be his wife; because he hath humbled her, be may not put her away all bis days? The first of thefe laws (as that of Lev. xx. 10.) was apparently to fecure the man against the treachery of the woman-the fecond (as Exod. xxii. 16.) to fecure the woman against the treachery of the man-and both to fecure the world from that confufion and mischief which must be brought upon it (and are daily brought upon it by our disregard of thefe laws) by the treachery of either.

As the woman had the bufinefs of parturition allotted to her, fhe muft neceffarily be looked upon as the repofitory of those bonds and cements of human fociety, without which it cannot * subsist ;

man.

fuch

in

* The rabbinical explanation of the word Exod. xx. 14. has fomething very ftriking in it. R. Levi faith, that "this word, abfolutely and "fimply, denotes congress with the wife of another Nor is it ufed but where a married woman "is concerned. The reafon of this precept is, "that the world fhould be peopled agreeably to the "will of God. The bleffed GOD willed, that all "creatures of the world fhould bring forth fruit "according to their refpective fpecies, and that one "fpecies fhould not be mixed nor confounded with "another. He willed that the fame fhould obtain "with respect to the human offspring, that it might "" appear whofe child every man was, and that the "feed of one fhould not be confounded with that of "" another.

fuch as family defcents, pedigrees, genealogies, inheritances, and all communications and diftinctions of relationship. Therefore the Creator did, in his infinite wisdom, fet bounds to the commerce of the fexes, on the part of the woman, which could not be paffed under pain of

death.

Whoredom and fornication are, for the fame reafons, alfo inimical to thofe bonds of human fociety above-mentioned, introductory of all manner of confufion and wickedness, inconfiftent with the law of marriage, and the probable causes of ruin and destruction to the female fex.-Therefore, as feduction and dereliction muft, in the very nature of things, lead to these, the pofitive law of God forbids any man to take a virgin, and then abandon her.

another. Moreover, many corruptions are found "in adultery, which occafion the breach of many "commandments. Gop commanded to honour pa"rents; but in cafe of adultery they cannot be

known. So we are forbidden any intercourse of "marriage with fifters, and other relatives; but "adultery tends to deftroy thefe laws; for, where "this is, men cannot know their own relations." Thus fpeak the Rabbins, agreeably to the scriptures, and matter of fact, therefore are worth attending to in this point. The reader muft furely fee, very evidently, reafons for the seventh commandment on the woman's fide, which cannot apply on the man's, and why adultery, or defiling a man's wife, was made fo penal to both parties concerned.

As

As to what has been faid touching the harmony of the Old and New Teftaments, and the perpetual obligation of the moral law as to its immutability, fo that what it once forbad it always forbids, and what it did not forbid can never be forbidden -it is a point of such infinite confequence, as to deserve a recapitulationand as I cannot fum up the matter in words more clear and forcible, than our church has done in her seventh article, I will conclude this chapter with that sound and fcriptural account of the matter:"The Old Teftament is not contrary

"to the New; for both in the Old "and New Teftament everlasting life " is offered to mankind by CHRIST, "who is the only mediator between "GOD and man. Wherefore they "are not to be heard, which feign "that the old fathers did only look "for temporary promises.

Although the law of GOD, given "from GOD by Mofes, as touching "ceremonies and rites, do not bind Christian men; nor the civil precepts thereof ought, of neceffity, "to be received into any commonwealth-yet, notwithstanding, no Chriftian man whatfoever is free "from the obedience of the com"mandments

66

"mandments which are called ma

"ral."

No one can confider aright the divine inftitution of marriage, and not fee that it is founded in the very nature of things, and that by the GOD of nature. This is as

felf-evident, as that if mankind were to increase and multiply, and replenish the earth, there must be an appointed means by which this was to brought to pass. Therefore the laws concerning marriage cannot be reckoned a mere object of those rites and ceremonies which were to vanish away. Heb. viii. 13.

Nor can they be reckoned among the objects of that civil polity, which was only calculated for the government of a particular people, in a particular part of the world, and that under particular circumstances, fuch as never were or can be known to any other people on the earthunless marriage itself can be supposed to be confined to them, and not equally to concern the whole human race.

The moral law hath therefore marriage as its object, as concerning, in the highest and most material points, the moral actions of men. This clearly appears, not only from the very nature of the thing itfelf, but from the very words of the feventh commandment-Thou shalt not com

mit

mit adultery; and again of the tenth-Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife. These are moral laws, equally binding at all times-in all places-over all perfons. And as the feventh commandment is a moral law founded on the divine inftitution of marriage itself, fo are all the expofitions of it which are to be found in the fcripture, unlefs we can be abfurd enough to imagine, that the letter of a law can be of a moral nature, and that the fenfe, meaning, and intendment of it are only of a ceremonial or civil tendency.

What is meant by the word 8-adultery, is not to be determined by the conceits, inventions, cuftoms, or laws of men, but by the mind and will of God, as revealed to us in the precepts and examples which are recorded in His word for our inftruction; and efpecially from the uniform and unvaried idea annexed to the use of that word throughout the writings of Mofes and the prophets. If thefe have failed in giving us the true fense of it, then is it not true that their writings are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction (exavoplwow-the amendment of what is wrong) for inftruction in righteoufnefs, fo that the man of GoD (i. e. the believer) might be perfect, thoroughly furnished (both as to knowledge

and