[5.] We have one Lord to whom we must be accountable : Job xxxi. 14, ' What then shall I do when God riseth up ? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him ? ' There is a religious account besides a natural. Though some are set higher than others, yet God is infinitely high above them all : Eccles. v. 8, ' For he that is higher than the highest, regardeth ; and there be higher than they.' Now those that know this will tremble to do wrong to the least.
Use 1. To show how much the christian religion befriendeth human societies ; for we owe duties one to another in our several stations. It is neither injurious to princes nor subjects, but it commandeth every one to do good according to his calling.
2, Where the fear of God is rooted in the heart of any, it will make him tender and careful of his duty to man, and from a right principle and motive, and in a right manner, and to a right end.
SERMON XXVIL
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph. v. 22.
There is a general complaint of people's faultiness in their relation ; they have been so long untrue to God, that now they are grown unfaith- ful to one another. It concerneth us to stop this growing mischief Ministers should not be accessory to this common depravation of manners by their silence. Let us warn them of their duty, whatever cometh of it; and therefore, having continued my discourse on the several verses of this chapter hitherto, I would not dare to break it off here. The apostle having laid down general duties which belong to all christians, he cometh to particular precepts that concern the well ordering of domestical society. Every complete family consists of three pair of relations — husband, wife ; parents, children ; masters and ser-
VeK. 21.] SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. 437
vants. The first relation, between husband and wife, is the chiefest, which is the foundation of the rest ; therefore he beginneth with them. And first with the duty of the wife, because it is more easy to perform the duty of love than subjection. To love is sweet, but to obey tedious. Besides, by the obedience of the wife the husband is the sooner induced to love her. The submission of the inferior is a strong motive to the superior to do his part. Therefore he begins with the wife, and saith, 'Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands, as unto the Lord.' In the words there are —
1. The duty of the wife, ' Wives, submit yourselves.'
2. The persons to whom it is to be performed, ' To your owa, husbands.'
3. The manner how, ' As unto the Lord.'
1. For the duty, ' Submit yourselves.' Subjection in the general on God's part noteth the subordination of one creature to another accord- ing to his wise disposal, as the imperfect to the more perfect, and this for the good of both ; for it is so ordered, that in all relations comfort and duty shall go togetlier. On our part it is a ready inclination to obey this order set by God ; for every creature must know his place, and be content with the order wherein God hath set him. According to this order, submission is required of the wife towards her husband ; for though she is not to be subject as children to their parents, much, less as servants to thfeir masters ; no, this subjection is more free and ingenuous ; for there is a greater co-ordination between husband and wife than other relations. There is a av^vjla, they draw as fellows in the same yoke ; yet subject she must be ; for there can be no order kept in the family unless all the rest be subject to the father of the family. Therefore this authority which the husband hath over the wife is such as is necessary to the order of the family, and the safe and prudent management of affairs herein, and also their comfortable cohabitation with each other; and so this subjection is no more than is convenient, equitable, and just.
2. The persons, ' To your own husbands.' This is as often repeated as the precept is repeated, and is mentioned partly to note loyalty and chastity. She is to submit, not to the adulterer, but such as they are bound to by their own choice and conjugal covenant. And partly to prevent tyranny. She is to be subject to her own husband, not to the strange woman introduced into the family to usurp the rights of marriage.
3. The manner how it is to be done, ' As unto the Lord.' By the Lord is meant Christ; and the particle as is a note of similitude, not of equality ; for the husband's authority is not equal with that ol Christ. This clause importeth many things.
[1.] The regulation of the duty ; it must be done willingly and sin- cerely, resembling that submission which is performed to Christ, whose image, in his government over the church, the Imsband beareth in his superiority over the wife. God hath power to dispose of his own crea- tures as he pleaseth, and as he is obeyed by the servant in the person of his master : Eph. vi. 5, ' Be obedient to your masters as unto Christ ; * and again, ver. 7, ' Doing service to the Lord ' ; so he is obeyed by the "wife in the person of the husband, who therein is his image : 1 Cor.