Incest is a disgrace to marriage and pollutes the institution. The incestuous parties are forbidden to enter into that holy state. They are not, they can- not be married. The form, with respect to them, is void. It is no marriage. Their cohabitation is a continual fornication, with the aggravated guilt of prohibited commerce. What is wicked in the first instance cannot by repetition become innocent. What is accursed of God in the commencement can never become less criminal or obtain the divine approbation and blessing, by habitual indulgence.
- In order to preserve chastity in families, and between persons of different sexes brought up and
living together in a state of unreserved intimacy, it is necessary by every method possible, to inculcate an abhorrence of incestuous conjunctions ; which abhorrence can only be upheld by the absolute rep- ments of God. — How iiighly interesting then, how practical, and of what general concern is this question ? How seriously ought it to be discussed, and with what impartiality ought all to attend to the subject p Fully persuaded as I am of the unlawfulness of conjugal connections with a wife's sister, I am bound in duty, in love to God, to individuals, to the churches of Ciirist, and to the community in .general, fully and fairly to discuss the Subject, and to make my appeal to every candid reader, and to the public, with respect to the conclusiveness of the argu- ment." — See an excellent Essay entitled, "aw appeal to thepublic relative to the icnlanfulness of marrying a mfes si$ter,^ by the Rev. Dr. B, Trumbull, page 3, 4.
