Page:The ancient interpretation of Leviticus XVIII. 18 - Marriage with a deceased wife's sister is lawful.djvu/55

 by Dr. Hessey, who says in his Tract, that this sort of marriage would be a contravention of Scripture, "as interpreted by all Christendom for 1,500 years." The reader of the preceding pages will be ready to demur to these comprehensive assertions, and to ask, how they are to be reconciled with the facts already established, namely, that the marginal version of Lev. xviii. 18 was first introduced into the Church in the year 1575; and that the translation given in the text of our English Bible is identical with the ancient version, existing 280 years before the birth of our Blessed Lord, adopted by the Apostles by adopting the LXX, continued in all versions for more than 1,500 years, having for many centuries the Apostolic stamp, semper, ubique, et ab omnibus, and interpreted from the days of Philo of marriage with a deceased wife's sister? He will be prepared to ask, Where are the authorities to prove that the Church ever interpreted Lev. xviii. 16 as including a prohibition of marriage with a deceased wife's sister, or xviii. 18, as a prohibition of polygamy? I cannot find that Calvin, or Junius, or Piscator, or Ainsworth, or Willett, or Dr. Pusey, or Mr. Badeley, or any of the recent writers on this subject, have adduced even one example, from Father, or Council, or ancient writer, to show that for the first 1,500 years these verses were so interpreted. The only evidence, having even the appearance of antiquity, is that of the Karaite Jews. But that is, as has been shown, more than doubtful. But were it genuine and unequivocal, is the testimony of a small fraction of the Jewish people to be preferred to united testimony of the great body of the Jewish nation, and the Catholic Church? The fact is that Dr. Pusey has omitted the consideration and interpretation of Lev. xviii. 18 altogether, except as touched upon in St. Basil's letter, and yet this verse is the turning point of the whole controversy. His "Evidence" and the Preface are occupied