priests, to marry; and hence we conclude, that there is no natural inconsistency, or even unsuitableness, between the married state and the duties of the ministers of religion.

There is not a single text in the New Testament which can be interpreted into a prohibition against the marriage of the clergy under the Gospel dispensation, but, on the contrary, there are many passages, from which we may infer, that they are allowed the same liberty upon this sub ject as other men enjoy. One of the twelve Apostles, namely St. Peter, was certainlya married man (a); and it is supposed that several of. the others were likewise. Philip, one of the seven deacons, was also a married man (b); and if Christ did not require celibacy in the first preachers of the Gospel, there is no reason to think that it is necessary in their sucSt. Paul says, "Let every man have his own wife (c);" and that, "marriage is honourable in all (d)," without excepting those who are employed in the public offices of religion. And he expressly says, that "a bishop must be the husband of one wife (e);" and he gives the same direction concerning elders (ƒ) or

cessors.

2.

(a) Matt. c. 8. v. 14.
(c) 1 Cor. c. 7. v.
(e) 1 Tim. c. 3. v. 2.

priests,

(b) Acts, c. 21. v. 8 &

(d) Heb. c. 13. v. 4.
(f) Tit. c. 1. v. 6.

priests, and deacons (g)." When Aquila travelled about to preach the Gospel, he was not only married, but his wife Priscilla accompanied him (h); and St. Paul insists that he might have claimed the privilege" of carrying about a sister or wife (i), as other Apostles did."-The "forbidding to marry (k)" is mentioned as a character of the apostasy of the latter times. Hence it appears, that BISHOPS, PRIESTS, AND DEACONS, ARE NOT COMMANDED BY GOD'S LAW, EITHER TO VOW THE ESTATE OF SINGLE LIFE, OR TO ABSTAIN FROM MARRIAGE, that is, they are not bound at the time of their ordination to vow, or enter into a solemn engagement, that they will not marry, or to abstain from marriage without any such vow.

THEREFORE IT IS LAWFUL FOR THEM, AS FOR ALL OTHER CHRISTIAN MEN, TO MARRY AT THEIR OWN DISCRETION, AS THEY SHALL JUDGE THE SAME TO SERVE BETTER TO GOD

LINESS. This is a necessary consequence of the former part of the Article, since it is not competent to the church to deprive the clergy of any of those natural rights in which Christ has left them free; or, if it should be contended that any church may prohibit its clergy from marrying,

(g) 1 Tim. c. 3. v. 12.
(i) 1 Cor. c. 9. v. 5.

(h) Acts, c. 18. v. 2. (k) 1 Tim. c. 4. v. 3.

ing, it undoubtedly has no authority which can be binding upon succeeding times, or upon Christians of other communities. We admit of no laws of perpetual and universal obligation, which are not founded in Scripture.

It is certain that the ministers of the Gospel were allowed to marry for several centuries after the days of the Apostles (1). There are now extant two books of Tertullian, a presbyter of the second century, addressed to his wife; and we have also a letter from Hilary of Poictiers, written to his daughter when he was in exile, and from what can be collected concerning her age, it seems probable that she was born when he was bishop. At the same time it must be owned that many things are said in praise of a single life in the writings of the antient fathers, and that some attempts were made very early to impose celibacy upon the clergy. The allowed necessity of a Christian's separating himself from the criminal pleasures and pursuits of this world, soon connected the ideas of holiness and solitude; and the reputed sanctity of those persons who condemned themselves to live alone in the deserts, attached a degree of merit to celibacy, and by degrees led to those monastic institutions which have produced such various mischief, though not without

(1) Vide Bingham's Ant. b. 4. c. 5.

without a mixture of some good. Siricius, who according to Dufresnoy, died in the year 399, was the first pope that forbade the marriage of the clergy; but it is probable that this prohibition was but little regarded, as the celibacy of the clergy seems not to have been completely established till the papacy of Gregory the Seventh, at the end of the eleventh century, and even then it was loudly complained of by many writers. The history of the following centuries abundantly proves the bad effects of this abuse of church power.

ARTICLE THE THIRTY-THIRD.

Of excommunicate Persons, how they are to be avoided.

THAT PERSON, WHICH, BY OPEN DENUNCIATION OF THE CHURCH, IS RIGHTLY CUT OFF FROM THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, AND EXCOMMUNICATED, OUGHT TO BE TAKEN OF THE WHOLE MULTITUDE OF THE FAITHFUL AS AN HEATHEN AND PUBLICAN, UNTIL HE BE OPENLY RECONCILED BY PENANCE, AND RECEIVED INTO THE CHURCH BY A JUDGE THAT HATH AUTHORITY THEREUNTO.

IT is an essential property of every society, that it has power to make such laws as are necessary for its preservation and support, according to the end and design for which it was originally formed; and every society has also power to punish those who offend against its laws. This power of punishment must always extend to the "cutting off" those who, by their conduct, have proved themselves unworthy to continue members of the society. Thus, every civil government has the power of inflicting banishment or death, where the heinousness of the crime will

justify