---.---- Of tbe oblig.1tiou of a row of chaftity or fin:;,lc life. the cauh (when elfe mankind would foon have ceafed: ) But fo it dorh not ·ns now when the eanh is rep\enifhcd. _Yet I deny _nor, but if a man and his fifi:<!'t were cafi alone upon a foraign wilder. nefs, where they )~1Hiy defp1ncd of any other complny, if God lbould bid· them there [ incre:z{e a;zd multiply J 1t would warrant them to marry. But elfe the.re is no ncccffity of it, and therefore no )awfulndS. for z. A Vicious nccdTiry juH:ifieth not the ti'n. It the man or woman that fhould abfhin, will be mad or dead wirh paffion, rather than obey God, and deny and mortifie their lull it is not one fin that will juflihe them in another. The thiiJg that is neccffary is to conform their wi!!; to t.he LaW of G_o~, and if t~cy JVi~ ~at, and th~n fily, 7hty cannet; ~hey mufi bear what thty gl:t by tt. 3· _And tt tS no nccciTtry that ts tmp?fed by that command of Kmgor Parents which is ag.tinH the Law of God. 4· No nor by a Vow ne!ther: For a ·vow to to break Gods Law is not an obli– gation f<.1 be kept, but tobe repented of: nor is the neccJ]il)l rc:mcdikfs which fuch a one brinvcth on himfdf, by Vowing never to marry any Other; feeing chat\ity may be kept. ~ ~uft. i· Q!tctl. 7· Tdt laaful for one to marry, that h:zth Vor:vtd ch.zjtity durhtg lift, and- not to ;11any, and aftern•ard findcth a necej]ity of marrying,for the avoiding of ftt)l a11d fornication l . Anj:r. I know that many great Divint·s have cafily abfolvcd thofc !hat under Popery vowed ·Chafiiry, The principal part of the folU.tion of the qucfiion you mull fct€h from my folution of the Bv 1 hi~ Y"u cafe of Vows, Tom. 3· Cb. 5· 1it. z, At the prefenc this lhall (uffi.::e to be added ro ir. 1. Such nu,, fee how Vows of t::hallity that are Abfolure, wirhouc any exceptions, of after·alrerations or difficulties that to r~Co:ve the may arife, arc linfully- made, or are unlawfull qaoad atrum jurandi. - ~~~:~~~u~o- ~· _lf_ P~u~nts or 01hers irnpofe fi1ch OJ.ths and Vows on ~heir Chlldr~n or Subjects, or ·induce them ,.enan:s which to Jt, Jt ts hnfully done of them, and the alJru imper.:zmium ts alfi.l unlawflll. are the grand 3· Yet as long as the matcri:J jurata the matter VJWtd remaineth Lawful, the Vow doth bind, and Cor.t:o\.erfics it is pcrtidioufnefs to break ir. f or the finfulnefs of the lmpn{eri al1 proveth no more bur rhar fuch ~;nt~~ ~;~1e acommJnd did not oblige you to Vow. And a Vow made arbitrarily without any comm1nd, doth ncverthelcf~ bind. And the finfnlncfs of the Making of theVow, dorh only call for Repent,;nce; (as if you made it cauOcfly, rafhly, upon ill motives, and to ill ends, or in ill circumlhnces, &c.) But yet that Vow Which you Repent that ever you made mull: be neverthelefS kept, if the tbilfg Vow(d be a L :zrvful thi11g, and the aCt of Vowing be not made anullity (though it was a fin. ) And \Vhcn ic is a nullity l have 01cwcd in the forecircd place. 4· A Vow of Cckbate or ch<ifiity during life, which hath this condition or exception exprcffed of implycd in the true intent of the Votary [ Vnlcfl any tbiJt~ faU out l!'hicb Jhall make it a ji1J to me n..rt to marry J may in fame cafes be a lawful Vow: As to one rhat forefcerh great inconvcni'ences in marr)agc, and would by tlrm rcfolution fortitie himfclf againfi temptations and mut-ability. 5· If lhercwerc no fuch excepting rhought in the perfon Vowing, yet when the thi1tg bccom::th unlawfL~l the Vow is not to be kept : Though it oblige us under guilt for finful making ir, yet God commandeth us not to keep it, bcclufe we vowed that which he forbad us not only to Vow but to Do. 6. Either the P.1pifis fi.tppofc fuch Exceptions to be always implycd by their Vvtaries, or a:t leafl that they are contained in the Law of God, or clfe {Ure they durfi never pretend that the Pof1e hlth power w difpenfe with fuch Vows: ( At; they have oft done fOr Princes, Men and Women, thn they might be :aken from a Monafl:ery to a Crown) For if they ft1ppofc rhar the pcrrons b~fore· the difpenfation arc under the obligation of their Vow, and bound by God to keep it, th~:n it would 11e too grofs and odiousBlafphcamy for the Pope to claim a power of dilubliging t\ltm, and difTolving Gods ~::ommands: and not only Anrich~ifliani!y, but Antithcifiical, or a {cuing himfdf above Gbd Almighty under pretence of his own Commifiion. But if they only pretend to ditTo\ve fi.tch Vowr; Judicially or Dccifivcly, by Judging when the perfon is no \ongerobliged ro keep them by Gods LJw, then they fuppofe that the obligation ol Gods Law i< ccJj;d before thty Judicially decl.m ir 10 be ceafcd. ( And if that were all that the Pope undertook, he had no power to do it our ci his owh 'Parifh, nor more than any lawful Bifhop hath in his proper charge. ) 7· The matrer of a Vow of Celibate or Chaflity is then unlawtUl, when it cannot be kept withoUt greatcr Jitt than that life of chaflity e[capeth, and \vhich would be cfcaptd if it were forfa~en, Or without the Omiffion of greater duty, 2nd Amiffion of greater good, than that life of chaJbry con– taineth or attaintrh. For the further opening of this let it be noted that~ 8. It is not every degree of fin which marriage would cure, that will wairant rhe breach ~f a V~w of Challity. As if I had fame more lufiful thoughts or infligations and irritations in a twgle life than1fhould have if J married: The reafon is, Becaufe, r. Ne man liveth without fome fin, and it is fuppof(d that there are greaterr {ins of another kind, which by a life of chafiity I avoid. Alld the bre-ach of the Vow it felf is a greater matter than a lufiful thought. . . 9· So it is .not every degree of Good which by t:narriage I may 12tl.1in or do that w1!1 warr10t 1.t againll a Vow ofChafiity. Becaufc I may do and get a Grtater Good by chafl:iry, and becaufc the e~1l of perjury is not to be done that good may be done by ir; till I can prove that it is not only Good Ill it felf, but a Duty hie & mmc to me. • t IO· A man {hould rather break his Vow of Celibate, than once commit fornic~tio~, if there wete a ncceffiry that he mufi do the one. Becaufe fornication is a fin which no Vow will warrant any man wCommit. ' 11, A man fhould rather break his Vow of celibate, than live in fuch conjltmt or ordinary lujf, M nnfitUtb biln for Prayer, and a boly life, and keepeth him in ordhrary ·dangtr of [or11ictlti1n, if there tvtre fl. JUctf[ity that he »Jlfjl do the one. The reafi:m is alfo becaufc now the M.. mcr Vowed is becorrft unlawful,
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