A67926:3780
Acts and monuments of matters most special and memorable, happening in the Church. [vol.…Actes and monuments of matters most speciall and memorable, happenyng in the Church. [vol.…
Acts and monuments of matters most special and memorable, happening in the Church. [vol. 2, part 1] with an universal history of the same, wherein is set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church, from the primitive age to these latter times of ours, with the bloody times, horrible troubles, and great persecutions against the true martyrs of Christ, sought and wrought as well by heathen emperors, as now lately practised by Romish prelates, especially in this realm of England and Scotland. Newly revised and recognised, partly also augmented, and now the fourth time again published and recommended to the studious reader, by the author (through the help of Christ our Lord) John Fox, which desireth thee good reader to help him with thy prayer.Actes and monuments of matters most speciall and memorable, happenyng in the Church. [vol. 2, part 1] with an vniuersall history of the same, wherein is set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church, from the primitiue age to these latter tymes of ours, with the bloudy times, horrible troubles, and great persecutions agaynst the true martyrs of Christ, sought and wrought as well by heathen emperours, as nowe lately practised by Romish prelates, especially in this realme of England and Scotland. Newly reuised and recognised, partly also augmented, and now the fourth time agayne published and recommended to the studious reader, by the author (through the helpe of Christ our Lord) Iohn Foxe, which desireth thee good reader to helpe him with thy prayer.
London: printed by John Daye, 1583London: printed by Iohn Daye, 1583
No title page in the transcription: set from the catalogue record.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
This he saith to them whom before he exhorted to continency, and whom he would not to be let or troubled by matrimonial conjunction. But to other he saith thus: If any man think that it is uncomely for his virgin to remain over long unmarried, and if need so require, let him do what he thinketh good, he sinneth not: let them marry: And again both be good, he saith, but yet the one to be better he concludeth saying: Therefore he that joineth in Matrimony, his virgin doth well, but he that doth not doth better. Which agreeth well with the text above, speaking of both kinds, as well the man as the woman, where he saith: If thou take a wife thou sinnest not, and if the virgin take a husband she sinneth not. If therefore it be no sin for the man to take a wife, nor for the virgin to take a husband, after the apostles mind, neither doth diminish their felicity, but rather increase it, & for as much as both do well, & so both be blessed: we then which take wives for our infirmity, what do we sin in having them? Or if the apostle do suffer & permit to every man for the avoiding of fornication to have his wife, we then which come of the same lump or mass & taking our sinful flesh of the sinful flesh of Adam, are not able otherwise to contain, why are we not permitted for the same cause & by the same permission, to have likewise our wives, but are enforced to forsake them being married? Wherefore either do you permit us, following the apostle, to have our wives, or else teach us that we come not of the same mass,1 either else show us that the same sufferance & permission is not granted to us by the Apostle which is granted to other. Which cause peradventure you will thus pretend: that this sufferance was granted of the Apostle, not to the clergy or to any of our order, but only to lay men. Which cannot well be defended neither by the words of the Apostle, nor by any circumstance of his Epistle for as much as there is no certain distinction or denomination either of persons or degrees, or professions there mentioned, neither doth he make any difference either in names or offices of men, either of them which wrote unto him either of those persons of whom he wrote, or else of those to whom he answereth, but only in general to the whole church of the Corinthians, as he himself in the beginning of his Epistle purporteth in these words:
This he sayth to them whom before he exhorted to cō tinency, and whom he woulde not to be let or troubled by matrimoniall coniunction. But to other he sayth thus: If any man thinke that it is vncomely for his virgin to remayne ouer long vnmaried, and if neede so require, let him doe what he thinketh good, he sinneth not: let them mary: And agayne both be good, he saith, but yet the one to be better he concludeth saying: Therefore he that ioyneth in Matrimony, his virgin doth wel, but he that doth not doth better. Which agreeth wel with the text aboue, speaking of both kindes, as well the man as the woman, where he sayth: If thou take a wife thou sinnest not, and if the virgin take a husband she sinneth not. If therfore it be no sinne for the man to take a wife, nor for the virgine to take a husband, after the apostles mynd, neither doth diminish theyr felicity, but rather encrease it, & for as much as both do well, & so both be blessed: we then which take wiues for our infirmity, what doe we sinne in hauing them? Or if the apostle do suffer & permit to euery man for the auoyding of fornication to haue his wife, we then which come of the same lumpe or masse & taking our sinnefull flesh of the sinnefull flesh of Adam, are not able otherwise to conteine, why are we not permitted for ye same cause & by the same permissiō, to haue likewise our wiues, but are enforced to forsake them being maryed? Wherfore either do you permit vs, folowing the apostle, to haue our wiues, or els teach vs that we come not of the same masse,