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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34208	Concubinage and poligamy disprov'd, or, The divine institution of marriage betwixt one man, and one woman only, asserted in answer to a book, writ by John Butler, B.D. for which he was presented as follows : We the grand jury, sworn to enquire for the body of the city of London, on Wednesday, the first day of December, 1697, present one John Butler, for writing and publishing a wicked pamphlet : wherein he maintains concubinage to be lawful, and which may prove very destructive to divers families, if not timely suppress'd.		1698 (1698)	Wing C5714; ESTC R1558	49,472	113

be true You must also know that the Imperial Laws condemn Poligamy Lib. 9. Tit. 9. Leg. 18. Eum qui habet duas Uxores comitatur Infamia i. e. He is counted infamous that hath two Wives Dioclesian made a Law likewise against having of two Wives Cod. Lib. 5. Tit. 5. Leg. 2 And the Christian Emperors Theodosius Arcadius and Honorius would not suffer the Jews that lived in the Roman Empire to have many Wives as may be seen by their Laws Cod. de judaei Leg. So unjustly have you appealed to the Practice of the Antient Christians either Magistrates or Ministers as Patrons of Concubinage You know likewise that St. Hierome condemns Lamech as the first Qui unam costam distraxit in duas who made two Ribs of one Nor can it be unknown to you that Clergy-men committing Adultery were for ever removed from their Ministery Distinct 81. C. 11 12. That the Ancyran Synod imposed Seven Years Pennance upon the Adulterer and that the Council of Neocaesarea Decreed that if a Minister's Wife fell into Adultery he should dismiss her or else leave his Ministry and by the Eliberine Council he was denied for ever the Communion of the Church if he did not dismiss her and that it was likewise Decreed that the Adulterer should not be suffer'd to Marry with the Adultress yet you own that you had just Cause to suspect your Wife and can prove several suspicious Tokens of h●r Vnfaithfulness p. 18. and yet never offer'd to put her away And she accuses you of committing Adultery with her Maid before she left you and yet you took your Maid into her Bed without any Application either to Church or State notwithstanding the depending Controversies betwixt you and your Wife These are suspicious Tokens of an Inordinate Love for which had you but made use of the first and second Remedies prescribed by the Heathens viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abstinence and Time you had been in no danger of the third Remedy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Halter though it had been better you should have had a Mill-stone hang'd about your Neck and been thrown into the middle of the Sea than to have given such Offence as you have done to the Church of God Nor can you be ignorant neither that many satisfying Answers have been given to your Arguments from the Polygamy of the Patriarchs and Jews As 1. That if there had been any Relaxation of the Law of Monogamy instituted by God in Paradice it would have been by a written Law and Express Scripture 2. That if this had been allowed for Procreation it had been most Necessary to be granted unto Adam in the beginning of the World and to Noah in reviving and re-peopling the World And 3. That Polygamy or marrying of many Wives rendered Solomon unfit for Procreation as is evident by his small Posterity And 4. That the Law of Monogamy being revived by Christ and his Apostles and brought back to the first Institution was to take place not for the Time past but for the Time to come as all other positive Laws of Natione do So that though Polygamy might be then tolerated as an Infirmily for a time in those which were newly converted yet it cannot be so now I shall add that if the first institution of Marriage between one Man an● one Woman at a time be once broken there 's no other Limitation to be found in the Scriptures whence it follows that if more be allowed then one a Man may have as many as he pleases So that it will be hard to bring it to a Medium Some perhaps will plead for King Charles II's Number as a Standard and others it may be will be satisfied with no fewer than Solomon and so our Nobility and Gentry if your Project take place should have Kennels of Concubines as now they have of Hounds And what Inconveniences this might occasion you may know by your own Incontinence those Poor Women must loose their Youth and Teeming time without any hopes of having Nature satisfied For being another Mans Property no body else must meddle with them and so they must either burn and languish or commit Whoredom nay perhaps bestiality Their own Stallion for Husband he is not must speedily be either enfeebled or neglect some or all of them as we find in Ahasuerus who did not call for his Beautiful and Beloved Esther in Thirty Days together And the rest of his Concubines were never brought to him except he delighted in any of them and call'd her by Name yet they were shut up and kept close by the Keeper of the Women So that here was a Great Number of Females rendred useless for Propagation besides the Tentations they were exposed to of being base with Eunuchs and their own nearest Relations Now Sir pray consider whether these and the other Reasons that you will meet with in this Book be not much more solid against Concubinage than any that you have advanc'd for it And if your Conscience be convinced be not ashamed to Retract what you have so unadvisedly writ upon this Head St. Augustine who was much a Learneder Divine and better Man than you can pretend to be did not think it unbecoming him to Recant his Errors and to take shame to himself for his Youthful Lusts but Yours can scarcely pass under that denomination who went into your Maids Bed after having Lived Forty Years with a Wife Your Loose Book hath done a World of Mischief in the Nation and therefore it concerns you as you would have the pardon of God and his Church for the same to make your Confession and Recantation as publick as your Crime Which that you may do is the worst that the Author of this Book wishes you Concubinage Disproved c. HAD a Pamphlet of this Nature been writ by an avowed Debauchee or a Play-house Beau it had been no matter of Surprize But to have any thing Printed in Defence of Concubinage by a Batchelor of Divinity and a Minister of the Church of England may Justly astonish us Such a thing might be accounted Natural in a Priest of the Church of Rome the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth but for a Minister of the Reformed Church to do so gross a thing is altogether unsufferable Time was when the Reverend Mr. Johnson was degraded by those that called themselves the Church of England because he maintained the Doctrine of Self-defence against Tyrants or others which is the Instinct of pure Nature There 's much more reason for the Governours of the Church to shew themselves as zealous now in censuring Mr. Butler for writing in defence of Concubinage which is one of the Effects of depraved Nature And this I think they are the more concern'd to do because in his Title-Page he endeavours to make way for his Doctrine by the Authority of his Character It is certain this Author can find nothing either in

been over-ruled by the Influence of Father Peters and others who then govern'd at Whitehall what hinder'd Mr. Butler from taking some of his Brethren of the Clergy or other Credible Witnesses with him Finally to exhort his Wife and to declare to her that if she did not return to her Duty he would look upon their Marriage as Dissolv'd and provide for himself accordingly If she had after all this continued Obstinate why might not Mr. Butler have taken his Maid with him and before his Brethren of the Ministry or some Justices of the Peace declar'd that his Wife had deserted him without any Lawful Cause and would not return to her Duty that he had applied to all the Ordinary Courts of Justice but could have no Remedy and therefore being under a Necessity either of burning or taking another Woman into his Bed he was resolv'd to live with his Maid as Man and Wife Had Mr. Butler done so and made it appear to the World that his Wife had no just Cause to desert him there are few Casuists so Rigid as to have condemn'd him either as a Concubinary or Adulterer every Body would have excus'd the want of due Formalities in such a Case and his Practice would have given no just Scandal to others no more than did that of the Marquis of Vicum which we shall have occasion to touch upon by and by Mr. Butler owns that his Marriage with his Wife was not altogether formal and yet he made no Scruple to take her to his Bed and therefore we have no Reason to think that he should have scrupled the doing of this as abovesaid had all things been fair and honest and if he had dreaded the anger of the Government he might have retir'd to Holland as he did afterward But instead of this if we may believe his Wife as quoted by himself p 18. she accuses him of saying That he had another Woman with Child for which she relinquish'd him and offers to prove his having said so These Circumstances are so scandalous that it plainly appears the Matter ought to have been Examined by Judges Competent but it would seem Mr. Butler and his Maid were in too much haste for that or indeed to stay in the Kingdom seeing they went over to Holland where she brought him forth a Daughter as he owns himself I come next to consider Mr. Butler's Arguments for Defence of his Practice 1. He quotes 1 Cor. 7. 15. where the Apostle says But if the unbelieving depart let him depart A brother or a sister is not in bondage in such Cases In this Case therefore says Mr. Butler a man 's own Conscience was a good Judge at least until contrary matters could be proved before ae Competent Judge and the Testimony of Holy Writ was a sufficient Law for Conscience to be guided by and this without the assistance of being backt by Authority in a Case where an Authoritative sentence could not be had as it was in St. Pauls time Wherein the Magistracy being altogether Paganish no such sentence was required as needful and as in the Marquess of Vicums Case wherein the supreme Authority being Popish he married again without such a sentence 'T is true indeed he had a Sentence by Authority from the Syndick of Geneva but that was as much as just nothing for first that Syndick had no Authority to summon his Wife to appear at their Court she being not under their Jurisdiction and secondly being a lay Power set up of their own accord without Power from God or his Word had not so much Power as the Conscience of the Marquess himself To this I Answer 1. That Mr. Butlers Case and that put by the Apostle are not alike the Apostle speaks of an Unbelievers deserting a Believer out of an hatred to Religion but Mr. Butlers Wife was of the same Religion with himself so that he ought to have been backt with the Authority of the Church whereof they were both Members before he had gone into his Maids Bed This is the Opinion of Calvin and Sclaterus upon the place who say Lex Christi de Christianae disciplinae Consortibus agit quos propius Vinculum connectit apud quos si quod aberratum est facilis est sanatio per Ecclesiae Authoritatem i. e. The Law of Christ speaks of those who are partakers of the Christian Discipline and own'd by a nearer Tie and who if they commit any Error the cure is easy by the Authority of the Church but we don't find that Mr. Butler sought any such Remedy but supinely neglected it under a pretence it could not be had 2. Mr. Butlers Case differs also in this That we had Christian Magistrates to whom he might have appeal'd in this Case which it does not appear he did Nor will it follow that because the Apostle says the Believer was at Liberty in Case of the unbelievers deserting that therefore they were at liberty to take another into their Bed without acquainting both the Church and the Magistrate with it It was a General Rule to all Christians to give no Offence neither to Jew nor Gentile nor to the Church of God and therefore it is not supposeable that Christians were referred to the dictates of their own Private Conscience in the Case of Marriage after desertion tho they might rest secure and without any further trouble upon the Testimony of a good Conscience as to the cause of desertion viz. That it was from an hatred to their Religion but Mr. Butler knows that his Wife accuses him of another Cause Viz. The defiling of her Bed Then as to the Marquis of Vicums Case it is also quite different every one that knows the Story of the Famous Galeacius Caracciolus knows that he fled out of Italy upon the Account of his Religion that his Lady would neither follow him nor admit him to her Bed when by the Intercession of his Great Friends he procur'd leave to return for a time her Priests having prevail'd with her to the contrary so that he was forced to return without her and lived several Years unmarried and unblameable at Geneva without getting into any Womans Bed in little more than a Years time and at last by the consent not only of the Church of Geneva but of other Protestant Churches and the approbation of the Supreme Government where he lived he married a Godly Woman not in a private manner but in the View of the World for it 's only the deeds of darkness that are afraid of the Light As to Mr. Butlers falling foul upon the Government of Geneva as having no Power from God and his Word he only discovers that he is as bad a Politician as a Divine and a Casuist of no Value That little Common-wealth had always since any thing was known of the History of those Parts a Supreme Government of her own sometimes by a Count and sometimes under the Protection of the Emperor and when the Empire was

Distracted by Intestine Wars she had Recourse to her own Bishops who were at that time Powerful and their Bishops being embroil'd afterwards with the Counts of Savoy she was forc'd to struggle with the succeeding Dukes of Savoy for her liberty and by Allying her self with some of the Swiss Cantons brought the said Dukes to Renounce their Pretensions and at last by the Reformation got Rid of the Yoke of her Bishops who oppos'd it since which time the Soveraign Authority remains in her Magistrates and Senate so that Mr. Butlers Reflection upon that Government as wanting Power to Authorize the Marriage of the Marquis of Vicum then their Subject savours as much of the exploded Doctrine of Non-resistance as his getting into his Maid's Bed savours of Incontinence and therefore what the Marquis of Vicum did in a Publick Manner with the Consent of all the Protestant Churches in those Parts and by the Authority of that which was and is the Supreme Government where he liv'd is no Defence for Mr. Butler's Practice without the Knowledge or Consent of Church or State or taking the Advice of his Brethren the Clergy of his Diocess It is also to be observ'd that Mr. Butler discovers a very low Opinion of the Church whereof he pretends to be a Minister when he thought they would not have done him Justice or at least declared that he had Justice on his side had his Case appear'd so clear to them as he alledges it is but it 's rather to be suppos'd that he distrusted his Cause and therefore durst not Appeal to them I come next to consider his Quotations from Divines c. which may serve to amuse one at first View but can never justifie him in the Thoughts of a Judicious Reader they being all of them wrested or nothing to his Purpose or else directly against him The first he quotes is Diodati on 1 Cor. 7. 15. but that Author is against him sor he speaks of a convenient time allow'd and all possible and reasonable Remedies used to reduce the Unbelieving Deserter before the Marriage can be dissolved but Mrs. Butler was no Unbeliever nor did Mr. Butler use all possible and reasonable Remedies to reduce her neither is the Case of her Desertion uncontrovertible she alledges that she has Divorced her self because of Mr. Butler's Adultery The next is Wollebius Compend Theolog. Cap. 11. Fol. 245. who only Says that Adultery and malicious Desertion make a Divorce but not one word of the Deserted Persons taking another Woman without proving the Desertion or asking the Consent of Church and State The third is Amandus Polanus de Divortio for which he assigns only two Causes Viz. Adultery and Unjust Desertion but Mrs. Butler says she had just Cause The last part of this Quotation is directly against Mr. Butler viz. Sed si persona accusans honeste vixit petit ferri sententiam pronuncietur hoc modo cum persona quae deliquit suo Scelere dissolverit Conjugium Jude● Authoritate Evangelii personam Innocentem Pronunciat esse Liberam i. e. But if the Complainant or Accuser have liv'd honestly and demands Jugdment let it be pronounced in this manner seeing the offending Person hath dissolv'd the Marriage by her own Crime the Judge by the Authority of the Gospel pronounces the Innocent Person to be free and expresly grants him Liberty piously to Contract another Marriage according to his own Conscience Now it 's plain that Mr. Butler is accus'd by his Wife of living dishonestly so that this Matter ought to have been clear'd before the Judge could pronounce any such Sentence In the next place it is plain that Amandus Polanus is of Opinion That such a thing ought to be Judicially done and in open Court whereas there was no such Judgment demanded nor Process made by Mr. Butler so that here 's his own Evidence turn'd upon him His Quotations from Musculus upon the 5th of Matthew where he assigns Adultery and Desertion as the Causes of Divorce are nothing to his Purpose he does not say that the Matter ought not to be legally determin'd or that the deserted Person may Marry again without such Determination The passage of Ambrose on 1 Cor. 7. 5. is to the same purpose and favours him not one whit The like that of Bucanus Institut Theologiae Nor is he any thing more favour'd by that Author Locus 13. Sect. 29. where he says in answer to the Question Quid si Magistratus officium Negligat What if the Magistrate neglect his Duty Valeat preceptum Apostolicum ad Titum 3. 10. Hereticum hominem Ergo Atheum Apostatum Blasphemum post una● Alteram correctionem devita That is let the Apostles command to Titus take place Cap. 5. 10. A Man that is an Heretick Apostate or Atheist after the first and second Admonition reject or avoid which Mr. Butler wickedly and falsly translates That if the Magistrate neglect his Office the Innocent Party is free to Marry an Innocent Woman without his Sentence whereas Bucanus says only That the Believer may as freely reject the deserting Vnbeliever in such a Case as a Chrian ought to do an Heretick but suppose it were otherwise he is still against Mr. Butler in that he supposes Application ought to be made to the Magistrate who cannot properly be said to neglect what is never brought before him as it is evident Mr. Butler never did for his Wife and not he is the Complainant His other Quotations are all to the same Purpose not one of them speaks one word of allowing the Deserted Person to marry again without Application made to a Competent Judge which were indeed to subvert all Order and Government for tho the Case be plain by the Law of God and Man that a Murderer ought to be put to Death and That an Adulterer may be divorced and the Innocent Party lawfully marry again yet no Man in his right Wit did ever allow that a private Man on his own Authority should put a Murderer to Death or Divorce his Wife and marry another for all the Laws of God and Men tho never so positive require a Legal and Publick Execution and due Enquiry into the Matter of Fact so that what Mr. Butler advances p. 17. That because the Text saith If she will depart let her go there needs no sentence of the Magistrate in the Case will conclude as much against the need of the Magistrates sentence in Case of Murder because the Text says Whosoever sheds Mans blood by Man shall his blood be shed And the like in all other Crimes Otherwise according to this Principle every Man may be Judge Jury and Executioner in his own Case which would immediately destroy all Humane Society such are the profound Politicks of our Concubinary Casuist being directly contrary to the procedure of the Almighty himself who tho our first Parents were convicted by his Omniscience and their our Conscience yet He did not proceed to sentence

by the Omnipotence of God without any possible Concurrence of humane Corruption and the practice of Concubinage Really Sir this Notion appears to me so very foul and horrid that I think there can be no better Advice given to you than that which the Apostle gave to Simon Magus Acts 8. 22. Repent therefore of this thy Wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thy Heart may be forgiven thee Had you taken heed unto your self and to your Doctrine according to the Apostle's Advice to Timothy you would never have been guilty of such a Practice nor have advanced any such Principles In the next place Sir let me ask you What was it you saw in Concubinage or what mighty Profit have you reap'd thereby your self that you do with so much Zeal recommend it to others Had you but look't into History either Sacred or Profane you would have found that the Natural Effects of it were the breach of the Peace of Families Quarrels Murders and all manner of Vncleanness It had its rise from Cains Family and you know that he was of that wicked one Murder and Whoredom had both of ●●em their Original from the same vile Parent and Vncleanness and Hatred of true Religion have always since gone hand in hand as you may see abundantly proved in the Book call'd Gods Judgment against Whoring As to your own Family You own that the Children of your first Marriage are Rebellious and Disobedient that they have offered Violence to your own Person and continue to oppress and slander you that your first Wife hath deserted you as you say because you disinherited her Eldest Son a Papist and as she says because you had got your Maid with child before-hand and you add that she and her Sons have unjustly possess'd themselves of your Inheritance These and such as these are the Blessed effects of your own Concubinage and yet you are so good Natur'd as to recommend it to others Let 's suppose now your children by Mary Tomkins come also to years of Maturity will not they have the same Rancour against Martha Perkins and her Children as she and hers have against them Will not both Broods be enrag'd to find their respective Mothers treated as an Harlot and is not this the Natural Result of your Concubinage Then as to the Opinion that the World entertains of you It cannot be suppos'd to be very favourable The worst of Men abominate a Leud Clergy-man and you own your self that you are Accounted such an one and let me tell you that your Defence will be far from healing your Reputation there 's no way left you for that but to confess and forsake You will not find that Men of Sense and Probity will take your Arguments as unanswerable and tho some of your Brethren you say have giv'n no reply to what you return'd as an Answer to their Reproof all others will not therefore think themselves obliged to keep silent The Cause concerns the welfare of our Souls and Bodys Posterities and Families too much to let you pass without a Publick Answer tho hitherto you have escap'd any Publick Censure more than the Presentment of the Grand Jury The Author of this Reply has no Personal Acquaintance with you nor pick against you and if in some Places you find that he hath treated you sharply it 's no more than what he thought the Cause requir'd It seem'd indeed a sort of a Paradox to him that a Man should pretend to so much Conscience of keeping an Oath to a Temporal Prince from which his Abdication and the Causes of it absolv'd him in the Opinion both of Church and State and yet make no scruple of breaking his Marriage Vow to God and his Wife by taking another into he● Bed before his Cause was heard and much less determin'd That he himself should take upon him to be Judge in his own Cause and yet not allow the Supreme Power of the Nation to be Judge in theirs against a Prince whom he owns to have Acted Tyrannically by erecting an High Commission Court to supersede the Proceedings of all others and to Act in favour of Persons Popishly Inclin'd That Mr. Butler should allow Desertion in his own Wife to be a sufficient Cause of Divorce and of Marrying another and yet scruple to own that Tyranny and Desertion are not sufficient to dissolve the Contract betwixt King and People and to justify their setting another upon the Throne Says that he is a very partial Casuist and gives the Reader very much cause to suspect his sincerity In the next place let me ask you what mighty blessings they are which the Turks reap from their Poligamy You cannot pretend that it hath encreased their Off-spring and made them Populous For daily experience teaches us that their Numbers are now very much exhausted which is the Natural consequence of Poligamy at last tho it may prove otherwise for an Age or two at first The reasons of this are obvious For 1. Too much Venery consumes a Mans Bones and Flesh and the Issue of such Consumptive and Incontinent Parents will in time enfeeble the whole Nation 2. A Mans making use of more Wives than one at a time occasions the Women to think that they ought to have the same Liberty How many unhappy Instances does our own Nation afford of this that the Mans going astray hath made the Woman take that same Course which all Men own to be destructive to Propagation and must in time diminish the Number of People 3. When a Man hath such a Numerous Family as he cannot sufficiently provide for then all of them come to be neglected and to want the necessary conveniencies of Life which shortens their Days and Breeds Nasty and Contagious Distempers amongst them as is evident from the frequent Plagues amongst the Turks whereof this is assign'd as one Principal Cause and its apparent enough amongst the children of common Beggars and the Poorest Sort many of whom Perish by Nasty Diseases which renders them Loathsome to the Eyes and Noses of those that walk the Streets And if Poligamy were allow'd in this Nation according to your Proposal we should quickly find that our greatest Estates would be much too small to maintain the numerous Offspring of Persons of Quality according to their Birth so that they must quickly be reduced to Misery and the Original Families suddenly perish For the Children of one Wife would think they had as good right to be provided for out of their Father's Estates as those of another Which if they were it would speedily dismember the largest Patrimonies that any of our Nobility enjoy and if they were not it would occasion endless Quarrels and Murders betwixt Brethren and Sisters If you had but looked into our antient History and consider'd what a Miserable Bruitish and Defenceless People our Ancestors were at the time of the Roman Invasion when Poligamy was allowed amongst them you would quickly find what I say to