«notwithstanding." This would make the ye complete, and probably procure the miffionary, what he would richly deferve,

an

*Since I finished the manufcript of these papers, I have met with a book, which made a great noife in Europe at the latter end of the last century; its title is -Polygamia Triumphatrix, in which is the following remarkable paffage: "Taceo quod multi Gentiles, & "Turcæ, apud quos polygamia viget, ad Chriftianam "fidem fint acceffuri, fi polygamia apud nos non effet

prohibita. Sicuti conftat uti vir diffufiffimæ erudi"tionis Gifbertus Voetius teftatur, quod totum regnum "Conchinum una cum rege ad Chriftianam fidem fuiffet "converfum, nifi Jefuitæ in fuis concionibus jam

σε

dum converfos a polygamia dehortati fuiffent, & σε regi ipfi perfuadere voluiffent quod ipfe omnes uxores excepta unica, fi Chriftianus fieri vellet, fint deferendæ. Quæ res adeo movit ipfum regem, ut omnes illos apoftolos, uti audire volunt, cum apoftolica, feu potius chimerica doctrina ejecerit. De .. quo damno ecclefiæ illi hoftes, non tantum polyચંદ gamias, fed etiam matrimonii, refpondebunt ali"quando in extremo judicio."

"I mention not that many Gentiles and Turks, among whom polygamy is much ufed, might come over to the Chriftian faith, if polygamy were not "prohibited among us. Gibert Voetius, a man of "most extenfive erudition, teftifies, that the whole "kingdom of Tonquin, together with its king, might "have been converted to the Chriftian faith, unless "the Jefuits had in their difcourfes diffuaded thofe "who had been already converted, from polygamy; "and even chofen to perfuade the king himself, that

he must put away all his wives except one, if he "would become a Chriftian: which fo provoked the

king, that he caft out all thofe apoftles (as they "would be called) together with their apoftolical, or "rather chimærical, doctrine. For which lofs to the "church, thofe enemies, not only of polygamy, but " even of matrimony, will anfwer at the great day."

Lord

an hearty baftinado for his pains. That any rational beings can be brought to believe fuch abfurdities in any part of the globe, is one fad proof of the afcendency which fuperftition has over the minds of men, and of the small pains which in general are taken by them to inform themselves in matters of the higheft confequence; of 'which I fhall next proceed to treat, in the following chapter.

I will only obferve here, however strange

Lord Kaims, Hift. of Man, vol. i. p. 197. obferves, that among the moft zealous Chriftians in the kingdom of Congo, polygamy is in ufe as formerly, when they were Pagans; and 'that fooner than give it up, they would renounce Christianity.

Bellarmine, De Matrim, c. 12. very pionfly faith"Ob folam polygamiam infideles a baptifmo & toto "Chriftianifmo arcendi." That infidels who use "polygamy, are for that fole caufe to be driven from "baptifm, and from the whole of Chriftianity.Query-If this be not to train out a gndt, and swallow a camel?

In c. To. of the fame book, the fame Bellarmine faith-Polygamia non repugnat juri naturæ, quod "eft divinum, quod unus vir ex pluribus fœminis "liberos poffit fufcipere & alere."" Polygamy is "not repugnant to the law of nature, which is di"vine, that one man might beget and bring up children by more women than one."

4

Contradiction muft ever be found, where people err from the one confiftent truth of GOD.-Hence it is no wonder, that, notwithstanding all the bitterness of that gloomy mifogamift Jerome, againft even marriage itfelf, in his writings against honeft Jovinian, that he fhould fay, when writing to Pammachius-Non damno polygames." I do not condemn polygamists.”

it

*

it may feem, that our notions relative to the commerce of the fexes, are by far more friendly to polygyny, than the Turkish system of polygamy is. A Turk may take one or more wives; but then they are kept in his haram as his inviolable property-no eye of a stranger can ever behold them, and they are maintained and provided for, as liberally as the man's circumstances will permit. Whereas, among us, a man may take as many women as he can feduce, and abandon them whenever he pleases; they can claim no property in him, nor he in them; he turns them upon the common, either to starve with hunger, or rot by proftitution. That this is against the law of GOD, is very clear; but there is nothing in our law which can either prevent or remedy it. Had we, at the Reformation, adopted the law from Mount Sinai, inftead of that from the council of Trent, relative to marriage, fuch things could not exist.

With regard to the depredations which are made on married women, how may the Mahomedans fhame us! So facred are women in India, that, even in the midst of

*By polygyny (from Toxus, many, and yuvn, woman) is meant-the having more women than one, without marriage or other obligation towards them.

By polygamy (from Toxus, many, and yapos, marriage) is meant the having more wives than one.

flaughter

flaughter and devastation, the common foldier leaves them unmolested; the haram is a fanctuary against all the licentioufnefs of victory; and ruffians, covered with the blood of an husband, fhrink back, with veneration, from the fecret apartment of his wives. But this is not confined to India. At Conftantinople, when the Sultan fends an order to ftrangle a state criminal, and to feize on his effects, the ruffians who execute it enter not into the haram, nor touch any thing belonging to the women. See Alexander, Hift. of Wom. p. 191.

*

In short, we may boaft of our monogamy, and condemn polygamy-but there is not a nation under heaven, where polygyny is more openly practifed, than in this Chrif tian country; for though a man can marry but one at a time, he may have as great a variety of women as he pleases, without ever marrying at all. This is fo inveterated by cuftom, that thofe laws of Heaven which

* It was a bitter farcafm on the Chriftians, which was uttered by Mehemet Effendi, the last Turkish ambaffador in France-" We Turks" (fays he) "are great "fimpletons, in comparison of the Chriftians. We

66

are at the expence and trouble of keeping a feraglio, each in his own houfe; but you eafe your"felves of this burden, and have your feraglio in your friends' houses."-See HUME's Eays, 3d edit. vol. i. p. 252. How far we have been imitating the manners and customs of the French, fo as to make ourfelves objects of the above reflection, I leave to others to determine.

were

were made to prevent it, feem to be totally forgotten.

I will conclude this chapter with a summary of its contents, which are all reducible to one general rule.-GoD's ordinances, being of His own appointment, are folely under His own authority; fo that men cannot change or alter them, either with refpect to themselves as to the matter of them, or as to their operation, force, and effect. Marriage is an ordinance of GOD, of His own appointment, both with refpect to the thing itself, and its operation, force, and effect, with refpect to us therefore, as to thefe, is folely under God's authority, and cannot be changed or altered by human laws. As the fubftance of the bread and wine in the LORD's fupper, remained the fame after confecration as before it, notwithstanding the bloody edict of Henry VIII. above mentioned; fo marriage remains, as to the matter, force, effect, and obligation of it upon the parties, just the fame in the fight of GOD now, as before 26 Geo. II. c. 33.

As no human law can change any ordi nance of GOD, fo neither can it change any truth of GOD.I firmly believe, that the 39 articles of the church of England con tain, in point of doctrine, the truth of GOD; but I do not believe this one jot the more because they are enacted by authority