wiues. And thus much concernyng Priestes Mariage forbydden.

Let vs adde moreouer to these euidences aboue rehearsed, for more confirmation of the auncient vse and libertie of Priestes Mariage an other testimonie or two out of like aōcient recordes with like playne wordes declaryng vnto vs, how the matrimory of Priestes, before the tyme of Lācfrancke aforesayd was no straunge example in the Church, and first we will inferre the wordes, of an old Martyrologe pertainyng to the Recordes of Canterbury. The wordes of which Martyrologe be these  

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L Anfrancus Archiepiscopus reddidit Ecclesiæ Sancti Andreæ, quia de iurè ipsius Ecclesiæ antiquitus fuerunt, in Suthrege, Mutelac, Lōdoniæ, monasterium Sanctæ Mariæ, cum terris & domibus, MarginaliaLiuingus Præsbyter cum vxore quas Liuingus Præsbyter & vxor illius Londoniæ habuerunt.  

To this also may be adioyned an other like antiquitie out of an old written hystory belongyng to the Churche of S. Assaph, after the tyme of Lanfrancke, as foloweth.  

Marginalia¶ Forbonizatum, is a Saxō terme, and signifieth as much, as a man outlawed.
¶ 1261. D E Clerico vxorato receptante publicè * forbonizatum sciēter, et possit contra ipsum probari, nobis videtur quod tenetur respondere in foro Ecclesiastico. Si verò facit residentiam in terra principis, et contingat ipsum mulctari, tota mulcta sua principi debetur. Si verò residentiam in terra Episcopi facit, mulcta diuidatur inter Episcopū et Principem. Si verò vxor alicuius talis scienter vel nolenter in eius absentia receptauerit, Mulier in foro Ecclesiastico respondeat, et Clericus ratione sui facti, non puniatur, nec pro ea (nisi velit) respondere cogatur.  

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Neither is þ^e testimonie of Mantuanus vnworthy also hereunto to be added, writyng in þ^e lyfe of Hilarius Byshop of Pictauium, as foloweth.  

Ex Mantuano.   Latin/Greek Translations     Close Ex Mantuano. Foxe text Latin Integritas vitæ ... coniugis usu. Translation J. Barrie Hall From Mantuanus. Integrity of life, knowledge of the laws, worship of the dwellers in heaven, and protecting the poor, brought you amid popular applause the mitre and crook of Poitiers, while you show no care for mortal things, while you live to yourself, content with your lot, far from all ambition. Your offspring did you no harm, and the wife conjoined to you in lawful marriage did not stand in your way: at that time God did not shudder at the marriage chamber, the cradle, and the marriage torches. All that was prized was virtue, which now is unknown and of no account, but dwells among the ordinary folk with worn cowl. Therefore some people say that laws against matrimony are bad laws. The wisdom of the fathers, they say, did not pay particular attention to what nature refuses to endure and what she is able to tolerate. Christ, they say, did not wish to place on our shoulders this unpleasant yoke; that burden which up to now has created very many monsters was devised, they say, by audacious piety. They wish it to be safer to travel along the road where the divine law permitted and to follow the steps of the ancient fathers, whose life with a wife was better than ours is now when marriage and recourse to a wife are excluded. [Back to Top]

MarginaliaPaptista Mantuanus, in vita Hilarij. I N tegras vitæ, legum prudentia, cultus Cœlicolum, tutela inopum, diadema, pedumq; Pictauiense tibi, dum nil mortalia curas, Dum viuis tibi, sorte tua contentus, ab omni Ambitione procul, populo applaudente, tulerunt. Non nocuit tibi progenies, non obstitit vxor Legitimo coniuncta toro, non horruit illa Tempestate Deus thalamos, cunubula, tædæs. Sola erat in pretio, quæ nunc incognita virtus Sordet, & attrito viuit cum plebe cucullo. Propterea leges, quæ sunt connubia contra, Esse malas quidam perhibent. Prudentia patrum Non satis aduertit, dicunt, quid ferre recuset. Quid valeat natura pati. Ceruicibus, aiunt. Hoc insuaue iugum nostris imponere Christus Noluit, istud onus quod adhuc quàm plurima monstra Fecit, ab audaci, dicunt, pietate repertum. Tutius esse volunt, qua lex diuina sinebat Isse via, veterumq; sequi vestigia patrum: Quorum vita fuit melior cum coniuge, quàm nunc Nostra sit exclusis thalamis & coniugis vsu.

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MarginaliaThree kindes of confession. OF confession iij. kyndes we finde in the Scriptures expressed and approued,MarginaliaConfession to God. The first is our confession priuatly or publickely made vnto God alone: and this confession is necessary for all men at all tymes. Whereof Saint Iohn speaketh  

: If we confesse our sinnes, hee is faythfull to forgiue vs. &c. Marginalia1. Iohn. 1.

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MarginaliaConfessiō to the publicke congregation. The second is the confession whiche is openly made in the face of the congregation. And this confession also hath place when any such thyng is committed, wherof riseth a publicke offence and sclaunder to the Church of God: As appeareth by þ^e incestuous Corinthians, & other sondry examples of penitentiaries in the primitiue Churche, as of Melciades and other. &c.

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MarginaliaPriuate confession to our brother.
Math. 5. The third kind of confession is that, which we make priuately to our brother. And this confession is requisite, when either we haue iniuried of by any way damnified our neighbor, whether he be rich or poore. Wherof speaketh þ^e Gospell  

: Go & reconcile thy selfe first vnto thy neighbor. &c. Also S. Iames   : Confesse your selues one to an other. &c. MarginaliaIacob. 5. Or els thys confession may also haue place, when any such thyng lyeth in our conscience, in the openyng wherof we stande in neede of the counsell and comfort of some faithfull brother.MarginaliaCertayne poyntes of superstition to be auoyded in priuate confession. But herein must we vse discretion in auoyding these poyntes of blynd superstition. First that we put therein no necessity for remission for our sinnes, but to vse therin our owne voluntary discretion, accordyng as we see it expediēt for þ^e better satisfiyng of our troubled minde. The second is, that we be not bounde to any ennumeration of our sinnes. The third, that we tie not our selues to any one person, more then to an other, but to vse therin our free choyse, whom we thinke cā geue vs the best spiritual counsell in the Lord.

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But as there is nothyng in the Church so good and ghostly, which through peuishe superstition either hath not, or may not be peruerted: so thys confession also hath not lacked hys abuses, First the secret confession to God alone, as it hath bene counted insufficient, so hath it bene but lightly estemed of many. The publicke confession to þ^e congregation hath bene turned to a standyng in a sheete, or els hath bene bought out for money. Furthermore, þ^e seacret breakyng of a mans mynde to some faithful or spiritual brother in disclosing his infirmitie or temptations, for counsayle, and godly comfort, hath bene turned into auricular confession in a Priestes eare for assoyling of hys sins.Marginalia4. or 5. abuses in auricular confession. In þ^e which Auriculare confession,Marginalia1. Necessitye.
2. Ennumeration of sinnes.
3. Prescription of tyme
4. Confession made a sacrament.
5. To a priest onely. first of the free libertie of the penitēt in vtteryng hys griefes, they haue made a mere necessitye, and that vnto saluation and remission of sinnes. Secondly, they require wythall, ennumeration and a full recitall of all sinnes whatsoeuer, both great and small. Also besides the necessitie of thys eare confession, they adde therto a prescription of tyme, at least once in the yeare for all men, whether they repent or no, to be confessed: makyng moreouer of the same a Sacrament. And lastly, where as before it stoode in the voluuntary choyse of a man to open hys hart to what spirituall brother he thought best, for easement of his griefe and ghostly consolation, they bynde hym to a Priest (vnlesse some Fryer come by the way to be hys ghostly father) to whom he must needes confesse all, whatsoeuer he hath done, and though he lacke the key of knowledge, and perauenture of good discretion, yet none must haue power to assoyle hym, but he through the authoritie of his keyes.

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And thys maner of confession, say they, was instituted by Christ, and hys Apostles, & hath bene vsed in þ^e Church euer since to this present day. Which is a most manifest vntruth, and easie by stories to be conuinced.

MarginaliaSocrat. Lib 5.
[illegible text]. 19.
Sozo. Lib. 7. cap.16. For Socrates lib. 5. cap. 19. Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 16. in þ^e booke of Ecclesiasticall hystory, do geue vs playnely to vnderstād, that thys Auricular confession neuer came of Christ, but onely of men.

MarginaliaBeat. Rhenanus in argum. libel. Tertulliani de pœnitentia. Item, in the tyme of Tertullian, Beat. Rhenanus testifieth  

, þ^t there was no mētion made of this Auricular cōfession. Which may well be gathered therof, for that Tertullian wryting vpon repentaunce, maketh no mention at all thereof.

MarginaliaChrysost. in Psal. 30. hom. 2. Item, in the tyme of Chrysostome, it appeareth there was no such assoyling at the Priests hands, by these wordes where he saith: I require thee not that thou shouldest confesse thy sinnes to thy felow seruaunt. Tell them vnto God, who careth for them.

MarginaliaChrysost. in hom. De pœnit. & confessione. Item, the sayd Chrysostome in an other place wryting vpon repentaunce, and confession: Let the examination of thy sinnes, and thy iudgement (sayth he) be secrete & close without wytnes. Let God onely see and heare thy confession. &c.

MarginaliaDe pœnit. dist. 1. Petrus in Glosa. Item, in the tyme of Ambrose, De pœnit. Dist. 1. Petrus, the glose of þ^e popes owne decrees recordeth: That the institution of Baptisme was not then begon, which now in our dayes is in vse.

MarginaliaDe pœnit. Dist. 5. in principio. Item, it is truely sayd therfore of the Glose in an other place, where he testifieth: That this institutiō of penaunce began rather of some tradition of the vniuersal church, thē of any authoritie of the new Testament, or of the old. &c.

MarginaliaErasm. in Schol. in Epitaphium fabiolæ. The like also testifieth Erasm. writing vpō Hiero. in these wordes: Apparet tempore Hieronymi nondum institutam fuisse. &c. That is: It appeareth, that in the tyme of Hierome, this secrete cōfession of sinnes was not yet ordeined, which the church afterward did institute holsomely, if our Priestes & lay men would vse it rightly. But herein diuines not considering aduisedly what the old Doctours do say, are much deceiued. That which they say of generall & open confessiō, they wrast by and by to this priuie & secret kinde of confeßssion, which is farre diuers, and of an other sort. &c.

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MarginaliaGratian. De [illegible text] Dist. [illegible text] The lyke testimonie may also be taken of Gracian hymselfe, who speakyng of confession vsed then in hys tyme, leaueth the matter in doubtfull dispense, neyther pronouncyng on þ^e one side, nor on þ^e other, but referreth the mat