beforehand whose judgment should preponderate, and whose will should stand, there might be collisions, which might painfully interrupt domestic harmony. But God, having required unqualified submission on the part of the wife, has cut off all occasion for dis- cord ; I may almost say, all possibility of it, where the wife understands her duty, and is ready to perform it. Of course, a modest statement, both of her sen- timents and wishes, may be given : but where her husband cannot by these means be persuaded, she has no alternative left : obedience is the course which God has ordained for her ; and she should pay it cheerfully, "as unto the Lord."
If this appear, as I fear it will, "an hard saying," I am happy to say, that that impression will soon be removed, by stating, in the next place, the duties of the husband. " Husbands, love your wives." And what difficulty is there in obeying the commands of love, or in submitting to its dictates ?
But here we observe, in relation to him, the coun- terpart of the comparison which has been before made in relation to the wife. Is the wife to submit to her husband as unreservedly as the Church submits to Christ ? Know ye, that the husband is to love his wife as truly and tenderly, yea, and, as far as it is possible, to the very same extent too, " as Christ has loved the Church." Let us contemplate this a little ; and we shall subscribe heartily to all that has been before spoken. Consider how the Lord Jesus Christ has loved the Church. She was altogether alienated from him, and incapable of adding to his happiness ; yet did he disrobe himself of all the glory and bless- edness of heaven, yea, and assume our nature, and " bear our sins in his own body on the tree," on pur- pose to bring his Church into a full and everlasting participation of his kingdom and glory. And now that he has done this, he imposes no one command on her but what conduces to her happiness : and if in any thing he thwart her inclinations, he does it for her good ; consulting, in every thing, not his own sovereign will, but her present and eternal welfare.
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