[659] See the act of 1701: R. I. Col. Rec., III, 435, 436. Compare Rider's Laws and Acts (1705), 50; and his reprint of Charter and Laws (1719), 12, 13.
[660] By 32 H. VIII., cap. 38: Statutes at Large (London, 1763), II, 298; Sewall's Letter-Book, in 6 Mass. Hist. Coll., I, 351-53, 369, 370.
[661] "The greatest good the Land got by this Match, was a general leave to marry Cousin Germans, formerly prohibited by the Crown, and hereafter permitted by the Co[=m]on Law. A door of lawfull liberty, left open by God in Scripture; shut by the Pope for his privat profit; opend again by the King, first, for his own admittance ... and then for the service of such Subjects as would follow him."—Fuller, English Worthies (London, 1840), II, 352; Sewall's Letter-Book, in 6 Mass. Hist. Coll., I, 369. Compare his letter of Feb., 1603/4, in op. cit., 290-93.
[662] "They that will, from this Example, be fond of Marrying Cousin-Germans, Let 'em!"—Ibid., II, 19.
[663] Ibid.; cf. ibid., I, 290-93, where Sewall opposes the marriage of his cousin John Sewall with the widow of the latter's cousin german; also ibid., I, 17; and his Diary, in 5 Mass. Hist. Coll., V, 96, 424, for further illustrations.
[664] The Mosaic code does not clearly prohibit marriage with a deceased wife's sister: Lev., chaps. 18, 20; Deut., chaps. 23, 27. Cf. Mielziner, Jewish Law of Marriage and Divorce, 31-40; and chap. xi, sec. ii, b.
[665] Whitmore, Col. Laws of Mass. (1672-86), 102; Mass. Col. Rec., IV, Part II, 454.
[666] They published the decision in a printed tract of eight pages: The Answer of Several Ministers to that Case of Conscience whether it is Lawful for a man to Marry his Wife's own sister: Goddard, in Mem. Hist. Bost., II, 415 n. 2.
[667] "Friday, June 14. The Bill against Incest was passed with the Deputies, four and twenty Nos, and seven and twenty Yeas. The Ministers gave in their Arguments yesterday in Writing; else it had hardly gon, because several have married their wives sisters, and the Deputies thought it hard to part them. 'Twas concluded on the other hand, that not to part them, were to make the Law abortive, by begetting in people a conceipt that such Marriages were not against the Law of God."—Sewall, Diary, in 5 Mass. Hist. Coll., V, 407; cf. McKenzie, in Mem. Hist. Bost., II, 197.
[668] But, on the other hand, marriage with a husband's brother or nephew is not expressly prohibited; cf. 5 Mass. Hist. Coll., V, 407, note.