Page:Law of Marriage as relating to the prohibited degrees of affinity.djvu/104

6 431. That is a fair exposition of your opinion?—Yes; and that view is absolutely necessary, because marriage with a daughter is not mentioned there, neither a daughter nor a grandmother, nor grandfather's wife. Marriage with a daughter is manifestly against the law of nature; and since incest with a daughter, as well as with a mother, was even a common sin among some heathen nations, and has even occurred within Christianity, it cannot be argued that it was omitted solely because unlikely to happen. We cannot see the principle upon which one case has been mentioned, another not. Yet it is within people's memory that one applied for a licence to marry a grandfather's widow (a second wife), and was refused.

432. Then you infer, because there are certain marriages not expressly prohibited, which in the feeling of the whole Christian world are wrong, that these marriages by affinity are ejusdem generis?—No. What I infer is, that since what is plainly against the law of nature, since manifest incest is omitted, therefore it cannot be argued that those specific instances are all which were meant to be prohibited.

St. Ambrose uses the same argument as to one of the cases not mentioned in Holy Scripture, marriage with a niece. He says, "If thou therefore thinkest it permitted, because it is not specially prohibited, neither wilt thou find that prohibited by the letter of the law, that a man should not take his own daughter to wife. Is it therefore allowed because it is not prohibited? By no means. For it is forbidden by the law of nature; it is forbidden by that law which is in the hearts of all; it is forbidden by the inviolable prescription of piety; by the plea of a near bond. How many things of this sort wilt thou find not to be forbidden by the law given by Moses, and yet they are forbidden by a certain voice of nature?" (Ep. 60, ad Paternum, §5.) Indeed, the rule of parity of relationship or affinity, upon which the Church of England has proceeded in prohibiting marriages, seems self-evident. Since marriage with a father's brother's wife is expressly prohibited (v. 14), it cannot be thought that marriage with