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mystical union of Christian marriage, and destructive of its indivisibility; (4) injurious to the welfare of society, and the stability of the social life; (5) fatal to the tenderest ties of relationship; (6) a further downward step towards confusion and incest, and legalised cohabitation; (7) certain to breed discords and jealousies in private families; and (8) sure to bring down in the end the wrath and displeasure of God. For these reasons we are opposed to such alliances, and most earnestly trust that they may never be sanctioned by the laws of England." He goes on to say: "Private interest may make many regard the alliance with favour, while others, most conscientiously, may have arrived at a different conclusion from our own; but the general feeling we believe to be against the marriage. Some put forward one objection, some another: some consider it to be contrary to Scripture, some to be injurious to society, or inexpedient, or likely to be attended with unpleasant consequences; but the vast majority, we apprehend, have a strong presentiment, whether defined or not, that there is a certain degree of moral impropriety in contracting marriage with a wife's sister." Now without going into the many reasons given just above, I shall content myself with the three chief grounds or reasons which I have previously alluded to, as the reasons I shall adduce in this Address for disapproving of such marriages: (1) that such marriages are contrary to the Law of God; (2) that they are not approved of or sanctioned by the Church; and (3) that they would be most detrimental to the best interests of our social life. I am aware that if the first of these points were conclusively proved to the satisfaction of any honest enquirer, or even if there were a strong and reasonable probability that such marriages were contrary to the Divine Will, it would be his duty to adopt such a view of the question as to the consequent unlawfulness of contracting such marriages, as would render it unnecessary to pursue the train of enquiry into the two other divisions just mentioned; but different minds may be more readily influenced or convinced by different arguments, and it therefore becomes necessary and allowable to pursue the investigation beyond the immediate pages of the Bible. It is, moreover, to be feared that self-interest has much
