(y) Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head. (x) A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him; neither will he go unto the wise. (a) He that reproveth a scorner, getteth to himself shame. (b) A reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. Giving no Offence. (c) Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God. (d) Let no man put a stumbling-block, or an occasion to fall, in his brother's way. (e) Take heed lest by any means your liberty become a stumbling-block to them that are weak. (f) Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye; but not to doubtful disputations. (g) It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. For if any man see thee which hast knowledge do such things, shall not be conscience of him that is weak be emboldened to do the same? And through thy knowledge shall thy weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? (b) If therefore thy brother be grieved with thy meat; now walkest thou not charitably destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. (y) Psal. 141. 5. (2) Prov. 15. 12. (a) Prov. 9. 7. 17. 10. 8. 9. II. (4) 1 Cor. 10. 32. (d) Rom. 14. 13. (g) Rom. 14. 21. L. 2 (6) Prov. (e) 1 Cor. I Cor. 8. 10. When (i) When ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. (k) Hast thou faith? Have it not thyself before God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. (1) Wo unto him that giveth his neighbour drink; that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunk. in (m) Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit. Setting a good Example. (n) Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in purity. The DUTIES of HUSBANDS and WIVES. Husbands. (0) When woman was taken out of man; and afterwards brought unto the man to be an helpmeet for him; Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. (p) He which made them at the beginning, made them male and female; and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and ́shall cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh: What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. (i) 1 Cor 8. 12. ·(k) Rom. 14. 22, 20. (1) Hab. 2. 15. (n) 1 Tim. 4. 12. (a) Gen. 2. 23, 22, 18, (p) Mat. 19. 4, 5, 6. (m) Prov. 28. 10. 23, 24. Moses, (4) Moses, because of the hardness of their hearts, suffered the Jews to give a writing of divorcement, and to put away their wives; but from the beginning it was not so. And Christ now says unto us, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, causeth her to commit adultery. And if he shall marry another, he committeth adultery: And whosoever shall marry her that is put away or divorced, committeth adultery. (r) If any brother have a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. For how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? () Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. ) Lete very one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself: 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, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. (z) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (w) Ye husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life. (a) Drink waters out of thine own cistern: Jet thy fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth, and be thou satisfied always with her love. For she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. (y) Embrace not the bosom of a stranger. Take heed to your spirit; and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. Wives. (x) 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 then, if while her husband liveth she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. (a) Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. (b) The woman which hath an husband that believeth not, if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? (c) Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord: For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (d) Let the wife see that she reverence her husband. (e) Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjection. The woman is not suffered to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve: And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, was first in the transgression. (f) Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. (g) For after this manner, in the old time, the holy women who trusted in God were in subjection unto their own husbands; even as Saralı obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord; whose daughters ye are as long as ye do well. (b) A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband; but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.. (2) The strange woman who forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God, her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. (k) The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. (1) A prudent wife is from the Lord. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her : She will do him good and not evil all the days (d) Eph. 5. 33. (e) 1 Tim. 2 11, 12, 13, 14. 3. I, 2. (g) 1 Pet. 3. 5. 6. (4) Prov. 12. 4. (4) Prov. 19. 13. (4) Prov. 19. 14. 2. 16, 17, 18. 31. 11, 12. (f) 1 Pet' (i) Prove Frov |