Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	act_n	parliament_n	power_n	1,056	5	5.3734	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63901	An argument in defence of the marriage of an uncle with the daughter of his half-brother by the father's side by John Turner ...	Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.	1686 (1686)	Wing T3301; ESTC R6144	34,383	76

nearness of Kin where there is not a parity of Prohibition Secondly I say where there is not a parity of Reason though there be a parity of degree that is the same distance from a common Parent by Consanguinity or Affinity of the Vncle and the Aunt and of the Nephew and Niece yet notwithstanding the Case is not the same but the Vncle and Niece though not by disparity of Affinity or Blood yet by a manifest disparity of Reason are really a degree lower then the Aunt and the Nephew for there can be no dispatity without a gradation and in every comparison there must be a degree Thirdly That Marriage cannot be Divorced by virtue of any Law or by virtue of any pretended Consequence or Deduction from it which is neither expresly forbidden in it self nor stands in the same rational parity with that which is but is a degree lower tho not in Affinity or Consanguinity yet in the nature in the reason of the thing in the equity of the Case and in the construction of Law Fourthly The Jewish Law was so tender of the Matrimonial Band or of that mutual Vow of Cohabitation and reciprocal enjoyment which a Man and Woman had entred into with each other that it never separated any Marriage by a Divorce where the Man and Woman were willing to live together if the Man hated his Wife or otherwise had any just cause of Impeachment or Accusation against her he might write her a Bill of Divorce and put her away as he pleased and as the first of these proceeded out of a wise and just regard to the sacred and inviolable obligation of the Matrimonial Contract so the last was a Relique of that absolute and arbitrary power which the Husband had over his Wife to dispose of her and do with her as he thought fit by the Antient Laws and Usages of the East and the last of these duly reflected upon might serve for a lesson of obedience to the Women towards their Husbands upon whose discretion they did so entirely depend and at whose disposal they were in so very absolute and uncontroulable a manner the first might read a Lecture of Constancy to the Men since it appeared by it how exceeding tender God Almighty was of dissolving the unity betwixt Man and Wife by his not having made any provision without the consent or desire of at least one of the parties for any separation whilst they lived between them Wherefore to bring the matter home to the instance before us in case of an Incestuous Marriage the Law not allowing any violent separation unless it were by Death it was necessary either that the parties so offending should yet notwithstanding be suffered to Cohabit together or that they should be parted by the infliction of a Capital Sentence on both sides since they had both of them equally offended The Law knew no other punishment for Illegitimate Marriages but Death and therefore the Marriage which was not Capital was no offence at all against it and had no punishment at all assign'd but was as Legitimate to all intents and purposes as any other Marriage in the World could be If then this Marriage of the Vncle to his Niece be so far from being expresly punisht by the Law of Moses that it is not any where so much as mentioned among the Levitical Restraints and Prohibitions if it be the hardest Case in Nature to put a Man and Woman to death son a Consequence a real or a pretended Parity of Reason which either he or she or both of them might very well not foresee or understand and if at last there be no Consequence no Parity in the Case then it follows plainly that the Marriage of the Vncle to the Niece is so far legitimate that it was not at all punishable by the Levitical Law and that it cannot be dissolved by virtue of any Act of Parliament now extant among us or by any other Power that will proceed either in Punishment or Prohibition upon the Levitical Measures Fifthly As there was no legal violent Separation among the Jews but by Death so the Reason why Death was inflicted seems to be to prevent any Issue from such Incestuous Conjunctions or in the Language of the Law it self that they might die childless the Woman for endeavouring to bear and the Man to beget at once a spurious and incestuous Offspring For a Bastard as it is every where a Name full of reproach so among the Jews he that was descended of an unlawful Bed was looked upon as an accursed abominable thing and branded with still more peculiar and particular Marks of Ignominy and Detestation and the Descendants from him as far as to the Tenth Generation were not to enter into the Congregation of the Lord Deut. 23. 2. and this though it should happen as it did for the most part to be the Effect of no more than simple Fornication And how much more detestable must such a Bastard needs be who was the Offspring of Incest and of Whoredom for such sort of Marriages were esteemed no better in a most execrable Conjunction and Combination together But now it is certainly a very hard Case to make any Man a Bastard by Parity of Reason because his Father and Mother hapned to do something which it was impossible for him to hinder which is like another thing which is forbidden much less is there any Bastardy in such a Case where the Parity of Reason do's not hold and where ever the Offspring is not spurious the Marriage is legitimate For a legitimate Son or Daughter cannot possibly be descended but of legitimate Parents Sixthly Since all Mankind are descended of one common Parent the propinquity of Blood or Kindred which is a Bar to Marriage must of necessity stop somewhere or else there can be no such thing as Marriage in the World And St. Austin thinks it very requisite that before the Names of Kindred are worn out which do not extend very far there should be a return back again to the same Family by two of the Relations Marrying one another For so he saith Fuit autem antiquis S. Aug. de C. D. l. 15. c. 16. patribus religiosae curae nè ipsa propinquitas se paulatim propaginum ordinibus dirimens longius abiret propinquitas esse desisteret eam nondum longè positam rursus matrimonii vinculo colligare quodammodo revocare fugientem And not only by the Law of Moses but by the Theodosian Law concerning Cousin-Germans the next Degree to that which was Capital was no Crime at all for it does not appear that he forbad Second Cousins to Marry though I believe the most ancient Prohibition or at least the most ancient Practice of abstaining to have extended so far both among Jews and Romans and among the Jews where there was no medium in these Cases betwixt Impunity and Death it is no wonder to find two Cases that have a Parity of Degree