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Ephesians V. 29.For no Man ever yet hated his own Flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church.
HAving given some account of the Nature and Immortality of the Soul, we next come to dis∣course its Love and Inclination to the Body, with which it is united, from this Text. The scope of the Apostle is, to press Christians to the exact Discharge of those Relative Duties they owe to each other; particularly, he here urgeth the mutual Duties of Husbands and Wives, v. 22. Wives, to an Obedient Subjection; Husbands, to a tender Love of their Wives. This Exhor∣tation he enforceth from the intimate Union which by the Ordinance of God is betwixt them, they being now one Flesh, and this Union he illustrates by comparing it with
- 1. The Mystical Union of Christ and the Church.
- 2. The Natural Union of the Soul and Body.
And from both these, as excellent Examples and Pat∣terns, he with great strength of Argument urgeth the Duty of Love, v. 28. So ought Men to love their Wives as their own Bodies; he that loveth his Wife, loveth himself. Self-love is naturally implanted in all Men, and it is the Rule by which we measure out and dispense our Love to others.— Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self.
This Self-love he opens in this place, by
- (1.) The Universality of it.
- (2.) The effects that evidence it.