fhould have as little avocation and diftraction as the nature of things would admit of. PAUL does not say that a Bishop or Deacon fhould not be married, as the church of Rome fays, but that he fhould be the bufband of one wife; for however those who had more could find time to manage their own affairs, they could not be supposed to have leifure enough to attend the church, and its embarraffed and various concerns, as they ought. Upon this principle he feems to give the preference to thofe who had no wife, I Cor. vii. 32, 33. I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the LORD, how he may pleafe the LORD: but he that is married, careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. This certainly relates to all Chriftians, but especially to minifters. The heretics of old took it fo ftrongly in the former fenfe, that they held marriage unlawful to Chriftians—the Papifts take it fo ftrongly in the latter, that it is one of the authorities on which they forbid their clergy to marry at all.

*

There

* The celibacy of the clergy was among the errors of very early date, for Paphnutius, a venerable confeffor and prelate, who affifted at the Nicene council, which was held ann. 325, where there was a difpute, whether

ecclefiaftics hould not feparate from their wives, "which they had married while laymen," faid-Satis effe ut qui in clerum fuiffent adfcripti, juxta veterem ecclefiæ traditionem, jam non amplius uxores ducerent.- "It was fufficient that they who were inrolled

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There are fome who interpret the above paffages (1 Tim. iii. 2. and Tit. i. 6.) to mean, that a Bishop or Deacon fhould, if a widower, have had but one wife, or have been but once married; and this upon the ground of what is faid, 1 Tim. v. 9. concerning the women who were to be chofen to the office of Deaconeffes-Let not a woman be taken into the number under fixty years, having been the wife of one man. There are alfo thofe, who, on the authority of these paffages, hold it unlawful for a minister * to marry a fecond time on the

lofs

among the clergy, according to the antient tradition of "the church, fhould no more marry." Clerical celibacy, and the condemnation of polygamy, ftand on one and the fame footing, and that a very lame one; that is to fay, on the antient tradition of the church; fo did the religion of the Scribes and Pharifees, and fo do the superstitions of the church of Rome to this day.

Paphnutius's fpeech on the occafion is to be found in Jortin, Rem. vol. ii. p. 249. Though what Papchnutius fays may rather apply against the clergy marrying a second time, yet those to whom he fpake must be fuppofed to have holden it unlawful for the clergy to marry at all, elfe how could they be for their feparating from the wives they took when laymen?

However, even the partial prohibition of wives to the clergy did not ripen into a decree, 'till about fifty years after, when Siricius, bishop of Rome, ordained, that if a clerk married a widow, or a fecond wife, he should be divested of his office. For many hundred years this was not obferved, 'till Gregory VII. called Hildebrand, by cruel decrees of excommunication, deprived minifters of their lawful wives, and compelled the clergy to the vow of continency. Hift. of Popery, vol. i. 21.

* Whether any carry this point fo far as the anonymous anfwerer to Luther, Tr. de digamia Epifcoporum, I cannot fay; but he declares-" Mortaliter peccant qui bigamos (facerdotes fcil) ecclefiæ ftipendio fuften

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"tant.".

lofs of his wife, and unlawful also for any woman to marry again on the lofs of her husband.

"tant."-"They fin mortally who fupport clergymen "that have been twice married, with the allowance or "ftipend of the church.". -Again-" Peccant qui "fcientes ex bigami ore verbum Dei pollui audiunt.""They fin, who knowingly hear the word of GOD pol"luted, by the mouth of a minister who has been twice "married."Again-" Bigamus cenfendus eft, non "folum is qui duas duxit virgines, fed & viduam aut "aliter corruptam."-" He is to be reckoned a bigamist, "not only who has married two virgins, but also he that "hath married a widow, or a woman otherwise cor"rupted."

His conclufion breathes the true spirit of ignorance, fuperftition, and blind zeal." In fummâ-quicun"In "que proprias voluptates, & luxuriæ exactionem, apof"toli verbis & patrum honeftis præponit decretis, non "tamen facerdotis aut ecclefiaftico ftipendio cedere dig66 num putat, is non folum tolerandus non eft, fed ad 66 corvos abigendus, quò non ovis morbofa totum cor"rumpat ovile, & tam laudabilem, bonam, & longævam "confuetudinem peftilenti fuo defædet exemplo. "In fine, Whofoever prefers his own pleasures, and the "requirements of luxury, to the words of the apostle" (we muft here fuppofe 1 Tim. iii. 2. and Tit. i. 6. to be meant)" and to the decent decrees of the fathers, "and yet doth not think proper to depart from the "miniftry, or his ecclefiaftical ftipend, is not only not 66 to be tolerated, but to be driven away to the crows" (we should fay, thrown to the dogs)" that one fcabby

fheep might not mar the whole flock, and defile, by "his own peftilent example, fo laudable, good, and an"tient a cuftom."

WILLIAM WHISTON, of famous memory, who, in an early part of the prefent century, was the great reviver and patron of the Arian herefy in this country, and might be called Dr. CLARKE's mafter, in this branch of blafphemy; has left us fome very remarkable matters on record.

husband. These ridiculous opinions owe their birth to the before-mentioned caufe, of taking

One is, that the New Testament is the only rule of faith, and criterion of truth among Chriftians-and this to be interpreted by apoftolical tradition.Another is, a leffon to all Clergymen, who are fo profligate as to fubscribe the doctrine of the Trinity, as held by the Church of England, though they do not believe it; and this, that they may gain admiffion to thofe preferments, which, on fuch terms, they have no right to hold for Whiston, very fairly and honeftly, gave up his profefforship at Cambridge, fooner than diffemble, or give up his opinions; for which he is to be honoured, as an honest man, however mistaken he might be in his religious notions. Dr. Samuel Clarke, his pupil, died Rector of the valuable living of St. James's.

Another matter which Whiston left behind him, seems to be a bone for the Clergy, which those would do well to pick, who, with the ingenious William Whifton, are for fetting up a new Chriftian law, or law of the gospel, of which Chrift and St. Paul are the legislators.

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Whifton's words are as follow-"It may not be amifs,

here to take notice of that Chriftian law, for the mar"riage of the clergy but once; which is now so fre"quently broken by Proteftants, and gives the Papifts 66 a great handle against them, as obferving no rules for "reftraining their inclinations of that kind. I fay, the "Proteftants do allow their clergy, not only to marry more than once, but to act as Clergymen after fuch fecond marriages, without the leaft permiffion under "the gospel for fo doing. Now, though the law of "Christianity be plain, not only from copies of thofe "laws of Mofes, which oblige Chriftians; but from the "prefent New Testament, the apoftolical conftitutions, and "the known interpretation and practice of the four firft "centuries, that Bishops, Priests and Deacons, are allowed "to marry but once; yet am not I fure, but they might

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marry a fecond time without reproach, if they volun"tarily degraded themfelves, and reduced themselves "among the laity; in whom fecond marriages were not "example

condemned; though I confefs, I do not remember one

taking words by the found, instead of the fenfe -the ufual confequence of detaching fcripture from scripture, not comparing it with itself, by taking the whole together. By this, men may prove-quidlibet ex quolibet" what they pleafe from what they please;"—and this is the fheet-anchor of error, as well as of many monftrous practices, and so has been in all ages; they can be maintained no other way. The whole doctrine of tranfubftantiation, abfurd as it is in all its parts, is held together by the found of Hoc eft corpus meum "example of fuch voluntary degradation and reduction " in all Chriftian antiquity. I am confident our great men are, with Grotius, too good critics; and know "Chriftian antiquity too well, to pretend that St. Paul's "ordinances, that a Bishop, a Prieft, and a Deacon, must "be the husband of but one wife, fignifies but one wife at ' a time; as fome of our weaker authors are willing to "interpret it. Nor was this conftitution fo fevere then

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as the moderns imagine; for almost all the bishops 66 were originally fifty years of age, e'er they were or"dained. The next order feem to have been in general "confiderably above fifty; which their very name pref"byter, i. e. elders of the parifh or diocefe, directly fig"nifies: and as for the deacons, they were, by parity of "reafon, to be supposed between thirty and forty; which 66 ages, for these three orders, when we once reftore, the "objections of the moderns against this law will come to lit"tle. I mention this here, because I had once a discourse "with Dr. Clarke upon this head, who looked upon that "latter interpretation as ridiculous. Nor had he any thing "elfe to alledge for the modern Proteftant practice, but "that this command might be fuppofed peculiar to the "first age of Christianity: which yet, I dare fay, was a "fecret to all thofe first ages of Chriflianity; which, fo far "as I have obferved, always efteemed every law of the "gofpel to belong equally to all under the gospel, from "the firft 'till the fecond coming of CHRIST, our legislator." See WHISTON, Life of CLARKE, p. 140–142.

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