Marginalia1555. Februa.Titulo de indicta viduitate, in Cod. that if one would bequeath to his wife in his testament a legacy, vnder a condition that she should neuer mary agayne, and take an othe of her for the accomplishyng of the same, MarginaliaIustinians law approueth maryage, & condemneth othes made agaynst it.yet she may mary agayne if he dye, notwithstandyng the aforesayd condition and othe taken and made agaynst Mariage: and an oth is an other manner of obligation made to God, then is a Papisticall vowe made to man.

MarginaliaTonstall throughly answered by the Ciuil law.Moreouer in the Pandectes it is contained, that if a man doth manumit his handmayde vnder a condition, that she shall neuer marry: yet she may marry, and her Patrone shall loose ius patronatus, for his adding of the vnnaturall, and vnlawfull condition against Matrimony.

Then my Lord Chaūcellour sayd. thou sayest that priests may be maryed by Gods law. How prouest thou that?

MarginaliaScripture approueth Priestes mariage, but the Pope must be heard before the scripture.I aunswered: by the playne wordes and sentences of S. Paule, both to Timothe, and to Titus, where he speaketh most euidently of the mariage of Priestes, Deacons, and Bishops. MarginaliaChrysost. calleth it an heresy, to say that a Priest may not be maryed.And Chrysostome, writing vppon the Epistle to Timothy, saith: It is an heresie to say that a Bishop may not be maried.

Then sayd my Lord Chauncellour: thou liest of Chrysostome. But thou doest, as all thy companyons do, bely euer without all shame, both the Scriptures and the Doctours. Diddest thou not also say, that by the Canon law Priestes may be maried? which is most vntrue: and the contrary is most true.

I aunswered: We read in the decrees, that the foure generall Councels, Nicene, Constantinopolitane, Ephesine, and Chalcedone, haue the same authoritie that the foure Euāgelistes haue. And we read in the same decrees (which is one of the chief bookes of the Canon law,) MarginaliaCanon law approueth Priestes mariages.that the Coūcell of Nicene, by the meanes of one Paphnutius, did allow Priestes and Byshops mariages. Therefore by the best part of the Canon law, Priestes, may be maried.

MarginaliaWinchest. belyeth the Counsell.Then my Lord Chauncellour said: thou falsifiest the generall Councell. For there is expresse mention in the sayd Decree, that Priestes should be diuorced from their wiues, which be maried.

Then said I: if those wordes be there, as you say, then am I content to lose this great head of myne. Let the booke be fetched.

MarginaliaTonstall helpeth Winchest. at neede.Then spake my Lord of Duresme: Though they be not there, yet they may be in Ecclesiastica historia, which Eusebius wrote, out of which boke the Decree was taken.

To that sayd I: it is not like that the Pope would leaue out any such sentence, hauyng such authoritie, and making so much for his purpose.

MarginaliaGardyner denieth hys owne Canonist and calleth it a patched law.Then my Lord Chauncellour sayd: Gratian was but a patcher, and thou art glad to snatch vp such a patch as maketh for thy purpose. I aunswered: my Lord, I can not but meruaile that you do call one of the chief Papistes that euer was, but a patcher.

Then my Lorde Chauncellour sayd: Nay I call thee a snatcher and a patcher. To make an ende: wilt thou not returne agayne with vs to the Catholicke Churche? and with that he rose.

And I sayd: By Gods grace I will neuer departe from Christes Church. Then I required that I might haue some of my frendes to come to me in prison: and my Lord Chaūcellour sayd: thou shalt haue iudgemēt within this weeke: MarginaliaD. Taylour sent agayne to prison.and so I was deliuered agayne vnto my keper. My Lord of Duresme would that I should beleue as my father and my mother. I alleadged S. Augustine: that we ought to preferre Gods word before all men.

And thus much was contained in the foresayd letter of Doctour Taylour for that matter.

Besides this letter moreouer he directed an other writyng in like maner to an other frend of his concernyng the causes wherefore he was condemned, whiche we thought likewise here to expresse as followeth.

¶ The copie of an other letter to his frend, touching his assertions of the Mariage of Priestes, and other causes for the which he was condemned.  

Commentary     Close

This letter was first printed in Rerum, pp. 420-22 and then in all editions of the Acts and Monuments. (It does not appear in Letters of the Martyrs). BL, Lansdowne 389, fos. 186r-v and 295r-296v, as well as ECL 262, fos. 189v-191v, are copies of this letter.

MarginaliaThe Byshop of Winchest. and his fellowes, proued to be open heretickes by scripture and by the true definition of heresye.IT is heresie to defend any doctrine agaynst the holy scripture. Therfore the Lord Chauncellour and Byshoppes consentyng to his sentence agaynst me, be heretickes. For they haue geuen sentence agaynst the Mariage of Priestes, knowyng that S. Paule to Timothe and Titus writeth playnly, that Byshops, Priestes, & Deacons may be maried: knowing also that by S. Paules doctrine, it is the doctrine of the deuils to inhybite Matrimony. And S. Paule willeth euery faythfull Minister to teach the people so, lest they be deceaued by the marked Marchauntes. i. Tim. iiij.

These Byshops are not ignoraunt, that it is not onely

Marginalia1. Tim. 4 S. Paules counsell, and lawfull, but Gods commaundement also to mary, for such as can not otherwise lyue chaste, neyther auoyde fornication.MarginaliaByshops sinne agaynst their owne conscience and that for 9. or 10. causes.

Marginalia1. Cor. 7.They know that such as do mary, do not sinne.

MarginaliaGene. 2.They know that god, before sinne was, ordeyned Matrymony, and that in Paradise, betwene two of his principall creatures, man, and woman.

They knowe what spirite they haue, whiche say it is euill to mary (seyng God sayd:MarginaliaGene. 2. it is not good for man to bee alone without a wife) hauyng no speciall gift contrary to the generall commaundement and ordinaunce, diuers times repeated in the booke of Genesis, which is MarginaliaGene. 1.to encrease and multiply.

They know that MarginaliaGene. 12.Abraham caried into þ^e land of Canaan his old and yet barraine wife the vertuous woman Sara with him, leauyng father, and mother and countrey otherwise at Gods commaundement.MarginaliaMariage is no impediment for a good man to walke in the obedience of Gods commaundement. For though father and mother, and other frendes are deare and neare, yet none are so dearely nor nearely ioyned together, as man & wife in Matrimony, whiche must nedes be holy, for that it is a figure & similitude of Christ and his Church.

They know that S. PaulMarginaliaEphe. 5. Heb. 13. giueth a great prayse to Matrimony, callyng it honourable, and that not onely to and among many, but to and among all men without exception, who soeuer haue nede of that Gods remedy, for mans and womas infirmitie.

They know þ^t if there were any sinne in Matrimony, it were chiefly to be thought to be in the bedcompany. But S. Paul sayth: that the bedcompany is vndefiled.

They know that the hauyng of a wife was not an impediment for MarginaliaGene. 18. Exod. 18. Gene. 25. Gene. 31. Marginalia2. Reg. 7.Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Iacob, Dauid. &c. to talke with God, neither to the Leuites, Byshops, & priestes office in the tyme of the old Testament or the New.

They know that Christ would not be conceiued, or borne of his blessed mother the virgine Mary, before MarginaliaMath. 1.she was espoused in mariage, his owne ordinaunce.

They know by S. Cyprian and Saint Augustine that a vow is not an impediment sufficient to let Matrimony or to diuorce the same.

MarginaliaChrysostome. It is heresie to deny Priestes Mariage.They know that S. Chrysostome sayth: it is heresie to affirme that a Byshop may not haue a wife.

MarginaliaAmbros. 3. Q. 1. Integritat.They know that S. Ambrose will haue no commaundement but counsayle onely to be geuen, touching the obseruyng of virginitie.

They know that Christ with his blessed mother and þ^e Apostles were at a Mariage, and beautified, and honoured the same with his presence, and first miracle.

To be short: they know that all that I haue here written touching the Mariage of Priestes is true, and they know that the Papistes them selues do not obserue touchyng that matter, their owne lawes and Canons: and yet they continue marked in conscience with an hote yron, as detestable heretickes in this behalfe. The Lord geue them grace to repent, if it be his good will. Amen.

MarginaliaThe 2. cause of D. Taylours condemnation.My second cause why I was condemned as an hereticke is, that I denyed the MarginaliaTransubstantiation and Concomitation, two iuggling wordes of the Papistes.Transubstantiation and Concomitation, two iugglyng wordes of the Papistes, by the whiche they do beleue and wil compell al other to beleue þ^t Christes naturall body is made of bread, and the Godhead by and by to be ioyned thereunto: so that immediatly after the woordes (called the wordes of cōsecration) there is no more bread & wyne in the Sacrament, but the substaunce onely of the body and bloude of Christ together with his Godhead: so that the same beyng now Christ, both God and man, ought to be worshipped with godly honour, and to be offred to god, both for the quicke and the dead, as a sacrifice propitiatory & satisfactory for the same. This matter was not long debated in wordes: but because I denyed the foresayd Papistical doctrine, (yea rather plaine most wicked Idolatry, blasphemy and heresie) I was iudged an hereticke.

MarginaliaThe 3. Article agaynst Doct. Taylour.I dyd also affirme the Pope to be Antichrist, & Popery Antichristianity.

MarginaliaThe 4. Article agaynst Doct. Taylour.And I confessed the doctrine of the Bible to be a sufficient doctrine, touchyng all and singular matters of Christian Religion, and of saluation.

MarginaliaThe 5. Article agaynst Doct. Taylour.I also alledged that the oth agaynst the Supremacy of the Byshop of Rome, was a lawfull oth, and so was the oth made by vs all, touching the Kynges or Queenes preeminence. For Chrysostomus sayth: That Apostles, Euangelistes, and all men in euery Realme were euer, and ought to be euer, touchyng both body and goodes, in subiection to the Kyngly authoritie,MarginaliaAll men must obey kinges. who hath the sworde in his hand, as Gods Principall officer and gouernour in euery Realme. I desired the Byshops to repent for bryngyng the Realme from Christ to Antichrist, from light to darkenes, from verity to vanitie.

Thus you know the summe of my last examination, and condemnation. Pray for me, and I will pray for you.