only seems to imply it. The words of the English text are: "Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other, in her lifetime." This seems to imply that after the death of the wife he may marry her sister. But this is by no means a necessary inference. This Mr. Laing frankly admits. He says: "Taken, then, in its obvious sense, and in its connection with the preceding part of the law, it seems to mean a man is forbidden to marry his wife's sister; thus vexing her by doing that which is incestuous beside a sister during her life. This by no means proves that he may marry her when his wife is dead, although it implies it." Again he says: "If it can be shown from other passages that this marriage is incestuous, then this verse (18) cannot make it not incestuous, or justify it." He is quite right. That which is forbidden for a particular reason, which reason ceases at a particular time, might be wrong afterwards on other grounds. Thus we might suppose Isaac forbidden to marry a woman of Canaan, lest by doing this he would vex his father and mother during their lives. It does not follow, as a matter of course, that he might marry a Canaanitish woman afterwards. Nay, the very reason which would make such a marriage a vexation to the parents while they lived—alliance with a godless race—ought to prevent it afterwards. So when a man is forbidden to marry a wife's sister during the life of his wife, lest he should vex her, it does not follow as a matter of course that he may marry her after the death of his wife. The very same reason—the unlawful character of the connection—which would be a source of vexation to the wife while alive, might prevent the marriage afterwards. How is the wife vexed? Not simply by her husband's having two wives, but by the aggravated wickedness of consorting with her sister. The peculiar aggravation of this sin would render her miserable for life. She could never think of it but with abhorrence while she lived. Nor would that which rendered it so vexatious terminate with her life. Just as it would vex a woman through life if her husband were to marry her daughter, and as that which was the ground of the vexation—the unlawful nature of the connection—would continue to be sinful afterwards; so, a wife would be vexed by her husband marrying her sister, and the ground of the vexation—the unlawful nature of the connection—would continue afterwards. Thus, the translation in the English text affords no good or necessary inference in favour of marriage with a deceased wife's sister, in face of a law which as clearly forbids it as it forbids marriage with a daughter or niece. It does not prove or justify it." It may here be mentioned that, although the translation adopted in the English text was generally received for 1,500 years in the Christian church, it was scarcely ever supposed to give countenance to the marriage in question, which was generally regarded as forbidden in the previous verses. Even after the
