FOUR TRACTS I. A Short Discourse about Divorce and its Causes Fornication and Adultery II. A Charge to Judges Juries and Witnesses concerning Oaths III. About Infant Baptism IV. A Letter to a Lady who hath forsaken â—he Protestant Religion for the Romish By J. Gailhard Gent. Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any People Prov. 14.34 Let none of you imagine evil in your Hearts against his Neighbour and love no false Oath for all these are things that I hate saith the Lord Zechar. 8.17 Wherever I am and whatsoever I do it seems to me as if I heard the voice of the Archangel saying rise ye dead and come to Judgment Bernard Inest sua gratia parvis LONDON Printed for D. Brown at the Black Swan and Bible without Temple-Bar and R. Smith at the Angel and Bible near the May-Pole in the Strand 1699. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THE following Discourses having amidst my most serious Thoughts been Penned at several times and upon different occasions and in this present Conjuncture being like to be useful as 't is every one's duty in his Station to lend a helping hand to pull down that Babel of erroneous Doctrines and of sinful Practises which the Author of Confusion is Building very fast I think it not amiss now to Publish them The First and Second contain Matters of Fact the Third of Faith and the Fourth both of Faith and Fact and as the things therein spoken against do arise out of an evil Principle so they tend to a bad end therefore the more to he minded and opposed As Gods Word speaks of Doctrines so it doth of Works of Devils and thâ— all of them be bad enough and to be avoided yet therein are divers kinds and degrees of evil for tho' every sin be offensive to God yet 't is not equally destructive of Human Society Any one who in a sober Sense will mind it not simply as a Christian but also as a Man not only according to the Dictates of a good Conscience but also in Conformity to Reason Human Wisdom and Interest shall find the two former things I write against to have been and still to be as fatal and pernicious to Mankind as any other Transgression whatsoever of Divine and Human Laws nor ever have they been more Epidemical in the Nation than now they are Therefore never a greater need than now to punish and suppress them or else if not timely prevented we daily more and more shall feel the mischievous inconveniencies and dangerous Consequences thereof No true Servant of God but in seeing and hearing will vex his Soul from day to day with the unlawful deeds of Men of some for committing Sins of others for refusing to restrain and punish them they not only will do no good but also hinder others from it because they think it will reach them and their own corrupt inclinations hate to be crossed and curb'd Some who might do better in their Station instead of promoting Piety Virtue and Honour as 't is their duty do with all their craft and strength oppose it and thereby proclaim themselves to the World to be vicious and thorough-pac'd Debauchees would ridicule all Sobriety and Temperance and contrary even to worldly Wisdom which saith Si non castè tamen cautè do not so much as care to avoid the appearances or save their credit in the World but glory in their own shame In my opinion it is a stupendious hardness in their vicious courses for tho' sin would leave them yet they are unwilling to part with it the older they grow the worse they are their Natural strength fails them yet their Lust is not mortified and upon all occasions are Enemies to Virtue and by their Discourses and Example influence the younger sort in an Age that can produce but few Josephs if any at all The generality of Youth giddily and headlong running into sin and destruction of several kinds who are glad of any pretences to justify their Practices by and from those that have more age and experience tho' not more Grace than themselves But of two sorts of Sinners young and old I take the last to be the worse of the two 'T is no more strange than true that they are worse than the Prodigal Son who upon consideration at last and before it was too late came to himself for all the while before he had been out of his Wits as is every Sinner that continues in his evil way Nay they are worse than Creatures void of Reason then some Fowls of the Air (a) Jer. 8.7 for the Stork the Turtle the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but this People knoweth not the Judgement of the Lord. They are a shame to the Nation a Scandal to our Holy Religion and through their unchristian actings and vicious courses cause Gods Enemies to Blaspheme Because they hate to be Reformed themselves they do what they can to hinder others from being Reformed which makes me afraid we are here ripe for Judgment we had a War with a Witness yet after it are as bad as before and now tho' Provisions be not scarce yet we are in a kind of Dearth for they are unreasonably dear may God be pleased to keep it from ending into a Famine which frequent unseasonable Weather gives us just cause to fear or for the same cause from being turn'd into a Plague which God in his just Judgment may send upon us because thorough Repentance suppression of Vice and Immorality we will not return to him tho' he hath called us to 't for when a Land can bear no longer the wickedness of her Inhabitants the Lord thorough War Plague and Famine as thorough so many sluces doth ease it of that burthen and thereby hurries out of this World Man Woman and Child None so desperately wicked but with Balaam would dye well yet there is but one way to 't that is to live well do good within his Sphere to punish and restrain Evil and not countenance and support it as too many directly or indirectly do but what will be the end of this certainly such a bitter Root can produce no other than bitter Fruits but whilst those Men of the World will not obey God's Preceptive those who fear him must submit to his Providential Will. As at this time the Nation labours under the Guilt of Adultery and Perjury so it doth too much under that of Idolatry and Blasphemy Our Church together with all other Protestant ones hath sufficiently made good the charge of Idolatry upon the Romish which we find a sad and frequent Experience of in those Members of hers we have here among us as for Blasphemy it walks bare-fac'd and hath two sorts of Followers one of abominable Monsters lately broke loose against the Son of God whom they after the wicked in the 50th Psalm are not content to think but do say he is altogether such a one as themselves and
after the manner of Adulteresses How so I will bring up a Company upon them and will give them to be Removed and Spoiled and the Company shall Stone them with Stones and dispatch them with Swords they shall slay their Sons and their Daughters and burn up their Houses with Fire When that Sin is not Punished with private Judgment at last God doth it with publick The Concealers the Denyers of Justice become Accessory and this bringeth publick Judgments upon Cities and whole Kingdoms And Thus saith God will I cause Lewdness to cease out of the Land that all Women may be taught not to do after your Lewdness The Lord not only maketh Adulteresses Examples of his Judgments but also makes them Examples to others as a Buoy to take Warning by When God hath been as it seemed only looking upon for a while then he sitteth upon the Judgment-seat and judgeth (m) ch 16.38 I will judge thee as Women that break Wedlock As indeed Punishment is ty'd to the Tail of Sin when un-repented (n) Rev. 2 20 21 22. I gave her Jezabel space to repent of her Fornication and she repented not behold I will cast her into a Bed and them that commit Adultery with her into great Tribulation But to return close to our Point and which is our main Design to ground it upon the Truth of God's Word which we lay our chief stress upon Before I conclude I desire the Reader to remember what our blessed Saviour the great and supream Judge said upon the matter and to make him take the more notice of it in few words I shall make a kind of Recapitulation of the Substance of it out of which it doth clearly appear that in this point of Divorce Two things occur to be Discussed which our blessed Lord doth by his Authority decide in the two places of Matthew's Gospel already Quoted in the first Occasionally when he purges of and refutes several false Glosses which the Scribes and Pharisees had put upon the Law but in the last he speaks to 't as being the matter in hand and directly to answer the Question put to him Whether for every Cause a Man might lawfully Divorce his Wife Which he denyed and gave reason for it out of Gen. 1 27. and 2.24 But because as the Evangelist Observes they came unto him Tempting him and this design was if possible to make him Contradict Moses (o) John ◠as at another time they would have done in the Case of the Woman taken in Adultery that they might have something wherewith to Accuse him here to Intangle him they brought in Moses's Authority who had commanded to give a Writing of Divorcement but of it he gave a Reason namely their Hardness of Heart whereat they could not be pleased And in the following Verse he Magisterially and by his Legislative Authority thus Decided it But I say c. These Words to be compared with those of Chap 5. which are Parallel and about the same Subject as quoted before and both do plainly affirm the self same thing which hath two parts the first about Divorce the Second about Marrying again after it As to the First there are Two Things one Expressed the other Implyed and this last as well as the first coutained in the Text Our Saviour affirm that no man may Divorce his Wife for every Cause vain and trivial as the Jews used to do but at the same time he declares there is one Cause and only that which he names Fornication for which a Man may lawfully put away his Wife For when he denies that any man may Divorce his Wife except for the Cause of Fornication at the same time he implieth that Fornication is a lawful Cause to put her away and every Divorce Grounded upon that Cause and none else Is Lawful or else why should he make that Exception If his Intention had been to Teach that there is no just cause in the World for a Husband to Divorce his Wife he would absolutely have spoken it thus for no Cause whatsoever and not have assigned one with an Exception Saving for the Cause of Fornication he must be Blind who cannot or Obstinate that will not see this Truth out of both these places But they both do also afford another Truth as a just and right Consequence of the former if the Divorce be unlawful then a second Marriage is unlawful which by the Rules of Contraries implies that if the Divorce be Lawful then a Second Marriage is also lawful so any man who hath put away his Wife for the cause of Fornication may marry another for there is no middle either make the Divorce Unlawful and the second Marriage Unlawful or the Divorce Lawful and a second Marriage so These two things are so depending one upon another and so much the Consequence one of another that we see our Saviour doth injoyn them together that having spoken of the Divorce he presently and immediately mentions a Marriage of both Parties in the 5th chapt of the Woman and in the 19th of both Man and Woman 'T is said Whosoever shall put away his Wife saving for the Cause of Fornication causeth her to commit Adultery How doth he cause her to commit Adultery Because she Marrieth another if she would continue Single there would be no Adultery committed but she marrying another Husband and the Marriage with the first holding still and not being dissolved because Fornication which is the true Cause of Divorce did not intervene then such Marriages are meer Adulteries So then the Husband who hath unlawfully Divorced his Wife if he marrieth another committeth Adultery and the Wife that is thus unlawfully Divorced if she marrieth another Husband doth also commit Adultery but neither Husband nor Wife if lawfully Divorced though he marries another Wife and she another Husband do commit Adultery as observed before by the Rule of Contraries A second Marriage is an Effect of a Divorce so if the Cause be Good and Lawful or Unjust and Unlawful the Effect must be such It is well known how by the Jewish Law and Custom a Woman Divorced might and did marry another and our Saviour finds no Fault with this nor with marrying again but with their Divorce without just Ground and Cause for if they were lawfully Divorced they might Marry again For as observed before Marriage is the Remedy which God hath appointed against Incontinency so that those who are lawfully Divorced if they have not the Gift of Chastity as the Apostle saith to avoid Fornication must Marry 1 Cor. 7. What must a Man do after he hath put away his Wife and she after she hath been put away and they cannot Contain must he turn an Whore-monger and she an Harlot How can this be justified after a lawful Divorce With Paul I may say (p) Heb. 13.4 Marriage is Honourable with all but Whore-mongers and Adulterers God will Judge Heb. 13.4 In his due time thô often (q)
most impiously would make the Holy One to have given Example for their execrable wickedness and O wonder such Wretches meet with favour and support The other kind of Blasphemers are those which like the Soldiers who to make our Lord a Mock-King platted a Crown of Thorns and put it upon his Head and put on him a Purple Robe and in derision said hail King of the Jews so these with giving him the name of God but a secondary dependent and created one if without Blasphemy I may so say make of him a Mock-God the Soldiers after his death took his Garments from him but now after his Ascension and sitting at his Fathers Right Hand these would strip him of his Divinity and of that Infinite Majesty of his own which he is cloathed with and if one soberly tells them of this unwarrantable and sacrilegious Attempt of theirs he for his pains is called Furious Mad Frentick c. against which rash Censure and unchristian Judgment our Saviour bath pronounced a Sentence Whosoever shall say to his Brother Raca shall be in danger of the Councel but whosoever shall say thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell Fire but all such Men we leave to the great Judge who one day will call them to an Account for these not meerly Idle but Evil words at that day when the Cause shall not be between Man and Man but between God and Man for all they have said and done A SHORT DISCOURSE ABOUT DIVORCE SINCE the time of the Reformation and may be before the Sin of Uncleanness was never so bold and presumptuous in this Kingdom as after the Restoration Before there was something of Modesty in some of those who Committed it Shame which from the time of our first Parents Trangression became a constant Attender on Sin was not yet altogether parted from it many â—ike (a) Gene 3.10 Adam who hid himself after it did seek dark Corners to satisfy their Lust which is a Work of Darkness by St. Paul expressed under the name of (b) Rom. 13.12 13. Chambering and Wantonness to be cast off But after that King was come back this Sin appeared with a bare Face did Ride on Triumphantly for Rewards were bestowed upon those who had committed it Encouragement given to do 't and to be Accessory in helping others therewith to Defile themselves the Example of Great Men Encouraged it so that it became Epidemical was by both Sexes contracted into an Habit and accounted a modish piece of Galantry People (c) Ephes 4.19 being past feeling began to (d) Philip. 3.19 glory in their Shame and were thought to be Commendable for the Practice of it Thus was the Generality of the Nation over-flown with this mighty Stream and as it were in a way to out-face God to tread Virtue and Chastity under Feet and renew the Times of (e) 2 Sam. 12.12 laying with other mens Wives in the face of the Sun And since the Time we named that filthy Sin is so far Spread and hath taken so deep Roots that as the Prophet saith (f) Jer. 5.8 Every one is neighing after his Neighbour's Wife and London is become such as Jerusalem and Samaria are Described by the Prophet g Eze. 16. the whole chapt and the Whoredoms of some Women no less conspicuous then those of (h) chap. 23. Aholah and Aholibah which the same Prophet speaks of more at large And thô the number of such be much multiplied yet some make themselves more Notorious than others and they are grown the bolder because no Effectual Course is taken to Curb them a Toleration and Indulgence having made them more Brazen-faced Impunity being an Encouragement to commit Crimes which those who are in Authority whose Duty and in whose Power it is to Restrain it become Accessory to and Guilty of and are to Answer to God as they should to men for the ill Effects and Consequences arising therefrom Magistrates cannot pretend Ignorance of this either as to matter of Right or of Fact As Englishmen they must take notice of the Laws and cause them to be put in Execution but as Christians they know or ought to know how often and in what Stile the Word of God both in the Old and New Testaments speaks of it which they are concerned to mind and not to wink at and 't will not be amiss for me here in part to mention it i Ex. 20.14 Thou shalt not commit Adultery is as express a Commandment as any in the Word and one of the Ten whereof the breakers do incur the Curse of the Law Two Things we ought to take Notice of First That when the Law of God forbids a Sin all of the same kind are also forbidden as in this not only Adultery but also Fornication Incest c. Secondly The Negative or Forbidding Precepts are of a larger Extent than the Positive these bind semper non ad semper but the Negative oblige always and at all times As for Instance I am Commanded to Love my Neighbour and to (k) Gal. 6.10 do him Good that is as far as I am Able and when there is Occasion and Opportunity for I may happen to have no Means to Relieve a man in Want at another time he shall want no Relief but at no time and upon no Occasion whatsoever I am bound to do him no Wrong nor Injury So upon no time nor occasion whatsoever I must not allow my self in Thoughts Words or Deeds for the Law requires an Inward as well as Outward Obedience to Defile my self or attempt upon the Honour and Chastity of my Neighbour And God the more to make us mindful to avoid the foul Sin of Adultery is not Satisfied to Forbid it in the Seventh Commandment but doth repeat it in the Tenth Thou shalt not Covet thy Neighbour's Wife The Seventh Precept was full Enough but in the Tenth over and above God expresly Forbiddeth the inward Desire Lust and Concupiscence and every inward motion in the Soul contrary to Chastity Thus God who is a pure and a holy God hath Commanded us in all manner of Conversation to (l) 1 Pet. 1.15 16. be Holy as He is Holy Now that Whoredom and Adultery must needs be Abominable Sins it appears because God compares Idolatry to 't and Idolatry is to us represented under the Names of Whoredom and Adultery Scripture doth Thunder terrible Curses against this Sin they who are guilty of it are excluded from Heaven and from entering in through the Gates into new Jerusalem (m) Rev. 22.14 15. for without are Dogs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers c. who are threatned of a Judgment which imports Condemnation (n) Heb. 13.4 but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will Judge and because often men are apt to Flatter themselves with Hopes of avoiding that Judgment the Apostle saith (o) 1 Cor. 6.9 10. be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate c.
morum est Culpa non Criminum c. etiam post biennium ducturus Vxorem Which seems hard Let it be taken notice of how Adultery is a just Cause of Divorce in the Wife but not in the Husband In the same Code 't is said Quamvis Adulterij crimen inter publica referatur quorum delatio in communi omnibus sine aliqua Legis interpretatione conceditur Tom. 3. Lib. 9. T it 7. ad leg Juliam de Adulteris ad Evagrium fol. 57. c. This Crime of Adultery was so Odious that any one might be an Accuser but much more is the Husband concerned for in the said Law it is added Imprimis maritum genialis thori vindicem esse oportet cui quidem ex suspicione ream Conjugem facere nec intra certa tempora Inscriptionis vinculi contineri veteres retro Principes annuerunt Here by this Law a Husband must first Vindicate and Avenge the Honour of his Bed And former Princes allowed him to accuse his Wife upon Suspicion without Prescription of Time and tho she proved Innocent there was nothing of Punishment inflicted upon the Husband 't is wished here was in Case of Adultery no prescription of Time as there is for can any rational man say That a Woman upon Oath of two or three Evidences Convicted of Adultery to be less or no Adulteress because she is proved so a Year or two beyond the time of Prescription Is not a Murtherer a Murtherer indeed and as such to be Punished because he is Tryed and Convicted 10 or 20 Yeers after the Murther was Committed 'T is not a longer or a shorter time that can make that not to be a Crime which is a Crime indeed In my poor Judgment I must say any Human Law which presumes to Dispense with God's is very Unreasonable God hath said Thou shalt not commit Adultery absolutely without any Restriction so that to commit it is with every Person at all times and in all places without Distinction a Breach of the Law and a Sin and every Sin deserveth Punishment Again the Romans were so strict and severe or rather just that if a Woman had had her Servants Company she was put to Death and he Burned as â—t appears by the Law (h) Tit. 9. Si qua cum servo rem hahere detegitur capitali sententia subjugatur tradendo igâ—ibus verberone With them amongst several other Causes of Divorce were the following If the Husband can prove his Wife to be desirous of Feasting with Strangers he not knowing or not willing if The lays out one Night against his will or without just cause and if she doth frequent Plays or publick Shews the Husband forbidding it also for Adultery which none that hath any regard to God's Law can deny to be a just Cause of Divorce in which case Christian Emperours favoured much the Husband For if a man had wrongfully Divorced his Wife they â—aid no other Punishment upon him than that he should give back her Portion or that called Donatio propter Nuptias or Dowry or if there were none of these the Fourth part of his Goods Thus the Emperour M. Aurelius answered those who advised him to put away his Wife Faustina a very Debauched woman If I put her away then I must give back her Portion that is the Empire So he kept one for the sake of the other He tho otherwise a VVise man had not the Spirit of Julius Cesar who as I said before gave no other Reason for Divorcing his VVife than this My House must be as free from Suspicion as from Guilt Indeed the Honour and Prosperity of Families doth sometimes so much depend upon the Good Behaviour or Miscarriage of a Wife that no Husband may be Blamed for looking narrowly into it and upon this Consideration Antient Laws allowed Husband 's such a Latitude in those matters tho some were apt enough to abuse it wherefore Christian Laws have fixed narrower Bounds The Cause of Adultery Justinian in his (a) Lib. V. in Authent 22. ad con 117. Cod Lib. 5. tit 17. leg consensu fol. 162. Code from the beginning of his Fifth Book thorough Twenty-four Titles and in his Authentick 22. and some others in Constit but especially God 'T is thus Sicut enim sine justà causà dissolvi Matrimonium justo limite prohibemus ita adversà necessiâ—â—te pressum vel pressam quamvis infausto attamen necessario auxilio cupimus liberari For as we forbid to Dissolve Matrimony otherwise than upon just Causes so upon urging Necessity we desire to afford the wronged Party a necessary though unhappy Help and Relief and one of the Causes for the Man is always Adultery b Authent ut lic Mat. aviae causas Col. 8. Tit. ult nec ullo modo expellant nisi Adulteram Let him not turn her away except in the case of Adultery universally owned to be a Just Cause Elsewhere many other things to this purpose are to be seen All this we quote not that these Authorities be Laws for us but only to shew the Sense which former Ages had of these matters But though we have our Municipal Laws Statutes and Acts of Parliament yet the Authority of the Civil Law is not to be despised for it containeth much of Reason Justice and Equity and was compiled upon mature Deliberation and as I said before by the advice and help of wise and knowing men and here we are so far sensible of it as therein to yield much to our Civilians and Drs. Commons is a place well known for such matters Now to enforce this the more as we already observed by God's Law Adulterers and Adulteresses were put to Death whereby the Bond of Marriage was quite Dissolved and so at this time it should be here as in other places then there would be no occasion to Sue for a Divorce nor for leave to marry another Now an Adulteress ought at least morally to be Dead being covered with Extreme Infamy which is directly opposed to the Covenant of Marriage which is (c) Heb. 13.4 Honourable in All and the Bed Vndefiled Surely God would not have any one to live in VVedlock with those whom he would not have to live at all And indeed it is neither just fit nor expedient that an honest man should be coupled with an infamous woman The wise Roman Emperours had so great a Regard to the equal Honour of both married Farties that they lookt upon those Marriages to be of no force that were contracted between one of a good Name and another of Bad Reputation I shall not say how an Incurable Impotency of Body Madness and Leprosie are accounted just Causes of Divorce much more Adultery is so under both Old and and New Testaments and Christian Princes ought now to be as Careful as ever others were to preserve Honesty in Families which are to give a Seed unto the Church to the Glory of God hinder their being Tainted
and Daughters of Whoredom and Adultery Therefore all imaginable Care must be had to put a Restraint upon such Evil Courses as lead into such Dangers Now as to Adultery if as we ought we have a regard to the Law of God the same Severity should be used to punish it as Treason and Murther for God who saith Thou shalt not Kill hath also said Thou shalt not commit Adultery Hence it is as I said before that by God's Law the Adulterer and Adulteress were put to death as well as the Murtherer A Thief for stealing from me the Value of Eighteen-pence shall be Hanged and he or she that Robbeth me of my Reputation and my own Blood of my Estate and Succession shall go free and be unpunished This indeed is very strange and un-equal As to the Laws of men I shall allow a Disproportion how with some Treason is a greater Crime than Adultery though with others both are Capital so let the Punishment be less not to reach to Life for Adultery as for Treason Murther and Theft However when we come to prove matter of Fact there is in some Cases for Adultery to fill up the Disproportion Shall not actual Attempts be Equivalent to prove a Fact as well as bare Words If Treasonable Words be proved against one he is thereby Convict of Treason and if a man be found alone in a suspected place with another man's Wife lockt up in a Room and upon Oath in such a dishonest and unbecoming Posture with such other Circumstances not fit here to be named which though they prove not rem in re yet are not only strong Presumptions but also clear Evidences of a Design and actual Attempt to commit Adultery much more when Fruits of such Meetings appear it may reasonably be concluded specially after a publick Noise in the World of such Intreagues that this is not the first meeting they had upon such an account When once Affections are Debauched and both Parties willing to meet they shall not want Occasion at one time or other though never so strictly observed to indulge their Lust much more if both Parties be free from any Watch set upon them After such Evidences doth not this cerrainly and justly deserve the Penalty of the Law namely a Divorce 'T is a sad and shameful thing that among such Christians as make a Profession of owning the Word or God's Laws especially those that are of a mixed Nature and regard in part Religion and in part Order and Preservation of Society should not as much as may be according to the Pattern of God's Law the Rule of all Equity but the Accident must be minded more than the Substance and the Shadow be preferred before the Body for want of one Circumstance And because such a Crime was committed within a Year or two before such a Time that is before the Offender was Prosecuted for it though proved Guilty yet must escape Is not an Adultery committed Seven Years ago an Adultery as well as that committed within these Four or Five Can that Circumstance alter the Nature of the Thing and make that not to be Adultery which is so indeed Shall we find Justice no where on the Right or Left-hand Above nor Below After this one may say 't is not to be found among us which way soever we turn ourselves to have it Then we must look up to God who in his due time will for certain render it and may be with a Witness against the Guilty and all that are Accessory to 't as are of all the Evil committed since those that spared and justified the Wicked The Law hath so well provided in Cases of another kind If a man hath spoken Threatning Words he is bound to his Good Behaviour An Attempt of Rape though not Executed deserveth Death though this may be as Unvoluntary as Adultery is Voluntary That party which giveth and exposeth that which is not her own ought to be Punished as well as he who taketh that which is not his own Now we know that (a) 1 Cor. 7.4 The Wife hath not Power of her own Body but the Husband Must the Husband be Betrayed and know that to be given to others which is his own and take great Care and Pains to get and preserve an Estate for a Stranger 's Blood and have his Bed daily Defiled without Help and Remedy 't is very sad indeed chiefly in a well governed State (b) Jerem. 2.24 A wild Ass used to the Wilderness that Snuffeth up the Wind at her Pleasure in her Occasion who can turn her away All they that seek her will not weary themselves in her Month they shall find her No wonder because she is Wild if during Rutting time and Madness none will take pains in vain to reclaim her yet there is a time when she comes to her self in her Month and shall there be no Time nor Way to Tame an Adulteress Must she run as far and as long as she pleaseth without Restraint in her Wickedness And must she be Indulged and Incouraged in her evil Courses Few such Examples can soon Infect a whole Countrey for Evil Ones are followed rather than Good If we have good Laws why are they not put in Execution If in this kind we want them or they be defective why should we not have them (c) Gal. 3â— 19. The Law must be added because of Transgressions When Transgressors are increased if Laws in being are not sufficient to Restrain them they must be Multiply'd if Old Ones be Dormant let them be Revived and put in Execution This doth depend upon the Prudence of Law-givers who from time to time as they see Cause for do Enact New ones yet this may be said none can be made more Necessary for the Glory of God and the Good of Civil Society than to prevent and punish Adulteries whereby Order Interest and Peace of Families are over turned Base and corrupt Blood being mixt with Noble it peopleth the Countrey with a Spurious Brood and makes the Nation to Degenerate from Vertue to Vice If this Evil ariseth out of Remissness in the Executive part there it ought to be Remedied and Punishment inflicted as well as upon Adulterers and Adulteresses who thorough Perjury and Breach of the Matrimonial Bond and by such abominable ways do what they can to Confound and Ruin Families which should deserve no less than Death so that Divorce is a great Mercy and thorough this gentle Punishment they have time allowed if God be pleased to give them Grace to Repent of their Lewdness But to some may be applyed what God saith (d) Jerem. 3.3 Thou hast a Whores Forehead thou refusest to be ashamed Here I suppose a Case A Husband upon Information given him and out of his own Observation findeth he hath Cause to Question his Wife's Honesty and that she is Unfaithful to him he knows the Person and is acquainted with several Circumstances of time and place and after
Prov 8.11 Because Sentence against an Evil Work is not executed speedily therefore the Heart of the Sons of Men is fully set in them to do Evil. But let such unto themselves apply what the Apostle saith (r) 2 Pet. 2.3 Their Judgment Lingereth not and their Damnation Slumbereth not Thus we proved the Point with clear Evidence out of Scripture Human Laws and strength of Reason which might be more Enlarged upon if Occasion required it This I must add That 't is a sad Case a loud and crying Sin that must need reach up to Heaven when Justice cannot be obtained against neither Adulteress nor Adulterer as if there was a Combination against it to provoke God and Men to the utmost till God's time be come to render it who being most just never fails to do 't when he thinks fit but sometimes when he doth men take no notice of it thô I think it to be one of the chief Causes of the heaviest and most frequent Judgments inflicted upon the Nation for as it is one of if not the most common National Sin and none in Scripture more often nor more strictly Forbidden as most of any contrary to God's holy and pure Nature So those who commit and continue in it must look for the most dreadful and terrible Judgments which God's Justice Anger and Vengeance for the Contempt of his Authority and Breach of his Laws can in this World and in that which is to come pour upon wretched and presumptuous Sinners Besides I would have all Offenders in this kind to know That there is not in the World a Meaner Wretch than the Lewd and Vicious Man who doth the Devil's Drudgery and being a meer Slave to his Passion is thereby put upon the most Indecent Basest Vilest Shameful and most Dangerous Shifts that can be is ever Restless being continually Spurred on by his Lust which first in this World will (s) Hos 4.11 Take away his Heart for Whoredom and Wine do so and except God shews Mercy for want of that Purity which in Relation to Women the Apostle so (t) 1 Tim. 5 ◠carefully Commends to his young Disciple shall in the next hurry and deliver him into everlasting Burnings For the Truth and justice of God require that the Fire of Lust wherein they Burned here should hereafter be punished with Eternal Flames For saith the Apostle Them that walk after the Flesh 2 Pet. 2.9.10 in the Lust of Vncleanness God reserveth unto the Day of judgment to be Punished with a Pain Adequate to their Sin FINIS A CHARGE TO Judges Juries Witnesses CONCERNING OATHS HAVING of late been Summoned to give in upon Oath my Evidence in a weighty Business I was at first Amazed and at a stand then moved with just Indignation to hear several Men with a Brazen-face to Swear for Truth that which in my Conscience I knew certainly to be False for I speak only of those Things and Circumstances which come within the Sphere of my certain Knowledge and upon serious Thoughts such prostitute Wretches tho they speak but to one part of a Cause yet they give Men reasonable Grounds of entertaining an Ill Opinion of the whole For no good Cause may be supported by evil and unlawful Means which at last will Discredit Blast and Ruin it In the mean while such Practices of Swearing falsely do bring Dishonour upon God Scandal upon our holy Religion and are a Shame to a Nation and if not as much as 't is possible Suppressed and Prevented God the Judge of the whole Earth will in his due time require it at the Hands of those in whose Power it lieth and whose Duty it is to do 't Wherefore upon so just and necessary an Account I look upon my self as bound to give in my Evidence and I Wish Judges Jury-men and specially Witnesses may so take notice of and mind what I shall say as every one to do their Duty in their respective Stations for herein I shall bear Witness for God as for men And my great Motive why I now commit to Paper these few Lines and Serious Thoughts of mine 't is only to bear Record unto the Truth For (a) 2 Cor. 13.8 I can do nothing against but for the Truth which I think I am called to thorough the Occasion which is the Ground of all this Which to Prosecute I shall make use of both Law and Gospel I Thank God when I appeared in this Business I never but once before had been Summoned to bear Witness upon Oath for I own it I fear an Oath the fewer the better and the least Account one is to give God about these matters for therein Men thô unwillingly and Ignorantly yet thorough want of Memory or some Mistakes are in danger of Failing Wherefore I shall ever avoid as much as I may being brought under an Oath without a just and necessary Cause rashly and hastily to venture upon 't is usually attended with bitter Effects and is the cause of much Evil of Sin as of Punishment from both God and men He that easily and hastily doth Swear will as easily and hastily Forswear for when he makes no Conscience to take an Oath he will make none to break it Neither would I multiply Oaths for many Oaths many Snares To go upon sure Grounds and Explain the matter we must first see upon what Occasion an Oath is taken and what it is because too often thorough the Unrighteousness Malice and Craftiness of False and Self-ended Men Truth is driven into Corners which yet God in his due time and sometimes in an Extraordinary manner will bring to light to the Confusion of the Wicked that would have suppressed it Therefore because one man will not Trust another and that men do suspect the Sincerity and are in the Dark about the Thoughts one of another upon such an account God who alone knows and is the Searcher of the Heart (b) Heb. 4.13 For all things are naked and opened unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do is called upon to be a Witness of the Truth of that which is in Question and Sworn for (c) chap. 6.16 An Oath for Confirmation to men is saith the Apostle an end of all Strife Not to sow foment and promote it and shelter Villanies under God's most holy and sacred Name for this overthrows the good Ends for which an Oath was intended and perverts Justice and Equity over-turns the whole World and tends to Disorder Confusion and Ruin all Effects of Perjury Now an Oath is a calling of God to Witness for the Confirmation of what we Say or Promise 'T is a Religious and Necessary Confirmation of Things doubtful by calling on God to be a Witness of Truth and a Revenger of Falsehood which last part is much to be taken notice of though many who Swear mind it not and there is a great Reason why God should avenge the Abuse of his Name for if
Condemneth the Wicked that is him who Prophaned his Temple and his Altar by a false Oath then Execution followeth the Sentence for he brings his Way upon his Head And also he justifies the Righteous and gives him according to his Righteousness Let all men that are brought to their Oath take a special notice of this that God is both Witness and Avenger wherefore there must be an awful Reverence of God's most Holy and Sacred Name which is made use of upon Occasion not upon Common and Trivial but only necessary just and weighty Accounts Wherefore the Nature and Use of an Oath are to be known before one Sweareth First the Nature by considering three things the Person to be Sworn by that is GOD the Parts of the Oath or the several Actions included and implied in it which are Four 1st An Assertion by way of Affirming or Denying either barely or with Obligation to or from something The 2d An Acknowledgment of God's Omniscience Almightiness Justice and other like Attributes The 3d An Invocation of him to bear Witness to the Truth of what we say The 4th an Imprecation against our selves if we do speak Falsly that is a referring over and offering ourselves into his Hands to be Punished by his power and justice Then the Purpose or Use to which these Actions are to be applyed are to be Considered that is the ending of a Controversy which otherwise cannot be conveniently ended So that an Oath is a Religious Service of God whereby we refer ourselves unto him as a competent and fit Witness and Judge of the Truth and Falshood of our Speeches about a Controverted matter for the ending thereof Now the Use of an Oath must be known in Two Things 1st Of just Occasions of using it as when the matter is of moment either in it self or in the Consequents and Effects of it as for the Satisfying of another that requires and will accept of it or binding of one's self either to another as (a) Gen. 47 31. Jacob caused Joseph to Swear or to himself (b) 1 Kings 2.23 as Solomon Sware that Adonijah should Dye 2ly We must know the just manner of an Oath in regard of using it upon such an occasion and that in the Three ways I mentioned before which men cannot be too much put in mind of namely in Judgment that is in a serious Consideration of the Cause of our Swearing and Greatness of the Name of God by which we Swear in Truth that is a perfect Agreement betwixt the meaning of the words of him that Sweareth and betwixt both these and the things themselves of which the Speech is and that also according to the Intention of him that tendereth the Oath so far as he shall manifest his Intentions to him that Sweareth Also in Righteousness that is in Reverence to God Care of doing Good not Hurt unto our Neighbours by Swearing and Aiming at the right end which is quietly determining of a Doubt by interposing God's Name to shew our high Opinion of him for thus God and Man have their due and that is Righteousness in every act that every one whom it concerns may have that which is due to him therein It must be observed how in matter of Oaths there are an Affirmative and a Negative part that is Things Commanded and Things Forbidden for every one of the Ten Commandments when it commands a Vertue doth at the same time forbid the Vices contrary to it and when a Vice is forbidden the Vertues contrary are commanded though Commanding is expressed in Affirmative Terms as Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it Holy The Forbidding is declared in Negative Terms Thou shalt not wherein is contained every other Precept of the First and Second Tables of the Law of God Now men ought to take Notice how Negative Precepts are of a larger extent and more binding than Affirmative for these bind only Semper non ad Semper at Certain Times not at all Times but the Negative do bind Always and at all times as I am bound to Help and Assist and be Charitable to my Neighbour but that is only when he wants my help and as far as I am able which I am not always neither doth he always stand in need of being helped but the Negative Precept goes further for I stand bound never to hurt him to do him Wrong and Injury at no time whatsoever This I now take notice of in relation to the Third Commandment not to take the Name of the Lord in vain which I shall have occasion to speak of as being the Ground which in this matter I am to go upon for therein the Abuses of an Oath are forbidden and 't is Abused in Two ways 1st In the Taking 2ly In the Keeping thereof In relation to the First as to the matter for it's Object or Subject for the Object the Thing or Person Sworn by for the Subject whether Affirmative or Promissive As to the First the Thing must be True and the Oath Necessary not Trivial which deserves not an Oath As to the Second the thing Promised ought not to be either Impossible or Unlawful As to the manner of using the Oath it must not be taken 1st Ignorantly 2ly Without Cause or just Inducement thereto 3ly Irreverently 4ly Ragingly or in the bitterness of Passion 5ly Maliciously with a Design of Hurting any Man 6ly Nor Falsly Have a great Care of Negative Oaths wherein lays a great danger of Forswearing therefore not to be tendered nor taken for they can be no Proofs only sometimes strong Presumptions Indeed one may well say I never heard such a man say so or I never saw him do so but no man may say He never said or did so he might say and do so though you never heard or saw him speak or do 't A Negative Assertion may by a good Consequence be drawn from a Positive thus Such a man at such a time to my certain Knowledge was in the City therefore at the same time he was not in the Countrey for at once he could not be in both places but I may not Swear such a one at such a time was not in the City because I did not see him for he might be there and you not see him only in this Case if the place be within such a narrow compass that he cannot be in 't when you are there but you must see him as for Instance At such a Day and such an Hour we were Twelve at Table in such a place he was none of the Twelve therefore he was not there though one may say he was not at Table yet he may not say he was not in the Room for he might be hidden in some secret part thereof All this I say to shew how Cautious men ought to be in point of Oaths but I see this matter is so Copious as I find it draws me very far wherefore I must restrain it only to my present Purpose namely Perjury
if men neglect to do 't God himself will set his Hand to 't and do the Work If the Distemper be but Personal the Punishment of that Person will satisfy God but if it be Epidemical then the Vengeance shall be General nay sometimes the Innocent of that Crime are involved with the Guilty as in the Case of the Gibeonites though they had deceived Joshua with their Lies yet notwithstanding the People had a general Order to destroy all those Nations 't is said (s) Josh 9.15 16 18 19.20 They Smote them not because the Princes of the Congregation had Sworn unto them by the Lord for they said We have Sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel now therefore we may not touch them lest Wrath be upon us because of the Oath which we have Sworn unto them They understood what an Oath is and how dangerous to break it and how long after was the Breach of it by Saul avenged wherefore God sent a Famine for Three Years and being inquired by David declared it is for Saul and his bloody House because he Slew the Gibeonites So for this same Sin the Breach of Oath the whole Land suffered and Seven of Saul's Sons lost their Lives to expiate for it Among the several Instances we have in Scripture of God's signal judgments for breach of Oaths this is a considerable one God's Anger was moved with a witness and would not be appeased till after the Gibeonites had Hanged before the Lord those Sons of Saul (t) 2 Sam. 21.14 which by David's Command had been delivered up to them for then and not before the Lord was intreated for the Land for thereupon the Famine ceased Thus we see that where the Magistrates suffer Faults especially Perjuries to go unpunished there God's judgments lay upon the Land for all that might be pretended to excuse it as here for the Gibeonites had with a Notorious Lye cheated and imposed upon Joshua and the People (u) v. ◠Saul had done it in his Zeal to the Children of Israel and Judah and so long after the Oath had been Sworn All this is I hope Sufficient to shew how God in his Law not only Threatneth but also actually Punisheth the Abuse of his holy Name thorough Perjury in such a publick and solemn a Manner as whole Kingdoms and Nations are therein concerned I pray to God that for that very Sin which is so common in the Nation and no due care taken to prevent and Punish it that Threatning of God by the Prophet Jeremiah already Quoted doth not reach us to bring a Nation upon us not from far but from near I mean that to whom belongs the Character of a bitter and hasty Nation by the Prophet (w) Habek 1.6 given the Chaldeans for our Neighbours in their Nature are Hasty and in their Successes Bitter and Insolent Once God us with the Spaniards blessed be God that he repented him and cast the Rod into the Fire but now he hath gotten another nearer our backs Let us remember that Swearing Falsly is a Nation destroying Sin which God punishes either mediately by Men or immediately by some Extraordinary judgment These publick judgments are upon extraordinary Cases when Kingdoms have contracted this Sin and no due care is taken to stop and punish it the want of punishing it in private Persons ends at last in the Ruine of whole Nations which I pray God may in due time seriously be considered but because the occasion of my Discourse is about things not altogether so universal as chiefly relating to the Courts of Judicature and not to the Politick part of the Government I shall conclude this Head with what God ordered in his Law to be done in the Case of False Witnesses because one man might out of Enmity or desire of Revenge Swear against another God declared one Evidence not to be sufficient but provided there should be Two or Three as being supposed that Number would not so easily design a Man's Ruin as one single Man Well God's Rule which is certainly the wisest and the best that any Man or Nation can follow about False Witnesses is this (x) 〈◊〉 19 15 16 17 18 c. If a False Witness rise up against any man to Testify against him that which is Wrong then both the Men beeween whom the Controversy is shall stand before the Lord before the Priests and the Judges which shall be in those Days and the Judges shall make diligent Inquisition and behold if the Witness be a False Witness and hath Testified falsly against his Brother then shall ye do unto him as he thought to have done unto his Brother So shalt thou put the evil away from among you And those which remain shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such Evil among you And thine Eye shall not pity but Life shall go for Life Eye for Eye Tooth for Tooth Hand for Hand Foot for Foot This contains several very important Things First That sometimes and too often some men do rise to Wrong their Neighbours which when it happens as no man may be a judge in his own Cause so the Plaintiff to be Righted must take lawful Courses and prosecute his Adversary before Legal and Competent Judges those who at that very time are in Office and Authority Here besides the Civil Judges the Priests are named for though the Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions be of a different nature and not to be Confounded yet matter of Oaths and Swearing being a part of God's Worship they to whom the Care of things relating to Religion is committed God would have them not excluded but to be present to mind that which concerned his Service the more because at that time the Government of the Jews was Theocratical or Divine God so eminently and visibly directing and ruling over them and therefore 't is said both the men in Controversy shall stand not only before the Judges but before the Lord the true Competent Judge for upon all such occasions the great Judge is ever present to observe how the Judges behave themselves who here are commanded to make diligent Inquisition not perfunctoriously and lightly but to mind and make it their Business for to speak in Solomon's words [a] Prov. 25.2 as 'T is the Glory of God to conceal a thing so the Honour of Kings and of Judges and Juries too is to Search out the matter till the Truth be found out which being Effected judgment and punishment are to follow thereupon and the Mischief the Guilty maliciously intended against his Brother is justly to be retorted upon him Thus this abominable Crime of Perjury is a great Evil to be put away from among a People for fear a whole Nation do suffer for the Wickedness of one or some few particular men and thus Justice being executed upon the Guilty they shall be made Examples unto others who Hearing shall Fear and out of a Terrour of the
Effects of Oppression for thereby man's right and just Cause are oppressed and we know what the wise King saith in the Case (o) Eccles 7.7 Surely Oppression makes a Wise Man Mad. He that loseth his own loseth his Wits with a surely therefore will he endeavour to see himself Righted and if Lawful ways because they be Corrupted and Abused do fail then God knows what the next Step will be Right oppressed is sometimes turned into Fury and this is the ready way to set Men together by the Ears and to make them to Cut one another's Throats the Mine and Thine is the ground of Discord in the World and therefore 't is but just that every one should enjoy his own whereupon God the Sovereign Judge saith (p) Ezekiel 21.27 I will overturn overturn overturn it and it shall be no more until he come whose Right it is and I will give it him Though Men will not I will Therefore when Perjury is found to be in a Cause which appears by Contradictory Depositions for 't is not possible for a Thing to be and not to be a man cannot at the same time be in Two several Places so in the same Circumstance of a Matter one to Swear for the other against is a palpable Contradiction for two contrary Oaths about the same thing cannot be True but if one be the other necessarily must be False as if one Swears that such a man at such a time was in the Countrey and I Swear that same Person at that same time was in the City because for several Days together I met with Saw Discoursed had Meetings Walk'd Managed Businesses with and visited him in his own House and I cannot believe that a Spirit had assumed that Man's Body to act all that part with me nor that I saw a Vision or was in a Dream all that while Hence it clearly appears that there is a Perjury in the Case for as some have Sworn the Truth so others have that which is False Wherefore the matter is very well worth strictly and narrowly Inquiring into to find out the Truth and see at whose Door the Perjury lyes there to Punish it that hereafter Men be not exposed to the Mercy of such Wretches and Villains And what I say is for one side as well as for the other for I am Partial for neither only for the Truth the justice of the Cause is what I stand for and am no ways Byassed by the Merits of Persons Upon such Accounts Men ought to Swear for no other End than to bear Record unto the Truth which I pray God to Discover as he is the most True and Faithful Witness and as he is the Great and Supream Judge to cause an Exemplary Punishment to be made of this loud and crying Wickedness as they that are concerned to do it shall answer to God at the last Day for Judges Juries Witnesses Parties and every Man shall some time before the Iudge of the whole Earth stand to be Tryed and Judged when there shall be no Dissembling nor Concealing of the Truth but all things shall then be manifest and be seen even just as they are In the mean time what Laws are in being against the Crime ought exactly to be put in Execution and wherein they are Defective and Wanting it may easily be Supplyed by the Legislative Power when those in whose Hands is the Executive part who have so many Occasions to observe where 't is Wanting and where not do according to their Duty represent it to them Thus all will unanimously concur to set up the Glory of God the Good and Welfare of the Nation and to the Immortal Praise of all those that will be Instrumental therein or to their Eternal Confusion if they neglect it (q) Psalm 94.2 Psalm 63.11 Then lift up thy self thou Judge of the Earth and the Mouth of them that speak Lies shall be stopped FINIS A DISCOURSE ABOUT INFANT BAPTISM THE Doctrine of the Sacraments is of so high a Concernment in the great Mystery of our Salvation that the Enemy thereof Satan hath raised many of his strongest Batteries against it They are the Seals of God's Pardon which he doth what he can to Tear or at least to Deface thereby to Deprive us of the Assurance of God's Love in Christ As to the First which is Baptism how many Disputes and Questions hath he started against it With Papists we have no less than Seven about it whereof the Two First relate also to the Lord's Supper As first to the number There are but Two Sacraments and they would have Seven 2ly The Vertue of the Sacrament doth not depend upon the Intention of him who administers it 3ly It is not lawful for Lay-men or Women to Baptise 4ly The Baptism of John had the same Vertue and was as Effectual as that afterwards Administred by the Apostles 5ly Baptism ought to be administred according to Christ's Institution without any Addition Diminution or Alteration whatsoever 6ly Every Child Baptised is not thereby Regenerated and every one that hath the Sign hath not the Thing Signified 7ly Baptism is not absolutely necessary to Salvation for some are Saved without it but it ought not to be neglected or delayed See how sometimes God suffereth men from one Error to fall into another and to maintain one they multiply others Thus Anabaptists to Assert that Infants ought not to be Baptised hold the Quintessence of the Damnable Pelagian Heresy 1st That they have no Sin 2ly That there is no Original Sin at all 3ly That no Sin comes by Nature but is Learned only by Example and Imitation of others 4ly That all that dye in Infancy shall certainly go to Heaven for none is Damned but for Actual Sins Against what Scripture saith First All Infants are Sinners (a) Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in Sin did my Mother conceive me 'T is the case not only of David but of every one else (b) Isai 48.8 For we are called Transgressors from the Womb and (c) Ephess 2 3. by Nature we are children of Wrath even as others Then Secondly Many Infants have been made Vessels of Wrath and the Effects of God's Wrath for Sin are fallen upon them as in the Flood in the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah God's Order to Saul (d) 1 Sam. 15.3 was to Destroy utterly the Infants and Sucklings of the Amalekites And the Psalmist (e) Psalm 147.9 declareth him Happy that dasheth the little ones of the Babylonians against the Stones But Thirdly All Sin is not Learned by Example as we see in the Case Cain who had no Example of any Murther Committed before him Their Fourth Assertion is Rash and without Ground in Scripture But now to the Point The Word Baptism in Scripture hath several Significations It is first taken for the whole Holy Sacrament instituted by our Lord sometimes for the Sign (f) Matth. 3.11 Water and other times
thô the Husband's Fornication be a Breach of the Faith promised and given his Wife yet God doth not Allow the man's but only the woman's Adultery to be the lawful Cause of a Divorce This was the Practise under the Law the Husband gave the Wife the Bill of Divorce but the Wife never to the Husband And herein our Saviour makes no Alteration thô he had a fair Occasion to have spoken of it and to the Purpose in case it had been his pleasure and mind to have admitted it but nothing is said in the way of Precept Approbation or Toleration in relation to 't the Reason of this Disparity on Man's behalf is shewed by St. Paul (b) 1 Cor. 11.7 8 9. Man is the Image and Glory of God but the Woman is the Glory of the Man for the Man is not of the Woman but the Woman of the Man neither was the man created for the woman but the woman for the man Now the Laws call it Adultery in as much as the Husband thereby Defiles his own Bed but not that of another But a Wife committing Adultery makes the Adulterer to defile another's Bed and bring in a spurious Seed into another man's Family therefore God's Law (c) Levitic 20.10 condemned both Adulterer and Adulteress to Death and so should the Laws of every Countrey That which made it a Capital Case Exod. 22.16 17. Deut. 22.28 29. was the Woman's being Married it was Death for any married or unmarried man to lay with a married Woman but 't was not so with the man for if a man thô married had enticed a Maid not betrothed lain with her he was to Marry her or give her Dowry in case the Father utterly refused to give her A Reason that may be assigned is this That a man was allowed to have many Wives but no Woman was allowed to have more than One Husband which gave men a great preference above Women and sheweth how the Woman's Bond was within a narrower Compass and shorter than the Husband 's which comes up to what we say how thô the Wives Fornication broke the Bond of Marriage yet the Husband 's did not It must be observed how strict the Law was against Women in this kind of Sin that if a Virgin was only Betrothed and not actually Married yet if she had suffered her self to be either Seduced or unvoluntarily Abused if she had not cryed for help in the City where she might have had it she was to be Stoned to Death as appeareth in the same Chapter 'T is observable Deuter. 22 24. that the Law which appointed Sacrifices to make Attonement for many and several sorts of Sins yet none therein was appointed for Expiation of Murther and Adultery nothing but Death could do 't God's Law doth Forbid Adultery as well as Murther and Theft so that Adultery is as much the Breach of the Law as are to Kill and to Steal and the Breakers in any Branch deserve Punishment but if there be any difference the Severity was greater against Adultery than against Theft the Adulteress was unpardonably Punished with Death but according to their Civil Laws the Thief was not punished with Death but Condemned only to make a Restitution sometimes Two for One sometimes Four and at other times Five for One Exod. 22. So that though in Relation to God both these were a Breach of the Law of an Infinite Majesty and so for both the Law required that Satisfaction which no Finite Creature is able to give to an Infinite Creator yet in relation to the Party wronged the Penalty made a great Difference in the Punishment the one being Capital the other not About this here the Laws of the Land have made a great alteration for Theft when it reaches to a very small Sum which may be called as little as Nothing is punished with Death when Adultery is not which is quite the contrary of what among the Jews was practised I know that the Ceremonial Law being Abolished doth not at all Oblige us but the Moral we are as much bound to as they were as to their Judicial Laws those which related to the Ceremonial indeed do not Tye us in the least but those which related to the Moral and are part and Explanation thereof do Now one would think it had been better in this kind of Laws to have followed the Pattern of those which God gave his People by the ministery of Moses but our Law-givers thought fit to do otherwise and we may suppose they had some Reasons for it if there be any in and for such things for indeed sometimes such Circumstances happen as do much Aggravate the Nature of Crimes as when they grow Epidemical too Common and too Frequent too Bold and Presumptuous then to prevent the Spreading and other dangerous Consequences thereof the Legislative Power doth well and wisely and God's Laws allow them so to do to put stronger Curbs and lay greater Penalties upon Offenders the Civil Power is allowed to Enforce the Observation of God's Laws but hath no Dispensing Power to Relax therefrom Wherefore if once the Legislative Power thought fit upon occasion to lay more Severe Penalties upon the Breach of One of God's Commandments than there was among the Jews much more may the same Power revive those Penalties which once were inflicted by God's Law and make Adultery a Capital Crime as it was among the Children of Israel Certainly nothing can be said thô never so much for changing the Penalty for Theft but there is more for renewing the Punishment which by God's special Precept was laid upon Adultery for now that filthy Sin is as Common Frequent and Brazen-faced and Odious as ever it was or at this time Theft can be wherefore the Penalty for Adultery should now be Death as it was in the beginning There is no Justice Equity nor Sound Reason to punish with Death one who Steals Half a Crown from me and let another who with bringing in Strange Blood into my Family Robs it of Thousands and Thousands to go Unpunished This with humble Submission I may say 't were too much for men with their Tradition to make God's Commands of None Effect Another Truth I must make out which is this After a Divorce is made upon the account of Adultery then the man is Free and at Liberty to marry another so that Uncleanness doth Intitle not only to a Separation a mensa thoro as by a new Unscriptural Name they call it of Board and Bed but also it breaks off the Bond of Matrimony and this Last is a necessary Consequence of the Former thô there are some men in the World who allow a Divorce but deny the Liberty to Marry another misgrounding their Opinion upon what is said Matth. 5.32 Whosoever shall marry her that is Divorced committeth Adultery But any heedful man to know the meaning of this latter part of the Verse will read the whole Whosoever shall put away
his Wife saving for the cause of Fornication caâ—seth her to commit Adultery Then followeth and Whosoever shall marry her that is Divorced Saving for the cause of Fornication for this is Necessarily to be understood committeth Adultery Good if she be put away upon a Trivial account and not for the Cause of Adultery and in that case 't is not to commit Adultery or else our Saviour had Contradicted Himself It were most Unjust to make the Innocent to suffer the Penalty due to the Guilty which will be if either he be forc'd to keep the Adulteress or to run the Danger of committing Fornication And as once a Woman is found Guilty so let her Suffer Divorce be granted and that which necessarily follows leave be given the Husband to marry another that being the Remedy provided against Incontinency for as long as the Disease reigneth the Remedy ought not to be taken away Thorough Adultery is broken not only the Use but also the Essential part of the Contract and the Tye of it The Innocent must not suffer for 't is not he but the Guilty that breaks the Bond of Marriage so that 't is clear the Tye is broken because the Fundamental part of that Contract is thus it ceaseth then our Saviour's words admit of no Distinction Restriction or Limitation they absolutely approve of Divorce in case of Adultery and not only in part from Board and Bed as said before And every where in Scripture the Word Divorce implyes not only a Separation between Husband and Wife but also a Liberty to marry another This Point is so generally allowed by Protestants that 't is become a Controversy between the Protestant Churches and the Romish for the Council of Trent Sess 14. Can. 7. and Bellarmin de Matrim l. 1. c. 16. say That by Adultery Marriage is not wholly dissolved but the contrary we proved and Pual (e) 1 Cor. 7.27 28. saith Art thou loosed from a Wife if thou marry thou hast not sinned Marriage is a Remedy against Incontinency for saith the Apostle To avoid Fornication let every man have his own wife v. 2. and every woman her own husband And when there happens either a Voluntary Parting or a Legal Divorce a Brother or a Sister are free Certainly when the Bond of Marriage is loosed as 't is by Adultery 't is no sin to marry as the Apostle said but just now he who marries another as long as the Bond remains undissolved commits Adultery but if it be dissolved 't is no Adultery The Argument is this If for Whoredom the Man may put away his Wife then the Bond is dissolved but for Whoredom as our Saviour saith the Man may put away his Wife therefore for Whoredom the Bond is dissolved and so he may marry another except for Fornication that is without the Cause of Fornication is an Exception which happening to be the Case he is allowed to put her away Now Christ's Exception except it be for Fornication is jointly to be extended to both points of putting away and marrying another so if he may put away he may afterwards marry another In all places of the Old Testament where the Question is about Divorce it appears to be the Will of God that upon some certain Grounds it should be lawful for Persons lawfully Married to make such a Divorce as the Parties might marry others and the Jews never knew of any other kind of Divorce but that and this we have Instances of here among us In the New-Testament our Lord and Saviour and his Apostles never gave other Definition of a True Divorce than this when it is lawfully made it is lawful for the Innocent to marry again in Matth. 19. he speaks but of Two kinds of Divorce one Unlawful contrary to the first Institution of Matrimony when upon any unjust Ground a Man divorceth his Wife the other Lawful which is upon a lawful Cause namely Adultery he declares against the first and concludeth for the last whereby the Marriage is so dissolved that 't is lawful to marry another Wife And if as it ought to be by the Laws of Men as 't is by God's the Adulteress was put to Death there would be no ground left for the Question Whether the Man may marry another Wife And I think it a sufficient mitigation of God's Law here to spare her Life when in many other Countries the Adulteress is justly put to Death Now the Two matters of Right are proved 1st In Case of Adultery one may Lawfully put away his Wife 2ly Having Lawfully put her away he may marry another To this agree our famous Protestant Divines and Casuists as Calvin Beza Martyr Bucer Piscator Perkins Paraeus Riveâ—us Busanus Polanus Amesius So doth also the Civil Law but Dr. John Reynolds hath upon the matter written an Excellent Treatise which was Printed in 1609. called A Defence of the Judgment of the Reformed Churches c. Wherein he proves the Lawfulness of a Marriage upon a Lawful Divorce What the Romish Church saith and doth to the contrary is to satify her Covetousness and get Money for granting Dispenses Thus the Court of Heaven and of Conscience having declared it concerns the Ecclesiastical and Civil Courts to follow When I speak of the Ecclesiastical Court I do not intend to make it a different one from that of Conscience for of all sorts of men Divines and Clergymen are tyed to the Rules of God's Word and in a special manner bound to promote his holy Will therein contained when occasion is offered They ought to have a watchful Eye over their respective Flocks when they hear of or observe any Scandalous Practice in this kind 't is their Duty first to Admonish and if this cannot prevail to Prosecute as far as their Station will allow If they were pleased to take notice of and endeavour to reform the Abuses that lead into this filthy Sin which now we Write against they with God's Blessing might sometimes happen to prevent abundance of Evil committed in this Kind with representing how marryed women ought to avoid not only the Act of Adultery but all Inticements to and Occasions of Uncleanness as are Evil Companies unlawful Sports Dangerous Recreations too Gaudy Cloathes for their Apparel ought to be Modest so to avoid Lascivious Gestures and Obscenous Words for as in the 7th Precept Chastity is commanded so whatsoever is contrary to 't is therein Forbidden as Lust in the Heart the Eyes or any part of the Body Filthiness in Discourse Gluttony Drunkenness or any thing else apt to inflame Lust And as Matrimony is of a mixed that is Divine and Human Right so the Clergy-men especially the Heads ought in this matter to act in both Capacities to Censure Reform Punish and appear to be Enemies to Abuses and Abusers in this kind But 't is a very sad case to hear any of that Character in a solemn Assembly impiously to say how some Expressions in Scripture relating to the