John Trapp on Malachi 2:15

Verſe 15. And did not he make one] Another forcible argument againſt Polygamy, and adultery. See our Saviours explanation of it, Mat. 19.4, 5, 6. with the Notes there. The onely wiſe God made but one woman for one man at the firſt creation: and ordained that thoſe two ſhould be one fleſh, two in one fleſh, not three, or four, or as many wives as a man is able to maintain, as among the Turks, who (as a juſt hand of God upon them) are grievouſly vexed with jealouſie, not ſuffering their women to go to Church: nor ſo much as look out at their own windows:B[illegible: 1 letter]unt. 106. Or if they go abroad upon any occaſion, they muſt go muffled, all but the eyes. Sardus tells us, that the old Brittains would ten or twelve of them take one woman to wife. Belike women were rare commodities with them. As likewiſe men were in Judaea, when ſeven women took hold of one man, ſaying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparrel: onely let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach, Eſay 4.1. That is, we will maintain our ſelves and thee: onely be thou an husband to us, and let us have children by thee.

yet had he the reſidue of the spirit] Or, breath: ſo that he could as eaſily have made more, and breathed into their faces the breath of life. And although it is not ſaid of the woman, that God breathed into her the breath of life, as of Adam, (whence Tertullian concludes, that ſhe had both body and ſoul too from Adam) yet Auſtin rightly gathereth, that their ſouls were both alike imbreathed by God: 10. Lib ſup. Geneſ. Otherwiſe, the ſcripture would not have been ſilent in it, no more then it is in the new manner of the creation of her body. Thence alſo it is that Adam ſaith not, This is ſoul of my ſoul, but bone of my bone, and fleſh of my fleſh, Gen. 2.23. Souls are not propagated by the Parents, but created of God, and joined to the body, by an occult operation. Auguſtine following Origen, held the contrary for a long time. At length he began to doubt, and after a while changed his opinion: Hierom ſtoutly defending the contrary againſt him: Ariſtotle alſo underſtood the truth hereof, and concluded, that the ſoul was divine, and came from above: and. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Lib. 2. c. 9. de gen. anim. though of nothing, yet is it made a matter more excellent then the matter of the heavens, in nature not inferiour to the Angels. An abridgement it is of the inviſible world, as the body is of the viſible. And why may we not ſay, that the ſoul as it came from God, being divinae particula aurae, ſo it is like him? One, immateriall, immortall, underſtanding ſpirit, diſtinguiſht into three powers, which all make up one Spirit. In this reſpect it is ſaid, Gen. 9.6. that in the image of God made he man. There is a double image of God in the ſoul. One in the ſubſtance of it: this is never loſt, and of this that text is to be underſtood. The other is the ſupernaturall grace, which is an image of the knowledge, holineſſe, and righteouſneſſe of God, and this is utterly loſt, and muſt be recovered. This the ancient Heathens hammered at, when they fained that the ſoul once had wings: but, thoſe being broken, it fell head long into the body; where when it hath recovered it's wings, it flies up to heaven again. That was very good counſell given by a godly man to his friend, not to buſie his brains ſo much in enquiring how the ſoul entred into the body, as how it may depart comfortably out of the body. And ſeeing the ſoul is more excellent then the body, (ſaith another grave Divine) like as Jacob laid his right hand upon the younger, but his left upon the elder, ſo our beſt care, and the ſtrength of our thoughts ſhould be for the ſoul, younger as much as it is, then the body; they ſhould be but left-hand thoughts for the body.

and wherefore one? that he might ſeek a godly ſeed] Heb. a ſeed of God: not a baſtardly brood, a ſpurious iſſue, a Mamzer, as the Hebrews call ſuch, that is, labes aliena, a ſtrange blot, a ſeed of the adulterer and the whore, Eſay 57.3. but ſuch as God appointeth, and approveth, ſuch as may be holy, with a federall holineſſe at leaſt, if not ſanctified from the womb, as ſome have been, and are.: laſtly,1 Cor. 7.14. ſuch as in and by whom the Church and religion may be propagated and not idolatry ſpread and increaſed.

therefore take heed to your spirit] that is, to your wife, which is the reſidue of your ſpirit; keep and cheriſh her: ſo Remigius and Lyra interpret it. But they do better that expound it by that of Solomon, Keep thy heart with all diligence, Prov. 4.23. and by that of the Apoſtle, Mortific therefore your members which are upon earth, fornication, uncleanneſſe, inordinate affection, evil concupiſcence, &c. Col. 3.5. Theſe are thoſe that defile the man, Mat. 15.19, 20. Theſe make his heart a filthy dunghill of all abominable luſts, and his life a long chain of ſinfull actions, a very continued web of wickedneſſe, therefore take head to your spirits, that is, to your affections, keep thoſe pure and chaſte: abſtain from fleſhly luſts that fight againſt the ſoul. Take heed where you ſet gunpowder, ſith fire is in your heart. Auſtin thanks God that the heart and temptation did not meet together. Look well to the affections: for by thoſe maids Satan woes the miſtreſſe. Look to the cinque-ports, the five ſenſes: ſhut thoſe windows that death enter not in thereby. Take heed to thy fancy: we allow an horſe to praunce and skip in a paſture; which if he doth when backt by the rider, we count him an unruly and unbroken jade. So, howſoever in other creatures we deny them not liberty of fancy, yet wee may not allow it in our ſelves, to frisk and rove at pleaſure, but by reaſon bridle them, and ſet them their bounds that they ſhall not paſſe. The Lord quieteth the ſea, and turns the ſtorme into a calme, Pſal. 107.29. If then the voluptuous humours in our body (which is but as a cup made of the husk of an acorne in reſpect of the Sea) will not be pacified when the Lord ſaith unto them, Be ſtill, every drop of water in the ſea will witneſſe of our rebellion and diſobedience.

and let none deal treacherouſly againſt the wife of his youth] He had convinced them of this ſinne before, verſe 14. Now he admoniſheth them to abrenounce and abandon it. Lo this is the true method and manner of proceeding, in adminiſtring admonitions. The judgement muſt be convinced, ere the affections can be wrought to any thing: like as in the law, the lamps were firſt lighted, before the incenſe was burned: Firſt, know thine iniquity, and then turn from it, Jer. 3.13, 14. Exhortation is the end of doctrine, ſcience of conſcience, reformation of information, converſion of conviction: and wo be to thoſe that being convinced, or reproved for their faults, get the bit between the teeth, as it were, and run away with their rider. When I would have healed Ephraim, then his iniquity brake out (as if it were to croſſe me) like the leproſie in his forehead, Hoſ. 7.1. what can ſuch ſturdy rebels expect better, then that God ſhould reſolve, as Ezek. 24.13. as if he ſhould ſay, Thou ſhalt have thy will, but then I will have mine too: I ſhall take another courſe with thee, ſith thou refuſeſt to be reformed, hateſt to be healed: thou ſhalt pine away in thine iniquities, Levit. 26.39. O fearfull!