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* 
 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
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 Presented by Mr. Samuel Agnew of Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Division 
 
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 Number 
 
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INCESTUOUS MARRIAGE. 
 
DISSERTATION 
 
 ON 
 
 THE MAREIAGE OF A MAN 
 
 s 
 
 WITH 
 
 HIS SISTER IN LAW, 
 
 BY JOHN H. LIVINGSTON, D. D. 
 
 S T P. 
 
 Ye shall do my Judgments, and keep my Ordinances, to 
 'valk therein : I ara the Lord your God Levit. xviii. 5. 
 
 WE \V.B RUNS WICK: 
 
 PRINTED BY DEARK & MTER 
 
 1816. 
 
District of New- Jersey, ss. 
 
 , /-..A^ V Be it remembered, that on the sixth day oi' May, in the fortieth yeai 
 ^L. s > of the Independence of the United States of America, A VA INeal, of the 
 <v-,.v-^5 g.^j^j Ji4,-5ct, tinth deposited in this f^ffice, the title of a book, the right 
 ■whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the word? foUowins, to wit : 
 
 *' A Dissertation on the Marriage of a Man with his Sister in Law. By John 
 " H. Livingston, D.D. S.T.P. ^e shall do mv Judgments, and keepmyOrdi- 
 " nances, to walk therein : I am the Lord your God.. ..Levil. xviii. 5." 
 
 In Conformity to an act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " An act 
 for the encoiir'r'gpraent of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and 
 books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during tlie times therein 
 mentioned ;" and also to the act. entitled, •" An act supplementary to the act, 
 entitled an act for the encon-igement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, 
 charts, and books to ihe autl.o':-: and proprietors of such copies, during the times 
 therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, 
 engraving and etching historical and other prints." 
 
 ROBERT BOGGS, 
 Clerk of the District of Nerv- Jersey, 
 

 I'iiilTCSTOIT 
 ft£C.JUI\ll8ai 
 
 At the last ordinary session of the General Synod of the 
 Reformed Dutch Church, when the case of a man who had 
 married his sister in law was brought up from a lower judica- 
 tory; the consideration of the question, which that case sug- 
 gested, was postponed, and I was requested to state the ar- 
 guments and ascertain the sentiments of the Reformed 
 Church respecting the illegitimacy of such a connubial con- 
 nection. 
 
 The subject, in itself, has nothing to recommend it, either 
 to the writer or (he reader. But the honour of religion, the 
 purity of the church, and the welfare of the community, 
 which are all implicated in the decision of Ihe question, ren- 
 der it very interesting and highly worthy of discussion. A 
 fervent desire to vindicate these, and a cheerful willingness 
 to meet the wishes of my beloved brethren, have conquered 
 my reluctance, and finally induced me to prepare what is now 
 offered to the public. 
 
 The incessant pressure of official duties, during the weeks 
 devoted to this work, afforded nothing more than interrupted 
 
intervals, and has restricted the disquisition to narrower lim° 
 its thai) it deserved. More could be readily suggested, and 
 the principles and inferences might have been advanced 
 and urged with greater precision and energy. Yet the 
 truth is established by suflScient arguments. A matrimonial 
 connection with a sister in law, whether the wife of a deceas- 
 ed brother, or the sister of a deceased wife, which last is here 
 more particularly the object of inquiry, is proved to be in- 
 cestuous ; not merely an approach to incest, or a slight spe- 
 cies of that abominable crime ; but gross incest of the high- 
 est grade ; a prohibited connection in the nearest collateral 
 degree. — The Documents annexed, will give ample informa- 
 tion respecting the rules and canons of the Church. 
 
 This Dissertation, perhaps the last pledge of my love and 
 attachment to the Church, is now, with great respect and sin- 
 cere aOfection, presented to the General Synod. It ear- 
 nestly solicits the approbation and patronage of the respect- 
 ive members ; and confidently anticipates beneficial, season- 
 able and permanent consequences. 
 
 If, without presumption, the words of an aged Apostle 
 might be adopted, I would humbly say : *' i have no. greater 
 joy than to hear that my cliildren walk in the truth." If 
 those who heretofore cordially united with me, many have 
 entered into rest, their eyes are closed to this world, and the 
 
Church can no more profit by their labours. Yet being ful- 
 ly persuaded that they who remain are upright and intrepid 
 in the service of Jkeir divine Master, and will also cordially 
 receive, in the same spirit of meekness and love, what is here 
 offered ; I have been encouraged thus publicly to vindicate 
 the truth. That it may please the Lord to preserve his 
 Church inviolate, protect the morals of the Nation, and render 
 all "who are on the Lord's side" zealous defenders of his 
 law, and faithful witnesses for their God, is the fervent pray- 
 er of 
 
 JOHN H. LIVINGSTON. 
 
SECTIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 L Marriage, . . . . 9 
 
 II. Affinity, . • • .25 
 
 III. Incest, .... 35 
 
 IV. Law, 5r 
 
 V. Leviticus xviii. 16, . . • 81 
 
 VI. Decency, . . . .99 
 
 VII. Offence, . . . • 107 
 
 Vm. Summary, . . . .113 
 
 IX. Objections, . . . • 123 
 
 X. Testimony, .... 147 
 
 XL Conclusion, . • • • 173 
 
I 
 
 A 
 
 DISSERTATION, 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 Marriage is a divine institution constituting an 
 union between one man and one woman. It was 
 ordained for obtaining a legitimate increase of the 
 human family; for providing mutual help and com- 
 fort ; and for preventing uncleanness. 
 
 To the adorable Creator it necessarily and exclu- 
 sively appertained to determine in what way, or by 
 what means, he would introduce mankind into exists 
 ence. An immediate act of omnipotence, might 
 have produced every individual, without any direct 
 relation or natural subordination to any other. But 
 it pleased him, that all should spring from one 
 source, and thus be all of one blood. To accora- 
 
 2 
 
10 MARRIAGE. 
 
 plish this mysterious purpose, it became indispensa- 
 bly requisite to ascertain the manner in which a 
 legitimate generation should proceed ; and establish 
 that rule for its attainment, which would redound 
 most to his glory, and be productive of the great- 
 est happiness and dignity of the human race. These 
 high and interesting ends have been attained by the 
 institution of marriage. 
 
 An ordinance replete with such benefits, could 
 never have been investigated by man, or rendered 
 efficient by human authority. None but the blessed 
 Maker and Governor of the world, was competent 
 to devise an adequate expedient for forming new 
 and endearing relations; to impress a prevailing bias 
 in its favour ; or enforce universal submission. 
 
 Marriage is a benevolent institution ; benign in 
 its principles, beneficial in its consequences, and the 
 source of blessings and comforts, when rightly im- 
 proved, which cannot, by any other means, be possi- 
 bly realised. It insures a pure offspring stnd raises 
 families ; it alleviates cares and protects from 
 temptations ; it produces an affectionate commun- 
 
MARRIAGE. 11, 
 
 ion aiid affords contentment and happiness, without 
 the collision of separate interests. 
 
 It is an acceptable institution and universally 
 adopted. The sacred ordinance has forever remain- 
 ed in force, and been received with veneration and 
 gratitude. In every age and in all nations it has 
 prevailed, and will continue to the end of the world. 
 Both sexes have cheerfully submitted to it ; they 
 always have and always will be " marrying and giv- 
 ing in marriage." 
 
 It is as honourable as it is benevolent and accept- 
 able. The propagation of mankind, and the first 
 principles of society are hereby established upon a 
 respectable and virtuous basis ; and human nature 
 is dignified by the prohibition of promiscuous and 
 unlawful cohabitation. 
 
 God honours marriage. " The Lord God said 
 it is not good that the man should be alone, I will 
 make him a help meet for him — and the rib ^vhich 
 the Lord had taken from man, made he a wo- 
 man, and brought her unto the man— so God cre- 
 ated man in his own image, male and female created 
 
12 MARRIAGE, 
 
 he them ; and God blessed them, and God said un- 
 to them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the 
 earth," Gen. ii. Gen. i. The divine Redeemer 
 honoured marriage with his presence, and crowned it 
 with his approbation and benediction, by a beginning 
 of miracles in Cana of Galilee, where he manifest- 
 ed his glory, John. ii. — In his discourses upon 
 the sublime doctrines and sacred precepts of his 
 kingdom, he frequently condescended to notice 
 marriage as an ordinance of the highest importance 
 to mankind, and to the interests of religion in the 
 world. He confirmed its divine origin ; defended 
 its purity ; and by establishing the perpetual obliga- 
 tion of the moral law and explaining its extent, he 
 retained, in their full authority and force, the precepts 
 against incest and adultery. 
 
 The Church honours marriage. Under the dis- 
 pensation of the Old Testament, the institution was 
 venerated and every violation of it severely punish- 
 ed. Under the New Testament, marriage is declar- 
 ed "to be honourable in all, and the bed undefiled, 
 while whoremongers and adulterers God will judge, '^ 
 Heb. xiii. 4. The Apostles expressly recognise the 
 ordinance; they enforce the laws by which it is pro- 
 
MARRIAGE, 13 
 
 tected ; and often inculcate the reciprocal duties of 
 man and wife, as essential to the welfare of society 
 and the honour of religion. 
 
 The WORLD has always honoured marriage, and 
 considered it as the fountain of social comfort and 
 prosperity. All the civilized governments on earth, 
 both ancient and modern, have taken it under their 
 immediate protection. They have made it a prom- 
 inent article in their civil codes, and enacted laws to 
 ascertain with precision what constituted a lawful 
 marriage, and what determined a legitimate off- 
 spring. Even the most barbarous nations have re- 
 ceived the institution, and were never without 
 some laws, which, although not written, were well 
 known and defined by maxims and customs, where- 
 by the interests of husband and wife were rendered 
 secure, and it became criminal for strangers to inter- 
 rupt or violate them. 
 
 But among the properties essential to marriage, 
 the creation of an union, whereby two persons, who 
 were previously strangers, become one, is the most 
 singular. As this is the source of affinity, and the 
 basis upon which our conclusions in the discussion 
 
14 MARRIAGE. 
 
 of the present question principally depend, it claims 
 particular attention. 
 
 Two extremes are here to be avoided. The un- 
 ion, whatever it may be, must not be so far exag- 
 gerated, as to absorb personal identity, or change the 
 moral responsibility of the individuals. The for- 
 mer involves a contradiction, and the latter is equal- 
 ly absurd. But on the other part, it must not be re- 
 duced to a mere metaphorical term, expressive of 
 nothing more than a community of aifections, cares, 
 and interests, or at most, a federal compact. 
 
 Mankind are united by many different bonds. 
 They all partake of the same nature, and thus far 
 they are all one. In societies connections are form- 
 ed of every description, and an union, as far as it 
 respects the objects of such associations, is thereby 
 produced. By covenants also, persons unite in va- 
 rious ways, and for different purposes. But there 
 is no union effected by any or all of these, that can 
 produce such an essential change, or fix a source of 
 new relations similar to that which marriage creates. 
 
MARRIAGE. 15 
 
 Civilians, who view marriage simply as it respects 
 society and affects the rights of citizens, content 
 themselves with considering it as only a civil con- 
 tract ; and define it to be "a covenant made between 
 a man and a woman, in which they mutually prom- 
 ise cohabitation, and a continual care to promote 
 the comfort and happiness of each other." This 
 may be proper and sufficient for civilians ; yet reli- 
 gion gives a more exalted view of the institution. 
 It admits such a covenant, but inculcates something 
 more than by any covenant can be effected, while it 
 predicates an union, so complete, that those who 
 w^ere formerly two are now no longer twain but 
 
 ONE. 
 
 The sacred scriptures, from whence we derive our 
 only infallible information respecting divine ordr- 
 nances, teach us : 
 
 1. That the union produced by marriage is not 
 merely nominal, but real and perfect. It consti- 
 tutes what unerring wisdom denominates, without 
 reserve, to be one, and designates it by the strong- 
 est terms language can express. "This now is 
 bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh, there- 
 
te MARRIAGE. 
 
 fore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and 
 shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one 
 FLESH," Gen. ii. 23, 24. Again, "they twain 
 shall be one plesh," Matt. xix. 5. And again, 
 **so ought men to love their wives as their own 
 BODIES, He that loveth his wife, loveth him- 
 self — they two shall be one flesh," Eph. v. 
 28, 31.* If these terms have any meaning, worthy 
 of divine inspiration, they indicate that, consistent 
 with distinct personal identity, and individual re- 
 sponsibility, there is, if not a physical, still at least 
 a moral union produced. And whether, in a certain 
 respect, both are not comprehended, we, most assur- 
 edly, are not competent to decide. 
 
 2. That it is an union which constitutes a root or 
 centre of new relations and kindred. The parties 
 stand no longer separate, but their mutual relatives, 
 as it regards the married persons, are completely 
 blended and consolidated. 
 
 3. That it is an union which renders the com- 
 munion of bodies legitimate arid honourable ; or. 
 
 * Vidimus hie duo non pluribus opponi, sed ^ni. Ante foedus matrimoo^ 
 dup erant, postea pro uno censentur legis interpretatione.— Grotius. 
 
MARRIAGE. \7 
 
 as the Apostle delicately expresses it, "The wife 
 hath not power of her own body, but the husband ; 
 and likewise also the husband hath not power of his 
 own body, but the wife," 1 Cor. vii. 4.— Nulla arc-' 
 tior amicitia quam mariti et uxoris, quae commu- 
 nionem requirit affectuum, corporis, prolis, vitae 
 denique totius. — Eadem locutio de communione 
 CORPORIS usurpatur a Paulo, ubi de s cor to agit, 
 1 Cor. vi. 16. Sed nimirum qui scorto se miscet, 
 ea utitur pro uxore. 
 
 4. That it is a mysterious union. ^ — There is a 
 mystery in all the works and institutions of God. 
 The means and subordinate ends, which he in his 
 infinite wisdom adopts to accomplish his vast de- 
 signs, cannot by finite minds be fully comprehend- 
 ed. This is exemplified, with respect to the article 
 now before us, in the fifth chapter of the epistle to 
 the Ephesians. The Apostle in his exhortation to 
 husbands and wives to fulfil their reciprocal duties, 
 exhibits the union produced by marriage, as a type 
 of the union of Christ with his church ; and closes 
 
 * Magna est conjunctio inter parentesetliberos, cum liberi quasi pars sint pa- 
 rentum; attamen major ex instituto divino inter conjuges, non sioe mystic a sig- 
 niticatione.—Grotius in Math. tap. xix. 
 
 3 
 
tB MARRIAGE. 
 
 the subject with a solemn inference: this is a 
 CREATMYSTERY. Somc refer this mystery wholly to 
 marriage. But the words which immediately follow, 
 •ascertain the object to which he primarily alludes ; 
 *'I speak concerning Christ and the church."^ 
 
 The UNION between Christ and the Church is 
 mysterious. It comprehends something which is 
 covered or hidden, as the term signifies. It is 
 known to exist, and his people glory in it, as an in- 
 estimable benefit of the covenant of grace, and the 
 highest honor that can be conferred upon creatures. 
 But what the essential nature and extent of this union 
 are, or what it fully comprises, is to them a great 
 mystery. 
 
 * The vulgate translation has improperly rendered the original word by the 
 term sacrmnentum, which suggested the idea to the Church of Rome, that mar- 
 riage was a sacrament ; and they accordingly introduced it as one, among the five 
 sacraments they have arbitrarily fabricated. But it has none of tlie properties 
 peculiar to a sacrament. It is common to the whole world, and not restricted 
 to the Christian Church — This singular construction of marriage, furnishes 
 among many others, a palpable contradiction in the creed of the Catholicks. 
 They extol marriage as an institution so sacred and divine, that it must be receiv- 
 ed and consummated as a holy sacrament ; and yet reproach it as the filthy worki 
 of the flesh, indecent, and improper for such as profess extraordinary piety, anil 
 wholly forbidden to those who are devoted to the offices of the Church. 
 
MARRIAGE. 19 
 
 Every believer is united to Christ. This 
 is no metaphor; nor is it merely an union by 
 covenant, by mutual affection, or common interest. 
 It is actual and real. As the branches are really unit- 
 ed to the vine, and the members are really united to 
 the head, so all the children of God are really unit- 
 ed to their Saviour, — The reality of this union with 
 Christ, is the basis upon which his representation of 
 them as their surety, and the imputation of his righ- 
 teousness to them for their justification, necessarily 
 rest. — Upon this also their spiritual life, their sanc- 
 tification, and perseverance in grace, wholly depend. 
 
 There is as truly and essentially an union between 
 the LAST Adam and every one of his redeemed fa- 
 mily, as there is between the first Adam and all 
 his posterity ; but it is not produced in the same 
 way. The bond of union with the first Adam is 
 natural propagation, the bond of union with the last, 
 is his Spirit. " The last Adam is a quickening spi- 
 rit," 1 Cor. XV. 45. The spirit of Christ dwells 
 and abides in all believers. This makes them alive, 
 and constitutes them one with him. "He that is 
 joined to the Lord is one spirit." — " I will put my 
 spirit within you," Ezek, ^^xvi. 37. — "If any 
 
20 MARRIAGE. 
 
 man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his," 
 Rom, viii. 9. — '' Ye are the temple of God, and the 
 spirit of God dvvelleth in you," 1 Cor. iii. 16. — 
 " The spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you," 
 1 Pet. iv. 14. — " We live in the spirit," Gal. v. 25. 
 —This our precious Jesus himself confirms, in his 
 intercession, John xvii. 21. 23. ^'That they all 
 may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, 
 that they also may be one in us. Iinthem, and thou 
 in me, that they also maybe made perfect in one." 
 Receiving his spirit, and quickened by his divine 
 influence, they become united to Christ; they receive 
 the gift of faith, Eph, ii. 1. 8 : they believe and 
 adore, they love and obey. Thus "Christliveth 
 IN THEM, and the life they live in the flesh, they 
 live by the faith of the Son of God," Gal. ii. 20. 
 "Their life is hid with Christ in God," Colos. 
 iii. 3. 
 
 As the union of the Son of God, the second per. 
 son in the holy Trinity, to our human nature, " God 
 manifest in the flesh," is proinounced the "great 
 mystery of godliness," 1 Tim, iii. 15 : so bis union 
 to his church, by which every living member is 
 made one with the living head, is another mystery, 
 
MARRIAGE. 21 
 
 and with propriety is also called great. This is the 
 mystery which distinguishes the living from the 
 dead ; which draws the line of separation between 
 real and merely nominal christians; which deter- 
 mines the relation upon which the christian religion 
 is founded, and fixes the essential criterion wherein 
 it differs from the religion of nature. 
 
 The example of the apostle, in the passage before 
 us, must suggest an apology for this digression. 
 But what has been mentioned is not wholly foreign 
 to our subject. Let those who are acquainted with 
 the style of scripture, and are capable of estimating 
 the analogy which subsists between a type and its 
 antitype, determine; whether, admitting that the 
 apostle calls the latter a great mystery, he does not 
 thereby imply that the former, in a certain degree, 
 is mysterious also.* 
 
 ^ The learned Cudworth wrote an excellent essay upon marriage, as a mys- 
 terious type of Christ and his church, agreeably to the doctrine of the apostle, 
 Eph. V. This essay is translated into latin, and enriched with notes by the 
 celebrated Mosheim. The reader will find it in the principal work of Mosheim, 
 comprised in two vols, folio. A work highly esteemed in Europe, but of which 
 probably there are few copies with us. For the information of tliose who 
 wish to possess it, the title id added : R. Cudatortiiii Systema Intsllecttale 
 Z/fliinex'criif Joannes Laurek : Moshemius. 
 
22 MARRIAGE. 
 
 What then is marriage ? It is a divine institution 
 which hoi^ours and dignifies, defends and consoles the 
 human family — which raises men above the brutes, 
 and preserves them from pernicious passions — pro- 
 vides for the identity, education and prosperity of eve- 
 ry succteding generation — divides the cares, increases 
 the comforts, and cements society by the most pre- 
 cious and perpetual ties. — And, what distinguishes 
 this institution from all others, is, that it produces 
 an union^ whereby two persons become one — not 
 merely as to legitimate commerce, but one in regard 
 to themselves, and the new relations thereby formed 
 with others. God pronounces them one. Men 
 account them one. They consider themselves to be 
 one. So completely are they one, that the respect- 
 ive relatives and families are constituted equally near 
 of kin to both husband and wife. 
 
 Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source 
 r Of human ofTspring, sole propriety 
 In Paradise, of all things common elsej 
 By thee adult'rous lust was driv'n from men, 
 Among the bestial herds to range ; by thee 
 Founded in reason, loyal, just and pure, 
 Relations dear, and all the cliarities 
 Of father, sod, and brother, first were known. 
 Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets, - 
 
 Whose bed is undefil'd and chaste pronounced. 
 
MARRIAGE. 23 
 
 "The law of marringe is positive. No gene- 
 ral principle can of itself^ establish with a binding 
 force upon the conscience, the doctrine that the 
 conjugal union is, in all cases, to subsist between 
 one man and one woman only ; and, with the ex- 
 ception of conjugal infidelity, is to last during the 
 joint lives of the parties. Nothing but a divine in- 
 stitution could subject them to this condition : no- 
 thing but a divine revelation communicated the 
 knowledge of it."^ In every question, therefore, 
 which regards the parties who may lawfully marry, 
 no maxims or customs sanctioned among men, nor 
 any dispensations of civil or ecclesiastical govern- 
 ments, can ever be admitted. The divine law has 
 fixed the standard, and must decide the inquiry. 
 God himself is the judge. " To the law and to the 
 testimony" is the only appeal. 
 
 An institution so venerable in its origin, so inte- 
 resting in its consequences and valuable to the hu- 
 man family, has an imperious claim upon the pro- 
 
 * See a brief inquiry into the lamfulmss of marrying a deceased nrife^s sister, in 
 the Christian's Magazine, vol. 4 page 80. &c. The author of that inquiry 
 understood the subject ; and had the limited pages of a periodical publication 
 permitted him to trace the question to its first priaciples, he would have su- 
 perceded the necessity of any farther discuision. 
 
24 MARRIAGE. 
 
 tection of society, and the care of the church. Eve- 
 ry good citizen, every sincere christian, and every 
 faithful minister of the gospel, must esteem it his 
 duty, to prevent an otdinance, recommended by 
 such high considerations, from being prostrated and 
 defiled. — To prevent its pollution by prohibited co- 
 habitation, is the object of this dissertation. But, 
 previous to an immediate inquiry upon that subject, 
 it will be expedient to refer to the principles of af- 
 finity, and contemplate the evil of incest ; to mark 
 the distinctions of laws, and illustrate the manner in 
 which moral precepts are introduced into the Mosaic 
 code. 
 
SECTION 11. 
 
 AFiFINITY. 
 
 A RELATION is the respect or connection which 
 two or more things have to each other. When the 
 term is appUed to kindred^ it denotes the connection 
 which subsists between persons, in consequence of 
 their mutual respect to the same family. A de*- 
 GREE in the relation of kinsmen, expresses the in- 
 terval by which the proximity or remoteness of such 
 a relation is ascertained. The degree is computed 
 agreeably to the respective steps, by which a remov- 
 al is made from a common ancestor, and is calculat- 
 ed conformably to what is called the lineal, or the 
 eollateral branches. There are two sources of kin- 
 dred or relation. One is denominated consanguinity, 
 the other affinity. 
 
 Consanguinity refers to a relation in blood; 
 or a relation produced by descent from the same pro- 
 genitor. The lineal descent is that which subsists 
 
 4 
 
26 AFFINITY. 
 
 between persons descending in a direct line from 
 parents to their children downwards ; or ascending 
 from parents to grand parents upwards, in both di- 
 rections in infinitum. The collateral line differs 
 from the direct, in that the relatives dp not descend 
 the one from the other. The primary degrees in these 
 comprise, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, 
 nephews and nieces. Collateral kinsmen spring 
 from one common ancestor, who is the stirps or 
 stipes, the root or stock, from whence those relations 
 have branched ; but they do not immediately de- 
 pend the one upon the other. The nearness or dis- 
 tance of relation in the collateral line is therefore 
 calculated by the degrees or interval between them 
 and their same progenitor. This forms what is 
 called by civilians the " vinculum personarum ab 
 codem stipite descendentium." The scale or steps 
 agreeably to which the degrees of relation are com- 
 puted, are too well known to need any reference or 
 enumeration. 
 
 Affinity is a relation produced by marriage. 
 It originates in the union which God has establish- 
 ed between husband and wife ; and refers primarily 
 to the degree of kindred contradted by the husband to 
 
AFFINITY. 27 
 
 the relatives of his wife, and by the wife to those of 
 her husband. In this sense it is distinp-uished from 
 consanguinity or relation by blood. The term of- 
 finity is derived from the two latin words ad to, and 
 FINIS an end or boundary ; because two families 
 by intermarriage, not only approach to, but come 
 within the boundaries of each other. Agreeably to 
 the maxim in law ; quod duae cognationes per nup- 
 Has copulantur^ et altera ad alterius cognationis 
 FIN EM accedit. 
 
 The PROPERTIES of affinity are obvious. An at- 
 tention to them will illustrate the subject. 
 
 1. Affinity constitutes a REAL relation. It is 
 not merely nominal, or a matter of courtesy, but a 
 relation firm, legal and perfect. It is recognised 
 by God in his law, as^such^ and the nearness of kin, 
 or degree of relation, as it respects the husband and 
 wife, is as sacred in affinity as in consanguinity. If 
 this be not the result of marriage, the union is no- 
 thing, it 13 a word without any meaning. Upon 
 this principle, affinity enters into the list of prohi- 
 bitions as fully and expressly as consanguinity, and 
 without any line of difference between them. 
 
28 A F F I N I T Y. 
 
 To this property sufficient attention appears not to 
 have been generally bestowed. The very statement 
 of the question, which has become popular and is al- 
 ways adopted : whether a man may marry the sis- 
 ter OF His DECEASED WIFE? is a proof that the 
 principle of affinity is not well understood, or, at 
 least, not duly appreciated. Whether the question 
 be thus worded with a design to hide the whole 
 truth, or only through inadvertency, it is certain- 
 ly calculated to mislead the public mind, and 
 insinuate, that the woman in question was near 
 of kin to the deceased wife^ but that she sustains no 
 relation at all to the husband ; which is most assured- 
 ly false, for she is very near of kin to him. It is true 
 she is not related to him in blood, and so the step 
 mother, daughter in law, and uncle's wife are not 
 related in blood, yet they are related in affinity, they 
 
 are near of kin, they are prohibited relatives It is 
 
 true, she is the sister of the deceased wifey but it is 
 also true that she is the sister of the husband. As 
 with other relatives, so here, there are sisters by 
 blood, and sisters by affinity; both are really 
 SISTERS, and they are both, by the divine law es- 
 tablished and declared to be suph. The husband is 
 therefore nearly related to that woman. She is not^ 
 
AFFINITY. 29 
 
 only the sister of the deceased wife^ but she is also 
 in truth his sister. The law of God has constituted 
 her HIS SISTER. The question then ought to be 
 stated ; " whether it be lawful for a man to marry 
 HIS SISTER, by whatever principle or bond she 
 may have become his sister ?" but such an honest 
 and candid phraseology would anticipate a denial too 
 prompt and speedy to please those who are interest- 
 ed or prejudiced in favour of a contrary decision. 
 
 ^. Affinity is extensive. It creates the same 
 kindred between the husband and all the relations by 
 consanguinity or affinity of his wife, and between 
 the wife and all the relations by consanguinity or af- 
 finity of her husband. In consequence of this, the 
 parents of the husband are brought into the relation 
 of parents to the wife, and her parents are so to him. 
 His brothers and sisters are become the brothers and 
 sisters of his wife, and her brothers and sisters are 
 his, and thus all the branches mutually in the direct 
 and collateral line. Hence it is, that all who are 
 prohibited by consanguinity in the direct line down- 
 wards or upwards, and all in the collateral line, as 
 brothers or sisters, uncles or aunts, nephews or nie- 
 ces, are equally forbidden in affinity^ upon both 
 
30 A F F I N I T Y. 
 
 sides. With none of these may either of the mar* 
 ried parties, after the death of the other, cohabit 
 or marry, any more than with the same relatives in 
 blood. The man therefore who marries the sister 
 of his deceased wife is as much guilty of incest, as 
 if he had married his own sister by blood : for the 
 sister of the deceased wife has, by his antecedent 
 marriage, become his oxvn sister, and is declared to 
 be such by the law of God. 
 
 " The marriage of a wife's sister is, in the eyes of 
 God, the very same with the marriage of one's own 
 sister. When a man marries a woman, ' they are 
 no more twain,' says God, * but one flesh :' how ? 
 not literally : for their persons are as distinct as 
 ever. Not with respect to their blood relations : 
 they were that before their marriage. But yet by 
 this marriage, they are made one flesh. The flesh 
 of the husband and wife being thus identified, they 
 stand in the same relation to each other's sisters and 
 brothers as to their own: i. e. as to the lawfulness 
 of connubial intercourse. So that it is quite as 
 agreeable to the divine law for a man to marry his 
 own sister, as to marry a sister of his wife."* 
 
 * Christian's Magazine, loc, cit. 
 
AFFINITY. 31 
 
 " By marriage the husband and wife are one per- 
 son in law. Upon this principle of an union of 
 person in husband and wife, depend almost all the 
 legal rights, duties and disabilities, that either of 
 them acquire by the marriage. — The same degrees 
 by affinity are prohibited. Affinity always arises by 
 the marriage of one of the parties so related. As a 
 husband is related by affinity to all the consanguinei 
 of his wife, and, vice versa the wife to all the hus- 
 band's consanguinei : for the husband and wife being 
 considered one flesh, those who are related to the 
 one by blood, are related to the other by affinity. 
 Therefore a man after his wife's death cannot marry 
 her sister, aunt, or niece."* 
 
 Whether the prohibited degrees be computed by 
 the scale of the canon or the civil law, the result is 
 the same. Every man of common understanding 
 will confess, that the sister of a wife is, at least, one 
 degree nearer to the husband, than the aunt, and two 
 degrees nearer than the niece. If God forbids him 
 to marry the aunt or niece, because they are too 
 near of kin, it is beyond all dispute, that he forbids 
 
 * 61arkstone*s Com. book 1. ohap. I."*, and note. 
 
32 AFFINITY, 
 
 him to marry the sister, who is much nearer of 
 kin than either of the former. 
 
 3. The relation produced by marriage is pecu- 
 liar. It affects the husband and wife alone, and 
 does not, as such, create any new relations between 
 their respective relatives; agreeably to the adage, 
 affims me'i affinis non est affims meus, 
 
 4. As the relation created by marriage arises from, 
 the union established by God himself, and is there- 
 fore real and legal, so it is permanent and in- 
 dissoluble. The nearness of kin which affinity 
 has formed will never cease. The death of either 
 of the parties cannot cancel the kindred, or cause 
 any change in the degree of relation. This duration 
 proceeds from the very principle of affinity, as well 
 as from the express declaration of the divine law, 
 and it is consonant with the universal consent and 
 language of all nations. The step-mother remains 
 a mother, after the death of the father, as much as 
 in his life time ; the wife of a son, after his decease, 
 is still a daughter ; the sister of a wife, continues to 
 be a sister, after the death of the wife, exactly as 
 she was before; the wife of the uncle, after his 
 
AFFINITY. 33 
 
 death, is still an aunt, and will be so as long as she 
 lives. All these are sacred and forbidden in mar^ 
 riage. The degrees of kindred are unalterable. 
 They remain in their whole extent, the same they 
 were before. Such persons may never be approach^ 
 ed for cohabitation. The maxim admits of no con- 
 troversy : any person with xvhom^ at any time, it 
 xvould have been incest to cohabit, will forever 
 remain forbidden* Ko circumstance can obliterate 
 the relation* Every marriage with such is always 
 incest. 
 
 How men of discernment and candour can per- 
 mit themselves to hesitate in the case of a sister by 
 affinity, when they admit the relation and prohibi- 
 tion to extend to others by affinity, is truly aston- 
 ishing. To assert that the sister may be exempted, 
 when those who are more distant, are acknowledged 
 to be too near of kin, can never be sustained by any- 
 rational argument. — It will be seen, when we explain 
 the law of prohibitions, that it avails nothing to 
 search for ambiguity in the letter of the precept ; it 
 is explicit, intelligible and decisive. Had even the 
 divine law been altogether silent upon that particu- 
 lar case, and the sister in law not mentioned at ^11, it 
 
 5 
 
34 AFFINITY. 
 
 would still be sufficiently and fully implied. The 
 question is unequivocally determined by the prin- 
 
 CIPLE OF AFFINITY. 
 
SECTION III 
 
 INCEST. 
 
 Incest is an unnatural and criminal cohabitation 
 of persons within prohibited degrees of kindred.^ 
 
 God forbids incest and has mercifully implanted 
 in the human heart an abhorrence of this crime, and 
 thereby banished every sexual propensity toward 
 those who are near of kin. Were it not for this ; 
 was that propensity felt or indulged in the familiar 
 intercourse of domestic life, it would prove injurious 
 to virtue, and dangerous to the welfare and happi- 
 ness of the community. 
 
 Incest is condemned by the whole world. The 
 estimate of its criminality appears to be independent 
 
 * The indifference with which the crime of incest appears to be considered, 
 and the low standard of Christian morals, at the present day, render it proper to 
 enlarge upon this subject, beyond what at first view might perhaps be thoyght 
 necessary. Truths, generally acknowledged and taken for granted, do not always 
 sufficiently impress the public mind. 
 
36 INCEST. 
 
 upon cuS'Om, education or profession. The mind 
 revolts at the transaction, as contrary to all order in 
 society ; and pronounces it to be indecent and fihhy 
 — infamous and wicked- — an offence which cruelly 
 invades the sacred recesses of families and, endangers 
 the purity of the most protected members. 
 
 It is a crime not only punishable in civil society ; 
 but a sin which will bring down the judgments of 
 God upon any land, where it is tolerated and prac- 
 tised — that very sin which served to fill the cup of 
 the Amorites, and render them obnoxious to exter- 
 mination.^ 
 
 -' " Incest is llie first da?s of those siiis wLich make a laud mourn, unci bring 
 the wrath of God on the children of disobedience. — Whether it be lawful for a 
 roan to marry his wife's sister, is doubtless a question of great magnitude, of high 
 and general concern.— A question in which e.\e:ry person is deeply ialeregted, 
 lest by such a marriage he should involve liiaiself in great guilt, live a course of 
 gross wickedness, and bring on hinaseif and others the vengeance of Almighty 
 God. Families are no less interested than individuals ; because if the marriage 
 of such a relative be incest, they become, by this meanp, guilty and exposed to 
 the curse of God. Ninisters of the gospel are deeply concerned in it, as they are 
 set to keep the doors of God's house, and to make a difference between the clean 
 and the unclean, the holy and the profane. If the marriage connection with a 
 wife's sister be inceft, they are not only under indispensable obligations to avoid 
 it themselves; but o bear a united, firm and decided testimony against it.— The 
 Churches of Christ are greatly concerned in the question, lest they become con- 
 taminated by such 'ncestuous persons, and bring en themselves the divine abhor- 
 rence and curse. Pastors and churches are called immediately to act relative to 
 tiiem. It highly concerns them to know and do their duty. As communities are 
 composed of individuals and families, so, as they are corrupted and become expos- 
 ed to divine judgments, the great body becomes corrupt and exposed to thejudg- 
 
INCEST. 37 
 
 • 
 
 Incest is a disgrace to marriage and pollutes the 
 
 institution. The incestuous parties are forbidden 
 to enter into that holy state. They are not, they can- 
 not be married. The form, with respect to them, is 
 void. It is no marriage. Their cohabitation is a 
 continual fornication, with the aggravated guilt of 
 prohibited commerce. What is wicked in the first 
 instance cannot by repetition become innocent. 
 What is accursed of God in the commencement can 
 never become less criminal or obtain the divine ap- 
 probation and blessing, by habitual indulgence. 
 
 ** In order to preserve chastity in families, and be- 
 tween persons of different sexes brought up and 
 living together in a state of unreserved intimacy, it 
 is necessary by every method possible, to inculcate 
 an abhorrence of incestuous conjunctions ; which 
 abhorrence can only be upheld by the absolute rep- 
 
 ments of God. — How iiighly interesting then, how practical, and of what general 
 concern is this question ? How seriously ought it to be discussed, and with what 
 impartiality ought all to attend to the subject p Fully persuaded as I am of the 
 unlawfulness of conjugal connections with a wife's sister, I am bound in duty, in 
 love to God, to individuals, to the churches of Ciirist, and to the community in 
 .general, fully and fairly to discuss the Subject, and to make my appeal to every 
 candid reader, and to the public, with respect to the conclusiveness of the argu- 
 ment." — See an excellent Essay entitled, "aw appeal to thepublic relative to the 
 icnlanfulness of marrying a mfe''s si$ter,''^ by the Rev. Dr. B, Trumbull, page 3, 4. 
 
38 1 N C E S T. 
 
 robation of all commerce of the sexes between near 
 relations. Upon this principle the marriage^ as well 
 as other cohabitation of brothers and sisters of lineal 
 kindred, and of all, who usually live in the same fam- 
 ily, may be said to be forbidden by the law of 
 nature. Restrictions which extend to remoter 
 degrees of kindred than what this reason makes it 
 necessary to prohibit from intermarriage, are found- 
 ed in the authority of the positive law which or- 
 dains them. — The Levitical law, from which the 
 rule of the Roman law differs very little, prohibits 
 marriage between relations within three degrees of 
 kindred ; computing the generations not from, but 
 through the common ancestor, and accounting affi- 
 nity the same as consanguinity."* 
 
 If incest be a transgression, there must be 2i prin- 
 ciple to which it refers ; there must be a law which 
 fixes the standard and designates the crime ; for 
 where there is no law, there is no transgression. 
 The principle to which it refers is the nearness 
 OF KINDRED substisiug bctwccn the incestuous 
 persons. The law which establishes the prohibi- 
 
 *^ PaUy's Mot. Phil. vol. 1. p. 316. 
 
INCEST. 39 
 
 tion^ and ascertains the degree of kindred, agreea- 
 bly to which the crime is to be estimated, is the 
 Law of God. The universal acknowledgment of 
 this principle and law, will be sufficiently ascertain- 
 ed, by observing how incest has always been view- 
 ed by the Heathen, by Christians, and by Civil Gov- 
 ernments. 
 
 " Many monuments of the declarations and con- 
 duct of the ancient Heathen, testify their atten- 
 tion to the law which provides for the preservation 
 of chastity and the integrity of marriage ; especial- 
 ly what related to those forbidden lusts within which 
 marriage is prohibited. This law was known and 
 held sacred by all the nations of the world. — There 
 were indeed a few exceptions, but whatever they 
 were, they produced no argument against the deci- 
 sion of reason ; nor ought any prejudice against the 
 rights of human nature to arise from such depravi- 
 ty. The Julian law, which our civilians cele- 
 brate, affords a sure testimony, that the ancient Ro - 
 mans recognised the law of nature, and that by them, 
 what respected marriage was held most sacred."^ 
 
 * Sfstema Theologiae Gentilis purioris* F. Pfaannerii. cap. \i. 24. 
 
40 INCEST. 
 
 There were indeed ancient barbarians chargeable 
 with incest, and perhaps some such are still to be 
 found. Strabo, Lucian, Curtius, Plutarch, and 
 Justin mention savages who were infamous for this 
 crime. Yet among more polished nations, it was 
 always abhorred ; and as the Apostle asserts, 1 Cor. 
 V. 1. there were species of that vice, not so muck 
 as named among the Gentiles, Euripides and 
 others have recorded, as an exception against the 
 universal detestation of incest among civilized peo- 
 ple, that the ancient kings of Persia and Egypt were 
 guilty of it ; but these authors expressly add, that 
 " those kings indulged in it from a principle of 
 pride, as they considered it beneath their dignity to 
 marry a vassal or a stranger, and therefore connect- 
 ed themselves with their own royal families." Their 
 subjects however, did not follow the base example 
 of the monarchs. 
 
 Suetonius and Tacitus mention a few other ia- 
 stances of the same kind at Rome, and stigmatize 
 them with reproach and infamy. In Calig, Suet, 4. 
 24. — in Nerone, Suet. 6. 5. — in Claudio, Suet. 5. 
 26. 43. — in Aggripina, Tacitus Annal. 14. — But 
 these cases are so far from behig an evidence of the 
 
INCEST. 41 
 
 prevailing sense of the world in their favor, that 
 they prove directly the contrary ; since they are en- 
 umerated as insolated and singular prodigies of im- 
 morality. As well might it be said, that murder and 
 the cruelties of tyrants were a proof that mankind 
 did not esteem benevolence and mercy ; or that in- 
 stances of theft, robberies and deceit were an indi- 
 cation that honesty, truth and candour were not re- 
 spected among men. 
 
 The Mahomed ANs who indulge in polygamy, 
 and are promised by their false Prophet a future state 
 consisting chiefly in sensual enjoyments, are still 
 shocked at the abominable crime of incest, Ma- 
 homet expressly forbids it. In the Alcoran, chap- 
 ter iv* are these words: "Ye are forbidden to mar- 
 ry your mothers, and your daughters, and your sis- 
 ters, and your aunts, both on the father's and on the 
 mother's side ; and your brother's daughters, and 
 your sister's daughters, and your foster sisters, and 
 your wives' mothers, and your daughters in law 
 who are under tuition, and the wives of your sons ; 
 and ye are also forbidden to take to wife two sis- 
 ters." — It is added by Al-Sharest, " turpissimum 
 corum qui faciebant Arabes, in tempore ignorantiae 
 
42 INCEST. 
 
 erat hoc, quod vir duos sorores duceret. The vil- 
 est deeds which the old Arabs did^ in the time of 
 their ignorance, xvas this, that a man married two 
 sisters y 
 
 The Church of Christ has always viewed incest 
 as an heinous and detestable crime. Under the 
 dispensation of the Old Testament, the enormity of 
 this sin was deeply impressed upon the public mind, 
 and always punished by cutting off, or excommuni- 
 cating the offenders, and, in some instances, by death. 
 The law was plain and absolute. No excuse or pa- 
 liation would be admitted. — When John reproved 
 Herod for taking the wife of his brother Philip, he 
 expressed the prevailing sentiment of the Jews, as 
 well as the direct langutJge ef the law of God. If 
 Philip were then alive, which is not certain, (for 
 Herod had two sons named Ph.lip; one was called 
 Phdip Herod, the other Philip Jntipater^) it would 
 have been adultery. But he was guilty of a more 
 
 * Verissimum est inter Herodis magnl fiiios, qui novem fuere, duos appellatos 
 fume PhiliTip^s : ted horom alteruni, qui natns erat ex Simoni; Pontificis filia, 
 dictum fuiase Fhilippum Eerodern; qiiomodo et iste de quo baec narratur bisto- 
 ri3i Anfipalf.r imi Anilpts Hti odes dicehatuiv; atquP isto fiddimento Philippum 
 hunc rninorrm distinctum ab altero rur.jore, qui Trachouitides fuit Tetrarcha. 
 
 GnoTius, 
 
INCEST. 4J3 
 
 heinous sin than adultery, and the intrepid Baptist ar- 
 raigns him, not for adultery, but for incest. '' It is 
 not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife;" 
 ^e is thy sister in law, she is too near of kin, it is 
 incest. Mark vi. 18. 
 
 A case of incest occurred early under the 
 Christian dispensation, and was immediately noticed 
 and punished. The incestuous person, by the com- 
 mand of the Apostle, and in the adorable name and 
 authority of the Lord Jesus Christ was, without de- 
 lay or remonstrance, instantly cast out and excom- 
 municated from all the privileges of the Church. 1 
 Cor, V. 3. 5. 
 
 The PRIMITIVE Christians were distinguish- 
 ed for their ardent piety and exemplary morals. So 
 rigid w^ere they and unconforming to the wicked 
 maxims and licentious customs of the world, that 
 they excited the ' astonishment and enmity of the 
 Heathen among whom they lived. In nothing 
 were they more remarkable than in their continence 
 and chastity. If any of their communion were 
 chargeable with the appearance of immodest behav- 
 iour or imcleauness, it was noticed with horror and 
 
44 INCEST. 
 
 bewailed as a dishonour to the Christian name. 
 Among all the sins most pointedly reprobated, adul- 
 tery and incest were the chief. Of Xh^ former some 
 instances occurred, and the guilty persons were im- 
 mediately cast out and disowned as infamous mem- 
 bers. The latter crime was greatly abhorred, and 
 the Church was always prepared, in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, to excommunicate any person, 
 whatever might be his previous reputation or stand- 
 ing in the Church, who should be guilty of incest. 
 But such was the universal detestation in which that 
 crime was held, even among the Heathen as well as 
 among Christians, that not a single instance of in- 
 cest is recollected to be found, in the writings of 
 the fathers, or the histories of the primitive. centu- 
 ries; at least not among those who were considered 
 orthodox in their doctrines. 
 
 MiN. F^Lix published a charge, which was 
 made by the Heathen against the Christians, in 
 which, they accused them of promiscuous and in- 
 cestuous lusts. But the charge was as malicious 
 as it was false. It was boldly and ably refuted by 
 Tertulian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Firmilianus, 
 Athanasius, Lactantius, and Justin Martyr ; and the 
 
INCEST, 49 
 
 Christians were vindicated and proved to be inno- 
 cent and clear of that wicked imputation. Origen 
 cast the blame of this scandalous charge upon the 
 Jews, who, he said, had wilfully and spitefully in- 
 vented it, to disgrace and prejudice Christianity. 
 But Epiphanius has mentioned a fact which most 
 probably first suggested the accusation, although it 
 did not justify the Heathen in falsely, and contrary 
 to their own knowledge, applying the crime to real 
 Christians. There were, he says, "unprincipled 
 men who had made a profession of Christianity ; but 
 not relishing the doctrines and especially the morals 
 and conversation of believers, which were too strict 
 and holy for them ; they soon withdrew, while they 
 still retained the Christian name." These, Epipha- 
 nius enumerates as the followers of Simon Magus, 
 Menander, Marcion, Basilides, &c. who were known 
 by the general appellation of Gnosrics. It was true, 
 he says, ** that these under the cover of a religious 
 profession, were guilty of the enormous crime of 
 incestuous cohabitation ; and that they even re- 
 proached and ridiculed the pious and orthodox, 
 whom the fear and love of God restrained from such 
 sins." Justin Martyr also declares, that this was 
 the real and only rise and foundation of the perni- 
 
46 INCEST. 
 
 cious accusation ; and Eusebius expressly asserts, 
 that from this circumstance alone, the foolish and 
 wicked calumny originated, which the Heathen ad- 
 versaries greedily seized upon and fiercely propagat- 
 ed, to bring infamy and reproach upon the Chris-^ 
 tian name.* 
 
 During along and gloomy period, the genuine 
 religion of Jesus was prostrated, his faitiiful follow- 
 ers persecuted, and a large portion of the Church, 
 over which the antichristian Bi ihops of Rome exert- 
 ed their usurped authority, was deformed and ruin- 
 ed. The kingdom of the divine Redeemer, which 
 is not of this world, was debased and blended with 
 the civil government ; the doctrines of the gospel 
 were corrupted ; and the spiritual worship of the 
 sanctuary disgraced by unmeaning ceremonies and 
 ostentatious pageantry. Yet amidst this wreck of 
 truth and its inevitable consequence, the prostration 
 of pure morals, there were some primary principles 
 which it was impossible to destroy. Among these 
 
 * A yery interesting account of the holy walk and strict morality of the primi- 
 tive Chrittians may be found in Cave's primitive Christianity. Of their confi- 
 nenrt in particular, the reader will meet with many affecting anecdotes in chap. V. 
 ef that book. 
 
INCEST. 47 
 
 was the sentiment respecting- incest. This sin was 
 always condemned and execrated in the Church of 
 Rome. The Popes indeed, with their blasphemous 
 pretensions to authority and infallibility, and to meet 
 the wishes of wicked princes, of whom they were 
 afraid, pretended frequently to dispense with the law 
 of God, in this article. But the public mind forever 
 cherished an abhorrence against it; and some men in 
 the communion of that Church had the courage to 
 denounce the crime, and deny the power of the 
 Pope to grant a dispensation. 
 
 At the dawning of the reformation, when learn- 
 ing and religion began to revive ; in the close of the 
 fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, 
 there were many pointed testimonies among the Ca- 
 tholicks upon the subject of incest. When the 
 question respecting the divorce of Henry VIII. from 
 his sister in law queen Catherine, agitated Europe ; 
 the learned faculties of many universities, parncu- 
 larly in France, gave, their solemn opinion in clear 
 and decided terms.* 
 
 *■= The sentiments of the Protestant Churchds respecting the queation before ar, 
 will be introduced in another section. 
 
48 INCEST. 
 
 The faculty of the university of Paris declared : 
 "that, after frequent meetings in the Church of St. 
 Mathurin, and at the College of Sarbon, having 
 most diligently and conscientiously examined the sa- 
 cred scriptures, with the most approved expositors, 
 together with the general and synodical decrees of 
 the councils of the Church, estabhshed, received, 
 and approved by long usage ; they do unanimously 
 answer, assert, and determine, that a marriage with 
 a sister in law, is equally prohibited by the law of 
 nature and of God ; and that the Pope cannot grant 
 a dispensation for such marriage." 
 
 The faculty of the university of Bononia say : 
 " we judge, declare and testify, and we affirm with- 
 out any hesitation, that such a marriage, such nup- 
 tials, and such connections are horrible, execrable, 
 detestable, and to a christian, and even to every 
 heathen, wholly abominable. It is prohibited by 
 the law of nature, and sanctioned by the severest 
 penalties, both divine and human ; nor can the Pope, 
 upon any consideration dispense with the contraction 
 of such marriage," see Burnet's history of the re- 
 formation of the Church of England ; collection of 
 records and original papersy in folioy vol, 1. page 89a. 
 
INCEST. 49 
 
 &c. where these, and many other documents of the 
 same import, are inserted, in their original language, 
 at large. 
 
 These men were decided and unanimous in con- 
 demning the abominable crime of incest, and parti- 
 cularly in reprobating that species of it, which is 
 committed in marrying a sister in law. They deni- 
 ed the authority of the Pope to dispense with the 
 law of God, and considered it altogether out of the 
 power of the Church to put a different construction 
 upon the divine precept. Their intrepidity and 
 honesty no doubt excited the indignation of their 
 Pontiff; but they expressed the sentiments which 
 prevailed among the best informed in the Church of 
 Rome. 
 
 The light in which civil governments have 
 viewed incest appears from the laws enacted by them 
 against it. From the Institutes of Justinian, com- 
 monly called the Pandecta or jus civile, it is certain; 
 that incest in the Roman Empire was considered a 
 civil crime and severely punished. — Among modern 
 nations it will suffice to mention: that by an ordi- 
 nance of Holland, 1580, it was enacted "that 
 
 7 
 
50 INCEST. 
 
 no persons related in blood, or by affinity, within the 
 forbidden degrees, shall be permitted to cohabit or 
 be married, under the penalty of being declared in- 
 famous, and subjected to corporal punishment and 
 heavy fines, and, if they persevered in their crime, 
 to banishment." In another ordinance, the forbid- 
 den degrees are enumerated, and it is declared "that 
 no man may marry the widow of his deceased broth- 
 er, nor MAY ANY WOMAN MARRY THE HUSBAND 
 OP HER DECEASED SISTER." 
 
 Incest and adultery were in England made capi- 
 tal crimes, in the year 1650. But at the restoration, 
 those offences were left to the coercion of the spirit- 
 ual court, according to the rules of the canon law : 
 yet the court of king's bench is still the custos mo- 
 rum of the people, and has the superintendency of 
 offences contra bonos mores.* — "Our Law con- 
 siders marriage in no other light than as a civil con- 
 tract. The holiness of the matrimonial state is left 
 intirely to the ecclesiastical law; the temporal courts 
 not having jurisdiction to consider unlawful marriage 
 as a sin, but merely as a civil inconvenience. The 
 
 * Bladstone»B Com. book 6. chap. 4, Of offences agaiost God and religion. 
 
INCEST. 51 
 
 punishment therefore, or annulling of incestuous or 
 other unscriptural marriages, is the province of the 
 spiritual courts, which act, pro salute animae. — 
 Among the disabilities which prevent persons from 
 contracting marriage, are consanguinity, or relation 
 by blood ; and affinity, or relation by marriage. 
 And those disabilities are all grounded upon the ex- 
 press words of the divine law, or are consequences 
 plainly deducible from thence : it therefore being 
 sinful in the persons who labor under them, to at- 
 tempt to contract matrimony together, they are pro- 
 perly the object of the ecclesiastical magistrate's co- 
 ercion."* 
 
 In the United States, the general Government 
 has not passed any laws upon the subject. It be- 
 longs to the respective States individually to protect 
 the morals of their people ; and in all these, incest is, 
 by common law, an offence contra bonos mores, and 
 in some of them, it is punishable by statute. But 
 the principal dependence is placed in the Churches 
 of every denomination, throughout the union. 
 Government is assured that they will instruct and 
 
 "■' Blackstone's Com. book 1. cbap. 15. 
 
52 INCEST. 
 
 watch over the public mind ; and unitedly, guard 
 against the first approach of principles and con- 
 duct, which would contaminate the manners or 
 prove a reproach to the community. Should the 
 Churches become negligent and unfaithful, it will 
 soon be found necessary, for the civil power more 
 pointedly to interfere. 
 
 The precious liberty, both religious and civil, 
 with which it has pleased God to bless and distin- 
 guish the happy citizens of the United States, is un- 
 derstood and appreciated by those who can duly es- 
 timate its value ; and we trust, it will be faithfully 
 preserved, by the virtuous portion of the communi- 
 ty, and transmitted inviolate to the latest posterity. 
 But liberty may be easily abused, and is often made 
 an occasion to thejlesh. When the restraint of hu- 
 man laws is relaxed or removed, the influence of the 
 divine law is frequently found, with the unprinci- 
 pled, to be feeble and insufficient. To no other 
 source can be ascribed the scandalous marriage with 
 a sister in law, which is shocking to every nation 
 in Europe, but has with us been shamefully intro- 
 duced, and begins to assume the attitude of defiance. 
 
INCEST. 53 
 
 "Righteousness exalteth a nation ; but sin is a re- 
 proach to any people." Religion and morals are in- 
 separable ; they stand or fall together ; and when 
 both are prostrate, civil liberty will inevitably de- 
 part. — But the impending evil of incestuous mar- 
 riages may yet be suppressed. The defection is in 
 its incipient state. There are still many remaining 
 who fear God and tremble at his word. Resistance, 
 prompt and unequivocal, is practicable, and will as- 
 suredly prove successful. 
 
 Principiis obsta, sero medlcina paratur, 
 Cum mala per longas invaluere moras. 
 
 Is incest forbidden by God ? Do the Heathen and 
 Mahometans abhor it ? Has the Church, under both 
 dispensations, always excommunicated incestuous 
 persons ? Do the Papists execrate it ? And is it by 
 the Civil Governments of all nations punished as an 
 offence against society ? And shall a sin so much 
 detested and universally condemned, be lightly es- 
 teemed by us ? shall we consider it a smal! offence, 
 a mere venial transgression ? Do any members of the 
 Church, at this day, and especially any ministers of 
 the Gospel, presume to patronise a marriage, which 
 they themselves acknowledge approximates as near 
 
54 INCEST. 
 
 to incest, as it is possible to approach ; and which, 
 whether they acknowledge it or not, has already, 
 from the principles of affinity, been proved to be 
 that very crime ? God forbid ! 
 
 This is not a question of mere speculation and 
 amusement, or of small and inconsiderable moment. 
 It respects the authority of the divine law and involves 
 the most serious consequences. " Your glorying is 
 not good;" these are the words of the Apostle, in 
 reference to this very sin, " your glorying is not 
 good ; know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the 
 whole lump ?'** Let incest, in any of its branches, 
 or under any form and patronage, be once tolerat- 
 ed ; let the abhorrence of that sin become derided, 
 and consequently weakened and obliterated, which 
 it most assuredly will, by such toleration; and a 
 door will be opened to vices of every name and 
 every grade. Adultery, the other mortal ene- 
 my to marriage and virtue, will soon find its pub- 
 lic advocates, and the manners of our country be de- 
 graded to the scandalous level of the most debauch- 
 
 * I Cor. V. 2. 6. " And ye are pufFed up, and have not rather mourned, that 
 he that hath done this deed might be taken away Vroia among you. Your glory- 
 ing is not good," &c. 
 
INCEST. 55 
 
 cd and abandoned people. — The watchmen who 
 stand upon the walls and cannot discover the adver- 
 sary, or who are afraid and refuse to sound an alarm, 
 will become accessary to the ruin ; but fearful will 
 be the responsibility of faithless and slumbering cen- 
 tinels. 
 
SECTION IV. 
 
 L A W. 
 
 liAW is a rule of action. The term is applied 
 generally to all kinds of action, whether animate or 
 inanimate, rational or irrational. Thus it is said, 
 there are laws of motion, of gravitation, of attraction, 
 of electricity, of mechanics, of optics. But when 
 the word is used in relation to moral subjects and 
 referred to the intellectual system, it denotes a stand- 
 ard of human actions, and comprises the precepts 
 by which men are obligated to regulate their behav- 
 iour. In this sense, Law is "a rule of action, pre- 
 scribed by a superior, invested with just authority, 
 to determine the conduct of moral agents."^ 
 
 * Derivaat nomen hoc Lex, multi a ligando, quia Lex homioes obligat ; alii u 
 legendo, turn quod scripta lex proiniscue legi potuerit, turn maxime quod lata 
 ^aelegeretur palam. Hebreis dicitur Tor ah, quod a larah derivatum, dodrinam, 
 yel viae moDstratioaem notat. Graecis komob apo tou 7iemdn quod regaf ipsa;, 
 regiminis sit uorma, atque distribuat unicuique suum. Prof. Markha, 
 
 *->* The Printers have no Hebrew nor Greek types. 
 
 8 
 
58 LA W. 
 
 ■•'>f ^ ■ 
 Law is correctly called a rule^ to distinguish it 
 
 from advice or counsel. The latter we are at hber- 
 ty to follow or not, as we may judge proper. But 
 the former depends not upon our consent or appro- 
 bation; but upon the will of the law- giver. Coun- 
 sel is simply a matter of persuasion, law is decided- 
 ly a matter of injunction. Counsel acts upon the 
 willing, law upon the unwilling as well as the 
 willing. 
 
 As a rule, law is also distinguished from a com- 
 pact or agreement. A compact is a promise pro- 
 ceeding from us. Law is a command directed to 
 us. The language of a compact is, " I will, or I 
 will not do this.*' The language of a law is, " thou 
 shalt, or thou shalt not do it." In compacts we our- 
 selves determine and promise what shall be done, 
 before we are obliged to do it. In laws we are ob- 
 liged to act, whether we determine and promise or 
 Xiot.^-^ Consilium cZczr^dicitur, qui significat, quidsi- 
 bi videatur, ut fiat. Suadere dicitur, qui significat, 
 
 ^- Sec Blackitone's Com. Introd. 2» 
 
LAW. 59 
 
 quid fieri velit in alterius tamen arbitrio relinquens, 
 quid facere velit. Jubere dicitur, qui significat, 
 quid fieri velit, in alterius arbitrio non relinquens, 
 quid facere velit.* 
 
 Laws are of different kinds. The highest and 
 most authoritative is the law of Ggd. Possessed 
 of infinite wisdom, goodness and power, he can en~ 
 act and enforce the best laws ; and as he is the great 
 source of all existences, and all things depend upon 
 him for their being and support, he has a right to fix 
 tlie standard of conduct for intelligent creatures, and 
 to command what they shall and what they shall not 
 do. This he has done ; and all his laws are holy, 
 just and good j all are sanctioned with the highest 
 possible authority ; and none may be controverted 
 or disobeyed with impunity. 
 
 The Law of God is an authoritative rule of con- 
 duct and regulates the manners of men. Every di. 
 vine precept may therefore be said to be a moral 
 law, agreeably to the etymology of the term, which 
 is derived from mores or tnoralis* — But a distinction 
 
 * Philojophir.ae WotFiANAE Theol. naturalis pars, 1. cap. 6. 98? 
 
60 LA W. 
 
 is adopted, which distributes the laws of God into 
 two classes. One comprises what is denominated 
 MORAL, the other PECULIAR. — The MORAL Laws 
 are those which proceed essentially from the perfec- 
 tions of Gcd, and "uhich are universally binding. 
 The PECULIAR laws are such as arise from peculiar 
 circumstances, which bind a particular people only, 
 and are limited in their duration — of the moral laws 
 there are tVv^o arrangements.— iS'o;72^ moral laws are 
 so evidently founded in the nature of man, so easily 
 investigated, so firm in their binding power upon 
 every conscience, that they have, in the aggregate, 
 obtained the name of the Law of nature. Jus- 
 tinian defines it, " Jus naturale est quod omnia an- 
 imalia docuit," Inst. Lib, 1. Tit. 2. The law of 
 nature is that which teaches all animals, a defini- 
 tion exhibiting the law of nature in the most exten- 
 sive sense of the term. But the law of nature which 
 belongs to man, must be restrictedi to the obligations, 
 which are exclusively founded upon his rational as 
 well as his animal nature. The law of nature is the 
 lav/ of God, and eminently belongs to the moral 
 class.* — Other moral laws, which are distinct from 
 
 * See Vattel. Law of nalions— preface. 
 
LAW. 61 
 
 the iavv of nature, are comprehended in what are 
 called POSITIVE Laws. — Positive laws are those 
 which are ascribed to the sovereignty of God : be- 
 cause, however essential they may be to his perfec- 
 tions, or accommodated to the nature and situa- 
 tion of man, they cannot be investigated by the light 
 of reason ; nor can they have any binding power, 
 except by the express revelation of God. Positive 
 laws are also of two kinds, they are either positive 
 moral laws, or positive peculiar laws — the former 
 are those which are universally promulgated and 
 universally binding — the latter such as are restrict- 
 ed in their objects and period. — But this analysis of 
 the divine laws requires explanation. The distinc- 
 tions must be more minutely defined and illustrated. 
 
 As every thing actually existing and all that can 
 possibly exist, with all their relations and properties, 
 depend upon God; so all the consequences and du- 
 ties arising from such possible or actual existences 
 must also be dependent upon him. There is a Jit- 
 ness or propriety of obligations, resulting from rela- 
 tions, which, considered as existing in the nature of 
 things, antecedent to any positive precept, may be 
 said to constitute the eternal and immutable basis of 
 
62 LAW. 
 
 good and evil. Upon this subject, much may be sug- 
 gested and much has, without suitable caution, been 
 MTitten. But care should be taken not to magnify 
 this Jitnessy like the fate of the stoics, and make it 
 independent of God ; nor to exalt an abstract idea 
 above the Supreme, and render it anterior or superior 
 to him. The fitness of things, and the accommo- 
 dation of all respective relations;, with the corres- 
 ponding duties, to that fitness, are acknowledged to 
 be true; but this very fitness, like every thing else, 
 when traced to its origin, is derived from God. He 
 renders the relations possible or actual, and he is the 
 sole author of all that is right. All possible things 
 have their foundation in the infinite understanding 
 of God, as upon his omnipotent will, all things, ac- 
 tually existent, depend. The sovereign will of an 
 infinitely perfect being must be always right and fit ; 
 "as for God his way is perfect," his law is the only 
 sure and incontestable rule of action, to which eve- 
 ry being, capable of moral agency, must be refer- 
 red.^ 
 
 * *' Probably those who have asserted this did not mean any more tlian that the 
 divine will is so perfect and escellent that all virtue is reduced to a conformity to 
 it— and thut we ought not to judge of good and^pvil by any other rule. This is as 
 true as that the divine conduct is the standard of wisdom —The nature and will of 
 God is so perfect as to be the true standard of all excellence, natural atid mor 
 
LAW. 6S 
 
 So much of the Law of God as may be known 
 and is, in part, recognised by all men ; so much as 
 suffices for the preservation of individuals, for con- 
 stituting society, and establishing the first principles 
 of morality ; whatever may be the obscurity of the 
 knowledge respecting it, is denominated the Law 
 OF NATURE, bccause it is not only discovered by 
 the light of nature, but arii^es from our natural con- 
 stitution and being. But the clearer discoveries of 
 duties, towarct God as Creator, and especially to- 
 ward him as Redeemer, as well as what men owe to 
 each other, is called, in distinction from the former, 
 the REVEALED Law, and is found only in the sa- 
 cred scriptures. This revealed law, in its intrinsic 
 obligation, is of equal force and perpetuity with the 
 law of nature, and is of higher authority than any 
 explanation which human reason can give to a sys- 
 tem of morals, because it is expressly defined. 
 
 The will of God in his revelation is unequivocally 
 declared. 
 
 W)d if we are sure of what he is, or commands, it would be presumption and folly to 
 reason against it, or put our views of fitness in the room of his pleasure : but to say 
 that God, by his will, might have made the same temper and conduct virtuous and 
 excellent, which we now call vicious, seems to unhinge all our notions of the su- 
 preme excellence even of God himself."-~Dr. Witherspcou's Works, vol. iii. 
 page 288. 
 
64 LAW. 
 
 tj.;"HuMAN Laws are variously distinguished, con« 
 Ibrmably to their peculiar principles and different 
 ends. As soon as men enter into a social compact, 
 the equality, essential to a state of nature, ceases. 
 As they increase in numbers and spread over the 
 earth, new societies arise, new nations are formed ; 
 which render some common principles necessary for 
 their individual safety, and oblige them to adopt 
 some general laws for their mutual intercourse. 
 What they adopt for this purpose is called the Law 
 OF Nations ; which is a law "that regulates the 
 intercourse and determines the rights of peace and 
 war between separate states and kingdoms." Quod 
 naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit, voca- 
 tur Jus Gentium. 
 
 The safety, propriety and government of each in- 
 dividual nation require laws suited to their respec- 
 tive choice and circumstances. These are compris- 
 ed under the denomination of the civil Law. 
 '* Quod quisque populus ipse sibi jus constituit, id 
 ipsiusproprium civitatis est,vocaturque jtJs civile, 
 quasi jus proprium ipsius civitatis." Justinian. 
 
L A W. 6 J 
 
 The civil Law is divided into two branches. That 
 which relates to the governors, and those who are 
 governed, is distinguished by the title of politi- 
 cal Law, or the constitution of the state.* That 
 which respects the mutual rights and duties of citi- 
 zens is called the MUNICIPAL Law, not as restrict- 
 ed to a particular municipality, but in a more exten- 
 sive sense, as the rule by which members of the 
 same community or nation are bound to regulate 
 their conduct towards each other. . 
 
 Each of these great classes comprehends many sub- 
 divisions, agreeably to the different objects to which 
 they relate, or the immediate power by which they 
 are enforced ; which give a name or title to distinct 
 kinds of laws, whether they belong to the civil laws 
 of the state, or the canon laws of the Church. — But 
 the law of God is superior in authority to all these. 
 No human laws, of whatever name or description, 
 are of any validity, if they be contrary to the divine 
 law ; and such of them as are valid, derive all their 
 'force, either mediately or immediately from this 
 original. 
 
 -^ Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws, book 1, chap. ?. 
 
 9 
 
66 LAW. 
 
 The principal and most accurate distinction ad- 
 mitted in the law of God, as noticed in the preceed- 
 ing analysis, is that of moral and peculiar. The re- 
 sult will be the same, if it be distinguished into moral 
 and positive; and what is peculiar be introduced as a 
 distinct branch of positive laws. This last arrange- 
 ment is adopted by some celebrated writers upon 
 this subject. 
 
 The MORAL Law is the eternal, unchangeable and 
 authoritative rule which directs and binds all men in 
 their whole duty towards God, their neighbours, and 
 themselves. It is the infallible standard of what is 
 right and wrong, in regard to their thoughts, affec- 
 tions, words, and actions. It is founded upon the 
 infinite perfections of God, and his relation to his 
 creatures as their maker and sovereign Lord. It is 
 perfectly consistent with their essential nature and 
 being ; and forever binding upon all men in every 
 situation, age or condition. 
 
 This law was manifest to Adam before his apos- 
 
 tacy, when he was dignified with the image of his 
 
 God, " when reason was clear and perfect, unruifled 
 
 It 
 
 by passions, unclouded by prejudice, unimpaired by 
 
LAW. 67 
 
 disease or intemperance ; " and this law is still writ- 
 ten, to a certain degree, upon the hearts of all his 
 degenerate posterity. *' For when the Gentiles 
 which have not the f revealed J law, do by nature the 
 things contained in the law, these, having not the 
 law, are a law unto themselves; which shew the 
 work of the law written in their hearts, their con- 
 science also bearing witness, and their thoughts the 
 mean while accusing or excusing one another," 
 Rom, ii. 14, 15, 
 
 Those, who affect a distinction between moral 
 laws, and what they call the Laws of nature, as- 
 sert, that while moral laws comprise all the duties of 
 a moral agent towards his God, society and himself; 
 the laws of nature are restricted solely to what ap- 
 pertains to the individual, and find all their motives 
 exclusively in the nature of man. But there is no 
 necessity of drawing this line of distinction. The 
 Law of nature as far as it extends, is the moral law. 
 To give it another title is to destroy its very essence, 
 or at best to suggest a consideration of the subject 
 in a very restricted view. 
 
6B h A W. 
 
 Positive Laws are those which depend upon a 
 revelation of the will of the Lawgiver, without 
 which, thev cannot be known or produce an obliga- 
 tion. They are revealed precepts, which become 
 binding, in consequence of their promulgation. — 
 All laws enacted in civil society are positive. Before 
 the passing and publication of such laws, there can 
 be no transgression, either in respect to the duties 
 enjoined or conduct prohibited. The positive 
 LAWS OF God are, some of them, moral in their 
 nature and universally binding, but which could 
 not be investigated without an express revelation; 
 others 2iX^ peculiar in their object and scope, intend- 
 ed to serve some temporary purpose in the dispen- 
 sation of the Church, and as such, are binding upon 
 a particular people alone and for a limited time. 
 
 It has been considered a subject worthy of discus- 
 sion, whether any positive law, derived from the 
 immediate revelation of God, can ever become unu 
 versally binding upon all men ? Those, who wish 
 minutely to examine this question, will be gratified 
 by consulting what Puffendorf, Barbeyrac, Grotius, 
 Wolfius, Cudworth and MosKeim, have written up- 
 on this subject. All agree, that, as the authority 
 
LAW. 69 
 
 is the same, so, if the promulgation be universal, 
 the positive law will also become universal, and 
 must of course be as binding, as any that are most 
 strictly denominated moral or natural. 
 
 Without specifying other laws of this description ; 
 let it suffice to observe, it is unanimously admitted, 
 that the Law of marriage is a positive moral 
 law, and one that has actually become universaL 
 It was the first positive law imposed upon Adam, 
 whilst in a state of rectitude, and in Paradise. It 
 was communicated by him to his children, and well 
 known during the antediluvian period. By Noah 
 and his sons it was afterwards handed down to their 
 posterity ; and through all the ramifications of the 
 human family, has been always recognised, and is 
 at this day received and acknowledged by every na- 
 tion in the world. 
 
 The general propensities of nature would prompt 
 to a sexual intercourse, but interesting and serious 
 questions arise, which could never be decided by 
 the light of nature. A positive law of God was ne- 
 cessary to determine, whatever relates to the insti- 
 tution of marriage, whatever respects those who 
 
70 LAW. 
 
 may lawfully enter into that holy state, as well as 
 what concerns the honourable protection of the ordi- 
 nance, after its consummation. This Law has been 
 given. It is moral in its principle and its restric- 
 tions, universal in its promulgation, and binding up- 
 on all the human family. 
 
 The positive laws of God which are peculiar, 
 that is, which are binding upon a particular people 
 alone, and in force for a limited period only, are 
 those which were given to Israel, and were adapted 
 to the dispensation of the Church under the Old 
 Testament. 
 
 To separate the posterity of Jacob from all other 
 Rations, to preserve the knowledge of the promises 
 and the truths of religion inviolate, and to keep pure 
 and distinct, a people from whom the Messiah was 
 to spring, it pleased God to erect a Theocracy. 
 In accomplishing this adorable and astonishing es- 
 tablishment, Jehovah, the Redeemer l^iimself, who 
 always was, and forever will be, the divine Head of 
 his Church, condescended to become also, the civil 
 ruler or King of Israel. In consequence of this, the 
 visible Church and the civil state of that people, be- 
 
LAW. 71 
 
 came united ; and the laws which respected the 
 Church were blended with those which were civil. *^ 
 The moral Law especially, which is the basis of all 
 the ordinances, statutes and precepts, together with 
 the promises established by the covenant of grace is 
 necessarily interwoven with all these, and thus one 
 perfect code is formed, comprehending whatever re- 
 spected the Israelites as men, as professing believers, 
 and as citizens of the Theocracy. 
 
 Agreeably to the particular relations in Israel to 
 which the resptctivt peculiar 3.nd positive laws refer, 
 a distinction is made. One portion of them is call- 
 ed the Ceremonialy the other the Civil IsLW.-f 
 
 * The nature of the Theocracy, which necessarily involved tlie immediate in- 
 terposition of God, and could be supported only by miraculous providences, fully 
 refutes the argument of Bishop VVarburton, in his essay to prove, and illustrate 
 the union of the Church and state . It is impossible for men, without the imme- 
 diate authority of God, to form such an union. Under the New-Testament dis- 
 pensation there is no Theocracy,-an union of Church and state is therefore now, 
 impracticable. 
 
 f The term law is variously used in the sacred scriptures. Sometimes it de- 
 notes, in a general sense, any binding power, as in Rom. vii. 21. 23. &c. but 
 when employed to express a rule of conduct, it often comprises the whole of di- 
 vine revelation, comprehending all the doctrines, promises, and precepts : so 
 Ps. i. Ps. xix. Ps. cxix. — It frequently designates more particularly the moral 
 law, in which sense it chiefly occurs in the Epistles to the Romans and the Gala- 
 tians. — In other passaj^ts, it refers generally to the Mosaic system, in which the 
 moral law is included with those precepts, which are deno ninated ceremonial and 
 civil. — The term is usully thus introduced by the Prophets, and by the Apostle 
 in his Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 
f^ L A W. 
 
 The Ceremonial Law, or as it might more pro- 
 perly be denominated, the Ecclesiastical, com- 
 prised all the statutes, which regulated the rites of 
 religion and mode of worship in the Church, until 
 the close of the dispensation of the Old Testament. 
 Rites and modes peculiarly appropricited to the pe- 
 riod of promise, and designed as so many instruc- 
 tive types and affecting figures, to exhibit the bless- 
 ed Messiah, and pourtray what he was to perform 
 and suffer to save his people from their sins. This 
 was their primary and highest object, but to pre- 
 serve the Jews from idolatry and keep the ^chosen 
 tribes completely separate from every other nation, 
 many particular and minute observances were enact- 
 ed, which to us, who are ignorant of the customs 
 of the ancient nations surrounding Israel, appear to 
 be of minor importance. These may justly be call- 
 ed ceremonial, while the principal and typical parts 
 were far from being mere ceremonies. — Whatever 
 appertained strictly and exclusively to the ecclesias- 
 tical or ceremonial law in the books of Moses, 
 must necessarily be limited to the Old Testament. 
 It was peculiar to Israel. It could apply to no other 
 people or period : and since grace and truth are 
 come by Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law 
 
L A W. 73 
 
 for righteousness, the shadows have vanished, the ri- 
 tual worship is abrogated, and nothing typical is 
 any longer of force. 
 
 What is denominated the civil law of the Pen- 
 tateuch, was adapted to Israel, as a state or nation, 
 in their civil capacity y and as placed under the hon- 
 ourable government of a Theocracy. It fixed their 
 constitution, and directed in what way their govern- 
 ment was to be administered. It prescribed the du- 
 ties of magistrates and private citizens, and deter- 
 mined whatever related to their common inter- 
 course. As such, it appertained solely to that 
 people. It was the great partition wall, which, 
 together with their ecclesiastical statutes, separated 
 them from the neighbouring states, and distinguish- 
 ed them from every other nation in the world. 
 
 It is evident that nothing in their system of laws, 
 which was exclusively ecclesiastical or civil, can 
 bind any other people. Yet the principles of equi- 
 ty, which are the basis of all well organised govern- 
 ments, and which pervade the civil system of the 
 Jews, are equally obligatory upon the whole world ; 
 and especially the moral precepts, which we shall di- 
 
 10 
 
74 L A VV. 
 
 rectly see, are blended throughout the whole mass of 
 the Israelitish law, must be binding upon all men in 
 every age. 
 
 By one man sin entered into the world, and death, 
 by sin. — The death of the body, and the death of 
 the soul, as far as the soul can die, are the wages of 
 sin. The wretched children of apostate Adam have 
 lost the image of their God, and are dead in trespass- 
 es and sins. Thez/ are darkened in their understand- 
 ings and their wills a?id affections are depraved. Sin- 
 ners are at enmity against a holy God; and so far are 
 they from possessing a desire or a power to obey 
 the divine law, they have actually lost, to a great 
 degree, the knowledge of the law itself, and are ig- 
 norant of the true standard of their conduct. It be- 
 came therefore necessary, in the introduction of a re- 
 vealed religion, and the public establishment of a 
 church in the world, to promulgate again, by an im- 
 mediate revelation, the moral law. 
 
 The revelation of the moral law is summarily 
 comprised in the Decalogue or the ten command- 
 ments, which were audibly pronounced from Mount 
 Sinai, and afterwards written by God himself upon 
 
LAW. 75 
 
 two tables of stone. But these precepts are ex. 
 pressed in few words. They comprehend indeed 
 the principles of the respective duties to which they 
 refer, and are spiritual and extensive. Yet it was 
 expedient to have them illustrated and confirmed, 
 by subsequent explanatory precepts, that the letter 
 and spirit of the moral law, contained in that sum- 
 mary, might be fully understood. To answer this 
 interesting purpose, it pleased God to repeat, ex- 
 plain, and apply the precepts of the Decalogue, 
 throughout the whole Bible, and especially in the 
 Mosaic code ; not in a separate or systematic order, 
 but mixed with laws of different descriptions ; not 
 in detached and solitary passages, but mingled and 
 interspersed with those which were peculiar to the 
 Theocracy. Wherefore in the same paragraph the 
 moral are often found with those which were eccle- 
 siastical and civil laws. 
 
 Many instances in which moral precepts are thus 
 introduced and interspersed might be given. Let a 
 few suffice. — " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
 all thy might. — Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God ; 
 him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thoa cleave, 
 
r& L A w. 
 
 and swear by his name* — \ e shall be holy, for I 
 the Lord thy God am holy. — Thou shalt do that 
 which is right and good in the sight of the Lord. — 
 Thou shalt worship no other God. — Ye shall make 
 ye no idols. — Ye shall not swear by my name false- 
 ly, neither shalt thou profane the name of the Lord. 
 — Ye shall keep my sabbath and reverence my sanc- 
 tuary. — Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart. 
 —Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. — Honour 
 thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God 
 hath commanded thee. — He that killeth any man 
 shall surely be put to death. — Ye shall not afflict any 
 widow or fatherless child. — Do not prostitute thy 
 daughter, to cause her to be a whore. — There shall 
 be no whore. — Thou shalt not lie carnally with thy 
 neighbour's wife. — Ye shall not steal ; neither deal 
 falsely ; neither lie one to another —Thou shalt not 
 arrest judgment, thou shalt not respect persons, nei- 
 ther take a gift. — That which is altogether just shalt 
 thou follow. — Thou shalt have a perfect and just 
 weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have. 
 —Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stran- 
 ger nor the fatherless. — Thou shalt rejoice in every 
 good thing, which the Lorji thy God hath given un- 
 to thee, — Thou shalt keep the commandments of 
 
LAW. 77 
 
 the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways and to fear 
 him." — See Deut. v. vi. x. xvi. Exodus xxii. 
 xxxiv. Levit, xviii. xix. xxiv. 
 
 Here, and in numerous similar texts, which might 
 be adduced, it is evident, that moral laws are mix- 
 ed and interspersed with those which are of another 
 description. Every precept of the Decalogue is il- 
 lustrated and enforced. Supreme love to God, 
 a spiritual worship, the reverence of his name, and 
 the sanctification of a day of rest, love to our neigh- 
 bour, filial duties, preservation of life, chastity, hon- 
 esty, truth and grateful contentment — these, all 
 these are specifically explained and repeatedly en- 
 joined. 
 
 Can any man, not warped by prejudice or defi- 
 cient in information, read these precepts, and pro- 
 nounce concerning them, that they are all ceremo- 
 nial laws, and were binding upon the Jews only ? 
 or tliat the Decalogue is the only moral law to be 
 found in the books of Moses? What ! were the 
 Jews alone obliged to love God, to be holy and obe- 
 dient, to love their neighbours, to be honest and 
 chaste? Are not these moral precepts? Must 
 
78 LAW. 
 
 they not be acknowledged as such, wherever they 
 are found, and in whatever connection they are in- 
 troduced ? Are not many of them expressly cited 
 in the New- Testament, and applied to Christians ? 
 And will any dare to say, that they do not bind all 
 men as much as they did the Jews ? 
 
 The books of the Old Testament are received as 
 inspired volumes, and venerated as the standard of 
 faith and conduct by Christians as much as they 
 were by the Israelites. There is but one Church, 
 as there is but one Saviour. Under both dispensa- 
 tions, the Church is essentially the same. What 
 was the word of God to the Old Testament, is the 
 word of God to the New- Testament. The five 
 books of Moses are a precious portion of the sacred 
 oracles. Those who understand the scriptures know 
 how to explain and appreciate them. Christians can 
 distinguish between what was peculiar and attached 
 to a particular period of the Church, before the 
 coming of the precious Saviour ; and that which is 
 moral and applicable to all men. 
 
 As every command in the Decalogue is afterwards 
 recognised and fortified by particular moral precepts, 
 
LAW. 79 
 
 expressly given for that purpose ; we may, a priori, 
 be assured, that the seventh command will also be 
 protected, and what respects its scope and extent 
 will find some conspicuous place in the book of 
 laws- The prohibition of adultery preserved the 
 honour of the sacred institution, after it is consum- 
 mated — but important inquiries respecting the par- - 
 ties who might lawfully enter into that state were left 
 undecided in the letter of the Decalogue. — Wheth- 
 er the ordinance of marriage be free, without any 
 restraint or limits, so that all, whatever be their mutual 
 kindred, may lawfully approach each other? or 
 whether there be any prohibitions, and if any, what 
 are the specific prohibited degrees ? These were of 
 the highest importance to be known and remained 
 yet to be more plainly revealed. If by the light of 
 nature, they could in some measure be discovered, 
 it would still be a benefit to have them specifically 
 ascertained by the authority of a divine revelation. 
 It was therefore to be expected that in some part or 
 other of the divine law, this subject would be intro- 
 duced. Every other precept of the Decalogue is 
 distinctly recollected, illustrated and enforced ; and 
 surely what respects an ordinance, which God most 
 solemnly instituted and blessed, which he honours, 
 
80 LA W. 
 
 and which involves so deeply the dearest interests 
 and comforts of the whole human family, cannot be 
 neglected or forgotten. There must be a law some- 
 where in the Mosaic code, to ascertain who may and 
 who may not be united in marriage. Without such 
 a law, the great object of the seventh command will 
 remain fearfully exposed, and be left at a dreadful 
 uncertainty. — Blessed be God ! There is a law in 
 his word which draws the line of prohibited inter- 
 course. A law strictly moral, and appertaining ex- 
 pressly to the seventh command ; but which, like 
 all the rest that relate to the moral precepts of the 
 Decalogue, is blended and incorporated with the 
 ecclesiastical and civil statutes of Israel. 
 
 After making these observations respecting Law 
 in general, and the structure of the laws in the sta- 
 tutes of Moses in particular, we are now prepared 
 to open the Book, and examine the contents of the 
 eighteenth chapter of Leviticus. 
 
SECTION V. 
 
 LEVITICUS XVm. 16. 
 
 In discussing this article, attention must be paid to 
 — the object and scope of the Law in Leviticus, 
 xviii. 6 — 17 : — the rules to be adopted for explain- 
 ing that law — the particular precept which forbids a 
 marriage u-ith a sister in law — and the extent of all 
 these prohibitions. If it shall appear that this law ex- 
 clusively respects the crime of incest — that, agreea- 
 bly to the rules of just interpretation, the marriage 
 of a deceased wife's sister is actually forbidden in 
 the 16th verse — and, that this Law is not ceremonial 
 but moral, and as binding, in its prohibitions, up- 
 on Christians, as it was upon the Jews ; the ques- 
 tion will be decided by an authority, which it would 
 be impious to contradict, and dangerous to disobey, 
 
 I. The object and scope of this Law is obvious 
 from— its connection with the other laws contained in 
 
 11 
 
82 LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 
 
 this chapter, — and the unequivocal terms and phra- 
 ses which distinguish this particular statute. 
 
 The chapter contains several laws against various 
 lusts and pollutions, which are all denominated abo- 
 minable. — It commences with solemn warnings 
 against crimes of that description. Verses 1 — 5. — a 
 definite and express statute against impure and ille- 
 gitimate cohabitation, which was one of those 
 crimes, is then introduced, and is the first mention- 
 ed. Vs. 6 — 17. — a Law against Polygamy is next 
 added. Vs. 18. — this is followed by the interdiction 
 of uncleanness, adultery, and obscene idolatry, vs. 
 19, 20, 21. — and the last is a law against unnatural 
 lusts and sodomy, vs. 22, 23. — the chapter closes 
 with awful threatenings against those who should 
 dare to violate either of these Laws. 
 
 That the statute contained in verses 6 — 17. ex- 
 clusively relates to prohibited marriages is evident 
 —from the express designation of the crime— the 
 definition of the subjects of the law — and the min- 
 ute enumeration of the degrees of kindred which con- 
 stitute the basis of the prohibitions. Any attempt 
 to prove or illustrate this, ^ would be superfluous. 
 
LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 83 
 
 The object of the law, and the meaning of the di- 
 vine Lawgiver can not be mistaken. It is impossible 
 to hesitate in determining, that this is a law which 
 condemns what is called Incest ; that its immediate 
 scope and design is to draw the line of prohibitions, 
 and ascertain, with precision, the degree of kindred, 
 within which God forbids the consummation of mar- 
 riage. 
 
 II. To understand this law and explain it faithful- 
 ly, the following rules are admitted as unquestion- 
 able. 
 
 1. The term near of kin specifies that degree of 
 relation which approximates too closely to render a 
 marriage legitimate between persons thus related— 
 the nearness of kindred is the essential principle of 
 the law against incest. — Any pretended criticisms on 
 the meaning of the Hebrew sheer Bbasar are alto- 
 gether inadmissible. Our translation near of kin 
 conveys the exact meaning of the original, and ex- 
 presses with precision, what is intended. The word 
 sheer signifies relict y remnant, remainder, and Bba- 
 sar means Jlesh alimcntum, pars reliqua post mor- 
 tem, what remains after liie is extinct. These 
 
84 LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 
 
 terms when applied to human kindred are very em- 
 phatic ; ai d they art evidently in this law not confin- 
 ed to consanguinity, but express in general, propin- 
 quus a kinsfnan, or affinis one related by mar- 
 riage ^ as well as cognatus a relative by blood, 
 
 2. The phrase to uncover the nakedness is used to 
 signify sexual commerce or marriage. The mean- 
 ing cannot be mistaken. 
 
 3. The term wife in this law, indisputably sig- 
 nifies widow. The word is often used in scripture 
 to denote widow ; see Genesis xxxviii. 8. Ruth iv, 
 5. 10. It must mean widow here, for were the 
 husband still alive, it would be adultery, which is 
 not the crime intended or designated in this law. 
 
 4. In the enumeration of the degrees of relation, 
 the sources by consanguinity and affinity are indis- 
 criminately blended. The relations of the husband, 
 and the relations of the wife, in consequence of the 
 union produced by marriage, are considered as 
 equally near to both. No distinction is made in 
 the .direct or lateral line, between those who are relat- 
 ed by blood or by marriage. 
 
LEVITICUS XVTII. 18. 85 
 
 5. Consistent with the principle upon which the 
 law is founded, it is evident, that wherever a degree 
 of kindred is named and prohibited, all the relations, 
 either in consanguinity or affinity, which are in the 
 same degree, and especially such as are nearer, than 
 that which is mentioned, are necessarily included 
 and equally forbidden. 
 
 6. The same prohibition which binds a man is 
 equally binding upon a woman. To say that men 
 preserve the name of the house, which is lost by 
 the marriage of a woman into another family, and that 
 therefore men alone are comprehended in this law 
 is trifling, and prevaricating. As an intelligent be- 
 ing and equally under the obligation of the divine 
 law, the female is as fully included in these precepts 
 as the male. Whatever relation then, the law ex- 
 pressly names upon the part of the husband, must 
 be considered as implicitly intended and actually 
 comprehended, upon the part of the wife. 
 
 7. Every relation of the same degree, whe« re- 
 versed, must be understood to be as much included 
 in the precept as if it had been specifically mention- 
 ed. To have repeated all these, vice versa, would 
 
86 LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 
 
 have unnecessarily multiplied the words of the law, 
 without rendering them more explicit or intelligible. 
 
 III. As the law before us is, beyond contradic- 
 tion, a statute against Incest, we may expect to find 
 in it, some precept respecting a sister in law, 
 since she is also very near of km, — In this we are 
 not disappointed. It is contained in v. 16. "Thou 
 shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's 
 wife ; it is thy brother's nakedness." — To remove 
 every temptation and silence all prevarication upon 
 this article, the same precept is repeated in chap. 
 XX. 21. "If a man shall take his brother's wife, it 
 is an unclean thing : he hath uncovered his brother's 
 nakedness." — Here two brothers are forbidden to 
 marry the same woman ; and of course two sisters 
 may not marry the same man. — " The sister of a 
 deceased wife stands in the very same relation with a 
 brother of a deceased husband ; the law therefore is 
 express and full, that two sisters shall not marri^ 
 the same man. Whoever then marries^ his deceased 
 wife's sister is, by the clear and unequivocal sen- 
 tence of God's law guilty of incest.^* 
 
LEVITICUS XYIII. 16. 87 
 
 There are two classes of sisters in law. One is 
 the wife uf a brother, the other the sister of a wife. 
 Both these are aiways called by the same name, and 
 with great propriety. They are both sisters in and by 
 the law of God, upon the same principle of affinity ; 
 and are both related in exactly the same degree of 
 kindred. If there be any difference, the sister of the 
 wife, in consequence of the union of husband and 
 wife, is the nearest. The law therefore which pro- 
 hibits a marricfge, with one sister in law, must 
 agreeably to rule 5, forbid a marriage with the other 
 sister in law. 
 
 The objection urged from the precept, Deut, 
 XXV. 5. 10. will be considered and answered in its 
 proper place, where it will be seen, that it makes no 
 alteration in the spirit or letter of this Law. It suf- 
 fices here to observe, that whatever may be the scope 
 or extent of that exception, in regard to a brother's 
 wife, in a particular instance ; it evidently can have 
 no reference at all to the other class of sisters in law. 
 The sisters of the wife are clearly, and absolutely 
 prohibited, without any admissible condition or 
 supposed dispensation. 
 
88 LEVITICUS XVIIL 16- 
 
 This law is intelligible and decisive, and could 
 not fail of being understood by the Jews as absolute- 
 ly forbidding any man to marry the sister of his de- 
 ceased wife. It is also equally obvious upon the 
 part of the woman, to whom the law of Deut. xxv. 
 cannot possibly apply, that she may not, in any case, 
 conformably to rules 6. 7. marry the husband of her 
 deceased sister. And if she may not marry him, 
 he, most assuredly, cannot lawfully marry her* 
 
 To endeavour to elucidate this precept is unne- 
 cessary, the law cannot be rendered more perspicu- 
 ous or convincing. It enacts in the most positive 
 terms: "Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of 
 thy brother's wife ;" that is, thou shalt not marry 
 thy sister in law, neither the widow of thy brother, 
 nor the sister of thy wife. 
 
 IV. In this construction all are unanimous, all 
 agree that the precept is plain and positive as it re- 
 spects the Jews. None have ever denied that God 
 has forbidden an Israelite, to marry his sister in law, 
 whether it be the wife of his deceased brother, or 
 the sister of his deceased wife. The only point, 
 upon which any question caa arise, relates to the na* 
 
LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 89 
 
 ture and extent of the precept. It is asked, whe- 
 ther this law be not ceremonial and, in its nature and 
 object, exclusively intended for the Jews only ? or 
 whether it be a mora/ law, applicable to all mankind, 
 and as binding under the New-Testament dispensa^ 
 tion as it was under the old ? To these enquiries, 
 the following observations will suggest a sufficient 
 answer. 
 
 1. There is nothing ceremonial in this law; noth- 
 ing that has any immediate connection with the ex- 
 ternal Church, or the civil government of the Jews ; 
 nothing that has any relation to the sacred rituals, 
 typical purifications and solemn sacrifices introduc- 
 ed in Israel, or adapted to the period when the 
 Church was governed by a Theocracy ; all of which 
 are the distinguishing properties, of a ceremonial 
 law. Will any one pretend, that the law which for- 
 bids a man to approach a person who is near of kin 
 has the least respect or any shadow of reference to 
 rites, types or sacrifices ? Is there any thing in the 
 object of this law peculiar to the Jews ? Is not 
 marriage an institution for all mankind? Is there 
 not the same nearness of kin subsisting throughout 
 the whole world ? Is not the moral turpitude of 
 
 12 
 
90 LEVITICUS XVIII. le. 
 
 mixing with near relatives the same in one period of 
 time as in another, the same in other people as in 
 the Jews ? When therefore the object of the law 
 is moral ; when it essentially applies to the whole 
 world, and to every period of time ; when it has 
 nothing in its nature, form or scope — nothing in the 
 connection in which it is introduced, or the lan- 
 guage in which it is expressed, that has the most dis- 
 tant respect to any rites or ceremonies ; with what 
 propriety, or by what authority, will any contend that 
 this law against incest is a ceremonial law .^— And, 
 if the whole law against incest, in the aggregate, be 
 not ceremonial, with what shadow of argument, 
 can any particular precept, in that law, be separated 
 from the rest and be pronounced ceremonial ? Is 
 the precept, verse 16. against marrying a sister in 
 law any more ceremonial than the other prohibitions 
 in this chapter ? will any man, who understands 
 what he reads, allow that the other precepts against 
 incest, or those against sodomy are moral, and yet 
 contend that the precept respecting a sister in law is 
 ceremonial ? has that any criterion of peculiarity or 
 ceremony distinct from the others ? does it not pos- 
 sess the same character, and is it not enjoined in the 
 same connection, the same style, and by the same 
 
LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 91 
 
 authority with all the other precepts ? has it not the 
 same internal marks, the same essential properties of 
 a moral law ? they who rashly attempt to degrade 
 this precept from its true and exalted station, must 
 beware lest they incur the awful threatening denounc- 
 ed, EeveL xxii. 19* 
 
 2, In the preceding section we have seen — that 
 it was essential to a Theocracy, to have the doc- 
 trines of grace, together with the moral precepts, 
 blended with the civil and ecclesiastical laws, that 
 thus one complete code, exactly corresponding with 
 the dispensation of the Old Testament, might be 
 formed. — That in consequence of this arrangement, 
 throughout all the books of the Old Testament, and 
 especially in the Pentateuch, the promises and pre- 
 cepts appertaining to the invisible Church are ming- 
 led with topicks which are peculiar to the visible 
 Church, and connected with the ecclesiastical and 
 civil government of the Jews. — That as all the other 
 commandments contained in the Decalogue, which is 
 a summary of the moral law, are, in one place or other 
 of the Mosaic system, distinctly illustrated ; their 
 principles established ; and sanctions enforced ; so 
 we may confidently expect the same will be done, 
 
92 LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 
 
 with regard to the seventh command. Since God 
 would, most assuredly, not leave the holy institu- 
 tion of marriage, upon the maintenance of which 
 in its purity, so much of the happiness of the world, 
 and the honour of religion depend, without some 
 farther explanatory precepts. — That, as he had pro- 
 tected the ordinance against adultery, by the letter of 
 the seventh command, we may be persuaded he 
 would also shield it from pollution, by prescribing 
 the prohibited limits, and declaring who were the k'- 
 gitimate parties* that might enter into that holy state. 
 But now, where has God done this, unless it be in ' 
 the law before us ? If this be a moral law against 
 incest ; if in this law the prohibited degrees, which 
 apply to all mankind, be expressly mentioned, or 
 clearly implied, upon principles which can admit of 
 no doubt or contradiction, then the important benefit 
 is obtained, the desired statute is found; But if this 
 law be ceremonial, peculiar to the Jews, and in 
 which, of course, the rest of the world have no 
 share, then there is no law in the whole revelation of 
 God, which meets the situation aSd necessity of the 
 human family — for there is no other passage in th^ 
 Bible, not a single paragraph to be found in the Old 
 or New-Testamejit, where the prohibited degrees 
 
LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 93 
 
 are enumerated, excepting in this xviii chapter of 
 Leviticus, and a few verses in the xx chapter, where 
 some of the precepts are repeated. If this law does 
 ncft extend to Christians and to the whole wond, 
 then a man may now marry even his own mother, 
 his daughter, or sister by blood. There is, at least, 
 no written law to forbid him. But if this law be in- 
 deed a branch of the seventh precept ; if in its na- 
 ture, scope and object, it altogether coincides with 
 the spirit and extent of that command, then it is as 
 much a moral law as any precept in the Decalogue, 
 and as such, we are bound to receive it with hum- 
 ble submission, and fervent gratitude. It is the ve- 
 ry revelation we needed to instrucl us precisely re- 
 specting the parties who may lawfully enter into the 
 holy state of matrimony. ---Nor can it be expected 
 that we will ever suffer any, whatever may be their 
 motives, to rob us of this treasure. 
 
 3. The emphatic language of the divine Lawgiv- 
 er, in the introduction to this law, and in the con- 
 cluding sanctions annexed to it, is sufficient to de- 
 termine the question, and decide it to be equally 
 obligatory upon all mankind- To prevent the pos- 
 ^bility of mistaking the subjects of this law, or 
 
94 LEVITICUS XVIII, U. 
 
 considering it to be merely ceremonial, a restriction 
 for a few persons only ; it is introduced with a gener- 
 al interdiction, by a very singular repetition : Ish, 
 Ish. (Hebr.) anthropos, anthropos, (Ixx.) vir, vir, 
 omnis homo^ (vulg.) no man, no man ; our transla- 
 tion has it none^ that is, no one. A mode of address 
 which constrains us to conclude that every Individ- 
 ual, without any discrimination or exception, is 
 here intended. The solemn words annexed I am 
 Jehovah are also calculated to excite the religious 
 attention and claim the holy obedience of alU-^-The 
 sanctions are also very intelligible and impressive. 
 The depraved Canaanites are charged with being 
 guilty of gross abominations, for which in the righ- 
 teous providence of God, they were to be wholly 
 extirpated. — And in the list of their horrible crimes, 
 Incest is the first named and has the foremost rank. 
 But what could have rendered incest a crime among 
 the Canaanites ? Let it be repeated, where there is 
 no law, there can be no transgression. If the law 
 against marrying those who are near of kin be cere- 
 monial and peculiar to the Jews, it could have no 
 binding power upon the Gentiles, who were stran- 
 gers to Israel. What then was the law, respecting 
 this sin, which they had transgressed ? It was sure- 
 
LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 95 
 
 ]y the moral law ; that very identical law which is 
 contained in the xviii of Leviticus, and which is de- 
 clared to be enacted for the very purpose of describ- 
 ing the nature and condemning the evil of incest — 
 a law in which the prohibited degrees are distinctly 
 enumerated and authoritatively forbidden. It was a 
 law of nature and tradition to the Canaanites, with 
 which they were sufficiently acquainted, by the dic- 
 tates of conscience, to know that Incest was an hei- 
 nous sin — but a law, which those who are blessed 
 with this written precept, more distinctly now un- 
 derstand. 
 
 4. Let one consideration more be added, with 
 which an Infidel has no concern, but which to 
 Christians is very interesting. It was mentioned 
 section III. that an instance of incest occurred very 
 early in the Christian Church. That it was direct- 
 ly noticed, and the Apostle commanded the Corin- 
 thians immediately, in the name of the Lord Jesus, to 
 excommunicate* the incestuous person. This com- 
 mand, supported by the adorable authority of the di- 
 vine Redeemer, was instantly obeyed ; and it is record- 
 ed in the word, as a perpetual rule, in similar cases, 
 which binds the Church in every age and place. As 
 
96 LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 
 
 such the primitive Christians certainly understood it, 
 and in all successive generations, believers have al- 
 ways considered it a duty, expressly enjoined by their 
 Lord, to cut ofF from their communion every person 
 who commits Incest. But to what a fearful dilemma 
 is the Church of the New- Testament reduced, if the 
 Law contained in Levit. xviii be ceremonial and in- 
 tended for the Jews only ? , Where then is the stand- 
 ard by which Christians are to judge of this crime ? 
 How can they excommunicate a person for being 
 guilty of Incest, if they cannot define the sin or as- 
 certain the prohibited degrees ? And how can they 
 do this, without a written document, some infallible 
 rule, by which they are to be guided ? Must it be 
 left to conjecture, to prejudice, to the arbitrary de- 
 cision of the officers of the Church? Must it be 
 measured by any vague and indefinite scale ? Is not 
 *' to the law and to the testimony," a maxim and rule 
 of proceeding for the Christian Church, as much as 
 it was for the Jews ? The divine Saviour has most 
 assuredly riot commanded his people to be vigilant 
 against any sin, and faithful in their dicipline respect- 
 ing it, without informing them what constituted that 
 sin. But where is the inform^ition given ? Where 
 has he explained that sm to them? There is rio 
 
LEVITICUS XVIII. IG. 97 
 
 |)assage in the whole book of God which defines the 
 crime, excepting in Levit. xviii and xx. If that 
 law be ceremonial, then it is now abrogated and no 
 longer in force. If that lavv^ were peculiar to the 
 Jews, then Christians h;.ve no law respecting Incest, 
 beside the law (if nature j and they are placed ex- 
 actly upon the same level with the unhappy Heath- 
 en, who sit in darkness and in the region of the 
 shadow of death. If that law be exclusively attach- 
 ed to the Theocracy, then the Church of the Old 
 Testament had more light and clearer information in 
 an article essential to the preservation of her purity^ 
 and for promoting the glory of God, than the 
 Church of the New- Testament. Under the former 
 dispensation the crime was clearly ascertained, and 
 the Church of the Old Testament proceeded safely 
 in her censure. But if that law be not moral, the 
 crime ceases now to be defined, while the obligation 
 to avoid the crime still continues. The Christian 
 Church is then indeed called to a severe duty, she 
 is commanded* to punish criminals, without pos* 
 sessing any infallible rule, or having any means of 
 knowing, what constitutes the crime, — The truth 
 is, the Church of the New- Testament has always 
 <K)nsidered the law in Levit. xviii to be moral and of 
 
 13 
 
n LEVITICUS XVIII. 16. 
 
 universal obligation ; and all nations, who professed 
 the Christian religion, have forever received it with- 
 out any hesitation or gainsaying, as the sure and 
 only standard by which Incest is ascertained. 
 
 If these obvervations prove insufficient to produce 
 conviction ; if one or ail of these fail to convince 
 those of their error who maintain that the Law 
 against incest was a mere ceremonial precept ; it 
 ivill be altogether useless to add any more. Such 
 persons must be considered as either above or be- 
 low the reach of arguments. 
 
HI 
 
 memam 
 
 SECTION VL 
 
 DECENCY. 
 
 WhEIV incontrovertible arguments ha^e decided a 
 question, it may appear improper to add corroborat- 
 ing observations. But the subject before us ex- 
 tends, with interesting consequences, in every direc- 
 tion — it may therefore be expedient, beside argu- 
 ments, to suggest considerations which appeal to 
 the feelings of the heart. Only two shall be men- 
 tioned.— The first is distinguished by the title of 
 Decency. 
 
 Decency expresses' whatever is decorous and 
 consentaneous to character ; it comprises, that deli- 
 cacy in morals, that refinement in sentiment, and that 
 precision in conduct, which render virtue amiable, 
 interesting, and a source of comfort to society. 
 
 " Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
 are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever 
 
ma • DECENCY. 
 
 things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good re- 
 port ; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, 
 think on these things," Phil. iv. 8. With this af- 
 fee ing and sublime group of words, the inspired 
 Apostle suggests the influence and extent of sancti- 
 fied principles, and recommends that beauty of ho-, 
 liness and undeviating rectitude of Christian man- 
 ners, which include all that is implied in decency 
 and delicacy. 
 
 Christians are " the salt of the earth"—" the light 
 of the world," — "a city set upon a hill." They 
 must " do more than others," and " through Christ 
 which strengtheneth them," they actually do more 
 than others. Morality in all its extensive branches, 
 from purer motives and with greater precision, is 
 practised by them than by any other men. They 
 deny themselves, and are afraid to sin ; they avoid 
 every appearance of evil, and hate " even the gar^ 
 ment spotted by the flesh,'"'^ 
 
 This refinement of sentiment and principle makes 
 little pr r o impression upon the wicked, whose pur- 
 suits and habits have never been regulated by such 
 exalted standards, and who have no desire to be sav- 
 
DECENCY. 101 
 
 ed from their sins ; but to real Christians it is full 
 of interest, and expresses their predominant wishes. 
 To such, the article now before us appeals. They 
 can enter fully into the subject — they know what 
 DECENCY requires, and under its influence, will 
 yield to all that has been suggested against commit - 
 ing incest with a sister in law. 
 
 Marriage is justly styled " a delicate institution,'* 
 essentially connected with order and decency. Sweet 
 spring of purest comforts, exuberant source of do- 
 mestic happiness, it pours its precious blessings 
 wherever it is honoured, and amply pays for protec- 
 tion and defence. But, exposed to insults and sus- 
 ceptible of injuries, it withholds its invaluable bene- 
 fits from those who suffer it to be abused and pollut- 
 ed. Any people who tolerate incest of any des- 
 cription ; who countenance adultery ; or sanction di- 
 vorces for anv other cause, than what the word of 
 God prescribes ; will quickly realise the pernicious 
 effects of their conduct. They will rapidly depre- 
 ciate in taste and sentiment, and infallibly degene- 
 rate in morals. If the fountain of social virtue be 
 troubled and poisoned, the streams will inevitably 
 be turbid, bitter, and fatal— " thine own wicked- 
 
102 DECENCYj 
 
 ne§s shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall re- 
 prove thee." — Beside, let it impress the public mind 
 with holy fear, let it be remembered with reveren- 
 tial awe, that God is jealous of his own ordinances, 
 and will not suffer any person with impunity to pro- 
 fane them ; especially those who are blessed with 
 his word and profess to be his people, ^^lithey 
 call evil good, and good evil ; if they break his 
 statutes, and keep not his commandments. He will 
 visit their transgression with the rod and their ini- 
 quity with stripes," for ** verily he is a God that 
 judgeth in the earth." — The rule of the divine go- 
 vernment toward those whom he has knowriy and 
 blessed with distinguished privileges, is always and 
 invariably the same : *' The Lord is with you, while 
 ye be with him ; and if ye seek him, he will be 
 found of you ; but if ye forsake him, he will for- 
 sake you." And, saith the Lord, *' wo to them, 
 when I depart from them." 
 
 Many indecent and indelicate, disagreeable and 
 unpleasant consequences resulting fro«n a marriage 
 with a sister in law, will be readily anticipated by 
 every serious and reflecting mind. Let it suffice to 
 observe ; that admitting (which cannot in truth be 
 
DECENCY. 109 
 
 granted,) that a doubt might be cherished whether 
 a sister in law be a relation, within the prohibited 
 degrees; must it not still be acknowledged, that 
 to marry such a relative is a rash and dangerous 
 act ? Is it not perilous to advance as near as possi- 
 ble to the brink of a precipice ? Is it safe, is it 
 prudent, is it consistent with the Christian charac- 
 ter, to approach deliberately to the very verge of an 
 abominable and accursed crime, under the infatuat- 
 ed and fluctuating hope that perhaps it may possibly 
 be an exemption ? 
 
 But it is not only rash and dangerous to the in* 
 dividuals ; it is also injurious to the community. 
 Such marriages trespass upon the rules of decency ; 
 they are inimical to that purity, and chastity of 
 families, which insure the repose and happiness of 
 society ; they are hostile to that virtue and delicacy, 
 which the religion of nature, and revealed religion 
 inculcate. 
 
 In the confidence of protection from a man, who 
 by his marriage has been brought into the family, 
 and become a brother, the younger sisters are always 
 in the habit of associating familiarly and frequently 
 
104 DECENCY. 
 
 with their married sister— their former affection is 
 hot interrupted by the introduction of a new relative^ 
 This is proper. It is consistent with the most rigid 
 rules of morality. It is founded upon the indispu- 
 table presumption, that the sister of the wife is now 
 ^Iso become the lister of the husband^ and he is her 
 brother. No suspicion of indecency can arise in 
 her mind, nor any imputation of indelicacy upon 
 the part of the public. She may come, remain^ 
 or go, in all the safety of innoeency, under the 
 broad shield of the divine law, and the universal 
 consent and approbation of society. But let it be 
 once adopted, let practice establish the detestable 
 principle, that the sister, after the death of the wife, 
 may become not at all related to the husband ; that 
 she may be to him a stranger, and as much the le- 
 gitimate object of marriage as any other woman, 
 and her frequent and familiar visits must cease. 
 She Can no more come to his house, or be oftener 
 seen in the company of her brother in law^ than she 
 may frequent the house or be familiar in the compa- 
 ny of any other married map. The afFectionate in^ 
 tercourse of the sisters is at an end. 
 
DECENCY. 105 
 
 As it respects himself and the unhappy victim of 
 his incestuous cohabitation — is it not indecent to 
 persuade her to an act, which could she have fore- 
 seen, would, from principles of delicacy, have pre- 
 vented the familiar intercourse, in which, as a sister ^ 
 she had innocently indulged ? — Nay, is it not cruel, 
 to render the woman, who had placed confidence in 
 him as a brother^ a partaker with him, in the fearful 
 risks and alarming consequences of such a connec- 
 tion ? — Is there not an ample choice among stran- 
 gers ? Is it not one of the great objects of marriage 
 to enlarge the domestic circle, and cement families 
 by new relations ? And is not that great end frus- 
 trated, by the contracted, indelicate, and indecent 
 selection of a sister in law ? Habita est ratio rectis- 
 simacharitatis, ut non in paucitate coarctaretur, sed 
 latius atque niimeriosius propinquitatibus crebris 
 vinculum sociale difFunderetur. Aug, de civit, 15, 
 16. 
 
 " Let us study the beautiful and the venerable, as 
 well as what is true and just, in actions, and pur^u^ 
 every thing which shall, as such, approve itself to 
 our consciences ; every thing in which there shall be 
 virtue and praise. Let us always, in this view, en- 
 
 14 
 
106 DECENCY. 
 
 deavour to keep the moral sense uncorrupted, and 
 pray that God would preserve the delicacy of our 
 minds in this respect, that a holy sensibility of soul 
 may warn and alarm us to guard against every dis- 
 tant appearance of evil. " * 
 
 * Doddridge. 
 
SECTION VII. 
 
 OFFENCE. 
 
 *'WOE unto the world because of offences ! hut 
 woe to that man by whom the offence comet h,^''—^'' Am 
 I my brother's keeper," was the reply of a murder- 
 er ; and to a certain degree, it is the language of 
 every unregenerate heart. What do the wicked 
 know of the Church of God, or what do they care 
 for offending the members of the Church? But to 
 all who profess the Christian religion, and especially 
 to those who are renewed in the spirit of their minds, 
 and devoted to the service of the Redeemer, the 
 wo pronounced by him is full of meaning, and 
 suggests very serious reflections. 
 
 An OFFENCE is the displeasure, disgust, or scan- 
 dal which arises in consequence of the improper and 
 sinful conduct of others. This, in some instances, 
 it is acknowledged may be improperly excited, and 
 offences taken where there is no just cause for an 
 
10« OFFENCE. 
 
 offence. It was thus when the Pharisees, through 
 unbelief and malice, were offended at our Lord ; 
 and such may also possibly happen, when persons, 
 of contracted information, are grieved at transac- 
 tions, with the principles and consequences of which, 
 they are wholly unacquainted. 
 
 But all offences are not of this description. 
 Those against which the divine Saviour denounces a 
 wo, are corrupt opinions and evil practices which are 
 injurious and afflictive, discouraging and ensnaring 
 to his people. Considering the depravity of man- 
 kind, and the innumerable temptations which 
 abound, it is morally impossible, but that, under 
 the divine permission, such things will happen ; yet, 
 however light the sinner may esteem the transgres- 
 sion, he may rest assured that awful punishment 
 awaits the man, whoever he may be, whose rash and 
 pernicious conduct proves an occasion to pervert 
 others, to grieve them, or draw them into sin. 
 
 The marriage of a sister in law is an evil of this 
 class. It grieves and offends the Church of Christ. 
 It will not avail to boast, tliat " in our enlightened 
 age, it is proper to break the fetters of inveterate 
 
OFFENCE. 109 
 
 prejudice and dispel the cloud of ancient ignorance." 
 That it is " nnagnanimous, by bold efforts, to con- 
 vince the world and especially Christians, that they 
 have been hitherto mistaken in the meaning of the 
 divine law and the extent of their liberty." Such 
 language is characteristic of scoffers who fear not 
 God nor regard man ; but it is arrogant and insuf- 
 ferable in those who make a profession of religion. — 
 What claim have such presuming reformers to the 
 attention or gratitude of the public ? With what 
 depth of investigation, with what force of argument 
 do they support their pretensions ? Is not their 
 whole plea for marrying a sister in law founded in- 
 tirely upon frivolous evasions and trifling objections? 
 Do they enter at all into the merits of the question, 
 or make any reference to the principles upon which 
 its decision depends ? 
 
 The divine law has not been obscured in a cloud, 
 nor are prejudice and ignorance to be ascribed to 
 believers, either under the Old or New -Testament 
 dispensation. Throughout every economy of the 
 Church, they understood the genuine institution of 
 marriage, and knew the precise meaning of the pro- 
 hibitions. They never could be impeached for 
 
no OFFENCE. 
 
 want of knowledge or a deficiency in a well informed 
 zeal to obey and vindicate the law of God ; and they 
 are not disposed, at the present day, to repair to 
 young expositors for instruction, nor to modern in- 
 novators for new morals. No fear of resentment 
 nor desire to please, no frowns nor smiles can in- 
 timidate or allure Christians from their duty. Firm 
 to their vovv^s and faithful to their Lord, they now, 
 as heretofore, are resolved to ask for the old paths — 
 the good way, and they will walk therein. 
 
 How different from these boasters, were the prin-' 
 ciples and conduct of the humble and holy Apostle ! 
 He trembled at the idea of offending his brethren, 
 even in matters which were indifferent and certainly 
 not sinful. He would not " offend in any thing," if 
 even his eating meat should create an offence, he 
 " would eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest 
 " he make his brother to offend," — and he com- 
 mands all " to give none offence, neither to the Jews, 
 nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God." 
 
 Let not then the advocates for marrying a sister in 
 law pretend, that such marriages, by being often re- 
 peated and unblushingly defended, do not any long- 
 
OFFENCE. Ill 
 
 er give offence. They know that to be impossible. 
 The Church which is not offended by them, would 
 be an apostate from truth and duty, and cooperate 
 to its own destruction. — The fear therefore of giv- 
 ing offence, abstracted from every other considera- 
 tion, ought to restrain the advocates for such mar- 
 riages from affording their patronage, and especially 
 deter all from committing that evil. It is well 
 known, and cannot be denied; that those connec- 
 tions always have been, and still are, considered by 
 all the Churches, a shameful violation of the divine 
 law and an open reproach to religion. That, with 
 very few exceptions, Christians of all denominations 
 are greatly offended and seriously grieved by such 
 marriages. Audit is time to have it known by ex- 
 perience, without further indulgence, wavering, or 
 hesitation, that the Church of Christ, possesses 
 sufficient information, authority, and means, to re- 
 move offences and punish offenders. 
 
SECTION VIIl. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 That God forbids a man to marry his sister in 
 law has been proved beyond contradiction. To il- 
 lustrate the subject and exhibit the arguments with 
 precision, it was judged advisable to ascend to 
 the first principles of marriage and affinity ; 
 to contemplate the evil of Incest — and ascertain the 
 nature and extent of the divine law, which prohibits 
 that crime. These interesting topics have unavoid- 
 ably introduced a variety of observations, which are 
 numerous and diffuse ; but which are perhaps not 
 calculated to afford the same instruction or excite 
 equal conviction in the minds of some readers, 
 which the same reasoning would produce, when 
 compressed within narrower boundaries. As in- 
 struction and conviction are the primary objects in 
 view, the following summary is annexed, 
 
 15 
 
(14 SUMMART. 
 
 1. Marriage was not devised by man. It is a di- 
 vine ordinance which constitutes an union between 
 two persons, and renders them no longer twain, but 
 one flesh. It was the exclusive prerogative of God 
 to protect and vindicate his own institution ; and he 
 has done this, in the most authoritative manner, by 
 his positive precepts. The revealed will of God is 
 therefore the only standard, agreeably to which all 
 questions respecting those who may lawfully enter 
 into that holy state, must be decided. 
 
 2. The kindred created by marriage is real ; and, 
 as it respects connubial connexions, is constituted 
 by the law of God, as sacred and legal as that which 
 is founded in blood. To the married persons reci- 
 procally, affinity produces a relation of the same 
 grade v/ith consanguinity. The mutual relatives 
 become blended and are equally related to both hus- 
 band and wife, and this degree of kindred remains 
 permanent.- — It cannot, by the death of either of 
 the parties, be ever changed or dissolved. 
 
 3. Incest is a detestable crime.— The human 
 mind revolts against it as filthy, injurious to virtue, 
 and inimical to the comfort and prosperity of socie- 
 
SUMMARY. Ub 
 
 tji — God has forbidden Incest in terms which indi- 
 cate his holy indignation against it, and his righte- 
 ous determination to punish the individuals, who 
 commit the crime, and even to inflict judgments up- 
 on any people, who countenance and permit such 
 abominations. — The Heathen reprobated it ; Maho- 
 metans condemn it ; the Church under both dis- 
 pensations forever censured it ; and civil Govern- 
 ments have always considered it a crime against so- 
 ciety, and punished it, as such. In every form it 
 assumes, it is criminal ; and whatever approximates 
 to this accursed sin is injurious to the morals and 
 character of the community. — But, a marriage with 
 a sister in law is not a species of distant or slight In- 
 cest, it is of the highest grade. Who is so near as 
 a sister ? What higher incest can be practised ? 
 There is no collateral relative nearer than a sister. 
 It is the first in that line ; none but a mother or 
 daughter, in the lineal descent, are nearer. — It has 
 been demonstrated that the Law of God makes a 
 sister bt/ affinity as near to the husband, in respect 
 to marriage, as a sister by blood. It is therefore In- 
 cest of the first degree for him to marry his sister in 
 law. And shall a crime of such magnitude be palliat- 
 ed with frivolous arguments, or defended by super- 
 
116 SUMMARY. 
 
 ficial evasions ? Is it possible that men of under- 
 standing and conscience, who fear God and would 
 not presume to justify the wicked, will dare to pat- 
 ronise such daring Incest ? Can they be contented to 
 rest their decision, in such an interesting subject, 
 upon trivial and unimportant objections ? Is the 
 holy Law of God to be invalidated by sophistical 
 subterfuges and unfounded inferences? Will not 
 some, who through want of information, have here- 
 tofore wavered on this subject, tremble at recollect- 
 ing that they have been in danger of approving an 
 abominable crime ? Will they not thank God if the 
 veil be now rent, and they withheld from vindicat- 
 ing a gross transgression of the divine Law ? — Let 
 it be remembered, if Incest in one degree, and es- 
 pecially in one of the highest grades^ be indulged, 
 that other species of that detestable sin will rapidly 
 multiply. Men may soon be found sufficiently de- 
 praved and unprincipled to marry their nieces, and 
 perhaps before long, to take their sisters in blood. 
 It is impossible to foresee to what depths of debauch- 
 ery the public manners may be debased, or where 
 the horrible scene will close. — It must be checked 
 in the bud, and if the virtuous part of the commu- 
 nity be aroused, and the Churches faithful, it can 
 
SUMMARY. lir 
 
 yet be successfully resisted, and those scandalous 
 marriages, which are a reproach to the Christian 
 name, and a disgrace to the nation, will be no more 
 repeated. 
 
 4. The law of God is the infallible rule of our 
 conduct. — In the establishment of a rheocracy un- 
 der the Old Testament, the moral law, and points 
 ed explanations of all the precepts of the Decalogue, 
 were mingled with those which were peculiar to the 
 external state of the Church, and the civil govern-, 
 ment of the Jews. But the nature of the respective 
 moral precepts remained essentially the same, and 
 were not in the least altered by being thus blended 
 in one common code. 
 
 5. In the xviii chapter of Leviticus, chastity is 
 commanded and every species of uncleanness for- 
 bidden. There are various laws in that chapter suit- 
 ed to their different objects. Among other crimes 
 which are all denominated abominable. Incest is 
 first introduced, and occupies a conspicuous place. 
 — From verse 6 to 17 inclusive, the degrees of kin- 
 dred, within which God forbids marriage, are dis- 
 tinctly enumerated. — It is a rule of explanation 
 
118 SUMMARY. 
 
 which cannot be controverted ; that, '* every pre- 
 cept, which expressly names and prohibits any par- 
 ticular degree of relation, must be understood to 
 comprise all relatives within the same degree, as ful- 
 ly as if they had been specifically named." With- 
 out admitting this rule, the law would have been 
 greatly defective, or must have been tediously prolix. 
 — While designating degrees more remote, strict 
 attention has been given to the relation of brothers 
 and sisters, and marriages with those relatives are 
 expressly forbidden. The prohibition extends not 
 only t© brothers and sisters, by consanguinity, but 
 also to brothers and sisters by affinity. Each is 
 particularly recognised. Sisters by blood and sis- 
 ters by affinity are considered as relatives equally 
 near and legal, as it respects the marriage connec- 
 tion, and each is equally forbidden. The case of a 
 sister by affinity is introduced, verse 16. — A sister 
 by affinity is either a brothers "wife, or the sister of 
 a wife. Both are equally sisters ; both are allied up- 
 on the same principle, and both stand in the same 
 degree of kindred. To prohibit a marriage with 
 one, is therefore of course a prohibition with respect 
 to the other sister. Whatever exceptions may be 
 supposed to have sometimes 'intervened in regard to 
 
SUMMARY. 11^ 
 
 a sister in law of the former class, there could be 
 none to a sister in law of the latter. The sister of a 
 deceased wife is, without any possible exemption, 
 absolutely and forever prohibited. — In this sense the 
 ancient Jews understood the law. They knew they 
 were unconditionally forbidden to marry the sister 
 of a deceased wife. The law is unequivocal and as 
 it regards the Jews, its meaning cannot be contro- 
 verted. The only question to be decided is, wheth- 
 er this law is ceremonial and peculiar to Israel ; or , 
 Whether it is moral and of universal obligation? 
 That it cannot be a ceremonial law is evident from 
 its possessing none of the properties of a ceremonial 
 law. — That it is a moral law is certain — from its 
 essential connection, in its object and scope with 
 the seventh precept of the Decalogue — from its ex- 
 press reference to the law of nature, and coincidence 
 with that very law which the wicked inhabitants of 
 Canaan had transgressed ; and— from its being the 
 only written law in the whole Bible, upon the sub- 
 ject of Incest ; the only standard by which the Chris- 
 tian church can ascertain the crime, and agreeably to 
 which, by proper discipline, she can preserve her 
 purity by excommunicating such criminals. 
 
!20 SUMMARY. 
 
 6. Whatever may be the evasions, which men in- 
 terested in the question, may devise, it is undeniably 
 indecent tQ marry a sister in law. It is inimical to 
 public virtue, to innocent intercourse, and the com- 
 forts of society ; and is peculiarly indelicate and cru- 
 el to the sister who is made an accomplice in the 
 crime, 
 
 7. The divine law against Incest is of perpetual 
 obligation, and has always been well understood. 
 No instruction upon this subject is now needed, nor 
 will any be received from incompetent teachers. 
 The Church of the New-Testament is under the 
 same law with regard to Incest, with the Church of 
 the Old ; in every age she has decidedly adopted the 
 precepts contained in Levit. xviii. 6. 17. as the on- 
 ly standard by which that crime is to be adjudged. 
 It therefore cannot be true, that a marriage with a 
 sister in law does not give offence. And this con- 
 sideration alone, abstracted from the authority of the 
 divine law which forbids them, ought to deter pro- 
 fessing Christians from contracting marriages which 
 they know give great offence^ and, as such, arc very 
 sinful — Every nation upon earth, where the Chris- 
 tian religion prevails, protests against such mur- 
 
SUMMARY. 12i 
 
 riages, and pronounces them scandalous and incestu- 
 ous ; and every Church, of every denomination, that 
 is pure in the doctrines of the gospel and faithful in 
 discipline, is always justly offended by such forbid- 
 den connections; and must and will, without hesita- 
 tion, excommunicate any member, who marries 
 HIS SISTER, whether it be a sister by consanguinity 
 or a sister by affinity ; that is, a sister by bloody or a 
 sister in and by the law of God, 
 
 16 
 

SECTIOJS IX. 
 
 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 Objections are of no avail against demonstra- 
 tions. Whatever has been proved to be true may 
 be -contradicted, but can never be rendered false ; 
 yet if left unrefuted, objections may become dan- 
 gerous to individuals, and, when influence joins 
 with error, prove injurious to the community. A 
 desire to establish the truth and remove prejudice 
 will render it, if not a pleasant, still an useful task, 
 to introduce and briefly answer every objection that 
 is seriously urged, or has the semblance of an argu- 
 ment. , 
 
 I. The primary objection is *^ that the law against 
 Incest, in Levit. xviii. is not a moral but a ceremo- 
 nial law ; that while it is confessed God prohibited 
 an Israelite from marrying his sister in law, whether 
 the wife of his brother or the sister of his wife, yet 
 this, being peculiar to the Jews, is not binding upon 
 Christians." But where will this lead us? Then a 
 
124 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 Christian may marry his sister in law, nay, he may 
 marry his nearest relatives by consanguinity. There 
 is no law in the book of God to bind him to the con- 
 trary. If the precept respecting one relation be ce- 
 remonial, then all the precepts are ceremonial — a 
 discrimination is impossible. The Jews then were 
 restrained from committing abominable crimes, but 
 Christians may perpetrate those very sins with im- 
 punity. ^ — Is it possible for men to advance such an 
 objection, and look at the unavoidable conclusions, 
 without blushing at their prejudice and rashness? 
 Will not the nature of the law, the subject it con- 
 templates, the style in which it is expressed and the 
 connection in which it is introduced, convince any 
 person, capable of understanding the question, that 
 the law against Incest cannot be ceremonial, but is 
 as much a moral law, as the law of marriage, or 
 the seventh precept of the Decalogue? — that it 
 is therefore of universal obligation, binding upon 
 Christians and all men, equally with the Jews ? But 
 a full reply to this unfounded objection has already 
 been anticipated in section V.. 
 
 II. It is objected that " there is no intrinsic evil 
 in the marriage of a wife's sister ; that there is noth- 
 
OBJECTIONS. 125 
 
 ing in the principle relating to the connection itself, 
 or in its consequences^ with respect to the individu- 
 als ar d their families, that is repugnant to any moral 
 obligation or injurious to the interests of society." — 
 But this is no objection, it is a rash assumption of 
 the fact, an absurd petitio principii. Objections in 
 the same style, and with equal propriety, might be 
 made in regard to any marriage, even with the near- 
 est relatives. But, when restricted to a sister in law^ 
 let it be remembered, that God himself has decided 
 the question. His express command determines 
 whether such a connection be intrinsically evil or 
 not ; and as to what regards the consequences of such 
 marriages, a sufficient answer is found in section 
 VI, under the title of decency. 
 
 III. An objection, upon which high confidence 
 is placed, is taken from the law in Deut. xxv. 5 — 
 10, where it is enacted ; that " if brethren dwell to- 
 gether, and one of them die, and have no child, the 
 wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a 
 stranger; her husband's brother shall go in unto 
 her, and take her to him to wife, &c." From this 
 dispensation it is argued ; " that the Law in Levit. 
 forbidding Incest, must be considered as ceremonial, 
 
126 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 < 
 
 since whatever is moral cannot be changed or dis* 
 pensed with;" to this, an extravagant inference is 
 also added, " that the singular exception made by 
 the law in Deut. xxv. rescinds the whole precept 
 against marrying a sister in law." But this objec« 
 tion and inference arise from an imperfect know- 
 ledge of what is meant by a moral law ; and from 
 inaccurate views of the nature of exceptions to anj^- 
 law. 
 
 1. There are duties which are invariably obliga- 
 tory, because diey are founded upon the infinite per- 
 fections of God, and inseparable from the very na- 
 ture of man ; such as a supreme love to God, and a 
 sincere love to each other, and whatever is essential- 
 ly connected with these. It is acknowledged that 
 the law which binds to these duties is moral in the 
 most extensive sense of the term. The principles 
 upon which these duties are founded, are in their 
 very nature unchangeable; they are inscribed as 
 such upon the human heart ; and have been repeat- 
 edly promulgated by a divine revelation. These 
 therefore never can, nor ever will be dispensed with. 
 But there are other duties which arise from positive 
 lawsy the whole extent of whose principles we do 
 
OBJECTIONS. 12i 
 
 not comprehend, and which, had it not been for an 
 express revelation, would never have been known 
 or recognised as a rule of conduct : yet when re- 
 vealed, become equally obligatory, and are as morale 
 in regard to their binding power and requisite obe- 
 dience, as any other law or obligation whatsoever. 
 Now, the whole law against Incest, like the law of 
 marriage, is a positive laAv ; but it is not the less 
 moral, after it has been promulgated. And the 
 same divine authority which enacted this positive 
 law, possessed the power, to make any changes re- 
 specting the operations of that law, which infinite 
 wisdom might suggest — nor can any such particular 
 dispensations make any essential alteration in the na- 
 ture of the law itself, or abrogate its general obliga- 
 tion. 
 
 2. The case expressed in Deut. xxv. is a re- 
 stricted municipal regulation, and is evidently a par- 
 ticular EXCEPTION to a general rule.* But what is 
 the nature of exceptions? how are they to be con- 
 strued ? It is well known, and ought to be remem- 
 
 >% Calvio and olheis suppose that by brolker'm this law, is meant, not a biotb- 
 er by consPDsuinily, but any other near relative; their opinion is fciiaded upon 
 the explanation of this La%y in the case of Boaz and Ruth, 
 
1>28 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 bered by the patrons of this objection, that excep- 
 tions do not comprise the general principle of a 
 Law, or they would not be exceptions but repeals. 
 — They always confirm the law, to which the excep- 
 tions refer, and must be construed strictly, or they 
 would destroy the general rule itself. — They are only 
 a suspension of the law, in the particular cases spe- 
 cified, and cannot extend to any other cases, much 
 less to the whole law to which they relate. 
 
 The Law in Deut. is not intended to ascertain the 
 degrees of kindred in which marriages are prohibit- 
 ed ; that was fully and unequivocally done in Levit. 
 xviii. The only object of the exception is express- 
 ly mentioned. A brother is directed to marry the 
 widow of his deceased brother, but the case limits 
 itself with great precision. It must be a brother 
 who died without male issue — Vu Ben Aen lo — et 
 Jilius non ei fuerit. Had the deceased left a son^ the 
 general law against Incest would have rendered a 
 marriage with his widow, as incestuous as with any 
 other woman near of kin* 
 
 It is evident that this exception was wholly re- 
 stricted to the Theocracy, and enacted for the ex~ 
 
OBJECTIONS. 129 
 
 press purpose of preserving families and inheritan- 
 ces inviolate until the Messiah came. Whatever 
 then might be the scope or the operation of the ex- 
 ception, it must necessarily expire with the Theo- 
 cracy ; but this has long since answered the sublime 
 purposes for which it was established, and is now 
 dissolved. The exception in question therefore, 
 and all the other peculiarities attached to the econo- 
 my of the Old Testament, cease to be any longer of 
 force. A similar case is impossible under the New- 
 Testament. Christians therefore can never, upon 
 any contingency, be permitted to marry a sister in 
 law, w^ho has been the wife of a deceased brother, 
 and still less, a sister in law, who is the sister of a 
 deceased wife^ to whom the dispensation in Deut. 
 never did, and in the nature of things, never could 
 apply. 
 
 The conclusion is unavoidable : there is nothing 
 In the law of Deut. xxv. which invalidates the moral 
 nature and perpetual obligation of the law against 
 Incest, in general, or the precept against marrying 
 a sister in law in particular ; nothing which in any 
 form or degree can be binding upon Christians under 
 the dispensation of the New- Testament ; and aoth- 
 
 17 
 
130 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 ing, in the letter or spirit of that precept, which has 
 the least reference to the question before us. To 
 apply it to the sister of a deceased wife is a species 
 of reasoning, of which men of cultivated minds 
 ought to be ashamed. 
 
 IV. A fourth objection is raised from Levit. 18. 
 18. " neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister to 
 vex her, to uncover her nakedness, b'eside the oth- 
 er, in her life time." From this precept it is infer- 
 red : " that the natural sister of the wife is intend- 
 ed ; that the marriage with such a sister is forbidden 
 only during the life of the wife : and the very ex- 
 ception, in her life time, evinces, the prohibition 
 did not extend farther, and therefore after the death 
 of the wife, the surviving husband might lawfully 
 marry the sister : for why should any stress be put 
 upon the circumstance of her being alive ? Why 
 should the law specify in her life time, if it did not 
 mean to limit the prohibition to her life time only, 
 during which it would be unlawful, but afterwards, 
 it might become legitimate." Upon tliis objection 
 the baseless fabric of the incestuous connection in 
 question perhaps principally rests. Two observa- 
 tions will suffice to show it lias no foundation. 
 
OBJECTIONS. 131 
 
 1. The whole law concerning Incest closes with 
 the 17th verse. The precept contained in the 18th 
 verse respects altogether another crime, and is as 
 distinct from Incest as any of the other cases which 
 follow in the chapter. It is a law upon another sub- 
 ject, and relates wholly and only to polygamy. 
 It forbids the taking of any wife beside the other, 
 during her life time, and the reason is not derived 
 from Incest, but because polygamy is a source of 
 domestic vexation^ and destructive of all the inter- 
 esting ends of marriage. 
 
 If the natural sister of the wife were here intend- 
 ed, it could not, even then, be considered as an im- 
 plicit permission to marry such sister after the death 
 of the wife, for this was already absolutely forbid- 
 den verse 16. and, the whole cause of the prohibi- 
 tion in verse 18. refers to the vexation of the wife — 
 but why should her sister be specified as the most 
 vexatious partner ? The pretended argument, to 
 recommend the marrying a deceased wife's sister, 
 would prove that of all other women she would be 
 the least exceptionable and the most desirable asso- 
 ciate of a living sister. — But, that the natural sister 
 cannot be meant is evident, because the law would 
 
132 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 then imply, that a man might marry any other wo- 
 man, in the life time, of his wife, provided, she 
 was not her sister ; which would be implicitly to li- 
 cense polygamy, instead of forbidding it. — An in- 
 ference which no modest commentator would dare 
 to countenance. — " The whole of this objection is 
 founded upon a mistake. However our translation 
 sounds, there is not a syllable in the passage about 
 marrying a wife's sister more than about marrying 
 any other woman. The text has nothing to do 
 with the marriage of a wife's sister. It is a clear, 
 simple, and absolute prohibition of polygamy." 
 
 Polygamy is of ancient date, and appears to have 
 been practised in the early periods of the Church, 
 even by some of the best of men, without an accus- 
 ing conscience. The only apology that can be sug- 
 gested to palliate the crime is, that possibly the pure 
 principles of religion and morality were not so well 
 understood at that time, as afterwards. But no 
 apology must be attempted. It always was sinful, 
 and was forever the source of domestic evils. It is 
 beyond dispute that polygamy is contrary to the let- 
 ter and spirit of the original Institution, and was po- 
 sitively forbidden. To the law which prohibits po- 
 
OBJECTIONS. 133 
 
 Ijgamy, the Prophet Malachi appeals chap. ii. — 
 14, 15, 16. To this our Lord refers Mat. xix. 5 — 
 7. And this, the Apostle confirms 1 Cor. vii. 2. 
 But where is it forbidden ? Where is the law which 
 directly prohibits polygamy ? In the seventh com- 
 mand of the Decalogue it is indeed implied, but it 
 is no where expressly denounced in the whole reve- 
 lation of the divine law, excepting in this very pre- 
 cept Levit. xviii. 18. To which may be added 
 Deut. xvii. 17. Where kings are commanded not 
 to multiply wives. ^ 
 
 2. The undeniable proof that this precept, verse 
 18. refers wholly to polygamy, and can suggest no 
 argument in favour of marrying the natural sister 
 after the death of the wife, is deduced from the idi- 
 om peculiar to the Hebrew language, which is 
 adopted in this text.f Whatever construction an 
 
 * Grotius maintained that polygamy was allowed to the Jews, in consequence 
 of expressions in their municipal precepts, which seemed to suppose such cases to 
 exist. Drusius and others insisted, that it was prohibited in the letter of their law ; 
 yet permitted, by winlcing at the offence, for the hardness of their hearts. But 
 the arguments, above mentioned, suflSce to prove that it was positively forbid- 
 den, and always sinful. 
 
 f The term sister is used with great latitude in scripture. It primarily signi- 
 fies, a sister by consanguinity or hy affinity, either one who is descended from 
 the same parents, from both or from one of them, and is a sigter by blood; or. 
 
134 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 English reader, who is inattentive to the subject, 
 may put upon the phrase, it is impossible for any 
 who have the least acquaintance with the original, or 
 are capable of comparing scripture with scripture, 
 to hesitate one moment in determining the true 
 meaning. 
 
 The word acha,, which is used in the plural achot^ 
 and with the possessive pronoun her, achotah, in its 
 literal meaning, denotes a natural sister .* So Gen> 
 xii. 13. — 2 Sam, iii. 1. — dindso Levit. xviii. 9. 11, 
 12, 13. Achotah is however frequently used, by 
 Synecdoche, as referring to any near and endearing 
 relative, so Gen. xxiv. 49. 60. — Jerem, xxii. 18. 
 But when the word isha a woman or wife, is joined 
 to achotah, her sister, it becomes a phrase, and is 
 employed metaphorically to express, either any thing 
 which is like another, as Jerem, iii. 7. — Ezek. xvi. 
 
 one who is a sister in larv^ who has become a sister by the law of marriage, Ruth 
 i. 15. — But it is frequently employed more extensively^ to denote any near rela- 
 tives. So, they were called the brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 Mat. xiii. 35. Mark iv. 3, wh© were only his cousins, the children of the si.sters 
 of the virgin Mary. — It is also a term expressive of affection. So the divine Sa- 
 viour calls the Church his sister. Cant. riii. 8. and as such he esteems all his faith- 
 ful followers, Mat xii. 30. So the primitive believers who viewed each other as 
 br^hren, called Christian women sisters, Rom. xvi. 1. James ii. 15. 2 John 
 xiii. — The name sister is also frequently introdunpai Jiguratively. " I have said to 
 the worm thou artmy mother and my siifer," Job. xvii. 14. " Say unto wisdom 
 thou art my sisfer," Prov. vii. 4. 
 
OBJECTIONS. U5 
 
 45. or most frequently any thing that is added to or 
 joined with another of the same kind. There are 
 many instances of this singular phraseology, which 
 expressly illustrate the passage before us, see Exod. 
 XX vi. 3. ,Five curtains shall be coupled to get her ^ 
 ONE TO ANOTHER ; Isha el achotah, a wife to her 
 sister, and other five curtains shall be coupled one 
 to another ; Isha el achotah, a wife to her sister, 
 so also verse 5. and 6. of that chapter. The same 
 words are found, Ezek, i. 9. Their wings were 
 joined one to another ; Isha el achotah, a wife to her 
 sister, so verse 23. their wings straight the one to- 
 wards the other ; Isha elachotah, a wife to her sis- 
 ter. Andagsan, Ezek. iii. 13. The wings, of the 
 living creatures that touched one another ; Isha el 
 achotah, a wife to her sister. It is remarkable that 
 this is not only the construction where the phrase 
 has Isha, in the feminine, but, by the same idiom, 
 it is found of Ish in the masculine, a man or hus- 
 band, when in opposition to ach a brother, so Gen. 
 xxvi. 31. They sware ; Ishle achiev, a husband to 
 his brother, that is, one to another, so Exod* xxv. 
 20. Their faces shall look ; Ish le achiev, the hus- 
 band to his brother, that is, one to another : and J(h- 
 
136 OBJECTIONSo 
 
 el ii. 8. Neither shall one thrust another ; ve ish 
 aehievy the husband shall not thrust his brother* 
 
 The words and phrase in the verse before us are 
 exactly the same with those cited — isha el achotah^ 
 a wife or woman to her sister. If it then be asked 
 how the term sister^ and the whole phrase, a wife to 
 her sister in this 18th verse must be understood? 
 the answer is obvious ; it cannot be in a literal, but 
 is evidently to be taken in a figurative sense. One 
 to another^ that is one wife to another wife. Arius 
 Montanus, in his latin version has translated all the 
 passages in which the phrase occurs, literally, word 
 for word, mulier ad sororem ejus — that is, the woman 
 or wife to her sister, but he adds in the margin alte- 
 ra ad alteram^ or altera alteri^ the one to the other. 
 It is to be regretted that our accurate and faithful 
 translators, who in ail the other passages attended to 
 the idiom of the hebrew, and rendered the phrase cor- 
 rectly, did not do the same in this verse. They ought 
 to have expressed it, neither shalt thou take one 
 wife to another. The wife was evidently the sub- 
 ject, and the word wife might have been added, as 
 in numberless instances, to elucidate the meaning, 
 when it would read : neither shalt thou take one wife 
 
OBJECTIONS. 137 
 
 to another wife to vex her, ^c. This would hiive 
 made die precept perfecdy plain, and corresponded 
 cxacdy with the original. But, "the Protestant 
 translators made conscience of adhering as closely to 
 the very phraseology of the original as could be done 
 without destroying the sense : and as no church ad- 
 mitted the lawfulness of marrying a wife's sister or 
 supposed it to be a matter of doubt, the translators 
 never dreamed, that the passage in question v;ould 
 ever have been perverted to the support of such an 
 error."* 
 
 • Nothing more was then intended in the precept, 
 V. 18, than the prohibition of polygamy. After the 
 death of his wife, a man might marry again, but dur- 
 ing her life time, he shall take no wife of any de- 
 scription, no other wife, together with or in addition 
 to the wife he already has. AH the inferences or 
 arguments therefore, in favour of marr} ing die sis- 
 ter, after the" death of the wife, deduced from this 
 verse, are frivolous and ridiculous. It is am .zing 
 that any Christian, especially any Christian Minister 
 can permit himself to draw a conclusion so wiid and 
 
 ''' Christian's Magaziae. 
 
 18 
 
tS8 OBJECTIONS 
 
 unfounded. It is astonishing that any should dare, 
 to invalidate an authoritative law of God against In- 
 cest, upon the mere phraseology of a single precept 
 which has no respect to Incest at all ; that any should 
 presume to make the divine law, which is plain and 
 decisive ; and obedience to it, which may not be dis- 
 puted or withheld, to depend upon a quibbling 
 construction of a single word, w^hich nothing but 
 want of information could suggest. 
 
 V. It is objected that the Jews maintain " the law 
 against Incest does not forbid an Israelite to marry 
 his sister in law; and as they must be supposed 
 to be the best expositors of their own law, 
 we may conclude this relative was not forbidden." 
 Indeed !-^how much of the Misehna^ or of the Bab-= 
 ylonish or Jerusalem Talmud these men of erudition, 
 who suggest the objection, may have read, and how 
 familiar they may have been with the Rabbinical 
 writers, is of very little weight in this argument. 
 The fact is denied. Many of the Jewish Rabbins 
 in answer to the application from Henry VIII. gave 
 it under their hands in hebrew, '' that the laws of Le- 
 viticus and Deuteronomy were thus to be reconcil- 
 ed,- — That the law of marrying the brother's wife 
 
OBJECTIONS. 139 
 
 when he died without children did only bind in the 
 land of Judea, to preserve families and maintain their 
 successions in the land, as it had been divided by- 
 lot. But that in all other places of the world, the 
 law of Leviticus, of not marrying the brother's wife 
 was obligatory." 
 
 Whatever some modern Jews may have asserted, 
 it is not assuredly rhe doctrine of the Misch- 
 na. But grant it were so ; admit it to be one 
 of the interpretations in the farrago of their traditions; 
 what then? What argument can it produce to the 
 purpose ? Had not that unhappy people, even pre- 
 vious to their terrible excommunication from the 
 Church of God, lost the key of knowledge ? Did 
 not our blessed Lord call them "blind leaders 
 of the blind, who transgress the commandments of 
 God, by their traditions; making the word of God 
 of none effect V And is this the people to whom 
 Christians must go for instruction? Are these the 
 men who are the best expositors of the scriptures, 
 which they evidently do not understand? Is the 
 law against Incest their law exclusively, is it not 
 also our law ? Does it not bind us as fully as it did 
 them ? Do we not know how to expound our 
 
140 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 own law, without the assistance of the demies of 
 the cross, upon whose face the veil still remai net h? 
 Whe her some ignorant and licentious Rabbies pa- 
 tronised the marriage of a sister in law, or whether 
 the learned and virtuous Caraites opposed it, is of 
 small concern to us. We are in the school of Christ 
 and have the promise of being taught of God. 
 
 VI. The difficulty raised from the first marriages 
 in Adam's family, where brothers and sisters by 
 consanguinity, were necessarily connected, is so 
 fully obviated by what has been observed respecting 
 the nature of a positive moral law, that it requires 
 no attention. Other objections have been sedulous- 
 ly collected ; but they are altogether foreign to the 
 principles upon which the subject rests, and too fri- 
 volous and sophistical, to be worthy of notice. 
 One however rt mains, which is mentioned with sin- 
 cere grief and great reluctance. It would gladly be 
 suppressed, but faithfulness imperiously forbids. 
 It has no essential respect to the merits of the ques- 
 tion, but it is popular, and, upon minds unaccus- 
 tomed to think for themselves, has probably had 
 more influence than the weightiest arguments. It 
 may not therefore be passed m silence. 
 
OBJECTIONS. 141 
 
 It is objected that " there are instances of men, 
 maintaining a good standing in the Church, and even 
 highly, esteemed for their piety, who have married 
 the sisters of their deceased wives ; and as such men 
 are presumed to be acquainted with the word of 
 God, and conscientious in their conduct, it must 
 be taken for granted, by persons of inferior stand- 
 ing, that it is not an unlawful act, and that their ex- 
 ample should encourage and ought to justify others 
 in doing the same." 
 
 If it be indeed a fact, that men of piety have 
 married their sisters in law, it is greatly to be la- 
 mented. It is a cause of sorrow and offence that 
 those who are commanded to shine as lights in the 
 world, and, above all others, to avoid the appear- 
 ance of evil, should be the unhappy instruments of 
 leading their weaker brethren into sin, and strength- 
 ening the hands of the wicked. But in answer to 
 the objection. 
 
 1. None will deny that characters are known to 
 God alone. Men may make a profession of reli- 
 gion, and even obtain a high reputation among the 
 Lord's people, and yet be actually strangers to the 
 
142 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 power of godliness. It is therefore possible, those, 
 to whom the objection refers, do not truly possess 
 the grace and piety for which the public give them 
 credit. Their conduct, in this instance at least, 
 exposes their profession to a challenge, and ought^ 
 to excite them to a very serious examination, 
 tvhether they be in the faith, 
 
 2. But admitting them to be really pious ; and 
 that they plead ''a conscience void of oifence, de- 
 claring, that in the integrity of their hearts, and in- 
 nocency of their hands^ they have done this thing ; 
 that they put a different construction upon the 
 divine law, and, although they knew they approach- 
 ed very near, yet they were not aware of being ac- 
 tually guilty of Incest." To this apology, as it re- 
 spects themselves, they can only be told, that their 
 declaration is received with great candor and admit- 
 ted with much charity ; but the validity of their 
 plea must be left to the searcher of hearts. He 
 knows— what their motives were ; — what their op- 
 portunities for obtaining better information — their 
 solemn warnings against the crime, and — their 
 struggles, in the first instance, against convictions ; 
 these are all before him, and with him they must re- 
 
OBJECTIONS. 143 
 
 main. The community is no judge of motives. 
 Actions claim the public attention, and censure fix- 
 es upon conduct alone. It is upon their example 
 the objection is founded ; it is because they have done 
 this thing — it is because they have married a sister 
 in law. 
 
 3. Conceding them to be truly pious, and with-^ 
 out the least suspicion or imputation to the contrary; 
 yet what commendation can their piety add to a 
 transaction which is actually evil? What influence, 
 as it respects others^ ought their example to pro- 
 duce ? — They vcc^mdi^ttd preserved in Jesus Christy 
 and have the infallible promise of being kept by the 
 power of God, through faith unto salvation. Their 
 sanctification is a sure benefit of the covenant of 
 grace, and they will, agreeably to their predestina- 
 tion, be certainly conformed to the image of the 
 Son of God, Rom. viii. 29. And finally be pre- 
 sented to himself not having spot or wrinkle. In 
 this life, that precious benefit commences ; when 
 they are born agrin, they then begin to live by fatth^ 
 and delight in the laiv of God, after the inxvard 
 man. Yet perfection in degrees is not attained here ; 
 there is another law in their members warring 
 
144 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 against the law of their mind ; which too ofteil 
 brings them into captivity to the law of sin, and 
 this will be their burden, under which they will 
 groan, as long as they are in the flesh ; for if we say 
 thit ive have no sht, we deceive ourselves, and the 
 truth IS not in us. Hence the spiritual warfare, the 
 severe conflicts of the divine life ; hence the neces- 
 sity of putting on the whole armour of God; and 
 hence the repeated exhortations to watch, standfast 
 in the faith, and be strong ; to look unto Jesus, 
 who is the finisher as well as the author of faith ; and 
 through him to obtain the victory — But there is no 
 promise which secures them, when they yield to 
 temptations, from the possibility of backsliding, or 
 even from falling into such sins as wound the repu- 
 tation of religion 2iW^ give great occasion to the ene- 
 mies of the Lord to blaspheme. Can therefore their 
 conduct, which ought to be a practical comment up- 
 on the divine law, when it becomes the reverse, dis- 
 annulthe obligation to obedience? Will their per- 
 sonal piety justify their deviations from the com- 
 mandments of God, or will it be right and safe for 
 others, to take encouragement from their backsiid- 
 ings to commit the same crime ? 
 
OBJECTIONS. Un 
 
 David was a pious man — but could the sins of 
 which he was guilty abrogate the decalogue, or re- 
 commend such enormous transgressions to the imi- 
 tation of others? Peter was a pious man — But could 
 his denial of his Lord frustrate the divine law or sug- 
 gest any argument to render falsehood and profanity 
 innocent and commendable ? Let God be true, but 
 every man a liar. The law of God is the rule of 
 conduct. Not the acts of men, not even of the most 
 advanced saints. Sin, wherever it exists, and by 
 whomsoever it is perpetrated, is that abominable 
 thing which God hates and will assuredly punish. 
 This awful and interesting truth is confirmed by the 
 divine procedure in the instance of David. The 
 humble penitent was pardoned, but a train of deso- 
 lating judgments afflicted his family, and filled his 
 cup with bitterness. So far from lessening the evil, 
 when committed by his own people, it becomes en- 
 hanced, and sin in them, is exceeding sinful. If 
 they be indeed regenerate and pious, the Lord 
 " will take away their sin ; they shall not die. 
 There is redemption through the blood of Christ ; 
 even the forgiveness of sins." Grace will prevail ; 
 and when the obstacle to their being received again 
 into communion shall be removed, either by tlia 
 
 19 
 
146 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 death of the sister whom they had married, or 
 by the separation of the parties, they will not only 
 profess contrition for having offended the Churchy 
 but also for the sin itself ^ by which they have offend- 
 ed their God. 
 
 To their divine Saviour the penitent transgress- 
 ors are referred ; but let not their conduct, in com- 
 mitting this crime, be any more suggested as an ex- 
 ample to be imitated. And let the Churches indulge 
 the hope that whatever others may do,* no members, 
 and especially none who are esteemed for their pie- 
 ty, will never again excite grief, and cause offence, 
 by marrying a sister in law. 
 
 * 1 Cor. V. 12, la 
 
SECTION X. 
 
 TESTIMONY. 
 
 When a proposition has been demonstrated, and 
 the objections supposed to militate against it are re- 
 futed ; nothing more can be demanded to confirm 
 its truth, and render it worthy of all acceptation. 
 Human testimony is not requisite to establish the 
 meaning or augment the authority of the law of 
 God. His law possesses its own intrinsic evidence, 
 and is its own interpreter. But if it can be shown 
 that the greatest and best men, who in different ages, 
 adorned the Christian Chureh, have unequivocally 
 concurred in adding their decided testimony, and 
 have professed exactly the same sentiment ; it will 
 at least induce a favourable attention to the argu- 
 ments, and convince the unprejudiced reader, that 
 -the expositions and reasonings are not rash and in- 
 considerate. — A few only will be selected from a 
 numerous host ; which shall be clos.ed with docu- 
 
148 TESTIMONY. 
 
 ments of importance to the Reformed Dutcli 
 Church. 
 
 In several Ecclesiastical Councils it was decreed, 
 " That all marriages within the prohibited degrees 
 were incestuous and void ; and that the contracting 
 parties should be cast out of the communion of the 
 Church." The marriage with a sister in law was 
 expressly mentioned and included within the prohi- 
 bited degrees. In this decision the Church was sup- 
 ported by the civil law of the Roman Empire after 
 it became Christian, which expressly interdicted 
 such marriages, and pointedly forbade a man to 
 marry the wife of a deceased brother, or the sister 
 of a deceased wife. See inter alia, " Fratris uxo- 
 rem ducendi, vel duabus sororibus conjungendi pe- 
 nitus licentiam summovemus, he, we absolute- 
 ly withhold the liberty of marrying the wife of a 
 brother, or joining in wedlock with two sisters." 
 Ccvsar. Cod, Lib, v. Tit. v, de Incest, nupt. Leg, 5. 
 
 Among the P'athers ijf the Greek Church, 
 as they are called; Origen upon Levit. 20. Chry- 
 sosTOM Honail. 71 on Mat. 22.; and Basil, 
 unite in asserting the universal and unchangeable 
 
TESTIMONY, 149 
 
 obligation of the law of Leviticus against Incest, 
 Basil, who lived in the fourth century and for his 
 learning and piety, was distinguished by the title of 
 THE GREAT, has cxprcsscd his sentiments upon this, 
 subject, with a precision, zeal and force of argu- 
 ment, which reflect honour upon his understanding 
 and his heart. He is decided, and lays it down as 
 a foundation, that the laws in Levit. 18. and 20. re- 
 specting marriages are moral and still in force. 
 Only a few paragraphs can be here extracted and 
 translated from his epistle to Diodorus. — " Letters 
 w^re brought to us under the signature of Diodorus, 
 but excepting the name, there was nothing of Dio- 
 dorus in them. It seems your name was prefixed to 
 add weight to the question, whether it is lawful for a 
 man to marry the sister of his deceased wife. And 
 by this forgery, to recommend and support an ob- 
 scene transaction, I would have sent you the Let- 
 ters, if they had been at hand, to enable you to vin- 
 dicate both yourself and the truth, but as the person 
 who had those letters is absconded, and is making a 
 bad use of them, I now write to you, that we may 
 detect this spurious work and prevent its proving in- 
 jurious to any. — We might in the first instance ob- 
 ject, and in matters of this kind, such objection is 
 
150 TESTIMONY, 
 
 of great importance, that among us Christians^ there 
 is no such custom, and custom has the authority of 
 law. — But I am far from allowing that the divine 
 Lawgiver has pten silent upon this subject ; on the 
 contrary, I assert that he has most severely and 
 pointedly interdicted such marriages — for that alone, 
 thoti shalt not approach to any who is near of kin^ 
 certainly includes this species of relation ; for what 
 is so near to a man as his wife, are they not one 
 Jlesh ? By the wife therefore, her sister becomes 
 nearly related to the husband. . For as he may not 
 marry the mother of his wife, or the daughter of his 
 wife, so for the same reason that he may not take the 
 mother or the daughter, he may not take the sister of 
 his wife ; yea, no more than he may take his own 
 sister by blood — -If they cannot contain, let them 
 marry, even so, but it is not said they may contract 
 unlawful marriages — doth not nature herself frown 
 upon such indecent connections, which obliterate 
 the very appellations of relatives ? By what name 
 of alliance can those be designated who are born in 
 such wedlock ? will you call them brothers, or cou- 
 sins? the confusion has rendered them both. O 
 man, do not make the aunt become the mother of 
 your former babes ; nor raise implacable rivalships 
 
TESTIMONY. 151 
 
 in your family. In fine, if any man wishes to enter 
 into a lawful marriage, the whole world is before 
 him. — But I must close, and I pray my warnings 
 may check this inordinate concupiscence ; or that it 
 be limited to places where it is tolerated, and that 
 such wickedness may never be suffered to progress 
 in our country." 
 
 Hesychius on Levit. xviii. and xx. proves that 
 these prohibitions were universally obligatory, be- 
 cause both the Egyptians and Canaanites are taxed 
 for marrying within those degrees ; from whence he 
 infers, " that they are of moral and eternal obliga- 
 tion," 
 
 Of the Latin Fathers ; Tertullian, who 
 lived within a century after the Apostles, expressly 
 declares, " that the law forbidding to marry a sister 
 in law is still binding upon Christians." Lib. iv» 
 contra Marcionem ; and Ambrosius Lib. viii. 
 Epist. 66; Jerome contra Helvidium ; and Au- 
 GUSTiNUS contra Faustum, Cap. 8, 9, 10. quests 
 64. de Civitate Dei. cap. xvi. &c. All held to the 
 moral nature and universal extent of the law of Levit- 
 icus ; they particularly refuted the objections urged 
 
152 TESTIMONY, 
 
 from Abraham's marrying his half sister, and Jacob's 
 marrying two sisters at the same time ; as well as, 
 from the dispensation in the law of Deut. 25. And 
 they proved it to be absolutely unlawful for a man 
 to marry his sister in law. 
 
 What the Grecian and Latin Fathers maintained 
 upon this subject, has been well expressed in 
 the following summary. " The law of marriage 
 was originally given by God to Adam in the state of 
 innocence, with this declaration that man and wife 
 were one flesh ; but being afterwards corrupted by 
 the incestuous commixtures of those which were 
 near of kin, in the nearest degrees, the primitive 
 law was again revived by Moses. And, those pro- 
 hibitions respecting the degrees of kindred and af- 
 finity, are not to be considered, as new laws and ju- 
 diciary precepts, but as a restoring the law of na- 
 ture, originally given by God, which was then much 
 corrupted. For as the preface which is so often re- 
 peated before these laws, / am the Lord infers that 
 they were conformable to the divine nature ; so the 
 consequences of them show they were moral and na- 
 tural. For the transgressions of them are called 
 wickedness and abominations, and are said to defile 
 
TESTIMONY. 158 
 
 the land : and the violation of them is charged upon 
 the Canaanites, * by which the land was polluted, 
 and for which, it did vomit out the inhabitants' — 
 from whence it must be concluded that these were 
 not mere positive and ceremonial precepts, which 
 were binding only upon the Jews, but were parts of 
 the law of mankind and nature ; otherwise those na- 
 tions could contract no guilt by their violating them. 
 •—Among the forbidden degrees, one respects the 
 sister in law, Levit. xviii. 16. and xx. 21. These 
 are clear and express law^s of God, which therefore 
 must necessarily oblige all persons, of what rank or 
 description soever, without exception.'' 
 
 Among the celebrated Reformers there was not 
 a dissenting voice. They were explicit and unani- 
 mous upon the subject.^ Zuinglius, in a letter 
 to Grineus, enlarges upon four points, asserting — 1. 
 That although civil magistrates should tolerate such 
 marriages, yet no power on earth can render void the 
 
 * MsLANcnTON', witl) liIs cbaractcrlslic incdcsty, declined to give Lia opin- 
 ion ui)on the question, whon requested by Henry VIII. from which, it has b«ea 
 suggested that he diftcredTrcra his brethren in this article. But as he afterwards 
 joined with the Lutheran divines in their decision upon that subject, he cannot 
 be considered to have maintained opposite sentiments. — A similar conclusion may 
 pprhapa also apply to Bucbr. 
 
 20 
 
154 T E S T I M N Y. 
 
 law of God. 2. That the Apostles made no new law 
 respecting marriage, under the gospel, but left this 
 article as they found it. 3. That marrying within 
 near degrees was abhorred by the Greeks and other 
 civilized Heathen. And, 4. That such marriages, 
 being against the law of God, ought to be dissolved. 
 
 The sentiments of Calvin may be satisfactorily 
 gathered from two of his letters. One is supposed, 
 from the closing paragraph, to have been written to 
 ■Grineus. Of the other, it is uncertain to whom it 
 was addressed. They are both to be found in the 
 collection of his epistles. In the first he writes : 
 ** It must be maintained that the prohibition, respect- 
 ing sisters in law, is one of those, which time nor 
 place can never abrogate. It proceeds from the very 
 fountain of nature, and is founded upon the general 
 principle of all laws, which is perpetual and inviola- 
 ble.- — When the Emperor Claudius obtained the 
 sanction of the senate to remove the opprobrium of 
 his incestuous marriage with Agrippina, there was 
 none found to imitate his example, excepting or.-ly 
 one liberated slave. I mention this to show how 
 inviolable the law of nature is, even among profane 
 nations* — Let the examples drawn from the heathen, 
 
TESTIMONY. 155 
 
 if iQ virtue and modesty they should appear to ex- 
 ceed us, make us ashamed. — Indeed to me, this sin- 
 gle admonition of Paul is sufficient : * Whatsoever 
 things are honest, whatsoever things are just, what- 
 soever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely > 
 whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be 
 any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these 
 things.' " 
 
 In the other letter, Calvin says : " It is sufficient- 
 ly known in what degrees o^ consanguinity, God in 
 his law forbids marriage. — What relates to the de- 
 grees of affinity is equally obvious. There are some 
 who dispute, or rather cavil, whether it is not law- 
 ful for a man to take the sister of his deceased wife ; 
 and they seize, as a pretext, upon the words, Levit. 
 xviii. 18. during her life time. But their error is 
 refuted by the very words of that text. Because 
 what is there condemned by Moses, is not for In- 
 cest, but for cruelty to the wife. That text actual- 
 ly respects Polygamy." 
 
 EcoLAMPADirs, in a letter dated 1531, asserted: 
 " That the law in Leviticus did bind all mankind ; 
 and that the law in Deuteronomy respecting a broth- 
 
156 TESTIMONY. 
 
 er's marrying his sister in law was a dispensation of 
 God to his own law, which dispensation belonged 
 only to the Jews." — Similar citations might be made 
 from the writings of BezUy JBullinger, UrsinuSy 
 Musculus, and others^ who were eminent for their 
 profound erudition and exemplary piety, in the re- 
 formed Cantons of Switzerland, in Geneva, and on 
 the Rhine. 
 
 It has already been noticed, section vi. that the 
 Roman Catholics, corrupted as they are in 
 doctrines, modes of worship, and government, have 
 always acknowledged the extent and universal obli- 
 gation of the law of Levit. respecting incest. — That 
 notwithstanding the shameful dispensations which 
 for political purposes, have frequently been made ; 
 many of their universities and dignified prelates have 
 boldly disputed the authority of the Popes, and con- 
 tradicted their right to dispense with the law of God. 
 Beside the citations referred to above, there is a sin- 
 gular anecdote mentioned by Johannes Turrae Cremor 
 tOy which he says happened while he was Cardinal ; 
 " That a king of France applied for permission to 
 marry the sister of his deceased wife, but was re- 
 fused." 
 
TESTIMONY. 15? 
 
 All the Protestant Churches have uniform- 
 ly considered and unequivocally maintained, a mar- 
 riage with a sister in law to be incestuous. A few 
 documents respecting the principal denominations, 
 will abundantly illustrate imd confirm this assertion. 
 
 The sentiments of the Lutheran Church are 
 accurately expressed by those celebrated divines, 
 who, in the name of their Church, replied to the in- 
 quiry, made by Henry VIII. whether it was lawful 
 for a man to marry his sister in law ? In their famous 
 Letter, they prove the Law of Levit. xviii. to be of 
 universal obligation, and adopt the most forcible Ian- 
 guage in reprobating such marriages. They close by 
 saying ; " It is manifest and cannot be denied, that 
 the law of Levit. xviii. prohibits a marriage with a 
 sister in law — this is to be considered as a divine, a 
 natural, and a moral law, against which no other law 
 may be enacted, or established. Agreeably to this, 
 the whole Church has always retained this law, and 
 judged such marriages to be incestuous. Agreeably 
 to this also, the decrees of Synods, the celebrated 
 opinions of the most holy Fathers, and even the civil 
 laws, prohibit such marriages, and pronounce them 
 to be incestuous. Wherefore we also judge that this 
 
15^ TESTIMONY. 
 
 law is to be preserved in all the Churches, as a di- 
 vine, a natural, and amoral law ; nor will we dispense 
 with, or permit in our Churches, that such marriages 
 shall be contracted ; and this doctrine we can, and 
 as God shall enable us, we will resolutely defend." 
 
 In an Exposition of the Augsburgh confession of 
 faithy by a learned Danish divine, the opinion of the 
 Lutheran Church respecting this article, is thus ex- 
 pressed, "whoever is inclined and resolved to enter 
 into the matrimonial state, ought to begin in the fear 
 of God ; and to look out for a person who is not near- 
 ly related to him, either in blood ovby marriage — 
 see Levit. xviii. and xx. and here, let it be observed, 
 that where a man is forbidden to marry any near of 
 kin, there the female is understood to be equally pro- 
 hibited, in the same degree of relation, although the 
 woman be not mentioned. So Levit. xviii. 14. thou 
 shalt not approach thy fathers brother"* s wife^ in- 
 cludes also the mother's brother's wife. So conse- 
 quently, no woman may take her sister^ s husband , 
 for the relation of a brother's wife and of a sister's hus- 
 band are exactly in the same degrees." P. S» 
 Nakscow. prod. mat. 
 
TESTIMONY. 159 
 
 A celebrated Lutheran Civilian says, " wherever 
 a marriage is contracted within a degree prohibited 
 by the divine law ; for instance, if a man should mar- 
 ry the sister of Iiis deceased wife, there such marriage 
 is incestuous, and ought not to be deemed a legiti- 
 mate union, but stigmatized as an impure mixture. 
 It cannot be palliated by any dispensation, but ought 
 to be rescinded ; and the contracting parties, not- 
 withstanding they may plead ignorance, should be 
 punished by the magistrate. Human laws may 
 not contravene the divine authority, nor can an infe- 
 rior magistrate dispense with the precepts of the su- 
 preme Lawgiver." JF, Balduin, Lib, iv. cap, 13. de 
 cas, cons. 
 
 The Church of E n c l a n d , has always most strictly 
 adhered to the table of prohibited marriages, agreeably 
 to Lev. xviii. as published by authority and found in 
 most of the English editions of the bible. Among 
 other degrees forbidden in the male branch, is Art 
 17. "A man may not marry his wife^s mter,^^ of his 
 deceased wife," in the female. Art. 18. "a woman 
 may not marry her sister^ s husband,^ ^ That every 
 marriage within these prohibited degrees, will, by 
 the Canon law of England, subject the parties to 
 
160 TESTIMONY. 
 
 severe penalties, and to immediate excommuniea- 
 tioii from the Church, is well known. 
 
 The Church of Scotland appears to have been 
 so deeply impressed with a conviction of the enor- 
 mous evil of Incest, that she has introduced the 
 subject even into her confession of faith, and fixed 
 the principles of prohibited degrees, in language the 
 most intelligible and decided. " Marriage ought 
 not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or af- 
 finity forbidden in the word ; nor can such incestu- 
 ous marriages ever be made lawful by any law of 
 man, or consent of parties, so as those persons may 
 live together as man and wife. The man may not 
 marry any of his wife's kindred nearer in blood, 
 than he may of his own ; nor the woman of her hus- 
 band's kindred nearer in blood than of her own.'' 
 See Pardovan's collections. Book 2. Tit. v. IT 3. 
 See also the Constitution of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States, Confession of 
 Fjuth, chap. xxiv. H 4. 
 
 The Church of Scotland adopted the standards 
 established by the Westmintiter assembly of divines. 
 What that assembly judged of Levit. xviii. 18. may 
 
TESTIMONY. 161 
 
 be ascertained from the remarks made upon that 
 text, by those learned men who were appointed by 
 the committee for religion to make annotations upon 
 the Bible. — *' Verse 18. To her sister. This is to 
 be understood, not, of two sisters, one after another 
 to wife, the latter upon the death of the former, for 
 the marriage of a brother's wife is forbidden before, 
 verse 16. and by consequence a woman must not 
 marry her sister^ s husband ; and so two sisters are 
 already forbidden to be married to one man, verse 
 16. wherefore ; this verse 18, is a prohibition of 
 POLYGAMY, that is, of having more wives than 
 one at once, and the reason sheweth it, that the one 
 may not be a vexation to the other — The word sister 
 in a general acceptation may be applied to any wo- 
 man, as the word brother to any man, Gen, xix, 7. 
 And it is to be noted, that it is sometimes applied 
 to things, which in propriety of speech, come not 
 under such a title or denomination ; as the wings of 
 the beast, Ezek. i. 9. are said to touch a woman to 
 her sister, as the Hebrew phraseth it, see JSxod, 
 xxvi. 3." 
 
 The Churches in America which have originated 
 from those in Europe, and adopted their respective 
 
 21 
 
162 TESTIMONY. 
 
 standards, must be supposed to adhere to them, and 
 to entertain the same sentiments upon this subject* 
 It may therefore be asserted, without risking a con- 
 tradiction, that there is not a respectable Church, of 
 any denomination, in the United States, that would 
 hesitate one moment in pronounchig such cohabita- 
 tion to be incestuous, and excommunicating any 
 member who married the sister of his deceased wife. 
 
 The testimony of the Reformed Dutch 
 Chubch, has been reserved for the last, as it is 
 judged expedient, for the information of the mem- 
 bers of that Church, to introduce an extract from 
 her Canons upon the subject of Incest. 
 
 The construction which the Reformed Dutch 
 Church puts upon Levit. xviii. verse 16. is evident 
 from the marginal notes, which the translators, who 
 were appointed by the national Synod of Dortrecht 
 held 1618 and 1619, have annexed to that text. 
 ** Uit deese wet volght nootsakelyk ; dat eene 
 vrouwe met den eenen broeder getrouwt zynde, niet 
 en magh, na syn doot, met den anderen broeder 
 trouwen ; ende gelyk formerly k, een man met de 
 eene suster getrouwt zynde, en magh na haare doot 
 
TESTIMONY. 163 
 
 d'andere suster niet trouwen. From this law it ne- 
 cessarily follows ; that a woman who has been mar- 
 ried with one brother, may not, after his death, mar- 
 ry with the other brother ; and upon the same princi- 
 ple, a man who has been married to one sister, may 
 not after her death, marry the other sister." — So their 
 note upon verse 18. "Diens volgens en kan ge- 
 ensins daar uit besloten worden, dat de man na 
 haren doot, haar suster soude mogen trouwen. It 
 consequently can by no means from this be conclud- 
 ed, that the husband, after the death of his wife, 
 may marry her sister." 
 
 A Document which expresses the sentiments of 
 the Reformed Dutch Cliurch upon the law respect- 
 ing Incest in general, and the marriage with a sister in 
 law in particular, is found in an interesting publica- 
 tion, under the signature of the Professors of The. 
 ology in Leyden, dated Kal. July, 1711. 
 
 A man who resided in the western parts of Ger- 
 many, on the confines of the Netherlands, had mar- 
 ried his sister in law. The chief magistrate of that 
 district, from favour and personal attachment, ap- 
 proved the marriage ; but the Churches there re- 
 
164 TESTIMONY. 
 
 monstrated against it ; and by a formal application, 
 requested the sentiments and direction of the Church 
 of Holland in the case. It was brought before the 
 Synod of South Holland and determined to be inces- 
 tuous. To render public the grounds of their de- 
 cision, and warn the members of their own Church 
 against a similar crime, the Synod requested the ce- 
 lebrated professors Mark, Van Til, and Fabri- 
 cius to exhibit a correct view of the divine law 
 against Incest, and the prohibition with respect to 
 this particular case.-^It would gratify the reader to 
 have the whole of this judicious publication trans- 
 lated and inserted here. But the limits of this dis- 
 sertation forbid it — a few paragraphs only can be in- 
 troduced. 
 
 " The divine Law is not only that which proceeds 
 from the perfections of God, such as the command to 
 love, fear, and serve him, and the injunction not to 
 worship other gods, not to profane the divine name, 
 &c. but 2iho, that which God, in his infinite wisdom 
 and good pleasure, has pos.itively enjoined upon all 
 men, and in all places. In this two-fold view of the 
 moral law a distinction is evident. For while God 
 cannot, consistent with his own perfections, deter- 
 
TESTIMONY. 165 
 
 mine otherwise respecting the former, nor make any 
 exceptions, or in any case, dispense with obedience ; 
 yet, as to the latter, he might have determined the 
 contrary, and can at any time, dispense with obedi- 
 ence, or make whatever exceptions his infinite wis- 
 dom and good pleasure shall dictate. — In this latter 
 class may be ranked, among many others, the laws 
 concerning marriage, which constitute an union be- 
 tween one man and one woman ; and forbid its dis- 
 solution excepting in case of adultery or death. — Al- 
 though these laws do not appear to be deduced from 
 the essential perfections of God, yet, when revealed, 
 they are justly considered to be moral, divine, and 
 universal. — Men possess no more power to dispense 
 with this latter kind of laws than with the former. 
 For the will of God, from whatever source it pro- 
 ceeds or however it may be promulgated, must con- 
 scientiously be observed as the rule of conduct ; 
 and human commands, opinions, or dispensations 
 can never sanction its violation. — The principle up- 
 on which all the prohibitions in the law against Incest 
 proceeds, is, that the relation of consanguinity and 
 affinity, in the question respecting marriage, is the 
 same. — The universal opinion of both ancient and 
 modern divines accords with our sentiment." 
 
1G$' TESTIMONY. 
 
 " The objection^ that perhaps pious persons have 
 committed this crime, is of no weight ; for all the 
 actions of the pious are not to be approved. — To 
 object, that there can be nothing in the transaction 
 inconsistent with the holiness of God, or else the 
 precept would never have been dispensed with, as in 
 Deut. XXV. is groundless. This is not the question, 
 nor is it denied bj us. We know that God cannot 
 command, or even permit any thing, in opposition to 
 his holiness, or any of the other divine perfections ; 
 nor will he do any thing which is a denial of him- 
 self. But surely when he has prescribed any duties, 
 which do not necessarily proceed from his holiness, 
 or any other essential perfection ; it can never be con- 
 cluded from any particular exception or dispensa- 
 tion, that the law, so dispensed with by God himself, 
 is not of a moral nature, and of universal and perpet- 
 ual obligation.'' 
 
 " Through the grace of God, we know not; that 
 either in Holland or throughout all the Reformed 
 Churches, any other instance of marrying ^ relative 
 so near as a sister (and nearer there cannot be, unless 
 it should take place between parents and children) 
 has happened. If any do exist, they must be imputed 
 
TESTIMONY. U7 
 
 to the wicked, imprudent and rash counsels of men, 
 with whom we will have no connection, and who 
 will have to render an awful account to God. — The 
 law prohibiting Incest in general, and particularly a 
 marriage with a sister in law, is acknowledged to be 
 divine throughout Christendom, especially in all the 
 Reformed Churches, and certainly in Holland. A 
 law which subsists, even if it had not been adopted 
 and established by the statutes of the civil Govern- 
 ment."* 
 
 The Reformed Church is established by law 
 in Holland, and is consequently the National Church* 
 Her Canons are therefore recognised by the civil 
 Government, and made the laws of the State. The 
 Canon which relates to marriages is comprised in 
 the Statute entitled " De politijcque ordonnantie van 
 Hollandty begrypende het gantsche Eghtreglementy 
 solemniteyty AanteeckeneUj proclamatien, verboden 
 graden van maegachap en swagerschap^ overspel^ 
 ^c. den. 1 Jprii, 1580." What relates to the 
 
 * This learned Disseftation of the Professors has been republished and may 
 be found in Pmf. De Moor''s Commrnf. perpet -In Marh'i Cnrnpni-^. TJ -nloHcir 
 Christianae, vol. vii. quarto. 
 
168 TESTIMONY. 
 
 verboden graden, or Incest^ is found in paragraphs 
 IV. to XL and is here faithfully translated. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Since, agreeably to the divine, the natural, and 
 statute laws respecting holy wedlock, which is an 
 ordinance of God, instituted for the honourable 
 support and propagation of the human race, it is for- 
 bidden to contract marriages between those who are 
 related within certain degrees in blood or affinity — 
 Therefore the States have expressly specified the 
 following prohibited degrees, that all may be well 
 informed, and none may pretend to be ignorant. 
 Ordering and forbidding upon this subject, that no 
 persons, whatever may be their rank, condition, or 
 denomination, who are related in blood or by affini- 
 ty, within the degrees to be mentioned, shall coha- 
 bit, or marry together, under the penalty of not on- 
 ly being declared infamous, but being subjected to 
 corporal punishment and fine, as by the statutes 
 against Incest is enacted. 
 
TESTIMONY. 169 
 
 V. 
 
 No ascendants may marry with their descendants, 
 that is, parents with their children, reckoning up- 
 wards or downwards, in infinitum. 
 
 VL 
 
 Brothers may not marry with their sisters, wheth« 
 er of full or half blood. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Uncles may not marry with their nieces, that is, 
 with their brother's or their sister's children or grand 
 children and descendants, nor may aunts be married 
 to their nephews, that is to their brother's or sister's 
 sons, or grand children and descendants ; both in 
 infinitum ; since uncles and aunts, with respect to 
 their nephews, sustain the place of fathers and mo- 
 thers. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 With respect to the degrees of affinity, or the 
 relation produced by marriage : as the bond of mar- 
 
 22 
 
iro TESTiMOM. 
 
 riage creates i\ communion, whereby husband and 
 wife are made one; so it is equally interdicted and 
 forbidden for a man to marry with any person relat- 
 ed by blood or marriage to his deceased wife ; or for 
 a woman with any person related by blood or mar- 
 riage to her deceased husband, who is within the 
 degrees above specified ; under the like penalty of 
 being declared infamous, wit,h corporal punishment 
 and fine. For instance, no man may marry with his 
 daughter in law, diat is, the widow of his son, nor 
 with the widow of his son's or daughter's son, and 
 so on downwards, with no widow of any of his de- 
 scendants. Also, no woman may be married to her 
 son in law, that is, with the husband of her deceas- 
 ed daughter, nor with the husband of the daughter of 
 her son or daughter, and thus with no one who has 
 been the husband of any of her descendants. 
 
 IX. 
 
 No man may marry his step daughter, that is, the 
 former daughter of his wife, nor with any^of the de- 
 scendants of liis step children/ So also no woman 
 may be married to her step son, or the former son 
 of her deceased husband, nor^with any of the de- 
 scendants of her step sons. 
 
TESTI3I0NY. 171 
 
 X. 
 
 No man may marry the remaining widow of his 
 deceased brother ; nor any woman the husband of 
 her deceased sister.^ 
 
 XL 
 
 No man may marry the widow of his deceased 
 nephew, whether it be the widow of the son of his 
 brother or sister, nor the widow of any of his bro- 
 ther's or sister's descendants. So also no woman 
 may be married to the husband of her niece, that is, 
 to the husband of her brother's or sister's daughter, 
 nor to any man who has been the husband of her 
 brother's or sister's children's chik-ren or descen- 
 dants. See Kerkelyk Plakaat-Boek, behelzende 
 de Plakaaten^ Ordinantien, ende Resolutien over de 
 Kerkelyke Zaaken. door A'*. Wiltens. Quarto» deeL 
 1. page 804. Sccf 
 
 * Egeenman macli trouwen de npgelaten wcduwo van sijnen oveileucn broa- 
 der ; noch egeene vrouv\ e den man van haare overledene suster. 
 
 f The writer of this Dissertation recollects, that while In Europe, he received 
 information by letters, of a member of the Church having married the sister of 
 his deceased wife ; a case wiiich was the first that was recollected to have happen- 
 ed in America, and which excited great uneasiness. The Informed ccmmunlcated 
 this to an eminent minister, (Professor H.) and asked him, how the Church of 
 Holland would proceed in such a case p To which he replied: "It is a case 
 which cannot happen in Holland. It is forbidden by tlie Canons of t!ie Church, 
 and by the civil laws of the state. Any minister w'lo knowinii^ly solcmnl.sed such 
 a marriage would be instantly deposed ; the incestuous connection would be de- 
 clared null and void ; and tlie parties severely punished.*' 
 
SECTION XL 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. 
 What is the practical result ? The Lord God for- 
 bids A MAN TO MARRY HIS SISTER IN LAW; 
 WHETHER SHE BE THE WIDOW OF HIS DECEAS- 
 ED BROTHER, OR THE SISTER OF HIS DECEASED 
 WIFE. By THE DIVINE LAW SHE IS HIS SISTER. 
 She IS NEAR OF KIN TO HIM. It IS InCEST. 
 
 Marriage is a divine Institution. The law of God 
 respecting that ordinance must therefore remain 
 the only standard,, by which a judgment can be 
 formed coi\cerning the parties who may lawfully en- 
 ter into that holy state, as well as of the duties in- 
 cumbent for its protection after consummation. 
 
 The Union produced by marriage constitutes a 
 source of kindred and creates relatives, which, as it 
 respects the parties in the connubial connection, is 
 
174 CONCLUSION. 
 
 declared by die great Lawgiver, to be equally near 
 with that in blood. Therefore, the relatives by 
 affinity are to be estimated in the same degree with 
 those of consanguinity ; and the nearness of kin 
 must be measured by the same scale. 
 
 Incest is a crime abhorred of God and detested by 
 men ; a crime against which the Church is enjoined 
 to be vigilant, and is commanded to cast those who 
 have committed it, out of her communion. The re- 
 pore she may not look upon it with indifference, 
 nor delay to punish it with immediate censure. 
 
 The^oral Law of God, whether it be founded in 
 his perfections and in our nature, or proceed from a 
 positive precept, is of universal and perpetual obli- 
 gation ; — The law contained in Levit. xviii. 6 — 17. 
 XX. 11, 12. 14. 17. 19. 20, 21. is not ceremonial 
 or restricted to the Theocracy, but is a moral law. 
 Therefore, it must of necessity bind Christians 
 and all Mankind, equally with the Jews^ and the 
 precept which prohibited a marriage with a sister m 
 law under the Old, forbids also a similar marriage 
 under the New- Testament. . 
 
CONCLUSION. 175 
 
 In Marriage the dearest comforts of the human 
 family are involved, and society is deeply interested 
 in the preservation of its purity. Therefore, it 
 is incumbent upon the Community to stigmatise with 
 infamy every species of Incest, and particularly to 
 denounce a marriage between brothers and sisters in 
 law, as an evil practice of modern date, as inde- 
 cent, and inimical to virtue. 
 
 The Church cannot possibly avoid being offend- 
 ed with such marriages. It is therefore inad- 
 missible, for those who contract them, to plead ig- 
 norance of offence ; nor can they have any cause for 
 complaint, when they are made to feel the weight of 
 that authority wherewith the Lord Jesus has invest- 
 ed his church, and which she is bound, without 
 partiality, to exercise. 
 
 It is conceded that brothers and sisters in lav/ arc- 
 prohibited to intermarry by the law in Leviticus ; and 
 it has been proved that the Objections, against the ex- 
 tent of that law, and its binding power upon Chris- 
 tians are unfounded and frivolous. Therefore, 
 those objections ought to be abandoned and never, 
 from interest or prejudice, be again suggested. 
 
ire CONCLUSION. 
 
 The greatest and best Men in every age of 'the 
 Christian dispensation, who have been a blessing to 
 the World, and an honour to the Church, have uni- 
 formly determined the law of Leviticus, against Incest, 
 to be moral and of universal obligation, and have de- 
 cidedly declared the marritige with a sister in law to 
 be incestuous ; and all the Churches of every deno- 
 mination have concurred in this judgment: it will 
 THEREFORE, be advisable for those who deny this 
 doctrine, to suspect their own private opinions, and 
 read more and study the subject better, before they 
 venture to oppose Men of erudition, piety and char- 
 acter, with whom, to institute a comparison, would 
 be odious and humiliating. 
 
 The Retormed Church in Holland has es- 
 tablished by her Canons, " that no man may marry 
 his sister in law, and no woman may marry her bro- 
 ther in law, ^^ and has never deviated from that rule. 
 — The Reformed Dutch Church in Ameri- 
 ca is the same with the Church of Holland, has 
 adopted the same Canons, corresponds with that 
 Church, and is esteemed and beloved by it, as a 
 valuable portion of the same Church, and is bound 
 by the most sacred obligations to transmit unim- 
 
CONCLUSION. 177 
 
 paired to posterity the precious treasure with which 
 she is intrusted. There can therefore be no 
 cause of suspense, no motive for hesitation ; but on 
 the contrary, every consideration, suggested by 
 faithfulness to God and attachment to his Church, 
 renders it an imperious duty, to avoid even the ap- 
 pearance of SCHISM, and strictly to abide by the 
 
 ESTABLISHED CaNONS. 
 
 It has pleased the Lord to preserve this Church, 
 during two centuries in America ;* and render her 
 conspicuous and respectable for her faithful adher- 
 ence to the doctrines of the gospel and die purity of 
 her morals- It is, therefore, fervently hoped, 
 this distinguished Church will never relax in her 
 holy discipline, nor tarnish her high and worthy 
 character, by abandoning her standards, or rescind- 
 ing her oxvn Canonh — above all, that she will not be 
 the first ; the only one in this country, or even in. 
 
 ■■* The Records of the Reformed Dutch Church, in llie City of Kcw-Vcrk, com- 
 laence in 'he year 1620, and contain, in several folio voluincs, an ccruvat'e R'c- 
 gister of all the successive cfScera of the Cluiich, aud nuruibers ia full cominu- 
 liion ; aud of all the mon Isges and baptisms, beside the acts of the Consistory, 
 to the present day. The fornier parts arc xrrittcn in an clpjant old cha,racter,' 
 and are probably the most ancient Church Rpgords in America. — A Cony is ex- 
 tant' ofia list bf tae'rabcrs, dat<«^1022, wlihjll'prdMe^ i^i)hi4^t\MiK:\\ikn 
 "i^-as already crganised in New-Yorlc. 
 
 23 
 
j;l^e world, who shall daj*e to contravene ti^e law Of 
 God, and dispense with a crime which he forbids, 
 
 ^^ The Word of the Lord endure th foreyer.^' His 
 people love that word. They know ''the. Law of 
 |:he Lord is perfect ; the Testimony of the Lord i^ 
 §ure ; the Statutes of the Lord are right ; the Com- 
 mandment of the Lord is pure ;'' and the Church 
 WOLilcJ consider it inconsistent and perilous to delib - 
 eratej whether what is forbidden by her Lord in his 
 word, shall remain a rule of discipline. Instead, 
 THEREFORE, of examining 'nvhether the Canon or 
 Church Order of the Reformed Dutch Church, de- 
 claring or adjudging a marriage by a man v/ith the 
 sister qf a deceased wife, unlawful, q^ forbidden iii 
 the word &f God, ought to remain or to eease as 
 a rule of discipline in the Churches under their 
 care and jurisdiction?'' — Instead of deigning even 
 to discuss such a question ; it is mo^t earnestly re- 
 comniended, in the fear of God, and with a zeal for 
 the purity of the Church, and the honour of Religion, 
 that the General Synod will proceed promptly, 
 decidedly, and once for all, to resolve-— Th a t the 
 Mefoj'med Dutch Church in ArnMca will not, in this, 
 nor any other instance, admit a suggestion to depart 
 
OONCLUSION. 17J 
 
 from her standards^ nor receive any application to 
 rescind her Canons, which are all founded upon the 
 word of God. — Th a t the sister of a deceased wife is^ 
 by the divine law, the sister of the surviving husband, 
 — That therefore, every raan who marries the sister 
 of his deceased wife, is by the law of God, and by the 
 Canons of the Church, guilty uf Incest, and shall, 
 if a member, be cut off from the communiQU and pri^ 
 vileges of the Churclu 
 
 F I N I S. 
 

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Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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