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a fecond time on the lofs of his wife, and unlawful alfo for any woman to marry again on the lofs of her husband. These ridiculous opinions owe their birth to the before-mentioned cause, of taking words by the found, instead of the fenfe-the ufual confequence of detaching fcripture from scripture, not comparing it with itfelf, by taking the whole together. By this, men may prove-quidlibet ex quolibet" what they pleafe from what they

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pleafe;"-and this is the fheet-anchor of error, as well as of many monstrous practices, and fo has been in all ages; they can be maintained no other way. whole doctrine of tranfubftantiation, abfurd as it is in all its parts, is held together by the found of Hoc eft corpus meum -This is my body.-The found of hæreticum devita, in a Latin verfion of Tit. iii. 10. has authorized the most barbarous murders of thousands, who have been burned alive by the inquifition, under the denomination of heretics. It has been made to fignify hæreticum de vitâ-an heretic from life; that is put him from life-kill him. Thus, by feparating the word devita, and turning the last two fyllables into the fubftantive vita, the prepofition de juft answered the purpose. A lefs tragical confequence of this method

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of interpretation is related by Erafmus. He tells of a friar preaching from thofe words of CHRIST, Luke xvii. 17. which stand in fome Latin verfions— Nonne decem facti funt * mundi-who began to prove there are ten worlds. An arch fellow ftanding by, ftopped his mouth with the following words-Sed ubi funt novem?-but where are the nine?

Dr. Hammond, in his note on 1 Tim. iii. 2. fays-"What is the meaning of μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἀνήρ—the bußband of one wife-both here and ver. 12, and Tit. “i. 6. and of έvòs dvdpòs yʊvù—the wife of

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one husband, chap. v. 9. will not easily "be refolved." But furely all difficulty vanishes, when the whole is taken together; and it is obferved from the original in what different tenfes the verbs γινομαι and u are used. This fhews that the apostle, 1 Tim. iii. 2, and Tit. i. 6. was defcribing the fituation of the men he was then speaking of, as what it then was -and in i Tim. v. 9. that of the widows, as to what it had been. 1 Tim. iii. 2. Δει ἦν, τὸν Ἐπίσκοπον ΕΙΝΑΙ μιᾶς γυναικὸς "Avdpa-A Bishop ought to BE (not to HAVE

*I would just acquaint the unlearned reader, that the fubftantive mundus fignifies a world-the adjective mundus fignifies clean.

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BEEN) the husband of one wife; and Tit. 1. 6. Εί τις ΕΣΤῚΝ μιᾶς γυναικός-if any BE (IS) the husband of one wife. "Es being of the prefent tenfe, can fignify only what a man is at the time Spoken of: whereas the expreffion concerning the women, 1 Tim. v. 9. is widely different. The woman is called Xpa, a widow; and it is obfervable, that the verb is not expreffed as before, either in the infinitive or indicative mood of "Eq, to be, but by the participle of the præteritum, or paft time, of the verb yivoual, to be or become. -It is yeyovula-which we have rightly rendered-having been-that is-in time paft having been or become the wife of one man-a widow, who never had been but once married; not-that had not had two bufbands at a time; fuch a thing was hardly ever heard of, as lawful, even amongst the heathens themselves.

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*Never among Jews, or even Turks, was it permitted that the woman fhould have more than one husband at once. Only among the barbarians there is mention of the Πολυανδροι, a people fo called, because the wife among them them had many husbands. So among the Medes, that dwelt in the mountains, it is faid a woman was married to five bufbands at once. See Hammond on 1 Tim. iii. 2. Montefquieu mentions the tribe of the Naires, on the coaft of Malabar, where the women have

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would therefore harmonize and paraphrase the whole as follows:-" Foraf"much as all things are to be done decently "and in order, (1 Cor. xiv. 40.) but this "cannot be, uplefs fome proper form of "government be established; it is neceffary that proper officers be ap

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pointed to adminifter that government. "Some who are to beἘπίσκοποι "overfeers of the whole; others Aidnovo, "Deacons, or inferior ferving minifters "under them. The firft order of men

are to overlook the clergy, as well as "the laity to preach the word-admi"nifter the facraments, and to have

power to cenfure evil doers, even as far "as excommunication, the church agreeing "thereto, 1 Cor. v. 4, 5. Such an "office should, doubtlefs, be filled with "men of irreproachable characters, and "of fuch conduct and difpofitions as "to be in all refpects blameless, not only "for the better maintenance of their

authority, but also for the influence of "their example. As fuch an office muft

many husbands. Sp. of Laws, vol. i. p. 374, octavo. But all this is as contrary to nature itself, as the cuftom of some of the Indian women's drowning their children in the Ganges, or expofing them to wild beasts to be devoured.

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"moreover require great attention, those "fhould be chofen, who are entangled "as little as poffible in the affairs of "this life, 2 Tim. ii. 4. Therefore, though for this reafon fingle men "might in general anfwer the purpose beft, (1 Cor. vii. 33.) yet it

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expedient, in fome inftances, to chuse "married men into the offices of Bishops "and Deacons. Where this is the cafe, "the election fhould not be made of "fuch of the Chriftians as have more "than one wife, as fuch a fituation must "neceffarily involve the perfon in more

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worldly care, than can be confiftent "with a due attention to that care, "which must come upon them daily, refpecting the church. Therefore, the having more than one wife fhould always be confidered as a bar to a man's election, either to the office of a BiShop or of a Deacon, (1 Tim. iii. 12.); "for though these last may not have fo "extenfive a jurifdiction, yet, what with preaching the word-aflifting the BiShops and elders-vifiting the fick-and diftributing the church's alms to the poor-one wife and family is as much 66 as can be at all confidered confiftent "with any tolerable diligence in the du "ties of a Deacon's office.

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