by a third individual. The Puritan regards the law in Levit. viii. as a Jewish law, having no reference to marriage, and imposing no obligation on other nations. Omicron admits the law to be a law relating to marriage, and prescribing the degrees within which marriage is not to be contracted; but he endeavors to prove the particular marriage in question not prohibited by this law. Dr. Benedict takes the same ground, but boldly affirms this marriage to be lawful, because it is not specified among the prohibitions. In the same way he might prove the lawfulness of marriage between own brothers and sisters; for they are not found among the specifications.
The Puritan willingly calls on writers who occupy ground so entirely different from the ground on which he stands, to assist him in opening a wide door for the marriage of a man with his deceased wife's sister, to pass from a state of dishonor to a state of honor. The success of this combined effort will be tested. We shall see whether those writers can wipe away the disgrace, which past ages have stamped upon such connexions.
