Common Places, Part 2 · Chapter 11 · Section 3
Of Adulterie.
17 Doubleſſe, adulterie is a gréeuous ſinne, In 2. Sam. 11. 26. How greeuous a ſin adultrie is. Looke at the beginning of the ſame chapter.and how gréeuous it is (as Tertullian gathereth in his booke De monogamia) we may perceiue by the contrarie, in comparing the ſame vntounto matrimonie. Let vsus conſider wherein matrimonie conſiſteth. God made man and woman, he ioined them togither in one fleſh: wherein matrimonie dooth ſtand. And if ſo be that one fleſh be rent and pulled awaie, ſo as an other is mingled and ſet in place, adulterie is committed. This heinous crime hath béene forbidden, euer ſince the firſt originall of mankind, as manie of the fathers hauehave prooued. God made man and woman, not men and women; to the intent that euerie man ſhould be content with his owne wife, and euerie wife with hir owne huſband: if now then a man be not content with his owne wife, he ſhall not hauehave one wife; but manie. Man ſhall leaue his father & mother, Gen. 2, 24.and cleaue to his wife: if he be pulled awaie, doubtleſſe he cleaueth not to hir. Chryſoſtome, vponupon the 51. pſalme, in the firſt homilie, ſaith; that The fruit of adulterie is murther and poiſoning. In his 42. homilie vponupon Matthew, he ſaith; that Adulterous women verie oftentimes practiſe murther, and that not of one man onelie, but of all them alſo, vntounto whom they thinke that their infamie may come; as did Herodia. Ierom againſt Iouinian, toward the end of the firſt booke; Whatſoeuer tumults (ſaith he) are in tragedies, is the ſpite that is betwéene married wiues, and their huſbands harlots. Moreouer, Agamemnon was ſlaine by the adulterer Aegiſtus. Atreus and Thieſtes, by reaſon of adulterie, tooke in hand thoſe cruell enterpriſes. The rauiſhing of Helen ſtirred vp the moſt cruell war of Troie. In this is a certeine ſinke of all euill.
Cyprian, in the ſecond epiſtle of his fourth booke to Antonius, writeth; that In the firſt times there were ſuch biſhops, as would neuer let adulterers to reſt in the church: but there were other biſhops, that after a good ſpace of time, if they ſhewed foorth anie fruit of penance, would reconcile them after a ſort. Auguſtine, in his 42. epiſtle to Vincentius the Donatiſt, alledgeth this epiſtle, and ſaith; that This diuerſitie of cuſtome the biſhops had, and yet they kept the vnitie of the church. Chriſt willeth, that matrimonies ſhould not be broken off; and yet he ſo accounted of adulterie, as he made it the cauſe why matrimonie ſhould be vndoone. By adulterie the houſhold is diſquieted, the bed it ſelfe is diſhonoured, great iniurie is doone vntounto the children: for either they be baſtards, or elſe taken for baſtards. Bartholus Ad legem Iuliam de adulterijs, in the Pandects writeth, about the title [of the ſame booke] that Adulterie is the moſt gréeuous crime of all other, except treaſon: to wit, as concerning ciuill regiment. Thales Mileſius iudged, that periurie is not a more gréeuous ſin than adulterie. For a certeine adulterer was readie to take his oth, that he committed not adulterie; and periurie (ſaith he) is not woorſe than adulterie.
Whether adulterie be a more greeuous ſinne than idolatrie.Chryſoſtome, in his 62. homilie vponupon Iohn, was bold to write, that adulterie is a more gréeuous ſinne than idolatrie. And he alloweth two reaſons, both which neuertheleſſe are deriued from matrimonie, and the nature therof. Which is written by Paule in the firſt to the Corinthians, 2. Cor. 7, 12.where he decréed, that A beleeuing huſband may dwell with his vnbeleeuing wife: but he granteth not that an adulterer may dwell togither with an adultereſſe: wherefore, that the ſame is a more gréeuous fault. Another reaſon is: The beléeuing wife is not defiled with the companie of hir idolatrous huſband; but an adultereſſe is alwaies polluted, A falſe argument.if ſhe be ioined with an adulterer: therefore he concludeth, that adulterie is a thing more gréeuous than idolatrie. But vnderunder correction of ſo notable a man, I may ſaie, that the arguments be weake. We muſt not compare matrimonie with idolatrie: but matrimonie and adulterie muſt be compared betwéene themſelues. Theſe two are in ſuch ſort, as the one of them in his owne nature, and by the appointment of God is good, and the other is ſinne.
And whereas in matrimonie, the one part is ſometime an vnbeléeuer; that happeneth by accident. But the greatneſſe of ſinne muſt not be iudged by thoſe things, which come by chance, or (as they ſpeake in the Schooles) which happen by accident. A beléeuing wife may dwell with an vnbeléeuing huſband, ſo he be willing therevnto. For matrimonie is a good thing: it is not ſo polluted with the idolatrie of the other partie, as it cannot be good vntounto the beléeuer in Chriſt. But adulterie is alwaies an euill thing, none can well and rightlie vſe the ſame. And though the reaſon of that father be not firme, and that it is not true, that idolatrie is a lighter ſin than adulterie (for idolatrie is the greateſt ſinne of all: Adulterie draweth neere vntounto idolatrie.) yet the ſinne of adulterie draweth ſo néere vntounto idolatrie, as in the holie ſcriptures it is compared with idolatrie. Idolaters be called whooremoongers and adulterers: for the wedlocke of God with men is violated.
In 2. Sam. 11, verſe. 2618 But we might ſtand in doubt, whether it he lawfull for anie man to take hir to wife, Whether an adulterer may marrie an adultereſſe.whom he hath before polluted with adulterie. If the ciuill lawes, or the Iewiſh lawes were in vſe, this caſe would not ſo oft happen to be. Adulterie was an offenſe, wherevnto death was due. If the adulterers, both man and woman, ſhould be put to death; how might they contract matrimonie? Certeinelie not in another world, where no marriages ſhall be. But ſomtime perhaps a man ſcapeth vnpuniſhed, or elſe adulteries committed are not openlie knowne; what then ought to be doone? Leuit. 18, and 20.In the 18. and 20. chapters of Leuiticus, there be appointed manie impediments, and manie degrées, wherein matrimonies be forbidden; yet is not this named in that place. Perhaps for the cauſe which I hauehave now ſpoken of; namelie, for that adulterie deſerued death; or elſe, bicauſe it was a ſecret crime. In that caſe there ſéemeth to be no lawes of God, which prohibit. Howbeit, the Popes lawes did afterward ordeine this much; that if one of the married perſons did ſéeke the death of the other, whereby ſuch a one might enioie the deſired matrimonie, ſuch marriage ſhould be void. The ſame we find in manie places of the Extrauagants, in the title where diſputation is had of him, that marrieth his wife, whom he had firſt polluted by adulterie.
And in the title De conuerſione infidelium, in the canon, which beginneth Laudabilem; If a huſband, while his former wife liueth, committeth adulterie with another woman, and they contract matrimonie togither, or plight faith one to another, ſuch a matrimonie is of none effect. Which alſo In …o…cilio Triburienſe, in the fortie chapter, was decréed. Auguſtine in his firſt booke De nuptijs & concupiſcentia, the tenth chapter, ſéemeth to diſallow matrimonie betwéene adulterers. In the Authentiks, there is nothing extant of this matter: indéed they denie that marriage that is made betwéene the rauiſher, and hir that is rauiſhed. As for Dauid he cannot properlie be called a rauiſher: indéed he committed adulterie, &c. This matter is treated of by the Maiſter of the ſentences, in the fourth booke, and 35. diſtinction. Theſe things may be gathered euen by humane lawes. Howbeit, God ſeparated not Dauid and Bethſabe; he ſuffered them to remaine married, but yet in great affliction. It ſéemeth that the biſhops were led to make theſe lawes, leaſt men ſhould be inclined to the murthering of huſbands, to the end they might enioie their wiues.