Eph. v. 22 5-8. Hence the exhortation of the Apostle, "Wives, sub- Col. iii. 18. mit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit 25. in the LORD, and as unto the LORD. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as CHRIST is head of the Church: and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore, as the Church is subject unto CHRIST, So let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." Husbands are called to love their wives, after the example of CHRIST, who loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word. Children are commanded to obey their parents "in the LORD;" and servants to fulfil their Eph. vi. 2. duties "as unto CHRIST," with good will doing service, as to the LORD, and not to men; knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the LORD, whether he be bond or free. That there is a distinction, however, between the ordinance of the family and that of the Church, may be seen in the contradiction which may exist in their respective claims. Those of natural relationship may be so opposed to CHRIST and His Church, that men may be called, as in the days of our LORD, to forsake father and mother, wife and children, bre- S. Luke xiv. thren and sisters, if they would abide faithful to CHRIST. And the day is coming, when in many D 26. Rom. xii. instances there will be an eternal separation between the members of families-from the bed, from the house, and from the field, some will be taken and others left,-those who are one in the LORD will be translated, those who are not one in Him will be left behind! The unleavened bread also, of which alone they were to partake, shows that the Church, being delivered from her spiritual captivity, and carnal state, shall be an unleavened body, free from all admixture of evil,—not of the world, even as CHRIST was not of it, and entirely devoted to GOD. "He gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Hence the Apostolic exhortation, “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of GOD, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." As no leaven was perImitted to remain in the houses of the Israelites during the feast of the Passover, so the Church of CHRIST must be throughly cleansed from all sin 1 Cor. v. 7,8. and wickedness. "Know ye not," saith the Apostle, "that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even 1, 2. CHRIST Our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." The "bitter herbs," on which the Israelites fed when they partook of the Paschal Lamb, point, not only, to that contrition for sin, and affliction of soul, occasioned by the contemplation of the crucifixion of CHRIST, but to that confession of the Church of CHRIST, which shall be made, when His baptized people shall be led to see, how grievously they have declined from the mind and ways of GOD. As the prophetic history noticed in connexion with the Passover, is premonitory of a condition of apostacy and failure from grace, so the "bitter herbs" partaken of at the Passover, as clearly foreshow a day of bitter sorrow and repentance for sin, when the Church, through the tender mercy of God, shall be absolved from her offences; when returning to her first love, and being no longer a divided, but an united people, and apprehending the purpose of GoD in CHRIST JESUs, she shall look upon Him whom she Zech. xii. has pierced, and mourn for Him, as one that mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. And bearing a faithful witness unto CHRIST, and 10. condemning the world by her righteousness, she shall have sympathy with Him in His sorrows, and know the fellowship of His sufferings. Although the Israelites had long sojourned in Egypt, their bondage was not severely felt till the time of the end; so now, in these last days, the Church is made to feel her captivity, and to cry unto God for His help and mercy. That supremacy in spiritual things which the civil power obtained over the visible Church at an early period of her history, has been used, in the Providence of GOD, (in the absence of those judges and counsellors which He gave to rule and guide His whole Church, till He come,) as a means of defence and blessing, even as the power of Egypt was used of GOD for the good of His people. It is, therefore, the bounden duty of every soul to be subject to that power; and though that supremacy which GOD has permitted may have served His purpose, and the time be near when He shall restore His own ordinance of rule which has so long fallen into abeyance, and which the Imperial authority was an attempt to supply, yet, must men be in obedience to the powers that be, in things ecclesiastical as well as civil, and "they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." The impatience of many, and their lack of faith in the purpose of serve with rigour, and cast out their viii. 23. |