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184 two points:—first, that such marriages were not customary among Christians, being deemed unlawful: and, secondly, that the Levitical law was held by the Church to be binding.

To all this Omicron will object. He lays great stress on the original terms, in the sixth verse, translated near of kin, and attempts to prove that they refer only to blood-relation. We think he has failed in his criticism.

The plain and obvious interpretation is, that they comprehend all the degrees specified, whether of consanguinity or of affinity, and that the specifications are designed to show the true extent and compass of the general rule.

Jeremy Taylor says, "For near of kin is an indefinite word, and may signify as uncertainly as great and little; nothing of itself determinately, but what you will comparatively to others; and it may be extended to all generations, where any records are kept, as among the Jews they were; from Judah to Joseph, the espoused of the Blessed Virgin."

Again, "Affinity makes conjunctions equal to those of consanguinity: and, therefore, thou must not uncover that nakedness which is thine