24
the Marriage law as now proposed, but have sought to confine myself to these points:
I. That the whole strength of the case of the promoters of the change, so far as Holy Scripture is concerned, rests upon the text, Lev. xviii. 18, this text being taken to override the prohibition of Lev. xviii. 16.
II. That the contradiction of two general laws in God's Word, the one to the other, in the course of three verses is highly unlikely and improbable; so improbable that we are justified in expecting to find some other solution of the difficulty.
III. That in the case in hand, there is another solution falling very naturally into its place by careful comparison of Scripture with Scripture.
To sum up the general argument, even at the risk of some repetition, we may state it thus:—
(i.) We have the general rule laid down: "None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him" (verse 6).
(ii.) We have the instances and exemplifications of what this "nearness of kin" means, all of these given directly with reference to the man, leaving the corresponding woman's duty to be inferred (verses 7—17).
(iii.) We have the particular case of the brother's wife (verse 16); whereupon, by parity of reasoning, is inferred the prohibition of the wife's sister, it being here to be observed, that unless the cases of the different sex, by parity of reason, be taken as contemplated by the Holy Ghost in giving this Scripture, we have no written law against several most frightful kinds of incest.[1]
(iv.) We have an exception to the very letter of the law as to the brother's wife, by the injunction of the law of the Levirate, in the provision for preventing the extinction of a house in Israel, by the brother's taking his deceased brother's
- ↑ See Dr. Pusey's Evidence before the Royal Commission, First Report, p. 37, questions 431—3.
