Works of Joseph Hall, Book 1 · Section 6
SECT. VI.
IN vaine therefore doth my Refuter bring in S. Paul, as an a better of his forced Continence; whiles he ſaith of yonger Widowes,Refut. p. 21. that When they hauehave begun to wax wanton againſt Chriſt, they will marry, hauing damnation, becauſe they hauehave forſaken their firſt faith. In which place (boulted before to the Bran by many Controuerſers) mine Aduerſary hath learned of his Bellarmine, to triumph aboue meaſure. This firſt faith (ſaith he) all the Fathers, without exception, vnderſtand to be a Vow, or Promiſe, made to God of Continence, in the ſtate of Widowhood. It is a wide word, (All the Fathers) I had thought I had read in holyxL. C. de Trinitate de Beat. t…t. Dei … Ti…oph… lum. Et inſtrumenta libertatu ſemel conceſſa per iterationem infirmat…. Athanaſius, Vae vobis qui primam fidem baptiſmi coelitus inſtitutam irritam facitis; Woe to you that make void the firſt faith of Baptiſme ordained from heauen. I had thoughtyNon ſunt digni fide, qui primam fidem Baptiſmi irritam ſecerunt. Marcionem loquor & Baſilidem. Hier. Prooem. in Epiſt. ad Tit. Hierome had ſomewhere ſaid, They are not worthy of beliefe, which hauehave voided their firſt beliefe, Marcion I meane and B…ſilides; whom yet I neuer found condemned for the breach of any Vow of Continence. I had thought, the Author of the Interlinear Gloſſe, would not hauehave croſſed all the Fathers, in expounding it, Fidem baptiſmi; The faith of Baptiſme, which is indeed the firſt Faith; and the Apoſtle ſaith (the firſt) not (the former;) as for that other, which hee imagines, a Vow of continued Viduity, it was neither Faith nor Firſt; let him inſtance (if he can) where our Apoſtle takes Faith for a Vow. Rather, as if he meant to expound his owne word in this very Scripture, and this occaſion, he cleeres this doubt, whiles he ſpeakes of the wilfully improuident Man, that he hath denyed the Faith, and is worſe then an Infidel; and now in the ſame Context, he ſpeakes of theſe peruerted Widowes that they hauehave forſaken the Faith.
Much leſſe is it the First, whether in Time, or Dignity: For, they could not hauehave beene Church-Widowes, if not Chriſtians; and they could not be Chriſtians if they ſhould hauehave valued the Vow of their Widowhood aboue the vow of their Chriſtendome; yea, ſo farre was this from the firſt Vow, (if it had beene one) as that it was the laſt of all; for according to them, their firſt Faith muſt be to their Husband, their ſecond to Chriſt, in their initiation to Religion; their laſt in the Vow of Widowhood; So as here is a fayned vow made Faith, and laſt made firſt; and all to vphold a crazy conceit of our Romaniſts, which hath no other ground but this one ambiguity. Chryſoſtome indeed calls it (foreign) ad Pactum; a couenant; but what couenant,Refut. p. 20. or with whom, he expreſſes nor; whether of Chriſtianity, or of Widowhood, or of Miniſtration; Some of the others that followed him, ſpake according to the Gloſſe which the corrupt conceit of the Times had ſet vponupon him.
But what need my Refuter ſtand vponupon particular Authors (he ſayes) when he may bring 214 Biſhops, all ſitting in Councell at Carthage, all agreeing in this expoſition,Refut. p. 21. poynting vsus to the fourth Councell of Carthage? (Canone vlt.) His Gratian had wont to tell vsus, (for the more Grace) that it was in the third Councell of Carthage, Can. 4. Now he is taught to change this note; So doth C. E. with his Binius, tell vsus it was the 4. Councell and the laſt Canon. We hauehave reaſon to ſuſpect it was in neither; The very ſtile and manner of diſcourſe ſo different from the reſt of thoſe briefe Canons, and the faſhion of thoſe Times, cary in it open likelihood of Baſtardie: It was an eaſie fraud to patch it to the end of tho…e Canons; neither (which learned Iunius taught mee firſt to obſerue) is it found among the Greeke; then which there cannot be a worſe ſigne.
But that I may at once anſwer this vaunt of Antiquity, and ſtop the mouth of this Cauiller: Let me aske him whether thoſe Fathers, whom hee cites for this ſenſe, doe not take thoſe yong Widowes for Votaries? If they doe (as hee cannot denie) how can theſe two ſtand together, That they ſhould hauehave damnation, becauſe againſt their vow, they would marry; and yet that the Apoſtle ſhould wiſh them to marry? Can he imagine that Saint Paul would aduiſe them to incurre wilfull damnation?
And if in this I ſhould hauehave diſſented from the interpretation of much Antiquitie, I ſhould but take to my ſelfe the liberty of his Maſters the Ieſuits, with whom this is no nouelty; for inſtance, his not vnlearned, and boldzMaldonate in Math. 19.11. Maldonate: (as we ſhall ſee afterwards) vponupon a Text of this very queſtion, confeſſing the current of the ſtreame of Antiquity, can come in, at laſt, with a Doctorly wipe of Adduci non poſſum vt ſequar; I cannot goe with them: This priuiledge is for none but the Fathers of the Society, to controll the Fathers of the Church.
foreignThe ſtate then of theſe Widowes was ſhortly this: They being for their pouerty ſuſtained by Church-almes, vponupon*De bis aegit quae ad Eccleſia ſtipem, vel miniſterum recipiebantur eius ſumptibus …le… dae, Eſpenc. de Cant. l. 4. c. 1. condition of attendance on the Saints, whether ſick or trauelling, were to dedicate themſelues to this ſeruice; but, ſome of the yonger ſort being inueigled by Infidell-Louers, were drawne to leaue, not their Station onelyonly of their miniſtration, but their profeſſion of Chriſtianity: Theſe had damnation moſt iuſtly, for caſting off their firſt Faith. Their mariage was accidentally faulty, becauſe it forced them from their holy imployment; Their Apoſtaſie was abſolutely and damnably ſinfull, in that they left Chriſt, and followed after Satan.
Refut. p. 21. 22.The inextricable Dilemma then of my Detector is eaſily anſwered; (I demand now of Maſter Hall, whether theſe young Widowes, in breaking their Vowes, did ſinne, or not? If they did not; why ſhall they hauehave damnation? If they did ſinne (as indeed they did) then how is the Vow vnlawfull? how the brand of Antichriſtianiſme?) Nothing can be more baſe then to beg the Queſtion; What doe we diſpute, but whether any Vow were made? and if any, whether of Continence, or of Seruice? But why then ſhall they hauehave damnation? For waxing wanton againſt Chriſt, not meerly for marying. If to marry, were to waxe wanton againſt Chriſt, why ſhould the Apoſtle hauehave aduiſed it them? In a word, for abandoning both their Office and Religion.
Laſtly, who can but wonder at the face of our Aduerſaries, that dare bring forth ſo plaine a witneſſe againſt themſelues, For, if the Vow of Continence bee the firſt faith here ſpoken of, then may not any woman by the Apoſtles charge make this Vow, till ſhee bee threeſcore yeeres old; which, how is it at this day practized in the Romiſh Church?Bellar. de Monachis. l. 2 c. 36. Can. 13. Greg. l. 1. Epiſt. 48. Seſſ. 25. c. 15. ſince, and as the Caeſar-Auguſtaine Councell, and the Agathenſe abated it to forty yeeres, and the third Councell of Carthage yet lower, to fiue and twentie; ſo Pope Gregory fell yet lower to eighteene; and ſome other Councells yet lower to twelue; Although the Trent-Conference very liberally riſe vp to whole ſixteene: Either therefore let them grant that our Apoſtle ſpeakes not of Votaries, or elſe let them follow his rule of the age of Votaries, that the World may thinke they hauehave honeſt Nunneries; and let them confeſſe their change preſumptuous. Thus, I hope, This Gordian knot, that requires more ſtrength then Maſter Halls learning, and a ſharper edge then Alexanders ſword to diſſolue, or cut, is proued more eaſie then the knot of a Friers girdle, which a very dull Whittle may cut ſunder; and C. Es. appeale to all Schollers, proclaimes him ignorantly confident.