Page:Unlawfulmarriage00jane.djvu/157

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A NATURAL LAW.
153

sin-, he committed a "moral wrong;" because he violated a command of God. There is now, under the Christian dispensation, no exception to this prohibition. This ecclesiastical law of marriage, of permanent obligation, prohibits every one who hears it, marrying his brother's widow; and whoever does form such a connexion sins, he commits "a moral wrong."

Our brother, holding fast to his error, and confident of being right, boldly affirms, in the fifth paragraph, "So that, after all the objections that have been urged, the argument remains in all its force, that the marriage of a brother's widow is not an immorality per se; for if it had been, God could not, in any case, have commanded it." By "an immorality per se," our brother means an act which, in no possible circumstances, it would become a holy God to allow. We cordially agree with him that the marriage of a brother's widow is not such an act. Nor is the marriage of brothers and sisters such an act; for this plain reason, there have been circumstances in which God did permit and require such marriages. Still, however, as it is now unlawful for brothers and sisters, in