The B. of Sarisburie.
If it had pleased you, better to haue perused your Bookes, ye mought soone haue found these selfe same woordes in the Councel of Rome, holden there vnder Pope Nicolas the First: Whiche, although it be not so olde, as maie be compared with y• Ancient Fathers Councelles, yet it is elder then somme partes, & brāches of your Newe Religion. To like pourpose writeth Pope Zacharie, Quis sapiens iudicabit, eos esse Sacerdotes, qui nec à Fornicationibus abstinent? What wise man wil recken them to be Priestes, that absteine not so mutche as from Fornication? If no wise man can iudge them to be Priestes, what man then is he, that wil authorize them to Minister Sa∣cramentes?
Nowe of the other side, M. Hardinge, consider you the Common, and ordina∣rie practise of your Churche of Rome. Firste, touchinge the Pope him selfe, your Glose saithe, Facta Papae excusantur, vt Adulterium Jacob: The Popes dooinges (or Aduouteries) are excused, as the Aduouterie of Jacob. And againe, Communi∣ter dicitur, quo'd pro Simplici Fornicatione quis deponi non debet: cùm pauci si∣ne illo vitio inueniantur: It is commonly saide, that a man maie not be deposed, or depri∣ued for Simple Fornication:* 1.1 For as mutche as fewe (Priestes) be founde without that faulte.
Againe, whereas the woordes of the Decree are these, Nullus audiat Missam Presbyte••, quem scit Concubinam indubitanter habere: Let noman heare the Masse of that ••neste, whom he vndoubtedly knoweth to keepe a Concubine, The Close vpon the same saithe thus, Hic Canon quando{que} fuit latae Sententiae: Sed hodiè non est: This Decree in olde times stoode as a ruled case: but now is it not so. Ideo licet notoria sit For∣nicatio, tamen non est propter eam abstinendum ab officijs Presbyterorum: And therefore, although the Fornication be notoriously knowen, yet maie wee not therefore refraine from the Seruice of the Prieste.
Hereunto very wel agréethe the Glose vpon Othoes Legantines:* 1.2 Quid ergo si Sacerdos mueniatur coire cum muliere? Respondeo: Adhuc dicitur occultū: nec pro∣pter hoc debet cum vitare in publico, nisi aliter Conuincatur: What if a man find the Prieste in the m••uoure with a woman? I answeare: Al that notwithstandinge, the faulte is pr••••e. Neither maie a man therefore aouid y• Priestes Seruice, onlesse he be otherwise co••••cted.
And againe, in the same Glose vpon these woordes, Qui publicè detinet Con∣cubinas: it is noted thus,* 1.3 Tu dic Publicè, quando multitudini se patere non expauet. Se∣cùs ergo, si secretè intra domum propriam, vel alienam detineat hanc Concubi∣nam.