The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-27 00:00:00

.You are understood to state that you are of opinion that,
so far as the interpretation of Scripture goes, either in the
Mosaic or Christian dispensation, there is nothing.repu,gnant
to those marriages ?"—" There is nothing repugnant in my
opinion."—Evidence of Rev. R. C. Jenkins.
" The petition was probably entrusted to me in consequence
of my having declared without hesitation that the marriage
of a sister of a deceased wife was not prohibited by the Levi-
tical Law."—The late Bishop of Llandaff.
" I shall only add, that all persons who voted for the Act of
Parliament which legalised such marriages of that descrip-
tion as had taken place, nay, all who had an opportunity of
opposing-that Act, and did not oppose it, must be regarded as
suoscribing to the declaration that those marriages were not
in opposition to the Word of cied."—The late Bishop of
Meath.
"Without pursuing_the,subject further. I shall give it as
my opinion that the marriage in questi6n is not against either
nature or the law of-God.'',---Rev. T. Binney.
"My opinion is certainly in favour of the relaxation of the
law prohibiting the marriage of a widoNier to his late wife's
sister."—The. Chancellor of the Diocese of Exeter.
"Seeing that it was not against the law of God—seeing the
great social evils which arose from the restriction, and be-
lieving that there was no comparison between, the social ad-
vantages and the social disadvantages arising from this cause,
he should give the measure his cheerful assent."—Speech of
the Duke of Norfolk.
"The ancient Roman law permitted the marriage of two
sisters in succession."—Heineccius.

"Are marriages of this description considered in Germany
to be at all contra bonos mores ?" " Not at all. So far from
their being considered contra bonos mores, the feeling of the
people of Germany is undoubtedly in favour .of such mar-
riages." ...." It frequently happens that a widower marries
his decased wife's sister out of a pious and affectionate feel-
ing for his departed wife, And the feelings of the women of
Germany are so strong in favour of such marriages, that it often
occurs that the last parting request by a wife on her death-
bed to her husband is, to marry her sister in case he should
feel inclined to marry again. This arises partly from affec-
tion for her surviving husband or relations, that he may not
become estranged from her connexions, and partly from affec-
tion to her sister, and very frequently, where there are young
children, for their 5ake."...." Are you aware of any evil con-
sequences from the celebration of marriages of ,this &Scrip-
tion ?"—" None whatever. I have spoken with several of my
friends, and I have written to some others, asking them
whether they are aware that this power of dispensation is the
cause of any immorality in families, and their answer is, none
whatever. I am not at all aware of any."—Evidence of A.
•Bach, Esq.
"Though a man might not marry two sisters tpgether, it
seems a natural conclusion; from the phrase in her _lifetime,'
that he might marry the sister of his deceased wife—and thus
we learn from Selden, the Jews in general understood it"—
Dr. Dodd. .

•
" The very strongest reasons for engaging in a second mar-
riage contract is, frequently, to provide a suitable female head
for a family of shall children. In such cases, who is so likely to
exercise the requisite maternal care and affection as the sister
ofithe deceased mother? To prohibit a marriage under such
i circumstances seems to me inhuman."—lion. Judge Mason,
United States.

" If the founders of our Church have incautiously adopted
a canon prohibiting that which of its own mere authority it
had no right to prohibit, and which Scripture does not war-
rant it in prohibiting, now that the evil has become apparent,
it is surely time for that Church to rescind such canon, and to
cease opposition to the repeal of any secular law founded upon
it."—Speech of Viscount Gage.
" Having to deal with persons of other communions, who
did not recognize the same ecclesiastical law; with the Roman
Catholics, who by dispensation tolerate such marriages—there
being also Protestant churches in Europe, and Protestant
denominations in this country, who recognized the validity,
ecclesiastically speakin, of such marriages. . . . It was
impossible not to feel that the civil law which declared the
illegality of such marriages, and bastardized the children, im-
posed a heavy penalty on persons who, by contracting these
marriages, did not contravene the tenets of their religious
persuasion." . . " Socially speaking, if a case was made
out that morality would be endangered by the Bill, that
would be a reason for rejecting it ; but he had not heard it
established that such danger could arise. Marriage being a
civil rite, they were bound to make that civil rite co-extensive
with the feelings of the country. He bad, therefore, come to
the conclusion that it was his duty to support the second read-
ing of the Bill."—Speech of Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P.
" Doubtless it was very gratifying to our national pride to
be told that a higher standard of morals prevailed in this
country than could be found elsewhere ; but surely it could
not be denied that the rules of chastity were as strictly ob-
served in the North of Germany, Switzerland, and the United
States of America, as they were in England. He was entitled
to say that the evils anticipated from permitting these mar-
riages here had not manifested themselves in those countries,
for, if they had, the law which authorised them would not
have been suffered to continue for 12 months."—Speech of
Lord Chief Justice Cockburn.
" He had before stated his belief, that if the matter came
to be investigated before the Courts, it would turn out that
the marriage contemplated in this Bill was in Scotland a
lawful marriage ; and he had good reason for saying that that
was the opinion of an hon. Baronet, than whom no person
ever stood higher in the Church of Scotland—Sir H. Mon-
crieff. For himself; having come to the deliberate opinion
that the marriage in question was not forbidden by the law
of Leviticus, he came also to the opinion that the connection
was not a crime, and that the marriage was effectual for civil
purposes. "—Speech of the Lord Advocate of Scotland (Ruther-
ford).
I have known probably several scores of such marriages. ,
I have counted a dozen within the last three or four minutes.
Most of these dozen belong to the highest class of society.
One of them is a doctor of divinity. Several of them are
ministers of the Gospel. One is a member of Congress. Am-
brose Spencer, the eminent Chief Justice of this State, died a
few years ago. He married two sisters of Dewitt Clinton, the
distinguished Governor of this State. The Presbyterian
Church of this village has probably not more than 50 members.
Two of these married sisters of their wives."—Gerrit Smith,
Esq. United States.
Esq., express my conviction that Scripture says not one word
against marriage with 'a deceased wife's sister. Surely it is
not a crime, and, if it be not, the law that cdnstitutes so must
be, for the worst of all crimes is an evil and unjust law."—
Rev. Geo. Gilfillan, Dundee.
" The prohibition of such marriages is, in my judgment,
sanctioned neither by Scripture, nor by physiology, nor by
expediency."—Rev. 11. Renton, Kelso, Scotland.
He declared, most conscientiously, he could find no prohi-
bition of this marriage in the Holy Scriptures."—Speech of
the Right Hon. Stuart Wortley, M.P., Recorder of London.
" If this marriage be lawful in the sight of God, then I go
upon the broad ground that, in such a case, no man has a right
to impose a restriction on his fellow-man which God has not
imposed; that the doing so can only bring a snare upon the
conscience, and be the occasion of sin ; and that no sanction
of human law can be expected ultimately to succeed in enforc-
ing what a man feels is no transgression of the law of God."
. . . . " That it is lawful; according to the Word of God,
I consider incontrovertibly proved by the passage in Levi-
ticus, of which I feel sure I have established the only correct
translation."—Rev. C. J. Goodhart, M.A.
After all the consideration he had been able to give the
question, his conclusion was, that in no sense could the mar-
riages proposed to be sanctioned by this bill be said to be op-
posed by Scripture."—Speech of T. E. Headlam, Esq., M.P.
"The petition from the city of London, in favour of this
marriage, was signed by a large number of persons, and among
others by the Lord Mayor, the Governor and Deputy-Gover-
nor of the Bank of England. and a considerable number of the
Directors of that establishment, by 59 private bankers, by the
Chamberlain of the city of London, by 237 merchants, 146
solicitors, 124 barristers, and 61 physicians. It was his good
fortune to be acquainted with a large number of the persons
who signed this petition, and he could say from hi, knowledTe
of their characters, that their opinions were entitled to the
greatest weight and attention."—Speech of Lord Overstolle•
"That the enactments of the Levitical law are entirely mis-
interpreted when applied in condemnation of marriage with
a deceased's wife's sister was the decided judgment of Mr.
Wesley,' the founder of our Societies ; and I believe that
similar views have since been entertained by Many of those
among us who have been led by circumstances carefully to
examine the matter, and whose competency to judge of such a
question has given great weight to their conclusion."—Rev.
Dr. Bunting,
" He had given his best attention to the arguments adduced
to show that there was a divine prohibition against these
marriages, but he was satisfied in his own mind that no such
prohibition existed. . . . Then came the question as to
the effects of this measure upon society, and he thought that
the great preponderance cf arguments, and facts upon which
arguments were grounded, were in favour of the alteration of
this law."—Speech of Sir George Grey.
"He was sineerely favourable to the object of the Marriages
Bill."—Speech of the Earl of Ellenborough.
" I shall endeavour to show that the marriages it is sought
to legalize are not forbidden by the Word of God ; that they
are not contrary to the law of nature ; and that they are not
inconsistent with the interests of society. I am happy to be
able to inform the house that Lord Denman is desirous of
supporting this Bill."—Speech of Earl St. Germans.
"1 helieve all restrictions upon the nuptial union, unless
founded upon the law of nature, or the express authority of
Scripture, unwise and unjust; in neither of which sources
have I found this interdict of marriage with the sister of a
deceased wife."—John Quincy Adams, late President of the
United States.
" Everything that I have read upon this subject, for the last
20 years, has satisfied me that the objection is utterly un-
scriptural and unfounded."—Justice Story, Massa husetts.
"As far as I can judge, I do not believe one syllable of the
unlawfulness of this marriage under the Christian dispensa-
tion." Chancellor Kent, New York.
" There is no law forbidding such marriages in the state of
Massachusetts ; and, other things being equal, they are re-
garded with favour. I have never heard of any disadvantages
attending, or supposed to attend them ; and I make this re-
mark in reference to apprehepsions which, as I perceive from
the public discussions, prevail in England."—Hon. Edward
Everett, late American Ambassador to Great Britain.
" Such marriages, in Brazil, are as frequent as they can be.
They inspire no repugnance, but, on the contrary, are eon_
sidered extremely advantageous where there are children of
the former marriage ; for it is always to be presumed that the
aunt, who already knows the children of her brother-in-law,
and is connected by the ties of relationship, will prove a better
mother to them than a stepmother; who is an entire stranger
to them can possibly be."—His Excellency the Brazilian Am-
bassador,
" I have perused, with much pleasure, your letters on the.
marriage of a man with the sister of a deceased wife, which
not only confirm me in the opinion which I had long enter-
tained, but must, methinks, satisfy every candid mind, that
there is not even a pretence for the assertion that such a con-
nexion is prohibited by the law of God."—Judge Livingston,
United States.
" There was no prohibition of the wife's sister, except
during the lifetime of the wife."—Rev. Professor Robinson,
New York, Author of " Researches in Palestine," &c.
" From the fact that the prohibition of marriage with the
sister of a wife is restricted to the lifetime of the wife, it is
evident that under this prohibition is not comprehendedmar-
riage with the sister of a deceased wife, the limitation, in
her lifetime,' leaving the marriage free after her death."—
Cardinal Cajetan.

-"
Moses, in Leviticus, prohibited certain marriages and per-
mitted others in the same degree. For he prohibited marriage
with the wife of a brother even after his death, and did not
prohibit marriage with the sister of a wife, unless in her life-
time ; and, consequently did not prohibit it with a sister of a
deceased wife."—Cardinal Bellarmine.
"Da you construe that passage in Leviticus (xviii., IS) as
prohibiting marriage with a deceased wife,s sister,
as saying that a man should not take two wives together, •
or mereaiy-
the same time being so related ?"—', Certainly.
ftbiltverse
s er should
appears to have the latter meaning, that two 01
of the same
not be living together in the same house ca wives'
person." . . . "Is such a marriage held by your Church as