HOMILY XX.] HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS. 43 HOMILY XX. EPHESIANS v. 22-24. " Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the Church : being Himself the Saviour of the body. But as the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything." A CERTAIN wise man, setting down a number of things in the rank of blessings, set down this also in the rank of a blessing, " A wife agreeing with her husband." (Ecclus. xxv. i.) And elsewhere again he sets it down among bless ings, that a woman should dwell in harmony with her husband. (Ecclus. xl. 23.) And in deed from the beginning, God appears to have made special provision for this union ; and dis coursing of the twain as one, He said thus, "Male and female created He them" (Gen. i. 27) ; and again, "There is neither male nor female." (Gal. iii. 28.) For there is no rela tionship between man and man so close-as that between man and wife, if they be joined to gether as they should be. And therefore a cer tain blessed man too, when he would express surpassing love, and was mourning for one that was dear to him, and of one soul with him, did not mention father, nor mother, nor child, nor brother, nor friend, but what? "Thy love to me was wonderful," saith he, " passing the love of women." (2 Sam. i. 26.) For in deed, in very deed, this love is more des potic than any despotism : for others indeed may be strong, but this passion is not only strong, but unfading. For there is a certain love deeply seated in our nature, which im perceptibly to ourselves knits together these bodies of ours. Thus even from the very be ginningwoman sprang from man, and afterwards from man and woman sprang both man and woman. 1 Perceivest thou the close bond and connection? And how that God suffered not a different kind of nature to enter in from with out? And mark, how many providential arrange ments He made. He permitted the man to marry his own sister ; or rather not his sister, but his daughter ; nay, nor yet his daughter, but something more than his daughter, even his own flesh.- And thus the whole He framed from one beginning, gathering all together, like stones in a building, into one. For neither on the one hand did He form her from without, and this was that the man might not feel towards her as 1 [Compare what Paul says in i Cor. xi. 8 and 12. G. A.]2 [He refers to Adam s marrying Eve. G. A.] towards an alien ; nor again did He confine marriage to her,3 that she might not, by con tracting herself, 4 and making all center in her self, be cut off from the rest. Thus as in the case of plants, they are of all others the best, which have but a single stem, and spread out into a number of branches ; (since were all con fined to the root alone, all would be to no pur pose, whereas again had it a number of roots, the tree would be no longer worthy of admira tion ;) so, I say, is the case here also. From one, namely Adam, He made the whole race to spring, preventing them by the strongest neces sity from being ever torn asunder, or separated ; and afterwards, making it more restricted, He no longer allowed sisters and daughters to be wives, lest we should on the other hand contract our love to one point, and thus in another man ner be cut off from one another. Hence Christ said, " He which made them from the beginning, made them male and female." (Matt. xix. 4.) For great evils are hence produced, and great benefits, both to families and to states. For there is nothing which so welds our life to gether as the love of man and wife. For this many will lay aside even their arms,5 for this they will give up life itself. And Paul would never without a reason and without an object have spent so much pains on this subject, as when he says here, "Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." And why so ? Because when they are in har mony, the children are well brought up, and the domestics are in good order, and neighbors, and friends, and relations enjoy the fragrance. But if it be otherwise, all is turned upside down, and thrown into confusion. And just as when the generals of an army are at peace one with another, all things are in due subordination, whereas on the other hand, if they are at vari ance, everything is turned upside down ; so, I say, is it also here. Wherefore, saith he, " Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Yet how strange ! for how then is it, that it is said elsewhere, " If one bid not farewell both to wife and to husband, he cannot follow me"? (Luke xiv. 26.) For if it is their duty to be in 3 [That is, he did not confine marriage towoman with woman. G. A.J 4 [There is another reading which applies these words to the man, as follows: a-vareAAun (avrbv <tal trvvayiav, " that he might not, by contracting himself and making all center in himself, be cut off from the rest," instead of O-VOT AAovcra, etc. G. A.J birAa.