with his hands the thing which is be naked, &c. and one of you say good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.-Eph. iv. 28. Paul commends the Philippians for their sending to his relief: and said, Not because I desire a gift; but I desire fruit that may abound to your account, &c. My God shall supply all your needs, &c.-Phil. iv. 1417. 19. This we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat, &c. We command, &c. that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.-2 Thess. iii. 10-12. If any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety (or kindness) at home, and to requite their parents; for that is good and acceptable before God. And if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house (or kindred), he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel, &c. If any man or woman that believeth, have widows, let them relieve them; and let not the church be charged.-1 Tim. v. 4. 8. 16. Charge them that are rich in this world, &c. that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store a good foundation. -1 Tim. vi. 17-19. The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me, &c. and in how many things he ministered to me at Ephesus, &c.--2 Tim. i. 16. 18. Philem. 7. God is not unrighteous, to forget your work, &c. which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. Heb. vi. 10. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares, &c. To do good, and to communicate, forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.-Heb. xiii. 2. 16. Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom? If a brother or sister unto them, Depart in peace, &c. and ye give them not, &c. what doth it profit?-James ii. 5. 15, 16. Use hospitality one to another, without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, so let him minister the same one to another, as good stewards, &c. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified, through Jesus Christ.-1 Pet. iv. 9—11. Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him; how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.-1 John iii. 17,18. THE CHAP. XVI. DUTIES OF BELIEVERS, TOWARDS EACH OTHER, AS THEY STAND RELATED ONE TO ANOTHER IN THE FLESH. SECT. I. Husbands to Wives, and Wives to Husbands. Of Marriage, &c. Of Women. AND the Lord said, It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him, &c. Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.Gen, ii. 18. 23, 24. God commanded Abraham to hearken to his wife in the case of Ishmael and Isaac.-Gen. xxi. 12. Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, &c. and when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.Gen. xxix. 30, 31. And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And A virtuous woman is a crown to Jacob's anger was kindled against her husband; but she that maketh Rachel; and he said, Am I in God's ashamed, is as rottenness in his bones. stead? who hath withheld from thee -Prov. xii. 4. xviii. 22. the fruit of the womb?-Gen. xxx. 1, 2. 1 Sam. i. 5. Zipporah the wife of Moses said to him, A bloody husband art thou to me.-Exod. iv. 25, 26. Moses sanctified the people, &c. and he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives, &c.-Exod. xix. 14, 15. None of you shall approach unto any that is near of kin to him (or remainder of his flesh) to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord. The nakedness of thy father or thy mother, &c.-Levit. xviii. 6-19. Matt. xiv. 3, 4. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, &c.-Deut. vii. 3, 4. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man: neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for all that do so, are abomination unto the Lord thy God.Deut. xxii. 5. Hannah wept and did not eat. Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons? So Hannah arose, &c.-1 Sam. i. 8, 9. Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and slay him in the morning. And Michal, David's wife, told him, &c. And let him down through a window; and he went and fled, and escaped.-1 Sam. xix. 11, &c. She afterwards despised him.-1 Chron. xv. 29. Israel's sin in taking strange wives, and their sorrow and reformation.Ezra ix. x. The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping, &c. A prudent wife is from the Lord.-Prov. xix. 13, 14. It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.—Prov. xxi. 19. Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands, &c. -Prov. xxxi. 10, &c. xiv. 1. Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery.— Matt. v. 32. xix. 9. The Pharisees said, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female? &c. wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder, &c. Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so. If, &c. it is good not to marry, &c. but all men cannot receive it, &c. he that is able, let him receive it.-Matt. xix. 3-12. The woman which hath an husband, is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth: but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So Job's wife said unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God and die. But he said then, if while her husband liveth, unto her, Thou speakest as one of she be married to another man, she the foolish women speaketh. What! shall be called an adulteress: but if shall we receive good? &c.-Job ii. her husband be dead, &c.—Rom. vii. 9, 10. 1 Kings xi. 1. 4. xxi. 25. 2,3. It is good for a man not to touch a woman: nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time; that ye may give yourselves to fast ing and prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency, &c. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them, if they abide, even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. And unto the married, I command, yet not I, but the Lord; Let not the wife depart from her husband: but, and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, &c. Let not the husband put away his wife, &c. And if any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him; let him not put her away, &c. for the unbelieving hus band is sanctified by the wife, &c. else were your children unclean; but now are they holy, &c. For what knowest thou, O wife! whether thou shalt save thy husband? &c. The time is short; it remains, that both they that have wives be as though they had none, &c. An unmarried life commended.-1 Cor. vii. 1-16. 29. 32, &c. Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?-1 Cor. ix. 5. The head of the woman is the man, &c. The man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man; neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man, &c. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither is the woman without the man in the Lord: for as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman, &c. 1 Cor. xi. 3. 8, 9. 11, 12. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.-1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, &c.-2 Cor. vi. 14-16. Deut. vii. 3, 4. 1 Kings xi. 1-4. xxi. 25. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord: for the husband is head of the wife, &c. therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, &c. So ought men to love their wives, as their own bodies: he that loveth his wife, loveth himself: for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, &c. Let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself: and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Eph. v. 22-25. 28. 33. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.-Col. iii. 18, 19. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, &c. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection: but I suffer not a woman to teach, or usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve: and Adam was not deceived, &c.— 1 Tim. ii. 9-14. I will, therefore, that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.1 Tim. v. 14. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh kindred, and take a wife unto my son holiness, &c. that they may teach the Isaac, &c.-Gen. xxiv. 3, 4. xxviii. 1, young women to be sober, to love 2. 7-9. their husbands, &c. to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Titus ii. 3-5. Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.Heb. xiii. 4. son Esau, that he might bless him Isaac, when he was old, called his before he died, &c. Rebekah said, &c. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters do me?-Gen. xxvii. 1-5. 46. xxvi. of Heth, &c. what good shall my life 34, 35. Esau tookwives of Ishmael's family, Canaan pleased not his father and on purpose because the daughters of mother.-Gen. xxviii. 7-9. When Esau saw the women and Wives be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, &c. Holy women adorned themselves, being in subjection to their the children with Jacob, he asked own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed him, Who are those with thee? and Abraham, calling him lord, &c. Like- he said, The children which God hath wise ye husbands, dwell with them graciously given thy servant.-Gen. according to knowledge; giving xxxiii. 4, 5. Ps. cxxviii. 1. 3, &c. honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.-1 Pet. iii. 1-7. SECT. II. Parents to their Children, and Children to their Parents. CHILDREN acknowledged to be from God, as a desirable thing; and barrenness a reproach.-Gen. iv. 1. 25. xv. 2, 3. xvi. 2. xxv. 21. xxx. 1, 2. 23. 1 Sam. i. 5, 6. 10, 11. Luke i. 24, 25. Noah being uncovered within his tent, Ham saw it, and told his brethren without: who took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father. And Noah arising, from the relation afterwards blessed them, and cursed their brother who told them.-Gen. ix.20-27. Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, &c. For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him: and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.Gen. xviii. 18, 19. Thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, amongst whom I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my not displease my lord, that I cannot Rachel said to her father, Let it rise up before thee, &c.-Gen. xxxi. 35. Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son coat of many colours, &c. therefore of his old age; and he made him a speak peaceably unto him, &c. When his brethren hated him, and could not Jacob supposed him to be dead, he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, &c. refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning: thus his father wept for him.-Gen. xxvii. 3, 4. 33–35. xlii. 36. 38. Shechemites: their father Jacob reSimeon and Levi destroyed the buked them they justified it.-Gen. xxxiv. 25, 26. 30, 31. was yet alive, his heart fainted, for he When Jacob was told that Joseph believed them not, &c. afterwards the spirit of Jacob revived, and he said, I will go and see him before I die.-Gen. xlv. 26-28. Joseph met his father, and fell on while; and Israel said unto Joseph, his neck, and wept on his neck a good Now let me die, since I have seen thy face.-Gen. xlvi. 29, 30. 1. 1. When Joseph brought his sons unto his father Israel, Joseph bowed himself to the earth.-Gen. xlviii. 9-12. The sons of Israel did unto him according as he commanded them: for, &c.-Gen. 1. 12, 13. That thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs, &c. that ye may know that I am the Lord.-Exod. x. 2. When thy son shall ask, What means the offering of the first-born? &c. Thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, &c. and slew all the first-born.--Exod. xiii. 14, 15. xii. 25-27. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land, &c.-Exod. xx. 12. Moses went out to meet his fatherin-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare.-Exod. xviii. 7. He that smiteth his father or his mother, shall be surely put to death, &c. He that curseth (or revileth) his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death.-Exod. xxi. 15. 17. Levit. xx. 9. Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father: I am the Lord. Levit. xix. 3. I will make them to hear my words, &c. and that they may teach their children, &c.-Deut. iv. 10. These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently (or whet, or sharpen) unto thy children and shall talk of them, &c. Thou shalt say unto thy son, We were servants, &c.--Deut. vi. 6, 7. 21. xi. 18, 19. A man may not disinherit his firstborn son. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, &c. and all the men of his city shall stone him, &c.-Deut. xxi. 15-21. Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother.-Deut. xxvii. 16. Gather, &c. men, women, and children, &c. that they may hear, &c. that they may learn and fear the Lord, &c.-Deut. xxxi. 12. Set your hearts unto all the words, &c. which ye shall command your children to observe, to do all the words of this law.-Deut. xxxii. 46. When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land: for the Lord your God dried up the waters.-Josh. iv. 20-23. Deut. iv. 9, 10. vi. 20, 21. Ruth's great love to her motherin-law recorded.-Ruth i. 15—17. Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel: and how they lay with the women, &c. and he said unto them, Why do you such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people: nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear, &c. If a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him?— 1 Sam. ii. 22-25. I will perform against Eli all things. which I have spoken, &c. for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not (or frowned not upon them).—1 Sam. iii. 11-14. Bathsheba, king Solomon's mother, went unto him: he rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and caused a seat to be set for her on his right hand.-1 Kings ii. 19. David prays for his son Solomon, and instructs him to keep the law. 1 Chron. xxii. 11-13. 2 Chron. ii. 1, &c. Job offered burnt-offerings for his sons continually: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, &c. Job i. 5. I will utter dark sayings of old, |