Works of Joseph Hall, Book 1 · Section 22 – Section 23
SECT. XXII.
FRom Panormitan, hee deſcends to my alledged Gratian, who becauſe he ſpeakes theſe words (by way of explication) in a continued tenor with a ſentence of Auſtin, is (to my mortall ſinne) cited by me as ſpeaking from Auſtin. The poſition and the inference of the words is ſuch, as might deceiue any eye that would truſt a Gratian; What might the price be (trow we) of ſuch a crime in the Apoſtolique chamber? In my next Shrift,Refut. p. 105. he ſhall heare, meâ culpâ; The words are Gratians, that Copula Sacerdotalis vel conſanguineorum, The mariage or (as this Clerkly Grammarian tranſlates it) the carnall copulation of Prieſts, or kinsfolke, is not forbidden by any Legall, Euangelicall, or Apoſtolicall authoritie, but by Eccleſiaſticall Law it is forbidden. Wee could not hyre a Proctor to ſay more. But herein C. E. hath detected two foule faults of the citation; The one, that I truſted his Gratian ſo far, as to make him ſpeake out of Auſtin, which (I truſt) a little Holy-water may waſh off. The other;Refut p. 106. That I concealed the mariage of kinsfolke, within the prohibited degrees: which (ſaith he) although only forbidden by Eccleſiaſticall Law, yet dares not M. Hall. (I thinke) tranſgreſſe it; ſo as this Law hath greater for…e then he ſuppoſeth it to hauehave. So he. Plainly, my Refuter knowes not what he faith, elſe he would neuer thus palpably plead againſt himſelfe? For, whateuer thing was there in all the conſtitutions of his Church, more ſubiect to variation, then the legall ſupputation of the forbidden degrees? which was a long time confined to the third degree incluſiuely; another while extended to the fourth; and ſometime to the ſeuenth. Let him herein reconcile his Pope Nicholas and Gregory, with Pope Innocent, Whereof the one left all free that were without the pale of the fourth degree, the other reſtrayned all to the ſeuenth; And when he finds an vnalterableneſſe in the determination of theſe degrees, let him plead for an equally-fatall neceſſity of his Eccleſiaſticall continence; in the meane time, let him take it patiently to be beaten with his owne Rod.
No diuine Law then (he grants) hath inioyned this Celebate, but an Eccleſiaſticall. What is this other then I ſaid? God neuer impoſed this Law of continence; Who then? kEſpenc. ex Teſt. Abb. l 1. c. 3. Facerat igitur Eccleſia boni medici iuſta medicinam quae obſit magis quam profit tallentis. The Church ſhould therefore doe like a good Phyſitian in remouing the medicine which he ſee… to doe more harme then good. Refut. p. 107.The Church. And why may not I goe on, to aske, Whether a good wife would gain-ſay what her husband willeth? Flouriſhing will not anſwer this. All the prayſes of beauty and fidelity which are giuen to the true Church, argue Rome to be the falſe. Whereas therefore the Prieſt ſhuts vp thus brauely; And this Miniſter, who would make the one to gain-ſay the other, ſhould bring ſome place or ſentence to ſhew the ſame (which he may chance to doe the next morning after the Greeke Calends) or elſe neuer a…ouch ſo vnchriſtian a Paradoxe. He ſhall vnderſtand that his Greeke Calends are paſt. The Spirit of God ſaith, A Biſhop may be the Husband of one Wife. The Church of Rome ſayes, A Biſhop may not be the Husband of any wife at all: Whether is this a contradiction? The Spirit of God ſayes, Mariage is honourable amongst all men: The Church of Rome ſayes, Mariage is diſhonourable to ſome. The Spirit of God ſayes, To auoid Fornication, let eueryevery man hauehave his wife: The Church of Rome, like a quick huſwife, ſaies, Some order of men ſhall not hauehave a wife, though to auoyd Fornication. Let my Maſſe-Prieſt ſhew theſe to be no contradictions (which hee may chance to doe at the Greeke Calends) or elſe grant this to be neither Paradox, nor vnchriſtian.
SECT. XXIII.
FRom Cardinall Panormitan, I aſcended to Pope Pius the Second,Refut. p. 108. whom I vſhered in with this Preface, Let a Pope himſelf ſpeake out of Peters Chayre, Pius the ſecond, as learned as hath ſit in that roome this thouſand yeeres. Two things my Cauiller ſnarles at in the Preface, two in the authority it ſelfe.
My firſt manifeſt vntruth is, that Pius the Second ſpake this as out of the Chayre. A witleſſe miſpriſion. I hope he ſate in Peters Chayre that ſpake it; if he ſpake it not as from the Chayr, I care for no more Is not this ſufficient to win reſpect from a Catholike Prieſt? Otherwiſe, whether it were Stoole, or Chaire; or if a chayre, whether the conſiſtoriall, or the Porphyry chaire, wherin he ſits before his firſt Triumph,lLib. ſacr. cerem. tanquam inſtercoraria, it is all one to me. Themſelues muſt firſt agree what it is to ſpeake as from the Chaire, ere I can affirme that Pius the Second ſo ſpake this. Id Populus curet, I referred the chaire to the man, not to the ſpeech: In the meane time C. E. is not ſo good a groome to the Chayre, as Gregory of Valence, who attributes infallibility to a Popes ſentence, though it bemƲid. Rom. Irrecon. ſine curâ & ſtudie. My ſecond wrong is the ſuperlatiue laſhing (ſo he cals it) of other Popes learning in compariſon of this. I cry him mercy; I did not know what ſinne it was to commend a Popes learning; That is not it (I confeſſe) that caries away the Crownes and the Keyes: But the compariſon offended. Perhaps C.E. hath knowne that Chaire more learnedly furniſhed: It may be he thinkes of Boniface the Ninth, called before Peter de Thomacellis, a Neapolitan,nTheod. Niem. lib. 1. c. 6. who could neither write, nor ſing; hardly vnderſtanding the propoſitions of the Aduocates in the Conſiſtorie; inſomuch as in his time, Inſcitia ferè venalis facta fuit in ipſa curiâ; Ignorance was growne valuable. Or it may be he thinks of thoſe ancient ferule-fingred Boy-Popes; one of the Benedicts, a graue Father of ten yeeres old; or Iohn the Thirteenth an aged Stripling of nineteene. Or perhaps, hee alludes to thoſe learned times (within my compaſſe) which were acknowledged in the Councell of Rhemes; where, when offer was made of requiring the Popes iudgement, it was publikely replied, that beſides the expoſedneſſe of the City to ſale, Romaeiam nullum ferè eſſe qui literas didicerit, There was ſcarce a man at Rome, that could ſpell his Letters.
Heu quàm perfatuae ſunt tibi, Roma, togae!
If I ſhould here adde out of Alphonſus de Caſtro, that ſome Popes were ſuch great Clerkes,oAlphonſ. contra hereſ. lib. 1. cap 4. Edit. Colon. anno 1543. vt Grammaticam penitùs ignorent, That they had no skill in Grammar, C. E. would tell me that my Booke is not of a corrected edition, though it was printed at Coleine. Such bran hath been caſt out in their latter ſifting and ſhifting of Authors.