Can the Puritan, then, be right in the conclusions to which he has come? Is it credible, that the instructions given in the Bible on the subject of incest are so imperfect? Has God imparted to His Church scarce a single additional ray to the light of nature, and left it to human legislation to determine the limits within which it is unlawful to contract marriage? Is (we repeat the question) this credible?
In the sequel we hope to be able to show the reasoning of this writer to be entirely fallacious, on the leading points which he has established.
We believe that God has given to his Church a law of incest and marriage, and that this law is found recorded in Levit. 18:6–18. It can, we think, be proved that this law is a permanent ecclesiastical law, neither civil or judicial, nor repealed;—that it refers to marriage and prescribes its limits;—and that it is one law, and a natural law. If we shall succeed in establishing all these points, the way will be prepared for proving the particular marriage under discussion to be unlawful.
