things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you; and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." In the 28th verse similar language is used. Now the Canaanites could not be under any special law peculiar to the Israelites, for that is a contradiction in terms; yet the Canaanites were punished for the filthiness of these prohibited unions, and for the other abominations mentioned in the chapter. Therefore the prohibition must affect all men, and not merely the Israelites. The introductory third verse, which I have cited, shows clearly that the 24th and 25th verses cannot be restricted to the verses immediately preceding them, for the whole Code is introduced and followed by a denunciation of practices opposed to its provisions.
II. and III. My second and third propositions are patent on the perusal of the chapter—viz. that unions with those who are "near of kin" are prohibited (verse 6); and that examples are given of what is meant by "near of kin," which do not extend beyond the third degree; but which, at the same time, include cases of affinity and of consanguinity indifferently, and include some case of every possible relationship in such degree, with the single exception of great-grandparent and great-grand-child, as to whom, of course, no prohibition would be necessary after man's life had been shortened to its present ordinary duration. The simple and true
