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thereby to make way for the POPES's Difpenfing Power. And by the by, to Excufe or Alleviate the Offence of fome Saint in this Matter; wherein he confeffes all I wou'd plead for, viz. That the Example even of Good Men or of a Saint, does not Invalidate the Force of this Prohibition of God: Saints may fall into great Sins, but this Leffens not the Sin, only Thews Human Frailty.

Ther is an Objection which is urg'd by fome, That this was only a Political Law among the Fews, and therefor not to oblige other Na

tions.

Object. That

this was only a Political Law among the Jews.

First, This is gratis dictum, that it is only Anf. fuch a Political Law.

The contrary is plainly fhewn from hence, That the Reafon against Idolatry is not Temporary, nor refpecting this or that Nation, but it is Eternal, and therefor the Law must be fuch, and not only Political to a particular People.

But you may fay, tho' the Law against Ido- At least as to latry be Eternal, and even againft Marrying Annulling fuch with Idolaters; yet to Annul fuch Marriages may be a Political Law refpecting the Jews only.

This is ftill a may be, and what may be, may not be; and the furer fide is to make a Hedge about the Law, as the Phrafe of the Jews is, rather to be ftrider than too loofe with the Law of God.

Marriages.

But if the Law againft Idolatry be Eternal, Anf then to Avoid the Temptation of it must be as Eternal; and that of Marriage being the ftrongest Temptation that is poffible, and which prov'd too ftrong even for Solomon, it cannot pafs as a Political Law refpecting one Nation only. It will be a Confirmation of this to fhew that it is confess'd by the Doctors even of Rome. Thus

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Thus then we read in Bellarmin, de Matrimonii
Sacramento, 1. 1. c. 23.

Sit igitur propofitio prima, non lietiam Hereticis matrimonia jungere; probatur primo ex verbo Dei, Deut. 7. Deus prohibuit Populo fuo matrimonia jungere cum Gentilibus. Et quamvis præceptum illud fit ju. diciale, & folos Judæos propriè obligaverit, tamen habet aliquid etiam Moralis & ad omnes pertinet, fi caufa infpiciatur. Nam caufam reddit planè moralem, quæ etiam nunc locum habet, quia seducet, inquit, filium tuum, ne fequatur me, & ut magis ferviat Diis alienis, &c. 3 Reg. xi. ubi idem præceptum repetitur, addit Deus, certiffimè avertent Corda veftra, ut fequamini Deos alienos. Et ibidem additur, Solomonem contra hoc præceptum egiffe, & illi continuo accidiffe quod Deus prædixerat; depravatus enim per uxores illas Ethnicas, adoravit earum Idola. Et fa

cet Fidelibus cum Infidelibus aut

në fi Vir fapientiffimus, & qui multas alias uxores habebat, per nova illa conjugia cum Gentilibus ita perverti potuit, ut fingularum Deos coJeret, quantum periculum iis imminet, qui unam tantum, eamque Ethnicam, vel Hereticam ducunt, & qui nullo modo funt cum Solomone in prudentia & fapientia compa

randi?

That the Command against Marrying with the Gentiles, Deut. 7. tho' it be Judicial and properly obliges only the Jews, yet it hath fomething Moral in it, and belongs to All, if we look into the Caufe, for he gives a Reafon which is plainly Moral; for, fays he, they will turn a way thy Son from following me, that they may ferve other Gods; and 1 Kin. xi. where the fame Command is re

peated, God adds, furely they will turn away your Heart after their Gods; and it is added in the fame place, that Solomon went against this Command, and that befel him which God hath foretold, for being feduced by his Heathen-Wives, he worfhiped their Idols; and certainly if the wifeft Man, and who had many other Wives, cou'd be perverted by these new Marriages with the Gentiles, fo that he worship'd the Gods of every one of them; how great Danger does hang over their Heads, who marry only one Wife, and fhe an Heathen, or an Heretick; and who can no way be compared to Solomon in Wisdom and Prudence?

Thefe are the words of Bellarmin ; and he extends the Moral and Reafon of this Law, and confequently

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confequently the Obligation of it, not only to the Marrying with Heathens or Idolaters, but to Any that are out of the Communion of the Church; that is, to Hereticks: As he fays in the beginning of the words before quoted, Sit igitur propofitio prima Let this be the first Propofition, That it is not Lawful for the Faithful to Marry with Infidels, or even with Hereticks. And here at the end he joins together Heathens and Hereticks.

Nay, in the Church of Rome they carry up this Sin of Marrying with an Heretick, to be a Grand SACRILEGE: And confequently, That it is a greater Sin to Marry fuch an one, than to commit Fornication with her. Thus they say,

To know an Heretical Wife with a matrimonial Affection, by which Marriage is contrated, is a greater Sin, than to Fornicate with ber-He Jins more Grievously, by Knowing of her with a Matrimonial Affection, and by Contracting with her than by Knowing of her with an Affection as to a Whore; becaufe he commits a grand Sacrilege, according to

Hereticam uxorem cognofcendo uxorio affectu, per quem contrahitur matrimonium, gravius eft peccatum

All.

-

- Ma

quam cum eadem fornicari
gis peccat cognofcendo illam uxorio
affectu, & contrahendo cum illa,
quam cognofcendo affectu fornica-
rio; quia committit grande Sacrile-
Navarr. Confil. 1. 4. de fponfal. Confil.
gium, fecundum omnes.
5. §. 10.

This is here deliver'd as the current Doctrin of All the Doctors in the Church of Rome.

This Sacrilege, I fuppofe, must be grounded upon the Members of the Church, being Members of Chrift: And the making a Member of Chrift One with Another who is not His Member, which is a Sacrilege of the highest Nature; not only in Robbing from God, His Temples or Altars made of Stone, His Tythes, or other Inanimal

C 3

Martin. d.

animal things Dedicated to His Service and WorShip; but in Robbing and Prophaning His Living Temples, the very Members of the Body of Chrift.

And upon Suppofition, That the Church of Rome were the only Church of Chrift upon Earth, I do not fee but that the Confequence would be Juft.

Tho' as to their Diftinction of making it a lefs Sin to Fornicate, than to Marry with thofe out of the Church, the Apoftle 1 Cor. vi. 15. makes it the fame Sin of Sacrilege to commit Fornication with them, viz. That it is the making the Members of Chrift the Members of an Harlot. And applies to this Cafe, ver. 16. what was faid of Marriage, That two shall be one Flesh,

But then the Difference betwixt a Single Act, and an Habitual living in this Sin is to be confider'd. And indeed, if fuch Marriages be not Lawful, they are a Continu'd State of Fornication. For (as it is faid in our Office of Matrimony) be ye well affured, that fo many as are Coupled together otherwife than God's Word doth Allow, are not joined together by God, neither is their Matrimony Lawful.

I cannot imagine how the Roman Catholicks among Us can fatisfie their Confciences upon thefe Principles, in Marrying fo commonly as they do with Us.

If they fay the Pope can Difpenfe with it.

1. Has every one of them a Difpenfation for it? I do not understand that it is fo much as Ask'd, or that they think they have any need of it, it is fo common amongst Us.

2. Can the Pope Difpenfe with Sacrilege? And fuch a Sacrilege, as Tearing the Members of Chrift from His Body,

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Or 3ly. Will they be content, to Lessen their Sin, That they know their Wives, and their Wives know them, with an Whoring, and not a Matrimonial Affection!

Or, Laftly, Will they confefs, as the Truth is, That their Difcipline is as Loofe as ours, when Intereft comes in the way; and that they mind none of these things!

But for the Proteftants, who own no DifpenSation against the Law of God, this will lie harder upon them, to Marry out of their own Communion ; and with thofe, against whom they lay the Charge of Idolatry, and of the greatest Schifm ever was made in the Chriftian Church, by confining it wholly to their own Communion; thereby Excluding far the greatest Part of the Chriftian World, out of the Pale of Chrift's Church.

ted.

We all agree, That Marrying within the De- of Marrying grees Prohibited Lev. xviii. is Unlawful. And within the Dethat no Power upon Earth can Difpenfe with it, grees Prohibibecause it is Prohibited in God's Law, as our A& of Parliament expreffes it, 25. Hen. VIII. c. 22. And in the Reform. Legum (before mentioned) c. 3. it is faid,

Deus in his gradibus certum Jus pofuit, Lev. 18. & 20. Cap. quo Jure

God established fuch a Law in these Degrees, Lev. 18. and 20. Chap. as obliges us and all our Pofterity; for thefe Com-nos & omnem noftram Pofteritatem mands in thefe Chapters were not peculiar to the People of the Jews (as fome do Dream) but have the fame Authority which our Religion does Attribute to the Ten Commandments, fo that no human Power can any way Infringe it.

tenere neceffe eft; nec enim hæc ilforum Capitum Præcepta veteris Ifraelitarum Reipublicæ propria fuerunt (ut quidam fomniant) fed idem Aunoftra Decalogo tribuit, ut nulla Potes thoritatis pondus habent quodReligio ftas humana quicquam in illis ullo modo conftituere poffit.

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