n of God has
come for our sake, that He might be our Shepherd and Bishop; He gives
us His Spirit, feeds us, and leads us by His word, so that we now
know how we are helped. Therefore, when you confess that through Him
your sins have been taken away, then you become His sheep, and He
becomes your herdsman. Just as He is thy Bishop, so art thou His
Soul. This is, then, the comfort which all Christians have. Thus we
have two chapters in this Epistle, wherein St. Peter has in the first
place taught the true faith, then the true works of love, and has
spoken of two kinds of works. First, what we all generally should
practice toward civil government, then how domestics should conduct
themselves toward their masters. And what St. Peter says here of
servants, extends, also, to some other persons,--namely, artizans,
day-laborers, and all kinds of hired servants. Now he goes on to
teach us further, how husband and wife should conduct themselves
toward one another in a christian manner.

CHAPTER III.

V. 1-6. _Likewise ye wives be in subjection to your own husbands, so
that they who do not obey the word may be won without the word,
through the conduct of their wives, when they see your chaste
conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning is not outward, in the
braiding of the hair, and the wearing of gold, or the putting on of
apparel, but the hidden man of the heart, in that which is
incorruptible, a meek and quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of
God, of great price. For thus also did the holy women of old adorn
themselves, who hoped in God and were subject to their husbands. As
Sarah was obedient to Abraham and called him master, whose daughters
ye are, if ye do well, and fear not of any terror._

Here St. Peter speaks especially of wives, who at that time had
heathen and unbelieving husbands. And on the other hand, he speaks of
believing husbands who had heathen wives; for it often occurred while
the Apostles preached the Gospel among the heathen, that one was a
Christian and the other not. If it _then_ was commanded that the wife
should be subject to the husband, how much more must it be so ordered
now. Therefore it is the woman's duty, St. Peter would say, to be
subject to her husband, although he is a heathen and unbeliever; and
he gives the reason why this should be so.

V. 1, 2. _So that even they who believe not on the word, may be won
without the word, through their wives' conduct, when they see your