Works of Joseph Hall, Book 1 · Section 20
SECT. XX.
Refut. p. 100. 101.MY next place, of the honorableneſſe of Mariage amongſt all, hee ſmoothes ouer with a pretended conceſſion; profeſſing with Fulgentius, and Hierom, to giuegive all high Titles to that ſtate, only preferring the rule of a better life; praiſing Mariage, but more extolling Virginitie: But vvho euer made the compariſon? Theſe are faire Nets to catch Fooles; Whiles hee heapes vp all the reproachfull termes that ſpight can deuiſe, againſt the very ſtate of Mariage, in ſome callings, not ſo much as preiudiced by Vow; how doth he grant Mariage honorable amongſt all? If the compariſon be the matter he ſtands vponupon, let him ſay, Mariage is good, and lawfull for all conditions; Virginitie is better; he ſhall hauehave no aduerſarie. And whereas (to call him to reckoning for arrerages) he turned off this place (when it was) with a ſcoffe out of Bellarmine, That Mariage is honorable amongſt all,Refut. p. 13. yet not between Father and Daughter, &c. the Man alluded ſure to their great & good Alexander the ſixt, and the chaſte Lucrece, of whom he knowes the Riddle, dHere lyes Lucrece in name, Thais in li…e. The ſame Popes Daughter, Lemmon, and his owne ſonne. Wife.Filia, Sponſa, Nurus.
For vsus, that it is honorable in all eſtates of men by Apoſtolicall warrant, is ſufficient aſſurance, that to no calling, or eſtate, it can bee diſhonourable and vnlawfull. But to vntye Bellarmines trifling knot: I ſay, Mariage is honourable, foreign, but not foreign: in all, but not betweene all: That is, eueryevery man may marry with a woman, but not with any woman whatſoeuer, as with his Mother, or Siſter. So Father and Daughter may marry, but not one the other. See now what a worthy Meſſe of Sophiſtry is laid in S. Pauls diſh by theſe Caruers, and how eaſily ouer-turned: So as I might very vvell proclaime to all the world (which I do now confidently ſecond) that if God might be Iudge of this Controuerſie, Refut. p. 102.it were ſoone at an end. If my Refuter make faces at this, their whole Schoole ſhall beare mee out in it. Et eEſpenc. l. 1. de Cont. c. 3. Caiet. Opuſ. de Caſtle.ſanè communis eſt ſcholae reſolutio, &c. And in truth it is (ſaith their Eſpencaeus) the common reſolution of the ſchole that if we inſiſt only in thoſe things which were ſpoken by Chriſt, and written by the Apoſtles in the Canon of the New Teſtament (ſecluding the Lawes of the Church) holy Orders, neither as Orders, nor as holy, are any hindrances of Matrimonie. Thus he. And ſaid I any more? any other?
Ibid. p. 102. 103.By their confeſſion then, God neuer impoſed this Law. My proofe was, that euen in the time of that legall ſtrictneſſe, he allowed Wedlock to the Miniſters of his Sanctuarie. Herein, how am I refuted? If he meane (ſaith my Detector) that for puritie and perfection of life, the Law of Moſes was more ſtrict then the Goſpell, the vntruth is notorious; To which he addes out of Hierome, that the greater perfection of the Euangelicall Sacrifice exacteth greater Holineſſe; and concludes, that the permiſsion of Wiues in the Aaronicall Prieſthood, argues euidently the imperfection of that Law. So he. Surely, God wanted this Counſellor vponupon Mount Sinai; hee could hauehave aduiſed him better Rules of his miſ-contriued Prieſthood.
Would my Refuter make himſelfe ſo ignorant, as not to know; that notwithſtanding the rather greater perfection of Moralitie required vnderunder the Goſpell, yet that Leuiticall Law placed impuritie in many of thoſe creatures and actions, wherein the Euangelicall findeth none? Did not the touch of ſome Veſſels or Garments make a man legally vncleane? Did not the lawfull act of Coniugall Beneuolence; Did not the accidents of the holyeſt Child-bed carie in them an expiable impuritie? If he be not a Iew, he will not ſay it is ſtill thus vnderunder the Goſpell. How iuſtly therefore might I inferre, that if our holy God, vntounto whoſe Wiſdome it ſeemed good to ſtand of old vponupon ſuch points of outward vncleanneſſes, did notwithſtanding allow Wedlocke to his Prieſthood, much more (at leaſt no leſſe) vnderunder the Goſpell, doth he allow it, when as all thoſe imputations of impuritie are vaniſhed.