theyr folysh vowes. These sequestred themselues from al carnall and worldly affeccions, not by vowes, but by the mere gyft of God. Not to wynne heauenBy gyfte. to thē selues, but to call other vntounto it by preachynge the doctryne of saluacion. For heauen is not gottē by vowes, but by fearynge, beleuynge, and faythfull folowynge of the Gospell.
An other errour, that vowes ought so to separate man and wife, as they may neuer mete agayne. Thys vsurpacion is notvsurpaciō tollerable, that mannys ydell inuencion, shulde put Gods worke asyde, eyther yet hys wauerynge wyll wurke, shulde make Gods set ordinaunce of none effect. Christ hath earnestly forbydden it, Mat. xix. that any man shoulde put a sondre, that God hath ones coupled, eyther yet that ony mā shulde put awaye his wyfe, except it were for aduoutrye. What maner of newe tradicion,Tradyciō wyll thys namelesse doctour make than? If man be nought of nature of what value is the wurke of hys synnefull wyll? Shall it be able to ouerthrowe Gods buildinge?
Is mannys workemanshyppe aboue man, eyther yet aboue God? Wher is thā theyr former profession become, that the one shall not departe from the other, tyll death separate them? Oh, these are ye wicked deuyses of Antichrist. If it be obiected,Obiected. that they maye withdrawe themselues, the one from the other by consent. i. Cor. vii. I graunt it, but that is only for time of praier and fastynge, and not for any vowe priuate. For S. Paule wylleth them to come agayne togyther, least Sathan tempte thē for theyr incontinence.
An other errour. He cloggeth him wyth dampnacion, whych beholdyng his owne presumpcyon, forsaketh it, and submyttethSubmyt. hymselfe to the hyghe wysdome ond ordynaunce of God, not vnderstandyng what prima fides is, nor yet what is damnatio there. If it had bene prior fides, altera fides, or secunda fides, a former fayth, an other fayth, or a seconde faythe, it myghte sumwhat hauehave serued thys doctoure for hys vowe.
But beynge prima fides, the first faith, hauynge none other faythe afore it, it mustFayth. nedes be the christen faythe, or professyon in baptysme, and so dysapoynte hym at hys most nede. Damnatio is not alwayes taken for a fynall destruccyon, but sumtyme for a scathe, an infamy, a reproche, a blotte, a blame, an harme, an hurte, a dammage, a wronge, and suche lyke. For Erasmus sayth: Damnatus dicitur, qui damno afficitur. He is called damnatus, that is endamaged or hurte any wayes. IfDānaciō. it be ther a dampnacyon in dede, it is for a full renouncynge of the christen faythe or mockyng of the Gospell, and not for breakynge of an ydell vowe which God neuer commaunded in that kynde. But all thys is declared afore.
Obiectio.
☞ Tūe enim vnusquisqne regnum celor… ▪ quod sanctis promittitur, possidebit, si obliu…scens que retro sunt, et in anteriora extendens seipsum, secundum quod in psalmis dicitur,Impostor. voucte, et reddite Domino Deo vestro▪ quod seit esse licitum, et ad prof…ctum melioris vite pertinere cognoscit, et …ibenter voue… at, et celeriter reddat, et in hoc quod votum reddit, meliore semper conatu proficiat. Omni enim vouēti Deo et reddenti quod vouit, ipse quoque deus reddet …el…stis regni premi… que promisit. And also cap. xlii. Firm…ssime tene, et nullatenus dubites, nu…c…as quoqut diuinitus institut…s …t benedictss, et melius quidem si quisquam sine coniugio sit, vt libetiusNuptie. atque plenius cogitet que sunt dei, quomodo placeat deo, tamen illis qui continentiā non voueruut, nullum esse peccatū, si vel mulier nubat, vel vir vxorem ducat. Nec solas primas nuptias a Deo institutas. sed etiam secūdas et tertias, pro eorum qui se continere non possunt infirmitate con…cssas. Eis ver… Continerequi siue coniugati, siue a coniugio liberi, continentiam deo vouerunt, admodum esse damnabile, si vel illi cōiugale opus volu…rint appetere, quo se non accessuros, vel illi repetere, a quo se recessuros, illi libera, illi commun… professi sunt voluntate.
Responsio.
Bycause the lyenge sprete of thys counterfet Augustyne, is fytte to be knowne, I hauehave Englyshed his latine texte here. Thā Possesse.shall eche man (sayth he) possesse the kyngdome of heauen, whych is promysed to the sayntes, if he forgertynge that is past, and applyenge hymselfe so that is afore hym, according to that is sayde in the psalmes: prompse, and perfourme it to your Lorde God, whych he vnderstandeth to be lawfull, and knoweth to pertayne to the profyte of a better lyfe, lete hym both gladlyYeldynge vowe, and swy…ly rendre it, & that in yeldynge his vowe, he maye prosperousiy go forwarde. For to eueryevery one that perfourmeth hys promyse, God wyll also gyue y• heauenly rewarde, whych he hath promised. The seid doctour also saith, in his. xlii. chapter. Take thys assuredly, & in no wyse doubt of it, that marriage was both ordained of God, and had hys blessynge. Yet myght a man do better, if he were without it, for so myght he more frely and largelyFrankely thynke vponupon Gods matters, how he shuld please God. Yet is there no synne to them imputed, whych hath not vowed chastyte, if eyther the woman marry, or the mā take a wyfe. Neyther were the fyrst marriages alone instituted of God, but as well the seconde and the thyrd, and also graunted for the weakenesse of them that coulde not refrayne. But to other whych hath vowed chastyte, whether they were marryed orUowed. vnmarryed, it is very dampnable, if they eyther desyre the coniug all wurke, or go to it agayne, whych they hauehave ones forsaken, y• one by a fre & the other by a cōmē cōsē ….
Many fylthye errours are in thys doctryne contayned, whych proueth it to beChurche. none of S. Augustynes. As the church be gāne to gather corrupcion, certen false Apostles there were and maysters of superstycyon, whych to plante hypocrisy, a very wycked sede of the olde serpente, put fourth many noughtye workes, vndre the name of S. Augustyne and dyuerse other good doctours, that they myght the more strongely take place. And thys lewde boke was one of them, whych hauynge the preciouse tytle of fayth, is full of all wycked errours, and infidelite. Marke in this lattreOf fayth. allegacion, how blasphemouse and ma ny they are. The authour calleth thē saintes, whych hath superstyciously vowed, & promyseth the possessyon of the kyngedom of heauen, to the man that leaueth hys wyfe, and the woman that leaueth her husbande, by theyr commen consent (as ded the Priscyllyanystes) for that deuyly she yoke. As though heauen myght be gotē by our volūtary workes, and as though theyHeauen. were a perfec…iō farre aboue the Gospell. He hyghly commendeth the spurnynge asyde and vtter contēpt of matrymony, for the apprehensyō of that ydell kinde of lyfe in the monasteryes or dēnes of belly ease.
S. Augustyne vponupon the. lxxv. Psalme, vseth vouete et reddite, after a farre otherAuthour. sort, as is afore declared. And though this blinde authour semeth at a blushe, to bring the same kynde of doctryne that he bryngeth, as how the vower shulde vowe that thynge, that he knoweth to be lawfull and to pertayne to the better lyfe. Yet varyeth he from S. Augustyne in thys poynte, for he wolde hauehave it of thinges possible and in our power, and only taken for mānys tradycion.Hipocrisy This monkysh hipocryte boasteth it, for a worke deseruinge heauen, being no wurke of Christ, but of mānis ydell heade. S. Augustyne doth not so. He wickedly affirmeth, that Christ hath promised heauen to vowes makyng, and that he wyll gyue it to thē that kepe vowes, whych is a false and blasphemouse opynion. He graunteth that marriage was both ordained & blessed of God. Yet preferreth he monkery, an inuencion of man, farre aboue it, as thoughMonkery man in his practises, were wyser thā God. To confyrme his folye, he wringeth in the wurdes of S. Paule, that the syngle man careth for the thynges of the Lorde.
As though that care, whych is a frute of fayth in fredome of the sprete, and an offyce of the Gospell, had proceded of vowes whych are Antichristes yokes in…owes. fleshly bondage. He consēteth, that it is no synne to marry, no, the seconde and thyrde tyme, if nede so requireth it. And in that he is moch better, than our heretike chaplaine here, whych in dyuerse places of his mangy obieccions, condempneth wyth y• Tartulianystes, Cataphrygeanes, and Catharistes, y• second & third marryages. Thys authour admitteth those marriages for infyrmyteesAuthour. sake, and for none other respect in the scriptures. In the ende he condempneth wythout respecte, all them whych breaketh that yoke of Antichrist, if they be vnmarryed, either yet that throweth asyde that s…are of the deuyll, and returneth againe to theyr marriage, if they were marryed afore. I coulde hauehave brought in, out of the thyrd chapter, whych this chaplaineMarryed here fyrst alleged de fide ad Petrum, to cō found thys naughty doctryne of the same boke, as that all is good whych is sanctyfyed of Gods mouthe, that marryage is Gods wurke, blessed, good, honourable, vnspotted, cleane, no synne, an honest remedy, a chastyte, a mutuall faith, at liberte,vnspotted alwayes lawfull, fyt for Gods seruaū tes, and other lyke, whych I omytte fo… prolyxite.