Page:Unlawfulmarriage00jane.djvu/207

Rh obscure. In consideration of the dispensation under which he lived, his conduct was, in some things, winked at. He might have more than one wife, and he might divorce his wives, and not be punished by the civil magistrate for his offence against the moral law. But to a Christian, who lives under the new and better dispensation, and enjoys the clear light of the gospel, polygamy is utterly unlawful; nor is he permitted to divorce his wife, except for fornication. What might, in the eye of the civil magistrate, be regarded as not unlawful to a Jew, is now known to be entirely unlawful to a Christian. It is important to keep this distinction in view. Neither Omicron nor the Puritan gave it due weight in the argument.

2. The question is to be settled by availing ourselves of the light of the gospel, and not by returning to the obscurity of the old dispensation. This seems perfectly obvious; and yet we have seen how both the Puritan and Omicron wish to try the question at the bar of Judaism, and in a Jewish court.

Our brethren plead, as an objection to our doctrine, that the lawfulness of the marriage under