The seconde tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testament conteynyng the epistles of S. Paul, and other the Apostles : wherunto is added a paraphrase vpon the reuelacion of S. John.

The texte.

Knowe ye not brethren, (I speake to them, that knowe the lawe) howe that the law hath power ouer a man, as long as it endureth? For the woman, whiche is in subiection to a man, is bounde by the lawe to the man, as long as he lyueth. But yf the manne be dead, she is losed from the lawe of the manne. So then, yf whyle the man lyueth, she cou∣ple her selfe with an other man, she shalbe coumpted a wedlocke breaker. But yf the man be dead, she is free from the lawe of the husbande, so that she is no wedlocke brea∣ker, thoughe she couple her selfe with an other man.

ANd good reason is there, why we should so doe, for Christe hath not onely deliuered vs from the bon∣dage of syn and death, but also from the bondage of the lawe, whiche was giuen but for a season, and hath deliuered not only the gentiles, whiche were not to this lawe subiecte, but euen the Iewes selfe to, which haue hitherto ben vnder Moses lawe. That this whiche I haue sayed, is trewe, maye be proued euen by the wytnes of the lawe it selfe. And fyrst, what saye, ye that are Iewes, whiche by reason of the knowledge ye haue in the lawe, well perceaue and vnderstande, that a man is bounde to the obseruance and kepyng of any lawe euen as ye for example not long synce were bounde to Moses lawe, as longe as the same lawe lyueth, that is to saye, as long as it endureth in his ful power, and strength: but yf the same be either growen out of vse, or els abrogate, a man is than no lon∣ger bounde therunto. For the Iewes bonde towarde the lawe ought no further to be kept, then in the bonde of the wyfe to her husbande the same lawe requyreth to be kepte. Nowe is the maried woman, whiche is vnder her husbandes dominion bounde vnto her husbande, as long as he ly∣ueth. But as sone as he is once dead, she is deliuered from the bonde of that matrimony, and after the death of her former husbande straightway at hyr owne libertie.

Wherfore yf she duryng the husbandes lyfe, to whome she belongeth, go about to mary another she shalbe coūpted a wedlocke breaker, as whiche hath forsaken that husbande, from whome she myght by no meanes, saue onlye deathe be departed.

But contrary wyse, yf she cōtinew in that bādevntyl her husbandes death, she is no lēger bound vnto hym, but is in suche sorte become her owne wo∣man, y^• she may lawfully mary any other whō she wyll. For it is not to be supposed, that as the maisters title descendeth to his heyre, in suche sorte that the seruaunt by the death of his maister chaungeth not his state, but his maister: that lyke wyse the righte of a husbande vpon his wyfe falleth after his death to an other, but the title of mariage reacheth no further, than for a mannes owne lyfe. Yf it so were that the husbande were immor¦tall, the woman shoulde for euer continew bond. Now then because Mo∣ses lawe in figures and ceremonies was as it were a shadowe of Christ to come, it was gyuen to be of force effectual, but vntyll the tyme, that to y^• bryght lyght shadowes shoulde gyue place: & vntyl that to the truthe, the shadowes of truth shoulde gyue ouer and vanyshe awaye. And therfore synce that Moses lawe was as a man might saye, a mortall thyng, mer∣uayle it is none, thoughe it be nowe dead in dede. And for this cause as long as the tyme of the lawe continewed, the same stode in full power and had full authoritie vpon them, whiche had bounde them selfe vnto it.

Notes

• Know ye not. &c. howe that the lawe hath power ouer the mā. &c.
• For the wo∣man which is in subiection to a man. &c.
• So then if while the mā liueth she cou¦ple herselfe w^t an other. &c.