vi. 15, 16. is meant the act of + copu lation or marriage) and they shall be one flefb-thus creating between them fo indiffoluble a bond, as never to be divided more. Though these words were spoken immediately by ADAM, yet, doubtless, he fpake under the influence of the divine Spirit, as may appear from CHRIST's manner of applying the words, Matt. xix. 4, 5. and may therefore, as what MOSES and the prophets fpake under the fame holy influence, be styled

"The word of GOD." The circumfcription and regulation of the whole was provided for by fixed, determined, and immutable laws, calculated for all times, places, and ages of the world, wherein He should be pleafed to make them known. These laws, on the establishment of the church, on its deliverance out of EGYPT, were given to MOSES, and enforced and explained by him, and the subsequent prophets, under the immediate command and teaching of GOD; and continue, like the holy Lawgiver Himself, one and the fame for ever. Who may marry together, and who may not-what is a lawful marriage in GoD's account, and what is not fo, was not left to the uncertain or presump

+ This is the literal import of a pa-agglutinatus erit in uxore fua. Mont. (See before p. 20. note,) ill expreffed by-hall cleave to his wife.-The verb pornoλanOnolar, LXX. Matt. xix. 5. and Eph. v. 31.-and the participle Konnwuevos, 1 Cor. vi, 16.-are in the paffive Κολλωμενος, - For the Author's idea of the word marriage, fee before, p. 48. note.

voice.

tuous

tuous determinations of mankind, but immutably fixed by written laws of GOD. To thefe it is our bounden duty to conform, and to fay to all subsequent inventions of men, as well thofe which forbid marriage entirely, as those who would put afunder those whom GOD hath joined together, under pretence of greater purity and holiness, as the angel did to PETER, Acts X. 15. What GOD hath cleansed, that call thou not common or unclean.

I have mentioned the law being explained by the prophets. Thefe were extraordinary meffengers which God raised up and sent forth under a special commiffion; not only to foretell things to come, but to preach to the people, to hold forth the law, to point out their defections from it, and to call them to repentance, under the fevereft terms of God's displeasure, unless they obeyed. Their commiffion, in these refpects, we find recorded, If. lviii. 1. Cry aloud, fpare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet: fhew my people their tranfgreffions, and the house of Jacob their fins. This commiffion was to be faithfully executed, at the peril of the prophet's own deftruction, as appears from the folemn charge given to Ezekiel, chap. iii. 18. When I fay to the wicked, Thou shalt furely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor fpeakest to warn the wicked to fave his life, the fame wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand.

These prophets executed their commiffion very unfaithfully towards GoD and the people, VOL. I.

K

as

as well as most dangerously for themselves, if polygamy was a fin againft God's law; for it was the common practice of the whole nation, from the prince on the throne to the loweft of the people; and yet neither ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, nor any one of the prophets, bore the leaft teftimony against it. They reproved them fharply and plainly for defiling their neighbours wives; as fer. v. 8; xxix. 23.in which fifth chapter, we not only find the prophet bearing teftimony against adultery, but against whoredom and fornication, ver. 7. for that they affembled themselves by troops in the harlots boufes. Not a word against polygamy. How is it poffible, in any reafon, to think that this, if a fin, fhould never be mentioned as fuch, by GoD-by † MOSES-or any one of the prophets?

Here I may particularly mention Elijah the Tifhbite, who could with truth fay of himself, 1 Kings xix. 10. 'MNP xp—zelando zelatus fum. Mont. Which emphatical reduplication we tranflate by-I have been VERY JEALOUS for the LORD OF HOSTS. This holy man was fired with zeal for GoD's law, and was a most faithful and undaunted reprover of fin, even to the very face of king Ahab

*Jofephus calls it a prov-which anfwers to what we mean by the word national.

+ Mofes mentions all the fins of the nations of Canaan, as warnings to the Ifraelites not to be guilty of them; but their polygamy is no where mentioned or condemned, nor are the Jews warned against it. See Lev. xviii. 3, 24, &c.

(who

(who at that time reigned in Ifrael, and was doubtless a polygamist, by his having seventy fons) yet not a word is faid about his polygamy; which could hardly have been omitted, had it been a fin against either the primary law of marriage, or the feventh commandment. The fame zeal which led Elijah to tell Ahab, that he and his father's boufe had troubled Ifrael, by forfaking the commandments of the LORD, and following Baalim, muft furely have led him to reprove Ahab's polygamy, had that also been a forfaking the commandments of JEHOVAH. The scripture, 1 Kings xvi. 31. ftrongly remarks, as an aggravation of Ahab's fuperlative wickedness, that he married an idolatrefs, contrary to Deut. vii. 3. Had his polygamy been contrary to Exod. xx. 14. this would hardly have escaped the reproofs of the prophet Elijah, who did not forget Jezabel, and the prophets which ate at her table. 1 Kings xviii. 19.

We may also observe that Ezekiel, ch. xxii. fets down very particularly the fins of lewdness, which the Jews were addicted to in his day, ver. 10, 11. but not a word of polygamy is there to be found.

Although it be true, that none of the pros phets before the captivity mention it as a fin, yet did not MALACHI, after the return from the captivity, fpeak of it, and in very fevere terms condemn it? thus clofing the canon of the Old Testament with a moft awful reprehenfion of it? Mal. ii. 14, 15.

As this famous paffage is taken for granted to be a condemnation of polygamy under the Old Teftament, let us examine it, and we fhall find that it does not even relate to the fubject: if it did, it would be very strange, that fo material a point fhould escape all the prophets that went before him, Mofes himself not excepted. This fingle circumftance fhould make one fufpicious of the common interpretation given to this portion of fcripture by the general run of commentators, who, miftaking the found of the words for the fenfe of the text, have followed one another like fheep, who keep the fame track, only because others have gone before them. The words, as they ftand in our tranflation, are thefeTHE LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou haft dealt treacherously: yet fhe is thy companion and the wife of thy covenant. And did not He make one? yet hath He the refidue of the Spirit. And wherefore one? That He might feek a godly feed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth; for the LORD GOD of ISRAEL faith, that be bateth PUTTING AWAY.

The last words are a key to the reft, and shew, that the inftance in which they dealt treacherously with their wives, was putting them away; and this, in order to take heathen women in their room. This is manifeft from ver. 11. JUDAH hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in ISRAEL and JERUSALEM; for JUDAH hath prophaned the boline's