The institution of Christian religion, vvrytten in Latine by maister Ihon Caluin, and translated into Englysh according to the authors last edition. Seen and allowed according to the order appointed in the Quenes maiesties iniunctions

Of Matrimonie.

[ 34] The last is Matrimonie, which as all men confesse to be ordeined of God, so no man vntill the tyme of Gregorie euer sawe that it was ge∣uen for a Sacrament. And what sober man would euer haue thought it? It is a good & a holy ordināce of God: so tyllage, carpentrie, shoema∣kers craft, barbers craft, are lawfull ordinances of God, and yet they are no Sacramentes. For there is not only this required in a Sacra∣ment, that it be the worke of God, but that it be an outwarde Ceremo∣nie appoynted of God to confirme a promise. That there is no suche thyng in Matrimonie, very chyldren also can iudge. But (say they) it is a Signe of a holy thyng, that is, of the spirituall conioynyng of Christe with the Chirche. If by this woorde Signe, they vnderstand a Token sett before vs of God, to this ende to raise vp the assurednesse of our Faithe, they are farre besyde the truthe. If they simplye take a Signe for that which is brought to expresse a similitude,* 1.1 I wyll shewe howe wittyly they reason. Paule sayth, As one starre differeth from an other star in brightnesse, so shalbe y^e resurrectiō of y^e dead. Lo here is one

Sacrament.* 1.2 Christ sayth, The kyngdome of heauen is lyke to a grain of mustardsede. Lo here is an other. Againe, The kingdom of heauē is like vnto leauē. Lo here is y^e third. Esai saith, Behold, the lord shal fede his flock as a shepherd. Lo here is the fowerth. In an other place, The Lord shall go forth as a Gyant. Loe here is the fifth. Finally what end or measure shal there be? There is nothyng but by this meane it shal be a Sacrament. Howe many parables and similitudes are in the Scrip∣ture, so many Sacraments there shalbe. Yea and theft shalbe a Sacra∣ment, because it is written, the day of the Lorde is lyke a thefe. Whoe can abyde these sophisters prating so foolishly? I graunt in dede that so oft as we see a vine,* 1.3 it is very good to call to remembrance that whiche Christ sayth, I am a vine, ye be branches, my father is the vinedresser. So oft as a shepherde with his flocke cometh toward vs, it is good also that this come to our mynde, I am a good shepherd, my shepe heare my voice. But if any man adde such similitudes to the number of Sacra∣mentes, he is mete to be sent to Antycira.

But they still laye fourth the wordes of Paule, in which he geueth to [ 35] Matrimonie the name of a Sacrament:* 1.4 he that loueth his wife, loueth hymselfe. No man euer hated his owne flesh, but nourisheth it and che∣risheth it, euen as Christ doth the Chirch: because we are members of hys body, of his fleshe and of his bones. For this, a man shall leaue hys Father and mother, and shal cleaue to his wife, and they shalbe two in∣to one fleshe. Thys is a great Sacrament: but I saye in Christ and the Chirch. But so to handle the Scriptures, is to mingle heauē and earth together. Paule, to shew to maried men, what singular loue they ought to beare to their wiues, setteth fourth Christe to them for an example. For as he poured fourth the bowells of his kindenesse vpon the Chirch which he had espoused to himselfe: so ought euery man to be affectioned toward his own wife. It foloweth after, He that loueth his wife, loueth himselfe: as Christ loued the Chirch. Now, to teache how Christ loued the Chirch as himselfe, yea how he made himselfe one with hys spouse y^e Chirch, he applyeth to hym those thinges which Moses reporteth that Adam spake of him selfe.* 1.5 For when Eue was brought into his syght, whom he knew to haue ben shapen out of his syde: This woman (sayth he) is a bone of my bones, and fleshe of my fleshe. Paul testifieth that all this was spiritually fulfylled in Christ and vs, when he sayeth that we are membres of his body, of his fleshe, and of his bones, yea and one fleshe with hym. At lengthe he addeth a concludyng Sentence, This is a great mysterie. And least any man shoulde be deceiued with the doble signifyeng of the woordes, he expresseth that he speaketh not of the fleshely conioynyng of man and woman, but of the spiritual ma∣riage of Christe and the Chirch. And truely it is in dede a great myste∣rie, that Christe suffred a ribbe to be taken from himselfe, whereof we might be shapen: that is to say, whē he was strōg, he willed to be weake, that we might be strengthened with his strength:* 1.6 that now we may not our selues lyue, but he may lyue in vs.

The name of Sacramente deceiued them. But was it rightfull that [ 36] the whole Chirch should suffer the punishment of their ignorance? Paul said Mysterie: which word when the translater might haue lefte beyng not vnused with Latin eares, or might haue translated it a Secrete: he

chose rather to put in the worde Sacrament, yet in no other sense than Paule had in Greke called it Mysterie. Now let them go and with cri∣eng out raile against the skil of tōges, by ignorance whereof they haue so long most fowly been blynde in an easy mater, and suche as offreth it self to be perceiued of euery man. But why doo they in this one place so earnestly sticke vpon this litle word Sacrament,* 1.7 and some other tymes do passe it ouer vnregarded? For also in the first Epistle to Timothe the Translater hath vsed it, and in the selfe same Epistle to the Ephesians: in euery place for Mysterie. But let this slippyng be pardoned them: at least the liers ought to haue had a good remēbrance.* 1.8 For, whē they haue ones set out Matrimonie with title of a Sacrament, afterward to call it vncleannesse, defyling, and fleshly filthinesse, how gyddy lightnesse is this? How great an absurditie is it to debarre prests from a Sacramēt? If they deny y^t they debarre them frō y^e Sacramēt, but frō the lust of co∣pulation: they escape not so away frō me. For they teach y^t the copulatiō it self is a part of y^t Sacramēt, & that by it alone is figured the vniting that we haue with Christ in conformitie of nature: bicause man and wo∣mā ar not made one but by carnall copulatiō. Howbeit some of thē haue here founde two Sacramentes: the one of God and the soule, in the be∣trouthed man and woman: the other of Christe and the Chirch, in the husband and the wife. Howsoeuer it be, yet copulatiō is a Sacrament, from which it was vnlawful that any christian should be debarred: Un∣lesse peraduenture the Sacraments of christiās do so yll agree, that thei can not stand together. There is also an other absurditie in their doctri∣nes. They affirme that in the Sacrament is geuen the grace of the Ho∣lye ghoste: they teache that copulation is a Sacrament: and they de∣nye that at copulation the Holy ghost is at any tyme present.

[ 37] And, because they would not simply mocke the Chirch, howe long a roaw of errors, lyes deceites, and wickednesses haue they knitte to one error? so that a mā may say, that they did nothing but seke a denn of ab∣hominations, when they made of matrimonie a Sacrament. For when they ones obteyned this, they drew to themselues the hearing of causes of matrimony: for it was a spiritual mater, which profane iudges might not medle with. Then they made lawes, whereby they stablished their tyrannie, but those partlye manifestly wicked against God, and partlye most vniust toward men. As are these: That mariages made beetwene yong persones without consent of their parentes, shoulde remayne of force and stablished. That the mariages be not lawfull betweene kins∣folkes to the seuenth degree: and if any suche be made, that they be di∣uorced. And the very degrees they faine against the lawes of all na∣tions,* 1.9 and against the ciuile gouernement of Moses. That it be not lawfull for a manne that hath putte awaye an adulteresse, to mary an other. That spirituall kinsfolkes maye not bee coupled in mariage.* 1.10 That there be no mariages celebrate, from Septuagesime to the vtas of Easter, in three weekes before Midsommer, nor from Aduent to Twelftide. And innumerable other like, which it were long to reherse. At length we must crepe out of their myre, wherein our talk hath nowe taried longer than I woulde. Yet I thinke I haue somewhat profited, that I haue partly plucked the lyons skynnes from these asses.

Notes

• * 1.1

  i. Cor. xv xlii:
• * 1.2

  Mat. xiii.xxxi. et xxxiii, Esa. ••l.xi Esa. xlii.xiii. i. Thess. v.ii. Ioh. xv.i. Ioh. x.xi.
• * 1.3

  Antycira, where gro¦weth De•• lebor, a good pur∣gation for phrentike heades.
• * 1.4

  Ephe. v.xxix.
• * 1.5

  Gene. ii.xx••••i.
• * 1.6

  Galat. ••i.xx.
• * 1.7

  i. Tim. iii ix. Eph. i.ix.
• * 1.8

  Lib. iiii. Sen. Dist. xvii. Cap. iiii. & in Dec. xxvii. quest ii. cap. Cum Socretas. Gloss cap ••e•• diui. Ibi. Decr. Lib. iiii. Sent. dis. xxxiii cap ii. et ī De∣cre. xxxii. quaest. in. ca Quic∣quid.
• * 1.9

  Deuter. xviii.vi:
• * 1.10

  Gossibs.