Read 2 Cor. 6:14: 1 Cor. 7:39. Here we see that the Word of God forbids holy people to marry sinners. While the first of these scriptures prohibits yoking up with unbelievers in sect, or other organizations of men, it none the less forbids joining in marriage with unbelievers. We charge upon all children of God to observe these scriptures. By presuming to set aside the counsel of God in this matter, many have lost their salvation, and pierced themselves with many sorrows. Let not the father of lies tell you that you can find a happy life outside the Word of God, especially when you know what the Word teaches. The New Testament does not directly re-enact the strict laws in Leviticus concerning the marriage of relatives. And yet it seems to be taken for granted that enlightened common sense, nature, and the Spirit of God forbid the union of near kin. Hence Paul denounces the man who had taken his father’s wife, as a fornicator of the worst kind.
The law, in matters of food, marriage, and other things that affect human health and happiness, is based on good natural principles. And though that code is abolished, the principles remain unchanged. The Jew was forbidden the use of pork by a rigorous law. But Christians should, in general, abstain from its use, on intelligent health principles. So also the marriage of kindred, then prohibited by the Mosaic law, is now forbidden by the civil law, and the knowledge of the fact that blood relatives are more apt to be of the same temperaments, and the marriage of such are often attended with sad results. But we hasten on to the subject of...