Works of Joseph Hall, Book 1 · Section 26
SECT. XXVI.
FRom Moſes and the Prophets I deſcend to the Apoſtles. What did they? C. E. anſwers roundly:Refut. p. 112. They did not marie; and they who were maried before, did lea…e their wiues. I vrge Saint Pauls report of the reſt of the Apoſtles, and the Brethren of the Lord and Cephas, that they not onelyonly had Wiues, butr1. Cor. 9.5. caried them along in their Trauels. He anſwers, They were not Wiues, but other deuout Women, which followed them to adminiſter maintenance to them. A likely tale, if they could all agree in it; That the Apoſtles would caſt off their owne Wiues, and cary about ſtrange Women with them, vponupon what-euer pretence. Credat Iudaeus apella, Non ego. Yet my ſhameleſſe Refuter cryes out of my pride and ignorance in not allowing this, which he dares proclaime for the receiued expoſition of all the Fathers, and all that euer wrote in the Greeke and Latine Church: When he knowes that hisſCl…. Recog. ul…. l. …. Clement in his Recognitions, and his own Pope in their Canon Law, hath expounded it contrarily, of Wiues, not of ſtrange Women:tDiſt. 31. Omnin…. Leo the ninth, againſt the Epiſtle of Nicetas the Abbot; where he directly affirmes that the Apoſtles did cary about their Wiues, Vt de mercede praedicationis ſuſtentarentur abijs; That they might be maintained by the reward of their preaching; making the force of the word to lie in circumducendi, non amplectendi: Eyther therefore his Pope erres in a deliberate expoſition of Scripture, or elſe I hauehave not erred; And either his Popes are no Fathers, or C. E. hath no forehead.
Refut. pag. 113.Nothing can make the Rhemiſts (foreign, a Siſter, a Woman) not ridiculous; not that Viſor of Age, which my Refuter pleaſes to faſten vponupon it. There wants an Article (he ſaith.) Our Apoſtle ſhould hauehave comne to Cardinall Bellarmine and him to learne when, and where to vſe it.
That our laſt acurate Tranſlation of the Engliſh Bible, hath Woman in the margin, is a poore aduantage, who ſeeth not, that it is the manner of that exquiſite Edition, to ſet all the Idiotiſmes of either Language, and diuers readings in the Margin? EueryEvery Schoole-Boy knowes that the word ſignifies both; but whether of them is fit to be receiued into the Text, our Text it ſelfe ſhewes. How wittily is Saint Pauls, A Woman, a Siſter, Men and Brethren.paralleled with Saint Peters, Viri Fratres? Ye Men which are Brethren, is a meet predication, but, Ye Siſters which are Women, is abſurd; Neither doth St. Peter ſay (foreign) Brethren men, as Saint Paul ſayes, foreign, A Siſter Woman. As for the authority of Hierome, well may wee appeale from his iudgement as incompetent, whom his owne Doctors accuſe as partiall, and cenſure as*A Title giuen to Gregory, alſo in Apolog. Tumultuaria. Refut. p. 115. foreign, (if not foreign.) Yet euen he againſt Heluidius tranſlates it, Vxores circumducendi.
For the reſt, it is worth my Readers note, how the Plagiary Prieſt hauing ſtolne this whole paſſage (as moſt of the reſt) verbatim out of Bellarmine, yet ouer-reaches his Maſter; for where Bellarmine ſayes, Ita ferè omnes Graeci & Latini; So almoſt all the Greeke and Latine; this Bayard dares ſay, All (ſauing Clemens) as well Greeke, as Latine; and when he hath done, names ſome that ſay nothing of it at all, as Chryſoſtom; Another, that in Hereſie ſpeakes for him one where, another-where againſt him, as Tertullian; who being alſo himſelfe a maried Prieſt, could ſay in his exhortation, Licebat & Apoſtolis nubere, & vxores circumducere; Another that grounds vponupon an euident miſreading, as Ambroſe; and to make vp the Bulke, puts in Saint Bede and St. Thomas, parties to the cauſe, and then ſings, Iopaean. It is well yet that hee grants Clemens of Alexandria, and Saint Ignatius to be on our ſide, for this interpretation; and when he hath done, he muſt be forced to yeeld vsus his Pope Clement, Pope Leo ſeconded by his Gratian, and Laurentius Valla, and others cited by Eraſmus; in ſo much as Eſpencaeus himſelfe grants herein,xEſpenc l. de Cont. To lead about. foreign veterum, a difference amongst the Ancient. And if theſe had neuer beene, the Text cleares it ſelfe, for, not to inforce the word (foreign) which implyes a power ouer the party caried; The Apoſtle ſpeakes of a matter of charge to the Church, by this circumduction; Now, that rich Matrones ſhould follow the Apoſtles, and miniſter to them of their ſubſtance, was a matter of eaſe to the Church. Neither was this attendance for miniſtration, ſo much an act of Cephas, and the other Apoſtles, as a voluntarie act of the women themſelues. To conclude, in this, the Apoſtles practice ſhould hauehave croſſed their doctrine. For if Saint Paul gaue that charge (of being the Husband of one Wife) on purpoſe (asyChryſ. Hom. in Tit. praecitat. Chryſoſtome ſaith) to ſtop the mouth of the Enemies to Mariage; how muſt this needs open them againe, and breed a conceit of that impurity, which Saint Paul meant to oppoſe, that the Apoſtles themſelues as aſhamed of their wiues, forſooke them, and choſe rather to bee attended by Strangers?
So as I muſt take leaue to be euer in this Hereſie, that the Apoſtles had wiues, and caried them about.