taking the word in this sense here, and understanding the apostle to refer to marriage, quote this passage in proof that matrimony is a sacrament. The answer to this argument is obvious. In the first place, it is not marriage, but the union between Christ and his church, that Paul declares to be a μυστήριον, and the Vulgate a sacramentum. And in the second place, neither the Greek nor Latin term means @ sacrament in the Rom- ish sense of the word. The Vulgate translates 1 Tim. 3, 16, magnum est pietatis sacramentum, which no Romanist understands as teaching that the manifesta- tion of God in the flesh is a sacrament in the ecclesias- tical meaning of the term.
Υ. 33. The relation of this verse to what precedes, as indicated by πλήν, admits of two explanations. That particle is used at the beginning of a clause, after an interruption, to introduce the resumption of the main subject. It may be so here. The principal object of the whole paragraph from vy. 21, is to unfold the true nature of the conjugal relation and its duties. With this was connected an exposition of the analogous relation between Christ and the church. This latter point in verses 30. 31, is the only one brought into view. Here the apostle reverts to the main subject. But, to resume my subject, let every one of you im par- ticular so love his wife even as himself. This explana- tion is the one commonly adopted. Πλήν, however, may mean, nevertheless, as it is rendered in our ver- sion, and this verse be connected with the 82d. ‘The relation between Christ and the church is a great