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sive germanam, dum illa superstes; tam etsi fuerit repudiata. Nam de uxoris sorore jam demortuæ nunquam dubitarunt; cum verba legis de uxore sint, dum ipsa adhuc vivit."[1] But even this, on examination, will be found to be insufficient to support the Puritan's confident assertion noticed above.

The authority for the statement made in the quotation adduced by our brother, is the passage we have just cited. Now, if Selden had referred to Philo Judæus, or to the Mishna or Gemarra, as his authority for saying the Hebrews did not doubt the lawfulness of marrying a deceased wife's sister, it would have been better supported. His authority is either Salomon Jarchi ad Levit. 18: 18, and Maimonides, celebrated Jewish writers who lived in the twelfth century, many ages after the time of the Pharisees; or no particular authority.[2]

Philo Judæus, who was born about the commencement of the Christian era, does not assert the lawfulness of the marriage in question,

  1. De Jure Nat. lib. v. chap. 10. p. 545.
  2. Selden De Jure Nat. et Gen. lib. v. chap. 10.