Works of Joseph Hall, Book 1 · Section 8
SECT. VIII.
BVt in ſpeaking of the impoſſibilitie of ſome mens continencie, it was not poſſible for my Refuter to containe himſelfe from a ſcurill inuectiue againſt Luther, Refut. p. 25, 26, 27.Pellican, Bucer; and it becomes him well. His Fathers, like Sepulchrall dogges, tore vp the graues of Gods Saints, and gnawed vponupon their dead bones; and now this whelpe of theirs comming it cineros, Bedribbles their aſhes.
The heroicall Spirit of Luther (for I cannot be flouted out of that word) hated the brothelry of their Cloyſters; and choſe rather (which gals them to the heart) to be an honeſt Husband, then an fornicating Frier.
What did he other in this, then the holy Fathers hauehave aduiſed him, yea, then hee learned in their owne Schoole? for caſting, perhaps, his eye vponupon the Index of their Aquinas, Ʋ …tum Vergens in periculum perſonae, d…bet frangi ſecurè, ſi diſpenſatio non p…ſſit haberi. Ind. 3. in Ag. voce votum. Plus habet hic luxuria quam caſtitas. Gloſſ. extrau. de Bigam. C. Hieron. ad Ocean. Et Lupa naria th…lamis praeferentur. Beatus vir, cui non imputauit Dominus vxorem. Refut. p. 28, 29. Cochleus.he found there, Votum Vergens, &c. A Vow tending to the danger of the perſon, may be ſecurely broken, if a diſpenſation cannot be had: What other then all their more ingenuous Caſuiſts would thinke fit to giuegive way vntounto? If Luther would hauehave ſtill kept on his Cowle, and but hauehave paid the fees of a Concubine, he had liued and dyed an holy Auguſtinian: but now all his crimes ſinke down out of fight, vna vxor ſupernatat, (as that Father ſaid) his wife onelyonly floteth: and poore honeſt Katherine Bora hath made more noyſe in their Papers, then ten thouſand of their Curtizans. Neither needs this man any other inſcription on his graue to make him odious, then this, Here lyes the man that held mariage better then fornication. If now Doctor Luther in a vehement deteſtation of the impurity of their holy Stewes, after the homely plainneſſe of a blunt German liberty, vſed ſome ouer-broad ſpeeches to expreſſe his owne freedome, and their abhominations; what is this to vsus? If we honour the man, muſt we hold his pen impeccable? This is enough to maintaine in their Vicegod of the ſeuen hills. For vsus, we hauehave ſworne vntounto the words of no Maſter, but that One in Heauen, the eternall Word of his Father. But this we dare ſay, that this Aduerſaries Truth is no more in fathering all theſe reports vponupon Luther, then in fathering Luther vponupon an Iucubus.
One of them tels vsus, that a Deuill begot him: Another tels vsus, that (by his owne confeſſion) a conference with the Deuill begot his oppoſition to the Maſſe: Another,dPeter Frarin. Louan. out of Stoltius in Somn. Luth. that he was in league and fauour with Solyman the great Turke, who by his inſtigation was drawne to was vponupon Chriſtendome: Another,eIo. Fowler in the …ranſlat. of Frarines Inuectiue. Marg. that Luther would hauehave beene a King alone, and that from him ſprang the rebellion of Muntzer: Another,fVide Ful…. ag. Frar. 16. that Leonard Knoppen was his Bawd, and that his Katherine, for two yeares together after her ſtealing away, was debauched by the Schollers of Wittenberge: And now laſtly comes in that maliciousgJuſtus B…ronius formerly called Caluinus. Apoſtate (which ſhould rath…r hauehave changed the falſe name of Iuſtus, then the ouer-worthy name of Caluinus) and …uouches, forſooth, that Luther was yeſterday a Monke, to day contracted, to morrow an Husband, the next day a Father. Goe on, ye brazen-faced Paraſites of Rome, Lyes and Blood may bring you into the Kalender.
But this laſt, my Detector countenances by the teſtimony of Eraſmus, who, in a Letter of his to his friend Daniel Mauchius of Vlmes, deliuers the ſame Storie in more words. Reader, be intreated to look ouer that large Volume of Eraſmus his Epiſtles, and if there be no ſuch man found there (as there is not) no ſuch Letter,Tom. 2. Lat. Colloq. Tit. de morbu Lutheri. iudge what to thinke of theſe mens fidelity. Yea to the plaine contrary, my Detector (hauing not memory enough for a true Lyer) in the Page 173. vponupon another occaſion contemptuouſly citing Luthers brood out of his owne Workes, confutes this ſpightfull Fiction Anno 1525. Iunij 12. vxorem duxi, &c. In the yeere ſaith he, 1525, on the 12. of Iune, I married; In the yeere 1526. my eldeſt Sonne IOHN was borne: Refut. p. 28. 29. Lib. 3. Contr. Gent. c. 126. Omnibus animalibus perfect…s i…eſt naturalis inclinatio ad coniunctionē carnalem. Item, Cum muliere ſemper eſſe, & illam non cognoſcere, maius eſt quàm mortuum ſuſ itare. Ioan. de ſanct. Geminiano. Simil. l. 2. 10. 27.In the yeere 27. my Daughter ELIZABETH, and ſo the reſt. Either then my man hath a new Kalender of his own, which contrary in the Gregorian beginnes the yeare on Iune the 13. or elſe Luther was not a Father the next day after he was an Husband. But what doe I trouble my Reader with this Idle Scoganiſme? Scolds or I…ſters are onelyonly fit for this combat.
As for thoſe exceſsiue ſpeeches of compariſon, whereby Luther points forth the neceſſity of carnall actions, they are ſpoken onelyonly of ſuch perſons, as hauehave not the gift of continency; whom naturall inclination (by which they are led) caries (without an higher reſtraint) importunately vntounto theſe deſires: wherein hee ſaies not much other then their owne Saint, AQAINAS, Omnibus animalibus, &c. In all perfect liuing creatures there is a naturall inclination to carnall coniunction.
But when Luther ſpeakes of men bleſſed from aboue with this gift, C. E. might hauehave heard him in another ſtrain; pleading both the poſſibility and worthineſſe of this condition. As in his Commentary vponupon thehLuth. in Pſal. 128. verſe 3. Vnus idem que spir. &c. Pſalme 128. verſe 3. (to giuegive one for all) thus he ſaith, For one and the ſame ſpirit hath diſtributed his gifts to ſome after one manner, and to ſome after another, &c. Let them therefore, to whom it is giuen to receiue this, abide in their ſingle life, and let them glory in the Lord: On the other ſide, let them that are not ſo ſtrong, but know and feele their infirmity, that they cannot liue both chaſte, and out of Matrimony: Let theſe, I ſay, conſider more their owne infirmity, then the diſcommodities and troubles that belong vntounto matrimonie. Thus he grauely and holily.