for the historical sense was as yet undeveloped, and their exalted theory of the Bible as a whole made all parts of it sacred and binding alike.
All this was not immediately favourable to a high conception of marriage, for the standard of the Old Testament is not a Christian standard, and the sacramental doctrine of the medieval Church marked a great advance of Christian thought. There is something almost pathetic in the conflict between their Judaic standard provided by the Old Testament, and their Christian spirit inspired by the New.
When Fuller, following the plan of his quaint treatise on "The Holy State," would find an illustration for the guidance of Christian folk of "the good husband," he selects the polygamist Abraham, whose name stands in the sacred record in more than one morally dubious narrative. Fuller was neither a polygamist, nor a slave-holder, nor a champion of incestuous liberty; but he had to use much wit and some adroitness in order to keep out of view
