And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.
Ver. 14. He saw his wife's mother laid, &c.] A wife, then, Peter had, and if a good wife, she might be a singular help to him in his ministry; as Nazianzen's mother was to her husband, not a companion only, but in some respects a guide to godliness. a St Ambrose saith that all the apostles were married men, save John and Paul. And those pope holy hypocrites that will not hear of priests' marriage, but hold it far better for them to have and keep at home many harlots than one wife b (as that carnal Cardinal Campeius defended); they might hear the contrary out of their own canon law, where it is written, Distinct. 29, Siquis discernit Presbyterum coniugatum, tanquam occasione nuptiarum offerre non debeat, anathema esto. And again, Distinct. 31, Siquis vituperat nuptia, et dormientem cum viro suo fidelem et religiosam detestatur, aut culpabilem aestimat, velut quae regnum Dei introire non possit, anathema esto. They might hearken to Paphnutius, a famous primitive confessor; who, though himself an unmarried man, mightily persuaded and prevailed with the Nicene Council, that they should not decree anything against priests' marriage, alleging, that marriage was honourable in all, and that the bed undefiled was true chastity. They might hear Ignatius, scholar to St John the Evangelist, pronouncing all such as call marriage a defilement, to be inhabited by that old dragon the devil. c But there is a political reason that makes these men deaf to whatsoever can be said to them by whomsoever; and you shall have it in the words of him that wrote the History of the Council of Trent (a Council carried by the pope, with such infinite guile and craft, that the Jesuits, those connubisanctifugae, commeritricitegae, will even smile in the triumphs of their own wits, when they hear it but mentioned, as a master stratagem). The delegates in Trent Council (saith he) were blamed for suffering the article of priests' marriage to be disputed, as dangerous; because it is plain that married priests will turn their affections and love to wife and children; and by consequence, to their house and country: so that the strict dependence with the clergy hath upon the apostolic see would cease; and to grant marriage to priests would destroy the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and make the Pope bishop of Rome only. (Hist. of Council of Trent.)
a ου συνεργος μονον αλλα και αρχηγος εγενετο. Naz.
b Honestius est pluribus occulte implicari, quam aperte cum una ligari.
c Siquis coinquinationem vocet commixtionem legitimam, habet inhabitatorem Draconem Apostatam. Ign. Epist. ad Philadelph.