(1.) That, some sin or other is often expressly mentioned, as the occasion hereof. Thus Abraham’s taking Hagar, was occasioned by Sarah’s unbelief; because the promise of her having a son was not immediately fulfilled, Gen. xvi. 1, 2. And Jacob’s taking Rachel to wife after Leah, and his own discontent arising from it, was occasioned by Laban’s unjust dealing with him, and his going in unto Bilhah, was occasioned by Rachel’s unreasonable desire of children; and his taking Zilpah, by Leah’s ambitious desire of having pre-eminence over Rachel, by the number of her children, chap. xxix, and xxx. (2.) This was generally attended with the breach of that peace, which is so desirable a blessing in families, and many disorders that ensued hereupon. Accordingly, we read of an irreconcilable quarrel that there was between Sarah and Hagar; and Ishmael’s hatred of Isaac, which the apostle calls _persecution_, Gal. iv. 39. And to this we may add, the contentions that were in Jacob’s family, and the envy expressed by the children of one of his wives, against those of another; and the opposition which one wife often expressed to another as that of Peninnah, one of the wives of Elkanah, to Hannah, the other. Therefore we must conclude, that Isaac’s example is rather to be followed in this matter, who had but one wife, and he loved her better than many of the patriarch’s did theirs; whose love was divided among several. _Object._ 1. If polygamy was a sin against the light of nature, it is strange, that it should be committed by good men; and, that they should live and die without repenting of it, nor be, in the least, reproved for it; as we do not find that they were, in scripture. _Answ._ It was indeed, a sin, which they might have known to be so, had they duly considered it, in all its circumstances and consequences; but this they did not; and therefore it was not so great a sin in them, as it would be in us, who have clearer discoveries of the heinous nature of it. Therefore, if we suppose they repented of all sin agreeably to the light they had, they might be saved; and this, though unrepented of, was no bar to their salvation, supposing they knew it not to be a sin; and God’s not having explicitly reproved them for it, argues only his forbearance, but not his approbation of it. _Object._ 2. It is farther objected, that God says, by Nathan, to David, _I gave thee thy master’s wives into thy bosom_, 2 Sam. xii. 8. therefore, that which God gives, it is not unlawful for man to receive.