Works of Joseph Hall, Dedication 27
TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, AND MY MOST HONORED Lord, GEORGE, Lord Archbiſhop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and Metropolitane, one of his Maieſties moſt Honorable Priuy Councell.
MOST REVEREND FATHER, and no leſſe honored Lord,
IT was my deſire and hope, to ſpend the reſidue of my Time and thoughts in ſweet and ſacred Contemplation. Satan enuying me this happineſſe, interrupts me by the malice of an importunate Aduerſarie. Twelue yeares agoe I wrote a little Apologeticall Letter for the Mariage of perſons Eccleſiaſticall; and now thus late, when I had almoſt forgot that I had written it, a moody Maſſe-prieſt drops out a tedious and virulent Refutation; thorow my ſides ſtriking at the moſt Honorable, and flouriſhing Clergie of the whole Chriſtian world; labouring not ſo much for my diſgrace (what would that auaile him?) as the diſhonour and ſcorne of our holy Profeſsion, in the eyes of our people. I could contemne it in ſilence, if the Quarrell were onelyonly mine; Now my wrong cannot be diſtinguiſhed from thouſands: God and his Church are ingaged in this cauſe, which in my foile could not but ſuſtaine loſſe; neither may I be now ſilent with ſafetie, without miſconſtruction. Let this hand and Tongue bee no longer mine, then they may ſerue my Maſter in Heauen, and his Spouſe on Earth. That which I wrote in ſome three houres, he hath anſwered in three quaternions of yeares; and what I vvrote in three leaues, hee hath anſwered in no fewer Pages then 380. Should I follow him in this proportion; hee might after ſome Centuries of yeares expect an anſwer in Toſtatus-hydes; whoſe firſt word ſhould be, Quis legit haec? Or if my patience would delay my Reply to the iuſt paces of his Anſwer, this Volume of his vvould perhaps bee vaniſhed into Grocers ſhops for waſte Paper in thuris piperiſue cucullos; and vvould no more need anſwer then now it deſerueth one. But hearing of the inſultation of ſome Popiſhly affected, who gloried and triumphed in this ACHILLES pro Catholicis, I addreſſed my ſelfe to the Worke, vvith no little indignation, and no leſſe ſpeed: That my ſelfe-conceited Aduerſarie, and his ſeduced abettors may ſee how little a well-ordered Mariage is guilty of deadding our ſpirits, or ſlacking our hands. At the beginning of this Summers Progreſſe, when it pleaſed his ſacred Maieſtie to take notice of this ſorie Libell, and to queſtion vvith me concerning it, I had not ſo much as read it ouer, ſo newly vvas it come to my hands; ere his happy returne, (be it ſpoken to the onelyonly glory of him that inabled me) I had not only finiſhed this Anſwer, but twice written it ouer with my owne hand; and yet made this but the recreation of the weightier buſineſſe of my Calling, which now did more then ordinarily vrgeme.
It was my purpoſe to hauehave anſwered (as beſeemeth the perſon à quo, not ad quem) mildely, according to my knowne diſpoſition: but vponupon better deliberation, I found the inſolency of my Refuter ſuch, that I could not fauour him, and not bee cruell to my cauſe. If therefore for many (it is his own art and word) railatiue Pages, he receiue from my vnwilling and enforced Pen now and then, though not a Relatiue to ſuch an Antecedent, yet perhaps ſome drop of ſharper Vineger, then my Inke vſeth to be tempered withall, he may forgiue mee, and muſt thanke himſelfe: What needed this cauſe ſo furious an Inuectiue? As if the Kingdom of Heauen, and all Religion conſiſted in nothing but Maiden-head, or Mariage? Cardinal Bellarmine, when he ſpeakes of the Greeke Church, wherein a maried Clergie is both allowed and required,Si errerem alium non haberent, …ciſe pax conceleretur, Bell de Cleric. lib. 1. c. 21. ſhuts vp moderately; That if this were all the difference betwixt them, and the Romane Church, they ſhould ſoone be at peace. If my Refuter had ſo thought, this had not been his firſt Controuerſie: Both eſtates meet in Heauen. John the Virgin reſts in the boſome of maried Abraham; This inordinate heate therefore of proſecution riſes from faction, not from holy Zeale: Hence it was that my Aduerſarie cunningly ſingled out this point from many others, ranged in my poore Diſcourſes, as that wherein (Biſhop Jewels confeſsion) hee might promiſe to himſelfe the likelieſt aduantage of Antiquity; and how gloriouſly doth he vaunt himſelfe in the oſtentation of Fathers & Councels! Which vaine flouriſh how little it auailes him, the proceſſe ſhal ſhew; where it ſhall appeare vponupon what grounds no ſmall piece of Antiquitie was partiall to Virginitie, and ouer-harſh to Mariage, as Beatus Rhenanus, B. Rhenan. Arg. lib. de exhort. Caſtit. Tertull.a learned and ingenuous Papiſt confeſſeth. But this we may boldly ſay, that if thoſe holy men had out-liued the bloody Times, and ſeene the fearfull inconueniences which would (after a ſetled peace) inſue vponupon the ambition, or conſtraint of a denyed Continencie, they had doubtleſſe changed their note; and with the moderate and wiſeſt ſpirits of the later times,Eneas Syluius. Panormitan. Durandus. Pereſius. Montuanu…. Eraſmus, &c. Che Coll introductione del matrimonio ac Preti ſi farelle, che tutti volt aſſetto l… affetto & amor lor… alle moglie, a figli, & per conſequenza a…caſa, & alla patria; onde ceſ…erebbe la dependenza f…retta ch…l Ordine Clericale ha con… ſede Apoſtolica, & tanto ſarelbe. Conceder ill matrimonio a Pr…ti, quanto diſtrug… la Hietarchia Eccleſiaſtico, & ridur it Pont. che non fo…ſe p…u the Veſc…uo ci Roma. Hiſtor. Concil. Trid. pag. 662. Troppo f…ſte, troppo teſte, troppo tempeſte. Vid. Dall…ngt. obſeru. vponupon Guicciard. Doctor Mart. againſt Pr. Marr. pleaded for that libertie which the Reformed Church now enioyeth. The vniuerſall conceſsion whereof (after the priuate Suffrages of worthy Authors) came to a publike treaty in the Romane Church, amidſt the throng of their late Tridentine Councell, and it is worth the while to obſerue on what grounds it receiued a repulſe. If Prieſts ſhould be allowed Mariage (ſay thoſe wily Jtalians) it would follow that they would caſt their affections on their Wiues and Children, and conſequently on their Families, and Countries, whereupon would ceaſe that ſtrait dependance, which the Clergie hath vponupon the See Apoſtolike; In ſo much as to grant their Mariages, were as much as to deſtroy the Hierarchie of the Church, and to reduce the Pope within the meere bounds of the Romane Biſhopricke. This was the plea of the Clergie; their thriftie Laitie, (together with them) enemies to the bleſsing, (or, as they conſtrue it, the curſe) of fruitfulneſſe, are wont to plead, Troppo teſte: our Gregory Martin of old computes the preiudiciall increaſe that might ariſe from theſe Mariages to the Common-wealth. It is not Religion, but wit that now lyes in our way. Fond men that dare offer thus to controll the wiſdome of their Maker, and will be tying the God of Heauen to their rules of ſtate. As it is, no Church in the vvhole World (except the Romane) ſtands vponupon this reſtraint, vvhereof the conſequences hauehave been ſo notoriouſly ſhamefull, that wee might well hope, experience vvould hauehave wrought, if not redreſſe of their courſes, yet ſilence of ours. And ſurely, if this man had not preſumed that (by reaſon of the long diſcontinuance of Popery) time had worne out of mens mindes the memory of their odious filthineſſe, he durſt not thus boldly hauehave pleaded for their abominable Celibate; The queſtion vvhereof, after all buſie diſcuſsions, and pretences of age, muſt be reſolued into no other then this, How farre the Tradition of a particular Church is worthy to preuaile againſt Scripture: yea, and againſt other Churches. A point, which a very vveake iudgement will bee able to determine.
In this returne of my Defence, I doe neither anſwer eueryevery idle clauſe, nor omit any eſſentiall: this length of mine is no leſſe forced then mine Aduerſaries Continencie: wherein yet my Reader ſhall not ſigh vnderunder an irkeſome loquacitie: I preſume to dedicate this vnworthy labour to your Grace, whom this famous Church dayly bleſſeth, as her wiſe, faithfull, and vigilant Ouerſeer, as a renowned Patterne of holy Virginitie, and Patron of holy Mariage. The God of Heauen (whoſe watch you carefully keep) preſerue you long to his Church; and make vsus long happy in your Grace, and you euer happy in his plentifull bleſsings. Such ſhall euer be the Prayers of
Your Graces most humbly deuoted, IOS. HALL.