The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 7 · Controversy 4 · Chapter 1
CHAP. 1. A compariſon of continent Virginity with Matrimony. That many Prophets and Apoſtles were married. That the high Prieſts under the Law were married. Examination of the Cardinals ſhifts.
ALthough chaſt and holy matrimony hath God for the Author, who did inſtitute it in Paradiſe, even before mans Fall: And though Chriſt himſelf did honour it with his preſence, and the woman was given to man for the propagation of mankind, for help and mutuall comfort, and for a remedy againſt incontinence: Yet it muſt be acknowledged, that continent Virginity, not tempted with any carnal deſires, but poſſeſſing integrity of mind, no leſs then of body, hath many advantages above matrimony. For a continent man who leads a ſingle life, is not diſtracted with the care of his family: He hath fewer bonds to tye him unto the world; He hath more time to employ in ſtudy and meditation, and being leſs loaden with other burthens, he is the fitter to bear the Croſs. When it is put on any to take a forced or voluntary exile for the Goſpel, a ſingle man will flie with more eaſe, then he that is clogged with wife and children.
But that gift of continence untempted with concupiſcences, is given but unto few perſons. And God giveth it not ſooner to a Paſtor of the Church, then to one of the people, and they that ask it of God by prayers, have no promiſe to be heard in that point: For God hath promiſed to hear us in things neceſſary to ſalvation; but that gift, to be able to be without a woman, and without any temptation in that kind, is not neceſſary for that end. Yea many that made that vow of a ſingle life, before they had well meaſured their ſtrength, have caſt themſelves into ruine, and intangled themſelves in the Devils nets. In that, as in all other things, God ſheweth his wiſdom: For having created man for ſociety, not for ſolitude, and taking care of the preſervation of mankind, he hath beſtowed that gift upon few perſons, and hath planted in man a natural deſire of marriage. Which deſire, whoſoever out of an affectation of greater perfection will reſiſt with obſtinacy, or with a raſh vow, ſhall find in the end, that he hath drawn a great deal of ſorrow upon himſelf, and inſnared himſelf into many ſins, and that to his own harm he would make himſelf wiſer then God. For this cauſe the Apoſtle Paul, to whom God by an eſpeciall priviledge had given the gift of continence, ſaid to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 7.7.I would that all men were, even as I my ſelf: But acknowledging that it is beyond humane ſtrength, and that it is a gift which God beſtoweth upon few perſons, he addeth, but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. Next, he chargeth all to whom God hath not imparted that gift, to marry. If they cannot contain (ſaith he) let them marry, for it is better to marry then to burn. It is to be noted, that in all that Chapter in which he ſpeaks at large, both of marriage and virginity, and of the conveniencies of a ſingle life, eſpecially in time of perſecution; he ſpeaks not of the Paſtors of the Church, but of all the godly in generall: Knowing that God giveth the gift of continence, not accoording to the charges that a man hath in the Church, but according to his own will, and diſtributeth his gifts as he thinks beſt: And that where that gift of continence is wanting, he will have all perſons to marry, making no exception either of Eccleſiaſtical charges, or of a Monaſtical vow, which then was not in uſe.
In this point, as in all others, we muſt conſult the Lords mouth, and take his Word for our rule. In that Word, we fi…d that the moſt excellent ſervants of God were married: That Moſes, Samuel, Iſaiah, &c. had wives: In Iſaiah eſpecially it is obſervable, that even when he had thoſe excellent revelations, and when God had filled him with the Prophetical Spirit, he begot a ſon on his wife by Gods command, as is to be ſeen in the eighth chapter of his Prophecy, ver. 3.
Thus the high Prieſts and other Prieſts under the Old Teſtament, who continually attended the ſervice of the Temple, yet were married, and that in a time when God tyed his people unto many outward purifications, and to a bodily cleanneſs, far more ſtrictly then under the Goſpel. Sure, if there had been ſome pollution in matrimony, or ſomething derogating unto the holineſs of the ſacred Miniſtry, God would have provided for the Prieſthood by ſome other means, then by the lineal ſucceſſion.
Mark 1.30. Chriſt healeth Peters wives mother. Our Adverſaries deny it not, but they ſay, that ſuch as were married among the Apoſtles, abſtained from their wives, ſince the time that they were called unto the Apoſtleſhip. But that is ſaid without proof, and againſt the ſentence of the Apoſtle Paul, 1 Cor. 7.34. The husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. And in the ſame place, Defraud not one another, except it be for a time. And againſt Chriſts prohibition, Matth. 19.6. A man ſhall cleave to his wife, and both ſhall be one fleſh, ſo they are no more two, but one fleſh: What therefore God hath put together, let no man put aſunder. Now Chriſt ſpeaks there of the ſeparation of the bed, and of the conjunction which makes husband and wife to be one body and one fleſh. Had Chriſt taken from his Diſciples the uſe of their wives, the Phariſees that ſpied his life and actions narrowly, would have been ſure to defame him for it, and make his doctrine odious.
It muſt not be omitted, that the Roman Church puts Saint Peters daughter among the Saints, and calls her Petronilla, by her Fathers name. Whence it follows, that Peter begot her in the time of his Apoſtleſhip, for before he was an Apoſtle, his name was not Peter.
The text of the ſame chap. Matth. 19. where the Apoſtle Peter ſaith to Chriſt, behold we have left all things and followed thee. Whence our Adverſaries inferr, that he had left his wife, ſhall be examined hereafter.
Not only St. Peter was married, but many others among the Apoſtles, if we believe Ignatius in the Epiſtle to the Philadelphians,(a)foreign. Peter and Paul, and the other Apoſtles did marry. And Clemens Alexandrinus, ſpeaking againſt thoſe that deſpiſed matrimony,(b)Clem. Alex. 3. Stromat. foreign, Do they reject the Apoſtles? for Peter and Philip got children: Philip married his daughters to husbands. Ambroſe upon 2 Cor. 11.(c)Omnes Apoſtoli excepto Johanne & Paulo uxores habuerunt. All the Apoſtles, John and Paul only excepted, had wives.
Acts 21.9. it is written, that Philip the Evangeliſt had four daughters.
Platina in the life of Cletus, ſaith that St. Luke had his wife in Bithynia.
Wherefore alſo the Apoſtle Paul, who was not married, declareth that he had power to carry along with him a ſiſter that ſhould be his wife, as well as the other Apoſtles, 1 Cor. 9.5. Have we not power to lead about foreign, a ſiſter, a wife, as well as other Apoſtles, and the brethren of the Lord and Cephas? It is true, that the Greek word for a wife, ſignifieth alſo any other woman.(d)Note that bo…h in Greek and in French, th… ſame word ſerveth for a wife and any woman But in vain to the word ſiſter, had he added the word woman, ſeeing that every ſiſter is a woman, if by the word woman, he had not underſtood a wife. That this might not be perceived, the*Pag. 698, 699. Cardinal alleadging this text, ſaith, a woman ſiſter, inſtead of a ſiſter, woman or wife, making that word ſiſter, added to the word woman, to diſtinguiſh her (ſaith he) from a married woman, whereas in Greek, the word foreign, woman or wife, is added to the word foreign, ſiſter, to diſtinguſh her from all other Chriſtian women, which generally were called ſiſters. Tertullian in the book of Pudicity, chap. 8. confirmeth that explication, ſaying, It was lawful for the Apoſtles to marry, and to lead their wives along with them. And Clemens Alexandrinus, (e)Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 3. p. 192. foreign; &c.Paul makes no difficulty in a certain Epiſtle to name his wife, which which he led not along with him, that he might be ſerved with leſs trouble. He ſaith then in a certain Epiſtle, Have we not power to lead about a ſiſter, a wife, &c. Which I alleadge not becauſe I believe that St. Paul was married, but to ſhew how Clemens underſtood that ſiſter woman, and that he took it, as we do, for a wife. I am content to preſuppoſe, that theſe Apoſtles who led their wives about, uſed them only for houſhold buſineſſes, not out of any vow, or any prohibition from Chriſt, or becauſe they held that contrary to their Miniſtry; but becauſe minds tranſported unto divine things, will eaſily forget humane things.(f)Leo IX. Diſtinct. 3. Can. Omnino. Omnino confitemur non licere Epiſcopo Presbytero diacono propriam uxorem cauſa religionie abjicero à cura ſua; ſed ut ei victum & veſtitum largiatur, ſed non ut cum illa carnaliter ex more jaceat. Sicut & ſanctos Apoſtolos legimus egiſſe, beato Paulo dicente, Nunquid non habemus poteſtatem mulierem ſororem circumducendi? Pope Leo the IX. though an adverſary to the marriage of the Clergy, underſtood that text of women married with the Apoſtles.
I am not ignorant that ſome of the Antients, as Hierom and Auſtin, underſtand theſe Texts of ſome women that followed the Apoſtles for their houſhold ſervice, like thoſe women that followed Chriſt, miniſtring unto him of their ſubſtance, Luk. 8.2, 3. not conſidering that in the Greek there is not a woman ſiſter, that is a Chriſtian wife, as St. Auſtin ſaith, but a ſiſter woman, or wife. Truly it would have been unbeſeeming for an Apoſtle, that bad a lawful wife, to leave her at home, and carry another about to uſe her about houſhold buſineſſes; or if he had been a ſingle man, to carry a woman about, eſpecially in journeys of a thouſand or twelve hundred leagues. For although the Apoſtles had vertue enough to overcome that temptation, yet they could not tye the tongues of the people, or avoid diſtraction. Certainly ſuch a ſervice had been performed with more decency by a man then by a woman, and by many women, more decently then by one. The example of Chriſt, whom many women followed, is nothing to this purpoſe: For theſe women that St. Luke ſpeaks of, followed him in great number, and their fartheſt journey was twenty five or thirty leagues, which is the diſtance from Galilee to Jeruſalem. But here St. Paul ſpeaks of a woman that followeth an Apoſtle travelling from Eaſt to Weſt, and making journeys of above two thouſand leagues.