Common Places, Part 2 · Chapter 10 · Section 8
VVhether anie diſpenſation may be made in degrees of kindred prohibited by God.
In 2. Sam. 13, verſe, 6.48 Now let vsus declare, whether anie diſpenſing may be in the degrées forbidden by the law of God. For at this daie, thoſe which would be counted chriſtians, being matched in the degrées forbidden, doo ſaie; Let vsus go to the Pope, let vsus talke with him, he will diſpenſe with vsus, ſo we reward him with monie. Neither doo the common ſort onelie ſaie this, but our maiſters, which be the Schoole-diuines, The ſchoolmen defend the Popes diſpenſations.in the fourth booke of ſentences, the 34. diſtinction, concerning matrimonie write, that the Pope can diſpenſe. And they indeuour to prooue that this he may doo. For they ſaie, that thoſe precepts, which be in the 18. and 20. chapter of Leuiticus, Leuit. 18, and 20.touching degrées forbidden, partlie be morall, and partlie iudiciall. The morall and naturall are, that the father may not marrie his daughter, nor the ſonne his mother. Here they ſaie is ſuch an indecencie, as by no meanes it can be taken awaie; but that it ſhould be a perpetuall impediment. For they ſaie, that the father and the daughter, the mother and hir ſonne be one fleſh. Notwithſtanding, in matrimonie it behooueth, that one fleſh become another than it was: howbeit, thoſe are not ſeuered.
But if the reaſon were firme, Adam might not hauehave married Eue: ſhe was his fleſh, for he ſaith; Gen. 2, 23.This is now fleſh of my fleſh. They anſwer, that Eue was the fleſh of Adam; not by waie of nature, but by miracle; ſith God ſo framed Adams rib, as it was made a woman. Howbeit, when kindred is defined, we hauehave no recourſe to miracles: but it is ſaid to be a bond of thoſe perſons, which be deriued from one beginning by procreation; ſo Eue might not be called a kinſwoman of Adam. Wherefore they ſaie, that in thoſe precepts, which be in Leuiticus, the indecencie betwéene father and daughter, mother and ſonne, is naturall, morall, and perpetuall: and that the reſt of the degrées doo apperteine to the iudiciall lawes. Some indecencie they would hauehave to be there, but yet not ſo much as hath béene alwaies forbidden. Deut. 25, 5.For brethren & ſiſters did at the firſt time marrie one to another: yea and the ſiſter of the brother departed, was married in the lawe, Gen. 29.for the raiſing vp of ſéed. Iacob had two ſiſters in wedlocke; Amram had his aunt; Abraham had Sara, Exod. 6, 20. Gen. 20, 12whom he called ſiſter. Wherefore (ſaie they) theſe degrées; namelie, the father and the daughter, the mother and the ſonne, are after a ſort perpetuallie forbidden by the lawe of nature, and by the morall lawe: but other perſons, which be forbidden by God, were kept backe from marriages; howbeit, that was by the iudiciall lawes.
But thoſe lawes endured ſo long, as the ciuill regiment of the Iewes continued: which being decaied, we are not tied to thoſe lawes anie further, than the church hath allowed of them; ſo as vntounto vsus they be lawes of the church, and not morall lawes: neither are they laid vponupon vsus by the lawes of God, but by the lawes eccleſiaſticall and poſitiue. And whereas they make the Pope to be preſident ouer the whole church, they ſaie it is in his power, for certeine iuſt cauſes, to releaſe theſe impediments. They ſo flatter the Pope, that Caietane Secunda ſecundae Thomae, queſtion 154. article the ninth, ſaith, that the Pope dooth for iuſt cauſes diſpenſe in all thoſe degrées (except for marriage betwéene the father and the daughter, and betwéene the mother and hir ſonne;) not by a common lawe alreadie ordeined, but by the Popes licence. This he aſſigneth to be the cauſe, for that they be iudicials. Experience teacheth, Emanuel king of Portugall.that theſe things hauehave ſometimes happened. Emanuel the king of Portugall married two ſiſters, Catharine Quéene of England two brethren, Catharine Queene of England.Ferdinandus the king of Naples married his aunt: Pope Alexander the ſixt allowing the ſame. I hauehave read, Inceſtuous marriages.that Martin the fift gaue licence to marrie with a naturall ſiſter: whereof manie of the Canoniſts ſaie, that it is to be doubted, whether it were lawfull or no. This licence is horrible. Ye ſée how great matters theſe men challenge vntounto themſelues.
I am of another mind: and thoſe things, which be conteined in Leuiticus, touching degrées forbidden, I eſtéeme them to be morall. Such marriages ſéeme rather beaſtlie than humane. The prohibition of degrees in Leuiticus 18. is morall.And that the ſame [prohibition of degrées] is rather naturall and morall, I prooue by the verie words of thoſe lawes. When GOD made thoſe lawes, he ſpake on this wiſe; Obſerue ye theſe things, Leui. 18, 24.and defile not your ſelues with theſe abhominations, as the Chanaanites, which were before you, and I did caſt them out. If ye ſhall imitate them, and ſhall defile your ſelues, the earth alſo ſhall caſt you out. Thus I reaſon; The Chanaanites were not the people of Iſrael, God did not giuegive lawes vntounto them by Moſes, yet were they puniſhed for ſuch kind of marriages; wherefore they were bound to theſe precepts. If they were bound, they were bound by the light of nature; and the precepts did alſo perteine to other nations. A nature being well inſtituted, might perceiue that ſhamefulneſſe. The Lord ſaid, that he for that cauſe hated the Chanaanits. So then it ſhould not be conuenient for vsus, that thoſe precepts were but of ſmall value, periſhing togither with the ciuill adminiſtration of the people of Iſraell.
Of the children of Adam.What doo they ſpeake of the children of Adam? Our cauſe and theirs is not all one. Their cauſe ſtood vponupon great neceſſitie. Moreouer, God diſpenſed, ſaieng; Increaſe and multiplie, and fill the earth. And God can diſpenſe when he will. It was not his pleaſure to bring foorth other women. That this ſhould be doone without ſuch a neceſſitie as that was, we hauehave not a word to ſhew it. Gen. 29. The example of Iacobs two wiues.In that it was once doone, men muſt not imitate the ſame. True it is, that Iacob married two ſiſters: but publike honeſtie was after a ſort defaced in Meſopotamia, and elſewhere. Neither were all things well doone, which the fathers did: vnleſſe we can ſaie; that the ſpirit of GOD would this to be doone peculiarlie. We ſpeake of the common lawe, and vſuall courſe. Iacob had two ſiſters againſt his will: his will was to hauehave had but onelie one: but through the wiles of Laban, the one was put to him againſt his will, and the other died by the waie, before he entred into the holie land. The Hebrues ſaie, that God would not that ſo great wickedneſſe ſhould be in the land of promiſe.
We muſt not liue by examples, but by lawes.Againſt that example we alledge the lawe of God. We muſt not liue by examples, but by lawes. There were ſuch things in other nations alſo, but not to be allowed therfore. Euſebius Caeſarienſis, in Praeparatione euangelica, writeth, that the Perſians had marriages betwéene the father and the daughter, and betwéene the mother and the ſonne. Beroſus writeth, that giants before the floud did not refraine from ſuch marriages. Caracalla ſaid to his ſtepmother; If it were lawfull. The vnchaſt woman anſwered; If it like thée it is lawfull; An Emperour giueth lawes, he taketh none. Among the Atheniens it was lawfull to marrie ſiſters. Theſe things be ſhamfull. Againſt thoſe ſhamfull things, let vsus oppoſe the good lawes of the Romans. As touching this matter we ſée things verie repugnant in the Popes licences. By a common and forbidden lawe, they abridge the libertie of marriage, and forbid more degrees than God did appoint. For once they forbad the ſeuenth degrée, within a while the fourth degree; afterward they ſo licence at their owne pleaſure, as they except onlie the firſt degree.
So will I, ſo doo I command,
Let will for reaſon ſtand.
I denie not, but that in theſe contracts, the inceſt is greater in one degrée than in an other: but what things ſoeuer God hath forbidden, be vnhoneſt. If they ſaie that they doo this by a fulneſſe of power: Baldus.let them ſaie (ſaith Baldus) by a fulneſſe of tempeſt, wherewith the church is troubled and corrupted. Doo not thinke that anie man (God I will except) can giuegive licence, that the brother ſhould marrie his ſiſter.