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marriages. I think where persons feel that they can without scruple contract them, they should be allowed to do so."

— Speech of Earl Russell

"I cannot bring myself to believe that the Divine law prohibits a man from marriage with a deceased wife's sister."

— Dr. Musgrave, late Archbishop of York.

"You are at liberty to refer to me as approvng of the abolition of the restriction on marriage to which you allude."

— Archbp. Whately.

"Whether the question is considered in a religious, moral, or social point of view, such marriages are unobjectionable, while in many instances they contribute to the happiness of the parties, and the welfare of motherless children, and among the poor have a tendency to prevent immorality."

- Petition signed by the Bishop of London (Dr. Tait), 1849.

"Believing, as he did, that Scripture, so far from prohibiting, sanctioned those marriages it was a grievance of which the people might justly complain, that the law of the land was out of harmony with the revealed will of God."

— Speech of the Bishop of Ripon.

"These marriages are not contrary to Divine command. The Scriptural argument against them seems to me to break down at every step."

— Speech of the Bishop of Killaloe.

"Such marriages, I apprehend, are nearly as frequent as the circumstances which usually give rise to them. I have not known any social disadvantages attending them."

— Bishop M'Ilvaine, Ohio, United States.

"In verse 18 the prohibition is only against marrying the wife's sister during the lifetime of the first wife, which of itself implies the liberty to marry the sister after her death."

— Rev. Dr. Chalmers.

"Is the marriage of a widower with his late wife's sister within the 'prohibited degrees?' In all frankness and honesty, I am obliged to answer - No. It is interdicted neither by express veto, nor yet by implication."

— Rev. Dr. Eadie, Professor of Biblical Literature to the United Presbyterian Church, Scotland.

"Without pursuing the subject further, I shall give it as my opinion that the marriage in question is not against either nature or the law of God."

— Rev. T. Binney.

"That the enactments of the Levitical law are entirely misinterpreted when applied in condemnation of marriage with a deceased wife's sister, was the decided judgment of Mr. Wesley, the founder of our societies; and I believe that similar views have since been entertained by many of those among us who have been led by circumstances carefully to examine the matter, and whose competency to judge of such a question has given great weight to their conclusion."

— Rev. Dr. Bunting.