The Puritan claims to be a descendant and successor of the Puritans who settled in Massachusetts a little more than 200 years ago. Suppose his pamphlet should hereafter fall into the hands of an individual yet to be born, and he, from the Puritan's name, should infer that he had justly represented their faith and practice; would the inference be true in point of fact? To use the writer's own words, "We trow not." The Westminster Confession of Faith was, in 1648, with the exception of what relates to Church government and discipline, adopted by those Puritans, with the highest commendation. No alteration was then made in the section relating to Incest.[1]
Had our brother extended his acquaintance with Selden, he might have found a passage more suited to his purpose. Speaking of the six blood relations of the wife, whom, in the opinion of the Hebrews, it was unlawful for her husband to marry, whether legitimate or illegitimate, Selden goes on to add the seventh: "Nec demum septimam, uxoris nempe sororem sive uterinam
- ↑ Preface to Camb. Platform, pp. 4, 5.
