7
Certain connections are forbidden in the eighteenth and twentieth of Leviticus. Those which are expressly named are as follows : —
"Mother.
Father's Wife, or Stepmother.
Sister.
Half-sister.
Granddaughter, by either Son or Daughter.
Aunt, by either Father or Mother.
Uncle's Wife, or Aunt-in-law.
Son's Wife, or Daughter-in-law.
Brother's Wife, or Sister-in-law.
Wife's Mother, or Mother-in-law.
Wife's Daughter, or Daughter-in-law, Stepdaughter,
Wife's Granddaughter, or Granddaughter-in-law."
Here there are just as many relationships by affinity as by blood — the most distant being the aunt. No sort of Mother (or grandmother), of aunt, of sister or of daughter is allowed.
Now it may be laid down as an acknowledged principle, that no part of the Law given to Moses either has passed, or ever shall pass away (Matt. v. 17-19). It either has been fulfilled, or, it is still binding. The whole of our Redeemer's Mission was a proof of the unchangeableness of the Law; which, being an expression of the will of its Divine Author, is as immutable as Himself The Lord Jesus left the throne of His Glory to magnify the Law and to make it honourable by fulfilling every title of its demands; He suffered and died to atone for its violated majesty; and the new covenant in Christ Jesus is comprised in these two promises, that "sin should be forgiven and forgotten," and "that the Law should be written in our hearts and minds" (Heb. x. 16 18, viii. 10 12.)
Thus the moral law can never change. All the ceremonial
