“Since this first suggested itself to us, we have learnt (see Tract
x. p. 21, of the Marriage Law Association) that the _Mishna_,
treating of the civil law of the Jews as to marrying the deceased
brother’s wife, says that he may not marry her _if she is his own
wife’s sister_, and, moreover, that the prohibition holds good
_after_ the wife’s death. It is possible that this latter part of
the tradition may be akin to what our Lord called (S. Mark vii. 9)
‘your own tradition,’ and so may have tended to ‘frustrate the
commandment of God,’ in Lev. xviii. 18, by perplexing the
interpretation of the words, ‘in her life-time.”
I may add, however, as shewing my argument to be an independent witness
to the same sense and application of Leviticus xviii. 18, that I had no
knowledge of either of these statements when I sketched out the argument
of the preceding letter.