to Jacob, and he went in unto her: and Laban gave him Rachel, his daughter, to wife, and he went in also unto Rachel."

The above quotation I have given to prove that marriage under the Jewish law, which bears the character of inspiration, was sanctioned by the man taking unto him the woman, and cohabiting with her, without any canonical ritual. The consent of the parties was sufficient: but then the man was forbidden to put his wife away all the days of his life-" Because. he had humbled her," Deut. xxii. 29. I shall now further prove, from Scripture, that God not only sanctioned polygamy, but blessed the offspring of the second wife during the life of a former one. David, when he had a child by Bathsheba during her husband Uriah's life, was severely reprimanded, and that child

struck to death by the immediate power of divine justice, 2 Sam. xi. 15. But Solomon, begotten by David, and born of the same woman, after Uriah's death, and in a state of polygamy, was called Zedediah, or "beloved of the Lord," and acknowledged by divine approbation as David's lawful issue, 1 Kings v. 5. and as such succeeded to his throne. For this and further particulars I must refer to Mr. Madan's works, who says, "All this shews that polygamy is not, nor ever was an object of the seventh commandinent. To assert that it is, is not only without evidence, but against all the evidence which the sacred writings afford us on the subject." I well know, priests pretend that the Gospel prohibits polygamy; but I cannot find such a prohibition in the evangelical writings: and, in my opinion, to say that our Saviour came

to alter the law of God, is irreligious in the highest sense, as it is positively declared by himself that he came to fulfil it: "I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it; and not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law." Let me ask, therefore, how any thing can be sinful that has received the sanction of such supreme and sacred authority?

In addition to the various opinions and quotations from Mr. Madan, I shall give one very strong and convincing proof that polygamy was sanctioned by the divine law, which I do not recollect that the learned divine, whom I have so often quoted, has mentioned in any part of his works. It is expressly said by St. Paul, 1 Corinthians, vi. 9. "Fornicators shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Now, if it had not been permitted a man to

VOL. I.

take unto him more than one wife at a

time, most of our Hebrew forefathers must have lived in a state of fornication, and consequent disobedience to the divine law.

I could adduce many instances to serve my purpose, and strengthen my argument, if one were not sufficient. Solomon, whose pre-eminent wisdom was the gift of heaven, would, in such case, have been begotten in fornication, and accursed by the Lord, instead of blessed; for he was born of a subsequent wife of David, during the life of various previous wives. Is not this another proof, in addition to Mr. Madan's assertions, that polygamy has received a celestial sanction, and that marriage by means of a priest did not then exist: for I read of no priest performing any ceremony when

David took unto him the wife of Uriah,

after his death.

To prove to you in what direct opposition the law of man, in this particular, is to the divine law, I shall now suppose a case:

A gentleman of considerable fortune and estate, not entailed, is enamoured of a young lady of fashion, and she of him. He tells her he wishes to make her his wife, but that he is adverse to the

present forms of matrimony, as solemnized by a priest: he requests her to read the Scriptures, and weigh well the subject in her own mind; and leaves her to determine whether she can consent to the primitive law of the Old Testament, which does not require the intervention of a priest, or any ceremony of ecclesiastical inven