4. I, however, maintain that this point has
not been left in silence, but that the lawgiver has made a distinct
prohibition. The words “None of you shall approach to any
one that is near of kin to him, to uncover their
nakedness,”
Lev. xviii.
6. embraces also this
form of kinsmanship,
for what could be more akin to a man than his own wife, or rather than
his own flesh? “For they are no more twain but one
flesh.” St.
Matt. xix. 6. So, through
the wife, the sister is made akin to the husband. For as he shall
not take his wife’s mother, nor yet his wife’s daughter,
because he may not take his own mother nor his own daughter, so he may
not take his wife’s sister, because he may not take his own
sister. And, on the other hand, it will not be lawful for the
wife to be joined with the husband’s kin, for the rights of
relationship hold good on both sides. But, for my part, to every
one who is thinking about marriage I testify that, “the fashion
of this world passeth away,”
1 Cor. vii.
31. and the time
is short: “it remaineth that both they that have wives be
as though they had none.”
1 Cor. vii.
29. If he
improperly quotes the charge “Increase and
multiply,”
Gen. i. 28. I laugh at him,
for not discerning the signs of the times. Second marriage is
a remedy against fornication, not a means of lasciviousness.
“If they cannot contain,” it is said “let them
marry;”
1 Cor. vii.
9. but if they
marry they must not break the law.