Marriage with a Defense of the 32nd Article of the Church of England, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. Of Adultery and Fornication, &c.
ALL ſin is accounted filthineſs and uncleanneſs, and compared to the filthieſt things, Scum, Mire, Vomit; but this ſin is ſignanter, call'd the fin of Uncleanneſs; 'tis caled alſo Abomination, Ezek. 22.11. and Neighing, Jer. 5.8. Theſe ſins are uſually ſecret ſins, and therefore moſt frequently committed, pleaſing ſins; ſtollen waters are ſweet, and bread eaten in ſecret: and men are prone to forget theſe ſins: the Whore wipes her mouth, and thinks all well. 'Tis obſerved, that the Sacrifice which was offer'd for the woman ſuſpected of Adultery, was call'd an Offering of Memorial, becauſe it was not offer'd to put away ſin, but to bring it to mind, or to remembrance, if it was committed. Adultery by God's Law, was puniſhed with death, either, as the Rabbins ſay, by ſtrangling, or they were to be thruſt thorough with a Javelin, as Phineas executed Zimry or Cosby; or they were to be ſtoned with ſtones, if the Damſel that was defiled was betrothed; ſee Deut. 22.23, 24. or elſe by burning with fire, if ſhe that played the Whore was a Prieſts Daughter, and in her Fathers houſe, Lev. 21.19. One expounds this, of hot Lead poured into her mouth: This puniſhment was called, Combuſtio animae; this puniſhment, they ſay, was uſed in after-times in imitation too of Gods puniſhing with Lightning, whereby the outward parts are not hurt, and the inward burnt up, as in the example of Nadab and Abihu.
If any wonder at what was ſaid before, (viz.) that the puniſhment of her that was betrothed, in caſe ſhe was defiled or vitiated, that it was greater by God's Law, than of her that was married; Grotius gives this Reaſon, Becauſe ſhe was not in her husbands cuſtody; as ſtealing a ſheep out of the field, was puniſhed more ſeverely, than ſtealing a ſheep out of the fold. Another Author gives theſe Reaſons, 1. Becauſe ſhe gave away her Virginity, which her husband moſt eſteemed. 2. She brake her promiſe in ſo doing, Deut. 22.23. 3. She wrought folly in her Fathers houſe, Deut. 22.19. 4. She was not only diſhoneſt to her husband in her firſt love, but diſhonoured alſo her firſt-born (whoſe honour and priviledge amongſt the Jews was very great) and you muſt not ſay her puniſhment ſhould be leſs, becauſe ſhe was not another mans wife, for ſhe is called a neighbours wife, Deut. 22.24. and therefore ſhe is ſaid, v. 22. to be married to an husband, as if the party were her husband before: If ſo, we know God accounts Idolatry commited by his people Advltery, although the Church is but, as it were, eſpouſed and betrothed to him here, and the wedding and wedding-ſupper to be in Heaven.
Amongſt the Nations, in ſome Countrys, Adultery was puniſhed by the loſs of both eyes; in ſome by death. Amongſt the Egyptians, by cutting off the noſe, if he vitiated a free woman. In ſome Country, illi virilia execantur: The which alſo, ſaith Alexander ab Alexandro, was uſed amongſt the Romans. The ſame Author, Gen. D. l. 4. c. 1. tells us, The Partbians puniſh no crime more grievouſly; that Opilius Macrinus condemned ſuch to be burnt with fire; and that amongst the Arabians and other Nations, Adultery was always puniſhed capitally: That divers Philoſophers have accounted Adultery a greater crime than Perjury. In the Chriſtian Church of old, thoſe that admitted ſuch to Communion who had fallen after Baptiſm, excepted thoſe who were guilty of Adultery, Murther and Idolatry. Many and great are the threats againſt ſuch ſinners in the holy Scripture; diſgrace and diſhonour is threatned to their name, waſting and conſumption to their bodies and eſtates, a dart ſhall ſtrike through their liver: Luſt is lodged in the Liver, and there it is eſpecially puniſhed; Whoremongers and Adulterers, eſpecially, God will judge, Hebr. 13.4. Neither Fornicators, nor Idolaters, &c. ſhall inherit the Kingdom of God, 1 Cor. 6.9.
Dr. Heylin our Hiſtoriographer, writing of them any diviſions in Hungary, into Romaniſts, Lutherans, Calviniſts, Yet, ſaith he, all theſe different parties do agree in this, to puniſh Adultery and Fornication with no leſs a puniſhment than death; the Father forcing his Daughter, the Husband his wife, and the Brother his Siſter to the place of Execution, H. G. p. 542. King James in his Advice to the Prince, with much zeal dehorts him from this ſin of Uncleanneſs, p. 74. &c. Hear God (ſaith this Engliſh Solomon, this King-Preacher) commanding by the mouth of St. Paul, to abſtain from Fornication, declaring that the Fornicator ſhall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven; and by the mouth of St. John, reckoning out Fornication amongſt other grievous ſins, that debars the Committers, amongst Dogs and Swine, from entry into that ſpiritual and heavenly Jeruſalem. And becauſe, ſaith he, ſibbeſt examples touches us neareſt, conſider the difference of ſucceſs that God granted in the Marriages of the King my Grandfather, and me your own Father; the reward of his incontinency (proceeding from his evil Education) being the ſudden death, at one time, of two pleaſant young Princes, and a Daughter only born to ſucceed him, whom he had never the hap ſo much as once to ſee or bleſs before his death; leaving a double curſe behind him to the Land, both a Woman of Sex, and a new born Babe of age to Reign over them. And as for the bleſſing God hath beſtowed on me, in granting me both a greater Continency, and the fruits following thereupon, you ſelf and ſib folks to you, are (praiſe be God) ſufficient witneſſes. And page 81. Have the King my Grandfathers example before your eyes, who by his Adultery, bred the wreck of his lawful Daughter and Heir, in begetting that Baſtard, who unnaturally rebelled, and procured the ruine of his own Sovereign and Siſter. And this brings to mind, that excellent Captain-General Gideon, who had by his Wives Threeſcore and ten Sons, and by his Concubine but one, viz. Abimelech, and he ſlew all theſe Threeſcore and ten Sons, except Joaſh, who eſcaped his hands, Judg. chap. 8 & 9. 'Tis a ſin to beget a Baſtard, and a ſhame to be born one. 'Tis noted on Job 31. 10. where Job ſaith, Let my wife grind unto another man, and let others bow down upon her; the Septuagint render the laſt words, Let my children be abaſed. Jeptha, though a valiant, and a gallant, and good man, yet is recorded the baſe Son of Gilead, Judg. 11.1. 'Tis a reproach to be thus born, in Scripture-Heraldry; notwithſtanding I have been told, that William the Conquerer, King of England, did uſe to ſtile himſelf, Gulielmus Baſtardus Rex Angliae, &c. God forbad a Baſtard to enter into the Congregation of the Lord, to bear any Office, until the tenth Generation, Deut. 23.3. Yet that ſuch perſons may not be diſcouraged, let them know we have one example, though but one, and that is the example of Jeptha, a Judge, and a valiant man, and one eminent for his Faith, Hebr. 11.32. ranked amongſt David, Samuel and the Prophets. 'Tis a blot to be baſe born, but this may be taken away, in a great meaſure, by good Education. And then, ſaith one, this ſhould be no more a blot unto them, than if they wanted a hand or a leg; and as we blame not the ſtollen ſeed, when it is ſowen and groweth up, but thoſe who ſtole the ſeed, ſo we ſhould not blame the Child begotten out of Marriage (if he follow not his Fathers footſteps) but only his Father who begat him. There hath been, ſaith he, profitable men in the Church, who have been baſely born, as Lumbard, Gratian, and Petrus Comeſtor, the Sons of one Whore, and Darius Nothus among the Perſian Kings, and Hercules, Weem 3 Vol. p. 145. I know the Jews ſtood upon their Pantofles, and took it in great dudgion, that our Saviour ſhould tell them, they did not act like the Children of Abraham; they retort preſently, John 8.1. We are not born of fornication. Yet I ſhould diſſwade from caſting ſuch an ones birth into his diſh, or into his teeth, becauſe never in his power to help it: And I ſhould exhort ſuch who are ſo baſe born, to endeavour to be born again, and then they are truly Noble and Honorable, the Sons of God, and Co-heirs with Jeptha the Saint of the Lord.