From the natural Turpitude of it and the Evils and pernicious Consequences that attend it I. The first Assertion is that Fornication is a Violation of the positive Law of God in the original Institution of Marriage and this I shall endeavour to prove from Gen. 2. 23 24. where in the Relation of Eve's being formed out of Adam's Side there are these Words Adam said This is now Bone of my Bones and Flesh of my Flesh she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man And therefore shall a Man leave his Father and Mother and shall cleave unto his Wife and they shall be one Flesh. And for the better clearing of this Argument I shall proceed thus 1. I shall shew that God to provide against the Corruptions of Man's fal'n State when he had lost the original Perfection of his Reason by Sin did assist him in some Cases by Divine Positive Laws 2. That these Words mention'd Gen. 2. 24. have in them the Force and Authority of a Divine Law 3. I shall consider what the true Sense and Purpose of this Law is 4. I shall shew that Fornication is a certain Violation of it and must therefore be an heinous Sin and highly offensive unto God 5. Lastly I shall consider the Objections that are commonly made against this Argument from the Practice of some particular Men in ancient times that are nevertheless recorded to have had a singular share in God's Favor 1. I shall shew that God to provide against the Corruptions of Man's fal'n State when he had lost the original Perfection of his Reason by Sin did assist him in some Cases by Divine Positive Laws But here I would not be mistaken in my Meaning of a Positive Law By which Expression is commonly understood such a Command or Precept as ties Man up to Obedience in things of an indifferent Nature and where he was left at Liberty by the Laws of Reason This is the common meaning of this Phrase and things forbidden by Positive Laws in this Sense are therefore supposed to have no real Evil or Immorality in them And though it is certain that God did very early give Mankind some such positive Institutions yet I do by no means intend the original Institution of Marriage to be positive in such a Sense as to suppose that it has no Foundations in the Laws of Nature or the Principles of Reason for that it most certainly has But my Meaning is that to prevent either Ignorance or any Misconstruction of the Laws of Reason in favour of Man's Lusts God was pleased to confirm some of the Principles of Reason by Revelation and strengthen the Laws of Nature by Positive Institution For we must consider that the Laws of Nature or Reason are either 1. Such general Precepts and obvious Inferences from them as every considering Man may see and be convinced of their Obligation Or else 2. Such Remoter Principles of Virtue and Goodness which though they have their Foundation in Reason yet they lie at a greater Distance from the first plain Notices and consequently must be found out by a more careful and difficult Deduction And tho' I do not at all doubt but that Man in that Perfection of Reason in which he was originally created was then a sufficient Guide unto himself in all these Cases Yet when humane Nature was corrupted and depraved he did then require some farther Help Then either Sloth Inconsideration Prejudice the Imperfection of his Reason now impaired by Sin and the Influence of his Passions and Affections to bribe and pervert his Judgment Might easily make him ignorant of such more distant Principles although they had their Foundation in the Laws of Nature For which reason our wise and good God of his wonderful Compassion and Love to Mankind was pleased to come in to our Assistance and to prevent the Influence of our Lusts enlightned our Minds by Revelation and confirmed and establish'd the Authority of some such natural Laws by making them also express and positive Institutions And this is the Sense in which I wou'd be now understood to speak of Divine Positive Laws Now the Jews were of opinion that God gave Adam several such Laws to direct him in things that were in themselves Good or Evil Because that Good or Evil of them was not obvious enough to the common Observation of Mens depraved Minds Such they esteemed the Case of incestuous Marriages which they say God forbid by express Law to Adam therein ordaining that after Mankind was so far multiplied that the Marriage of Brother and Sister was no longer necessary to the Propagation of Human Race they shou'd all from thenceforth become unlawful And when it shall be consider'd that the natural Immorality of them has been a Subject of Debate in several Ages It will be the more reasonable to conclude that there was some very early Positive Law that prohibited all such Because this is one of the Sins charged upon the Canaanites and their Example alleged as a Caution and Warning to the Israelites Lev. xviii 24. Defile not your selves in any of these things for in all these the Nations are defiled which I cast out before you Now when it shall be consider'd how difficult it has been thought in all Ages to evince the certain Immorality of such by the clear Evidence of any natural Law only in the Transgression of which the Canaanites were guilty It is more probable that God added the Authority of some Positive Law restraining both them and all Mankind in this respect And tho Sacrifices were not so in their Nature Good as to be of Perpetual Use and Everlasting Obligation Yet as they made up a considerable Part of the divine Worship of almost all Nations until the Incarnation of our Saviour so I think they also are no improper Instances in our present purpose What Law of Nature only shou'd dictate them is very hard to shew Reason indeed teaches to worship God after the best manner that we can But I cannot imagin that any Principle of Reason only teaches that to burn the Fat of Beasts or the Fruits of the Earth can be an acceptable way of honouring God or of expressing our Dependance and Thanks Or that the Light of Nature only cou'd ever guide and determin Mankind so universally to such Sacrifices Which our best Reason teaches us are in themselves not acceptable but only valued as Types and Figures of a better Sacrifice to come Nor can I believe but that the setting apart one Day in seven for the Worship of God our Creator was what he Ordained and Commanded from the beginning For tho some wou'd have those Words Gen. 2. 2 3. to be spoken by way of Anticipation yet that is precariously asserted and without any Proof Whereas there are several good Reasons to be alleged for the more early Original of that divine Institution 1. Because the reason of keeping that Day holy is so expresly founded on the
shall appear that there is nothing in all this however plausible and promising it may look that will either prove Fornication Harmless and Innocent or exempt those who live in it either from great Guilt or severe Punishment This Objection will do them no good at all And that this is the Truth of the Case I doubt not will be very Evident The full Force of the Objection is drawn 1. From the Practice of such Men as the Scripture celebrates for Holy Men. 2. From the Laws of Jews and other Nations not strictly and severely forbidding this Vice and binding Men up to the Strictness of this Law But 1. As for that Part of the Objection which is built upon their Remarks on the Actions of Good and Holy Men I have often wonder'd that the Debauches of our Age shou'd ever mention David's Miscarriage with Bathsheba as they do to excuse and countenance them For is it not as good an Instance to prove the Lawfulness of Murder and Treachery as of Adultery Or is there any thing in that whole History that proves the Innocence of either Is there not a plain Declaration both of God's heavy Displeasure for this Sin of David's and also of his Signal Repentance 'T is true David is called a Man after God's own Heart But not for any such Action as this For it is said expresly 2. Sam. xi 27. The thing that David had done displeased the Lord. And God's Anger is at large declared against him in the xii Chapter All then that these Men can infer from hence is that the best of Men by the common Frailty of Human Nature and for want of due Vigilance and Circumspection over themselves may sometimes fall into very great Transgressions The Consideration of which shou'd never be alleged for our Justification but shou'd rather teach us to be the more Watchful and the less Censorious and whenever Men do fall it shou'd engage them to return to God by Repentance as David did Without this he had not been the Man after God's own Heart but instead of that had found the dire Effects of God's Displeasure and heavy Vengeance against this Sin And I wou'd earnestly recommend it to all those who have been guilty of David's Transgression to follow his Example in his Repentance and Contrition and Devout and Exemplary Humiliation As for the other Instances they mention of Abraham and Jacob and Solomon and Jephtha that had Concubines and yet are Characterized in Scripture for Good Men and highly favour'd of God I must observe one thing by the way viz. That what the Scripture calls Concubines were not Women that prostituted themselves but such as they took upon a Solemn Contract and Covenant as Wives And sometimes they are expresly so call'd As particularly Gen. xvi 1. Sarah had an Hand-maid an Egyptian whose Name was Hagar and she gave her to her Husband Abraham to be his Wife And again Gen. xxv 1. Abraham took a Wife and her Name was Keturah And yet in Verse the 6th she is called a Concubine and also 1 Chron. 1. 32. To the better understanding of which it is remarkable what a Jewish Doctor has said upon this Place as a Reverend Father of our own Church has cited him out of Mr. Selden She was his Concubine because of her Servile Condition but his Wife because married with Covenants to provide for her and her Children So Grotius tells us that they were such Servants or others of a low Rank whom they married upon Contract giving them a Dowry and tho' their Children did not inherit they had Portions allotted them out of their Father's Inheritance and were inferior to other Wives only in their Dignity i. e. because they once were Servants Agreeably to this we read Gen. xxv 5. Abraham gave all that he had i. e. the Sum of his Inheritance to Isaac but unto the Sons of the Concubines he had he gave Gifts and sent them away All therefore that can from hence be concluded is that Polygamy or the having many Wives was then practised and allow'd But this will make nothing at all for Fornication there being a vast Difference between such a Married Concubine and a Common Prositute The most that can possibly from hence be drawn to their Advantage is that these good Men and highly favour'd of God did not observe the Law we mention in any such Sense as we now put upon it For a farther Answer therefore to this whole Objection I wou'd offer these three things to be seriously consider'd 1. That tho' it shou'd be granted that Polygamy Divorce and even Fornication it self was tolerated by the Laws of the Heathens Jews or by the Customs of Ancient Times it does by no means from hence follow that any of these were in themselves Innocent and without Offence to Almighty God 2. That Fornication especially was never so tolerated by any of them as thereby to be absolutely Approved nor ever had so much Countenance but that we may find clear Evidence of its being accounted an Hateful and Detestable Vice 3. That whatever Connivance Indulgence or Exemption from Punishment God was pleased to grant upon the Transgression of this Law in Ancient Times he has now absolutely Revoked and made void all such and brought us to this his Original Institution We are under a more Perfect Law and a better Dispensation and therefore we are justly tied up to stricter Rules as the indispensable Condition of Salvation If these things can be clearly made out as I hope they may no Just Countenance or Excuse for this Wicked Practice can there be drawn from such Examples 1. That tho' it shou'd be granted that Polygamy Divorce and even Fornication it self was tolerated by the Laws of Heathens Jews or by the Customs of Ancient Times It does by no means from hence follow that any of these were of themselves innocent and without Offence to Almighty God And that because none of these were perfect Rules for the Government of Life in all things exactly according to God's Will 1. As to the Heathens if we speak of their General Manners and exempt the particular Virtues of some few Men we know very well that they had deviated from the Ways of Truth and Virtue and were fal'n into very great and abominable Corruptions They scarce retained any Knowledg of the True God and are therefore said to live as with out God in the World Eph. 2. 12. They had Gods many but their Notions of them were so monstrously Vile and Gross that instead of Restraining they rather Tempted and Invited them to the most Flagitious Immoralities If therefore such Men as these tolerated Whoredom and Adultery and all Uncleanness is their Conversation fit to be drawn into a President How cou'd it be otherwise with them unless their own Natural Modesty restrained them They had the Examples of their very Gods to countenance them and such Abominable Practices made up a chief Part of those Religious Rites
Strangers i. e. Women of Foreign Countries were tolerated in this Practice yet it was an Infamous and Flagitious Crime to corrupt one that was free-born and the Offender who shou'd so transgress was by the Law compell'd to marry her For this reason Perigrina or a Strange Woman was the usual and common Phrase for one that did thus prostitute her self And for the same reason the Scripture seems to have used the same Language Judges xi 2. Thou shalt not inherit in our Father's House for thou art the Son of a strange Woman Among the Romans tho' Cicero in his Defence of Caelius Excuses this Iniquity and says Quando hoc non factum Quando reprehensum Quando non permissum c. Yet this indeed is but labouring to make the best of a bad Cause in behalf of his Client for in his Accusation of Cataline and his Morals he makes it up a considerable Part of their Charge that He and his Companions were Aleatores Adulteri Impuri impudici Gamesters Adulterers Vnclean Vnchast And again ut comessationes scorta quaererent they hunt after Revels and Vnchast Women And how come so many sharp Reflections upon all such Manners if there had not been some great Evil some known certain Immorality therein I will add but one Passage more out of Heathen Authors and that I shall transcribe for its great Confirmation of the Difference between Lawful and Innocent things on which I ground my present Argument It is out of Porphyry de Abstinentiâ c. his Words are these The Law does not forbid the Common People to have Harlots but lays a Tax upon such Women for their Licence and Permission and yet it is accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very reproachful and infamous for Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but moderately Vertuous to have any Conversation with such Which plainly shews that whatever prevailed among the Heathen to the Permission of such a Vice was only Evil Custom and Corrupt Practice introduced contrary to the Dictates of their Mind and their Natural Sense of Good and Evil. As to the Jews I am of Opinion that all Fornication was absolutely forbidden by their Law For Deut. xxiii 17. it is commanded There shall be no Whore of the Daughters of Israel And tho' I am not ignorant that some learned Interpreters understand this Place to speak of and forbid any Israelitish Woman to prostitute her self in the Idolatrous Temples as the Custom of some Gentiles was yet as this Notion is chiefly raised from the lxxii Paraphrastic Translation of these Words so the Reason they allege for this Law comes up directly to our present Purpose viz. that God wou'd have his own People to abstain from the Leudness and Uncleanness of the Gentiles as well as from their Idolatry And if they were not allowed to commit Leudness with their own Women much less with Strangers because then the Danger was greater as well as the Sin in that by their Sensual Communication they might be seduced to Revolt and by their Leudness fall into Apostacy and Idolatry Thus it happened in their Abode in the Wilderness Numb xxv 1 2. The People began to commit Whoredom with the Daughters of Moab and thereby they call'd the People unto the Sacrifices of their Gods and the People did eat and bowed down to their Gods Which Aggravation of their Crime so incensed God that he sent a Plague among them And Phinehas in a singular Fit of Zeal slaying one of their own Princes and the Midianatish Woman caught in that Fault was applauded and approved of God whose Indignation was thereby appeased and a Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood given to Phineas on that Account And it is remarkable that St. Paul alluding to this Passage charges the Guilt upon their Fornication 1 Cor. x. 8. Neither let us commit Fornication as some of them committed and fell in one Day three and twenty thousand And to make appear that I have now put no stricter meaning upon the Jewish Laws than they themselves allowed and professed I shall give you one Passage which Grotius has transcribed out of Philo in vitâ Josephi Other Nations says he are allowed after fourteen Years of age in Cells and Stews to desile themselves with Women that are Prostitutes for Gain but we are not allowed any such With us Death is the Punishment denounced against her that shall prostitute her self So that before Lawful Marriage we have no Communication with Women but but come pure and chaste to the Marriage of pure Virgins not meerly to please our Lusts but for the Increase of our Offspring And as to the Ages before the Law I shall only mention the Action of Simeon and Levi who when Shechem had defiled Dinah their Sister slew not only him but all his People and plunder'd their City and vindicated this extraordinary Vengeance by the Notorious Heinousness of the Crime committed shou'd he deal with our Sister as with an Harlot Gen xxxiv 31. So unfit then are the Licentious Practices of former Times to be drawn into a President or to be alleged for the Vindication or Extenuation of this Vice that upon a little Observation we may easily discover what a Lively Sense all Mankind both Jews and Gentiles both before and after the Law have had of its being an Hateful Infamous and Detestable Practice I have one Step farther yet to go for 3. Lastly It must be consider'd too that whatever Dispensation or Connivance God was pleased to grant in former Times to this his first Law and Original Institution he has now Revoked and Repealed all such by the Gospel and bound us up to his Primitive Ordinance Divorce it is confessed he did permit not by Choice but for the Hardness of their Hearts to whom that Law was given Polygamy he did at most but Connive at not directly Tolerate or Allow And from the beginning it was not so there is the manifest Evidence of his great Dislike of it And now he says whom God hath Joined together let no Man put Asunder There 's the Revocation of all former Indulgence and Connivance and a Reestablishment of the first Law in its ancient and primitive force Thus God at first decreed that Man shou'd live And however those in an Obscurer Light have gone astray we Christians are now once more brought back to God's first Rule and must walk by it without any such wilful Deviations or we have no just Hope of the Mercy of God and the Salvation of our Souls by Jesus Christ. And whatever we may observe either Practised or Countenanced either before or under or after the Jewish Law we must say of it as St. Paul did of the Idolatry of the Gentiles Act. xvii 30. The Times of that Ignorance God winked at but now hath commanded all Men every where to repent in that he hath appointed a Day in which he will judg the World by Jesus Christ who has brought us out
of God in the Institution of Marriage in all the parts of it is founded on sound and good Principles of Reason Divorce countenances the imperious humours of ill natured Men and gives encouragement to them to make quarrels and dissentions with the first Wife whenever new Charms shall inflame them to desire a Second Polygamy divides that Love which ought to be entire and must and will inevitably be attended with that unequal Partiality towards one which will bring the others into contempt and hatred And the Jealousie of Rivals upon such occasions must needs bring Divisions and Distractions to a Family But our present business is only with Fornication And to shew that all the Laws and Precepts of the Gospel have their Foundation in the real difference between good and evil and are in themselves Beneficial and Profitable to Men let it be consider'd whether the Dignity and Honour of humane nature is not concern'd in our abstinence from this wicked and enormous Vice Wherein is it that Man excells Brutes and becomes in any respect a nobler and better not to say also a Diviner Creature Is it not in the more valuable faculties of the Soul In an over-ruling Will and a capacious Understanding in the power of Thought and Reason to which all inferior Passions and Affections were at first created in a due and orderly Subjection And does not to this day the true difference of our Natures consist in this that Reason is the ruling Principle in us and Appetite in them By which we become capable of better and nobler Actions of Communion with God in Heaven and a Conversation more Divine How then shall we vindicate the Dignity of our Diviner Nature but by keeping up the Dominion and Superiority of our Reason over the vile Affections and Inclinations of the Body Or in what can we more Dishonour or Debase our selves than in subjecting the noble Faculties of the Soul to the Tyrannic Usurped power of our depraved Appetites and Lusts And does not every wicked Man in Fornication and sensual Uncleanness do this Does Reason prevail Does Conscience or does Lust bear sway in him who gives himself up to the conduct of his loose and sensual Desires To follow the impulse of vile Affections and Inclinations and without restraint Debauch and Prostitute himself at the Instigation of his carnal Appetites What is this but to Dishonour his Nature level himself with Beasts degenerate into a Brute that has no Understanding and reproach both the Wisdom and Goodness of God who made him of a nobler shape and frame So that if Men wou'd think seriously and without partiality it were easie from the Principles of Reason and Natural Religion as well as of Reveal'd to discover that this is a shameful and detestable Vice But it will appear yet more odious if we give our selves the trouble of but a few short Reflections on the mischievous and pernicious Consequences that attend it 1. First then consider the unhappy calamitous fate of that spurious brood that happens to be born by this Vice Shame Infamy and great Disgrace tho the least of all these Evils are such as the wiser Heathens had very deep and lively Apprehensions of To this purpose Plutarch in his Treatise of the Good Education of Children has these Words That they who desire to have Children well esteemed and of Good Repute ought by no means to cohabit with common Women that Prostitute themselves For they who either by Father or Mother are infamously born will have that indelible Infamy attend them all their Life long and be a ready occasion always at hand to every one that has a Mind to affront and reproach them But indeed this Evil does not affect only the Character and Credit of the Children so born but sometimes it becomes a means of infecting their Bodies and shortning their Lives while they labour under Calamitous Infirmities and bring Rottenness and Abominable Putrefaction into the World with them Nay sometimes the Son of Fornication falls an early Sacrifice to conceal his Mothers Shame and as one great Evil too commonly is followed by another this enormous Vice often becomes the Introduction to Unnatural Murder And he who begets such an Illegitimate Child is inevitably injurious and unjust to his own Offspring in that by the Baseness of his Birth he is cut off from all Title or Claim to the Inheritance of his Father's Fortune and Honour which by the Original Laws of God and Nature the Offspring of Man shou'd have a Right and Title to And indeed what farther Evidence can we have of the Hateful and Detestable Apprehensions which all Mankind in all Ages ever had of this Enormous Practice than this That the Children of Fornication have in all civiliz'd Governments been Neglected and Disregarded nor allow'd any Pretence of Title or Claim to the Inheritance of their Father These very Laws and Constitutions of almost all Nations of the World are a most Certain and Irrefragable Proof that this Vice always was detested and abhorr'd by them And yet there is a worse and far greater Calamity that commonly attends the unhappy Children of such Ungodly Parents And that is that either the want of Natural Affection or Shame and a Consciousness of Guilt in the Parents occasion a certain Neglect and Disregard of the Childrens Virtuous and Religious Education And every one that seriously considers the mighty Influence which Education has to make Men either Good or Bad must confess that the Mischief of this Neglect is very deplorable and much to be lamented This for ought we know might be one great End and Purpose of God in the Original Law and Institution of Marriage By sanctifying which State and ordaining that Union to be inseparable and perpetual he lays so firm and Rational a Foundation for each Parents Affection to their Children as will always oblige them to be careful and solicitous for their good And that which seems much to favour this Conjecture is That God most certainly did provide not only for the Propagation and Increase of Mankind but also that it might be in such a manner as might best secure their being trained up in the Knowlege of him And as might most strongly oblige their Parents to instruct them in that Virtue and Piety which will at last bring them to the Eternal Happiness and Glory for which they were Originally designed And yet however necessary this good Education is in the Judgment both of God and Man it is morally impossible that the Children of Fornication shou'd be Religiously brought up Oftentimes either the Poverty or the Shame of the Parents cause them to be exposed in the Streets and consequently to be put out by the Parish where they are found And in such a Case they are thought to fare well if the Nurse to whose Care they are committed supplies them with Food and Raiment but few or none think themselves concern'd in the Good of the Child's Soul and to