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Application of this Text as he is quoted by Bel

larmin.

But now (fays St. Hierom) many Women At nunc plera contemning the Command of the Apostle, are que contemnenjoined to Gentiles, and prostitute the Temples fionem, jungun tes Apoftoli jufof Chrift to Idols.

tur Gentilibus, And St. Cyprian fhews his meaning of this Templa Text in Serm. de lapfis, where among other Chrifti İdolis Crimes of the Faithful he reckons that of Mar-proftituunt. rying with Infidels; and fays that it is Profituere Gentilibus Membra Chrifti, to Profitute to the Gentiles the Members of Chrift.

Bellarmin brings in St. Auguftin likewife fpeaking against thefe Marriages, tho' he doubted of the Force of thefe Texts as to that point; yet he concludes, omnino conandum eft-It is by all means to be Endeavour'd, that ther be no fuch Marriages; for (fays he) why shou'd Men run themselves In tantum difcrimen ambiguitatis, into the fo great hazard of a Doubt? For that in fo Doubtful a Cafe, the fafer Side is to be taken.

But Bellarmin blames St. Auguftin even to the lenth of a Sin, for fo much as making the leaft Doubt of this; and that it is a Sin in any who fhall doubt of it. Si Auguftino dubitare licuit, nec tamen nobis quoque licebit: If it was Lawful for Auguftine to doubt of this, yet it will not be Lawful for us: Cum nos- when we (fays he) have the Determination of Paul explain'd by moft Interpreters, and befides many Teftimonies of Councils and Fathers which he had not feen; and, in fine, of all the Divines who have wrote fince the Mafter, and fo we have the Confent of the whole Church with us in this Matter. Thefe are his Words; and he quotes feveral Councils and Fathers exprefs upon this Point, as Can. 13. of the General Council of Chalcedon,

Object.

Anf.

Chalcedon, where Marriages are forbidden with Hereticks, Jews, and Pagans; and the like in feveral other Councils; but the 4th Council of Toledo goes farther, and commands that thofe Jews who are marry'd to Chriftians, fhou'd be come Chriftians, or be feparated from their Wives.

I will fpare you his Quotations out of the Fathers, who are full upon this Point, and made no doubt but that fuch Marriages were unlawful; for I wou'd not be tedious, and 1 fuppofe that will not be deny'd, from what has been already faid. It is now time to come to fome Objections which lie against what I have faid.

The firft is from I Cor. vii. 12. where it is faid, If any Brother bath a Wife that believeth not, and he be pleas'd to dwell with him, let him not put her away: and fo of the Wife to her Husband.

I answer, That this Cafe is put of Divorcing, and not of Marrying.

In the firft Converfions to Chriftianity it must needs happen that many Men might be converted, and not their Wives, and è converfo; and the Question is, Whether this was a fufficient caufe of Divorce? which is a very different cafe from that of Marrying with fuch.

To fhew you that this was the Cafe, you may obferve that the Apostle directs his Command here to the Married; having from the bebeginning of the Chapter given Orders concerning the Unmarry'd, and about the Contracting of Matrimony; at the 10th verfe he begins with the Marry'd ftate-Unto the Marry'd I command, &c.

And then in the very Words of the Objection, it is, if a Brother (that is a Christian)

Hath

Hath a Wife, that is the Cafe he puts, not to one that is about to marry; and the Decifion fhews the fame, let him not put her away; but he does not fay let him Marry fuch a

one.

But ther is more in it than this; for, to my Apprehenfion, it does imply the Unlawfulness of Marrying with fuch; and my Reafon is this, That if it was fuppos'd Lawful to Marry with fuch, ther cou'd be no Dispute about the Lawfulness of Living with them after they were Marry'd; for it is a lefs Matter to hinder the Contracting of a Marriage, than to Diffolve it after it is Contracted: and therefor if the Chriftians made it a Doubt whether they ought not to Divorce their Wives for Idolatry; it is past a Doubt that they thought it unlawful to Marry with fuch.

I

And ther is yet a ftronger Argument in this Cafe; for the Apoftle gives a Latitude even for Divorce, at leaft for Parting, or fuffering it, giving way to it; that is, if the unbelieving Party fhall be Refractory: But if the unbelie- 1 Cor. vii. 15. ving depart, let him depart; a Brother or a Sifier is not under Bondage in fuch Cafes; from whence I argue, That what has Power even to Diffolve a Marriage muft operate more ftrongly against the Contracting of such Marriages.

But to make all this Matter yet more plain.

The Apoftle in this Chapter having given Rules for the Unmarry'd, and for the Marry'd, comes at the end to fpeak of Widows and SecondMarriages; and tho' he wou'd not abfolutely Diffolve Marriages which were before made, upon the Converfion of one of the Parties; yet in cafe of a Second Marriage, he ties them

up

up, that it fhall be Only in the Lord; and BelCor. vii. 15. larmin acknowledges that thefe Words in the Lord were meant of not Marrying but with the Faithful, and that almost all the Interpreters of this place fay the fame; as Ambrofe, Theodoret, Theophylact, Anfelm, Sedulius, Thomas, Cajetan, and others; and befides, Tertullian in his fecond Book ad uxorem, and Hierom in his first Book against Fovinianus.

The fame was the Senfe of St. Ignatius (who was Co-temporary with the Apofiles, and Difciple to St. John) That Chriftians both Men and Wo men, ought to Marry with the Con Sent of the Bishop, that the Marriage may be in the Lord.

Пge! Tois aus,
Πρέπς ἢ τοῖς γαμισι,
* γαμέσαις, με γνώμης
Επισκόπε - ένωσιν ποι-
Aas, iva ő váμ☺
Kúelor, Ep. ad Polycarp.

Which Command of the Apeftle (here quo ted by St. Ignat.) was wrote in his first Epiftle to the Corinthians: And the other above mentioned, which is more Exprefs and Severe, of being Unequally Yoked, &c. in his Second Epifile to the fame Corinthians; which we may fuppofe was occafioned by fome of them having Neglected or Mifunderstood his former Command; and therefor this ftands as his own Comment and Interpretation of what he Meant, by his Expreffion of being Marry'd in the Lord.

Let me add, That the Interpretation I have given of thefe Texts, is exactly Agreeable with the Senfe of our first Refor mers: Who in their Reformation of Ecclefiaftical Laws, compos'd by 32 Divines, Ci vilians, &c. And confirm'd by the Authority firft of King Hen. VIII. and after of Edw. Vİ. fay thus, Chap. viii. de Matrimonio.

Let

Let not Chriftians Marry with thofe that are not of the Chriftian Faith. For Jeeing it is Reafonable that the Children of Chriftians fhou'd be brought up in the Chriftian Faith, it is much to be feared bow that can be done, unless both Parents be Chriftian: But if it fo happen, that one of those who are already Marry'd be of a different Religion, let not fuch Perfons be rafhly Separated; but according to the Doctrine of St. Paul, let them live together fo long as the Perfon who is of a different Religion Shall be willing to Co-babit.

Cum his qui non funt Chriftiana Fide, Chriftianis Matrimonium non in

ftituetur. Nam cum Liberos Chriftianos in Fide Chriftiana par fit enutriri, magnus eft metus, ne id, nifi utroque Chriftiano Parente, ita effe non poffit: funt Conjuges diverfa Religio fuerit, Sed fi contingat ut eorum qui jam non temere diftrahentur hujufmodi Perfonæ ; fed juxta Pauli Doctrinam, refpectu Chriftianæ Charitatis,tam diu aliena Religione eft una vivere ac co cohærebunt, quam diu Perfona quæ habitare fuftinebit.

And this was no New Doctrine of the Reformation. The fame Sense of thefe Words of S. Paul is given by Bellarmin. He proves at large that the Apoftle did not permit the Faithful to Mar. ry with Infidels; but yet did allow that the Marriage contracted with an Infidel thou'd not be Diffolv'd by the Converfion of one of the Parties. And he gives Inftances of feveral things, as Impotence, Vows of Continence, &c. which if they be before the Marriage do make it void, but if they . 1. c. 23. f. come after a Lawful Marriage, cannot diffolve it.

Apoftolus non permittit Fidelem cum Infideli contrahere; fed Matrimittit, non dirimit per Converfionem monium cum Infideli contractum peralterius Conjugis; nam impedimenta dirimentia hoc proprium habent, ut dirimant, fi ipfa præcedant, non dirimant fi fequantur: Impotentia enim tia, & alia id genus, fi præcedant coeundi, & votum folemne continenMatrimonium, illud ita impediunt, ut irritum reddant, fi fiat; at fi fu perveniant poft Matrimonium legitiquaquam poffunt. De Matrimonio

me contractum, illud dirimere ne

But will not the Decifion of St. Paul in this Object, case go against that of Ezra, who commanded

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