CHAP. III. OF MARRIAGE, AND THE RECIPROCAL DUTIES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES. SECT. 1. Marriage is an institution of the great Creator.-2. Ordinances relating to marriage under the Old and New Testament.-3. Duties incumbent both on husbands and wives.-4. On husbands to be dutiful and affectionate.-5. On wives not to assume power.-6. To be obedient to their husbands, and adorned with modesty and meekness.-7. The amiable character of a virtuous and industrious wife. SECT. 1. Marriage is an institution of the great Creator. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: She shall be called W oman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. And unto the woman he said, Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over theed. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; forbidding to marry. Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will § 1. Gen. ii. 7. d Gen. iii. 16. Gen. ii. 18. Gen. ii. 21-24. judge'. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. SECT. 2. Ordinances relating to marriage under the If a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her; he shall surely endow her to be his wife. When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her; then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife, her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord". The Pharisees came unto Jesus, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female? For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and whosoever marrieth her which is put away, doth commit adultery. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery d* SECT. 3. Duties incumbent both on husbands and wives. To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence; and likewise the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud you not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. And unto the married I command, yet not I but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband. But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband; and let not the husband put away his wife. If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him: for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children unclean, but now are they holy. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? For the woman which hath an husband, is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress ; but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another mand. SECT. 4.-On husbands to be dutiful and affectionate. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. So ought men to love their wives, even as their own bodies; he that loveth his wife, loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. She is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? and wherefore one? that he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe, and be thou ravished always with her love. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, all the days of the life of thy vanity; for that is thy portion under the sun. Ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered". Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. Let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband. SECT. 5.-On wives not to assume power. I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the bead of Christ is God. For a man is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man'. Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of Godc. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silenced. Let Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived; but the woman being deceived, was in the transgression. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband; but she that maketh ashamed is rottenness in his bones; and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping". It is better to dwell in a corner of the house-top, than with a brawling woman in a wide house'. Better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman. SECT. 6. To be obedient to their husbands, and adorned with modesty and meekness. Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine; that the aged women be in behaviour as becometh holiness; that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands; that the word of God be not blasphemed. A bishop must be the husband of one |