Defense of Divorce and Remarriage, Chapter 3

Defense of Divorce and Remarriage · Chapter 3

p. 44THE THIRD CHAPTER.

The consent of Fathers, the seconde pretended proofe for the Papists doctrine in this point, is pretended falsly: and if all be weighted in an even ballance, the Fathers check it rather.

AFter the foresaid testimonies of scripture vrged by our adversaries in the first place for the commending of their errour: Secondly, the same truth (saith the Iesuit) may be proved by tradition. By which his owne speeche, if we should take advauntage of it, he graunteth all that I have said agaynst his arguments drawen out of the scripture, and so farre forth agreeth with vsus. For what vnderstandeth, hee by the word Tradition? A doctrine not written, asaaTom. …eont 1. lib. 4. cap. 2 him-self professeth in his first controversie. Where having noted that al though the word tradition be generall & signifieth any doctrine written or vnwritten, which one imparteth to another, yet divines, & almost all the auncient fathers, applie it to signifie vnwritten doctrine onelyonly: And soe will wee hereafter vse this word saith hee. If the point in question thē may be proved (as Bellarmin affirmeth it may) by tradition: We might conclude it is not written in the scriptures, by his owne verdict, and therefore all the scriptures alleaged by him for it are alleaged falsly. But hee seemeth to vse the name of traditiō in like sort asbbcont heres. cap. 1. et 41 Vincentius Lirmensis doth, calling the doctrine delivered by the church the Churches tradition. This to be his meaning I gather by the reason that hee addeth saying for there are extant the testimonies of the fathers in all ages for it. The Pāphletter in other words, but more perēptorily to avouch the proofe thereof by the opinion and censure of all ages, affirmeth, he will shewe that it was never thought lawfull since Christ, for Christians divorced for fornication to marry anie other while both man and wife lived. That it was never thought lawfull since Christ, is a boulder speeche them Bellarmin doth vse: though to hitt the marke as it were with his shaft, hee must and doth imply as much in that p. 45hee saith it may be proved by tradition. For traditiō hath not force enough to prove a thing to be true, not in the Papists owne iudgment, vnles it have bene alwaies approved & agreed on by the generall consent of Fathers, (as we tearme them) Pastors and Doctors of the Church. Which I affirme not vponupon the generall rule ofcccap. 3 et 40. Vincentius onelie so greatly, and so often praised by them as golden: But vponupon the Canon of the Trent councell and pillars of the Popīsh churche subscribing to it. For theddSession 4. councell of Trent commanding that no man shall expound the scripture against the sense that the Churche holdeth or against the Fathers cōsenting all in one, doth covertly graūt, that if the Fathers consent not all in one, their opinion may be false, and …onsequently, no sure proofe of a point in question. eeDefen Fide Tridēt lib 2.Andradius doth open and avouche the same in his defense of the Councell: a worke verie highly commēded byffEpist. ad vni versam Christianam rēpu. prefixa A…dr. Oseruis. And ggLoco…. Theolog. lib. 7. ea. 3.Canus setteth it downe for a conclusion, that many of them consenting in one can yeild no firme proofe, if the rest though fewer in number do dissent. YeahhTom. 2. con 3. lib. 4. cap. …0 Bellarmin himself saith that there can no certaintie be gathered out of their sayings, when they agree not among themselves. It is a thing graunted thē by our adversaries that the Fathers have not strength enough to prove ought vnlesse they all consent in one. But the fathers do not all consent in one about the point wee treat of, as it shalbe shewed, Our adversaries therefore must graunt that the opiniō which they holde in this point, cannot be proved by Fathers. Nay they are in danger of being enforced to graunt a farther matter, and more importing them by the consequent hereof. For through a decree ofiiSeptimi decretalium lib 3. tit 5. cap. 2. Pope Pius the fourth, the professors of all faculties, & all that take degrees in any poopish schoole are bound by solemne oth that they shall never expound and take the scripture11Nis… juxta vnamimem consensum pa…um, but according to the Fathers cōsēting all in one. Wherefore how will Bellarmin, perhaps the Pamphletter also if he have bene amongst them and taken any degree, but what shift will Bellarmin, and his22As Parsons by name: Epi tom con. part 2. con. 5. quest 4. & canilius catechism. de matrimon. sacram quest. 3▪ & Navarrus in cap divort▪ de peint dist. 1 & their seminarieschollars. puefellowes finde to save themselves from periurie, when it shal be shewed that many of the Fathers gaine say that opinion, which him-self and his expound the scripture for? And what if it appeare, that the greater number of Fathers doe so? nor the greater onelyonly, but the better also, p. 46and those whose grounds are surer? Then all the probability, which Fathers can yeild will turne against the Papists: and that which our adversaries would prove by tradition, and the consent of all ages will rather be disproved thereby. But howsoever men be diversly, persuaded touching the number & quality of Fathers enclyning this or that way, by meanes of sundrie circumstances which may breed doubt both particularly, of certaine, and of the whole summe in generall: the maine and principall point remayning to be shewed, namely that the Fathers consent not all in one for the Papists doctrine, is most cleare and evident out of all controversie. In so much that many even of them also whom Bellarmin alleageth, and the Pamphletter after him, as making for it, make in deed against it: and those of the chiefest and formost rankes spetially, in the first, the second, the third, the fourth hundred yeares after Christ. All the which agree and teach with one consent that the man forsaking his wife for her adulterie, is free to marrie againe: save such of them onelyonly, as in this very point of doctrine touching, marriage are tainted with, error by the iudgement and censure of Papists themselves. A token of the vanetie and folly of our adversaries Bellarmin and the Pamphletter: who by naming one at least in everie age, would needes make a shewe of having the consent of all ages with them, whereas it wilbe seene hereby, that in many we have the most and best; and they, either none at all, or none sound. For in the first hundred yeares after Christ all that Bellarmin sayth they have, is the testimony of Clemens in the Canōs of the ApostleskkCanon. 48. where the mā is willed without any exception to be excommunicated, who having put away his wife doth marrie another. Now beside that Clemens vponupon whom Bellarmin fathereth, those canons, is iniured therein. As for the later parte of themllTom, 1. L. conti …. ca. 2… himself sheweth,mmFr. Torrensis (otherwise called Turriā) a …esuit lib de 6. 7. et 8. Synod. his friend for the former, neither are they of Apostolique antiquitie and authoritie notwithstanding their title, asnnPope Ge…asius the first, with 70. by shops assembled in a coū cell c Scta Romana dist. 3. many Fathers testifie, and Papists will acknowledg when they are touched by them:ooG…sar Baronius Annalus Eccle. tom. 1. ad …nnum Christi …8. The author of the Canon had respect therein (by all probabilitie) to the Apostolique doctrine receyved from Christ, & therefore though he made not an expresse exceptiō of divorce for whordom, might as well impply it, as I have declared that some of p. 47the Euangelists, and S. Paule did. Which the interpreters also of those CanonsppCommēti… Canon. Apost Zonaras and Balsamon, thought to be so likely and more then a coniecture, that they expound it so without any scruple. Balsamon in saying that he who putteth away his wife without cause may not marrie another; and Zonaras that hee who marrieth a woman put away without cause by her husband doth committ adulterie. Or if these writers mistooke the authours meaning, & in his opinion no mā, howsoever his wife were put away, without or with cause, might lawfully marrie another: th…n take this with all, thatqqApost const lib. 3 cap, 2 hee skarse allowed any second marriage, but controuled the third as a signe of intemperance, & condemned flatly the fourth as manifest whoredom. Which althoughrrFt. Turrian, an…ct. in Apoconst Clemēt a Iesuit goe about to cover and salve with gentle gloses likessEz…k. 13. 10. the false prophets. Who when one had built up a mudden wall did parged it with vnsavorie plaister: yet sith that counterfait Clements worke did flowe out of the fountaines of the Gretians, as attBaronius Annal eccle. tom 5 ad annū Chris… 57 great historian of Rome hath truelie noted, and amōg the Gretians many, held that errour, as it is likewise shewed by avvEspencae… li. …. de continēt ca 9. …t 16 great Sorbonist; the likelyhood of the matter, and spring whence it proceedeth agreeing so fitly with the naturall and proper signification of the words, will not permitt their blacknes to take any other hewe, nor suffer that profane speech of I know not what Clement, to be cleared from plaine contradiction toxx1. Cor. 7. 91 Cor 7:9 the word of God. Wherefore the onelyonly witnesse that Bellarmin produceth out of the first hundred yeares, doth not helpe him.yyApolog▪ ad Anto impera Out of the second hundred he produceth three; Iustinus, Athenagoras and Clemens Alexandrinus. The first of whom Iustinus praising the compendious briefnes of Christes speeches rehearseth this amongst them: Whoso marrieth her that is divorced from her husband, doth commit adulterie. Meaning not as Bellarmin, but as Christ did: who excepting whoredome in the zzmath. 5. 32. et …9. 9former braunche of that sentence, vnderstoode it likewise in this, as I have shewed. And how may wee know that Iustinus meant so? By his owne wordes, in thataaApolog▪ ad senatū Romā ro le gomenō par kumi… repodi…n. hee commendeth a godly Christian woman, who gave to her adulterous husband a bill of dirorcementbbL. dirimite… I divorti…. D. de divortijset repudijs. such as did loose that band of matrimony, and saith concerning him that44…to de ta…tes pote aner. Eu seb eccl hist. lib. 4 cap 17 hee was not her husband afterward. The nextccApolog. pro Christianis. Athenagoras, affirmeth (I graunt) that if p. 48any man being parted from his former wife doe marrie another he is an adulterer. But Bellarmin must graunt with all that Athenagoras affirmeth it vntruly: considering that hee speaketh of parting even by death too, as well as by divorcement, & tea…heth with theddTertull. de Monegam. Epipha▪ haere. 4…. August de haeres cap. 26. Montanists that whatsoever second marriage is vnlawfull. Wherevpon a famons Parisian DivineeeDe continēt lib. 3 cap. 17 Claudius Espenseus saith of this same sentence of his which Bellarmin citeth, that it favoureth rather of a Philosopher then a Christian: and may well be thought to have bene inserted into his worke by Eucratites. A censure, for the ground thereof, very true, that the said opinion is a Philosophicall fansie, yea an heresie: Though the wordes seeme rather to be Athenagonas his owne, asffNoted in part by Espen caeus himself ibid. ca. 9 10. sundrie fathers speake dangerously, that way, then thrust in by Encratites, ggEpipha. here 46 et 17. August de heres. c…p 26.who generally reiected all marriage, not se…ond marriage onelie. Athenagoras therefore worketh small credit to the Iesuits cause. As much doth the last of his witnesseshhStrom li 2. Clemens Alexandrinus. For both in this point about second marriage iiStrom. lib. 3.hee matcheth Aethenagoras and otherwise his writings are tainted with vnsoundenes, and stained with spotts of errour. Which iudgmēt not onelyonlykkHist Eccle. Magdeburg ce…. 2 cap … Protestants of Germaine have in our remembrance lately, geven of him, though allEdm. Camp…an …at …. Iesuitical spirit doe traduce thē insolently, for it: Butmmcap Sancta Romana dist 15. an auncient Pope of Rome with seavētie byshops assembled in a Councell above a thowsand yeares since, and a Byshop of Spaine a man of no small reputation with Papists for skill both in divinitie and in the Canon lawnnVariar …eso. lib, 9 cap, 17 Didacus Covarruvias doth approve the same. Now in the third hundred yeares (to goe forward) Tertullian and Origen are brought forth to averre Bellarmins opinion, of whom one questionlesse controlleth, perhaps both. ForooAdvers Mar cion. lib … Tertullian disputing against the heretique Marcion, who falsely obiected that Christ is contrarie to Moses, because Moses graunted divorcemēt, Christ forbiddeth it, answereth that Christ saying, whosoever shall put away his wife & marrie another, committeth adulterie, meaneth 55ex eadem vtique causa qua non …cet dimitti. ut …li aducaturvndoubtedly of putting away for that cause, for which it is not lawfull for a man to putt away his wife that hee may marrie another. And likewise for the wife, that he is an adulterer, who marrieth her being put away, 66… dimiss…m. Mane…e… mat…imoni quod non … d…ē pt▪ um est.if shee be put away vnlawfully: considering that the marriage, which is not rightly broken off, continueth; and p. 49while the marriage doth continue, it is adulterie to marrie. Which words of Tertullian manyfestly declaring that a man divorced from his wife lawfully, for the cause excepted by Christ, may marrie another, Bellarmin doth very cunningly & finely, cut of with an et caetera, and saith that there he teacheth that Christ did not forbid divorcement, if there be a iust cause, but, did forbid to marrie againe after divorcement. So directly agaisnt the most evidēt light of the wordes & tenour of the whole discourse: that learned men of his owne side, though houlding his opinion yet could not for shame but graunt that Tertullian maketh against them in it. ForppEpit in 4. lib. decretal. part 2. cap. 7. D. 6. byshop Covarruvias mentioning the fathers who maintaine that men may lawfully marrie againe after divorcemēt for adulterie, nameth Tertullian (quoting this place) amōg them. AndqqBibleoth. scā …ae lib. 6. Annot. 81. Sixtus Senensis a man not inferiour in learning to Bellarmin, in sincere dealing for this point superiour, cōfesseth on the same place, & on those same words (but recited wholy, not clipped with an etcetera) that Tertullian maketh a certaine & vndoubted assertion thereof.rrAnnot in lib advers Marcion cap. 34. et paradox Tertul 30. Pamelius in deede through a desire of propping vp his churches doctrine with Tertulliās credit, saith that though hee seeme here to allowe divorcement for adulterie in such sort, as that the husbād may marrie another wife: yet hee openeth himself, & holdeth it to be vnlawfull in his booke ††de Monogamia.of single marriage. Wh…rein he saith some what, but litle to his advauntage. For Tertullian wrote this booke of single marriage ssHieron in catalogo script. eccles. et in epist ad Tit cap. 1 Pamel. argum. lib de Monogam et annotat. cap 9.Titus 1whē hee was fallē away from the Catholique faith vntounto the heresie of Montanus: & so doth holde therein agreably to that heresie, that is vnlawfull to marrie a second wife howsoever a man be parted from the former by divorcement or by death. But in that thee wrote, while hee was a Catholique, against the heretique Marcion, hee teacheth cōtrarywise the same that wee doe, as Sixtus Senensis and Covarruvias truely graunt. Yea Pamelius himself if hee looke better to his owne notes, doth graunt as much. ForttAnnotat in lib. 4. advers. Marcion cap. 34. he saith that Tertullian vseth the worde divorcement in his proper signification, for such a divorcement by which one putteth away his wife, & marrieth another. But Tertulliā saith77Habet Christum assertorem justitiae divortij. that Christ doth avouche the righteousnes of divorcement. Christ therefore avoucheth that for adulterie a man may put away his wife and marrie another by Tertullians iudgment. Which also may be probably thought concerning Origen: Although p. 50it be true vvTract. 7 … Math cap. 19.Matt 19hee saith (as Bellarmin citeth him) that certaeine byshops did permitt a woman to marrie while her former husband lived, & addeth, they did it agaynst the scripture. For he seemeth to speake of a woman divorced from her husband, not for adulterie, but for some other cause, such as the Iewes vsed to put away their wives for, bygiving thē a bill of divorcemēt. The matter that he handleth, and cause that he geveth thereof doe lead vsus to this meaning; Approved by the opinion of certaine learned men too. For after he had said (according toxxMath. 19. 8.Matt 19:8 the words of Christ which he expoundeth) that Moses in permitting a bill of divorcemēt did yeeld vntounto the weakenes of thē to whom the law was gevē; he saith that, the Christian byshops who permitted a womā to marrie while her former husbād lived, did it perhaps for such weaknes. Wherefore sith in saving that, this which they did, they did perhaps for such weaknes, he hath relatiō vntounto that of Moses, & Moses (as he addeth) did not graūt the bill of divorcemēt for adulterie, for that was punished by death it followeth that the Byshops whō Origen chargeth, with doing against the scripture did permitt the womā, to marrie vponupon divorcemēt for some other cause, not for adulterie & so his reproving of thē doth not touche vsus, who graūt it for adulterie only. Thus dothyyAnnot. in …. Cor …. Erasmus thinke that Origen meant: concluding it farther, as cleare, by the similitude whichzzOrigē tract. 7 in math. he had vsed before of Christ, who put away the Synagogue (his former wife as it were) because of her adulterie, & married the churche. YeaaaExplicat … ticulor. Lov…n a…t. 19. Tapper likewise a great divine of Lovā, & of better credit with Papists thē Eros…nus saith that the divorcemēt permitted by those Byshops, whō Origen cōtrouleth was a Iewish divorcemēt. Wherein though he aymed at another marke, to prove an vntruth; yet vnwares he hi… a truth more thē hee thought of, & strengthened that by Origen, which he thought to overthrowe. Howbeit if Bellarmin or Bellarmins Interpreter cā persuade by other likelyhoods out of Origen (as he is somewhat darke, & I know not whether irresolute in the point) that the thing reproved by him in those Byshops was the permitting of one to marrie againe after divorcement for adulterie: our cause shalbe more advātaged by those sundrie Byshops who approved it, thē disadvātaged by one Origē, who reproved thē for it. Chiefly seing Origē impaired much his credit both by other heresies in diverse points of faith, for whi…h abbSynod 5 Cō stan … collat 8 cap …. Nicephor lib. 17 cap …8. generall Councell withccTom. 1 cō …. 6 lib. c. cap. 1 Bellarmins allowāce count … a damned heretique: p. 51& in this matter byddHom▪ 17 in Lucam. excluding all such as are twise married out of the Kingdō of heavē, whicheeGenebrad. annot marg▪ in eum locū. Espenceus de continent. lib▪ 3 cap 9. divines of Paris observe & check him for. Whereas those Byshops of whō he maketh mentiō, were neither stayned otherwise, for ought that may be gathered, nor herein did they more then the right believing & Catholique Churche all that time thought lawfull to be done, as appeareth by Tertulliā & Iustine the Martyr. In the which respect ffTractat de in…cut Sacerd c. de matrimon. lect. …Peter Soto (a freir of great account in the Trent Councell) … said that it is plaine by many arguments that the case which we treat of was doubtfull in the auncient church al…eageth this for proofe thereof out of Origen, that many byshops … married mē to marrie againe after divorcement. This if the two of …thers whō Bellarmin alleageth out of the third hundred years as making for him, doe not make against him, which perhaps they doe both: yet one of thē doth not out of all controversie, & byshops, more in number, in credit greater thē the other, agree with him therein. Out of the fowrth hundred, the … which Bellarmin maketh, is a great deale fayrer thē out of the third: & a number of Fathers, the councell of Eliberis S. Am … S. lerō, a Romā Byshop, & S. Chrysostome are affirmed thē …e to ioyne themselves with him. But they are affirmed in the like māner as the former were: skarse on of thē avouching the same that he doth, the rest in part seeming to be of other opinion, in part most clearely shewing it, & such as shewe not so much, yet shewing their owne weakenes, & that in this matter their opiniō & iudgmēt is of small value. For the formost of themggCanon. 9. the Councel of Eliberis, ordained that a womā which forsooke her husband because of his adulterie & would marrie another, should be forbidden to marrie, & if shee married, shee should not receave the communion till hee were dead whō shee forsooke, vnlesse necessitie of sicknes cōstrayned to geve it her. Wherein it is to be noted, first that the Councell saith not.88Slquis L. … D. de ve… ber …. If anieman, so to comprehend & touche generallie all both men & women: but they speake peculiaritie of the woman alone, & so doe not forbid the mā to leave his adulterous wife & marrie another. Secondly, that the womā is excommunicated, if when shee is forbidden by the church to marrie, shee marrie neverthelesse, not if before shee be forbidden: As it were to punish her disobedience rather then the fact it self. Thirdlie, that sh…e is not d…barred all her life time from the p. 52communion, but for a season onelyonly, and in time of neede, in daungerous sicknes doth receive it: yea, even while the partie, whō shee forsooke liveth. Of the which circumstances the first though it might argue the Councells oversight who made the womans case herein worse then the mans, both being free alike by Gods lawe: yet for the mā it sheweth that they allowed him to marrie againe after divorcement according to the doctrine of Christ which wee maintaine. The next yeildeth likeliehood that the Councell did forbid the woman this not for that they thought it vnlawfull, but vnseemelie perhaps or vnexpedient, ashhConcil. I…e…d. c Non oportet a leptu …gesima. …3 q, 4. another Councell is read to have forbiddē the celebrating & solemnizing of marriages at certaine times. But the last putteth the matter out of doubt, that they were persuaded of the woman also marrying in such sort, that her fact was warrātable by the word of God. Forels had they, not iudged her marriage with this latter mā to be lawfull, they must needes have iudged her to live with him in perpetuall adulterie. Which if they had thought, it is most improbable they would have admitted her to the communiō in case of daungerous sicknes: seeing at the point of deathiican. 64. they denie it to womē so continuing, yeakkCan. 3. 7. 17 18. 47 65 70. 73, & 75. to men offending lesse heynously then so. With such extremitie of rigour therein thatllAnnal. Eccles …om. 1 ad anū Christ. 57. Baronius noteth their decrees as savouring of the Novatian heresie: &mmTom. 1. …ontr. 7. lib, …. cap. 9. Bellarmin layeth it almost as deepely to their charge. So farre from all likeliehood is it that they would admitt her in necessitie of sicknes to the communiō had they bene persuaded shee lived in adulterie still. Therefore it was not without cause that Bellarmin did suppresse this circū stance together with the former, in citing the decree of the Elibernie Councell: least his false illatiō, to weete that they accounted such marriage vnlawfull even for the innocent partie, & in the cause of adulterie, should be discovered & controlled thereby. Next is Ambrose brought in, who vpō the 16 chapter of Luke, writeth much against thē that putting away their wife doe marrie another, & he calleth that marriage adulterie in sundrie places: neither doth he ever except the cause of whoredom in that whole discourse as Bellarmin saith. But what if Bellarmin here be like himself too? Certainely S. Ambrose speaketh99Dimletis …uxorem qua…i jura sin… crimine of such wives as lived without crime &11Putas id …ibi l…cere quia …ex humana …on pr…hibet sed divina pro …ib. …. …. whom their husbands were (as hee addeth) p. 53forbidden by the lawe of God to put away. So that hee reproving men for marrying others after they had put away their chaste wives, doth evidently shewe he meant not of marriage after divorcemēt for whordō. And if it be …ufficiēt proofe that hee supposed they, might not marrie againe after they had put away a whorish wife because hee never excepteth whoredō in that whole discourse of marrying againe: then by as sufficiēt a reason hee supposed that22Noli crgo vxorem dimit tere. Qui dimittit uxorē facit eam m…e cham. they, might not put away their wives at all, no not for whordom, because hee never excepteth it in that whole discourse of putting away the wife. But tha… Papists will graunt that a man may lawfully put away his wife, if shee committ whordom. As Bellarmin then will construe S, Ambrose in this braunch, so let him in the former. And if he say, that S. Ambrose thinking vpō Luke alone whō hee expounded, or trusting his memorie forgot the exception added by Christ in Mathew, fornnMath. 5. 32.Matt 5:32 putting away the wife: the same slipp of memorie might loose the same exception forooMath. 19. 9.Matt 19:9 marrying another. If he thinke that Ambrose did not forget himself, but vnderstoode the exception in the former point, as thepp1. Cor. 7. …1.1 Cor 7:1 Apostle did, though neither mentiō it expressely: what reason why, it might not as well be vnderstoode in the later also? As for S. Ierom no marveil if hee wrote against second marriage after divorcemēt for whordomqqEpist 9 ad Salvinam. et n ad Age…uch…ā et adversus Iovinian. who wrote against all second marriages in such sort, thatrrDe continēt lib. 3. cap. 10. Espēceus asketh what could have bene said more greivously against them by the impure33Who cōdemned second marrig…s Epiphan. …aerel. 59 …ugust …e hae resib cap. 38. Catharists, then is said by him? AndssIn August de civit. dei lib. 16. cap 34. The divines of Lovan in in their ed…tiō of Austen, printed at Antwerp and Paris have lest this sentence out beyond the prescript of index expurgatorius. Vives pronounceth, that hee did not onelyonly detest second marriages, but also had small liking of the first, nor did much favor matrimonie; Beside that himself too, as farre as hee exceeded the boundes of Godly modestie & truth herein, even by these mens iudgments whō Papists doe repute learned & Catholique allayeth & corecteth in one of the places, which Bellarmin alleageth, his peremptorie censure gevē in the other. For whereas hee saith in his Epistle to Amandus, that the wife who divorced herself from her husband because of his adulterie & marri…d another44Si non vult adultera reputa…i. was an adulteresse for so marrying, and55Non Apellat…r vir sed adulter. her newe husbānd an adulterer: In his epitaph of Fabiola (a noble godly gentlewoman of Rome, who did the like & was poenitent for it after her second husbands death) hee saith, that shee p. 54lamented & bewayled it so, as if shee had cōmitted adulterie. By which kinde of speech & others sutable to it, as that he te…meth her state after divorcement frō her first husband Widdowhood; & addeth, that shee lostVidutiatem … non poterat. the honor of having had but one husbād by marrying the second; … Sub gloria …& saith, shee thought it better to vndergoe a certaine, shadow of pitifull wedlocke,… po… mortē secundi viti … Opera exerce…e …. then to plaie the whore, because it is better (saith Paul) to marrie then to burne: S. Ieron declareth that although it were a fault in his opinion to doe as shee did: yet not such a fault, a crime, a publique crime, as Bellarmins doctrine maketh it. No more may it be iustly thought in the opiniō of that Romā Byshop, of whō, because he put Fabiola to publique penance after her second husband death, Bellarmin cōcludeth that it was accounted a publique crime in the Catholique Church at that time, if any man whilst his wife yet lived, married another yea, albeit for whordō. For men at that time were put to some penance in the Catholique Church, for marrying againe after their first wives death, as Bellarmin observeth out of the Catholique…Councels: adding therewith al, that although they knewe secōd marriage to be lawfull, yet because it is a token of incontinēcie they chastised it with some penāce. Wherefore sith it might easilie bee that they who laid some penance vponupon no fault, would lay publique penance vpō a small fault, spetially in women, to whō in such cases they were more severe & rigorous thē to mē: the penance which the Bishop did put Fabiola to for her secōd marriage doth not prove sufficiētly that it was accounted thē a publique crime in the Catholique church. Howbeit if the tearme of publique crime be vsed in a gētler sense thē vv…cōmonly it is, or the Byshop of Rome did never put any but grievous offenders & finners to publique penance: yet perhaps even so too will Bellarmin come short of his conclusiō still. For thereby (saith hee) we doe not vnderstād that … if any mā while his wife yet lived, married another, yea albeit for whordo; it was accounted a publique crime in the Catholique church at that time, if any mā did it. As who say the Byshop of Rome must needs hould that, if women were not licensed to marrie after divorcement for whordom, men could not be neither. Whereas he might be of the same opiniō, that an aunciēt xxConcil, …. 9.Councell s…emeth (as I shewed) to have bene before him; and p. 55an auncientyyAmbros…a. … p. 7 Father (living & writing aszzCe… Theologorum Lovan in …. gust lib … et nor testam To…— some thinke, in Rome about the same time) was; I meane, that this libertie & freedom should be graunted to men but not to women. Moreover the delay of Faebiolas penance, in that she was not put thereto vntill aaHieron epist. 30. ad Ocean.after her second husbands death, yeildeth very strong & probable coniecture, that it had not bene before thē accoūted any crime at all in the Catholique church, not for a woman neither to put away her husbād because of his adulterie, & to marrie another. For that which Fabiola did, shee did33Melius … openly. Her self was religious, godly, well instructed; & thought it to be lawfull. Her husbād by all likelyhood of like minde & iudgmēt: the church of Rome called not their marriage in to question; The Byshop did not execute any Church censure on them. Nay, sith shee was44… very yong, when they married, and never heard of anie fault therein committed as long as her husband lived: it may be Rome had many Byshops in the meane time, none of whō saw cause why they should blame her for it. The example of Fabiola therefore, & the Roman Byshops dealing in it, maketh more a great deale with vsus then against vsus, if it be throughly weighed. Now S. Chrysostom maketh absolutely with vsus: Howsoever Bellarmin affirmeth that hee teacheth the same with S. Ierom yea, withbbEpist. … S. Ierom simplie condemning all such marriage. For what doth S. Chrysostom teach in thecc… Math. cap …. sermon that Bellarmin quoteth vponupon Mathew? Forsooth, that by Moses lawe it was permitted, that whosoever hated his wife for any cause, might put her away, and marry another in her roome: But Christ left the husband one cause alone to put away his wife for namely whoredome. What? and doth it follow hereof that Chrysostom, meant that the husband putting her away for whoredome, might not marrie another? Rather the cleane contrary: Seing that he speaketh of such a putting away, as Moses did permitt, and maketh this the difference betwene Christs ordinance, and the law of Moses, that Moses did permitt it for anie cause, Christ but for one. Which to be his meaning hee sheweth more plainelyddHo… … Cor. …. vponupon the first to the Corinthians, saying that the marriage is dissolved by whoredom, neither is the husband a husband anie longer. For hence it appeareth that hee thought the bād of marriage to bee loosed. whē they, p. 56are severed for whoredom: & therefore consequently the parties free to marrie according to theee1. Cor 7. 281 Cor 7:28 Apostles rule. AndffHomil de libell repudij other where also, though somewhat more obscurely yet conference with this place will shewe him to have taught. But what should I stand on farther proofe thereof, it being so vndoubted, thatggEpitom in 4. lib decretal. part. …. cap. 7. D. 6. Byshop Covarrisvias an earnest adversarie of marriage after divorcement, and bringing all the Fathers that hee can against it, confesseth S. Chrysoctom to stand on the other side against him for it. And this in foure hundred yeares after Christ, Bellarmin cannot finde one of the Fathers, that hee may iustly say is his: excepting them which make as much for the Encratites, Montanists, and Catharists, as they doe for Papists. In the ages following hee findeth better store: now one, now moe in eche hundred. Yet among them also, looke how manie hee nameth of the Easterne Byshops, whether expressedly, or implyedly: hee playeth the Iesuit with him. For the first of them Theophylact hee alleageth with the same faith & truth, that he did Chrysostom, whose schollar Theophylact being (afterhhTom. 7. Contr. 7▪ lib. 1. cap. 4. Bellarmins owne note) did follow his maister. And this the two places thēselves that Bellarmin quoteth, doe insinuate clearely:iiTheophylact in Math. cap. 1….Matt 1 the former by opening how Christ permitteth not that putting away which Moses did, without iust cause, nor alloweth any cause as iust but whordom kk…n. 1. Cor. 7.1 Cor 7the later by omitting mention of whordō, in spesifying the causes, for which if a womā depart frō her husbād shee must remaine vnmarried. Whereto (if Bellarmin neede more light to see it by) we may adde a third place: in whichllIn Luc. cap. 16.Luke 16 Theophylact saying that Luke rehersing Christes words against men putting away their wives & marrying other must be vnderstood with the exception out of Matthew, 33Parectos logou porneias delade. obscured by the Latin trā slator omitting delade.Vnless it be for whoredom, doth shew howfarre he differeth herein from Bellarmin, who denyeth flatly that Christes wordes in Luke must be supplyed with that exception. The rest of the Easterne Fathers whose testimony is alleaged by Bellarmin though their names not mētioned: are such as were assembled in the Councell of Florence. For there came thither to conferre with the Pope & the westerne byshops, albeit many of these houlding a generall Councell at Basil the same time, refused to chaunge the place for the Popes pleasure, who sought his owne advantage therein, not the Churches, and vndermined the actions p. 57of the Councell of Basil mmConcil Basiliens …ess 3…. et …4 Enias Sylviu…de gest. concil. Basil, lib 1.which condemned him of heresie, and deposed him; but there came thithernnSynodus Fl… rentine procē. et subscript in literis vn…onis the Patriarches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioche, and Ierusalem, either themselves in person, or by their deputies, with many Metropolitanes and Byshops of Greece of Asia, of Iberia, and other countries of the East. Whose creditt and consent how vntruely Bellarmin pretē deth, for the proofe of his false assertion, it is plaine by that hee saith the Councell of Florēce did decree the same in the instruction of the Armenians. A chapter which is fathered in deed vpō the Councell by the schisimaticall Pope Eugenius the fovorth, the deviser of it: but fathered vniustly and calmuniously as the time argueth, wherein it was begottē. For it is recorded in the same decree, that it was made the66Decimo calendus Dece…bris. two and twentieth of November, in the yeare of Christ a thousand foure hundred, thirtie & nine. Now the Councell ended in Iuly the same yeare foure moneths before: As bothooSynod Florent. sess. ult. it self witnesseth, &ppOunphr. in pontif. max. et card Genebrad. Chronograph. lib 4 Popish stories not…. Wherefore the Councell could not be the father of that decree and chapter: no more then a man can be of that childe whi…h is borne fouretē moneths after his death. And the Pope, whose bastard in truth the brat is, by the acknowlegment and record of Papists themselves in theqqDecretum Eugenij papoe quarti. Tomes of Councells, was so much the more to blame to father it vponupon the Councell of Florence 77Praesens, sanc at atque magna et vnivers… lis Synodus.the great & generall councell, and88Florentiaei… publica sessione Synodali solennitercele brata. date it in a publique solemne session thereof; Because neither was it debated in the Councell whether marriage after divorcement for adulterie were lawfull or no; and therrSynod Florent sess. ult. Easterne byshops mainteyned it to be lawfull, when the Pope after the end of the Councell did reprove them for it: neither is it likely the contrarie was decreed by all there present of the west. Chiefly seing that more thē half of them were gone when both partes the East & West, subscribed to the decrees of the Councell in the letters of agreement: as appeareth by conferringssIn proamio their number withttSess. ult. their names & the note thereof. Yea the Councell being ended the sixth of Iulie, had their subscriptions added vntounto it the one & twentith. Then if of sevē score or perhaps vpward, scarse threescore were remayning at Florence, foureteene dayes after the Councell ended: What may we thinke there were above foure moneths after? But how many soever were present of the West, as the p. 5899There are about o… by shops seas in Italie, Leand. Al…ert in descript, Italie.Pope can quickly muster an hundred Byshops or more, if neede be out of Italie alone,11Eneas Sylv… us de ge…s Basiliensis concil. lib. Clā dius Esp…ceus in epist ad Titam cap 1. to carry away things in Councell by multitude of voices, such pollicie hath he vsed for that; but how many soever Italians he banded to countenance his decree, the Byshops of the East agreed not thereto, neither was it the Councells act. Thus all the Fathers of the Eastern churches, whom Bellarmin alleadgeth, and may vrge with creditt their doctrine touching marriage, doe not onelyonly not say with him, but gainsay him. Wherein their have so many others followe them from age to age till our time, that it is apparant they allowe with greater consent a mās marriage after divorcement for adulterie then Fathers of the western churches disallow it. ForvvHist. eccl lib. 4 cap. 17. Eusebius treating of Iustine the Martyr setteth forth with the same praise that hee had done, the storie of the Christian woman, who divorced her self frō her adulterous husband. And S. xxCan 9. et 21.Basils canons approved byyySynod sext. in Trull can. 2 c Quoniam … Synod, sept can. 1. generall Councels, doe not onelyonly authorize the mā to marrie another, whose wife is an adulteresse, but also check the custome which yeelded not like favour in like case to the woman. AndzzHeres. …9. Epiphanius saith (his words are read corruptly, but the sense th…reof is plaine of our side, asaaEpis in 4 lib decreta p…rt. cap. 7. 6. Covarruvias graunteth, Epiphanius therefore saith that Seperatiō being made for whoredo, a mā may take a secōd wife, or a woman a second husband. And the same avouchethbbDecur graec affect lib … Theodoret in effect, affirming that Christ hath sett downe one cause: whereby the band of Marriage should be dissolved, and wholy rent a sunder, in that hee did except whordom. And accSext Synod. Constant. no in Trull cā. 8… Nomon synap theisan translated otherwise by some but mēt thus by the councell as men…oi with the antithelis going before it sheweth, & their vse o… the word Synap testes Can. 13. d…t. … c Q…o…niam generall Councell, wherein there were above two hundred and twentie byshops of the East gathered together, doth imply as much; in saying that Hee, who his wife 2 having kept the lawe of wedlocke, and being faithfull to him, yet forsaketh her and marrieth another is by Christs sentence guiltie of adulterie. So dothdd…n prior ad cor. can 7 Oecumenius in applying the precept of abiding vnmarried to such as should not have departed, and in abridging Chrysostōs words after his manner, whose scholaree…om cont 7 cap lib. Bellarmin therefore tearmeth him. So dothffIn math ca. 5 Euthymius Chrysostoms schollar too, in …harging that mā with adulterie, who marrieth a woman divorced for any cause but whordō from her husbād. So doth Nicephoras, in copying & cōmending that out of Eusebius, which he had out of Iustin the Martyr. To be short, the Grecians, 33Decretum Eugenij …paewhich namggHist eccl. lib 3 cap. 53. compriseth many nations of the East, all whō thehhIn p…oaem. Florentine Councell calleth the Eastern Church doe p. 59put the same doctrine receyved from their auncestours in practise even at this day, allowing married folke not onelyonly, to sperate & divorce thēselves in case of adulterie but also to marrie others, as Bellarmin confesseth. Wherefore his opiniō hath not the consent of the Eastern byshops: neither hath had it any age since Christ. Much lesse can he shewe the consent of the SouthiiFaulus Iovius hist fur t…p. lib. 18 Fran. … Alvar descript Ethi…p. ao …1 the Aethiopians, & Abessines, or of thekkAlexan Guaguin in descript. Sarmat. Europ. Ant. Pessov cap. quib Gr et Rut. a latin. dissent Moscovites & Russes in the North: both which as they receyved their faith frō the East, so vse they like freedome & libertie for this matter. No, not in the west it self, though he have many thēce agreeing with him, yet hath hee the generall cōsent of all the Fathers perhaps not of half, if an exact count might be taken of them. For besides Tertullian, the Councell of Eliberis and to let passe Ambrose) one Byshop of Rome, or more alreadie shewed to have thought that a man being divorced from his wife for her adulterie, is free to marrie againe: there are of the same mindellDivin instit. lib. 6 cap 23 et epis cap 6 Lactantius, mmIn mat. ca. 5.Chromatius, nnCan on. 4. in math.Hilaric, ooAugustin de adulier cōjug. ad Pollent. lib. 2 cap 1 et lib 2. cap. …Pollentius, ppIn Ep…st 1, ad cor cap 7.the author of the Comentaries in Ambrose his name vponupon S. Pauls epistles,qqcan …0. the first Councell of Arles, rrcau. …the coūcell of Vānes, they who either were at or agreed to thessCō …antinop in Trullo can. 8…. gr 8… lat. sixth generall coūcell the secōd time assēbledttEpist 4 ad Bo…sacium Pope Gregorie the third vv32. q 7 c. cō cubuisti.Pope Zacharie, the councell ofxxcap. 3. et 10. Bu…chard. decretor l6. c. 4… et l. 17. cap. 17. et 10. Wormes ofyy32. q. 7. c. Si quis cum noverca Burchar. lib. 17. c. 17. et 18. Trybur, ofzzca. 5 Burchar lib. 17. c. 15. Mascon, a councell alleaged byaa32. … 7. c quae dam Gratian without name, & other learned men alleaged likewise bybbSed illudead caus et quest. him,cc… Vemens 1. extt. de eo qui cogu consang vxoris suae. Pope Alexander the third,dd… Quanto. extra. de divo. tljs Celestin the 3,eede cōcord Euang. cap. 100. Zacharie andffAddit 2. ad Lyran in mat. 19. Paul byshops, the one of Chrysopolis, the other of Burgos, ggChrist matrimon instit. et annot. in…. cor cap. 7.Erasmus, hhIn mat. cap. 9.Cardinal Cajetan: iiTract, de matri quest an proptor crim. adult conj. lib a vinculo.Archbyshop Catharinus, kkEnartatim epist ad Ro c. 7Rom 7Naclantus byshop of Clugia, finallie the teachers of the reformed churches inllTindal. on mat 5 Bucer. de regno Christ lib 2. ca 43. P Martyr in 1. cor. 7 Bea…on et? Englād, mmIn the confession of their faith pref.Scotlāt, nnLuther inarrat. in mat. 5 et cor 7 conf Saxon in Harmō conf. sect. 18. art de conj. conf. wirtēb ibid hist. Mag deburg. cent. … li. 1 ca. …, Kēnic exam, conc Trident part▪Germanie, oocalvin Instit. Christiāli▪ 4, ca. 19, ult. eccl. gall, in Harmou conf.France &ppEccl. Belg. in Harm. cōf. Muscul in mat. 5. Bullin, decad. 2. serm, 10. Saeged in lacorcom de divor … other countris, for why should not I name these of our professiō & faith amōg the Fathers as well as Bellarmin nameth the Popish councell of Trēt on the cōtrarie side? But the Papists (will some mā peradventure say, doe not graunt that all, whom you have rehearsed, were of this opiniō. But the Papists (I aunswer) doe graunt that sundrie of them were? and such as they graunt not, the light of truth & reason will either make them graunt, or shame them for denying it. As22… Sixtus Senensis, namely doth deny that Hilarie and Chromantius allowe a man to marrie p. 60another wife after divorcement: or teach that hee is loosed from the band of matrimonie, while his former wife though an adulteresse liveth. Now weigh their owne wordes, & it will appeare that Sixtus iniurieth them therein. ForIn math. cap 5. Chromatius saith that they who having putt away their wives44Absq. fornicationis causa for any cause save for whor…dom, presume to marrie others, doe against the will of God, and are condemned. Wherein, with what sense could hee except whoredom, vnlesse he thought them guiltlesse, who having put away their wives for it doe marrie others? AndssCan. 4. in Math. Hilarie affirming Christ to have prescribed no other cause55Desinendi…a conjugio. of ceasing from matrimony, but that; she weth that the band of matrimony is loosed thereby in his iudgmēt. Chiefly sith he knew that they might cease from the vse thereof, for other causes: & the occasion and tenour of the speech doe argue that he meant of such a seperation as yeeldeth libertie of newe marriage. In like sorte, or rather more plainely and expressely did Pollentius holde and maintaine the same: As Austin (whom in this point hee dissented from) doth reporte and testifie. Yet Bellarmin (a strange thing in a case so cleare, but nothing strange to Iesuits) saith that Pollentius 66Non contra dixit Augustino sed eum consuluit.did not gainsaie Austin, but asked his iudgment of the matter: and for proofe hereof referreth vsus to the beginnings of both the bookes of Austin. EventtDe adult cō jug ad Pollēt. lib 1. cap. …. et lib. 2. cap 2. to those beginnings in which it is declared how Austin having laboured to prove that a woman parted from her husband for his fornication might not marry another, Pollentius wrote vntounto him77Tanquam consulende saith Austin. In steedew e…of, Bellarmin saith cōsulēdo & drowneth …anquam. as it were by way of asking his iudgment, and shewed hee thought the contrarie: yet shewed it in such sorte, that Austin setting downe both their opinions, doth specifie then as flatly crossing one the other: You are of this mynde, I of that: and saith of Pollentius againe and againe that88Id enim sen tis & videtur tibi et existimas, & putas, et eft stoones, tibi videtur et existimas. hee was of this mynde, which Bellarmin denieth hee was of. Wherein the Iesuits dealing is more shamefull, for that beside the evidence of the thing it self so often repeated in the verie same places that hee citethvvBiblioth, sen tae lib. 2. verb. Repudij humani libellus Sixtus Senenses a man as vnwilling as Bellarmin to weaken anie of their Trent points with graunting more then hee must needes confesseth that Pollentius thought hereof as we doe. Belike because Sixtus Senensis honoreth him with the praise and title of a99Pollentium. religiosissimum vi…um. most godlie man: Bellarmin thought it better to lie, then p. 61to graunt that they have such an adversarie. Hee would faine avoid too another auncient father bearing the name of Ambrose; &xxIn epist. … cap. …. Ambrose might his name be, though hee were not famous Ambrose Byshop of Milan. But whether hee were named so, or otherwise (which11As it is probably gathered. out of Austin cont, duas epistolas Pelagian lib. 4. cap 4 perhaps is truer) vntounto his testimonie pronouncing it lawfull by S. Paules doctrine for a man iustly divorced to marrie againe (though not for a woman, as hee, by missetaking S; Paul, through errour,xxIn epist. … cap. …. though Bellarmin replieth with a threefold answere. Firstyy… 9. 7. d sed illud. Gratian (saith hee) and Peter zzlib. 4. sent. dist. 35.Lombard doe affirme that those wordes were thrust into this authours Commentarie, by some corrupters of writings. Indeede the one of them affirmeth:22dicitur, it is said so; the other,33creditur. it is thought so. But if it be sufficient to affirme barely, without anie ground of proofe or probabilitie, that it is said or thought so: what errour so absurd that may not be defended by perverse wranglers? what cause so vniust, that vnrighteous iudges may not geve sentence with? For whatsoever wordes be enforced against them out of the law of God or man, out of anie evidēce or record of writers & witnesses worthie credit: they may with Peter Lombard and Gratian replie that the place alleaged is said or thought to have bene thrust into those monumēts by some corrupters of writīgs. And in replying thus they should speake truelie, though it were said or thought by none beside themselves: but how reasonably they should speake therein, let men of sense & reason iudge. Surelie though Peter Lombard rest vpō that aunswer; for want of a better, yet Gratian (whether fearing the sicklie state thereof) doth leave it, & seeketh himself a new patron, saying that Ambrose words are thus meant, that a man may lawfullie marrie another wife after the death of the adulteresse, but not while shee liveth, which aunswer is more absurd then the former. In so much thataaEpis▪ in 4 lib decretal par 2 cap. y. 5. 6 Covarruvias speaking of the former onelie as vncertaine, saith that this repugneth manifestlie to Ambrose. A verie true verdict, as a…ie man not blind may see by Ambrose wordes: And Bellarmin confesseth the same in effect, by passing it over insilence as ashamed of it. But others (sayth hee secondlie) doe aunswer that this authour speaketh of the Civil law, the law of Emperours: To weete, that by the Emperours Lawes it is lawfull for men, but not for women, p. 62having put away their mate, to marrie another: and that Paul therefore least he should offend the Emperour bb1. cor. 7. 1.would not say expressely. If a man put away his wife, let him abide so or be reconciled to his wife. Now Gratians second aunswer was no lesse worthy to have bene mentioned, then this ofccPanopl, Evang lib. 3. … 95. William Lindan, patched vp by Bellarmin. For thedds …. D. de divort et. repud, … si ex lege ad legē sul de adul… l Cōsensu… si constan …e c. de repudijs. civill law pronounceth the band of marriage to be loosed as well by divorcement as by death: and alloweth women to take other husbands, their former being put awaie, as it alloweth men to take others wives. So that it is a fond and vnlearned conceit to imagin that Paul would not say of husbands as hee did of wives, least hee should offend the Emperour by speaking expresselie against that which his law allowed. Foree1. cor. 7. 11. hee did expressely controll the Empero…rs law in saying of the wife. If shee depart from her husband, let her remaine vnmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. And the authours wordes doe shewe that hee meant to speake, not of humaine lawes, but of divine: of the sacred scripture wherevpō he wrote, and what was thereby lawfull. Which seemed so evident vntounto, ffInstit sacerd ca de Matrim Lect. 3.Peter Soto, ggBiblioth sare lib. 6. annot 8and… Sixtus Senesis, andhhAnnot. in cap. v…ot. a vro. 32. 97. the Roman Censors, who oversaw Pope Gregorie the thirtenths new edition of the Cannon law, that they confesse that Ambrose (meaning this authour) doth aprove plainely, certainly, vndoubtely, mens liberty of marrying againe after divorcement. Bellarmin therefore comyng in with his third aunswer. Yet saith hee if these be not so well liked, it may be aunswered easilie: that the author of those Commentaries is not Ambrose, nor any of the renowned Fathers, 44Quod er…di…i non ignorant.as learned men know. Thus at length this authour, if men will not beleeve that his wordes are corrupted, or that hee spake of the Civill law, shall be graunted vsus with Bellarmins good leave: But then wee shall be tolde that hee is not Ambrose, nor anie of the renowned Fathers as learned men know. And why could not Bellarmin aunswere this at first? Why was hee so loath to graunt that such an authour, base, obscure of sclender credit, maketh with vsus? Herein there lieth a mysterie. There isiiIn epist. 1. ad Tim cap. 3. in this authours Commentaries a place, a55Cujushodie …actor est Da…. peece of a sentence, which seemeth to speake for the Popes Supremacie: Though perhaps never writen by this authour, or not with that meaning, as I have shewed elswhere. p. 63llTo. 2. conte. … lib. 1 cap 6.Bellarmin had cited that place for that in66Beatus Ambrosius where by he meneth famous Ambrose, byshop of M…ā as the quotatiōs following shew. S. Ambrose his name: andmmThe English college of Rheimes. Annot. on 1. tim. 3. 15 ma…ie make a feast thereof, as being sure S. Ambroses. Now if hee should saie, that the authour of those Cō mentaries was neither Ambrose nor Saint: hee should gainsaie himself. And sith hee was learned, when hee did cite it so, and therefore knewe (by his owne words) that it was not Ambrose nor anie of the renowned fathers who writt it: men would see thereby, that hee had for the Popes sake against his owne knowledg, fathered on S, Ambrose that which is not his. No marveil then if Bellarmin came to this aunswere as a beare to the stake. At the which though hee seeme to cast vsus o…, by saying that the authour was no renowned Father, and erred in mistaking S. Paul, as having geven more libertie to men then womē, wher…of in due place afterward: yet in the meane season hee is forced to graunt that this auncient Father tooke it to be lawfull for men to marrie againe after divorcement for adulterie. The sundrie evasions and shifts whereby the Papists have laboured to wrest the credit of this one …ather out of our hādes, doe geve mee occasion to suspect that they will wrangle much more to withdraw from vsus the first Councell of Arles 77Held in Constantins time about the year… of Christ. 3…0being more auncient in time, in credit greater, and (asnnBart caran… in somma cō ciliorum. one of themselves doth probably coniecture) confirmed by the Pope also. Herevnto the Councels wishing of certaine persons not to marrie in the case wee treat of might serve them for a colour in as much asooCan. 10. it saith concerning them whose wives are taken in adulterie, that if they be yong men and forbidden to marrie,88Confiliu… eis detut. advise should be given them, as much as may be not to take other wives while the former live, though adulteresses. But this giving of advise is in truth an argument that the councell iudged a man no adulterer, if hee tooke another wife. Els would they have given not advise and counsail, but charge and commandement to refraine from it; and (as it is likely) restrained mens transgression therein with sharpe discipline, spetially consideringppcan. 3. 4. 57. … 1. 12. et 14. they punish lesser faults with excommunication. Neither it is nothing that they temper also this counsail and advise to be geven such, with99In quantum potest. as much as may be. And a farder circumstance yet of more importance, they make not this restraint for all men, but forAdolescenses exprohibentes. nubere. yong men: p. 64nor for all yong mē, but such as are forbidden to marrie: meaning (as it seemeth) those who being vnderunder the care of their parents were by them forbidden, & could not honestlie disobey. For had not this respect or the like moved the Fathers of the Councell, why should they have restrained such yong men & not other? Nay, why onelie yong men, not rather men, not aged men, or them also? Sith inqq1. Tim. 5. 91 Tim 5:9 Scripture elder women are chosen to be widowes, and yonger willed to marrie. Our adversaries therefore must yeeld that the Councell of Arles is of our side for the point in question. Whereto they shall have greater reason to induce them, if they note with al that the rrConcil, Vanatle, in Gallia …und. 2.Councell of Vannes in the same countrie,22About the yeare of Christ 460. the age following made this canon. Wee appoint and ordeine, that they who having l…ft their wives, except for whoredom (as it is said in the Gospel) or vponupon proofe made of adulterie, marrie others, shalbe excommunicated; Least 33….sinnes being suffered by our too much gentlenes doe provoke other men to loosenes of transgressing. And this decree I finde not anie of the Papists that goeth about to shift of▪ Neither can I see how they may possiblie: The Councell expounding so plainely Christes wordes of marriage forbidden after divorcement vnlesse it be for whoredome, and accompting marriage after such divorcement not a lesser sinne, but no sinne at all, as the reason added for strength of their decree sheweth, Now for the next, the generall Councell assembled in the Emperours palace of Con…antinople which made the like decree and taught the same doctrine, as I have declared: Bellarmin would persuade vsus (vponupon other occasions touching Poperie nearer the quick, then this doth) that the western Byshops neither gave countenaun…e thereto with their presence, nor approved the Canons thereof with their consent. To this end hee denieth that the said Councell was a generall Councell, & striveth in hisssDe Ro. pont, lib. 2. cap. 27 third controversie to aunswer some of our reasons which confirme it. But hee easeth vsus of paines to fift his aunsweres by meanes that himself in thettDe eccles mi lit. lib. 1. cap 7 fourth cōtroversie, discoursing of generall councels purposelie, doth reckē it amongst thē. For as invvl. fin, D. de constitut princip…m. mēs lawes whē they are repugnāt one vntounto another, the later derogateth frō the former: so (I trow) when Bellarmin doth contradict himself, his last word must hold. And the more reasō it should so in p. 65this, because bothxxlib. 1 d… imaginib. ad Carol Magn c…p. 35 post N…caen synod 2. et ejus synod… act 2. Pope Adrian the first of auncient tyme did call it the sixth Councell, declaring thereby hee tooke it to be one of the Gēeral Coūcels whereof he tearmed it the sixth, and inyyNicaen synod. 2. act. 4. et 6. the seaventh generall Councell sūdry Fathers alleaged it by the name of the sixth Generall, & avouched it to bee iustly called so. Which sentence of theirs being not controled by any of that Councell, and thezzNicaen. synod. a. can. 1. Councell it self afterwarde approving the decrees and Canons of the sixe generall Councels: it is verie probable that the western churches yeelding their cō sent to the seavēth Coūcel, and taking it for sound, accounted (asaaZonaras et Balsamon prae fat. in synod 6 Nilus et Batla am de pr…matu Papae C…sura orientatis eccels. c. ult. the Eastern still have done & doe) that which they entitled the sixth to bee Generall. Specially seeing that in the West, men of great creditbbDecreti part 4. c. 121. et sequent Ivo andccDist 16. c. Habeo libr… ̄. Gratian andddc A multis extra de aetat. et qualit et. ord. prae…iciend. Pope Innocentius the third and their disciples, the whole schoole of Cannonists have on those authorityes of the seaventh Councell made like reckoning of it. And although our yonger papists for the most parte and some of the elder, perceyving what advantage may be taken thence agaynst many grounds of popery, doe crosse their predecessours herein with44Vrged by Bellarmin of Canus etc. lib. 2. de Rom pont cap. …7. seely reasons, such as where of the b…st would inferre more forceablie that their Councell of Trent was no Generall Councel: yet amōg thē also there are who allowe the auncient opinyon, aseeIn sūma cōciliorū, chrōograph. lib. 3. cōciliorū cō stātinopolitanum finitur sub Iustinian. Rhinotmeto colectis 227, episcopis in eius palatio. The one of coolen in tō … the other at Venice in 5. Caranza namely, and^f Genebrard and Surius, with whose preface tēding to the proofe therof it is recommended & published by papists in the two 5 perfitst and last editions of the Councels. Wherefore whether anye of the West were present in person, or by deputyes,ggprefat. syn 6 ad …ustinian. and subscribed to it which 9 Balsamon andhhde prim… … Nilus, learned Greeke Fathers avouch by olde records; or whether it were celebrated by Eastern byshops onelyonly, as theiiThod, Hist, eccles lib. 5 c. 7, 9, second Generall Councell also was in the same City of Constantinople the consent of the west approving it for Generall averreth my sayings by a cloude of witnesses of the western Churches. Pope Gregory the third followeth, kkepist 4. ad …onif, 32. q 7, equod propo…u….Hee graunteth that if a woman by reason of sicknesse wherewith shee were taken could not performe the duty of a wise to her husband, her husband might put her away and marrie another. More then by the doctrine of Christ hee had learned to graunt for any sicknes: but so much the likelyer that he p. 66thought it should bee graunted for whoredom expressely mentioned by Christ. Wherevponll… eccles …l …. 2 sect, 2. Ioverius a Sorbonist in a worke approved by Sorbonists, matcheth his Canon with the like of Councels, who gave the Innocent partie leave to marrie againe after divorcement, while the other lived. Neither doth Bellarmin denye the illation, but the proposition, which the poynt inferred is grounded vponupon. For the Doctors (sayth hee meā ing the Canonists) expound the Canon of such sicknesse as maketh a woman vnfitt for Marriage: and so is an impediment disolving matrymonye contracted, by shewing it was no true matrimonye. But the Doctor of Doctorsmmsed illud. Quāvis 3., q7 nubat, Gratian himself vnderstood it otherwise; of sicknsse befalling to her, who was an able wife. And those his glosse writers vse most that exposition which Bellarmin would have vsus recieve for authentick as the fittest salve; yet rest nnvel intellige vel dic. In c quod proposuisti verbothey not vponupon it. AndooHist, part 2, tit. … Ca…. 1, quamvis. where he nameth Englshmē in sted of Germanes, & Gregorye the 1. insteed of Gregorie the 3 or 2, as Antonins tooke it. Antonius a great Canonist: Archbyshop of Florēce correcting^p Gratians slipp of memorie for the persons, concludeth with him for the matter. And the flower of LovanqqExplicat articul. Lovan. art. 19. Tapper, the Chauncelour of their viniversity, approveth this of Antonius. AndrrCōcilior, Tō. 3. annotat mar. ad liūc locum, the learned men who were over-seers of the last edition of the Councels doe witnesse by cōtrolling it as a thing which now the Church observeth not'66Istuc he die ecclesiae non servat. that Gregory meant of sickenesse happ…ning vntounto lawfull wives in their iudgement And the Pope himselfe (asssTom 1 cont 3 lib. 4 Cap 12. 3. q…. c. concubuisti. Bellarmin noteh els where) declareth that hee tooke it to bee true matrymonie, by saying that the man ought not to bereave the former wife of ayde, that is, ought to maynteyne, & finde her as his wife still. Wherfore if no Catholique byshop would imagin that a man may lawfully put away his sick wife, and marrie another, vnlesse hee thought the same much more to bee lawfull in an adulterous wife, as wee are to presume: then must the Papists by consequent acknowledg that the poynt in Question is prooved and allowed by Gregory the third. A playner and directer allowance thereof, appeareth in a Canon of his successor ^t Zacharie, who whē a certayne man had defiled himself incestiously with his wives sister, graunted that his wife should be divorced from him: and (vnlesse shee were privie to that wicked act by counsayling or procuring it) might marry in the Lord if shee could not conteine. This so cleare a testimony of an77About the yeare of Christ 740 auncient Pope p. 67authorizing the divorced woman to marrie, Bellarmin would elude, by saying that hee meant shee might marrie another, after the former husbands death. As who say, the Pope inioyning the88Sinespe cō jugij permane atis. man and the whore for a punishment to stay and abyde without hope of mariage, were likly to meāe by liberty of marriyng graunted the guyltlesse for a benefite, that while the guilty lived, who might overlive her, shee should not marrye no more then hee. Or as though there had bene neede for the Pope then to graunt it with exception,99Si se continere nō vult. If she will not conteine Let her marrie in the Lord. Whereby it seemeth that hee rather wished her to refrayne from marriage, if shee might be induced thereto, which hee had no cause to wish on this occasion after the mans death, she being ^v then simply free,uu1. Cor. 7 391 Cor 7:39 and willed to marrie xx1. Tim. 5. 141 Tim 5:14such might her age be. But what doe I reason out of the circumstances in a thing so certayne and cleare of it self, that although theyyPeter Loma…nd Gratian. great maisters whom Bellarmin alleaged before & followed here, have assayed to darken the light thereof by this mist:zzBiblioth fāct …b. 6. Annotat. 8. yet Sixtus Senensis confesseth that Pope Zachary decreed that the women if shee would not conteine, should marry another husband while the former lived. It is true that Sixtus seeketh to helpe the matter another way somwhat, by yoking the Pope with provinciall Councels: who (hee sayth) allowed & decreed it, not by a generall and perpetuall ordinance, but for a tyme, & to certaine nations; & that in such heynous crymes as incest onelyonly, But will the Papists stand to this doctrine, that the Popes decrees bynde not al nations generally, nor are perpetually to last? Thē must they acknowledg (which would touch the Papacie & Popery verry neerely) that the Popes supremacie is falsly pretended, hee hath his certeyn limits as Metropolitanes have: and some will reason also that the lawes of Popes were to last for a tyme vntil Luther rose, but for a tyme onelyonly, there date is out now. As for the cryme of incest, wherevpon the Pope allowed the innocent partie to put away her husband and to marrie another: that confirmeth rather the poynt in Question then disproveth it. For hee had no warrant to allow this by, but ouraaMatth. 9…Matt 9 Saviours doctrine forbidding such divorcement, except it were for whoredom: so that he might not have graunted it for incest, vnlesse hee had thought it lawfull for adulterie; p. 68bbExod 20. 14 Math. 5. 28.Exod 20:14Matt 5:28Neither did hee consider the cryme but as comprised vnderunder adulterie too: Whereof (in a generall sense meant by the 66adultera.law) incest is a kinde. And therefore in speaking of her with whom the detestable act was committed, hee tearmed her11… cap. … B…rch …rd decretor. …ib. c. cap 41. the Adulteresse not the incestious person. Thus it is apparant, that in this matter Pope Zacharie was no papist. No more was the Councel of ^c Wormes which shewed their iudgment to the like effect to weet, that a man who could prove his wife to have been of counsail with such as sought his death, might put her away and marry another if hee would. Presuming that belike, which they might iustely, as22of Livia Drusi in Cornelius Tacitus M…es A…den Mres Sanders in our English Chroniclas. examples teach vsus, that shee was nought of her body with some of the conspiracie. For els had the Councell expressely authorized the same thatddMath 19 9Matt 19:9 Christ condē neth, if for any other cause then for adulterie they had allowed the man to marrie. ThereforeeeEpit in 4. lib. decretal. part 2. cap. 7. D. 6. Covaruvias reckoneth33Elibertnuom hee calle thit through an errour of …ouie dit… ō of Gratian. vp this Councell among thē who held that a man having lawfully put away his wife for her whoredom, might take another while shee lived. Yet a certaine Spanish Frier named Raymund, one of Pope Gregory the nynthes speciall State-men, the compiler of his Decretals, ffcap. Si qua mu. ser extra de divortijs,would avoyd it also after Gratians manner, by false exposition as if the Councell had meant, a man might take another wife after the death of the former. To the more effectuall perswading whereof, that questionlesse they meant so: hee vseth a speciall trick of popish cunning. For, making shewe of registering the Councels owne decr…e, in steed of those wordes44Potest ipsā uxorem di…it tere e., si vosuerit al…m ducare… Hee may put away his wife and marry another, if he will: the Frier setteth downe these55Potest ipse potest axoris li voluer…t alid ducere Hee may after his wives death marrie annother, if hee will. And whereas the Councell had sayd,66Vt vobis videtur. as we thinke, which wordes had bene absurdely put in, if they hadd meant after his wives death hee might marrie another, a thing agreed on and vndoubted: The Frier (as theeves are wont to deface and suppresse the markes of things which they have stolen, least they be taken thereby) leaveth that cleare out. But by the mouth of two witnessesggDere…or. lib 6. cap. 41. Burchardus Byshop of wormes, andhh…i, ua mul…e… 3. q. 1. Gratian or77… it were a Cardinal or other author soe named: as they who wrote the notes on Gratian of Gregorie the 13 editiō al…ag out of sūdry lawiers that it was praesoliū lect sacer ec…lessiast. class. sect … praemō it. de Can. Conc apud Vermer. Palea, both elder then the Frier, and from whom of likelyhod hee receaved this Canon of the Councell of Wormes his false and irreligious dealing is bewrwayed. Whereto may the confession of the third bee added, though in years yonger, yet p. 69greater in credit for things agaynst Papists, himself a popish Doctor and burning light of Paris, ⁱ Ioverius I meane: who sayth of that Councell, that it allowed the innocent partye to marrie agayne after divorcemēt, the other being yet alive. And the Councell it self maketh farder proofe that they are not vniustely charged by Ioveruis and Covariuvias with this iudgemēt.

For if any man had committed wickednesse with his daughter in lawe, the daughter of his wife by her former husband:kkcap 10. Butchard. lib. 17. cap. 10. they agreed that hee should keepe neither of thē: but his wife might marrie another if shee would, if shee could not conteyne and if shee had not carnall company with him, after that she knew of his adulterie with her daughter. The last clause whereof sheweth that they ment of liberty graunted her to take another husband while the former lived: sith it cannot be thought with reason, but they iudged shee might take another the former b…ing d…ad: though shee had continnued with him as his wife, after shee knew of his adulterie. Thell32. p. 7. c. fi Quis cum No verca. Councell of Tribur did maynteyne the same: ordeyning that if any committed vilany with his mother in law, her husband may take another wife if hee will, if hee cannot conteine: and the like order is to bee observed, if with his daughter in law or his wives sister. Bellarmin like themmHorat de arte Poet. paynter, who being good at purtraing of a Cypresse tree, when one gave him money to draw and represent a shipwrack in a table asked if hee would have a Cypresse in, dispairing to doe ought worth perhaps, vnlesse that helped: saith that all such Canons (all not onelyonly this of the Triburian Councell) are vnderstood of marriage graunted to the innocent party after the death of the former wife or husband. An answer no fitter for this and all such Canons, then a Cypresse tree is for a shipwrack, as those of Pope Zachary & the Councell of wormes the former whereof hee garnisheth also with this Cypresse tree, doe argue. For the same reasons which proved Zacharies Can on to bee meant of the womans marriage while the man lived, prove the Councel of Triburs to bee likewise meant of of the mans in the womans life-tyme. The punishment inflicted therein 88Neuter ad cōjugiū potest pervenireon the offēders doe equally enlarge the benifit to the Innocent. The99si se cōtinere non potest exception added to the enlargemēt, is stronger: implying they would have him staye vnmarried rather, if he can conteyne. The testimonye of ⁿ Sixtus is all one for both: neither p. 70doth the quallity of the cryme of incest more infringe the argument heere then it did there. And this extenuation that the Councell beeng a provinciall Councell ordeined it for men of their owne province, and for that tyme onelyonly, encreaseth the authority thereof, if the precious bee severed from the vile, the truth from the falshood. For why affirmeth hee that they did ordeyn it for that tyme onelyonly? The forme of their decree touching 11Si quis dormie… itall generally that should offend so, not some particular person, who presently had; they speaking of the thinge as22Potest for id …ossumus qu…d …ureposssu…us lawfull in it self, and33Sim literob se…andū est. to bee observed alike in like cases; their makinge ofoocap 1. et 1. Burchard lib 7. cap 7. et 18. other Canons to that effect: yeappConcil. Tribur, can. 4…. another Councel also peradventure, & no limitatiō of tyme in any of them; doe persuade the contrarie. Now, whereas they ordeyned it for men of their owne province, their modesty was the greater: who did not take vponupon them as Popes to make lawes for men of all nations, but looked as Byshops to their owne diosaes. And the greater modesty, the liker toqqMath 11 29Matt 11:29 Christ, and the better to be liked ofrrCollo… 3 12 Christians, the more reverence to bessAnachor. apud B…dam lib …ccles, hist. gēt Anglo… cap …. heard with, and their iudgmēt had in greater estimation. Beside that, this self-same decree of theirs was establyshed also byttcap 1 Butehard 7. cap 1. the Councell of Wormes.

Anduu…9. 42. c. Si quis in genuus at that tyme Pipinus (King of Fraunce, and of a great parte of Germany) was present. Who as hee did keep a generall assembly of his people44In wormatia civita…e Almein de gestis Francor. lib. 4. cap 66. there: so by all likelyhoode called Byshops thither out of his whole realme, to make decrees for the whole. A province of such largenesse, thatxxConcil Carthag 4. et Milevet in … conc. African. Epist. ad Celestin Cōc Tolet 3. cap. 18 Councells cō sisting of Byshops assembled, out of no greater, have bene tearmed Generall: and woorthely (asyyTom. contr, 4, lib … cap. 4 Bellarmin confesseth) in comparison of Provinciall Councells commonly so called, wherin there were not Byshops of a whole Nation or Realme. Thus Sixtus by striving to lessen & diminish the credit of the canō of the coūcel of Tribur, hath givē vsus occasiō to make the more of it: cōsidering on the one side the modestie of the Byshops who were assembled there, and made decrees for their province; on the other the Province which that decree was made for, so large that all the Provinces of Italie cannot match it, though they were lincked in one. Had it not bene better for him, with out this Retorique to say directly and flattly aszzSanction. ecce…s, clasi 2. sect 2. ad Cōe ve…in. Ioverius doth, that the Councell of Tribur made the like decre to the Councell p. 71of wormes, which now the Church (hee meaneth the Popish Church) receyveth not? whether any Papist wil take excptiō agaynst the Councell of Mascon,aacap. … Bur…hard lib. … cap. 15. which allowed likewise a certain man, whose wife had bene defloured by his brother beefore hee wedded her to put her away and marry another it may bee wee shall know hereafter. But vntounto a Councell that made another such decree, asbb32 q 7 c. Quaedam Gratian sheweth alleaging it without name, Bellarmin taketh two exceptions: one, that it is lost; the other of the Cypresse tree. Touching the former, not as much as the name thereof (sayth hee) is extant: therefore it might be easily contemned & sett at nought. Why? Is it therefore worse then all that have names, because it is namelesse? Then haveccCardinal Pole Sadoset contaren er consdele… card. conc. lior Tō. ult. Baptist Mantuan Syl. lib. 1. ed. ult Erasm adag. Qui probet Atne niensis. manye Cardinals with other learned reverent men bene much to blame, for writing so of Rome as if it had a number of wicked lewd prophane in-habitants. For by there report the Romans having everye one a name or two, should bee worse for the most parte, then were the Atlantes, a people of Africke, whomddBiblioth, hist. lib … Diodorus Siculus commendeth verie heighly for Godlynes and Humanity, yet non of thē had anie name,eeIn Melp…m Herodotus saith. Or if this bee a fable, asffHist. natura. lib 5. Cap 8. Apoe…egm Lacon. & …aconar Plinie seemeth rather to thinke, and well it may be; yet is it most certayne that … Plutarch recordeth as grave and wise sayings of Lacedemonyans without names, as of any whose names are known. And Bellarmin (I trust) will graunt that in the scriptures there is no lesse account to be made of the booke of Ioshua, then of Nehemias, of Iob, thē of the Proverbs: though their names who wrote the one bee not sett downe, as theirs who wrote the other. But hee will say perhaps that of this Councell not onelyonly the name is vnknowen, but also the worke it selfe lost. And what if it be? were nothhde civit, Del lib 9, cap 2 those of Varroes workes, which wee have not, as learned as the worke55Dominicus Floceus Floren tinus ser forth vnderunder the nam of L … & sacerd tis Romainis of Floccus which wee have? Of Tullie, of Polybius, of Livie, Dio, Tacitus, of infinite writers more, are there not as good bookes lost, as there are extant.iiThe writers of the Notes on Gregories ed…tion-xtra de & qui c…gn consangu uxoris suae, …si quis verbo Metiam. The same hath fallen out in Eclesiasticall authors specially in Councels: whereof a great many are not to be found: as they who by occasion of Canons cited thence in the Decrees and Decretals, have dilligently searched through the chiefest liberaaies of Europe, doe note. And a certaine famous and aunciēt Councel of Ments p. 72beeing commended and praised above the other, bykkchro mōast. hirsan…g. Tretenius and Surius, … cōcilior. rom 3 post syuod. Mogūt sub Rubano.who wisheth hee might have gotten it to be publyshed, sheweth that some extant, are not to bee compared with some that are lost, wherefore Bellarmins former exception to the Councell that it is not extant, no nor the name of it, was not worth the nameing. The latter that the Councels Canon was meant of Marriage after the former wives death: is lyke to prove as false as the profe thereof is frivolous and fond. For mmquedam 32 … 7,these are the words of the Canon: A certaine woman laye with her husbands brother: it is decreed the adulterers shall never bee Married: but lawfull Marriage shalbe graunted vntounto him, whose wife the vilenie was wrought with. Which words are well expounded (saith Bellarmin) by the Doctors, and their meaning gathered nnc, Hist vero eadem quaect.out of the like Canon following a litle after: wherein it is ordeined, that When the adulterous wife is deceassed, her man may marrie whom hee will; but her selfe the adulteresse may not marrie at all, no not her husband being dead. Gratian in deed, and the Glosse-writers on him (the Doctores meant by Bellarmin) doth them wrong in saying they expound it rightly. For this Canō following, out of which they gather that to bee the meaning, being a Canon of I know not what Gregory, at least Fathered on him, doth noe more prove it thenooquod prop… suisti, ead. q the above alleaged Canon of Gregory the third permitting marriage to the innocent partye while the other lived, doth inferre the cōtrarie. And the Councells words mentioning expressely the Innocēt parties freedom and liberty to marry, which had bene superfluous if they meant of marriage after the others death: make it most probable that the Councell vttered them with the same meaning, wherewith others vttered the like, as hath bene shewed. Herevnto the iudgement ofppBibl, Sanct lib, … an not… vnderunder the nāe of Synodus … libe…ima the authour t…es thought of this Canon Sixtus Senensis doth add no small weight, sith he albeit striving to weaken the strength and cutt the sinewes of it, acknowledgeth notwithstanding that it was of one minde with the councell of Tribur.… e Veniens. 1. de eo qui cog cōsang. … …xoris suae So was Pope Alexander the third too some tyme, though Bellarmin alleageqqEx parte extra de spōs et matrim. him as of another mynde. But let Bellarmin say whether hee had two myndes and erred in on of them: seing it is certaine hee was of this minde once, vnlesse hee wrote against his minde. For where as a man that had wedded a wife, did, before hee entred the p. 73marriage-bed with her, enter her mothers bed: Pope Alexander sayde, that hee doing some pennance might bee dispensed with to marrie another wife. Here the Popes favour towards the offender; doth favour of that whichssFran… Victoria relect 4 omne… qui petunt afferunt dispēsationes. In petunt Lee cōpriseth pendunt, Cie in ver lib. … et. …. hath bene missliked in Papall dispensations. But he that graunted thus much to the incestuous husband, would (I trust) have graunted it to the guiltlesse wife: asttEpist Alexand. …. ad pict. episc Append Conc, Lateran. hee did also to her that had this iniurie. The onelyonly evasion whereto a Bellarminian might by his Maisters example have recourse, is that the Canonists expoūd the Popes words not of a wife but of a spouse, & her espoused also by wordes of the tyme to come, not of the tyme present.

Which exposition may seeme the more probable, because the Popes wordes sett downe in the Decretalls geve her the name of spouse without signification that the man had wedded her. But hereof Frier Raymund who compiled & clipped the Decretalls must beare the blame, asvvAnnot…t. de varijs decretal. Epist. cōpilat e…in praesat Gregorij noni. Antonius Contius a learned Lawier of their owne hath well observed. For the Popes Epistle which is extant whole in thexxAppēd Cōc Later sub Alexand. tert. part 12. cap. 4. Tomes of Councels, declareth that the woman was the mans wedded wife, though he did forbeare her companie a while. No remedīe there-fore but it must be graunted, that in this matter Pope Alexander the third subscribed to the former Councels. Now by all the rest whom I aleaged there is none excepted against by anye Papist, for ought that I know, or as I thinke will bee. ForyyDiomar Institut lib 6. cap. 23. Lactantius first avoucheth, so the lawfulnes of putting away … mās wife for adulterie even with intent to marry another that both zzEpit. … lib. 4. Decretal. part. 2, cap. 7. D. 6.Covaruvias andaaIn 4. sent. dist. 36. art. 6. Dominicus Soto graunt him to be cleare from it. Nextbbc. Quedam sententiam Ambrosij servare cupiētes 32. q 7. Sed illud. touching the authours mentioned by Gratian as holding the same for one kinde of adulterie: who doubted but there were certaine so persuaded, when such an adversarie confesseth it. Then for Pope Celestin the thirde, sithccInnocent, the third cap. Quan…o extra de divortiis. a Pope saith hee thought that a man or wife might lawfully forsake their parteners in wedlocke for haerisie, and marry others: I see not how the Papist may denye hee thought it lawful for adulterie, more then I shewed they might of Gregory the third. And albeitddDe cōcord. Evāg cap. 109. Zacharie byshop of Chrysopolis, may seeme to shew rather what other mens opinion was, then what his owne, yet it is apparant by his manner of handeling that hee ioyned with p. 74eeIn epist. ad cor cap. 7.Ambrose therein, whose words hee citeth, and fenseth them against authorities, that might bee opposed. As for the Byshop of Burgos, Paul commended heighly byffAust Steuc. recogn vet. Test ad ver Hebr. in Gen 37 Sixt seuēs bibl. Sanct. lib. 4.Gen 37 learned men for learning,ggAddit. 2. ad ly… in M… …9 hee sayth that it is manifest by Christs doctrine, that whosoever putteth away his wife for whoredom, commiteth not adulterye though hee marry another.hhEnarat in epist ad Rom cap. 7.Rom 7 Naclantus, who was present at the Councel of Trent, a Byshop of principall name and price among them, affirmeth as directly, that a wife being losed from her husband by death or by divorcement, is not an adulteresse if shee marrie another. To conclude Bellarmin confesseth that Erasmus, Caietan, Catharinus, Luther, Melancton, Bucer Calvin, Brentius, Kemnitius, Peter Martyr, and in aworde all Lutherans and Calvinists, (as it pleaseth this Roman Tertullus to name vsus pooreiiAct… 24. 5.Acts 24:5 Nazarens) agree that our Saviour doth allow marriage after divorcement for adulterie, Howbeit fearing much what a deadly wounde hee might geve his cause by graunting that Erasmus, Caietan, Catharinus three so learned men, and two of thē such pillars of the Romish Church a Cardinall & an Arch byshop agree in this poynt with Lutherans & Caluinicts: he addeth that those three differ much frō these hertiques (meāing By heretiques the Nazarens I spake of,77Te… ton Nazora…en … protestatia whose ring-leader was Paul) in as much as they submitt thēselves expressely to the churches iudgement. And because the church (saith he) hath now opened her minde most evidently, as appeareth by the Coūcel of Trēt the 24. sessiō the 7 Canō, where all who thinke the band of marriage maye be loosed for any cause are acursed: therefore it seemeth that those three also, & chiefly the two later, must be thought no otherwise minded in this matter, thē 88reliquorū omiū The o…og or catholicorū cōmunissima sentēall the rest of the Catho-Divines are & have bene with great agreemēt & cōsent. which dispute of Bellar. if it have sufficiēt groūd & strength of reasō Erasmus must be coūted a catholique in al things For99Vbiqne test atū esse volumus nos nusquam a iudicio ecclae catholicae velungué aut digit um latū velle descedere. Quod si quid usquam ejus modideprehēdatur id jam nūc pro…ecantat volumus haberi, In capitū Arg umēt, cōtt. moros…s quosdam et indoctos prefix nov Test. excus cū Aunot. edict 4. et 5 Ibidē in 1. cor. 7. ad hūc ipsū locū semper inquit illabefacto. eccl catholicae uidicio in al his writings he submitteth himself to the churches iudgemēt. Thē why dothkkTō, …. cōt, …, lib. l. c. …. Bell. cal him a demie Christiā,llex semichristiā. l. Tō. 2. Iud. sectar. & haeret. & enrol his nāe amōg sectaries & hertiques? what are the Fathers of the Coūcel of Trēt Demie-christiās, sectaries, heretiques; thy are (by Bellar. logique) of one minde with Erasmus. Moreover S. Austin the ciefeft mā of Bellar. side in this questiō must be coūted ours by p. 75the same logique. Formmde Bapt cōt. Dōa. lib 2, c…. he taught expressely that himself; yea any byshop evē S, Cipriā, yea provincial Coūc. too, should yeeld to the authority of a general Coū. And the 6 general Coū. graū ted liberty of mariage after divorcmēt, as hath bene declared: wherfore if Caietā must be thought no otherwise mynded then Papists are, because that church whose iudgmēt he did submitt himself to, defined so at Trēt22In the yeare 1563. caj…tan being dead a 30 years before Sixtus se…ēst… bib sact. lib. 4. a good while after his death: S. Astin must be thought no otherwise minded thē we are, because our assertiō was cōfirmed likewise by a General Coūcell, whereto hee would have yeelded. Chiefly sith of liklyhood hee would have more easily yeelded therūto, thē Caietan to his churches becausennIn Mat. 16.Matt 16 Caietā sheweth hee was stiffe in holding fast his owne opiniō,33Quon am nō audeoopponerem… cōtra tortē ē doctroū & …u d…ticrū ecclsiasticorū, idio… dixi &c' whē for feare of Church-mē he durst not say all that he thought; & in this very point, thoughooprefat cō …ntarior. in Eva. ad clement 7 submitt̄ig hīself to the See of Rome as wel as to the church,ppIn Math. 19Matt 19 he eludeth decrees ofqqex parte extra de spons, et matrim. …ga… deam…, de di vortiis. popes that make against him,rrEpist 7 ad Marcellin. & prolog retract so resolute he was in it. Sr. Austin cōtrariwise vsed very modestly & willingly to retract things that he had writtē, evē whē ssRetract lib. 2 cap, 18.he lighted on ought in an heretike that seemed better & truer, & this point he thoughtttDe fide et op…tib. cap. 19. so darke in the Scripturs, & hard to be discerned, that his opiniō was not hard to be removed; if he had seē strōger reason broght against it, or greater authority. Now if S. Anstin come over to our side by that quirck of Bellar. … a band of Bellar. wittnesses is like to come with him: namly the coūcel of Melevis & Affrique,uuCoūcil milevit. cum. 27. carthag. sent. prefat. 7. which he was presēt at, & swaied much with: perhaps Primasius also (xxTritē catalo. scriptor eccl. were he Austins scholar) & Bede with a nūber of Canōists, and schoolemē, who folowed most S. Austin. But Bellarmin will never resigne all these vntounto vsus, to gaine the other three frō vsus. For (yyThe English translatour of the Beehive. lib. 6. chap. 4. as our Bee-hive saith) Men live not by losses. He must suffer therefore Erasmus, & Caietan, & Catharinus specially, who (beside thezzAnnot in eo mēt cajctan. lib. 5. place that Bellar. hath quoted) doth avouch the matter in a treatise written purposely thereof, more throughly & exactly then Erasmus or Caietan; Bellarmin I say must suffer them to be counted of that minde which they were of, while thēselves lived; not cavill as if they were of that which peradventure they would have bene44catharinus, died in the yeare 552. Sixtus. senēs. lib. 4. Erasm. in the yeare. 1…36, …lēd. l. …. had they not died before the Councell of Trēt taught so. Vnlesse he thinke (which he may by as good reasō that whereas they were deceased above x. yeares yer the C. p. 76Trent made that new canon, wee ought to count them alive all that while, because they did submitt them-selves to Physitiās and would have lived perhaps till then, had arte bene able to cure disseases. How much more agreablye to singelnes & truth doeaaBibl. Sanct lib. 6 Annot 81. Sixtus, bbEpit in 4. lib decretal part, 2. cap. 7. 6Covarruvias, andccIn 4. Sentent dist. 36. art 5. Domenicus Soto acknowledge (the two former touching Catharinus the last for Erasmus, all concerning Caietan) that in this question of marriage agayne after divorcement for adulterie, their doctrine is the same with those auncient Fathers whom our yonger teachers of the reformed Churches follow. And thus if I should ēter into the comparison of Divines on both sides: first, for the number it is more then likely, that wee prevayle much. For all whom Bellarmim and the Pamphletter after him doe muster out of the west, I meane whō they claime iustly, not who either say against them asddAdvers. Ma…tion lib 4. Tertullian, or not with them aseein 4. sent dist 35. Scotus, all therefore whom they muster so out of the West, areffEpitaph Fabibl. et epist ad Amand. Ierom the Coū cels ofggcan. 17. Milevis andhhcan. 69. AfriqueiiEpist 3. ad Exuper. can. 6 Innocentius the firstkkDe adult conjug et de bono conjug. Austin, llIn epist 1. ad Cor. cap 7.Primasius, mmDe divin offic lib. 2. cap 19.Isiodore, nnIn Mar. cap 10Mark 10Bede, the Councel ofooCan. 10. Friouli andppCan 12. Nantes,qqIn Math cap. 5. …. 1….Matt 5 Anselme, rr…. ex part des pons. et, matrim.Pope Alexander the thirdsscan gaudemus de divor tijs. Innocentius the third,ttin 4 sentent dist. 35. Thomas, Bonaventure. Durand; and other Schole-men,uuIn instruct Armeniotū. Pope Eugenius with his Florentines &xxsess. 24. can. 7 the Councel of Trent. which thoughyy…2 q. 7. sed illud 2. Sent. lib. 4. dist 35. Gratian, Lombard and whomsoever he might bill, were added to them yet ours out of the west alone pehaps would match them. What if the North, the South, whence Bellarmin hath none? what if the East, whence hee hath two or three at the most for hunderds of ours bee ioyned therevnto? Then for Qualitieaacor. 14. 36 Came the worde of God out from you? saith Paule to the Corinthians; or Came it to you onelyonly? Meaning that they ought to reverence the iudgemēt of other Christian Churches being more then they were: but of those chiefly and first (as hee placeth them) from whō the Gospell came first. NowbbEsai 2. 3. lue. …4. 47. act. 1. 8. and the whole storie.Isa 2:3 the Gospell came first out of the East: whose cō sent wee have in a manner generally. and as wee have the first in Countrie, so in tyme the auncientest & eldest: our two firste Councels in55At Eliberis the firme Citye. …at now is called Granade, or near there vntounto Spayne, and in Fraunce elder an hundred yeares then their two in Africque, our next farre elder yet then their next; and so vntounto the last: yea, for several Fathers, aunciēt on both sides, ther are more with vsus in the foure or five or sixe for-formost p. 77ages then there are with them. Of soundnes in docttrine, of learning, of vertue, of constancie, of consent, it is hard to speake by way of comparison whether excelleth other. Saving that forcc…' Tim. 3. 3. Tim. 2. 14. gentelnes and meekenes. a speciall ornamēt of Byshops, weigh both partes together, and ours surpasse our adversaries. Amongst whom the Councell of Trent accurseth66what? our Saviour also … who sayth it … by his worde Math. 19. 9.Matt 19:9 all such as say that that they doe erre in this poynt, into which outrage none of ours hath broken against the contrarie minded. As for other graces of the holy Ghost, though Bellarmin have noted sundrie spotts and blemishes wherby some of ours are touched in credit, and their authority is impeached: let him cast his eies vponupon his owne witnesse's without partiallitie, and hee shall finde that wee have a Rowland for his Oliver. For where hee telleth vsus that Ambrose did erre in yeelding greater freedō to men then to women; Luther and Bucer in graunting second marriage after divorcement for moe causes then whoredome; PopeddBel. tom. 1. cont. 3. lib. 4 Cap. 12. Gregory the same for sicknes:eeIbid, Ca. 14. Cellestin the same for heresie: wee tell him againe thatffIn the place abo ve quoted Clemens Alexandrinus… Athenagoras, Origen (if hee bee out of theirs) Ierom andggIn Marc. C. 10. Bede, did likewise erre in speaking against all second marriages, andhhDid. Covat variatū resolut. lib. 4. Ca. 7…. Sixt senēs. bibl. sanct lib …. Annot. 77. & lib. 6. Annot. 119. Clemens withiiSixt. senēs. lib. 5, & 6 Gebrad. collect. de Origē vita Cap, vit. Origen insundrie weightie poynts of fayth. WherekkTom …eō …. lib. 1 cap 5. hee telleth vsus that Lactantius fell into a number of errours, as being more skilfull in Tullie then in the scriptures, wee tell him againe that some of the Scholemen were, though not more skilfull in Tullie, then in the scriptures, yet as vnskilfull in the scriptures,llMelch C… us locorum, Theolog. lib. 8. Cap. 1. as in Tullie; and there graund-maistermmArticulis in quibus Magister non tenetur the Maister of the sentences is charged by themselves with above a score of errours. Where hee telleth vsus that Luther varieth from himselfe Melancton agreeth not with him, nor Kemnitius with either of them, because Luther alowed divorcement for moe causes afterward then at the first, and Melancton thinketh that both the divorced parties are free to marrie, Kēnitius that the Inoc̄et onelyonly; wee tell him againe that neither doth Pope Innocentius the third agree with Pope Alexander, nor Alexander with himself nor neither of them with Athenagoras, seing Athenagoras cō demneth second marriage which thenncum secūd um. Capellanū: extra de secūd…s nuptijs. Popes allowe, though… Alexander punished one who blessed it;^o Innocentius checketh a decree of Alexander that deprived the Innocent partie of his p. 78right, because the offendour had sinned thus, or thus: & Alexander, whether in this decree I knowe not (for it is razed out of theppGloss in die tum c…discretionem & in sed illud 32 q7 Decretals) but in other extant overthwarteth himself, as his words aleaged on both parties, for Bellarmin & for vsus, doe testefie. So Bellarmins obiections of humaine infirmities and wants notwithstanding, they which are of our side excel in estimation those which are of his, for diverse circumstaunces and respects. And (the most important respect of all others) the ground wherevponqqTertul chro mat. Hilar. pol lent conc. Ven et. &c. ours doe buyld their doctrine, is the plaine evidence & expresse testimony of our SaviourrrMath. 19. 7.Matt 19:7 Christ, excepting whoredō namely out of the causes for which he denieth a man may put away his wife & marrie another. Contrariewise the ground that our adversaries buyld on is their owne cōceit, not able to stand without violent wresting, suppressing, or corrupting of Christs exception the proofe whereof is seene in three the most peremtorie men for this matter, and best accounted of among them, Innocentius the first, the third, & Thomas of Aquin. ssIn 4. sent. dist. 3. quaest. 1. Art. 5.Thomas in that he answereth that Christs exception pertaineth to the putting away of the wife, & not to the marring of another, also Innocentius the first, in that he omitteth the exception quite,ttEpist. 3. ad Exuper can. 6, & citeth Christs words thus: whoso putteth away his wife for whoredom, & marrith another doth commit adulterie vvc. gaudem…s extra de Divorti…s.Innocentius the third, in that he depraveth & altereth the exception, affirming that Christ saith77Quicsique dimisserit vx. orem suam ob…ornicatio nem. whosoever putteth away his wife for whordom, & marrieth another, doth commit adulterie: whosoever putieth awaye his wife for whoredom. A notable corruption by scraping out of the sentence88Nifi ei m… or me. as some reade it. the exceptive particle having the force of a negative, to change for this point into an affirmative: & so easily to be corrupted by the text of the Scripture it self, that I doubted whether it were not the Printers or bookewriters errour, vntyll I perceived that all the printed copies, which I could gett the sight of, did agree therein; even the newe one too of Gregorye the thirtenth conferred with all the written copies in the Popes liberarie, beside many other, & corrected by them. But of such buyldings such must be the groundworkes, or equall vntounto such in force; An vntruth will never cleave vntounto the truth by other kinde of morter. in probabillity therefore it is to bee presumed that not onelyonly the greater parte of the fathers but the better p. 79also, and they whose groundes are surer doe maintayne our doctrine. So the weapon which Bellarmin draweth out of their sheath against vsus, doth bend backe and turne the poynt against himself: and the wound it may geve, it can not pearce so deepe asxxHeb 4. 12.Heb 4:12 that which is sharper then a…y two edged sworde, but the wound it may geve, it geveth to his owne cause, Howbeit if any shall conceive otherwise hereof for the number & quality of the witnesses, as some peradventure will & may by reason of broken coniectures, which the variety of circumstances yeel deth, yet no man will (I trust) sure no man of modestye and sense can denie, but the mayne and principall poynt I hadd to shewe, namely that the Fathers consent not …ll in one for the Papists doctrine, is shewed to their shāe, whose face & cōsciēce served thē to avouch the cōtrary. Wherfore sith our adversaries doe graūt that the Fathers have not strēgth enough to prove a point in questiō vnlesse they all cōsent about it: Bellar. with his Pā phletter must cōsequētly graūt, that their cursing Trēt assertiō in this point cannot be proved by Fathers And so the secōd staffe which they have framed thēselves to leane vpō, is like to that brokē staff of reed, Esay. 36. 9…. …. 2.Isa 36:9Isa 36:2Egipt, whervpō (saith the scripture) if a man leane, it wil goe into his hand & pearce it.