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| By the Circumcision of Abraham, Marriage with Sisters Forbidden; In the Times of the Prophets Polygamy Put a Stop To; Conjugal Purity Itself by Degrees Enforced.
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Chapter
III.—By the Circumcision of Abraham, Marriage with Sisters
Forbidden; In the Times of the Prophets Polygamy Put a Stop To;
Conjugal Purity Itself by Degrees Enforced.
If, however, any one should venture to find fault
with our argument as destitute of Scripture proof, we will bring
forward the writings of the prophets, and more fully demonstrate the
truth of the statements already made. Now Abraham, when he first
received the covenant of circumcision, seems to signify, by receiving
circumcision in a member of his own body, nothing else than this, that
one should no longer beget children with one born of the same parent;
showing that every one should abstain from intercourse with his own
sister, as his own flesh. And thus, from the time of Abraham, the
custom of marrying with sisters has ceased; and from the times of the
prophets the contracting of marriage with several wives has been done
away with; for we read, “Go not after thy lusts, but refrain
thyself from thine appetites;”2515
for “wine and women will make men of
understanding to fall away;”2516
and in another place, “Let thy
fountain be blessed; and rejoice with the wife of thy
youth,”2517
manifestly
forbidding a plurality of wives. And Jeremiah clearly gives the
name of “fed horses”2518
to those who lust after other women; and
we read, “The multiplying brood of the ungodly shall not thrive,
nor take deep rooting from bastard slips, nor lay any fast
foundation.”2519
Lest, however, we should seem prolix in collecting
the testimonies of the prophets, let us again point out how chastity
succeeded to marriage with one wife, taking away by degrees the lusts
of the flesh, until it removed entirely the inclination for sexual
intercourse engendered by habit. For presently one is introduced
earnestly deprecating, from henceforth, this seduction, saying,
“O Lord, Father, and Governor of my life, leave me not to their
counsels; give me not a proud look; let not the greediness of the
belly, nor lust of the flesh, take hold of me.”2520
| 2520
Ecclus. xxiii. 1, 4, 6. | And in the Book of Wisdom, a book
full of all virtue, the Holy Spirit, now openly drawing His hearers to
continence and chastity, sings on this wise, “Better it is to
have no children, and to have virtue, for the memorial thereof is
immortal; because it is known with God and with men. When it is
present men take example at it; and when it is gone they desire
it: it weareth a crown and triumpheth for ever, having gotten the
victory, striving for undefiled rewards.”2521
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