I am hisb." Then shall you have the most delightful fellow- ship with himc: you shall have such manifestations of his regard, as the world can neither know nor receive d : and, when all earthly connexions shall cease, your happiness shall be consummated in the everlasting fruition of his lovee.]
b Cant. ii. 16. c 1 John i. 3.
d John xiv. 21, 22. ib. ver. 17. e 1 Thess. iv. 17.
Eph. v. 32. This is a great mystery : but I speak concerning
Christ and the Church.
CHRISTIANITY is a mystery altogether— a great mystery : as it is written, " Great is the mystery of godliness : God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory3." Every part of it is mysterious : its plan, as concerted between the Father and the Sonb ; its propagation, so as to incorporate in one body the whole world both of Jews and Gentiles0 ; the representations given of it in emblematic types from the foundation of the world. Amongst these, the marriage of our first parents is worthy of particular attention. It is that to which the Apostle especially refers in the passage before us. The very words spoken by Adam on that occasion are quoted by himd. They appear, indeed, at first sight, to be spoken only in reference to mar- riage generally : but he declares, and pronounces it " a great mystery," that " he spake concerning Christ and the Church."
Here it is evident that there was one thing spoken, and another intended ; and, consequently, if we would fully enter into the Apostle's mind, we must consider, I. The subject ostensibly proposed —
He is speaking of the duties which men owe to each other, in the relation of husband and wife,
a 1 Tim. hi. 16. b Col. ii. 2. c Rom. xi. 25. Eph. i. 9, 10. i Gen. ii. 23, 24. with ver. 30, 31.