Defense of Divorce and Remarriage, Chapter 4
THE FOVRTH CHAPTER.
The Conceits of Reason, vrged last aganst vsus, are oversights proceeding from darknes not from light, and Reason it selfe, dispelling the Mist of Popish probabilities, geveth cleare Testimony with the truth of Christ.
THe third and last obiection, wherevppon the I…suit and his schollar stand, is1Argumentum a ratione petitum. conceit of reason: devided into five braunches as it were, or Riverets issuing frō one spring. The water whereof how vnlike it is toaEsay. 8. 6. Ioh. 9. 7. coll. …. 16. the water of Siloah, & savoring of that puddle of which the Romā Deputie Gallo did draw when having vndertaken to doebAct. 18 vers 14. according to reasoncvers 15. he spake prophanely of Religion, &dvers. 17. suffered one to bee wrōgfully vexed for regarding it, as if to doe Iustice in that case were against reason, I leave it to bee iudged and considered by them who saye thateIoh. 1. 5. our reason is naturally darke, andfRom. …. 21 leadeth her wise men into sottish follies, neither can discerne the things which are of God till it bee lightened by his spirit.g1 cor. 2. 14. For although the Papists have some glimse of light & see more then thehIoh. 1. 9. Heathēs, asiIoh. 9. vers, 39. the Pharises didkvers. 40. whose wordes (I am afraied) they will vse likewise: are wee also blinde? yet aslIoh. 3. 4. et. y 4…. et. 11. 48. the Pharises were overseene fowlly in many of their argumēts grounded vponupon reason, so the Papists may bee. And that they not onelyonly may be overseene, but are in the reasons which their puddle-water hath yelded vntounto Bellarmins cisternes in this poynt: the beāes of reasō lightēed frō above shall opē & descrie; let such as love not darknes more then light bee iudges. For hee reasoneth first thus: The Marriage of the faithfull is a singe of Christs coniunction with the Church, as St. mIphe. 5. 32Paule teacheth. But that Coniunction is indissoluble, and cannot bee loosed, The band of Marriage is threfore indissoluble too. As if a rebell should say. The ioyning of the Head with the Body in man resembleth the Coniūction of Christ with the Church as St; nEphes. 4. 15Paul teacheth. But Christ & the Church can never bee parted, there fore the head maye never bee cut from the bodye. A happye cōclusion for Traytors, if it were true. But if it bee faulse where then is Bellarmyns reason? which will take the greater overthrow by this because lookeoEphes. …. 2. how Christ is the head of the Church, semblably the husband is the wives head. So that notwithstanding the similytude of Christs head-ship, the ioynt whereby a traytorous head is knit vntounto his bodye may feele the axe of Iustice, as Bell. will graūt: the marriage band that coupleth a man to an adulterous wife may be loosed by …he like reasō, notwithstāding marriage is a signe of Christs cōiunctiō with the Church. And if this suffice not to make him acknowledg the loosnes & fondnes of his sophistical syllogisme, let him observe farder that the seperatiō which thēselves allowe in case of adultery is condēned by it. For Christ dot cōtinue with his ChurchpMat, 28. 20 alway, & cherisheth herqIoh. 4. 16. for ever with his spirit of cōfort, & he is so farre frō dispoyling her of her owne wealth, if shee had any, that ofrIer. 32. 39. Heb 8 9 Ion. 13. 1 Ephes. 4. 8, 1. Ioh. 2, …7. & …. 9. & 413. & 5. …0. his gifts & graces still he leaveth with her. Now thesBellar de ma trim'sac… Cap. 14. e jure can et Conc. Trident. papists teach that a man may lawfully withdraw himself frō ever dwelling with his wife, & frō yeelding husband-like love & duty to her, yeat… pler… ̄que extr…de doat. inter …xo…ē & virum may stil with-hould her owne dowry frō her, if shee be an adulteresse. Which doctrine how could Bell. cleanse frō stayn of errour, if some whore of Rome should touch it with this reasō. The marriage of the faithful is a signe of Christs cōiū ction with the Church, as PavluEphes. 5. 32. teacheth? but Christ doth stil assist relieve, & enrich the Church with his graces: therefore must the husbād dwel stil with his wife & finde her maintenāce & wealth. WouldxDe mat…m. sacrā. Cap 4. heySeff. 24 C. … say the C. of Trent accurseth al who make such Iesuitical syllogismes & sophymes against their sacred canō. Certainly the harelots reasō must be good vnlesse the Iesuits be naught. But he goeth onward, & addeth that albeit some partes of the Church, to weete, some faithful folke doe comit spiritual whordō now & then, & make a divorcemēt yet it is not lawfull for them to chāge their God. What a spech is this? As who say, our Saviour could deserve at our hands that we should forsake him, & g…t ourselves a newe bridgrō. Neither doth God cast thē so away (saith Bell) that he wil not be recōciled, nay he doth exhort to recōcilemēt 3semper.still; Still? To whom thenzHeb. 4. 13. sware he, they should not enter into his rest? whataNub. 26. 65 were they whose carkeises fell in the wildernes? whence came the man of GodbDeu…. 13. 13 who willed thē that cōmit idolatry to be slayne? where lived thecPsal. 7…. 2…. Prophet who saies Thou distroyest all thē that goe a whoring frō thee: The Israelites whō God did shut out of the promised land, of whō he tooke many thousāds away by sūdry plagues, to whō dRom 3. 19.the lawe speaketh as being vnderunder the law, did they not professe that faith & vse those Sacram. which al that doe are faithful folk & partes of the church ineTom. 1. cōt. …. lib. 3. cap. 2. … 10. Bell. phrase & meaning? I graūt thatfHosea. 2. 2. Rev 2. 21. God offereth to be recō ciled somtymes to such offenders, & waiteth in merciemercy long for their amēdement. which if it be a pattern for vsus to follow herein, I say, if it be, for God gave tyme of repētance tog2. Sam. 3. 27, …. 20. 10. Ioab a will-full murderer, whō thehGen 9. 6. Exo. 21. 14. 1. King. 2. 31. magistrate should have put to deathiEccles. 8. 11. presētly: God gave tyme of repentāce tokIer. 44. vers. 15 et. 19. idolatrous wives of the Iewes, whomlDeut. 13. 6. their husbands ought not to have spared so: if therefore Gods actiō herin be set downe for our imitatiō, the mā that can conteyne, & be without a wife, as God without our service, maye likewise in merciemercy waite for her repentance, & when he perceyveth it to be vnfayned, take her againe to be his wife. But he who can not, or will not render such kindnes for such vnkindnes & wickednes, may in iustice also put her so away that no place or hope of reconcilemēt be left her, as Bell. owne reason in this similitude teacheth. For God is not bound to give vntounto prophane dispisers of his grace & breakers of his covenāt place of repentāce & reconciliatiō: Nay he may in iustice absolutely denye it them, & oftentymes doth as the examples ofmGene. 4. 11 Cain, ofnHeb. 12, 17. Esau, ofoNum. 16. 27 Corah, Dathan & Abiram, ofpNum. 25. 6. Zimri. ofqIos. 7. 25. Acan, ofrAct 5. 6. Ananias & Saphira, of sinfinit other, that hauehave either presētly dyed in their sExod. 32. 28. Num. …1. 1. et. 14. 29 et. 17. …. 14. et. 21. 6. et. 25 ….innes, or had sentence of death pronounced irrevocably against thē, doe argue. wherefore when Bell. cōcludeth this reasō with saying that S.tDe bone cō jug cap. 7. 15. 18. et. 24. Austin vrgeth it greatly in his booke of the Good of marriage: he dealeth as Cookes do in larding leane-meate to give that a relish, which of it self would be vnsavoury. Though even for the lard too perhaps it agreeth not half so wel herewith, as this Italiā cook would have vsus thinke it doth. For why did not S. Austin vrge the same likewise in hisuDe adulter. conjug ad Pollentium. bookes of adulterous marriages writtē xRetractar, lib. 2 cap. 2…. et. 57.afterward & purposely maintaining this Point against Polēti…s who gainsaied him in it? was it because he saw that he had vrged it more thē it would beare wel? or that he perceived it would not hould against an adversarie: though without an adversairye it were a pretie allusion? At least whatsoever men d…eme of the lard, the meat is naught questi…les: & such that though the cook be contēt to eate the driest morsel of it, yet must he nedes graunt that it hath not tast, not as much asyIob. 6. 6. the white of an egg hath. ForzTom 1. cōt. 5. lib. 2. cap. 3… himself saith that marriage betokeneth & signifieth Christs coniūction with the faithful soule, as aIn 4. sent. dis. 27 …. 1. artic. 3 c 2.Thomas &bInnocētiue. the third …. debitum. extra de digamis. the Pope teach. But Chricts coniunctiō with the faithful soule is not indissoluble, as him self also saith: the bād of marriage therfore (by his owne cōsequē ce) may be dissolved & loosed. And thus farr of his first sophisme.
The next is that if other marriage were lawful, 4Injuria a… ceretur proles.the of-spring should be iniuried: for the childrē borne already (saith he) should be evill provided for, who should begin to have a stepfather in steed of a father, a stepmother in steed of a mother. where hence the conclusiō secretly inferred, to weere that… other marriage therfore is not lawful, would very wel folow if his formost groūd & propositiō were true, that the childrē should be iniuried therby. For it is not lawful to deale iniuriously with any he cCol. 3. 25.that doth wrong shal receive for it. But how proveth Bel. that they should be iniuri…d? His reason ensueth. for they should be evill provided for. what? therefore iniured? Is God vniust then, who by taking men out of this present life, doth leave their wives widowes; & their children fatherlesse; both often destitute of help? God forbid (saithdRom. 3. 6. the Apostle) els how shall God iudg the world? But the childrē shold be endamaged therby; & that perhaps will Bell. say was his …. well. They should be endamaged & evil provided for. Why? Because they should have a stepfather in steed of a father or stepmother in steed of a mother. Then belikeeRom. 11. 24 the braūches cut of the Olivtree which was wild by nature & graffed cōtrary to nature in aright Olivetree, are evill provided for & endamaged by it. For as when a gardiner asked why the hearbs which he set or sowed doe grow and shoot vp slowly, where weeds which the earth brought forth of her owne accord encreased apace,fMax Pla. nud. in Aesopi vita. Aesop said that it was because the earth is the weeds mother, & the herbs step-mother: so the wild Olive tree was the mother that brought forth those braūches: the right Olive tree whereinto they were graffed, is their step mother. S. Paul, gRom. 11. 17who thought it better for vsus of the Gentiles to be graffed so, thē to continue as we werehEphes. 2. 3. the children of wrath by nature: declareth thati1. Cor. 7. vers. 15. a Christiā whose wife being an infidel, an vnbeleelever, forsaketh him, is free to marrie another. Which (cōsidering that he had an ey tokvers. 14. the holy seede, their ofspring also) what letteth him to have done with this persuasion, that the children, should receive more good & benefit by a beleeuing step-mother, then by an vnbeleeving mother. DoubtlesselEphes. 6. 4. his care of having them brought vp in godlynes, a thing thatmProv. 31. 1. 2, Tim …. …. godly mothers doe furder very much, &n…. king, 8, …6, 2 Cor. …2. vngodly hinder, is a great argumēt he was of this minde. And the sonne of Catiline, whom thatoCie cōtr, Ant et Cat…l …n toga cand. adulterous wretchpCic. in Cat…l …rat …, Sa tust. …ōju… cat…l. his father murdered to compasse the more easily the liking of a woman whom he lusted after, hath left sufficient proofes that some havīg fathers are no better looked to for things of this life neither, then they should of likelyhood, if in steed therof they had stepfathers. Wherfore sith experiēce verifieth the same in mē which5Neque femi …a am…ssa pu…icitia al…a ab …uerl… Corn…ac…tus anual …. quarto in woemen, that whē they have made shipwracke of their chastity, they will not sticke at any wickednes: the argumēt that childrē should be endmaged & evil provided for, because in steed of adulterous fathers or mothers, they should have stepfathers, stepmothers, chast, & honest, is6Adulterorū irgo de serui omn̄ Sen. is …gamemnon, worse provided for by Bell. then he thought. But suppose it were good, & proved that the childrē should be endamaged how followeth the conclusion? The childrē should be endamaged by āother marriage: Diodor Sic …er 12. Iul. Capitol … M. Anton. …ilos.therfore the marriage is not lawful? for by this reason a beleeving husbād forsaken by his wife being an vnbelever, may not take āother if he had childrē by the former. Nay no wife or husbād having any childrē may lawfully ever marry againe eithrEpist, 10, ad …uriam de vi …it servand. of thē after the others death. And in deede by a law that q Charondas made for his Thurian Cityzens, the men who did so were punished. And Marcus Antoninus, an Emperour of Rome, because he was loath to wedd a step-mother to his children his wife being dead, kept a concubine. And S.s…ccum secūd … extra de …cūdis nupt. 1 cor. 7. 9. Ierom speaking as the Catharists did, against second mariage, doth by detestatiō of a stepfather dissuad a widowe from it. ButtSent. lib. 4. …it, 39. e, the Papists hold agreeably tou…anto extra … divortis, scripture that the man is at liberty to marry in the Lord after the womās death, the womā after the mans: yeaxThe later …ap 12, …e former …ap. 16, lib. …, sa …am. in life tyme also, if either of them being an infidel & vnbeleever forsake the other being a Chistiā. And Bell. acknowledgeth that they hold both these poynts, & ought to hold them. Bellar. shall therfore doe well to acknowledg that his step-reason, which oppugneth both these poynts of sound doctrine, savoureth of heresie, neither maketh more for him against vsus, then for the Catharists against the Catholique fathers. Wherewith he may confesse too that he hath abused Ambrose in affirming this to be his reasō: & avouching him to say, that the Father ought to pardō the Mothers fault for the childrens sake. For S.zIn caput …6. Lucae. Ambrose blaming the man, who7Dimitis … r1 quafi jure fiue crimine puteth away his wife without cryme, & marrieth another, an adulteresse by so marrying; mislyketh that the children should have such a stepmother having such a mother vnderunder whom they might be. And if the mother, being put away so, tooke another husbād, who in this case were an adulterer: S. Ambrose wisheth the childrē to be vnderunder their father, not vnderunder such a step-father. And if the Father casting out his wife so, cast out his childrē with her: S. Ambrose saith the children should ratherpurchase pardō for8culpam which he seē eth also to distinguish frō crime, neither to meane adultery therby but lighter of fences: such as honest wives sometims doe cōmitt through oversight of shrewishnes noted by S. Ambrose before in these wordes, u…ori os debes toller are et emenda re mores and by antquity in the Proverb Qui nō litigat caeleb. est. their mothers fault at their fathers hands, then bee cast out for her sake. Wherin he doth no more saye that the father ought to pardon the mothers adultery for the childrens sake; then Abraham said that God ought to forgive the Sodomites abhominatiō foraGen. 19. 29. 2. Pet. 2. 7. Lots sake, when he said thatbGen 18. vers. 24. the wicked should rather be spared for the righteous, thē thecvers. 23 …. 25. righteous should be destroied with the wicked. But here peradvēture the Pāphletter wil reply that although Bell. author & argument (as himself observed, who there vponupon cut Bell. shorter) prove not his intent, to weete that another marriage is vnlawful: yet they prove such marriage to be inconvenient in respect of the children, to whom there riseth hurt and discomodity by it. For answer whervnto & to the like reasōs drawen by him & Bell. from other inconveniences, seven things are to be noted: al such as our adversaries themselves must needes yeeld to, & yeelding therevnto shall set on fire their owne chaffe. The first that the man whose wife is an adulteresse: may putt her absolutly away, for al his liftyme: nor is ever boūd to let her dwel with him againe, noe not though she repent. Which point being plainly implied in ourdMatt 19. 9. saviours answer to the Pharises,eDe Matrim. Sacram. lib. 14. Bel. avoucheth & maintaineth thēce: agreably to the doctrin of his chiefest guids thef… de Benedicto. 32. q 1. c. gaudemus, extra de convers conjugat; c. Significasts, de divor…i…, Popes &gIm 4 Seut. dist 35 art. 6. Thomas of Aquine. The second that if the woman continue in her wickednes, without repentance & amē dement, the man is by duty bound to put her away. S. Mathew reporteth, of the blessed virgin, that when she was found to be with child of the holy Ghost, before her husband Ioseph & she came together, hMatt. …. 1….Isoseph being a iust man, & not willing to make her a publicke exaample, was minded to put her away secretly. Of which words importing that iustice moved him to put her away, goodwill to doe it secretly, it seemeth to follow, that such a woman as Ioseph misdeemed her to be, to weete an adulteresse, cānot be kept without sinne, whether she repent or no. AndiComment. in p…roverb. cap 18. Cornelius Iansenius a learned byshop of the Papists graunteth herevpon, that it was so in the old Testament. But in the new Testamēt, he saith, if she repēt she may be kept with out sinne: acknowledging that she may not in the new Test. neither vnlesse she repent. Whervnto the Canonists & Schoolemen doe accord; expounding a sentence cited by manykHiéron. in Matt. cap. 19. Basil and Amphiloe. can. 9. et …1. Sent. synod. in Trull. can. …8 Innocent. ter…. lib. 1. de contempt. mundi. cap. 18 Fathers out of the Proverbs of Salomon, lProverb. 18. 22.He that keepeth an adulteresse, is a foole and a wicked man; a sentence found in the Greeke text of the Proverbs albeit not expressed out of the Hebrue Fountaine, but added by the Seventie Interpreters, or other, perhaps to shew that Salomon cōmending a wife, did meane a chast wife in their Iudgment, but added in the Greeke, & thence translated also into the common Latin edition called S. Ieroms, so that it goeth for Scripture with Papists by theirmConcil. Trident, sess. 4 Trent Canon; this sentence I say, &nC. sieut crudelis. c. Dixit. Dominus 32. q. 1. the Canons of the Fathers that vrge it vndistinctly against whosoever kepeth an adulteresse, whether repentāt or vnrepentāt, in like sorte as theoL. 2 Lenocinij De ad Legem Iuliani de adult. l crimen leno cinij, c, eo. Civill Law cōdēned all such,pIn subaudi tur. quod si 32 q. 1. the Canonists &qIn 4. sent. dist 35. School-mē distinguish & expoūd of such as kepe adulteresses, which doe not repent & amend their lives. Now graunting that a man may keepe an adultereffe in matrimony if shee repent, or being divorced from her, may take her again: yet (which is the third point) hee may not doe it often least impunitie encrease inequitie. And this is agred on by the same pillars of the Church of Rome, therIn c sivir sciens extra de adulter. Canō ists &sIn 4. sent. dist. 35. Schoole-mē.tPastoris. lib. 2, mond, 4, 9 Sed non sae peservis enim Dei poeniren tia una est, Hermes out of whō the Maister of the sē tences aleageth & avoucheth it, meant (as his reason brought to prove it argueth) that the man may take her so againe but once. Which doctrine the Papists can make Canonicall if they list, vnlesse uprincip, fid, doctrinal, lib, 9 Cap ult.Stapleton lie, who saith their Catholique Church at this present may add to the Catalogue of Cāonicall Scriptures that bool… of Hermes, written in the Apostles tyme by S. Pauls schollar, not onelyonly cited much but cōmended too by many & most aūcient Fathers, Clemens, Ireneus, Origen, Athanasius,, Eusebius, & Ierom. At least the chiefest part of the Canon LawxPrefat, Grec 9. in libro S quinque Decretalium, cōpiled by the directiō and ratified by the authority of Pope Gregory the ninth, setting downe the verie same out of ayThe Coūcel of Arles as most copies reade: or of Orleans as otner. Councel that Peter Lombard out of Hermes: the Papists though they will not (I trow) be of Stapletons minde for1Liber qu… appellatur Pastoris, Apocryphus dist. 15 c. Sancta Romana B…l, Tom. … cont. 1 lib, 1. cap. ult. Hermes booke, yet may think it likely that the Coū cel & Pope approved his meaning in this point. Chiefly sithzIn c. si vir sciens de adult. Panormitan, the flouer of the Canonists having noted on it that one offending often must not be pardoned, because sinnes vnpūished doe becom examples, citeth an excelent proofe & light therof a lawe of worthy Emperors, Valētinianus, Theodosius, & Arcadius. aL 3. c. de episcop audiētwho graū ting a generall pardon for smaler trespasses extended it to none2Remissionē veniae crimina nisi simel commissa non habeant. cōmitted oftner thē once; accoūting such vnworthy of their Princilie favour, as grew by their former forgivenesse to a custome of sinning rather then to amendement. But whether the Papists will iudge those Christian Emperours to have bene to strickt, & saie that adulterie deserveth pardon oftener thē lesser faults with thē, or whether they thinke it sufficient to pardon once so great a crime, which the Emperours excepted by name out of their pardon, & willed it to be punished even the first tyme: the Papists doe agre that a husbād must not forgive it to his wife oftē. The fourth thing to be noted is, that the womā being putt away so, doth lose her dowry too by law. Which pūishmēt asbHos. 2, 9. God hath threatned by his law to men that goe a whoring frō him, though they have not any dowrie of their owne neither, but of his gift: so thecAuthens. utliceat ma… et aviae Quia veto plutim, collat 8. Civil Law hath īsticted it on adultrous wives, &dc pierunq extra de donat. inter. virum et uxorē, the Canō Law ī looser tymes also. The fifth, that many persons mistake theeGen. 2. 18. help prepared of God, & marry or doe worse: cōsidering that some cannot conteine, as Popefc. Quod proposuitti. 32. q. 7. Goegory noteth touching men S.gin. 16 cap. Lucae Necessitas illius tuū. crimen est. Cor. 7. 37. Ambrose touching wemen, thehMat. 19. 11. 1 Cor. 7. 7. Scripture touching both; some, though they could perhaps, yet should hurt their bodies by sicknesse, if they did, asiHippoer de morb popular lib. o Sect. 5. Galen. lib. 6. de locis affect. cap. 5. Paul Aegenet, lib. 1. cap. 35. physique &kPlato de legib. lib. 11. Aristot Problē, sect, 1. quaest. 51. sect. 4. quaest. 17. 30. et. 31. Phylosophie teach; some though neither chastity nor health enforce thē to marry, yet need it for their state of living, aslIn. 4. Sent. dist. 35. art. 2. Dominicus Soto doth prove by certain poore husbād-men & labourers. The sixth, that if a man die & have no sonne, his inheritāce ought to come to his daughter by themNura 27. g. Law of Moses and if he have no daughter, it ought to come to his bretherē; and if he have no brethereē, to his Fathers bretherē, and so forth to the next kinsman of his familie. VntoUnto which ordināce: the lawes of al wel nOf the Gr…tians, of the Romans, of our owne countrie and the rest.ordred states & cōmon weaks are, though in certaine circū staunces different, yet in substance sutable. The seavēth, that it is sundry wayes incōmodious for a child to be vnlawfully begottē, and (as we tearme it) base borne because both theoEsay …7. 3. Chrysost in e… ist. ad Rom. hom. 24. ignomenie thereof is a blemish, &pPlutarch de liberor eō …at that blemish bredeth basenes of courage; &qHeb 12. …. Ch…ysostom in epist ad Hebr. Rom. 29 c si gens Anglot. dist 36. bastards are not brought vp so well by their parents as lawfull children vse to be: neither are they priviledged a like; & preaferred torDeut. 12. 2. Conc. Pict, c. 1. extra. de filijs presbyt Cōcil. Lateran. sub. Alexandro Tertio cap 3. L generaliter. Sparios D. de Dceurionibus place of publique government, orsIudg. 11. 2. L. 3 D. de lib et past L ult c. de naturalib. lib. 1. l. ex cō plexu. c. de incestis nuprijs Benefit of inheritance, by Lawes divine or humane. And these things being weighed well shew that Bellarmins reason corrected by the Pamphleter needeth a new correction: & if inconveniences might decide our question which they cannot doe fortCor. 6. 12. manie things are lawfull that are not expedient but if they might decide it, they would swaie with vsus rather then against vsus. For in case the man, burning with iealousie & ragevProv. 6. 34. Lysie apolog pro Erastesthems caede. which is vsuall in this kinde of iniurie or the woman beeing (asxProverb. 6. …4. et. 7. 11. et 30. 20 c Se. mel malus. de regul is Juris. in Sexto. adulteresses commonlye are) wicked, impudent, once naught & alwaies naught, hee will not, or maie not keepe or take her againe, the childrē missing her, are destitute of a mother to looke to their education. And then it were better for thē that their father tooke a second wife to bring thē vp, asyDelegibus. lib. 11. Plato thought. Wherein another man might have the like successe that Poris (a gentlemā of Macedōia) had,zLiv. lib. 40. whose former wives childrē were brought vp as wel and carefully by their stepmother as her owne children were. But if it fall not out with many as with him, and the childrenfind more sharp & hard vsage at their stepmothers hands, who knoweth whether it may not turne to their more good. Chiefly fith the tender indulgēce of Parēts dotha1 Sam. 2. 29. nourish wanton wickednesse, in the sonnes of Eli, b1. King. 1. 6.ambition in Adonia, cProv …. 18. et, …3. 3.trāsgressions in whō not? anddEphes 6. 4. moderat severitye would restrayne the same? asevirg eclog. 3 one who sayde he had a cruel stepmother & a father,fTheociīt. Idyll 8. another who foūd like fault with his father & mother, both for feare restraīng thēselves from tricks of ūthrifts did shew by their examples. Here is a farder help too for the childrens benefite, that their father having their mothers whole dowry, beside whatsoever the second wife bringeth is able to doe more for thē. Wheras contrarywise; if by means he cānot live single & ūmarried, he be constrained to keepe the adulteresse still, or after seperation to receive her againe: she is likely togEzek. 6 33. geve her owne & her husbāds goods to her lover, ashCornel Tacit anual. lib. 11. Messallina did to Siluis; or though she take gifts & rewards of him, toiProverb 7. vers. …. 14, 26. et 17. wast all in riot, as thekSalust. co… jur, catil. whores of Cattilines cōfederacie did. Moreover a woman that can have no sonnes, but daughters onelyonly by her husband, may have sonnes by another man, aslde genit. Hippocrates sheweth. Which if the adulteresse have by her lover, the daughters to whō the inheritance should come are defrauded of it, And if she have but daughters or yōger sōnes by him, the bastards; presūed to be lawful childrē, defraude the lawful children of so much as them selves gett. The Cuckow hatcheth her eggs in other birds nests, & the eggs she findeth of theirs, she devowreth, asmde hist, āial lib 6. cap. 7. Aristotle writeth: or, asnNatur. hist. lib. 10. cap. 9. Plinie sayth, the birds that sitteh abroade vpō her owne eggs & the Cuckows, when both their yong are bred vp, liketh the Cuckows bird better then her owne, & suffereth them to be devoured of him in her owne sight. A tearme in reproch drawne in many languages frō the Cuckows name to note their3Vestigia … alieni, Collatine in locto sunt tuo. Li…. lib. 2. calamity, or (if they suffer it wil lingly) dishonesty, who receive other men into their bedds & foster vp their childrē, may be a sufficiēt lesō for a father what cōfort & benefit his childrē are to looke for by having such a mother to feede & oversee them. Beside to omitt suspiciō of bastardy, where by his children also may be discouraged & stained) himselfeoL. crimen Lenocinij. c. ad leg. Iul. de adult. 32. q, 1. D Quodsi. shal be coūted a bawd vntounto his wife, & must (by a Canon of thepc 12. C. of Nantes) doe seaven yeres publique penance, & be shut out al that while from the cōmunion, yea want the cōfort therof even at his death too, (by anotherqConcil. Eliber. can. …5. Co.) if he be of the Cleargie. And how can he choose but live still in feare & anguish of minde, least shee addrDeut. 29. 19 drūckēnesse to thirst, & murder to adultery: I meane least she serve him assSenec Agamemnon. Clytemnestra did Agamemnon, astCorn. Tacit. Annal. lib, 4. Livia did Drusus asvHoll…she d… Chron in K. Edward the sixth. Mrs. Arden did her husband? or if to avoyd these griefes of shame & daūger he put her quite away & resolve never to come againe in house with her: he may incurre as great daūger or shāe, or both, nay greater, on the other side, by lack of a necessary help for his living, or by state of body subiect to certain sicknesses or by incōtinecie, whether cōsūingx1. Cor. 7. 9. & burning him without remedy, or forcing himyProv. 5. 20. et. …, 32. et. 7. 27. to dānable remedies of whorszLevit. 20. 13 or worse. Further more his wife, the adulterous mother, may be the boulder to sinne, & to returnea2. Pet 2. 22. as the dog to his vomitt, & the sow washed to wallowing in the myer, if she know her husband canot want a wife, & must have her or none, which perhaps moved that Gētlewomā of Rome to be the more lic̄etious,bSueton Tiber cap. …5. whom her husbād foūd plaing the incestuous whore with their sonne in law:4Quamse …uquam repudiaturum ante jurevarat. after that she had her husband boūd by oth that he would never seperate & divorce her frō him, so to be free to marry another, And why may not she live too in perpetual heavinesse & feare, least her husbād being chayned with such necessity, should seeke to get himself libery of marrying by making her away? There was a certaine Spanjard, whose wife drivē out by him for her adultery & eftsoons recōciled, was, when she offended againe, divorced frō him by an Ecclesiasticall Iudge, at his suite, & shutt into a monastery. The husbād saying afterward that he loved her, & that he agreed for feare to the divorcemēt, desired that he might be recōciled to her, & she restored to him, according to thecAuthent. Sed hodie c. ad leg …ul. de adult. Civill LawdConsilior. lib 3. de regu…ib cons. 8. Navarus (as famous a man for skil in canō law, amōg the Papists, as Bell. for Divinity) being asked his iudgmēt what should be doneheriu, made answer,eIuxtragloss. cap Agathosa 27. q. …. that the wife divorced in such sort, is not boūd to returne againe ūto her husbād, & that the husbands speech of his affectiō must not be easily beleeved, because he may faine it to the intēt to allure her therby to dwell with him, that he may slea or poysen her,5Ex amore con…tahendi cum al…a post e…us …or…ē … A Marques through desire of marrying another wife, after her death. Of which thing (saith Navarus) there may suspiciō & cōiecture rise out of the circūstances of her offence; & his suite: cheifly in a man of the Spanish natiō, which is more inclined to beare smal love to their wives yea being chast, then to be reconciled to thē being adulteresses, specially after the first tyme. Now though Spanjards chiefly be prone to worke such feats of slaying or poysoning, as this man who knew thē (himself a Spanjard) witnesseth: yet an Italiā fFerrara. Laon. Chaco…end derebus Tu…e lib. 6.Marques, who put to death his wife taken in adulttry & married another, declareth that6E. mounol phileous a…ox ous meropon anthropon Atreidas … omer lliad …. L. si. uxor D. ad leg. …ul. de adulter. not only Spanjards wil adventure to make their wives away, if finding thē vnchast, they must have some and would have better.Pollaki ka i …umpasa p… …is kahou a… dros e paurel. Hefiod. ope…ib et d…eb. Finally if the wife, not able to have any childrē by her husband, have some by an adulterergHippocras de gē …is. (for this may come to passe also) the brethren,… pollaki Ka i …m pasa po…is Kahou an…dros e paurel. Hesiod ope…ib et dieb. or the next of kinne to the husband, shal loose his inheritance: & that which they ought to enioy by right the adulterous seede will intercept & putloine. I let passe the publike harmes & discōmoditis which byhlos. …. 11. …udg. 19. 25. et 20. 3…. Hos. 4. …. such iniquities of private persons were likely to accrew to the comō weale. These that I have touched suffice to overweigh our adversaries reason drawen frō incōveniēces. For if I should stand on the childrē alone, evē those alreadie borne whom7Eilij s jam … Bell. expressely mētioneth & nameth: the hardnes of a stepfather or stepmother lighting on them by the second marriage, can̄ot cōuterpeise the losse in educatiō, wealth, inheritance, honour, which an adulterous parent bringeth. Beside that the children to be borne afteward (as Bell. by naming those already borne seemeth to confesse) should be evil provided for: whose basenes of birth & discōmodities following it Proceeded frō restraint of maring again after divorcemēt for adultery. Wherfore if we put withall in our ballāce the detrimēts & harmes, that grow to the father, the mother, the brethrē & kinsmē of the father I might say to the cōmon weale too: the balāce of out adversaries wilbe tilted vp so high by the weight of ours, as if it were lighter then vanity it selfe.
And thus by the way, of weaknes of Bell. third & fourth reasōs is descryed & daūted. The third that if the marriage wee treat of were lawful, a gapp would be opēed to infinit divorcemēts, yea urōgful & vniust. The fourth, that if the innocēt party may marry, the nocent also may, who thē should gaine by his sinne, & many would sinne of purpose that thy might marry others. For as one of the wisest, & best learned PopesiPlatina de vitis p…ntificum. in Pio. … Pius the 2 said, that marriage was taken away frō Priests for great cause, but ought to be restored to them for greater: so may a iudicious & discrete Papist supposing these reasos of Bell. to be soūd, say that marriage after devorcemēt for adulterie was taken away from men vppon many & good cōsideratiōs: but ought to be restored vntounto them again vponupon more & better. Howbeit I must add thervnto that although his reasons be cōfuted sufficiētly with this supposali, lett them be tried also by the rules of reason, & it wil appeare they are a great deale soūder in shew then in deede. ForkIn nocen… quart in. c. si se duxerit. extra de adult Hostièns sum de adult. 7. the divorcemēt of an adulteresse from her husbād is pūishmēt of her sinn: as hāging with vsus is a pūishmēt of theeves, of cutpurses, & burning through the eare of rogues. So that Bell. reasō cōcluding the marriage in question to be vnlawful, because a gap would be opened to infinite divorcemēts, is like as if a libertine or vagabond should say, that it is vnlawful for Iudges to do iustice on rogues, theeves, & cutputses, because there would be opened a gap to infinite hangings, & burnings through the eares. But some men (sayth Bell.) would sowe debates, pick quarels, devise faulse accusatiōs against their wives being innocent: & so a gap would be opened to wrōgfull divorcemēts, not to divorcemēts onelyonly. What? must no offen no traytour, no blasphemer then be put to death because many thousands ofl1. King 2. 13. Act. 6. 13. et. 7 58. The magtirs spoken of in the bookes of Machabees, Eusebius, Victor Mr. Fox. and others. innocent persons, yeamMatt. 26, 66. et. 27, 24. innocēcie it self, have bene accused falsely, & putt to death wrōgfullie? Or if Bell. graunt, that although somenAct. 23. 3. sitting to iudge according to the law, doe manifest wrong to guiltlesse men against law, yet must wicked miscreants be exeqūted by the Magistrate oRom. 13. 4who beareth not the sworde in vaine: he graunteth it is cavilling captiousnes & sophistrie to conclude that mē divorced lawfulie may not marry because some would therefore be divorced vnlawfully. The greater was his fault to say that this reason is touched by, S. pIn 19. caput. Matthel.Ierom: whose oversight he should have done better to acknowledg & friendly to excuse it by his haste in writing; for haste is unadvised & blinde (asqLivij lib. 12 one said well) thē by his name to countenance so weake a reason in it self, so daungerous in cōsequence, which overtroveth all administring of Iuctice & iudgmēt. And sithrDe matrim. Sacram. cap. 14. himself teacheth against S.sIn eundem locum Matt. Ieroms iudgmēt that a man whose wife entiseth him to heresie, or to wicked deedes, may be divorced from her because although the womans chastitie should come thereby into hazard, yet lesse is the perill & hurt of her adulterie then of his wickednes or heresie, & the churche provideth rather for the innocent partie, then for the nocent: hee might with a litle indifferēcie & equitie of an vnpartial eye, have seene that the Church should by the same reason allowe the innocent to marrie: at least that S. Ieroms creditt cannot preiudice vsus more in the one point thē him in the other. True is that (I cannot denie) which hee addeth true, most true & certaine, that the8Commodū ex peccato suo adulter repor ta…et. offendours should gaine by their sinne, if they might also marrie, as well as the innocent. They should gaine in deede. But astDan. 4, 16. Daniel said vntounto Nabuchodonosor; the dreame be to thē that hate thee & the interpretatiō therof to thine enemies: In like sort may I say, this gaine be to the enemies of God & of his Church. For adulterers & adulteresses doe gaine. first, dishonesty,u1, Cor. 6. 1…. defiling their bodies & soules with an heynous & detestable crime. ThenxProv. 6. 26. hardely scape they, but they gaine beggary too: the man if he be a whormōger, wasting all cōmonly as theyLuk. 15. vers. 13. et. 30. prodigal child did; the womā losing her dowry. BesidezProv. 6. 33. they gaine infamy; a gaine of greater value thē beggary by much: foraProv. 22. 1. a good name is to be chosen above great riches. Last of al theybProv. 6. 29. …. Cor. 69. Heb. 13. 4. gaine the heavie wrath of God, & his iust vēgeāce: they lose the inherttāce of the kingdō of Heaven, & purchase to to thēselves the chaines of darknes for ever Lueretia a matrone of Rome in tyme of pagāisme, having suffered violence of Sextus Tarquinius, when her husband being sent for to come vntounto her9Quae…enti vito Satin Salvae minemé inquit. quid enim salvi est mu…eri amissa pud. citia? Liv. lib. 1. did aske her Is all well? No quoth she; for what is well with a woman, her chastity being lost? yet she if better iudgemēt might have prevailed with her, had not lost her chastity: her body being onelyonly defiled by force, her mind vndefiled. But now a Christian man, if yet a Christian; sure a Iesuit, the chiefest instructer of the youth of Rome & of the Komanists through al Christendō, doth mainteyn in print that Lucretia, not she I spake of but suchlLucretia … mine sed re Thais Alexandri filia sponsa nuru… Sanazor in epigram…. a Lucretia as the 2Pope Alexander the Sixth of whō the Epigrā goeth. Sextus Tarqu… n, Sextus Ne to Sextaset fu… est Sempere… a Sextu. diruta Roma facePopes daughter was having lost not onelyonly chastety but also wealth, good name, Gods favour,c1. Tim. 4. 8. the promise both of this life & the life to come, yet if being put away from her husbād she may take another, hath gained by her losses, because she may be married to her Tarquinius, & match a gracelesse whore with a shamlesse beast.
As for the last of Bell. poynts of inconvēce that many would cō mitt adultery of purpose to the intent of being set free from their former wives, they might marry others: it may be some would. And I have readdSigismund commentar, rerum Musco vitar. of a womā that had a desire to be beaten of her husbād: which she foūd means also (as she was witty) to obtein, in so much that she put it oft in practise, till having cruelly beatē her at length he killed her. The man who of purpose to get a newe wife would cōmitt adultery, should desireeLuk. 12, 47. more strips then that woman meant &fRev. 21. 8. die a death infinitly more greivous then shee did. But if some as wise almost as shee was should long after scourges: must they who deserve by law to be whipped be denyed it, because a foole desyred it without desert? The Romans had an aūcientgleg duodec… tabular. law that whosoever did a man iniurie, should by way of punishmēt pay him3Viginti quin que … paen… sun… for the viginti quinque asses. which some thinke to bee a third parte more, then so many half pence: some alitle lesse vpō a difference of weights, not materiall to this poynt. about a shilling. TherehA Gell. Nect Actic. 1. 20. … was a lewd losell, a youthly, harebraynd Ruffian, who having wealth at will & taking a delight in geving honest mē boxes on the eares, would walke vp & down with a pursefull of shillings, which his slave attending on him did carrie & geving one a boxe would bidd his slave geve him a shelling, another a boxe & ashilling. What was in this case to bee done for remedie? If Bellarmin had lived there & bene of Counfail to the state, wee see the advise hee would have geven: namely that the amerciement should be taken away because some would doe men iniurie of purpose to fulfill their lusts with paying of a shilling or two. But the Roman governours tooke contrarie order, to encrease the amerciement, according to the discretion & arbit remēt of Iudges: that evill disposed persons might be deterred frō trespassing by sharpnes of the punishment to be inflicted on them for it, Whose wisdome therein it is to be wished that Princes and rulers remembring themselves to be ordained as David betimes to destroy all the wicked of the Land, would follow by increasing the punishment of adultery: And then should Bell. mouth be the sooner stopped for his fourth reason. Which yet in the mean while doth no better prove that faithful husbands seperated from adulterous wives may not marry againe, thē vserers & extortiōers procuring wealth by wicked & vngodly means doe prove that honest-men may not enioy the goods which by lawful trades & vertuous industrie they gett.
The fifth & last is, that even among the Heathē too, where good orders flourished, no divorces were made. For no bill of divorcement was written as Rome, for the space almost of six himdred yeares after the City was buylt: but afterward, good orders beeing overthrowen, divorces also were brought in with other vices. And this reason Bellar. doth lard after his maner withkApologet. cap. 6. Tertulliās name, to season it there, by & give it some verdure. But it is such caraine that the lard is lost, & all the cookery cast away.lValerius. Max lib. 2. cap. …. Au… …. lib 4, c. 3 e. severus Sulpirius, Plutareh in Romulo. who (both there and in N…ma) misreckoneth the yeares vnles it were the … or booke writers fault which is mo…kely. For the first divorce which was made at Rome, was of a chast wife put away by her husband because she was barrein, & did not beare him children. Now to seperate husbands & wives for such causes (we graunt) it is vnlawful:mMatt. 9. 9 our Saviour allowing it for whoredō onelyonly. The example therefore of the well ordred Romans is in vaine alleaged out of Tertulian against vsus. But neither was there any divorce for adultery made above five hundred yeares among them, will Bell. perhaps say. I graunt. And I will help with a stronger argument: that among the Cians (a state well ordered too) seaven hundred years did passe before any divorcemet was made for adultery. For (asnDe … mulieru…. Plutarch writeth) there was no adulterye cōmitted by the space of so many hundred yeares among them. But among the Romās (will Bell, perhaps reply) it is likely that some was cōmitted within five hūdred yeares. True. ButoD…onys. Halycarn Annal. Roman. lib 2 … Tranquil Tiber. Cap. 4. the husband then might put his wife to death (being convicted first of adultery)4In adulteri… vxorē tuā si deprehēd isses fine judicio minime neca ris. Cic Orat de …. A Cell. lib. 10 Ca. 23. without al publique iudgement. So that if Bell words have any force, this is their effect, Among the Heathen Romanes while good orders flourished, the woman that cōmitted adultery suffered death: afterward good orders being overthrowen, she was divorcend onelyonly. But whether she were put away by death or by divorcement, the man might marry again. Wherefore the example of the Heathen Romans, both well and evill ordered, fighteth against the Popish Romans, and their Champion. Hereto the example ofqThe Greeians Aegiptiaus Perstans and the rest. all other Heathens, whose orders were but so good that they allowed second marriage, may be adioyned, Which I doe not affirme so much on myne owne knowledg (though for ought I have read & remember it is true) as on Bellarmins secret confession and silence a man of greater reading, and having vsed manie mens paines in search of these thinges. Beside, when Christian faith came among the Heathens therInstitut de public. judic. Itē lex Iuha de. adult for lex Iulia spokē of there, is not the law as it was made first by Augustus. but as it was corrected afterward by Constantine or by some other Christian Emperour Emperours did punish adulterie first by death: afterward Iustinian mitigating that law did punish it by divorcement. But insCod. de secūdis, nuptijs de repudijs. both these cases the man being severed from his adulterous wife was free to marrie againe. Bellarmins speech therefore towching well ordered Heathens came in evill seasō, to raise both them & others yea Christians too, against him. So his last reason, nay his reasons all are growne to be in worse plight, then were the seaven later kyne in Pharaos dreame, the seaven poore, evil favoured & leane fleshed kyne,tGen. 43. 2…. that devoured the seaven former fatt well favoured, & there by saved their life. For the thinne carkeises dreamed of by Bellarmin have not strength enough to overmaister & eate vp the sound bodies of reasons standing ther against, but gasping after them in vaine they die with famin. And thus having proved that neither light of reason, nor consent of Fathers, nor authority of scripture dispro…eth our assertion. I conclude that point demonstrated at first by the worde of truth, the doctrine of Chrict, That a man having putt away his wife for her adulterye may lawfullie marrie another.
foreign.
End of the text · John Rainolds, Defense of Divorce and Remarriage (1609)