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choice of Bishops and Deacons from amongst those who had but one wife? What occafion for this caution of the apostle's, if none had more than one? That the election was to be made from amongst the Chriftian believers, there can be no doubt, that is to fay, of fuch as had been admitted to baptifm and the Lord's Supper, and were enrolled as members of the Chriftian church. To fuppofe that none of these had more than one wife, is to fuppofe the apoftle giving a needlefs rule in the election of Bishops and Deacons. To suppose that any who had more than one wife, fhould be admitted to baptifm and the Lord's fupper, if CHRIST had forbidden polygamy as adultery, is to fuppofe a greater abfurdity ftill, and that the great apoftle of the Gentiles was lefs faithful to his truft, than thofe Jefuits who refused to admit the King of Tonquin into the CHRISTIAN church, unless he would put away all his wives but one: for which thefe pfeudo-apoftles were very justly driven out of the country.

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The learned Selden has proved, in his Uxor Habraica, that polygamy was allowed, not only amongst the Hebrews, but amongst most other nations throughout the world; doubtless amongst the inhabitants of that vaft tract of Afia, throughVOL. I.

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out which the gospel was preached by the great apoftle of the Gentiles, where so many Chriftian churches were planted, as well as in the neighbouring states of Greece: yet in none of PAUL'S epiftles, nor in the feven awful epifles which St. JOHN was commanded to write to the feven churches in Afia, is polygamy found amongst the crimes for which they were reproved. Every other fpecies of commerce between the fexes, is diftinctly and often mentioned, this not once, except on the woman's fide, as Rom. vii. 3; but had it been finful and against the law on the man's fide, it is inconceivable that it should not have been mentioned on both fides equally.

When St. Paul fays that a Bishop or Deacon is to be the husband of one wife, it certainly carries with it a tacit allowance of polygamy, as to the lawfulness of it, with regard to all other men; not that it was finful in one more than in another; but this was a prudential caution in that diftreffed and infant ftate of the church, that those who were to have the management of it, should have as little avocation and diftraction as the nature of things would admit of. PAUL does not fay that a Bishop or Deacon fhould not be married, as the church of Rome fays, but

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that he should be the bufband of one wife; for however thofe who had more could find time to manage their own affairs, they could not be supposed to have leisure enough to attend the church, and its embarraffed and various concerns, as they ought. Upon this principle he seems to give the preference to those who had no wife, 1 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 Chrif tians, but especially to minifters. The heretics of old took it so strongly in the former fenfe, that they held marriage unlawful to Chriftians-the Papifts take it so strongly in the latter, that it is one of the authorities on which they forbid their clergy to marry at all.

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

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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, I 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

"they who were inrolled among the clergy, accord"ing 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 fuperftitions 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 Paphnutius fays may rather apply against the clergy marrying a fecond time, yet thofe to whom he fpake must be supposed 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, bifhop of Rome, ordained, that if a clerk married a widow, or a fecond wife, he fhould be divefted 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.

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the wife of one man. There are also thofe, who, on the authority of these passages, hold it unlawful for a minister * to marry,

* Whether any carry this point fo far as the anonymous answerer to Luther, Tr. de digamia Epifcoporum, I can't fay; but he declares" Mortaliter

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peccant qui bigamos (facerdotes fcil) ecclefiæ "tipendio fuftentant."-" 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 ver"bum Dei pollui audiunt."-" They fin, who "knowingly hear the word of GOD polluted, by "the mouth of a minifter who has been twice mar"ried."--Again-" Bigamus cenfendus eft, non "folum is qui duas duxit virgines, fed & viduam "aut aliter corruptam."-" He is to be reckoned a "bigamift, not only who has married two virgins, "but alfo he that hath married a widow, or a wom 66 man otherwise corrupted."

His conclufion breathes the true fpirit of ignorance, fuperftition, and blind zeal. In fummâ "-quicunque proprias voluptates, & luxuriæ ex"actionem, apoftoli verbis & patrum honeftis præ"ponit decretis, non tamen facerdotis aut ecclefi"aftico ftipendio cedere dignum putat, is non folum "tolerandus non eft, fed ad corvos abigendus, quò non ovis morbofa totum corrumpat 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

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apostle, 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 to be tolerated, but to be driven away to the "crows (we fhould 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 antient a custom.” 03 a fecond

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