A treatise of marriage with a defence of the 32th article of religion of the Church of England : viz. bishops, priests and deacons are not commanded by God's law either to vow the state of single life, or to abstain from marriage : therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other men, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve better to godliness.

Of the Marriage of Priests.

The High Priest under the Law, was not for∣bidden to Marry, onely he must have a Wife so and so qualified. Aaron the High Priest, the Saint of the Lord, a Type of our Lord Christ, was Married, and the High Priest-hood annexed to his Family, and entail'd on his posterity. It is made a Character of Antiochus Epiphanes, or Epimanes rather, that he should not regard Wo∣men, or desire Women, in the Old Testament, Dan. 11.37. And 'tis made a mark of the An∣tichrist, and branded for a Doctrine of Devils, (according to our Translators) to forbid to Marry in the New Testament, 1 Tim. 4.1, 3. And as Priests and Prophets under the Law might lawfully marry, so might the Holy Apo∣stles and Ministers of our Lord and Saviour un∣der our Gospel. St. Peter the first, or chief of the Apostles, as to a primacy of Order, was of this Order himself. And St. Paul asserts his right and power to lead about a Wife or Sister, as well as Cephas or Peter, and other of the A∣postles of Christ.

The Scripture foreseeing (saith a Reverend Author) the frensie of this Heresie, (viz. of for∣bidding marriage to Priests) made the Wall higher and stronger, of the lawful marriage of the Mini∣stracy; for besides the places wherein generally it

is (without all exception) permitted to all Orders of men to Marry; it speaketh especially of the lawful use of Marriage in the Ministry. It speaks particularly of their Wives, likewise of their Chil∣dren: which we remember not to be done in any other estates; onely of the Kings it is said, That they should not marry many Wives: Wherefore the Ministers having not onely the common evidence which all other men have to hold their Wives by, but also certain Specialties, and special Charters, whereby the quiet and peaceable possession of them is warranted, it is evident that the Popish Court, which impleadeth them, and condemneth them for their Wives, is a lawless Court. So Mr. Cart∣wright, in his Answer to the Rhem. Test. Annot. on St. Mat. chap. 8.

And amongst the Canons ascribed to the Apo∣stles, it is decreed, Can. 5. If any Bishop, Elder, or Deacon, under colour of Religion, or reverence, put away his Wife, let him be separate from his Ministry; if he abide in that mind, let him be deposed.

This Canon (saith the aforesaid Author) is of a contrary spirit to you; for you sever men from their Wives, that sever themselves to the Ministry; and it severeth men from the Ministry, that sever themselves from their Wives, under pretence of the Ministry.

Again, Mr. Perkins, in his demonstration of the Problem, testifies, That the Marriage of the

Clergy, for the space of 300 years after Christ was a thing alwayes freely allowed without prohi∣bition, or vow of perpetual continency.

Athanasius in his Epistle to Dracontius, saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. And there are many of the Bishops, saith Athanasius, that have not married; and contrariwise, many Monks we see daily become Fathers of Children. Again you may observe many Bishops to be Fathers of Chil∣dren, and many Monks that have not sought to see their own Generation; for this is lawful, and the other is not forbidden, but every one as he liketh, let him undertake to live. And whereas we read, saith the Decretal, c. 56. That the Sons of Priests have come to the honour of the Papacy, we must not understand them to be begotten by Fornication, but by lawful Marriage, which was lawful for the Priests every where, until the time of prohibition; and in the East Churches is lawful to this day; The singleness of Priest-hood was instituted, be∣cause of the poverty of the Churches wanting suf∣ficient means to maintain many families of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. D. 28. c. d. Syr.

Pope Siricius, about the year 385. forbad Priests Marriage in the Western Church. But that Decree had no Universal Admission in the Church until the time of Pope Hildebrand 1007.

And 'tis observed that Bishops and Priests mar∣ried in England until Anselms time, that is, about 1100 years after Christ, no Law forbidding them. 'Tis an observation of Balsamon on the 5th Ca∣non of the Apostles, that it was lawful before the 6th Synod in Trullo, for the Bishops to mar∣ry and have Wives, yea after they had received that dignity. And for my part, I think, Arch-Bishop Crammer the Martyr, no less a Saint, though once or twice married, then if he had lived single. Arch-Bishop Parker also, as I have read, was a married Man; and our Church, since the Reformation, never forbad any of her Fathers or Children to Marry, eo nomine, or else they could not be Presbyters, Priests, Bishops, or Arch-Bishops.

It was smartly replyed by Dr. Featley, when some had charged it on the Puritans, that they were Calvinistae tantum non in Sabbato, that their Adversaries were Papistae tantum non in uxoratu. Certainly Bishop Mountague of Norwich, Bishop Wren, and Bishop Cozens, were all Canonical Men, and yet all Married. And Bishop Laud was one of the first that for a while was thought to discountenance Marriage in men of Holy Orders, saying, That in disposing of Ecclesiasti∣cal Preferments, he would prefer the single Man before the Married, supposing the Abilities of the Persons were otherwise equal. But Dr. Heylin, that wrote his Life, tells us, by what means

and method, he sought to procure other appre∣hensions of him; namely, by negotiating, not long after, a Marriage between Mr. Thomas Tur∣ner, one of his Chaplains, and a Daughter of Windebank, his old Friend; and he officiated the whole service of their Marriage in his own Chappel, at London-House, joyning their Hands, and giving the Nuptial Benediction, and perfecting all other Ecclesiastical Rites which belong to the Solemnization of Matrimony by the Rules of this Church. D. H. in his Life, p. 212.

I acknowledge that the Papists urge against the Marriage of our Clergy, the ill manners and lives of their Children. I confess I cannot tell of any one of our married Clergyes Wives, that can match that Whore, who, they say, was the Mother of Gratian, Petrus Cornestor, and Pe∣ter Lumbard; yet doubtless there have been fa∣mous men who have been Children of Bishops, the Fathers of the Church, and of others in Holy Orders. Bishop King, late of Chichester, was the Son of Bishop King, sometime Bishop of London. Bishop Hall, late of Chester, was the Son of Bishop Hall, Bishop of Norwich, whose Works praise him in the Gate. And it hath been observed, that five Knightly Families descended from Arch-Bishop Sands, Arch-Bishop of York. One of the greatest blots in our Eng∣lish Bishops Escutcheons in this matter is, that

Sir Toby Matthews, a great Son of the Church of Rome, was a Son of Arch-Bishop Matthews of York.

Let me add, for the honour of our Married Clergy, that Sir Francis Drake, that famous Sea Captain, was the Son of a Minister in De∣vonshire.

Many at this day have attained to the honour of Knighthood, who owe their Estates to Bi∣shops and Arch-Bishops: And 'tis no abatement to their Honour, that the late reverend and re∣nowned Bp. of Chester, Bp. Wilkins, his Mother was the Daughter of a Minister, viz. Mr. John Dod, a man famous in his Generation for Piety, and a learned Man, and who taught that excel∣lent Critick of Christ-Church, Mr. Gregory, and the great Bishop of Winchester, Hebrew.

It cannot be denyed, that most of the Anti∣ent Writers cry up the excellency of Virginity; and that divers of the Fathers pleading for the singleness of Priests, do detract from the due praises of Marriage.

So Siricius stuck not to say, That they that are in the flesh, that is (saith he) in Matrimony, can∣not please God.

And Ambrose, Offic. Lib. 1. Cap. ult. will have the Priests to be pure from Marriage, and to be contaminated by Marriage. But the blessed Apostle St. Paul, a greater than these, allows a Bishop to be the Husband of one Wife, that is,

one who liveth chastly with one Wife alone at one time. And whereas some would oppose Marriage and Chastity, the same Apostle, in Titus 2.4, & 5. teaches us, that Wedlock and Chastity are not divorced or separated each from other, but may dwell together in the same House and the same Bosom, exhorting Titus, to teach the young Women to be sober, to love their Hus∣bands, to love their Children; to be discreet, chast, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own Hus∣bands. That which the Apostle Paul saith, in 1 Cor. 7. That 'tis good for a man not to touch a Woman, is to be interpreted, 'Tis not expedi∣ent, viz. that if a man have the gift of continency, and with particular respect to the Christian Church in that time of Persecution; for the A∣postle saith, Nevertheless to avoid Fornication, let every Man have his own Wife, and let every Woman have her own Husband, Vers. 2. of the same Chapter.

And Paphnutius, a good Man, and a Bishop in the Council of Nice, though himself a single Person, named an honest Matrimonial Conjun∣ction, a Godly Chastity.

The Celibaty, or single-Life of the Clergy, and others in the Popedom, hath hindred much good, and given great occasion to abominable sins.

St. Ʋlrich, Bishop of Auspurgh, in an Epistle which he wrote, complained of a fearful Spe∣ctacle at Rome; namely, that after Pope Grego∣ry

had decreed and confirmed the unmarried kind of Life, he intended to fish in a deep Pond at Rome, hard by the Monastery of the Nuns; the Water of the Pond being let out, they found more than six thousand Heads of Children, which had been cast into the Pond and drown∣ed; these were the fruits of the unmarried life: Whereupon Pope Gregory amazed at the sight, abolished that Decree concerning the unmarried kind of life; but the succeeding Popes decreed the same again.

And in the Monastry of Neuburgh in Austria, where there had been Nuns who were displaced for their ungodly leacherous doings, as my Au∣thor saith, when the Franciscan Fryers, who were set therein, intending to build, digged up twelve great Pots, in each Pot was a Carcase of a little Child.

We are told, that the Multitude of Bastards are so great at Rome, that they are constrained to build particular Monastries, wherein they are brought up, and that the Pope is named their Father; and that when any great Processions are held in Rome, the said Bastards go all before the Pope. If the Pope be accounted Father to all the Bastards, that may call the Whore of Ba∣bylon Mother, I suppose he may have as many Children every day in the year, as that Countess had at a Birth, namely, as many as there are dayes in the year.

Our Histories tell us, That John de Crema, a•• Italian Cardinal, was sent over from Rome to England, with his bigness and bravery, to bluster our English Clergy out of their Wives, he made, 'tis said, a most gaudy Oration in the commendation of Virginity; and on the same Night at London he was caught in Bed with a Harlot. See F. H. B. 3. p. 23. But the Cardi∣nal might far sooner and easier be permitted his Concubine or Harlot, than the English Clergy their lawful Wives, the Pope being Judge.

We find afterwards, that the Clergy paying a Fee or Fine to the Pope, were tolerated their Concubines: And this custom was so general, and thought so justifiable, that when one of the Priests pleaded he had no Concubine, it was an∣swered strait, Habeat si velit, solvat pecuniam, He may have one if he will, let him pay his Money.

Yea, it has of late dayes been maintained, That Marriage in a Clergy-Man, is a greater sin than Fornication, if not than Adultery; and yet their Schoolmen, Thomas and Scotus, that in other things differ, agree in this, That the sin∣gle life of Priests, is not by Scripture prohibited, but by the Constitutions of the Church.

What shall we say to these Men that make it a greater sin to break the Law of the Church, than the Commandments of God? Sure we are, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Scripture prohibits the Marriage of Priests

or Ministers of the Church. The Apostles were no more enjoyned to forsake their Wives, than their Father and Mother, House and Land; and that saying of our Saviour, That whosoever did forsake father or mother, or house and land, or wife for his sake, respected those that were not Apo∣stles, as well as them that were. 'Tis well noted by our Church Historian, that Enoch walked with God, and begat sons and daughters: In which Enoch, saith he, met the threefold capacity of King, Priest and Prophet: He made not a Prayer the less for having a child the more; and let us be but alike holy with Enoch, and let others be more holy with Anselm and Dunstan, that opposed the marriage of the Clergy here in England. They say of the latter, that he took the Devil by the nose; how true that is I know not, but in this point, forbidding to marry, being a doctrine of De∣vils, 'tis true enough, that the Devil led him by the nose. If that place be urged, 1 Cor. 7.33. where the Apostle saith, that he that is married careth for the things of the world, how he may please his wife. The Historian answers, These things are vitia m••••iti, not matrimonli; uxoris, not uxoratus, flowing neither from the exercise of marriage, but only from the depraved use thereof, which by Gods assistance and mans best endeavours, may be rectified and amended. So he.

That other saying of the Apostle in the same Chapter, Defrand ye not one another, except it be

with consent, for a time, that ye may give your selves to fasting and prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you not, by reason of your not having the gift of continency, doth not justifie the Popish Prohibition of marriage; for that Interdiction of the Marriage-bed is voluntary, by mutual consent of the parties, and tempo∣rary only, durante bene placito: But the Popish Prohibition is impulsive, by the power of others; and perpetual, to continue during their lives, F.H.b. 3. p. 22. Wo to them by whom so great of∣fences and scandals come, as do daily in the Pa∣pacy, from the forbidding to marry. If marriage be a Sacrament, why should the Priest be Inter∣dicted the use of it? and if it be uncleanness, as the Marcionites and Manichees taught, why are the common people, the Laity indulged it? There were, I know, the Scripture saith, Mat. 19.12. some that made themselves Eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven: But our Saviour hath laid upon his Disciples, whether Ministers or ordinary Christians, no such unnecessary bur∣then. If a man have the gift of continency, which is not a common, but a proper gift, he may receive it, but not in Origens sense, who al∣legorized other Scriptures, and 'tis said, took this in a literal sense; by the same reason we should cut off our right hands, and pluck out our right eyes, and dismember our selves, and destroy our bodies, lest they should be occasions

and instruments of sin to us: But this way of interpreting those sayings of Christ in the Go∣spel, would be contradictory to God's Law, viz. the Sixth Commandment. The Apostle Paul saith indeed, Mortifie your members which are up∣on earth, which he expounds to be fornication, uncleanness, evil concupiscence, &c. But whilst the Church of Rome would compell her Priests and Nuns to be like the Angels of Heaven, nei∣ther marrying, nor giving in marriage, 'tis too apparent, they occasion many to be worse than Beasts, and to be delivered over to the unclean Spirit, or to be possessed with an unclean De∣vil.

It is marked, that those who have neglected the remedy of marriage, which God hath pre∣scribed, have in vain used other means and me∣thods of cure. In vain, as to the cure of Con∣cupiscence, did St. Jerome strike his breast with stones, St. Francis embrace and kiss the snow, to cool himself, and quench this fire of Lust; and St. Benedict strip himself naked, and lie among the thorns. In vain do the Romish Priests and Nuns make Vows os Celibacy, or Single-life; they Vow that which is not in their power, that is, to live always single, and yet chastely; where∣as the gift of continency is a proper gift, and rarely given. If they say, they will pray for this gift. But where hath God promised to hear such prayers, it not being necessary to salvation to

live chastely, without using the remedy. God gave not this gift to those he loved dearly, to Moses, to Aaron, to Samuel, to David, to Isaiah, &c. Ignatius and Ambrose tell us, that all the Apostles except John, were married; Philip the Evangelist had four Daughters; and Platina in the Life of Cletus the first, saith, that St. Luke was married, and that his wife was in Bi∣thynia.

'Tis a fond saying, an imagination of these mens brains, that the Apostles had wives, but that after their undertaking the Office of Apo∣stleship, they never accompanied with them; they may as well say, they left for ever all pro∣priety in their children, in their houses, in their fisher-boats: But we see that they did not, St. John had his house, wherein he entertained the Blessed Virgin Mary after the death of our Saviour.

Again; as to the Vows of Monks and Nuns, ordinarily they are made unwillingly, or without knowledge of what they do, and whether they shall have power to contain. Men make their daughters Nuns at twelve years of age, and their sons Monks at fourteen, when they know not what Concupiscence meaneth, and which after kindling, burns more violently, like cin∣ders covered over with ashes, at last break out violently into a flame. Witness the unchaste lives of many that are under this Vow of Cha∣stity.

But if they cannot contain, it is better for them to marry than to burn; better break an un∣necessary and unlawful Vow, than the Com∣mandment of God; better a Priest, or Monk, or Nun, their Vow notwithstanding, marry, than to break the Commandments of God, and their Vow in Baptism. 'Tis horrid to think that the Popes forbid marriage, and permit or tole∣rate fornication and adultery in their Priests as a less crime than marriage.

Again, That although a man that hath had two Wives, be accounted irregular in the Papa∣cy, yet he that hath had divers Concubines is not, as Pope Innocent III. declareth. If for the strengthning of their unlawful Vows, they urge that of the Apostle, 1 Tim. 5.11, 12. where he saith, Refuse the young widows; for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; having damnation, because they have bro∣ken their first faith. This may be answered from the context, namely, that younger widows should marry, and guide the house, and not be received into the Office of Deaconesses, of being servants to the Church, to relieve or look to the sick, and to succour the poor, because such per∣sons, if they should make such a promise to the Church, to continue in that state all the days of their life, would be apt to break it, either by be∣ing wanton against Christ, committing fornica∣tion, or else would be under the power of their

husband, and so not be at liberty to serve the Church. Now therefore the Apostle concludes, that none should be received into the Church as Deaconesses, under the age of threescore, at which time, saith one, the Vow of not marrying would be ridiculous. Therefore the Pope and his Clergy, saith Dr. Fulk, admitting other widows or virgins to profess or vow Continency, do sin against the express Commandment of the H. Ghost. Nor was the want of Monasteries, and Monkish and Nunish Rules and Orders in the Apostles times, the occasion of this Prohibition or restraint: For, saith my Author, the Incontinency of Nuns and Monks in Cloysters, and under all your Rules and Orders, hath and doth daily give sufficient proof, that Lust will not be kept out by the walls of your Monaste∣ries, nor by the Rules and Prescripts of your Orders. So then as the experience of some younger widows that had followed after Satan, was a sufficient rea∣son to cause the Apostle to refuse all young widows to the Office of Deaconesses; so the experience of so many Milch Nuns, and filthy Monks and Friers, teach us, that no young persons are to be admitted to any Vow or Profession of perpetual Continency. Let me add here what the said Doctor hath out of Wierus de Praestig. Daemon. l. 3. cap. 9, 11. edit. 3. That the Devil helpeth the Nuns in their abomina∣ble lusts, in divers Nunneries in Germany, namely, in the Province of Colen, where the Devil in the likeness of a Dog, was seen to fall upon them in

the day time, in most beastly manner, about the year of our Lord, 1558. also in the Nunnery of Nazanth in Colen, the Nuns in most filthy manner, suffered the same illusion oftentimes, in the sight and presence of many, anno 1564.

The state of the Church, saith Gerson Chancel∣lor of Paris, is grown altogether bruitist and mon∣strous; and should give an Item to the Overseers to enquire, whether the Cloysters of Nuns, be not be∣come the Stews of Harlots — and who would think, saith the Author of the Triumph of Rome over despised Protestancy, that so wise a man as Cae∣sarius Branchedorus could so far over-reach as to say, that the lusts of whoredom and gluttony, and other shameful enormities, had gotten such a head, that young men did pati muliebria, and Priests did facere virilia; and that their Nuns did, as it were, openly profess unchastity; and at last, that whosoever was noted to be a shameless Adulterer, or a wild Ruffian, that had lavish'd out all his Patrimony, anu, pene, ventre, was sure to betake himself to the Court of Rome as his San∣ctuary. And again, Who could have looked for such language to fall from so grave an Author as Espencaeus, that our Ancestors wish'd, that our Clerks should turn their wives into their sisters; but now our age turns them into Lemmans and Whores, and consequently their lawful issue into Bastards. And again, God hath taken away our sons, and the Devil hath given us Nephews; and

could imagine that so learned and ingenious a ••••n as Erasmus would so far wrong his neighbours, as to say, that a number of Monasteries are so de∣generated, that the Stews are more chaste, and so∣ber, and modest then they.

The supplication of Beggars tender'd to King Henry VIII. assured him, that by virtue of the Sacred Votaries, there were a hundred thousand Whores in this our Nation. Fryar Menolem in the Pulpit cryed to the Clergy, Ye my Masters of the Church, do not damn your souls: Ye have now Birds in the Cage that chirp to you by night; yt know my meaning, put them away. So the Au∣thor of Romes Triumph over despised Protestancy, which some say was Bishop Hall.

Our Church Historian tells us, that King Stephen's fury fell most fiercely on the Dean and Canons of Pauls, for crossing him in the choice of their Bishop; for he sent and took their Fo∣caria's, that is (Roger Hoveden being Interpre∣ter) their Concubines, and cast them into the Tower of London; where they continued many days, not without much scorn and disgrace, till at last those Canons ransom'd their liberty at a great rate, F. Hist. Book 3. p. 27.

From these premises, I hope we may safely draw this good and honest Conclusion, That marriage is not to be prohibited to a whole Or∣der of men within the pale of the Church, nei∣ther directly, nor by consequence; and that 'tis

not expedient to suffer young men, and young maids or women to vow Celibacy all their lives.

It was piously said of Pope Pius the second, That for great causes Priests wives were taken from them, but that for greater causes they ought to be restored to them again: See Platina in the life of the said Pope.

It is better to marry than to burn, saith St. Paul; and the Canons of St. Paul's Church afore∣named, had much better have had Wives than Focaria's, Fire-makers, or Concubines.

How horrible is it that the Church of Rome doth hold, That 'tis much better, and less offence, for a Priest to use another mans wife, than to marry one of his own, after that he hath once accepted and married our dear Mother the holy Church for his wife during life.

But leaving such Apocryphal Doctrine of the Romish Church, I come to the Canon of the holy Scripture, 1 Cor. 7.2. To avoid fornication, let everyman (and therefore Spiritual persons are not exempted) have his own wife, and every wo∣man (and therefore Nuns are not interdicted) have her own husband, and to avoid fornication it is enjoyned; and therefore all persons of both Sexes, who have not the gift of Continency, are bound to marry; nor can any Vow or Oath be vinculum iniquitatis, i. e. a Bond of Iniquity, and oblige against God's Law, which saith, Thou shalt not commit Adultery; and, It is better to

marry than to burn. Besides, if two Oaths be taken, and the one contradict the other, the first is obligatory, and not the second. Now all Priests and Nuns in Baptism vowed to keep all God's Commandments, and therefore the Seventh, not to commit Adultery.

Those Scriptures, Be ye holy, for I am holy; and, Pray continually, concern all Christians, as well as Priests and Professed persons; and there∣fore if they be interpreted to oblige from mar∣riage, they oblige the Laity as well as the Clergy, to use the ordinary distinction. Besides, Aaron and his Sons, though married persons, were daily both morning and evening to attend upon the Sacrifice, and to burn Incense every morning, Exod. 30.7. and this Incense was a Type of Prayer, which every Christian, whether mar∣ried or single, is bound to offer up unto God daily. As for holiness, Matrimony is not in∣consistent with holiness, witness Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Aaron the servant of the Lord, and Enoch that walked with God, and yet did not forsake his wife and children; and 'tis observa∣ble, that the Bosom of Abraham, although a mar∣ried person, is used to set out Heaven by in the Scripture. If Heaven had been set out by the Bosom of any Saint in Heaven, that had always led a single life on earth, what triumphs would Rome have made on that occasion. And whereas 'tis said, Rev. 14.4. Those that follow the

Lamb whithersoever he goeth, these are they which are not defiled with women, for they are Virgins. Certainly Christ is followed whithersoever he goeth, not only by the blessed Saints that have led a single life, but also by married persons, as Patriarchs, Apostles, Martyrs, and innumera∣ble others, as the Scripture speaketh, 2 Cor. 5.6. 1 Thess. 4.17. And the Apostle speaks of all kind of true Believers, 2 Cor. 11.2. These are bought from among men, to be first-fruits unto God and the Lamb; these are dedicated, as first-fruits used to be, unto God. They are called ('tis thought) Virgins, because they adhered to Christ, when the Whore of Babylon had made all the Kings and Nations of the earth drunk with the cup of her fornication. It is conceived this place may have reference to those Israelites that were inticed to Idolatry by the Midianitish women; and 'tis frequent in Scripture to call, or compare Idolatry to Adultery or Fornication; because God's people are betrothed and married unto him, he is their Husband, and they his Spouse, and when they go after Idols, they are said to give God a Bill of divorce, and to go a whoring after other gods. Or, as Dr. Hamond on the place, These are they which had kept pure from all the heretical Gnostick corruptions of un∣cleanness. Where there is neither spiritual nor carnal Fornication or Adultery, there is no de∣filing with women; for the marriage-bed in

Scripture-Dialect is the bed undefiled, and to the pure all things are pure. The unbelieving hus∣band, is sanctified by the believing wife; and the unbelieving wife, by the believing husband, and therefore are their children holy. If marriage was filthiness, or uncleanness, or a vice, or that married persons could not please God, doubtless the H. Ghost would never have said, Marriage is honorable amongst all, and therefore amongst Clergy men; nor would our blessed Saviour have been born of a Mother, though a Virgin, yet espoused and married to a husband, name∣ly to Joseph. Marriage, one saith, fills earth, and Virginity heaven; but if there were no Saints in earth, how should there be any in hea∣ven? if earth were empty, how could heaven be full of Saints? He did not commend his Sex that said, a woman was a necessary evil, for how evil then must man be deemed, for whom such an evil is necessary? and I take him to be a fool as well as mad, that being asked, whether he was married? he answered, He was never so mad yet; for I dare say, there are more made sober than mad by marriage. I presume, that Hypochondriacal Melancholy, a species of mad∣ness, doth more seise and distract single, than married married persons. And confident I am, as one saith, that the Patriarchs did converse with many wives more chastely, than many do now adays with one; so that many live now

more holily and chastely in Wedlock, than others in their Cloysters and Cells. And if when a voyce from heaven calls to single per∣sons, whether man or woman, whether Eccle∣siastical or Temporal persons, Let every man have his own wife, &c. Let them not say or reply, I do not meddle with any state that is common or unclean. If they should, I reply to them again, What God hath cleansed, or rather always ac∣counted a pure, holy and undefiled estate, that call not thou common or unclean.