Page:Unlawfulmarriage00jane.djvu/178

174 ancient Hebrews erred for want of light, we cannot plead the same excuse. We have ample light; let us walk in the light.

V. is as  as consanguinity.

This is denied both by Omicron, (p. 27,) and by the Puritan, (p. 9.) "The Hebrew," says the former, "at least would hardly have thought so, judging from the customs of his country, and from the provisions of the Mosaic law in respect to inheritance and other like matters. Yet so thought Maimonides, that learned and celebrated Hebrew scholar. 'Conjunctiones hic æque prohibentur cum propinquis affinitate et nuptiis atque cum propinquis sanguine, teste etiam Maimonide.'

"Even Maimonides testifies, that conjunctions with relations by affinity and marriage, are as much prohibited as with relations by blood."

The death of a wife does not, as the Puritan supposes, (p. 9,) affect the affinity of her husband to her surviving kindred. Her mother is still his mother-in-law; her brothers and sisters