A LETTER of Advice TO A FRIEND, UPON THE MODERN ARGUMENT Of the Lawfulness of Simple Fornication, HALF-ADULTERY, AND POLYGAMY.  
LONDON: Printed for William Keblewhite, at the White Swan, in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1696.   

July 17. 1696. Sir,  
THE Discourse which happened in our Company last night, has obliged me to write this Letter to you. I am astonished to see such Paradoxes of Iniquity set up, and to prevail so unreasonably among Men who think themselves the greatest Masters of Reason. To think Polygamy and Fornication lawful; nay, and as some maintained (for there is no stop in wickedness) even Adultery too.  
There is nothing in this Matter; but that Men, having their Appetites unbridled, by any Restraint or Discipline of Religion, have given them a lose, are resolved to pursue them whithersoever they go; and invent the best Arguments they can to defend them. Nay, some come at last to believe what they have at first offered in jest, and to try what it would do. And it is a just Judgement, and often threatened by God, to give those up to follow their own Imaginations, who have no Pleasure in his ways; but, instead of loving them, and setting themselves, with the full force and strength of their Minds, Carefully and Diligently to follow them; and to take Pleasure in them: do, on the contrary, delight to Rally them and to hear Arguments set up against them, which is a sure Intimation of a dislike of them, and consequently a Contempt of him who enjoined them; nay, a hatred of him: for we cannot love him, and hate his Laws. We never saw him, and know him only by his Laws, and that Light of himself which he has given us therein. Therefore when we would transgress the plain Letter of the Law, as all the World has ever understood it, we can never be sure but that we are in the dismal Number, and under the heavy Curse of the Haters of God, unless we can bring an Authority which will out balance that upon which the Letter of the Law does stand. Now all the World has hitherto understood that both Fornication and Adultery are forbidden under the Gospel. And what is it which our Modern Wits have to oppose to this? Why (forsooth!) as you heard some of them say, that the same Word, in Greek, signifies Adultery and Fornication, which is a great mistake, otherwise than as it is in English, and in all Languages. There are general words which Comprehend both, as Whoredom, Uncleanness, and the like. But there are likewise particular words, which distinguish the particular Species of these from one another: and you have these reckoned up distinctly, Gal. 5.19. Adultery, Fornication, Uncleanness, Lasciviousness. And the Words Adultery and Fornication are as much distinguished in the Greek as in the English; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Adultery and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Fornication. And this poor and false Criticism, is sufficient to carry those who have strong Inclinations, to the hazard of their Souls, against the received and current Testimony of the whole World; whereas they would not venture a Penny against a Crown, were there half of that Odds against them.  
Let me next recollect to you, the Arguments they brought for their pretended Opinion, from Reason. I call it a Pretended Opinion, because though Men endeavour to amuse themselves, that they be not stopped in the hot pursuit of their Lusts, yet I cannot believe, that, in cool thoughts, any who has ever learned the first Principles of Christianity, can persuade himself (especially upon a Sickbed) that any Fornication or Uncleanness can be allowed in the Gospel, which requires the utmost Purity, not only of the Eye, but of the Heart. However, let us hear their Reasons. They urge from Justice, that there is no wrong to any third Person, where both the Parties are Single.  
But this Argument will have no Effect, unless they can annul the Commands of God, which Forbidden it. Because we are bound, and that in the strictest Justice, to obey God's Commands, even in things which are Indifferent in their own Nature. It was Death to neglect Circumcision, and other Legal Institutions. God sought to kill Moses himself for neglecting to Circumcise his Son. Exod. iv. 24.  
2. The Argument is false that there is no wrong done to any third Person in Fornication. For, it is a great wrong to the Parents, Relations, and whole Family. Let any Man judge of this, by the Resentment he would have against any who should Debauch his Mother, Daughter, or Sister, and against them so Debauched.  
3. If there was no wrong to any other, yet if it be a Sin, it is the greatest wrong to the Persons themselves; to Damn their Souls. And it is the highest Injustice as to this World; it ruins their Reputation: and this, especially in Women, is not only a shame (if they should be content to bear with that) but it is a Real Loss, and hindrance of their Fortunes; and though it should not be known, it is a great Injustice to the Man who shall Marry such a Woman. If any think little of this, let them consider how they would take it to Marry another Man's Whore; and let them do as they would be done to. But there is yet a greater Injustice, and that is, to the Person herself: for she that is once Debauched is laid open to the Temptations of others; and when forsaken by her first Lover, seldom returns to her Virgin Modesty, but seeks out, or is found by some other; and often goes on to common Prostitution; all which is, in Justice, chargeable upon her first Corrupter. And if, as many believe, the reason why Dives desired the Conversion of his Brethren, was not Charity to their Souls (for that is not found in Hell) but because his Punishments were increased to the same Degree that his evil Example did spread upon Earth, by which we must suppose his Brethren and nearest Acquaintance to be chief infected, this will be a terrible Consideration to those who do Corrupt others.  
What I have said as to Fornication, that is betwixt two Single Persons, will Operate more strongly against that New Notion of Adultery, which you heard advanced, viz. That Adulterium is quafis, ad alterius Thorum, i. e. to go to another's Bed; and therefore that betwixt a Single and a Married Person, it is Adultery only in the Single Person, who Invades the Bed of another.  
But this poor Quibble upon the Latin word Adulterium, is lost in the Greek Original of the Text, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. But as to the Reason of the thing, if the Single Person Invades, the Married does Defile and Betray the Bed of another: and moreover adds the Breach of the Solemn Vow to God, which is Exacted in the Office of Matrimony. Besides, if one be Guilty, both must; because it is a sin to be Accessary to the sin of another.  
Wretched are these shifts, which Men, bend to their own Destruction, have found out to delude themselves! But they will stand them in no stead at the Bar of the Great Tribunal: no nor qualify their Desponding Consciences upon their Deathbed; upon which, Men have a Notion of sinful Pleasures, when they are to be for ever separated from them, very different from that which they had while they were in the Pursuit of them: and those Arguments which then appeared favourable to the Gratification of their Lusts, will now be seen in their true Colours, to be nothing but Deceit and Fatal Delusion; like Promises which are said to be made to Witches by their Familiars, which are not discovered, till their Death, to have a double meaning; a False one to delude them with Hopes while they lived; but the True one always verified in their Destruction, when it is too late to Prevent it.  
When Men sin out of Human Infirmity, there is a Sting of Conscience always remains; which, by the Blessing of God, may some time or other Reclaim them: though it is the most extreme Danger and Madness, to go on in our sins trusting to this: For when Habits are grown strong, it is the utmost difficulty to return from them. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his Spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil, Jer. xiii. 23.  
But some to get rid of that terrible Monitor, a wounded Conscience (when they are resolved not to part with their Vices) do study, and greedily catch at Arguments, to alter the Nature of their sin (which cannot be altered) and so come at last to Persuade themselves that they are Persuaded of the Lawfulness, at least Tolerableness of a Darling sin; which therefore they Indulge, if not without all Reluctance, yet with less than they had before; and therefore think this a happy Conquest.  
But (alas!) it is a miserable one over themselves; and their Condition then is most Desperate, for this is a Corrupting of their Principles: and there is no Repenting or Returning from that sin which they think not to be a sin, or can find excuses for it, such as, for the present, shall satisfy them; at least stop the Mouth of a Clamorous Conscience. Balaam sought such an Excuse, and he found it: and He that seeks shall find in this wicked Sense, as well as in the contrary Sense of which our Saviour spoke it.  
And now let me Reason a little with you upon the Merits of this Cause. God is a Spirit, and therefore Spirit is more Real, more substantial than Body; and the true Pleasure is indeed but Spiritual, in that low Degree, by which our Spirit or Soul partakes of Pleasure by the Mediation of the Body; or the Body only by the Powers of the Soul, which enliven and actuate it; and from which it receives its Sensation; and therefore when our Soul is gone, the Body is no longer Sensible either of Pleasure or Pain; because the Soul acts no more by it. But those Pure Souls which act without the Encumbrance of Bodies, have a Perception much more Quick and Delicate than can be conveyed by such Gross and Elementary Body, as ours are rendered since the Fall. And therefore the Happiness which is laid up for us, is to be freed from the Dull and Terrestrial Bodies; and to have Spiritual Bodies given to us, fashioned like unto Christ's Glorious Body. This is our utmost Happiness, and thither all our endeavours should tend. And this is the gre●t end of our Religion, to wean us from the Body; to Fit and Prepare us for the Spiritual State: For we must be, in some sort, made like unto it before we enter into it; and that is to be done while we are in this Life. Now, of all sins, those of the Flesh are the most opposite to the Spiritual Enjoyment; and therefore the Flesh is to be kept under, even in our Lawful allowances; we may sin by excess in them: how much less than are Forbidden Pleasures to be allowed of? For all these do proceed from an Inordinate Affection; which of itself is a sin. Therefore, taking this matter from the bottom, you see the Reason of the severe Prohibitions against the sins of the Flesh; they are utterly inconsistent with a Spiritual Estate; they do, the most of all other sins, incapacitate us from the Spiritual Delight; they put us into a Frame quite opposite to it; and that is, to God: whom the Pure Hearts and Minds do only see (Matth. v. 8) for he is Spiritually Discerned. Therefore it is said Gal. 5.17. That the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other. And 1 Pet. two. 11. Dear beloved I beseech you, as strangers and Pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the Soul. Observe they War against the Soul: and the Reason why we should subdue them, is because we are Strangers and Pilgrims, that is, in this world; our Rest, our Enjoyment is not here; but we are ordained to be made partakers of the Divine Nature, but this shall be only to those who have escaped the Corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Pet. i 4. That is, either those who have not been guilty of it; or who have sincerely Repent, and returned from it; as Mary Magdalen, out of whom Christ cast seven Devils, Mar. xuj. 9 There are Evil Spirits (believe it) which Possess those who give themselves up to Uncleanness; and these must be Dispossessed before the Holy Spirit of God will enter; which will never descend to a foul and polluted Soul. This is the great Argument used, 1 Cor. 6. That our Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost; and Chap. 3.17. If any man defile the Temple of God, him shall God destroy. We are Members of Christ, shall I then take the Members of Christ, and make them the Members of an Harlot? This Consideration is Dreadful! The Body is not for Fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body: Here is great Honour given to our Bodies; the Lord has reserved them for himself, and himself for them. This is a great Mystery, and should strike us with astonishment! And from hence it may be argued, that when we abuse our Bodies we commit Adultery even against God; who is Married to us, Jer. 3.14. And to show the Hatefulness of this sin, Idolatry is all along through the Prophets called going a Whoring from the Lord, committing Adultery against him. And as this sin is most Provoking to God, so it comes nearest to ourselves, it affects us most of any other sin. Every sin that a man doth, is without the Body; but he that committeth Fornication, sinneth against his own Body. It is like putting hand on ones self, assaulting of our own Bodies. And God has punished this sin severely, in Samson, in David, in Solomon; the Greatest, the Wisest, the Bravest of Men. It was this sin of Lust, for which the World was Drowned, Sodom Burned, and the Canaanites utterly Destroyed, Leu. xviii. 27. God has poured greater Vengeance upon no sort of sin. Many late Examples might be given, King James I. in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Prince Henry, particularly observes that this sin is often punished with want of lawful Issue, or the Death of those we have; and he gives his Grandfather King James V for an Instance; who was much subject to Incontinency, and lost both his Sons most unfortunately, and left his Crown to an Infant Daughter. And, on the other hand, he observes how God had blessed himself with a greater Gift of Continency, and a numerous Issue. As he did in both respects to his Son King Charles I. But King Charles II. had not lawful Issue: and his un-lawful was a Grief of Heart to him, joining with the Seditious Party against him. How many Noble Families in England might be brought as Instances, to confirm this Observation, whose Honours are fallen, or gone into Collateral Families, for want of lawful Heirs, from the most remarkable Corrupters of the Marriage Bed? But I will not take up time in this. I refer you, for the Heinousness of this sin, and God's Punishments upon it, to the Homily against Adultery; and The Whole Duty of Man, upon this Head.  
I shall only observe that there is a kind of Evil Spirits, as our Saviour tells us, which will not be got out but by Prayer and Fasting; and certainly this of Lust is one of that kind. For while we Pamper our Body to that degree, that it is grievous to us to deny it a Meal of Meat; when shall we subdue it, and bring it under, that it may serve us, but not Master us; not overcome our Reason, to lay aside the Care of our Soul, which is Eternal, to gratify its Beastly Desires, which are but for a Moment? But the Gild never Dies, though the Body be laid in the Dust. How Foolish then, how Dreadful, how Sottish is it, to neglect the Eternal welfare both of Soul and Body, for nothing else but to give the Body a little swing now, after Childish and Transitory Follies! And how Reasonable is it, how Manly, how Christian to keep it under a fit Discipline; to Feed, but not to Pamper it; not to Destroy it, but to hinder it from Destroying itself, and us, that is our Souls with it! Whoredom and wine, and new wine take away the Heart, Hos. iv. 11. they incapacitate it from serious Consideration, or any Business that requires Thought, though even of this World; how much more than of Spiritual things! These are so opposite, that they cannot come into the same Mind together.  
And if a Man would be justly Laughed at, and Despised, who could not leave his Whore, or his Bottle to save his Estate, or any worldly Matter of great Moment; or to serve his Friend in a Point of Honour: If the Pleasures of the Body must be sacrificed to such Considerations as these; is it then so monstrously unreasonable that they should give place, but a little, to Matters of Eternal Moment! If we venture the Health of our Bodies, to sit up whole Nights upon Business; or it may be Good-fellowship, Cards or Dice; Reading Plays, or a Romance; with what Face can we pretend our Health as an excuse against Watching one Night, or but Part of one, in Divine Exercises, to Trim our Lamps, and fit us for the coming of the Lord! No, than we cannot keep our Eyes from closing; and we grow sick, that is weary of that Employment. And the Reason is, Sensuality takes away the Relish of Divine things; which cannot be apprehended but by a strong and settled Thought: and of all things, sensuality does most weaken the Mind, enervates, and takes all strength from it. How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou dost all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman? Ezek. xuj. 30. see a further Description of this. Prov. seven. and then read an account of that which is opposite to it, the true Wisdom, in the 8. Chapter. St. Paul said, 1 Cor ix. 27. I run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; But I keep under my Body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a Castaway. You see, he esteems it but an uncertain fight, and beating of the air to use all other Exercises of Religion, if we add not that of Mortifying the Body; and that, without this, he himself, notwithstanding of his great Labours in Preaching, his Travels and Persecutions, would be in danger of being a Castaway. And if he needed it, who can excuse himself? He, who was (one would think) in a continued state of Mortification: for Even unto this present hour (says he, 1 Cor iv. 11.) We both hunger and thirst; and are naked; and are buffeted; and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands, etc. And yet to hear Men excuse themselves from Fasting one Day in a Week, who live in Plenty and Ease; if that were all; but who plead the Vigour of their Body, and strength of their Constitution as an excuse for gratifying their Lusts; which, by these means, grow too strong for them! And therefore there is no hopes of persuading any man by Reason, to forsake his Lusts, unless he will first consent to Mortify his Body. The least measure can be advised are all the Fasts of the Church; and let each man's Zeal add to these as he sees Cause: without this your Lusts will never give you leave to be heard; but keep you in perpetual Hurry, and want of Thought. This is the Deaf Adder that stoppeth your Ears, and her own, against the Voice of the Charmer. It is not words will do it; this is a more stubborn Devil. We must set too our whole strength, and all our Application, and Fast, and Pray, and beg God's assistance; we fight for our Souls! we must not do it indifferently; and we must not be discouraged, if we do not presently Prevail. God may think fit to try us, and to show us the Danger we were in, and the Bitterness of sin, by the difficulty of returning from it, and overcoming long Habits; and to let us see our own weakness, that we have no Power of our seves, to help ourselves; and thence to teach us to put our whole Trust in Him; and apply Diligently unto Him, by earnest Prayer, and a careful attendance upon all His Holy Ordinances: and then, He will not Fail us; we shall presently perceive that we have gained Ground of our Enemy, and we shall overcome in the End. We have gone a great Length, when we are brought seriously to reckon our Lust as our Enemy: for than we shall begin to stand upon our Guard against it; and never till then can we deny it any thing, but follow its impetuosity, as a horse rusheth to the Battle; and violently Pursue our own Destruction; and nothing can stop us, but a Stronger than this strong man; an higher Relish of Divine than of Sensual things: till when Sensual things must prevail: and this true Knowledge of Heavenly Pleasure is obtained in Fasting and Retirement. Then it is that God works with us, when we are at Leisure to hear Him; and shall we deny Him such opportunity?  
All this may seem an Excursion, and leaving of the Argument; but it is not. Their Arguments for this sin are easily answered; and I have, in few words, answered them, for more needed not: but that which they most want is to be stirred up, and shaken out of their Lethargy. If once they come to Consider, their Conversion is half Effected; towards which I can only add my Prayers to what I have said in the small compass to which I confine myself. And I will now go on to consider the other Point, which you heard discoursed of, that is, Polygamy.  
This is bottomed upon the same lose Principles as the other; to give the Range to our Lusts, and let them endure no Limits. But it has more pretence than the other; because God did Dispense with it, as with Arbitrary Divorces, in many Ages of the World. But our Blessed Saviour reduces both back again to the Original Institution, Matth. nineteen. from verse 3. to the 10. From the beginning (says he) it was not so. How was it then? God at the Beginning made only One Male, and One Female. And, for this cause, a man shall leave Father and Mother, and shall cleave to his Wife; and they twain shall be one flesh. They Twain, here was but Two; this was the Original Institution; and this is applied to the Mystical Marriage betwixt Christ and his Church: even as to the Number Two, and no more. Eph. v. 31, 32. They two shall be one Flesh. This is a great Mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. This Parallel is made up by Two being joined in One; but not in One being joined to Many; it can hardly be said to be One with Many. There is a Rivalship of the Many to that One, and there is a Dispersion of the Love of the One among Many; and they cannot All partake of the One alike. This is no Perfect Union; like the Union of One and One, which is a full Perfect Union; and a true Emblem of the Union betwixt Christ and the Church. My Love, my Undefiled is but One? Cant. vi. 9  
The first who broke in upon the Original Constitution was Lamech, of the Posterity of Cain, who took Two Wives, Gen. iv. 19 But we find not that it prevailed in the Posterity of Seth; for, at the Flood. Noah, and his three Sons, had but each of them One Wife, who made up the Eight Persons in the Ark.  
And even when Polygamy was most in use, it was thought, though (in strictness) lawful, because then Dispensed with, yet an Imperfect, a Miserable, and Inconvenient State. Therefore Laban adjures Jacob thus, Gen. xxxi. 50. If thou shalt afflict my Daughters, or if thou shalt take other Wives besides my Daughters,— God is witness, etc. And Leu. xviii. 18. It is written, Thou shalt not take a Wife to her Sister, or, as our Margin Reads it, One Wife to another. This was the more Perfect State, though the other, for the hardness of their hearts, was Dispensed with, till Christ came to Restore all things, who gives a plain Rule Mark x. 11. against Polygamy, when he made it Adultery to put away one Wife and Marry another. For, if Polygamy be Lawful, how comes it to be Adultery to Marry another Wife, whether he put away the First or not? To put away a Wife unjustly is a Crime; but it is not Adultery; the Adultery is the Marrying of another while the first Wife is alive.  
Let every Man have his own Wife, and every Woman her own Husband, 1 Cor. seven. 2. and the Reason given for it, ver. 2, 3, and 5. is only applicable to Monogamy. If it be said that that was for the time to come; but did it Dissolve the Polygamies before Contracted? I suppose not; so that if a Man, who had several Wives, were Converted to the Christian Religion, it did not Divorce him from them all, or from all of them but One; but that he might keep those Wives which he had married before his Conversion: yet such a Man should not be Preferred to any Office in the Ministerial Function, and this I take to be no Improbable Construction of those Commands 1 Tim. three 2, and 12. that Bishops and Deacons must be the Husbands of one Wife, that is, though Polygamy did not incapacitate a Man to become a Christian, yet it did to be a Clergyman; at least it was so thought Expedient by the Apostle.  
And from the Apostles Times, to this Day, there is no one Doctrine of Christianity, which has Descended by a more Universal consent, and uninterrupted a Tradition, than this of Monogamy. Polygamy having never been allowed in any Christian Church or Nation: And yet against the Doctrine of Christ, as Understood and Practised by the Apostles, and the Church of that Age, and all the Ages since, our thin Beaux would oppose their little Criticisms; and cover themselves with Cobwebs; who one Day, if they Repent not, will call to the Hills and Mountains to fall upon them, and hid them from their Judge and their Gild. Who now being past feeling, have given themselves over unto Lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned of Christ, Eph. iv. 19 For (Chap. v. 5.) this ye know, that no Whoremonger (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adulterer) nor unclean Person hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ, and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience.  
FINIS.   

Books Printed for William Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul ●s Churchyard.  

BIshop King's Discourse of Inventions of Men in the Worship of God. Octave.  
— His Admonition to the Dissenters of his Diocese. Octavo.  
Mr. Clutterbuck upon the Common-Prayer, Explaining the Terms, Order and Usefulness of it. Octavo.  
Mr. Bramston's Sermon of Repentance. Quarto.  
Dr. Cockburn's Jacobs Vow, or Man's Felicity and Duty. Oct.  
— His enquiry into the Nature, Necessity and Evidence of Christian Faith. Octavo.  
The Condemnation of Monsieur Du Pin's Ecclesiastical History by the Archbishop of Paris, with his own Retractation. Quarto.  
Mr. Ray's Nomenclator Classicus for the use of Schools, Octavo.