Works of Joseph Hall, Book 1 · Section 19
SECT. XIX.
NOw vnhappy is this man that ſtill ſhoots his Arrowes quite beſides the Butt?Refut. p. 96. He proues, forſooth, with great zeale, that the Fathers neuer vnderſtood a poſitiue command in our Apoſtles words, which I neuer thought ſo much as in dreame: and then he bends his Forces againſt Byganie, which I no where auouched. The Man of valour loues to play his prizes alone.
Here is no command then (ſaith he) but a permiſsion; How much are we bound to him for his fauour? Permiſsion? Thus much hee, with his holy Father, yeelds to their Stewes. No, here is a direct allowance. Let him be the Husband of one Wife; Not, Hee may be ſo: But this was onelyonly for a time, hee ſaith, becauſe of the paucitie of ſingle Clergy-men: Let him ſhew me the Apoſtles limitation, and I am ſatisfied; otherwiſe, this miſſe-grounded conceit (what countenance ſo euer it may finde in a priuate humane authoritie) ſhall paſſe with vsus as a Gloſſe of Burdeaux, that marres the Text. But how ſhameleſſely, how fraudulently, how like himſelfe,Refut. p. 96. Chryſoſt. in Tit. Hom. 2. doth my Refuter cite Chryſoſtomes Caſtigat impudicos, &c? He checketh the incontinent (ſaith the Father) whiles hee permitteth them not after their ſecond mariages, to bee preferred to the gouernment of the Church, and dignitie of Paſtors; and there my Refuter ſtops, with, So he; whereas, if he had gone forward, the place had anſwered him, and it ſelfe: For (ſaith Chryſoſtome) hee which is found not to hauehave kept his beneuolence towards his wife, which is cThe word is foreign, by them tranſlated falſly, Defunctum.gone from him, how ſhould he be a good Teacher to the Church? Plainely ſhewing vsus, that hee intends this to thoſe vnchaſte Husbands, which after an vniuſt diuorce of their former wiues, hauehave maried alſo a ſecond; not after the death of the firſt.
The like Prieſtly fidelity he vſeth in the place of Chryſoſtome, Hom. 2. vponupon Iob; the poore man had taken vp ſome ſcraps of quotations vponupon truſt, hauing neuer ſeene the Authors; For, Chryſoſtome neuer wrote any Homilies vponupon the Booke of Iob; onelyonly he hath fiue Homilies of the Patience of Iob; whereof this cited, is the ſecond; vvherein his errori ignoſcebat, hath reference rather to, ſine crimine, which he oppoſeth to irreprehenſibiles, then, to vir vnius vxoris, as the ſequel plainely ſhewes. As for Bigamy,Refut. p. 97. it is out of our way; but ſince his loquacitie will needs roue thither, let him ſhew that before Montanus infected the World with a preiudice againſt ſecond Mariages after deceaſe, they were held vnlawfull for any calling, or perſon,Refut. p. 98. and we will grant him clamorous to ſome purpoſe.
To proue this opinion and practice of the Church, like a wiſe Maſter, hee brings in*Tert Exhort. ad caſtit. c 7. Tertullians authoritie, in his Book which he wrote in the time of his Hereſie; whiles he was ouer the eares in Montaniſme; where he tels vsus hee hath knowne ſome eiected for ſecond Mariages. But if he had euer read the Booke following, of Monogamie, hee might hauehave found his Tertullian (then Montanizing) to vpbraid the true and Catholike Church, which he cals Pſychicos, with the vſuall practice and allowance of the ſecond Mariages of their Biſhops.*Tert. d… Monog mia, c. 12. Quot enim & aigami praeſident apud vos, inſultantes vtique Apoſtolo, &c? Miror te vnum protraxiſſe in medium, cum omnis mundu… his ordinationibus plenus ſit, non dico de presbyteris: ad Epiſcopos venio quo… ſi figillatim voluero exu…erare, tantus numerus congregabitur, vt Ariminenſis Synodi multitudo ſuperetur. Her. ad Ocean de Cart …io Hiſp. Ep. digamo, &c. Refut. p. 99. Quot enim & digami, &c. For how many Biſhops are there amongst you twice maried? But who-euer was matcht with ſo vaine a Babler? I proued from Saint Paul, that a Biſhop might hauehave one Wife: he proues by Councels and Fathers, that he may not hauehave two. It is pitie that his Maſters the Ieſuites hauehave no more Trees for him to ſet with the rootes vpward: Any thing rather then to weary the World with his fooliſh clacking.
Out of this indiſcreet and odious verboſitie (leſt he ſhould want noiſe) he ſtumbles vponupon the Councell of Conſtantinople, before it come in his way, and ſpends a vvhole leafe onelyonly to tell vsus, that he will talke of it hereafter. Hereafter he ſhall receiue anſwer enough; What needs this diſorderly anticipation? To conclude then, this place of our Apoſtle ſtands for vsus vnſhaken, by any the impotent blaſts of his friuolous Eluſions, and ſhall warrant vsus againſt Earth and Hell, that a Biſhop may be the Husband of one wife.