the secret thoughts of men bound with such vows, soliciting and urging them in this sort: "Thou canst not resist so violent a passion, nor endure the heat of such burning desires, which have proclaimed war against thee, not for this day, or the next, or the third, or fourth alone, nor for the space of a month, or a year; they will never leave thee, they will not spare thee, they will give thee no peace nor rest so long as thou shalt live upon the earth, and carry about with thee this mortal flesh; they will always oppress thine intention, and avert thy cogitation, that thou shalt never be able to lift up thy mind with liberty or thy will with purity unto God. See therefore what thou doest: thou losest this world and gainest not the other. It were better for thee at least to avoid these present torments than wholly to perish, and nowhere to see

avertent ut nunquam mentem liberam aut voluntatem puram ad Deum erigere possis. Vide ergo quod et hoc sæculum perdis, et futurum non acquiris. Melius tibi saltem esset vel ista tormenta devitare, quam in toto perire, et nihil sentire boni. Videt Deus quod invitus pateris, volens trahcris, coactus assentis; fortassis respiciet ad violentiam passionis tuæ; et misertus excessui tuo dabit veniam : præcipue cum dicat apostolus, 'Melius est nubere quam uri;' et "Unusquisque uxorem suam habeat propter fornicationem.' Bene enim novit apostolus infirmitatem humanam, et ideo non dixit illi, 'Habeant, quia illis licet, et illi non habeant quia illis non licet; sed *Unusquisque habeat, qui continere non potest: melius est ut nubat quam uratur. Melius est ut licite excipiat infirmitatem, quam vitio semper uratur ad passionem.' Nam ipse Dominus dicit: 'Qui potest capere capiat.' Ipse scit quod capere non possum verbum hoc ut continens permaneam. Quando putavi posse libenter proposui; et in eadem adhuc voluntate libenter perseverarem, si pati possem. Sed non valeo tolerare æstum bullientis naturæ, ardorem concupiscentiæ

ferventis sustinere non possum. Ideo facio quod possum. Vado et duco uxorem; excipio infirmitatem meam; dolens quidem quod a superiori bono descendere cogor: sed tamen non omnino desperans quia ad concessa descendo. Magis volo in inferiori bono salvari, quam in summo periclitari. Et si forte est culpa aliqua, descendo quia propositum meum non teneo: ergo pœnitentiam agam, et satisfactione placabo Deum. Nihil durum erit aut difficile: tantum hanc passionem evadere possim : et mortem istam in qua vivens teneor declinare. Quis putatis ejusmodi rationibus se instiget et cohortetur cum affligi cœperit; et uti stimulis carnis suæ si sciat quod licet et quod fieri potest; et salus est illis qui hoc faciunt."-Hugo de Sancto Victore, De Sacram. Fid. Lib. II. Part. 11. cap. 12. [Tom. I. pp. 475, 6.]

[FIELD, IV.]

14

or enjoy any good. God doth see that thou sufferest these things unwillingly, that thou art drawn to that thou wouldest not, and givest consent but by constraint. It may be he will have respect to the violence of thy passion, that he will take pity on thee and pardon thy excess; especially seeing the apostle saith, It is better to marry than to burn; and again, For the avoiding of fornication, let every one have his own wife: it is better to use the lawful remedy for this infirmity than sinfully still to burn in lust. Whereunto he bringeth in the inconsiderate votary, answering thus: The Lord knoweth that I cannot contain. When I thought I could I willingly resolved so to do, and would willingly still continue in the same will and resolution if I could endure it. But I can no longer abide the heat of these burning desires; wherefore I resolve to do that which only remaineth, which is to marry a wife, and so to support my weakness and infirmity; sorry truly that I am forced to come down from the height of that good I aspired unto, but yet despair not because I descend to those things that are lawful. I had rather ab inferiori bono salvari, quam in summo periclitari, that is, I had rather be saved containing myself within the limits of the lower degrees of good, than to endanger myself in the highest;' and if it be a fault that I descend and perform not that I purposed, I will repent of this my fault, and by all due satisfaction pacify and appease my God; nothing shall seem hard unto me, so that I may avoid this passion and decline this death, in qua vivens teneor, that is, in which I am holden though I live."" These reasons he saith must needs prevail, and cannot be resisted; if marriage after a vow made to the contrary be lawful; if the Church may not dissolve it, and if salvation may be attained by men. living in it, as I have sufficiently proved they may; and therefore our adversaries rashly condemn such as in our time have married, notwithstanding their vows. If a man (saith Frisius') shall undertake to carry a burden to a certain place, and, after finding his inability to perform it, shall desire to be excused, and that some lighter burden may be laid upon him, he is much better to be allowed of, than he that goeth on in that he undertook, and fainting by the way hurteth himself, and disappointeth him that set him on work:

1 Ubi supra.

and in like manner he is rather to be approved that prayeth to be eased of the over-heavy burden of single life, and resolveth to live honestly in marriage, than he that will still live single, though never so wickedly; whatsoever Pighius and Eckius prate to the contrary: who fear not to prefer a priest that liveth in adultery before him that marrieth a wife. Besides all this which hath been said, seeing single life is not simply good, and to be desired, but respectively to certain ends, therefore they that chose to live single, and intended not the glory of God, the good of his Church, and the more opportunities of doing good without distraction, did not make any lawful vow, seeing a vow must be of that which is good, and properly of the better good, and consequently, were not tied to the keeping of it; it being resolved that the vows of fools, that is, such as are made without respect to the right end, without due consideration of their own strength, and a free and voluntary purpose of performing that they promise, are not to be kept. Whence it will follow, that the most part of the vows men made in latter times not intending the right end, are not to be kept.

CHAPTER LVIII.

OF DIGAMY, AND WHAT KIND OF IT IT IS THAT DEBARRETH MEN FROM ENTERING INTO THE MINISTRY.

H'

ITHERTO we have proved the lawfulness of ministers' marriage, and sufficiently shewed that no law of God or the Church forbiddeth it, and that no rash and inconsiderate vow hindereth it, if men cannot contain; now let us proceed to see whether they be any more restrained and limited in their marriage than other men. Some there be who think they are, and teach that they must marry but once only; whereas other may lawfully marry as often as they please. And further, they suppose that if any man have been twice married, or have married a widow, he may not be admitted into the ministry. The ground of which

conceit is that of the apostle, where he saith', "A bishop must be the husband of one wife." But the meaning of the apostle is, that he who is to be chosen a bishop must not have more wives than one at one time. So that the digamy the apostle condemneth is not the having of two or more wives successively, but the having of more than one at the same time. Of which it is that Justin Martyr 2 speaketh, when expounding that saying of our Saviour: "He that marrieth her that is forsaken committeth adultery," he concludeth that they who according to man's law run into digamies, by our Master's judgment are found to be sinners. And therefore Chrysostom 3 expoundeth the text of the apostle as meant of polygamy, which is the having of many wives at once. His words are these: "The apostle saith not this as making a law that none without a wife may be made a bishop, but appointing a measure of that matter: for it was lawful for the Jews to be joined in the second marriage, and to have two wives at once." Thus doth he interpret the apostle's words, though he were not ignorant that some followed another interpretation. And therefore Bellarmine untruly denieth that any of the ancient followed this interpretation but Theodoret. And the Rhemists 5 confess that Chrysostom so interpreteth them, but they say that, writing upon Titus, he followeth the other interpretation; but surely it were strange if he should so soon forget

1 1 Tim. iii. 2.

2 Apolog. II. [ubi supra.]

3 Μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα· οὐ νομοθετῶν τοῦτό φησιν, ὡς μὴ εἶναι ἐξὸν ἄνευ τούτου γίνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀμετρίαν κωλύων· ἐπειδὴ ἐπὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐξῆν καὶ δευτέροις ὁμιλεῖν γάμοις, καὶ δύο ἔχειν κατὰ ταὐτὸν γυναῖκας. Chrysost. in 1 Tim. Hom. x. [Tom. XI. p. 598.]

4 De Clericis, Lib. 1. cap. xxiii.

5 Annotations upon that place. [Rhemes Testament, p. 520. 4to. Rheims, 1633.]

6 Επιστομίζει τοὺς αἱρετικοὺς τοὺς τὸν γάμον διαβάλλοντας, δεικνύς, ὅτι τὸ πρᾶγμα οὐκ ἐστιν ἐναργές, ἀλλ ̓ οὕτω τίμιον, ὡς μετ ̓ αὐτοῦ δύνασθαι καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἅγιον ἀναβαίνειν θρόνον. Ἐν ταὐτῷ δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀσελγεῖς κολάζων, καὶ οὐκ ἀφεὶς μετὰ δευτέρου γάμου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐγχειρίζεσθαι ταυτήν ὁ γὰρ πρὸς τὴν ἀπελθοῦσαν μηδεμίαν φυλάξας εὔνοιαν, πῶς ἂν οὗτος γένοιτο προστάτης καλός; τίνα δὲ οὐκ ἂν ὑποσταίη κατηγορίαν; ἴστε γὰρ ἅπαντες, ἴστε ὅτι εἴ μὴ κεκώλυται παρὰ τῶν νόμων τὸ δευτέροις ὁμιλεῖν γάμοις, ἀλλ ̓ ὅμως πόλλας ἔχει τὸ πρᾶγμα κατηγορίας· οὐδεμίαν οὖν παρέχειν λαβὴν Tois ȧpxoμévois Tòv äpxovta Boúλerai.-Chrysost. in Tit. Hom. ii. [Tom. XL p. 738.]

himself. Let us hear therefore what he saith, that so we may the better discern whether he dissent from himself, and interpret the words of the apostle to Titus as they would have him, or not. His words are these: “The apostle purposeth utterly to stop the mouths of heretics which condemn marriage, shewing that marriage is without fault, and so precious, that with it a man may be preferred even to the holy seat and chair of a bishop. Also with this saying he chastiseth unchaste persons, while he suffereth them not after their second marriage to be taken to the government of the Church. For he which is found not to have kept his benevolence towards his wife, which is gone from him, how should he be a good teacher of the Church ? Nay, rather, to what crimes shall he not daily be subject? for you all know, that although by the laws such second marriages are permitted, yet that thing is open to many accusations. Therefore he will have the bishop to give no occasion to them that are under him." These are the words of Chrysostom. Neither can any man doubt, that will advisedly consider them, but that he speaketh of a second marriage while the first wife liveth, but is gone away (for so are the words, and not defunct or dead, as our adversaries translate for their advantage), and not of a second marriage after the death of the first wife. For if he did, he would not condemn them that marry the second time as unchaste and wanton, or make them subject to any crimes. With Chrysostom agreeth Theodoret : his words are thesel: “The preaching then began, and

1 Τὴν δὲ παρθενίαν οὔτε Έλληνες ἤσκουν, οὔτε Ἰουδαῖοι μετῄεσαν. Εὐλογίαν γὰρ τὴν παιδοποϊίαν ἐνόμιζον. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν κατ ̓ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν οὐχ οἷόν τε ἦν ῥᾳδίως εὑρεῖν τοὺς τὴν ἁγνείαν ἀσκοῦντας, τῶν γεγαμηκότων τοὺς τὴν σωφροσύνην τετιμηκότας κελεύει χειροτονεῖν. Τὸ δὲ μιας γυναῖκος ἄνδρα, εὖ μοι δοκοῦσιν εἰρηκέναι τινες· πάλαι γὰρ εἰώθεσαν καὶ Ελληνες καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ δυὸ καὶ τρισὶ καὶ πλείοσι γυναιξὶ νόμῳ γάμου κατὰ ταὐτὸν συνοικεῖν. Τινὲς δὲ καὶ νῦν, καίτοι τῶν βασιλικῶν νόμων δύο κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἄγεσθαι κωλυόντων γυναῖκας, καὶ παλλακῖσι μίγνυνται, καὶ ἑταίραις. Ἔφασαν τοίνυν τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον εἰρηκέναι τὸν μιᾷ μόνῃ γυναικὶ συνοικοῦντα σωφρόνως τῆς ἐπισκοπικῆς ἄξιον εἶναι χειροτονίας. Οὐ γὰρ τὸν δεύτερον, φασὶν, ἐξέβαλε γάμον, ὅγε πολλάκις τοῦτο γένεσθαι κελεύσας. Γυνὴ γὰρ, φησὶ, δέδεται νόμῳ ἐφ' ὅσον χρόνον ζῇ ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνὴρ, ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ᾧ θέλει γαμηθῆναι, μόνον ἐν Κυρίῳ.

Εἰ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸς τὴν προτέραν ἐκβαλὼν ἑτέρᾳ συνεζύγη, μέμψεως ἄξιος καὶ κατηγορίας ὑπεύθυνος. Εἴ δὲ τὸ βιάιον τοῦ θανάτου διέζευξε