The widow of a deceased husband who had left no issue was permitted to marry his brother; it was even made a duty. Therefore, by parity of reason, there could be no objection, on the account of consanguinity, for the husband of a deceased wife to marry her sister. It is clear then that the person whom this clause of the law forbids to marry, is some person other than a deceased wife’s sister. We propose for consideration, as nearly literal as may be, to express the idea conveyed—_Thou shalt not take one wife to another, to be enemies, or to be exiles, the shame of thy bed-chamber through life_. The doctrine it inculcates is, if a man has two wives, he must either live in the midst of their rivalry and enmity, or exile one or both; either of which is disgrace. The reading may be varied; but let the Hebrew scholar compare the first three words of the original with _Exod._ xxvi. 3, where they twice occur, and also with the 6th and 17th verses of the same chapter, in each of which they are also found. Let him notice that, in the passage before us, in the word translated _sister_, the _vav_, under _holem_, is omitted; whereas such is not the case in the preceding instances, where the word is correctly translated to express a term of consanguinity; and we think he will abandon the idea that אֲחֹתָהּ _ahotha_, in the passage before us, means _sister_; and if not, the sentence stands a clear, indisputable, and general condemnation of polygamy. * * * * * Can Dr. Channing’s disciples point out to us a law _allowing_ polygamy in as direct terms as the following would have done, substituting the word _wives_ for _slaves_? “Thy _wives_ which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you: of them shall ye buy _wives_.” “Moreover, of the children of the strangers that sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy _wives_”—“and of their families that are with you, which they beget in your land, and they shall be your _wives_.” “And ye shall take them as _wives_ for your children after you, and they shall have them for _wives_”—“they shall be your _wives_ for ever.” Compare _Lev._ xxv. 44, 46. Until they can do so, until they shall do so, we shall urge their not doing it as one reason why the Scripture “cannot be used to stock our houses with _wives_ as well as with slaves.” ------------------ LESSON X. Dr. Channing says, page 101, vol. ii.—