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the beginning, under which these people lived and died, without the least repentance, or any figns of it, as adulterers, fornicators, and whoremongers. That is the infallible* confequence of the common interpretation of this paffage; for CHRIST does not ground the authority of what He declares on any new law which he was introducing, but on an explanation of God's law from the beginning, revealed first to Adam, afterwards recorded by Mofes, that it might be tranfmitted to all fucceeding generations, as the one rule of faith and practice, for all those to whom God's word fhould come, to the end of the world. Neither with you only, faith Mofes to the people (then prefent at the re-publication of God's law, Deut. xxix. 14, 15.) do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him that ftandeth here with us this day, before the LORD our GOD, and also with him that is not (or those who are not) here with us this day, i. e. with all fucceeding generations, till time shall be no more.

4.

For fin is the tranfgreffion of the law. 1 John iii. All unrighteousness (i. e. all unconformity to the law) is fin. I John v. 17. The foul that finneth, it shall die. Ezek. xviii. 4. The wages of fin is death. Rom. vi. 23. Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Heb. xiii. 4. The weak arguments which have been made ufe of to excufe the fin of polygamy, as fome call it, in the patriarchs, and the Old-Teftament faints, will be fully confidered and expofed in this chapter. Therefore

Therefore CHRIST, fo far from altering, changing, or deftroying the law delivered from GOD by Mofes, enters a caveat against fuch a fuppofition (Matt. v. 17.) Think not that I am come to deftroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil : for verily I fay unto you, till heaven and earth pafs, one jot or one tittle fhall in no wife pass from the law, 'till all be fulfilled-ews av πάντα γένηται — until all things be done. Hammond. And again (Luke xvi. 17.) It is eafier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. This not only ftamps unchangeableness upon the law, but on its import, fenfe, and meaning, as one and the fame throughout all ages and generations, as an invariable rule of life for the members of God's vifible. church upon earth, even to the leaft jot or tittle.

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Notwithstanding, as this paffage of Matt. xix. is the chief ground on which that abfurd pofition is built, that " Polygamy, though allowed under the law, is forbidden under the gospel;" or, though permitted under the Old Testament, is forbidden under the New" (as if there could be a law in the New Testament contradictory to that in the Old Testament) it may be worth our while to confider the matter more minutely.

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The question put by the Pharifees,
Matt.

5

Matt. xix.

3. is not,

"whether it be law

"ful to marry two wives at a time, or to "take one to another ?" but-" Is it law

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ful for a man to PUT AWAY his wife for

every caufe?" The queftion concerns divorce, and divorce only. When we confider who it was that was to give the answer, we may be certain of its entire pertinence to the queftion. It follows (ver. 4, &c.) He anfwered and faid unto them, Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning, made them male and female, and faid, For this caufe fhall a man leave father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and they twain (i. e. the man and his wife) fhall be one flesh; wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put afunder.

With fo close, fo appofite, fo conclusive an answer, grounded on the old marriageinstitution, not on any new dispensation; they ought to have been fatisfied that divorce was unlawful. But they urge him farther, and (ver. 7.) faid unto him-Why did Mofes then command to give a writing of divorcement, and put her away? He faith unto them, Mofes, because of the hardness of your hearts, SUFFERED you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not fo (i. e. that men fhould put away their wives). And I fay unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication,

and

and fhall marry another, committeth adultery; and he who marrieth her which is put away, committeth adultery.

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This laft is the verfe which has made the difficulty; for if this were meant to condemn polygamy, it amounts, fo far, to a contradiction, or rather repeal, of the old law which permitted it; and then more than a jót or tittle has paffed from the law. If it means that it was always finful, and against the law of GOD, it condemns, as was before obferved, all that ever practised it, and falls heavy on fome of the greatest faints, that are recorded in fcripture as patterns of faith, holiness, and obedience.

This difficulty, like many others in the fcriptures, can only be folved, by attending to the peculiar circumftances of the perfons spoken to, and the particular occafion on which the words were spoken; for want of this, we are apt to interpret the fcriptures more by found than fenfe, and thus make them peak what they

never meant.

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The Jews, at the time of their difpute with CHRIST on the fubject of divorce, were fonder of tradition than of the fcriptures, and of the teachings of their rabbies, than of the law of GoD; infomuch that CHRIST charges them (Matt. xv. 9.) with VOL. I. teaching

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teaching for doctrines the commandments of men: and (Mark vii. 9, 13.) with rejecting and making the word of God of none effect, through their tradition. There were feverál famous rabbies, whom they highly reverenced, but particularly Shammab, Hillell, and Akiba.

*The school of Shammah taught, that a man could not be lawfully divorced from his wife, "unless he had found her guilty "of some action which was really infa

mous, and contrary to the rules of virtue." But the school of Hillell, who was Shammah's difciple, taught, on the contrary, that "the leaft reasons were fuffi"cient to authorize a man to put away "his wife. For example-if he did not

*See Cruden, under divorce.

+ Shammah and Hillell are fuppofed to have lived about an hundred years before the destruction of the fecond temple. Some fay they were cotemporaries with Herod the Great. See Ant. Univ. Hift. vol. x. P. 429, 469.

Of Akiba it is faid-Circa ea tempora vixit-" he lived about thofe times." Athan. Vinc.

Dr. Owen on the fcripture, p. 227, makes him armour-bearer to the Pfeudo-Meffias Barchochab, in the days of Adrian; when, in the pursuit of a defign to restore their temple and worship, the Jews fell into a rebellion against the Romans all the world over. This was about the year 135. From these different accounts, it seems probable that there was more than one perfon of the name of Akiba, or, as fome call him, Aquiba.

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