him to marry THE SISTER, who is much nearer of kin than either of the former.

3. The relation produced by marriage is PECULIAR. It affects the husband and wife alone, and does not, as such, create any new relations between their respective relatives; agreeably to the adage, affinis mei affinis non est affinis meus.

4. As the relation created by marriage arises from the union established by God himself, and is therefore real and legal, so it is PERMANENT AND IN

DISSOLUBLE.

The nearness of kin which affinity has formed will never cease. The death of either of the parties cannot cancel the kindred, or cause any change in the degree of relation. This duration proceeds from the very principle of affinity, as well as from the express declaration of the divine law, and it is consonant with the universal consent and language of all nations. The step-mother remains a mother, after the death of the father, as much as in his life time; the wife of a son, after his decease, is still a daughter; the sister of a wife, continues to be a sister, after the death of the wife, exactly as she was before; the wife of the uncle, after his

death, is still an aunt, and will be so as long as she lives. All these are sacred and forbidden in marriage. The degrees of kindred are unalterable. They remain in their whole extent, the same they were before. Such persons may never be approached for cohabitation. The maxim admits of no controversy any person with whom, at ANY TIME, it would have been incest to cohabit, will FOREVER remain forbidden. No circumstance can obliterate the relation. Every marriage with such is always incest.

How men of discernment and candour can permit themselves to hesitate in the case of a sister by affinity, when they admit the relation and prohibition to extend to others by affinity, is truly astonishing. To assert that the sister may be exempted, when those who are more distant, are acknowledged to be too near of kin, can never be sustained by any rational argument. It will be seen, when we explain the law of prohibitions, that it avails nothing to search for ambiguity in the letter of the precept; it is explicit, intelligible and decisive. Had even the divine law been altogether silent upon that particular case, and the sister in law not mentioned at all, it

would still be sufficiently and fully implied.

The

question is unequivocally determined by the PRIN

CIPLE OF AFFINITY.

SECTION III.

INCEST.

INCEST is an unnatural and criminal cohabitation persons within prohibited degrees of kindred.*

of

GOD forbids incest and has mercifully implanted in the human heart an abhorrence of this crime, and thereby banished every sexual propensity toward those who are near of kin. Were it not for this; was that propensity felt or indulged in the familiar intercourse of domestic life, it would prove injurious to virtue, and dangerous to the welfare and happiness of the community.

Incest is condemned by the whole world. The estimate of its criminality appears to be independent

* The indifference with which the crime of incest appears to be considered, and the low standard of Christian morals, at the present day, render it proper to enlarge upon this subject, beyond what at first view might perhaps be thought necessary. Truths, generally acknowledged and taken for granted, do not always sufficiently impress the public mind.

upon custom, education or profession. The mind revolts at the transaction, as contrary to all order in society; and pronounces it to be indecent and filthy -infamous and wicked-an offence which cruelly invades the sacred recesses of families and endangers the purity of the most protected members.

It is a crime not only punishable in civil society; but a sin which will bring down the judgments of God upon any land, where it is tolerated and practised that very sin which served to fill the cup of the Amorites, and render them obnoxious to extermination.*

Incest is the first class of those sins which make a land mourn, and bring the wrath of God on the children of disobedience.-Whether it be lawful for a man to marry his wife's sister, is doubtless a question of great magnitude, of high and general concern.-A question in which every person is deeply interested, lest by such a marriage he should involve himself in great guilt, live a course of gross wickedness, and bring on himself and others the vengeance of Almighty God Families are no less interested than individuals; because if the marriage of such a relative be incest, they become, by this means, guilty and exposed to the curse of God. Ministers of the gospel are deeply concerned in it, as they are set to keep the doors of God's house, and to make a difference between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the profane. If the marriage connection with a wife's sister be incest, they are not only under indispensable obligations to avoid it themselves; but to bear a united, firm and decided testimony against it.-The Churches of Christ are greatly concerned in the question, lest they become contaminated by such incestuous persons, and bring on themselves the divine abhor. rence and curse. Pastors and churches are called immediately to act relative to them. It highly concerns them to know and do their duty. As communities are composed of individuals and families, so, as they are corrupted and become expos ed to divine judgments, the great body becomes corrupt and exposed to the judg