the sight of God whose Law makes no Distinction of Sexes the Sin be equally Damnable yet as to Penalties Laws are made to put a Difference a greater Curb ought to lye upon the Woman as the weakest Vessel and so sometimes more apt to miscarry in Matrimonial Duties but chiefly because that greater Inconveniences are brought into Families thorough Woman's Failing in this then of Man's As to Men there is a great Difference and this Sin is attended with more dangerous Consequences on the Wife 's than on the Husband's side if a man gets a Child by an Harlot that Child shall not succeed in the Estate but if the Wife hath a Child by a stranger then strange Blood is brought into the Family to Defraud and Rob the true Heirs of their Right This Corruption of Blood appears too much in some great Families when the Pure Blood is stained with Base and Vile Hence it may be that we see many who go for Sons of Great and Wise Men who want common Sense and Reason either out of some Natural Cause or of some Particular Judgment of God to Punish the Unfaithfulness of some Wives or Neglect and want of Care in Husbands to prevent their Wives miscarriages in that kind We see our Laws have in the Case of Life and Death made a Difference in the Punishment to be inflicted If the Husband kills his Wife he is to be Hanged when if the Wife killeth her Husband she is to be Burned the Husband is the Head and the Offence against the Head is more severely to be Punished and as 't is so in matter of Life so it ought to be in point of Honour And the common Opinion and Experience of the World teaches how let the Husband be as Naught Debauched and Profligate as can be if the Wife be but Honest and Vertuous her Husband's miscarriage will not Reflect upon her but the miscarriages of the Wife are imputed to the Husband because 't is his Duty and Interest and hath Right by all Lawful and Reasonable Courses to hinder it Now what this Lawful Course is here I say it After a Husband hath given his Wife gentle and repeated Warnings to mind her of her Duty as to avoid the Company of such Persons as he hath cause to suspect and which he doth not like and the Wife doth not mend but goes on in her way and contrary to that which every honest woman will do she holds Corespondence with such as her Husband dislikes she having so far forgotten her Honour and Duty he ought to mind his and Remedies to reclaim her proving useless he may Sue for a Divorce which was the Antient way yet not upon so slight Grounds as practised of Old but upon such as God's Word allows of namely the the case of Adultery Julius Caesar upon putting away his Wife would say Caesar's House must be free from Suspicion as from Guilt So a man ought to provide for both his Capacities the one according to the Rank and Station he is in which he is to keep up and not to neglect else he will make himself Contemptible and lay Stains upon his Family the other is as a Christian he ought to purge his House of Wickedness to remove Evil out of it the Head of a Family is in Honour and Conscience bound to restrain in 't all Evil Courses whether of Servants Children or Wife or else he Sinneth in suffering that Evil which he can and 't is his Duty to prevent and will pass for a Man void of all sense of Honour and who cares not a Straw for his Reputation Such a Man ought to be ashamed to live thô I am not for making good Solomon's Saying (h) Prov. 6.34 Jealousie is the Rage of a Man in the day of Vengeance he will not spare Yet I would have him to avoid the other Extreme Insensibleness when he is so nearly concerned and this agreeth with what saith the Wise Man (i) chap. 5.15 16 17 18. Drink Waters out of thine own Cistern and running Waters out of thine own Well c. Let them be only thine own and not the Stranger 's with thee And that this is spoken of Husband and Wife who without Roving abroad ought to be only one for another In the next Verse he addeth Let thy Fountain be Blessed and Rejoice with the Wife of thy Youth This matter is so Copious and out of Scripture and Reason so much can be said of it that 't is almost unexhaustible therefore I intend as much as I am able to restrain it within Bounds and in Order thereunto I say after a Husband hath try'd all Fair Means to no Purpose and he seeth the Disease is beyond Remedy and finds how nothing can Prevail then they who will not do Just Things out of Love to Virtue must feel Punishment inflicted upon them a Divorce Sued for and obtained Some Divines assign several just Causes as they think to break a Marriage and others do Differ from them about it but only Two I will bring which generally are agreed upon The First When Matrimony is Unlawfully Contracted that is within Degrees forbidden by the Law of God as may be between Brother and Sister or the like then indeed such a Marriage is ipso facto void and null But here I intend not to speak of such a kind of Marriage concerning which the Church of Rome hath often and doth commit gross and intolerable Abuses in a Dispensing way with that which God hath Forbidden but my Design is to speak of a Marriage Lawfully Contracted whether there be any just Grounds out of God's Word to break it off For Marriage hath a Relation to 't and to the Good of Conscience in as much as it is a Divine Institution from the Beginning of the World Also it hath a Prospect towards the Laws of the Land wherein the Parties do live as Members of the Politick Body and the warrant from the Word is what I intend chiefly if not only to insist upon for all Municipal Laws are good only as they agree with and are not contrary to that Infallible Rule of Justice and Equity which when they Deviate from are not to be Valued There is indeed upon some Accounts a great Difference as St. Paul expresses (k) 1 Cor. 11.7 8 9. it between the Man and the Woman whereof the Excellency is on Man's side however that Prerogative of the Husband over the Wife hath sometimes been abused as by the Jews so by other Nations who would not suffer their Wives to recede specially in publick from that Obedience they owed the Husband for fear the Husband's Prerogative should thereby be Wounded upon this Ground Queen Vashti (l) Esther 1. for refusing to come to King Ahasuerus when Commanded by reason of the ill Example given thereby to the Ladies of Persia and Media by the Counsel of Memucan was Divorced but this was done by a Reason of State and not according to any
Point in hand were Additions posterior to the Original without naming any Author for it An Adulteress doth quite destroy the End of Marriage for God said (a) Gen. 2.18 It is not Good for Man to be alone I will make him a Help-meet for him Thus a Wife is given a Man to be a Help unto him but an Adulteress is a Scourge and not a Help vers 23 And Adam said in the Spirit of God This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh The Husband cannot say of an Adulteress she is Bone of my Bones but she is Bone of another man's Bones and Flesh of other man's Flesh And what shall we say to what is contained in the latter end of the following Verse vers 24 They shall be One Flesh seeing she makes her self One Flesh with another or others than her Husband whereby we plainly see the Ends of the Institution of Matrimony are wholly destroyed And as Man is to leave Father and Mother so near Natural Relations and cleave unto his Wife and they Two to be One Flesh so is the Wife to leave Father and Mother and every other Relation whatsoever and cleave unto her Husband that she may become One Flesh with him as he with her otherwise the End of the Matrimonial Bond is not Answered but made Void In Scripture Four Things are required as necessary in Marriage of those who are under the Bond of it First That Husband and Wife should Love One another to the height of Dearness which is represented by the Love (b) Ephes 5.22.23 23.25 between Christ and his Church Secondly They ought to Live together unless the Calling of God requireth otherwise for a time Now a Wife that runneth after other Flesh c 1 Cor. 7 5. may not be said to Live with her Husband but rather to depart from him in which Case she is not Divorced but goes away her self and in some Cases happeneth sometime a Circumstance material to the Point of Divorce namely when the Unbelieving Wife doth depart from the Believing Husband and breaks thus the Matrimonial Bond in such cases saith St. Paul (d) v. 15. A Brother or Sister is not under bondage Thirdly They ought not to Defraud one another of Conjugal Benevolence for neither Husband or Wife have Power of their own Body but mutually each of other's as (e) v. 3 4 5. expressed in the same Chapter therefore they may not Dispose of their Body upon others Fourthly That the Husband doth behave him self as the Head and Preserver of the Body and the Wife must submit and be subject unto her own Husband as her Head as the Church is subject unto Christ as in the fore-quoted (f) Ephes 15. place These Duties married people must observe as being the revealed Will of God and when they are Broken the Conjugal Bond is thereby much shaken but wholly Dissolved only in the case of Adultery and the offended Party hath cause if he pleaseth to Sue for a Divorce which may not justly be deny'd at least a suitable Punishment which though the Party desired not yet I think the Laws should Condemn the Offender to Indeed 't is the Duty of the Supream Power and Magistrates under them to consider of how great Consequence this matter is for a well-regulated Government as 't is certainly the Ground of all Government For what is a Kingdom but a Collection of several Shires or Provinces and these Shires of Cities and Towns and these Towns consist of Houses inhabited by Families and these Families composed of Husbands and Wives of Parents and Children Masters and Servants whereof Husband and Wife are the Spring and Foundation So that whosoever will have a well-regulated Nation he must begin with Families whereof Husbands and Wives are the Heads which is to Build upon a sure and good Foundation or else 't is in vain to look for pure Streams when the Spring is corrupt Adulterers and Adulteresses will Propagate a Spurious Brood stained with Vices derived from the corrupt Blood of their Parents for too often on the Bad Side the Proverb proves true Like Father like Son Like Mother like Daughter in some Families we see such Stains as the Ill Names and Bad Courses of Parents do hinder and ruin the Fortune of Children 'T is then palpable how Superiour Powers are concerned to make good Laws and Rules and to see they are Observed whereby the Disorders which happen in Families to the Prejudice of Conjugal Duties be Restrained and Punished Such good Orders will bring out at least in some good measure Men and Women good in every Relation better Parents better Children better Husbands better Wives better Masters better Servants better Princes and better Subjects The Importance of this Truth hath been so well known by Popes that where Popery is Predominant they have Ingrossed unto themselves almost the whole Power relating to Matrimony with their Dispensing with Forbidden Degrees of Consanguinity and Affinity and with starting new ones of their own Invention still reserving for themselves a Dispensing Power for Money wherein Princes of their Perswasion suffered themselves to be Fooled by them having first by Fraudulent Suggestions gotten the Imperial Power into their own Hands and afterwards by Force drawn to themselves the whole Authority of Judging and Determining in Matrimonial Causes as in most other matters Somewhat before we said how the Civil Law is for us now we must briefly shew it Some of the first Christian Emperours as well as some Heathen before to Justinian and after being sensible of the Necessity of Preventing Abuses in this matter by the Advice of able and wise Judges made Laws to grant Divorces for certain Causes Such among others * Cod. Theod Tom. 1 â—it 16. De repudi fol. 310. were Theodosius and Valentinian Only Three Causes are given for which a Wife may Sue for a Divorce and are therein named If her Husband be a Murtherer a Poisoner or a Destroyer of Sepulchres but she might not Sue tho he were a Drunkard a Gamester or Adulterer but the Husband might if she were an Adulteress a Poysoner or a Baud Si maecham vel medicamentariam vel Conciliatricem Fol. 313. are the words Further Sané si Divorâ—ium prior maritus c. If the Husband first hath desired a Divorce and Accused the Wife of a great Crime as Adultery let him Prosecute her according to Law and obtain Vengeance that is Divorce and enjoy the Portion and Downy for so I take it to be the meaning of suam recipiat largitionem and preseÌ„ntly must be free to marry another He upon that account not only may Sue for a Divorce which ought to be Granted but also to retain the Portion and Dowry and so leave her to the wide World without Maintainance and also marry another Nay if 't was only upon the Account of Ill Nature and Manners and not for Crimes Two Years after he may marry another Si vero
Divine Rule Now I must come close to the Point Wherefore I State the Question thus There is a lawful and only cause of Divorce namely the Case of Adultery what God saith about this in the Old Testament we already Examined let us now hear what is his Pleasure under the Gospel Our Saviour (m) Matth. 5.32 and chapt 19. from 3 to 10. in two places of St. Matthew decides the matter the first is in his Sermon upon the Mount where he Condemns the common Practise of the Jews who upon any trivial Account used to turn away their Wives as when they did not please them and the like But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his Wife saving for the Cause of Fornication causeth her to commit Adultery The other Text is in the same Gospel where our Saviour Argues the Case against the Pharisees who had put the Question to him Whether it is Lawful for a Man to put away his Wife for every Cause In this place he more at large speaks to the Point but to the same purpose he makes a Distinction between the Law of God which was from the beginning and the Toleration of Moses only for the Hardness of their Hearts to avoid greater Inconveniences as Abusing and Killing when they were weary of them Moses did after the manner of Egyptians only to prevent a greater Harm give the People leave to put away their Wives out of a Politick Reason but our Lord sends them to the first Institution for therein he Vindicates the Law from the Abuses crept in through ill Custom and Tradition Moses Tolerated not because it was not sin but only to avoid a greater sin as might be thorough the Perverseness of their Heart making them away as I said already and our Saviour declares why those Divorces were Sins except in the Case of Adultery because this made them commit Adultery for God's Law said Thou shalt not commit Adultery This I lay for a Foundation that Humane Laws when contrary to God's cannot make this Void And thô among Human Laws several Causes of Lawful Divorce be assigned yet as said before Divines and Civilians are agreed that Adultery is a just Cause of it Our Saviour decides it in an Emphatical way But I say unto you as if he had said Thô others assign other Causes yet I own but One the Case of Fornication and the Reason is Because ' â—â—s directly opposed to the Essence and Nature of Marriage whereby according to God's Order Husband and Wife are made One Flesh which Union is broken thorough Adultery for One cannot be One Flesh with Two or more she who is joyned to an Adulterer is One Body with him as he who is joyned to an Harlot is One Body with her for (n) 1 Cor. 6.16 Two shall be One Flesh However for the Woman's Credit the Bill was given as also to Secure her in the World for she was to be cleared from Guilt or else to be put to Death according to the Law Divorce upon such Grounds was contrary to the first Institution of Matrimony for thô it be a Voluntary Act yet after it once is Contracted they may not thorough Fancy and Lust break the Bond of it for what God hath joined together let no man put asunder Only Adultery doth it Moses complyed with that Humour of theirs and that Indulgence of his was not of a Moral Concernment only for a time Human Laws do condescend to the Abilities of Men according to what they can do but God's Law hath no such Regard it sheweth what they ought to do To come closer to the Point I say Our blessed Saviour could not have spoken more clearly than he doth that as no Man may put away his Wife except in the case of Adultery so in that case she might be put away with a good Conscience and this is the true Sense of the Words by the Rule of Contraries For Christ saith That whosoever puts away his Wife except for Fornication and shall marry another committeth Adultery therefore he that puts her away for Fornication and marrieth another doth not commit Adultery Although it may not be Dissolved at the Pleasure of men for 't is not only of a Natural and Civil but also of a Divine Right being as already observed a Divine Institution yet 't is not so Indissoluble but it may be Dissolved for a Cause which God approves to be just for it's Dissolution and that is Adultery for that Indissolubility is not Absolute but only in some Respects and was not intended for a Punishment but for a Comfort to the Innocent Therefore Adultery and such Impurities are a lawful Cause of a Divorce and the Woman who hath Perfidiously broken the Conjugal Faith and Contract of Marriage is justly put away and Divorced and the Husband doth very well to prosecute her in Law for that End And let the Success be what it will Christ absolves the Husband whose wife is Convicted of Adultery from the Bond of Marriage It is also to be observed how in that of (a) chapt 5.27 28.32 Matthew our Saviour hath a regard to and explains the Seventh Commandment wherein is Forbidden not only an Outward but also an Inward Adultery for the Law requires Obedience in Thoughts and Heart as well as in the Outward Act of the Body so that Lust is in God's Sight Fornication and Adultery and in the Law Adultery both in Desire and Fact is Forbidden For whosoever looketh on a Woman to Lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart And herein our Saviour opposes his True Interpretation of the Law to the False one of the Scribes and Pharisees and his Judgment he declares to be Antithesis or Opposition of an Exception forbidding Divorce upon Trivial Accounts but allowing it for a just Cause namely if the Wife hath committed Adultery We also must take notice how in that Exception made by our Saviour saving for the Cause of Fornication He saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adultery but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fornication whereby every unlawful Communication is signifyed so that the Word Fornication being more General and of a larger Extent than that of Adultery in as much as every Adultery comprehends Fornication thô Fornication may be without Adultery which is between married Persons and is either Simple when only one of the two is marryed or Double when both are I say hereby we are taught how great a Restraint Christ puts upon Wives and how Close he would have them keep to Matrimonial Faith and Duty Out of what hath been said I hope 't is plain and clear That a man may justly and according to the Law of God put away his Wife in the Case of Adultery As to the Question Whether the Husband 's Fornication as well as the Wife 's doth break the Bond of Matrimony and whether in that Case a Wife may put away her Husband Guilty of Fornication I Answer That
with Ignominy and restrain Wickedness and Infamy No Wise and Good Man will deny it to be the Duty as it ought to be the necessary Care of Magistrates first with Severity to Punish Whoredom and Adultery as well as Theft and Robbery for to Rob me of my Honour and of my Wife is to Rob me of my own Goods Next they are to see that Marriages be Lawfully contracted then that they be faithfully kept And lastly That upon Just Cause they be Lawfully Dissolved and leave granted again to Marry at least to the Injured Party For God never intended in Marriage to give a man a perpetual Torment instead of a Meet Help neither doth God approve that to the Breach and Violation of this Holy Contract which happeneth when Love ceaseth Murther should be added which is when Hatred doth succeed Love for (c) 1 John 3.15 Whosoever Hateth his Brother is a murtherer I think it unnecessary for me to bring any more Evidences upon this matter out of the Civil Law â—or out of the Writings of our Protestant Divines They that have a mind to be more at large Informed concerning the Point of Divorce let them peâ—use what that Famous Divine Bucer hath Written â—n his Second Book of the Kingdom of Christ Dediâ—ated to Edward the 6th and therein they may find Cause of Satisfaction as ground of Information Good Counsel he gave that Young Prince so Zealâ—us for the Glory of God that well he might have â—een compared to good King Josiah if God had â—een pleased to continue him a longer Life And â—ere again I must say that which cannot too often â—e Inculcated how certainly 't is every Prince's Duty â—ithin all his Dominions to Discourage Discountetenance Restrain and Punish all Vices especially the Sins of Uncleanness in general and of Adultery in particular to prevent the sad Effects thereof which so much Dishonour God and cause Disorders and Confusions in Families On the contrary nothing maketh us so like unto God as Holiness wherein chiefly his Image in us doth consist which that filthy Sin is so contrary to Holiness saith David becomes thine House Psal 93.5 O Lord for ever To come nearer our Constitutions I shall add out of the Book of the Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws first began by Order of Henry 8th and continued under Edward 6th In the Chapter of Adultery and Divorce we find these Words in the Original Turpitudo tam horribilis adulteriorum est uâ— aperte decalogi praecepto confossa sit c. Whereof the Sense in English is thus Cap. 1 fol. 47. The filthiness of Adulterie is so horrible as to be plainly condemned in one of the ten Commandments and according the Old Mosaical Lawsâ— the Guilty was Punished with being publickly Stoned 〈◊〉 Death by the People and also according to the Civil Law was put to death Wherefore our Ecclesiastical Judgeâ— ought most grievously and severely to Punish a thing sâ— odious unto God and on which our holy Ancestors inflicted special Pains and Punishments Hence it is plain how according unto the Laws of God given by the Ministery of Moses by the Practice of our forme good and just Kings even before the time of Reformation and since the Beginning of it in the day of Henry 8th and Edward 6th according to our Ecclesiastical Laws the abominable Sin of Adultery may not be spared which would prove an Encouragement to commit it but ought smartly and without mercy here among us to be Punished Now to go on we come to matters of Fact aâ— of Right before the Civil Power When Magstrates know the Transgression of Divine and Humaâ— Laws in relation to Adultery they are bound 〈◊〉 take notice of and use a course to prevent stoâ—â— and punish it Death was and still in some place is inflicted on the Adulteress but 't is a great miâ—igation to reduce it only to a Divorce By 〈◊〉 general Consent of all Nations which by the Law 〈◊〉 Nature might know how Sacred a thing Marriaâ—â— is not to be broken upon every slight Ground however in some certain Cases of which Adultery ever was one they all allowed of itâ— Romulus made a Law that it should never be Lawful for a Wife to leave her Husband but to him permitted to leave his Wife in some cases as of Adultery Witchcraft c. So that our Christian Magistrates if they will not make themselves worse than Heathens when a Husband is a Sufferer by the Injustice done him by his Wife and becomes a Plaintiff there ought to be a readiness in those concerned to hear his Cause to examine the Grounds and at last to do him Justice And this regardeth not only that sort of Magistrates that are intrusted only with the Executive part to see it done but also those in whom resides the Legislative Power to see that Laws be executed and also if Occasion and the Necessity of the Case requires it to make new ones Would to God Magistrates would take such effectual Care to Punish the Guilty in this kind according to Divine and Human Laws that no place might be left for Disputes and Questions The Adulteress is not worthy of Compassion only of Torments and Pains chiefly when she hath made unto her self an habit of that Sin and no man may have the Charity for the Guilty as to wish her not to be Accused for Adultery is a publick Crime which for it self and Terrour to others ought publickly to be Punished and Discountenanced And herein after private Admonitions proved useless to Dissemble is not praise worthy as some do fancy for this Vice introduceth Disorders into Families Scandals into the Church and Confusions into the State 'T is easy out of Antient and Modern History to Evidence how Fornication and Adultery have been the cause of the Overthrow of great Empires of Calamities to Potent Nations of the Ruin of great Persons and of very considerable Families Abimelech King of Gerar a Philistine who having nothing to do with the Covenant wanted the true fear of God yet how doâ—â— he reprove Isaac as if in this kind he had laid a Snare against him and his People for saying his Wife was his Sister (a) Gen. 26 9 10 11. What is this thou hast done unto us One of the People might lightly have lien with thy Wife and thou shouldest have brought Guiltiness upon us And Abimelech charged all his People saying he that toucheth this Man or his Wife shall surely be put to Death This was to secure both Isaac's Life and Rebeckah's Honour which last they would hardly have attempted upon but after the destruction of the first In Egypt Pharoah's words (b) Gen. 12. to Abram were to the same purpose upon the like Occasion So sensible they were how they ought not to meddle with another man's Wife as long as her Husband is alive and this was the Ground of Israel's fear for his Life thô thereby his Wife's Honour was the more