wife, however mean her born condition, becomes equal in rank to her husband, even to be, by marriage, the partner of a throne; the poor mortal, dying, church shall sit upon Christ's throne, and be as He is, a sovereign and a priest. The wife, whatever may be the amount of her debts, is not answerable, but the husband must defray them all; in like manner the church, who was ruined, and had nothing wherewith to pay, has had every obligation discharged by the wealth

and love of the Lord Jesus.

In

The line, then, of the husband's duty toward his wife, is according to that which the Lord pursues towards his Church. the parallel passage in his epistle to the Colossians, the apostle says, "Husbands

love your wives and be not bitter against them." Although he told the wives to “submit," he does not order the husband to "rule." Directions are seldom given to urge us to do that which we are inclined to do, and all mankind have "the love of sway." Whenever a direction is given for any duty, we may rest assured that it is a warning to

us that we are naturally disposed to violate it. As, therefore, it is natural for a wife to dislike to submit to her husband, so is it natural for a husband's love to diminish towards his wife. The definition of what God means by love is given in the epistle, addressed to the Corinthians, the parts of which that are principally applicable to the present case, are that it "suffereth long, and is kind—is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil-beareth all things-hopeth all things-endureth all things." Oh how genuine affection frames excuses for its object! How it puts the most favourable construction upon actions! How reluctant it is to impute unworthy motives! Yet the injunction of the apostle implies that husbands are tempted even to be "bitter." But what can they have to bear from their wives in comparison to what Christ has to bear from them; if Christ were not to "suffer long and be kind," what must become of all husbands, from the days of Adam down to the day of judgment? If Christ were "easily provoked," where would any one be at the present moment? Where could love

for their wives be manifested in these particulars, if their lives were one unceasing round. of tenderness and affection? How would this earth prove itself the universal abode of sin, and misery, and evil, if in any one relationship of life, nothing were to arise to disturb its joys? Wherein could they testify love, if they found nothing to cross their wills? And above all, where could the long-suffering of Christ towards His church be manifested by husbands, if they met with nothing to call it forth?

Observe how Christ's labour for His church is insisted on: His giving himself for it; His sanctifying it; His cleansing it; His washing it; His teaching it by His word; all this that it may be glorious, without spot, or blemish, or any such thing. Is not this too to instruct husbands how they should labour to preserve the spirits of their wives unruffled? How they should teach them, and keep them pure in doctrine, and from all mental, as well as personal, defilement? Surely, that does not deserve the name of love which is only adapted to the few moments of sunshine that brighten

the path of the most highly favoured, and cannot abide the clouds, and perhaps the storms, of the realities of human life. For although wedded love is not heaven, it is the nearest state to it which this present dispensation can produce; and the more Christ is seen in it, and the more Christ's love and long-suffering of his church is practised and kept constantly in view, the more like heaven will it become.

Whatever hypocrites austerely talk
Of purity, and place, and innocence,
Defaming as impure what God declares
Pure; and commands to some, leaves free to all.
Our Maker bids increase; who bids abstain,
But our destroyer, foe to God and man?
Hail wedded love! mysterious law, true source
Of human offspring, sole propriety

In Paradise! of all things common else.
By thee adulterous lust was driven from men
Among the bestial herds to range; by thee,
Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure,
Relations dear, and all the charities

Of father, son, and brother, first were known.
Far be it that I should write thee sin or blame.
Or think thee unbefitting holiest place;

Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets,

Whose bed is undefiled, and chaste, pronounced,

Present or past; as saints and patriarchs used.
Here Love his golden shafts employs, here lights
His constant lanıp; and waves his purple wings;
Reigns here and revels. Milton, book iv. 744.

Notwithstanding the variety and beauty of the language and imagery which has been employed by the greatest poets, and by wrìters of the most refined affections in every age and clime, to celebrate the power of love, there is nothing more remarkable than to observe that with the exception of Milton, their labours have been employed to depict its effects, whether in its ennobling or brutifying results, without ever attempting to describe or to define in what true love really consists: so that while it is a subject which has furnished materials to some for the expression of more or less disguised sensuality, or to others for the most violent abandonment of reason, it is supposed, and justly supposed, by such as contemplate it only through such distorted media, to be too mysterious, or too dangerous for calm meditation. The Christian alone knows love to be the desire of contributing to the happiness, in the intimate society of