preserve the purity of the Church; and thus, by sanctifying His people, prepare them both for their duties on earth and for their enjoyments in heaven?
Look at the law. What is its nature? We have seen, that, whether it be regarded as prescribing degrees of marriage, or as forbidding "single acts of an incestuous character," it is a moral law, demanding a chaste and holy conduct. The Puritan, in his first chapter, assumes, without offering any proof in support of his assumption, that "the statutes in question belong to the civil or judicial law of the Hebrew Commonwealth;" and then, on the supposition of their referring to marriage, (which we hope in a subsequent place to prove to be a fact,) he reasons and endeavours to evince that they do not pertain to us. In this he has failed. It has, we think, been shown that the criterion he applies to them, considered as a civil law, instead of proving what he aims at, proves the contrary, that they do, on his own admissions, pertain to us, and are permanently binding.
Marriage is regarded by many as a mere civil contract. From its nature it does, indeed, claim
