deed hold in other cafes: For, I. It cannot be thus faid, that the perfons lineally defcended from one brother, their nakedness is the other brother's own nakedness from whom they are not all defcended, and of whose flesh they are no remainder in any fenfe but in the fenfe of nearness of kin. And if the niece could not marry the uncle, because her nakedness is her father's, who is his brother, and so she is the same thing to him as his brother; then by the fame reason fhe could not marry her uncle's fon, or grandfon, or any upon that direct line downwards, as the prefbytery speaks, seeing their nakedness is ftill her uncle's nakedness, and fo they would be the fame thing to her in this case with her uncle; they are indeed the fame thing to him, but in no wife to her. 2. All that are lineally defcended of two brothers, and of their father, are every one of them unto the brother of whom they are defcended, and unto that common father, in fuch a manner a remainder of their flesh, as that their nakedness is their own nakedness; and if we should thus make them to stand for the same thing, as those of whom they are defcended; and that with respect to one another, all marriages would be unlawful, because thereby all defcended of the two brothers would be fifters and brothers to all genera tions, as being still the fame, and that unto one another, with the first two brothers. And the abfurdity of this needs not be further pointed out.

4. Therefore in the other degrees upon which the Lord forbids the uncovering of nakedness, he proceeds upon the ground of nearness of kin; and, by his fovereign authority, determines that nearness which would not be fully and clearly determined by nature's light.

And he first forbids the uncovering of nakedness betwixt a brother and a fifter, begotten by the fame parent, † 9.11. 16. Here the generating parent comes between; and fo the parties here forbidden to uncover nakedness, are at a greater distance of kin than they who are discharged to come together, because of the fore-mentioned "own nakedness," 7. 8. 10. 15. 17. yet not at such a distance but that the Lord declares them too near of kin to come together, there being but one between and so it is unlawful for any perfon to uncover the nakedness of her who is nearest to the perfon that is neareft to him. He proceeds yet a degree farther, and forbids the uncovering of nakedness betwixt the brother or fifter of the begetting parent, and the child of that parent, 12. 13. 14. This prohibition goes exprefsiy upon

3 Q2

the

the nearness of kin, and this is juftly reckoned the lowest of the degrees forbidden in this law; for here there come more between these forbidden to come together than in the cafe of brother and fifter, viz. ft, The begetting parent of the niece or nephew. 2dly, The parent that begat that parent and his brother or fifter; fo that there come two between; yet hereby they are not fet at fuch a distance but that the Lord ftill declares them too near to come together; and fo it is unlawful for any perfons to come together, where the distance of kin betwixt them is only by two intervening. Here the Lord ftops, and further he goes not, who says, "I "am the Lord." And it is moft obfervable, that though there be not the fame distance between the brother and fifter, as there is betwixt the uncle and niece; yet he stops directly there, where the distance is precisely equal, by an equal number of perfons intervening betwixt thefe whom he forbids not, and fo allows to come together in marriage. Thus we find an equal number of perfons parents coming between two coufins-germans, and between the uncle and his grandniece, and both are fet at the same distance of kin, by the precife number of three perfons coming between each of them.

And who fhall declare to us, that marriage in this dif tance of kin is unlawful, when he whom it beft becomes to fay, "I am the Lord," and must be owned beft to understand the matter, hath left it free?

We may fancy a thoufand things to ourselves, and the moft grave and learned divines, the most wife and able lawyers may give what judgment they think beft; but while none of them can fay, "I am the Lord," though we be bound to pay all due deference to their judgment; yet they muft point out fomething in this law of God, from which, as ftated there, a clear inference may be made, fhewing, That he hath indeed forbidden J. B.'s marriage before they can warrantably declare him a tranfgreffor of this law of God; and if it be manifeft, as it is, by what is above said, that J. B.'s marriage is upon a degree farther than the fartheft, and lower than the loweft degree forbidden in the word of God, to which the law of this land does very justly refer as to the fafeft explication of the law of nature, and that in oppofition to Antichrift, who fhews himself that he is God remarkably in this point, then it must be owned, that the law of God and of this land hath made his marriage lawful; and if his wife and he be lawfully married, can any man on earth put them asunder?

Answers

Anfwers by the prefbytery of Dundee to the reafons for the lawfulness of 7. B.'s marriage.

T *HE inconclusiveness and falsehood of these reasons will appear from a view of the nature of nearness of kin or nearnefs of blood, to which all the said reasonings refer. Nearness of kin or nearness of blood has its foundation in, and rises from fome family from which the perfons near of kin to one another are defcended, or their nearness to the perfons from whom they are defcended, et vice verfa; or from affinity by marriage, parents then being one flesh, and so one blood, all their children, though they be faid to be the first degree descended from them, yet they are really parts of the parents, and of the fame unmixed blood with them; likewife the perfon who marries any child of a family, is by that affinity just as he was a fon of the family, and is reckoned by the divine law to have the fame nearness of kin to the parents and to the other children of the family. And that this is the true and genuine nature of nearness of kin will appear from Lev. xviii. where the Lord exprefsly forbids fuch and fuch relations to marry, because they are fo near of kin to one another. And,

ift, A man is forbidden to marry, or to uncover the na kedness of any that has their whole blood of that family from which he is defcended, or reckoned to have it by being married to one that has their whole blood of that family, viz. to uncover the nakedness of his mother, in the 7th verfe; of his father's wife, though not his mother, in the 8th; of his fifter, in the 9th; of his aunt, in the 12th, 13th, and 14th.

2dly, A man is forbidden to marry any defcended of him. felf, or to uncover their nakednefs, in y to.; and the fame is implied in y 7. where the grandchildren are only named in

10.; yet the reason added in the clofe of the verse, "For theirs is thine own nakedness," fhews, that the prohibition is extended to the remoteft defcendents; and this the framers of J. B.'s paper have thought fit to own. Again, in like manner, a man is forbidden to "uncover the nakedness" of any defcended of his wife in y 17. because he and the being one flesh and one blood, therefore her defcendents are reckoned to him as his own; and vice versa, all these descendents are forbidden to uncover the nakedness of any from whom they are defcended, or of them who are married, or have been married to any from whom they are defcended.

And,

And, laftly, A man is forbidden to uncover the nakedness of a person who is or hath been married to one that has his whole blood of that family of which he is defcended, in y 8. 14. 15. 16.; in all which prohibitions it is to be obferved, that either both the perfons have their whole blood of the fame family, or that one of the perfons hath in him their whole blood of that family from whom the other is defcend. ed: or, laftly, that one of the perfons is or has been married to one that had his whole blood of that family from which the other is defcended, and fo the person that has thus been one flesh with one that had his whole blood, is reckoned by affinity to have the whole blood in himself. Now this laft cafe is the cafe of J. B.; for he having been married to J. L. is reckoned to have the fame relation to J. M. that J. L. had; and feeing J. L. had her whole blood of J. L. her father's family, by confequence J. B. cannot lawfully marry J. M. who is defcended of the family of J. L. of which J. L. was daughter, and therefore had her whole blood of that family. From what is faid, the vanity of the reasoning in p. 483. about the terms direct line, collateral lines, and oblique lines, will appear; for all these terms are relative and useful in explaining this fubject; and the prefbytery has not (as is alledged) confounded the direct line with the collateral or oblique, but have only showed, that J. B. being as a fon of J.L.'s family, and confequently as deriving his whole blood from it, and J. M. being defcended of the fame family, he in the first degree, fhe in the third, though both the lines, his and hers, are direct with refpect to him from whom they are defcended; yet they are oblique to one another. As to what is faid of this being but one degree forbidden on the collateral, and one on the oblique, and two on the direct: As to the direct, it is owned, in the clofe of the paper, that though there be but two expressly named, yet the prohibition is perpetual; and therefore it is falfe that is faid here, that there are but two forbidden: as to the collateral lines, perfons in the second degree may marry, viz. a grandfon by one fon or daughter of a family, may marry a grand-daughter by another fon or daughter; for, as they are grandchildren of that family, fo each of them is grandchild to another family, and fo deriving the one half of their blood from that family, and the other half from another, they may marry: but, on the oblique line, the perfon being a fon or daughter, or married to a fon or daughter of the family from which the other perfon is descended, that fon or fon-in-law deriving, or reckon

ed

ed as deriving his whole blood from that family, and the other deriving part of his blood from that fame family, there is more blood betwixt them than betwixt coufin-germans, which are the nearest in blood that can marry. From what is faid above, the measure which is alledged for knowing nearness in blood, viz. by the number of perfons intervening betwixt them, is falfe; for no number of perfons going between can make it lawful for perfons on the direct line to marry, nor yet on the oblique, as above.

Further, that of parentage in the direct line, et loco parentis in the oblique, is neceffary and certain; and therefore what is alledged by divines of this being a fecondary reason of the prohibition is founded in the very nature of the thing; and all that is faid by the framers of J. B.'s paper against its being a reason of the prohibition, in any fenfe, is idle and frivolous. As to what is faid of the terms of this law in Lev. xviii. & xx. their being taken to be in a proper sense, it is answered, The words here, as in all other parts of the fcripture, have a determinate sense and meaning, and are not to be extended further than is intended by the Holy Ghost; yet when it is evident, by the nature of the thing fpoken of in this law, that they are not reftricted, as the framers of this paper would have the latter claufe of y 14. the reafon of taking it in a large sense being as evident as the reafon for taking the latter of y 10. in a large fenfe, which they themselves do; and it is strange to find men fo bold to diminish the meaning of the divine law, or to take from it, when, at the fame time, they are fo liberal in their infinuating judgments against those that add to it; and the prefbytery are not fingular in taking the laft clause of y 14. in a large fenfe, but have the concurrence of all divines and lawyers agreeing with them in this opinion: and as to the confequence which is drawn from it, that it would make all marriages unlawful, it is altogether groundlefs; for this fenfe reftricts to uncle and aunt, granduncle, great-granduncle, &c.; and the reafon is obvious, viz. their nearness of kin to their nieces or nephews, the uncle, granduncle, or great-granduncle and aunts in like manner deriving their whole blood from that family, from which their nieces or grand-nieces and nephews, &c. derive part of their blood. Upon the whole, it is obvious, that man and wife being taken for one and the fame thing through the whole of this law about inceft, as is done, and that juftly, in J. B.'s paper, that the measure by which all the forbidden degrees are to be tried or judged is this one, namely, That a perfon who

has

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