beloved! perhaps, (I do not say it with any unkind feeling,) perhaps some of you are ready to smile at this; I confess, that to me these appear to be very grave things, I am sure they involve great consequences, and I am sure the abuse of them brings with it great evil. These things are " pleasing to God;” they form part of that submission, which is no more the duty of the Church to Christ, than it is the duty of the Christian wife to her husband.

But, beloved, it is the submission (and that gives a sweetness to it all,)-the submission of love. Ah! it is not the mere submission of the weaker vessel, that submits because of its weakness. It is not the mere submission of necessity. I must submit.' It is not the mere submission of one that says, 'If I do not submit, it will expose me to my children, and to my servants, and to those around me. The Gospel tramples on such low motives as these. It is not mere submission to a command, because it is a command; but it is the submission of the soul to that command, drawn out by the love of Christ constraining, when that precept is written out in the blood of the covenant, and in the hearts of His children. Ah! these are holy motives: when a man feels the love of Christ constraining him to act on the same principle-when a Christian woman feels her soul constrained to act on the same principle, as the Church is influenced by; in subjection to Christ, to be subject to her husband. When she feels the solemn obligation to give a fair representation of what that subjection is, to an ungodly world. Ah! beloved, these are high and holy principles. When I feel this- I would act as for Thee: then I would obey as for Thee, then I would live as for Thee, and show all loving submission, and all loving patience, and all loving self-denial, and all loving obedience as for Thee.' Is it not a holy Gospel? Ah! if that principle did but pervade all Christian families-(it is commanded so to pervade them)-would it not be that it would approve itself to be of God, because it leads to God.

III. Now observe the extent and the limit of this subjection.

66

The extent is very wide; "in every thing." Observe in the twenty-fourth verse, Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." Not in some things, but, in all things; " in every thing." Some of you may say, beloved sisters in Jesus,' In things pleasant I find it not dif

ficult.' Yes, but in things painful. Some of you may say, 'In great things I would yield.' Yes, but subjection in little things; in little things; in “ every thing." We do not want a Jesuit to explain away the precept. You may say, 'When we are alone together, I dare not refuse; but suppose it is in public, then my will goes another way.' In public you are commanded to submit. 'Yes,' but you may say, 'in things that relate to himself of course I submit; but in things that relate to myself, of course I may act for myself.' For yourself? "In every thing," even as it regards yourselves. My dear hearers, these are solemn portions of God's Word. I do not know whether you find it not so easy to listen to it, as to a sermon on justification; I do not find it so easy to preach upon it, as to preach on justification. But that does not prove it to be the less needful, but rather the more.

My dear hearers, these things are comparatively easy to those, with whom heart is united to heart; where one object and one motive are common to both; where both are walking in the true fear of God in Christ with each other, aiming to promote the life of God in the soul of each other. Here it seems comparatively easy; there is little difficulty in it for you. But some of you are married to those that " obey not the Word;" then you have your difficulties. And what difficulties are these! My dear hearers, perhaps ye were converted after your marriage, and your husband yet remains, "obeying not the Word" of God. Perhaps, in some evil moment, by the power of Satan or the temptations of the flesh, through false conclusions, by a perverted judgment, you were led to marry those that "obey not the Word." How great are your difficulties! how vast and unutterable are your difficulties! Yet notwithstanding that, whatever has led you into that position, you are in that position, and now hear what the Lord says to you. Turn to the third chapter of the first epistle of Peter; there you shall find the same note. 66 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands." Observe, it supposes that some of them did not obey the Word: " that if any obey not the Word, they also may, without the Word, be won by the conversation of the wives." What subjection is it! Look into the second verse: "while they behold your chaste conversation, coupled with fear." tion! Remark, in the third verse, what holy discipline.

Oh! what subjec

"Whose

adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and

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of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." What! this when the husband is ungodly? Why, he will naturally be pleased with plaiting the hair, and golden ornaments, and the outward adornment of apparel, would he not?' Remark, it is for that cause the Holy Spirit addresses you, or leads Peter to address you by that Word. Will ye not rather please him by putting it on? See how your subjection is to show itself. Oh! let not these be your ornaments; let this be your plaiting the hair, let this be your golden ornament, "the hidden man of the heart, a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." We have lived long enough to know how sophistry can get rid of any passage; how cunning arguments can be brought forward on all quarters; but how the simple hearted child of God cannot acknowledge, that unnecessary expenditure, that costliness of dress and ornament are expressly forbidden to the child of God, is to me most marvellous. And if any days seem to require it, these days seem to require it; when the poor are starving; when many of the saints of God are in such distress, that when you give them sixpence, you ought to give them five shillings, and when you give them five shillings, you ought to give them a sovereign. Let not these be your adornments, let not these be your ornaments; but let this be your ornament, "the meek and quiet spirit, which is, in God's sight, of great price."

But I must not depart from my subject, which is the extent of the subjection alluded to. "In all things" to strive to please him; "in all things" to show kindness; "in all things" to be submissive. This is God's Word. I believe it to be Christianity, and the Gospel of Christ.

Yes, blessed be God,
Observe the twenty-

So far, and no far

go not beyond it. let no dread of

Yet there is a limit. Is there not a limit? there is a limit in the very text before us. second verse: 66 as unto the Lord;" no further. ther; not a step beyond this. Act up to it, but Let no fear of consequences, let no personal evil, what you to go one step beyond this. Can ye pray over it? Is it for the Lord's glory? Can ye expect ye any right to expect His blessing, if ye do it?

may be, lead

His blessing, have

My dear hearers,

there are many things-many things-in which the Christian wife feels difficulty. She does not approve of the thing; it is not according to her taste; her judgment does not commend it; if she were alone, she would not do it. But she is not alone. She does not see it forbidden in God's Word; her taste is opposed to it, her spirit is opposed to it, but she does not see a direct prohibition, on the part of God's Word. I would say, where it is so, it is a case that seems to me to be amongst that "everything," in which the Christian woman should yield up her own will, and even her own taste, to that of the husband. But if it is that, over which she cannot pray; if it is that, which the Word of God forbids; if it is that, which is not " unto the Lord," then do it not; you are commanded to do it not. Yet oh! with what submission ought that refusal to be tempered! There may be conscientiousness in your refusal; yes, but where is the meekness ? "Put on Christ," in your refusal; yes, and in the meekness of the refusal. Is your husband a Nabal,-a man that you find it hard to love? Remember, that "as unto the Lord," is your motto; and take it to the Lord, that He would influence you to love him. If he still be such a churl, that you cannot love him for his own sake, pray that you may love him for the Lord's sake. See, my dear hearers, and imitate Abigail; who, though she could not love her Nabal, yet defended him, and went out to do him good. Do you imitate her in that respect. Show all kindness and all tenderness "in the Lord," and in "everything."

Behold the subject. I have given the outline; may the Holy Ghost fill it up! Oh! happy would it be for you, if it were so filled up in your life and conduct! And if there are any husbands here, who may say, 'Yes, but this is not a subject for me' ah! there may be such a reaction in your wife, as may lead you to say, 'It was a sermon preached for my good, and I will bless God for it to all eternity.'

A few remarks I would make, by way of conclusion.

The vast importance of it I have already expressed. It is important, as it regards all the members of our families. What does the child say, when the mother exhorts the child to obey his father? The reaction of his mind is, 'you do not revere my father; your conduct shows it in everything you do.' Who can tell the influence it has on your children and on your servants, the holy influence it must

have on them? Who can tell its tendency to domestic happiness? Oh! those jarrings, those coldnesses, those little unkindnesses! You know what I mean; if you do not, God does. Oh! if this principle were acted out, and acted upon, and the sweet savour of the name of Christ was influencing Christian wives so to conduct themselves, what a blessed unfolding, what a blessed resemblance it would be of what that subjection is, that the Church exhibits to her Lord! What an influence it would have on the husband himself! If an ungodly husband may instrumentally be won by the "chaste conversation" of his wife; if that be the means whereby the Spirit of God does work, and has worked in hundreds of instances to that effect; what effect is it calculated to produce on the husband that fears God? It leads him upward, to more spirituality, to more singleness of heart, to more devotedness of life, to more conformity to the image of God in Jesus. How it may give such a savour to the whole of his family, that the saints of God visiting it may say, 'It does not seem like the same!" Neither is there want of blessing, beloved, to the Christian wife herself. Oh! how wondrously acting and reacting are the principles of the Gospel! This submission to her husband being an act of submission to her Lord, He owns it; and the recoil of it on your own soul, and the blessings of it, are unutterable.

But a few words here would I say to you that know and obey the precept. We must rise above the precept. Ah! ye Christian wives, and ye Christian husbands, the tie that binds you together will soon cease; it is but as the passing vapour; it is but as a moment; it is as the twinkling of an eye. Fond is the love, that ye bear one toward another. You know what it is to mourn each other's absence, and to rejoice in each other's presence; you know the effect of smiles, and the tenderest greetings of sympathising love. The tie that binds you, may in one moment be broken. Rise above it. Ye must pray to be enabled to rise above it. Pray that you may experience a higher subjection-subjection to God and to Christand that you may realise the bond that is for eternity.

But I shall conclude my sermon by a few words of tender, solemn, and affectionate address to those of my hearers, who are binding themselves to earth, and to the creature, and to the things of the earth, as if there was no eternity beyond it; a few words, in ten