> a priest of the church of England, after the death of his first wife, to take a second

You reasoning is perfectly correct and logical, but when ideology or at least customs speak, what logic can win? :) It is quite possible, though, that the good vicar holds different views for priests and laymen. I can say that Greek Orthodox Church rules that a priest may be married only once in life, if he is a widower, then there is nothing for it. Laymen may remarry, though there was an idea formerly, that three times only. Catholics remarry as they please, I believe (remember Chaucer's Wife of Bath, who buried five husbands?), but their priests do not marry at all. Church of England isn't very uniform in doctrine (one can be High Church, someone else can be Low Church), so it is quite possible that different factions can be of different opinions.