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protection of society, and the care of the church. Every good citizen, every sincere christian, and every faithful minister of the gospel, must esteem it his duty, to prevent an ordinance, recommended by such high considerations, from being prostrated and defiled. - To prevent its pollution by prohibited cohabitation, is the object of this dissertation. But previous to an immediate inquiry upon that subject, it will be expedient to refer to the principles of affinity, and contemplate the evil of incest; to mark the distinctions of laws, and illustrate the manner in which moral precepts are introduced into the Mosaic code.

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SECTION II.

AFFINITY.

A RELATION is the respect or connection which two or more things have to each other. When the term is applied to kindred, it denotes the connection which subsists between persons, in consequence of their mutual respect to the same family. A DECREE in the relation of kinsmen, expresses the interval by which the proximity or remoteness of such a relation is ascertained. The degree is computed agreeably to the respective steps, by which a removal is made from a common ancestor, and is calculated conformably to what is called the lineal, or the collateral branches. There are two sources of kinship or relation. One is denominated consanguinity, the other affinity.

CONSANGUINITY refers to a relation in blood, or a relation produced by descent from the same progenitor. The lineal descent is that which subsists