In reference to which fact, the lawgiver having determined to put an end to all illegal and illegitimate associations and unions, begins his denunciations in the following manner: "Man shall not come near to any one who is akin to his own flesh, to uncover his nakedness: I am the Lord." Leviticus xviii. 6. How could any one more forcibly exhort man to despise the flesh and what is akin to the flesh than in this way?

And indeed he does not only exhort us to abandon such things, but he shows positively that he who is really a man will never Leviticus xviii. 6. come of his own accord to those pleasures which are dear to and connected with the body, but will always be meditating to alienate himself from them entirely.